LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

March 25/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.march25.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

Great Friday of the Crucifixion
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 19/31-37:"Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘None of his bones shall be broken.’And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’"

Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
Letter to the Hebrews 12/12-21:"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears. You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’)"

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 25/16
No big loss/Samir Geagea’s political calculation is working/Michael Young/Now Lebanon/March 24/16
Lebanese Minister of State of Administrative Reform De Freige: Iran and Hezbollah Purposely Impair Saudi-Lebanese Affairs/Asharq Al Awsat/March 24/16
Hariri blasts Aoun, defends Parliament/Hasan Lakkis & Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/March 24/16
Why is Europe an ISIS target/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/March 24/16
Why is Europe an ISIS target/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/March 24/16
Islam’s pirates/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 24/16
Who exactly are the new Syrians/Dr. Halla Diyab/Al Arabiya/March 24/16
Jihad in Brussels/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/March 24/16
Banking sanctions take center stage as Iranian rhetoric toughens/Mohammad Ali Shabani/Al-Monitor/March 24/16
Israeli security firm’s advice on Brussels airport security unheeded/DEBKAfile/March 24/16
Brussels Attacks Raise Questions on Readiness/Matthew Levitt/New York Times/March 24/16
Assad cannot keep Europe safe from ISIS/Kyle Orton/Now Lebanon/March 24/16
 

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on March 25/16

Ban Visits UNIFIL HQ in Naqoura, Hails Prevalence of Calm in South
Jumblat Says Officials Indifferent to Citizens' Safety
Ban Meets Salam, Stresses Need to End Presidential Vacuum 'as Soon as Possible'
Soldier Killed, 3 Wounded in Arsal Roadside Bombing
Large Captagon Shipment Uncovered at Tripoli Port
Rahi Washes Feet of Prisoners in Roumieh
EDL Workers Burn Tires, Accuse Authorities of Neglect
Fadlallah Says Illegal Internet File Unraveling
Israel's Ambassador Asks U.N. to 'Respond' to Nasrallah Threats
Bou Saab Reveals $100 Million World Bank Assistance for Education Sector
No big loss/Samir Geagea’s political calculation is working
Lebanese Minister of State of Administrative Reform De Freige: Iran and Hezbollah Purposely Impair Saudi-Lebanese Affairs
Hariri blasts Aoun, defends Parliament

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 25/16
ISIS ‘trains 400 fighters to attack Europe’
Suicide bomber Laachraoui was model student at Brussels Catholic school
Second suspect believed in Brussels subway attack
Trump says migration "craziness" will push Britain to quit the EU
Clinton: Europe must ‘share burden’ of counterterrorism
Syria war parties to agree on UN basic principles paper: diplomats
Syrian regime troops enter ISIS-held Palmyra
Kerry tells Russia he wants to see further reduction in Syria violence
Africa, Arab defence ministers focus on 'terrorism' in Egypt meet
Palestinian charged with hacking Israeli drones
Israel soldier in West Bank stabbed, alleged attackers shot dead
Iraq begins offensive to liberate Mosul
France detects first case of mad cow disease since 2011
Saudi Arabia ‘to deploy all resources’ to ensure safety in Hajj seasons
Iranian Hamid Firoozi hacked US dam system
UN rights team will seek to hold N. Korea leaders to account
US charges consultant to Iran’s UN mission
Karadzic Guilty of Genocide, Jailed for 40 Years

Links From Jihad Watch Site for March 25/16
State Dept offers $1.5 million to fight “violent extremism” with “TV drama series”
New Islamic State video: “Holy war against infidels is an integral part of Islam”
Iranian government hacked New York dam and dozens of U.S. banks
Hugh Fitzgerald: Why Do So Many Ask “Why Do They Hate Us?”
Video: Muslim woman at Brussels memorial rips up Israeli flag, replaces it with Palestinian flag
Video: Robert Spencer on Fox and Friends discussing the Brussels jihad massacre
Turkey deported Brussels jihad mass murderer in 2015, Belgium ignored warning that he was a jihadi
Robert Spencer in PJ Media: Hillary vs. Jihad: A Nightmare Scenario
Islam’s Hatred of Dogs Unveiled, Part II — on The Glazov Gang
UK man arrested for asking Muslim woman to “explain Brussels”
Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch: “Christ was born in Palestine!”
Washington Post: “The horror in Brussels is a rebuke to Trump’s foreign policy”
Belgian cops asked Muslims for help in finding jihad bombers and were ignored
Hugh Fitzgerald: An Ahmadi Night Out
USA Today: “It’s already been a rough few months for Belgian Muslims”
Bangladesh: Islamic State claims murder of convert from Islam to Christianity

Ban Visits UNIFIL HQ in Naqoura, Hails Prevalence of Calm in South
Naharnet/March 24/16/United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday where he was received by UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Luciano Portolano, announced the international force in a statement. Speaking during his visit to the headquarters of UNIFIL, on the first day of his two-day tour of the country, the secretary general noted that southern Lebanon has seen one of the quietest periods in nearly four decades since the adoption of the U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 in 2006. “Prevalence of a stable security environment in south Lebanon, continued commitment of the parties to the cessation of hostilities, increasing ability of the Lebanese Armed Forces to ensure security of the country – these are the key elements for the successful implementation of the [UNIFIL] mandate,” said Ban. He called for making an effective and meaningful use of the world body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in preventing hostilities and de-escalate tension in the southern part of the country. He particularly stressed upon the need to make the continued use of the tripartite forum – comprising Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL – to resolve any differences between the parties and towards the full implementation of the resolution 1701. He underlined the need for a strong cooperation between the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL in south Lebanon, including through the Strategic Dialogue process, and efforts that are underway to ensure the implementation of the resolution 1701. “The Strategic Dialogue remains crucial if the Lebanese army are to take on greater responsibilities in UNIFIL’s area of operations,” he said, calling for an increased international assistance in support of the military in order for them to fulfill their vital responsibilities throughout the country, as recently emphasized by the Security Council. For his part, Portolano said: “In the face of multiple challenges facing south Lebanon, UNIFIL has been providing a strong deterrent to the resumption of hostilities.”Earlier in the day, Ban received a guard of honor from the uniformed members of UNIFIL.

Jumblat Says Officials Indifferent to Citizens' Safety
Naharnet/March 24/16/MP Walid Jumblat criticized on Thursday the government’s performance and said that it is unlikely for political leaders to care for the citizens' safety and security. “From London, a minister (Interior Nouhad al-Mashnouq) stated that there are security shortcomings at the Beirut airport and has vowed to address them. How can we believe that in light of the chaos and negligence spread everywhere, most notably the latest issue of the internet,” said Jumblat via Twitter. The MP expressed doubts that political leaders care for the citizens' safety saying: “Who is the security or military official who really cares about the safety of the citizen? We only see their convoys with armies of escort.”Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnoup stated while on an official visit to London that improving the security measures at the Rafik Hariri International Airport will be the first thing to address as soon as he returns to Lebanon. His statement came following Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels against its airport and metro. The Progressive Socialist Party chief Jumblat criticized the stance of a security source, without naming him, whom he said has downplayed the illegal internet network issue, saying: “The source underestimated the matter because he might be one of the beneficiaries.”“How can we believe and who do we believe in light of the varied sources,” he conlcuded. Recently, an illegal internet network has been uncovered and investigations continue to find the perpetrators.

Ban Meets Salam, Stresses Need to End Presidential Vacuum 'as Soon as Possible'
Naharnet/March 24/16/United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised on Thursday Lebanon's army on its ongoing fight against terrorism, while urging political powers to end the presidential vacuum. He said after meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail: “We are worried about the political situation in Lebanon that does not serve stability.” “Lebanon is a symbol of diversity in the region and the presidential vacuum should be resolved as soon as possible,” he added on the first day of his two-day trip to Lebanon. Commenting on the refugee crisis in Lebanon, the U.N. chief said: “The international community is ready and committed to help Lebanon.” “Few countries have shown such generosity towards Syrian refugees,” he noted. Ban also expressed his “deepest condolences” to Lebanon over the death of a soldier in a roadside bomb in the northeastern border area of Arsal earlier on Thursday. For his part, Salam said: “We call on Lebanon's friends to continue on supporting its army against terrorist threats.”The premier also highlighted the burden of Syrian refugees on Lebanon, saying that the country is no longer able to support further burdens. The meeting between Salam and Ban was also attended by World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim and Islamic Development Bank President Ahmed Mohamed Ali Al-Madani. Head of the World Bank urged during a joint press conference with Salam, Ban, and Madani Lebanese officials to reactivate the political institutions, most notably parliament, in order for Lebanon to benefit from financial grants pledged to the country. He revealed that the World Bank had presented 100 million dollars to Lebanon's education sector in recognition of its education of refugees. Agreements worth around 400 million dollars were also signed during Salam's meetings with the officials. Ban arrived in Lebanon on Thursday on a two-day visit that saw him visit the headquarters of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon and Speaker Nabih Berri. Media reports on Thursday, said that Salam would express during his talks with Ban his rejection of the naturalization of Syrian refugees amid reports that the U.N. chief was pressing for such an issue. Lebanon currently hosts around 1.5 million Syrian refugees who have escaped the fighting in the neighboring country. Around 4.6 million Syrians have fled to nearby states -- Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt -- while hundreds of thousands have gone to Europe.
In February, world leaders pledged a total of $10 billion to help millions of victims of Syria’s civil war and the countries hosting them.

Soldier Killed, 3 Wounded in Arsal Roadside Bombing
Naharnet/March 24/16/A Lebanese solder was killed on Thursday in a roadside bombing that targeted a military patrol on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said the attack, which also left three soldiers injured, took place in the area of Wadi Atta. The assault prompted the army to shell the position of gunmen on the outskirts of Arsal and Ras Baalbek. Assailants have in the past targeted military vehicles with roadside bombs in the Arsal area. Militants from the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front overran Arsal in August 2014 and engaged in heavy battles with the army. The fighters withdrew to Syria but took with them hostages from the military and the Internal Security Forces. They later beheaded several of them. While al-Nusra Front freed 16 servicemen in exchange for Islamist prisoners last December, there are no news on the nine hostages taken by the IS. The outskirts of Arsal and other towns bordering Syria continue to witness sporadic clashes between the army and the jihadists.

Large Captagon Shipment Uncovered at Tripoli Port
Naharnet/March 24/16/Customs agents at the port of the northern city of Tripoli succeeded on Thursday in thwarting an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of captagon narcotic pills to Jordan, reported the National News Agency. The shipment was being transported from a truck to a ship ahead of sailing to Jordan. The security forces have since arrested the owner of the vehicle and he has been referred to the concern judiciary.

Rahi Washes Feet of Prisoners in Roumieh
Naharnet/March 24/16/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi washed and kissed the feet of 12 inmates in the country's largest prison in Roumieh on Holy Thursday. “Whether you have committed a small or big crime, Jesus is with you,” he said in his sermon. "Each person is valuable. God washed the feet of people to teach humility," said the patriarch. Al-Rahi hoped the Lebanese authorities would meet the demands of inmates, including health and hospital care, improved security inside prisons and a solution to overcrowding. Top security and military officials, priests, nuns and civil society representatives attended the rite in the courtyard of one of the blocks of the 200,000 square meter prison. The feet-washing ritual is meant to be a gesture of service, and re-enacts a rite Jesus performed on his apostles before being crucified. Holy or Maundy Thursday is part of the Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. It is observed a day before Good Friday. Al-Rahi has been carrying out the ritual at Roumieh Prison in the past years to draw attention to Lebanon's overcrowded prisons and to call for speedy trials.

EDL Workers Burn Tires, Accuse Authorities of Neglect
Naharnet/March 24/16/Electricity du Liban contract workers on Thursday burned tires at the state-run firm's entrance in Beirut's Mar Mikhael area to press for their demands. One of the workers told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that they want to remind the authorities about their right to become full-time employees. He accused Lebanese officials of neglecting their case and avoiding the implementation of the deal on their full-time employment. The workers ended a four-month strike at EDL’s HQ in November 2014 after the parliament approved a draft-law that allows them to sit for exams to fill vacant posts. But they have in the past year held protests and resorted to road closure to draw attention to their case.

Fadlallah Says Illegal Internet File Unraveling
Naharnet/March 24/16/Head of the Parliamentary Media Committee MP Hassan Fadalallah stated that the illegal internet network file is growing like a snowball, but assured that the committee's efforts will continue until the perpetrators behind this scandal are revealed, As Safir daily reported on Thursday. “We will continue what we have started at the committee on March 8 when we discovered the tip of the iceberg in the internet scandal, and we will continue the efforts until we uncover all the hidden details,” Fadlallah told the daily. “The file is growing successively and as time passes new facts and huge squandering of funds are being uncovered in addition to the potential of security breach.”He stressed that the issue will remain a subject of intensive follow-up by the committee which will hear next Wednesday the briefing of the ministries of finance, defense and interior on the security and financial aspects. On the other hand, the daily reported that it obtained information that medium and small illegitimate companies are involved in what it described as the “labyrinth” network which attracted the spotlight lately. It added quoting a well-informed source on condition of anonymity: “If there was a real state, the current government would be toppled together with a bunch of big names as the result of the internet scandal. “The most important sector in the country which some have described as Lebanon’s oil is suffering from chaos, monopoly and is turning into a source of drain instead of revenues for the state.” Early in March, the parliamentary media committee unveiled what it described as a “mafia” that is taking advantage of internet services by installing internet stations that are not subject to the state control. The owners of these stations are buying international internet bandwidth with nominal cost from Turkey and Cyprus which they are selling back to Lebanese subscribers at reduced prices. It has been reported that wireless internet towers and technical equipment were placed illegally in some mountainous terrains including Tannourine, al-Dinnieh, Sannine and al-Zaarour. Smuggled internet services initiate risks namely the possibility of security breach as it lacks the basic control standards exposing Lebanon's security to third parties including Israel.

Israel's Ambassador Asks U.N. to 'Respond' to Nasrallah Threats
Naharnet/March 24/16/Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon has asked the Security Council to condemn a warning made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah against attacking Lebanon. In a letter he sent to the Council on Wednesday, Danon said: “The time has come for the Security Council to respond firmly against Hizbullah’s repeated threats against the citizens of Israel and its ongoing military buildup.”“The international community must act to disarm Hizbullah,” he wrote. On Monday, Nasrallah warned Israel against attacking Lebanon, saying his party will fight any new war with the Jewish state without any red lines. In an interview with the al-Mayadeen TV network, the Hizbullah secretary-general said the group has a comprehensive list of targets in Israel that includes nuclear reactors and biological research centers it can hit. "There will be no ceiling, limits or red lines," he said. "We can strike any target we want inside occupied Palestine." But according to the Jerusalem Post, Danon made clear in the letter that “Israel will not accept any violation of its sovereignty, and will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens.”The Israeli diplomat also applauded the recent report of U.N. chief Bank Ki-moon, which detailed Hizbullah’s alleged violations of Security Council Resolution 1701. But Danon criticized the Security Council for refusing to mention Hizbullah by name in the summary of the report. “The Secretary-General’s report expressed deep concern at the readiness and willingness of Hizbullah to use its capabilities and warned that their possession of arms and attempts to procure sophisticated weapons provoke conflict,” Danon said. “Yet, the Security Council did not take heed of the Secretary General’s warnings,” he added.

Bou Saab Reveals $100 Million World Bank Assistance for Education Sector
Naharnet/March 24/16/Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said Thursday that the World Bank has decided to give around $100 million of assistance for Lebanon's education sector. Bou Saab told al-Liwaa daily that the World Bank will decide in the next stage on which projects to spend the assistance. “This is the first tangible decision, which comes as a result of the London conference” that was held in February to help conflict-hit Syrians, he said. At the conference, world leaders pledged a total of $10 billion to help millions of victims of Syria’s civil war, including the refugees who have escaped to nearby countries. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who accompanied U.N. chief Bank Ki-moon in his two-day visit to Beirut on Thursday, had delivered a powerful statement in London in support for Syria. He vowed to triple the Bank's support to the region to $20 billion for the next five years. Kim's talks with Lebanese officials on Thursday are expected to focus on the projects that the World Bank is planning to implement in Lebanon to help it confront the refugee crisis.About 1.2 million Syrian refugees have been registered in Lebanon but their numbers reach around 1.5 million.

No big loss/Samir Geagea’s political calculation is working
Michael Young/Now Lebanon/March 24/16
Samir Geagea’s political calculation is working
Samir Geagea’s critics perhaps owe him an apology. Two months after he endorsed Michel Aoun for the presidency, his move looks more and more well-calculated. Better still, he has avoided the potential pitfalls of that decision. Geagea was much criticized for backing Aoun, because there was very little likelihood that the general would be elected. Maybe, but that would be misunderstanding what the Lebanese Forces leader was trying to accomplish. Geagea wanted to show Aoun that Hezbollah was not serious about supporting him, and this has been achieved. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech at the end of January in which he said Hezbollah was with Aoun but would not persuade its allies to vote for the general confirmed it. Second, is Geagea really that devastated that Aoun has not been elected president? Aoun’s triumph was a price the Lebanese Forces leader was willing to pay for the real reason why he supported Aoun, but the fact that he was not elected is preferable. Geagea now benefits from the arrangement, but will not have to face the possibly negative consequences of a Aoun victory.
Which brings us to Geagea’s true intention in rallying behind Aoun, namely ensuring that the Lebanese Forces would expand their representation in forthcoming elections, both parliamentary and municipal. Recall that Geagea had championed the abysmal Orthodox proposal precisely for that reason, fearing that another poor showing in parliamentary elections on the basis of the 1960 law would permanently marginalize the Lebanese Forces. With municipal elections looming, Geagea will probably see the first benefits of the alliance with Aoun he was so instrumental in forming. If there are any doubts, just look at the reactions of the other Christian political forces, particularly the Kataeb Party and the independent March 14 Christians. All have reacted uneasily to the Aounist-Lebanese Forces pact, knowing that it may well lead to their own sidelining in the Christian community.
And they are right. Geagea grasped the symbolic power of a move that resulted in Christian unity, or at least the unity of the two largest Christian political blocs. As the godfather of such a move, the Lebanese Forces leader has earned considerable communal credit, which he will try to cash in on after Aoun’s demise. What has Geagea really lost? The alliance with Saad Hariri and the Future Movement? In reality it was no great loss as far as Geagea is concerned. The alliance did not bring him many more seats in parliament or in municipal elections, a major reason why Geagea was willing to go along with the Orthodox proposal. Seeing that Hariri was unwilling to reserve enough seats for him, the Lebanese Forces leader preferred to go off on his own.
Nor did Geagea lose anything on the presidency. Hariri’s switch to Sleiman Franjieh, done without consultation with Geagea, was viewed by the Lebanese Forces leader as a betrayal. Not only had he been dropped, he had been dropped for his principal Maronite rival, who hails from the same north Lebanon area as he. Understandably, Geagea saw this as posing another existential threat to his political future, and maneuvered to prevent it. Saad Hariri’s own political problems have also rendered the breakdown in the Lebanese Forces-Future alliance more acceptable. Hariri, facing a major financial crisis and struggling to rebuild his appeal in Lebanon after a five-year absence, was not in a position to give Geagea what he was looking for anyway. Hariri preferred to put his political weight behind Franjieh, showing Geagea that it was a good time for him to bolt.
Even Geagea’s loss of his direct line to Saudi Arabia is bearable if it means he can consolidate his position on the domestic Christian scene. The Saudis, for now at least, appear to have disengaged from Lebanon, so Geagea probably feels that his relationship with them was bound to bring diminishing returns.
Geagea is learning, like Walid Jumblatt before him, that there are advantages in pursuing a middle course in Lebanese politics. It means being able to play both sides off against each other. Some have lamented the death of March 14, but what was always more important than the alliance itself was the principles it defended: opposition to a return of Syrian hegemony; resistance against Hezbollah’s parallel state; and the re-emergence of a sovereign Lebanon based on coexistence, as embodied in the Taif accord. Whether Geagea is allied with Hariri or not, neither man is about to abandon those objectives. When needed they can rejoin forces. However, in the interim Geagea is happy to have finally been freed of a March 14 alliance that brought him few real benefits.
Michael Young is a writer and editor in Beirut. He tweets @BeirutCalling.
 

Lebanese Minister of State of Administrative Reform De Freige: Iran and Hezbollah Purposely Impair Saudi-Lebanese Affairs
Asharq Al Awsat/March 24/16
Beirut- Lebanese Minister of State of Administrative Reform Nabil de Freige confirmed the government’s affixed position and the hard efforts spent, especially with the present presidential vacancy.
He emphasized the difficulty and close-to-impossible chances of electing a president under existing circumstances.
“Obstacles remain, and are specifically posed by Hezbollah and MP Michel Aoun,” de Freige said.
In his words to Ahsarq Al-Awsat newspaper, de Freige highlighted that Hezbollah “doesn’t want a president for Lebanon, so that the Lebanese presidency file remains a bargaining chip in Iranian hands; Iran has not gained anything in Syria or Iraq, and thus spends its efforts on controlling the strings to the Lebanese suit, in a move to use Lebanon as leverage on regional and international political arenas,”
The international community- similarly to Lebanon, 1989- “is devoting all efforts to broker another Taif agreement, in each of Syria and Iraq, the Taif agreement had stopped the Lebanese civil war and ensured civil peace, and set the outline for the constitution,” de Freige added.
He denounced all campaigns resuming action against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, and condemned Hezbollah for “not returning the favor decently, especially that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the first to always lend a helping hand to Lebanon, at all times and occasions,”
De Freige called attention to the evident moderation of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and the national role he played in his constant determination on holding deliberations with Hezbollah on withdrawing from Syria, proving the illegal presence of arms unnecessary, and upholding the Lebanese army’s competence of confronting terrorism and any potential attack by Israel.
The Lebanese minister for administrative reform also criticized the approach adopted by the Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, which he perceived devoted to satisfying Hezbollah and Iran. De Freige sees that Bassil’s course will affect the bilateral relationship shared between Lebanon and fellow Gulf countries.
Here is a set of questions answered by the Lebanese minister for administrative reform Nabil de Freige,
• Do you foresee presidential elections for the time being?
We should be objective and realistic; considering distorting agents –like Hezbollah and its ally Michel Aoun- are still present, current status makes presidential elections unfeasible. The issue is not annexed to candidates, and runs deeper that we think. In other words, Hezbollah doesn’t desire a president for Lebanon, which is originally an Iranian stipulation, so that it can later use Lebanon as a bargaining chip in regional and international political arenas… Just the way Syrian Presidents Hafez al-Assad and currently Bashar al-Assad did before, taking advantage of Lebanon for personal regional gain and in negotiations with great power nations.
Hezbollah now chiefly follows Iranian propaganda, and thus persistently stands in the way of presidential elections- which is represented in Hezbollah parliament members and allies constant abstinence from voting sessions-.
• Is the Future Movement still bent on naming MP Suleiman Frangieh, Jr. for presidential candidacy?
Yes, Future Movement leader Saad Hariri has emphasized that (Frangieh’s candidacy) in his last broadcasted speech. Up until now we have not changed stances; given that we currently stand on fire, matters depend on circumstances, developments and the way things become.
• Meaning, Iran is a main card player in obstructing Lebanese presidential elections?
Definitely, Iran is withholding presidential election and is using Hezbollah to do so, it is clear to everyone.
We clearly state that and on the top of our lungs, let me explain; Iran has lost Iraq and was rendered helpless… Same thing could be said for Syria; given that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fiercely contributed to the war -and still does- , Iran also pushed Hezbollah fighters to combat in Syria, in an attempt to control decision making in Syria, what happened in return?
The decision military wise and politically was handed to Russia and Iran didn’t get anything out of it. It has lost Iraq, Syria and even Palestine – given that it lost support from Hamas- , which left only Lebanon as a last resort, thus it pushes Hezbollah towards hurdling presidential elections , so that it may keep Lebanon as a bargaining chip when negotiating nuclear, political, regional and international deals.
 

Hariri blasts Aoun, defends Parliament
Hasan Lakkis & Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/Mar. 24, 2016/
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Wednesday blasted MP Michel Aoun for considering Parliament “illegitimate,” saying the legislature is the master of its own decision and has extended its mandate twice. He said Aoun would consider Parliament legitimate only if he were elected president.
Hariri, who returned to Beirut Tuesday night from a private visit to Paris and Riyadh to attend Wednesday’s Parliament session to elect a president, signaled he was ready to meet with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah only after a new head of state is elected.
“This Parliament is legitimate. If Gen. Aoun says it is illegitimate, this does not make it so. If we elected Aoun as president, Parliament would have become legitimate in his eyes,” Hariri told reporters in Parliament shortly after it failed for the 37th time to convene over a lack of quorum.
“This Parliament is the master of its own decision and has extended its mandate twice,” he said.
Hariri was among the 62 lawmakers who showed up in Parliament, falling short of the two-thirds majority (86 of the 128 MPs) required for a quorum to convene the session.
The number of attending MPs was much lower than the 72 lawmakers who showed up for the March 2 session, the highest lawmaker turnout in nearly two years.
As in previous sessions, Aoun’s bloc, Hezbollah’s bloc and some of its March 8 allies thwarted a quorum with their continuing boycott. This prompted Speaker Nabih Berri, who was at his office in Parliament, to schedule a new session for April 18. “This is the 37th presidential election session and we came to exercise our constitutional duty to elect a president. But unfortunately, the obstruction [of the presidential vote] continues as in the past,” Hariri said.
“Speaker Nabih Berri and I believe that electing a president would resolve many crises in the country. The absence of some MPs shows that some want to disrupt the presidency and this is unacceptable,” he said. “We will continue to attend the parliamentary sessions and will continue to exercise our constitutional duty to elect a president. Those who are boycotting the sessions are responsible for all drawbacks in the country.”“This is a democratic country, with a constitution, and a president should be elected. We will continue our efforts in this regard.”
Hariri called on Free Patriotic Movement’s lawmakers to officially elect a president instead of taking their demands to the streets to force a change in the current political situation. “We hear that the Free Patriotic Movement wants to take to the streets. Instead of that, let them come to Parliament.”
Aoun, who is backed for the presidency by Hezbollah, some of its March 8 allies and the Lebanese Forces, warned in a speech last week against electing a new president who does not enjoy wide representation within the Christian community in line with the National Pact’s rules on power sharing between Muslims and Christians. He also called on his supporters in the FPM to be ready to take to the street to bring about a change in the current political situation.
Aoun’s remarks appeared to be directed at Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh who has been nominated for the presidency by Hariri as part of an initiative aimed at ending the 22-month long vacuum. Frangieh is also backed by Berri, MP Walid Jumblatt and some independent lawmakers.
The FPM founder slammed the extension of Parliament’s mandate twice since 2013, saying: “How can a Parliament that lacks legitimacy elect a legitimate president?”LF chief Samir Geagea, who achieved a historic reconciliation with Aoun in January, said his party was mulling its participation in the FPM’s planned street protests to exert pressure toward electing Aoun as president.
“We are discussing this and other options,” Geagea told Russia Today TV in an interview. Hariri, asked whether he was ready to reciprocate Nasrallah’s readiness to meet him, said: “I have said in my interview [with LBCI TV] that I am not against the idea. What concerns us is to elect a president and start a real dialogue to put an end to the ongoing problems and the risks facing the country. But the election of a president is a priority for me.”Asked if he would opt for a centrist candidate if rival regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, which back opposing sides in Lebanon, decided to start a dialogue to improve their strained ties, Hariri said: “Saudi-Iranian dialogue is a dialogue between two countries that are at odds over several issues. There is no doubt that things would improve in the region.”“But in Lebanon, we have two candidates from the March 8 [coalition]. Sayyed Nasrallah has said that they won. So why don’t they celebrate this victory? We can elect one of these two candidates. So let them go to Parliament,” he added.
Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel, who attended the session with members of his bloc, slammed the continued failure to elect a president. “What shall I say? It’s a joke,” he said, while leaving the session.

ISIS ‘trains 400 fighters to attack Europe’
The Associated Press, Paris Wednesday, 24 March 2016/Security officials have told The Associated Press that the ISIS has trained at least 400 attackers and sent them into Europe for terror attacks. The network of interlocking, agile and semiautonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria. The officials, including European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French lawmaker who follows the militants’ networks, describe camps designed specifically to train for attacks against the West.The officials say the fighters have been given orders to find the right time, place and method to carry out their mission.

Suicide bomber Laachraoui was model student at Brussels Catholic school
Reuters | Paris Thursday, 24 March 2016/Brussels suicide bomber Najim Laachraoui, a veteran Islamist fighter in Syria also suspected of making explosive belts for November’s Paris attacks, was a model student in a Brussels Catholic high school, the school’s director told Reuters. Security sources told local media that Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian, was one of Tuesday’s airport suicide bombers, identifying him as one of the three men in the CCTV image released by police. “Najim Laachraoui was a very good student,” said Veronica Pellegrini, the director of the Institut de la Sainte Famille d’Helmet, a Catholic school in the ethnically mixed east Brussels borough of Schaerbeek. “He never failed a class,” Pellegrini said of Laachraoui, who studied at the school for six years, until graduating in 2009. “We haven’t heard from him since,” she told Reuters in a phone interview. Prosecutors said Laachraoui’s DNA was found in houses used by the Paris attackers last year. He left Brussels for Syria in February 2013. Local media have said he has technical training that could mean he was the armourer of the operation. Travelling under the false name Soufiane Kayal, he was documented driving from Hungary into Austria in September in a car driven by Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect in the Paris attacks who was arrested in Brussels last week. There is speculation Laachraoui had just returned from Syria, possibly by sea with refugees. Catholic religion classes are part of the school’s curricula for all students independent of their religion, and Laachraoui would have attended those classes as any other student, Pellegrini said.While the school offers technical studies in fields such as chemistry, and Belgian media say Laachraoui had studied electromechanics, Pellegrini said he did not take such courses in her school, where he only pursued general studies. The school’s motto is a verse from the Bible (John 3:14-18): “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other... Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” It is not uncommon for Muslim pupils in Belgium to go to Catholic schools, which can be seen as more conservative or more exclusive than state schools. The Paris attacks’ suspected mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian killed during a raid in Paris suburb St Denis on Nov. 18, had at 12 won a scholarship to an elite Catholic school.

Second suspect believed in Brussels subway attack
The Associated Press, Brussels Thursday, 24 March 2016/A second attacker is suspected of taking part in the bombing this week of a Brussels subway train and may be at large, according to Belgian and French media reports, amid growing signs that the same ISIS cell was behind the attacks in Brussels and bloodshed in Paris last year. The chief suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, is facing a hearing in Brussels on Thursday morning after his arrest last week in the Belgian capital. Belgian authorities have charged him with terror offenses, and French authorities are seeking his extradition. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels and Paris, which have laid bare European security failings and prompted calls for better intelligence cooperation. Belgian prosecutors have said at least four people were involved in Tuesday’s attacks on the Brussels airport and a subway train, including brothers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, identified as suicide bombers. European security officials identified another suicide bomber as Najim Laachraoui, a suspected bombmaker for the Paris attacks. Prosecutors have said another suspected participant in the airport attack is at large. Belgian state broadcaster RTBF and France’s Le Monde and BFM television reported Thursday that a fifth attacker may also be at large: a man filmed by surveillance cameras in the Brussels metro on Tuesday carrying a large bag alongside Khalid El Bakraoui. RTBF said it is not clear whether that man was killed in the attack. Prosecutors did not immediately respond to the reports. Attention turned Thursday to Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam, who evaded police in two countries for four months before Friday’s capture in the Molenbeek neighborhood where he grew up. He was shot in the leg during the arrest. A car believed to be carrying Abdeslam left the prison in Bruges where he’s been held and arrived Thursday morning at the main Brussels courthouse, followed by a car carrying Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw. A helicopter circled overhead, and the area was under extraordinarily heavy security, as are many parts of the Belgian capital. Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, also arrived at the court but refused to speak to reporters. A judge is to decide whether Abdeslam should be held in custody another month. France is seeking his extradition to face potential terrorism charges for his involvement in the Nov. 13 attacks on a Paris rock concert, stadium and cafes, which killed 130 people. Several attackers were also killed. Abdeslam, 26, a French citizen who grew up in Brussels’ heavily immigrant Molenbeek neighborhood, slipped through police fingers on multiple occasions, including the day after the attacks. Evidence is mounting that the extremists may have launched this week’s attacks in Brussels in haste because they feared authorities were closing in on them after Abdeslam’s arrest. Later Thursday, European Union justice and interior ministers are holding an emergency meeting prompted by the Brussels attacks.

Trump says migration "craziness" will push Britain to quit the EU
Reuters | London Thursday, 24 March 2016/U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said he thought Britain would vote to leave the European Union in a June 23 referendum because of concerns about high levels of migration. “With the craziness that is going on with the migration, with people pouring in all over the place, I think that Britain will end up separating from the EU, that’s my opinion,” Trump said in an interview with ITV television broadcast on Thursday. Opinion polls suggest Britain is divided on membership, with around a fifth of voters still undecided, and that migration is voters’ top concern. Trump, who has shocked some voters in Europe with proposals to build a wall along the border with Mexico and ban Muslims from entering the United States, said he was not endorsing any position in Britain’s referendum. But his comments contrast sharply with the public position of President Barack Obama, who has said Britain must remain in the 28-member bloc to maintain its global influence. Obama is due to visit Britain next month. Britain’s allies have said that an exit could weaken the West, which is grappling with the challenge of Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq and what Prime Minister David Cameron says is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increased aggression.ITV showed the first excerpts of its interview with Trump on Wednesday, in which he said Muslims were not doing enough to report suspicious activity by extremists, comments that drew a rebuke from Britain’s interior minister.
SAFER OUT?
Britain has been divided over its place in Europe since France and West Germany sought closer unity to prevent a repeat of the destruction wrought by World War Two. Britain eventually joined the club, but remained a reluctant member, outside the core euro zone. Opinion polls indicate that some British voters turned against membership during last year’s European migrant crisis, even though very few of those streaming in from the Middle East and Africa end up in Britain. There are also indications that attacks such as those in Paris and Brussels increase support for a British exit. Opponents of EU membership, such as UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, say Britain could prosper outside the club, and would be able to restrict migration more effectively. Pro-membership campaigners say such restrictions would cripple the economy. Cameron promised in 2010 to reduce the annual level of net migration into Britain to below 100,000, but in the year to September 2015 it rose once again, to 323,000. About half the migrants entering Britain are from other EU countries and can move around the bloc at will under its principle of freedom of movement. Richard Dearlove, former head of the MI6 foreign intelligence service, said Britain could be safer if it voted to leave the EU because it would have greater control over immigration. The comments, just days after the attacks in Brussels, contradicted Cameron’s argument that, in an increasingly unstable world, Britain would be weaker and more insecure if it dropped out of the EU. “The truth about Brexit from a national security perspective is that the cost to Britain would be low,” Dearlove, head of the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, wrote in Prospect magazine. “Europe would be the potential losers in national security,” he said. “But if Brexit happened, the UK would almost certainly show the magnanimity not to make its European partners pay the cost.”

Clinton: Europe must ‘share burden’ of counterterrorism
AFP, Washington Thursday, 24 March 2016/With Belgium reeling from deadly attacks, White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called on Europe to take more decisive steps to combat terrorism, including improving border controls and intelligence cooperation. The frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination said Washington needs to work hand-in-hand with European nations to thwart and eliminate groups like ISIS. And while the former secretary of state castigated her Republican rivals including Donald Trump for their inflammatory rhetoric - “loose cannons tend to misfire,” she said - she pulled no punches in calling on the continent, particularly the European Union, to step up. “There’s also more they can do to share the burden with us,” Clinton said in her half-hour counter-terrorism address at Stanford University. “We’d like to see more European countries investing in defense and security,” she said. Clinton called on European banks to shut down terrorist financing channels and European Special Forces to train and equip forces fighting extremists. She also said the continent’s militaries should be flying missions over Iraq and Syria. Clinton took issue with Europe’s intelligence cooperation efforts, harshly assessing that it “still lags” despite pledges by France and Belgium to move forward after last year’s Paris attacks. She noted that the EU keeps delaying a vote on sharing traveler information between member states, stressing that “it’s actually easier for the United States to get flight manifests from EU nations than it is for EU nations to get them from their own neighbors.”Tighter monitoring of suspected militants traveling to and from Iraq and Syria was also addressed. “We need to know the identities of every fighter who makes that trip and start revoking passports and visas,” said Clinton, speaking in a quiet, measured tone that contrasted with the more buoyant style she often uses on the campaign trail. “Right now, many European nations... don’t alert each other when they turn away a suspected militants at the border or when a passport is stolen.”That point may resonate with leaders after Turkey said Wednesday that it had detained and then deported Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of the two suicide bombers at the Brussels airport, and accused the Belgian authorities of failing to confirm his links to terror. “What happens in Europe has a way of making it to America,” Clinton said. Clinton, who argues that her foreign policy experience would be a crucial presidential asset in troubled times, lashed out at Trump and Republican Ted Cruz for their “reckless” assessments of how to combat extremism. “It would also be a serious mistake to begin carpet-bombing populated areas into oblivion,” she said, referring to such a proposal by Cruz.

Syria war parties to agree on UN basic principles paper: diplomats
By John Irish and Suleiman Al-Khalidi Reuters, Geneva Thursday, 24 March 2016/
Syrian government and opposition parties at peace talks in Geneva are expected to agree on Thursday to a document drawn up by a UN special envoy outlining basic principles in what one diplomat described as a “baby step” forward. With a fragile ceasefire in place in Syria, negotiations are due to adjourn on Thursday after almost two weeks of discussions and to resume in April. The talks are part of a diplomatic push launched with US and Russian support to end more than five years of war in Syria that has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and bred the rise of ISIS. Progress has been slow, with government officials avoiding any talk on the divisive issue of a political transition or the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, who opposition leaders say must leave office. But UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he aimed to establish if there were any points held in common by the different parties and if successful, to announce them. “Basic principles have been laid out. De Mistura wants to announce that all sides have agreed so that he can move on to the transition issue at the next round,” said a senior Western diplomat. “It’s a baby step, but a necessary step. It’s not a bad result.”The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the document contains 10-12 points ranging from agreeing to a united national army, the need to fight terrorism, and ensuring a democratic non-sectarian state with equal rights for all. A Middle Eastern and another Western diplomat also said they expected de Mistura to announce broad principles enabling him to move on to the subject of a political settlement. Randa Kassis, who heads a Moscow-backed opposition group, confirmed de Mistura had informed delegates of the basic principles paper. Government negotiator Bashar Ja’afari said on Wednesday that a UN document would be reviewed in Damascus ahead of the next round of talks. After meeting European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, a rare encounter with a senior Western figure, Ja’afari sounded positive saying he believed the round of talks had broken the diplomatic impasse. But he was told by Mogherini and de Mistura that accelerating a political transition in Syria was the only way to defeat insurgent groups like ISIS.

Syrian regime troops enter ISIS-held Palmyra
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 24 March 2016/Syrian government forces on Thursday entered the historic city of Palmyra, which has been held by ISIS since May. Troops reached the “heart” of Palmyra, the state-run Ikhbariya news channel reported, broadcasting images from just outside the historic city which has been held by ISIS since May last year. A soldier interviewed by Ikhbariya said the army and its allies would press forward beyond Palmyra. “We say to those gunmen, we are advancing to Palmyra, and to what's beyond Palmyra, and God willing to Raqqa, the center of the Daesh gangs,” he said, referring to Islamic State's de facto capital in northern Syria. The state news agency SANA showed warplanes flying overhead, helicopters firing missiles, and soldiers and armored vehicles approaching Palmyra. Earlier, ISIS militants called on the 15,000 or so civilians still living in Palmyra to leave the famed ancient city on Thursday. “IS called on loudspeakers on civilians still in Palmyra to leave as fighting reached the outskirts of the city,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, using another acronym for the militants. Recapturing the town, a UNESCO world heritage site, would be a significant victory for the army and its Russian allies. Russia withdrew most of its forces and aircraft from Syria last week after a months-long bombing campaign that succeeded in turning the tide of the war again in President Bashar Assad's favor. From the nearby city of Homs, Gov. Talal Barazi told The Associated Press that the Syrian army has determined three directions to storm Palmyra and was now clearing all roads leading into the town of mines and explosives. “We might witness in the next 48 hours an overwhelming victory in Palmyra,” he said over the phone, adding that “the army is advancing in a precise and organized way to protect what is possible of monuments and archaeological sites.”The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said hat Syrian troops and Shiite militiamen helping them on the ground were facing tough resistance from IS extremists as they try to penetrate the town's limits.
The group, which monitors the Syrian conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said the IS lost over 200 militants since the government campaign to retake Palmyra began 17 days ago. The Observatory did not have figures for government losses. Palmyra attracted tens of thousands of tourists to Syria every year and is affectionately known by Syrians as the “bride of the desert.”In Palmyra, ISIS destroyed many of the town's Roman-era relics, including the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and the iconic Arch of Triumph, and also killed dozens of captive Syrian soldiers and dissidents from IS in public slayings at the town's grand roman theater and other ruins. Along with blowing up priceless archaeological treasures, among the first destructions ISIS carried out in Palmyra was the demolishing of the town's infamous Tadmur prison, where thousands of Syrian government opponents had been imprisoned and tortured over the years.The advance on Palmyra comes against the backdrop of Syrian peace talks underway in Geneva between representative of the Damascus government and the Western-backed opposition. The talks, which have been boosted by a Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire that has mostly held since late February, were to adjourn on Thursday - without having achieved any apparent breakthroughs. (With the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters)

Kerry tells Russia he wants to see further reduction in Syria violence
Reuters, Moscow Thursday, 24 March 2016/US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday a fragile partial truce in Syria had reduced levels of violence there, but that he wanted to see a further reduction as well as greater flows of humanitarian aid. “It’s fair to say three weeks ago there were very very few people who believed a cessation of hostilities was possible in Syria,” Kerry told Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, at the start of talks in Moscow. “The result of that work has produced some progress. There has been a fragile nevertheless beneficial reduction in violence.”

Africa, Arab defence ministers focus on 'terrorism' in Egypt meet
AFP | Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) Thursday, 24 March 2016/Defence ministers and officials of 27 African and Arab countries began a two-day meeting in Egypt on Thursday that will explore military and counter-terrorism cooperation. Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) members were meeting in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, where the Egyptian military deployed in force to secure the conference. “The situation in the Sahel-Saharan states is very worrying,” said the Nigerien CEN-SAD Secretary General Ibrahim Sani Abani in his opening speech, citing weapons and narcotics trafficking, and militant groups such as Boko Haram. “This phenomenon knows no boundaries and no state can protect only itself, it requires a coordinated and concerted response.”In a statement, he had said the meeting would discuss draft agreements on military cooperation and conflict resolution, and drug and arms trafficking. Several of the bloc’s members, including Egypt, are locked in wars with militant groups who have killed thousands of people in attacks and taken control of some territories. “Terrorism and extremism presents a strong threat that has spread across all continents,” Egyptian Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi said in a speech, after calling for a moment of silence for victims of attacks. In Egypt alone, Islamist militants have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, and bombed a plane carrying Russian tourists that had taken off from Sharm El-Sheikh in October, killing 224 people. The meeting in Sharm is the fifth CEN-SAD defence ministers’ meeting since the bloc’s founding in 1998. The group was founded in part to promote a free trade area among member states.

Palestinian charged with hacking Israeli drones
Reuters, Jerusalem Thursday, 24 March 2016/Israel has charged a Palestinian computer hacker from the Gaza Strip with breaking into Israeli military drone camera systems for Islamic militants and gleaning details of civilian aircraft movements.Beersheba District Court said on Wednesday it had charged Majd Oweida, 22, with designing several computer programs to help the Islamic Jihad group - for which he had been working since 2011 - to access Israeli networks. The court in southern Israel did not reveal details of how and where Oweida was taken into Israeli custody. Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip declined to comment on the arrest. According to the court statement, the charges against Oweida include helping Islamic Jihad hack into and monitor broadcasts from Israeli drones flying above Gaza.It said he also hacked signals from Israeli police street cameras and collected flight information from the country’s main Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv.

Israel soldier in West Bank stabbed, alleged attackers shot dead
AFP, Jerusalem Thursday, 24 March /Two allegedly knife-wielding Palestinians seriously wounded an Israeli soldier in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday before being shot dead by troops, an army spokeswoman said. The stabbing came at the entrance to the heavily guarded Jewish settler enclave in the heart of the city, the source of constant tension with its 200,000-strong Palestinian population. It was the latest attack in a wave of violence that has left 200 Palestinians, 28 Israelis, two Americans an Eritrean and a Sudanese dead since October 1, according to an AFP count.

Iraq begins offensive to liberate Mosul
AFP, Baghdad Thursday, 24 March 2016/The Iraqi army said Thursday its troops and allied militia had launched what is expected to be a long and difficult offensive to retake the second city of Mosul, ISIS’s main hub in Iraq. The army and the Popular Mobilization paramilitary force “have begun the first phase of conquest operations” in the northern Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, Iraq’s joint operations command said in a statement. It said four villages had been taken between the town of Qayyarah, which is still held by ISIS, and Makhmur, where US-backed Iraqi forces have been massing in recent weeks. The army did not say how long this phase of the operation was expected to take and Iraqi forces still look far from being in a position to take the city itself. The joint operations command is coordinating the battle by Iraqi security forces to retake the large parts of the country seized by ISIS during a lightning offensive in 2014. It includes representatives from the US-led coalition that has provided air support, training and military advisers for the Iraqi army in its fightback. Iraqi forces have scored important recent gains against ISIS, including by last month retaking Anbar provincial capital Ramadi. But Mosul -- which along with Raqa in Syria is one of the militants’ two main hubs -- would be a major prize for Iraqi forces. Experts have warned that any battle to retake the city will be difficult, given the significant number of jihadists and civilians in the city and the time ISIS has had to prepare defences. Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the US-led operation against ISIS, has said that Iraqi generals do not think they will be able to recapture Mosul until the end of 2016 or early 2017 at the earliest. As they have done in battles to retake cities like Ramadi and Tikrit, Iraqi forces are expected to work slowly and deliberately to cut off supply lines to Mosul before launching an assault on the city. Thousands of troops were deployed in February to a base in Makhmur, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Mosul, in preparation for the offensive. Peshmerga fighters of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region have also been heavily involved in the campaign against ISIS in northern Iraq. The peshmerga deputy commander for the sector, Araz Mirkhan, confirmed to AFP on Thursday that the offensive had started. “Iraq forces in Makhmur have begun their advance towards Qayyarah to the south of Mosul,” he said, referring to the town on the Tigris River to the west of Makhmur. “The advance has allowed us to liberate four or five villages from the Daesh terrorists,” he added, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Iraqi forces collapsed in the face of the 2014 ISIS advance and the jihadist group ultimately overran around a third of the country. ISIS has declared an Islamic “caliphate” in areas under its control in Iraq and in neighboring Syria, where it has also seized significant territory. Imposing its extremist interpretation of Islamic law, ISIS has committed widespread atrocities in areas under its control and launched a wave of attacks against the West, including this week’s bombings in Brussels that killed 31 people.The US-led coalition of Western and Arab nations launched air strikes against ISIS in Iraq in August of 2014 and has killed thousands of the militants. US stages 34 strikes. In a related story, the US-led coalition conducted 34 strikes in Syria and Iraq against ISIS on Wednesday in its latest round of daily strikes against the militants, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. In Syria, eight strikes near four cities - Al Hawl, Manbij, Mar’a and Palmyra -- hit seven of the militant groups’ fighting positions and three tactical units, among other targets, the coalition said in the statement released on Thursday. In Iraq, 26 strikes near nine cities hit an ISIS weapons storage facility and communication facility as well as 12 tactical units, the statement said. The strikes, concentrated near Mosul, Sinjar and Hit, also hit several vehicles, mortar positions and a weapons cache, it added.With Reuters

France detects first case of mad cow disease since 2011
AFP, Paris Thursday, 24 March 2016/France has found an “isolated” case of mad cow disease, its first occurrence since 2011, the agriculture ministry said Thursday. The ministry said the case of BSE had been detected in the northeastern region of the Ardennes, near the Belgian border. “A suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), detected in a five-year-old cow which died prematurely at a cattle farm in Ardennes, was confirmed on March 23 by the European Union reference laboratory,” it said in a statement. The case has been reported to the European Commission and the Paris-based veterinary watchdog, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), it said. The ministry also sought to reassure consumers. “The detection of this case has no impact for the consumer,” it said. BSE is a brain-destroying disease among cattle that sparked a scare in the 1990s when it was found it could also be transmitted to humans who ate beef infected with the agent, a rogue protein called a prion. The epidemic -- of which Britain was the epicentre -- was traced to the use of infected carcasses recycled for animal feed, prompting dozens of countries to strengthen veterinary controls. The number of cases has plummeted, although isolated occurrences persist, according to a tally by the OIE. In 2015, there were single cases in Canada, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia, as well as two cases in Britain, the OIE said on its website Thursday.

Saudi Arabia ‘to deploy all resources’ to ensure safety in Hajj seasons
Saudi Gazette, Riyadh Thursday, 24 March 2016/A three-day workshop began in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to review the emergency Hajj plans taking into account the new developments and changes in the Hajj environment and the ongoing development projects in Holy Sites across the country. Opening the workshop, Saudi Director General of Civil Defense Maj. Sulaiman Al-Amro said the gathering was being held under the directives of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, deputy premier, interior minister and chairman of the Supreme Hajj Committee to 23 ministries and government departments, to review their emergency Hajj plans to ensure consummate services to the pilgrims. He said the government will deploy all its human and material resources to provide the highest degree of safety and security to the pilgrims. “The workshop is within the advance preparations for the Hajj season to ensure the success of all its phases and stages,” he said. Amro said the workshop would discuss last year’s Hajj plans to benefit from its lessons and will also consider the new development schemes which have been executed this year by the Holy Sites and the Grand Mosque. He said the participants would also discuss the operational plans of each ministry and government department involved in the Hajj services. “The Civil Defense will coordinate with all the parties involved to further promote its services and will consider the lessons of last year’s Hajj season especially the stampede,” he added. The director said joint teams comprising specialists in formulating the emergency plans would be established to implement the emergency Hajj plan. Amro said the workshop would discuss new technologies and the planning procedures to reduce risks during the Hajj. “The workshop will also discuss the emergency medical evacuation plans and the role of the charity organizations and the media in the implementation of the emergency Hajj plan,” Amro said. This article was first published by the Saudi Gazette on March 24, 2016.

Iranian Hamid Firoozi hacked US dam system
Reuters, Washington Thursday, 24 March 2016/One of seven Iranian suspects indicted by the US government and linked to the Iranian government hacked into the system controlling an American dam in 2013, prosecutors announced Thursday. Hamid Firoozi repeatedly hacked into the system which controlled Bowman Dam in Rye, New York between August and September 2013, allowing him to obtain information about the status and operation of the facility, the indictment said. The news came after the Obama administration was expected to blame Iranian hackers as soon as Thursday for a coordinated campaign of cyber attacks in 2012 and 2013 on several US banks and a New York dam, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against about a half-dozen Iranians, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. It is one of the highest-profile US indictments against a foreign nation on hacking charges. It follows a landmark 2014 case in which a grand jury charged five members of the Chinese military with hacking into American computer networks and engaging in cyber espionage on behalf of a foreign government. The charges, related to unlawful access to computers and other alleged crimes, were expected to be announced publicly by US officials as soon as Thursday morning at a news conference in Washington, the sources said. The indictment was expected to directly link the hacking campaign to the Iranian government, one source said. The banks will not be identified in the indictment due to fear of retaliation, the source said. Though a planned indictment for the breach of back-office computer systems at the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, New York, has been reported, it was only part of a hacking campaign that was broader than previously known, as the indictment will show, the sources said. The dam breach coincided roughly with a spate of distributed denial of service attacks in 2012 that hit more than a half dozen US financial institutions and the two episodes were long suspected of being connected. Cyber security experts have said these, too, were perpetrated by Iranian hackers against Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, PNC Financial Services and SunTrust Bank. In the intrusion of the dam computers, the hackers did not gain operational control of the floodgates, and investigators believe they were attempting to test their capabilities. The hackers who were expected to be named in the indictment all reside in Iran, one source said. The Justice Department declined to comment.

UN rights team will seek to hold N. Korea leaders to account
AFP, Geneva Thursday, 24 March 2016/The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday voted to create an expert group to explore legal pathways to hold North Korea’s leadership accountable for widespread and horrific rights abuses in the country. The UN’s top rights body adopted a resolution voicing deep concern at the findings in a landmark 2014 report that North Korea is wracked by “widespread and gross human rights violations ... that in many instances, constitute crimes against humanity,” and which are “pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State for decades.” Condemning the “impunity of perpetrators”, the resolution, which passed by consensus, called on the office of UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to “designate, for a period of six months, a maximum of two existing independent experts” to help the UN’s main rights expert on North Korea. The new expert group, the resolution said, should “focus on issues of accountability for human rights violations in the country, in particular where such violations amount to crimes against humanity.”It will be tasked with recommending “practical mechanisms of accountability to secure truth and justice for the victims,” including referral to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.Last month, the outgoing UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in North Korea, Marzuki Darusman, issued a report calling for Pyongyang’s leadership to be held criminally responsible for egregious abuses. In the report, he called for “an official communication” from the UN to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un about the prospect of investigations and prosecutions. The report said the UN should advise Kim “and other senior leaders that they may be investigated and, if found to be responsible, held accountable for crimes against humanity committed under their leadership.”He decried that the vast array of horrifying crimes documented in the 2014 report “appear to continue”. “Political prison camps remain in operation. Reports of torture and other violations against prisoners in political and ordinary prisons continue,” the report. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Darusman, who will hand the baton on to a new special rapporteur on North Korea after the Human Rights Council wraps up its main annual session Thursday, said the responsibility for the ongoing abuses in the country undoubtedly “lies with the government.”

US charges consultant to Iran’s UN mission
Reuters, New York Thursday, 24 March 2016/US prosecutors on Wednesday unveiled criminal charges at a New York court hearing against a consultant to the Iranian mission to the United Nations. Ahmad Sheikhzadeh, 60, is accused of charges related to sanctions violations, money laundering and tax matters, his lawyer, Steve Zissou, said at the hearing. Sheikhzadeh had pleaded not guilty at a prior hearing, the lawyer said. US District Judge Pamela Chen set a $3 million bond and restricted the defendant from going to the Iranian mission, after a federal prosecutor expressed concern about whether Sheikhzadeh might seek sanctuary or become a flight risk. “He does work for a hostile government,” Assistant US Attorney Tali Farhadian told the judge. Iran and the United States have no diplomatic relations. The defendant was arrested nearly three weeks ago, court records show. Further details on the charges were not immediately available because the underlying indictment was filed under seal.“We will vigorously fight these charges,” Zissou said after the hearing.

Karadzic Guilty of Genocide, Jailed for 40 Years
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/March 24/16/U.N. war crimes judges on Thursday found former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic guilty of genocide and sentenced him to 40 years in jail over the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. The court said Karadzic, the most high-profile figure convicted over the wars that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s, bore criminal responsibility for murder and persecution in the Bosnian conflict. Judge O-Gon Kwon said the court in The Hague found Karadzic guilty of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and nine other charges of murder, persecution, and hostage-taking. But in what will be a blow to thousands of victims, the court said it did not have enough evidence to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that genocide had been committed in seven Bosnian towns and villages over two decades ago. It marks the end of a marathon trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for Karadzic's role during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war that claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced 2.2 million others. The 70-year-old listened stony-faced as Kwon said it was clear Karadzic bore "individual criminal responsibility" for murder, persecution as well as the hostage-taking of U.N. peacekeepers. Karadzic "was at the apex of political, governmental and military structures" of the Bosnian Serb leadership and "at the forefront of developing and promoting its ideologies," Kwon said. "I hope this court will fulfill its mission and put this man behind bars. Our children are dead," Munira Subasic, from the Mother's of Srebrenica, told AFP before the verdict. "I hope finally the lies that have been told in Bosnia will be exposed," she added. Karadzic, 70, is the highest-profile politician from the Balkans conflicts to be judged, after former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic died in his prison cell while on trial in 2006. U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein hailed the verdict as "hugely significant". The hearing, which has drawn more than 200 journalists and over 100 other diplomats and observers, took place amid tight security, with one police officer saying they were on "extra alert" following Tuesday's attacks in neighboring Belgium. Karadzic, as president of the breakaway Republika Srpska, was accused of taking part in a joint criminal scheme to "permanently remove Muslim and Bosnian Croat inhabitants... from areas claimed as Bosnian Serb territory". This was done through a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing, indiscriminate killings, persecutions and terror. A long-time fugitive from justice until his arrest on a Belgrade bus in 2008, Karadzic, a one-time psychiatrist with his trademark bouffant hairdo, was found guilty for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in eastern Bosnia. Almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered and their bodies dumped in mass graves by Bosnian Serb forces who brushed aside Dutch U.N. peacekeepers in the supposedly "safe area."The massacre was the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II. He was also found guilty of being behind the 44-month siege of Sarajevo in which 10,000 civilians died in a relentless campaign of sniping and shelling. "It’s a hugely significant day today for international justice," said Jasna Causevic, 58, one of the protesters outside the ICTY. "Karadzic and his group, including Milosevic, divided Bosnia and that's still the case today," she told AFP. In an unexpected earlier drama, the former spokeswoman for ex-chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte was detained at the tribunal by U.N. guards. Florence Hartmann had been convicted of contempt and sentenced to seven days in jail for revealing confidential court details in a 2007 book. During the trial, which open in 2009 and ended in October 2014 after an exhausting 497 days in the courtroom, some 115,000 pages of documentary evidence were presented along with 586 witnesses. Lavien Partawie, 25, waiting outside the court with the Society for Threatened Peoples, said: "It is important for the victims of Bosnia Herzegovina. We are hoping to get justice."

Obama and Netanyahu: The final countdown
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/March 2 4/16
Presidential election campaigns in the US tend to stretch longer than in the past and to consume every ounce of the country’s political energy. Spending this week in New York, really hits home how divided the society here is, ¬¬¬more than I can recall for a very long time. It is especially embodied in the vile and violent presidential campaign run by Donald Trump and his cronies. At the same time, it is also the final countdown for the eight years of President Obama in the White House, who seems to accomplish in his last year or so in office what he had not achieved in the previous seven years. Surprisingly enough, despite deep divisions in Washington and a Republican controlled Congress, in its dying months the Obama administration accomplished some notable foreign and domestic policy successes.
Reaching a deal with Iran over its nuclear program and then passing it in Congress, playing a major part in reaching the Paris climate change agreement and resuming diplomatic relations with Cuba after more than five decades of animosity, are quite a respectful list. However, one of the major failures for the current US president has been his inability to mediate peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, despite setting it as a major priority from the very early days of his presidency.
The dent of not advancing a peace in the Middle East cannot be separated from the problematic and gradual deterioration of relations between President Obama and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Last week Netanyahu,for instance, cancelled a visit to the US where he had been scheduled to attend the conference of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. Apparently, the cancellation of the visit was to avoid a meeting the American president.
Already in his first year in the White House, in a visit to Cairo, Obama expressed the supreme importance he attached to bringing about an end to the decades long Israeli – Palestinian conflict. He even became the first person to receive the Noble Peace Prize, the same year, for intentions to bring peace rather than actually reaching a successful peace agreement. His inexperience, even naivety, to be fair, were initially a major obstacle in his peace efforts. Later, and for the rest of his time in office, this inexperience was conflated with the gravest turmoil in the region, which made his efforts at peace increasingly more complex.
Painful learning curve
Nevertheless, much of the inability to overcome the fundamental causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rooted inside Israel and Palestine and the way it is played into US domestic politics. With the exception of short two months, President Obama has dealt with one Israeli prime minister only, Netanyahu, and this has been a steep and painful learning curve. Beyond becoming a national embarrassment for Israel, Netanyahu’s approach is harming Israel’s national interests and worse prolonging a conflict, which unnecessarily inflicts misery on so many Palestinians and to a lesser extent Israelis.
In a recent and wide-ranging series of interviews with American commentator Jeffery Goldberg for the Atlantic, Obama took off the gloves in portraying the way he sees Netanyahu’s leadership. As a matter of fact Obama expressed his general disappointment and disillusionment with leadership in the Middle East, but asserts that Netanyahu in this sense “…is in his own category.” Now that Obama is free of any elections, he articulates, one might argue vents, both personal distaste for the arrogance and condescending nature of the Israeli leader’s manner, as much as for his policies and lack of leadership.
Netanyahu has long made an utter nuisance of himself in lecturing consecutive US presidents on the complexity and pitfalls of the region, as if they were first year students in Middle East politics. This according to Goldberg, did not fail to irritate Obama to the point of clarifying to Netanyahu that reaching the highest office in the United States, especially with his background, should indicate that he was smart enough to understand the multilayered challenges of the Middle East. They do not see eye to eye on politics inthe region or even what is good for the Jewish state’slong-term survival.
It reminded of a story told to me some time ago by a former senior aide to President Reagan. He had met with Netanyahu in the early 1980s, when Netanyahu was a mid-rank appointee diplomat in the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. Over lunch the young Israeli diplomat preached to this senior American official about the approach the US administration should follow in its foreign policy. Netanyahu sometimes sees this blunt approach as good old-fashioned Israeli ‘chtutzpah’, even charm, which helps him to get his way. This senior advisor, however, failed to see any charm in Netanyahu’s attitude and refused to see this budding politician ever again.
Beyond becoming a national embarrassment for Israel, Netanyahu’s approach is harming Israel’s national interests and worse prolonging a conflict, which unnecessarily inflicts misery on so many Palestinians and to a lesser extent Israelis. His approach toward negotiation with Iran failed colossally, and in his irresponsible efforts to undermine a US president on his domestic turf created an irreparable rift, at least until there is a new president. This compounded with intransigence on expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and imposing a blockade on Gaza, rendered the chance of any successful peace negotiations impossible. As much as one feels much sympathy for Obama’s frustration with the Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, one also cannot ignore Obama’s own responsibility for not showing firmer leadership and confronting Israel about the Palestinian issue the same way he did with the Iranian one. It is never easy for an American president to challenge Israel, considering the US domestic political configuration and the deep-rooted strategic and historical ties between the two countries. Unfortunately in failing to do so, he compromised the chances of achievingan historic peace in the Middle East to the detriment of Israeli-Palestinian and also his own country’s interests.

Why is Europe an ISIS target?
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/March 2 4/16
The terrorist attacks that targeted Brussels, the capital of Europe, carry several significant messages. It came right after the arrest of the mastermind of the Paris attacks – carried out on November 13 last year – which suggests that terrorists are proving to be unstoppable no matter how much efforts are made to catch them. For each fighter getting killed or captured, there are two that surface. This also suggests that this group of individuals don’t really need a leader and can carry out acts of terrorism more or less on their own. Terrorists are trying to undermine peace and security in Europe to derail its social development, target the center of the Union and end their liberty. They believe this will impact the future of Europe and dramatically weaken the West. At least that is what these terrorists aspire for. They are also intent on sending a strong message that they have a presence inside these countries and that they are in a position to strike at any time. This message is strengthened by the fact that they have managed to carry out attacks despite very high security measures. For months since the Paris attacks, Belgium has been living under the threat of terrorism. Yet the security agencies have failed and terrorists have managed to spread fear and panic. Responsibility for what has happened must be shared by many players. Those who are behind and responsible for these attacks are not just based in Belgium but have global presence and are also linked to each other.
ISIS propaganda materials always address its target audience. They highlight the “humiliating condition” of Muslims living in other countries. They also emphasize that Muslims have had to flee their homelands as life there had become unbearable due to outside intervention and that imperialistic policies of invading countries have destroyed the Muslim world.
Such messages are available in high quality visually attractive media packages and are delivered by means of colorful ISIS magazines, video messages and other components of ISIS media machine. They find resonance in the minds of the migrants, even those belonging to the second generation. Belgium adopted the most dangerous model of multiculturalism in which newcomers to their land, who had lost their natural surroundings, were not proposed to integrate socially, mentally, or culturally under the pretext of show of respect for their culture. Their minds, in the absence of a foundation of their own culture and without a firm background of their motherland, become susceptible to this propaganda. Brussels and Belgium have mostly been indifferent to what is happening with its Muslim communities. Extremist literature is sold openly in their bookshops. Activities taking place inside mosques and those of the preachers have not been monitored in the manner they should have been or have been entirely neglected. Belgium adopted the most dangerous model of multiculturalism in which newcomers to their land, who had lost their natural surroundings, were not proposed to integrate socially, mentally, or culturally under the pretext of show of respect for their culture. Apparently this respect didn’t include their dignity and equality of all inside the society. This problem is more or less common in other European societies. The West’s inadequate and shortsighted policies have brought the Middle East region to the brink of collapse, leading to conditions that give rise to extremism of all kinds based primarily on the immense hatred toward “non-believers”, as ISIS propaganda labels the West.
Failed policies
By continuing the same policy in the Middle East and trying to fight terrorism using insufficient means the West is aggravating the situation. This is causing migrant influx to Europe, which gets infiltrated by ISIS fighters. The process is perpetuated by the same failed policies on adaptation and assimilation fronts. All these put together make the current refugee problem a truly explosive mixture. In the current circumstances, Russia’s traditional “I told you so” position has a major significance for the Western counterparts. It is true that most of its predictions over the Western policies in the Middle East have come true. However, its own current policy now raises deep concerns and questions and it is time for all the sides to unite the forces to fight the terrorist and extremist threat. Russia could be an important element here taking into account its own experience of tackling terrorism and extremism on its territory.
Uniting forces should not only mean cooperation but also understanding that all lives matter. This approach of the whole world mourning victims of terrorism in the West is unacceptable. The lack of adequate response toward terrorist attacks killing tens and hundreds in the Middle East and the tragedies in Europe leave a feeling that most of the world still considers non-western world as one of another kind where lives are far less valuable than that of the “civilized Europeans”.Such an approach shows deep lack of trust and gives new alibi to extremists and their propagandists. The world should stand strong and united in its fight against extremism and work with the Muslim community on measures to counter the ISIS propaganda. We are all in one boat and if we start to sink nobody will survive.

Islam’s pirates
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 2 4/16
It was a bloody day for Belgium. Explosions left dozens killed and over 140 wounded. Europe went on a state of alert and French President Francois Hollande called for urgent meeting in Paris. This hideous aggression dealt a huge blow to the country. If initial statements made by the Belgian attorney general are to be believed, the number of victims is expected to rise. These attacks in the heart of Belgium were meant to avenge last week’s arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a key suspect in last year’s Paris attacks. For a long time, Belgium has been vulnerable to terror cells operating within the country. The country has been a major base for activities of armed organizations operating across Europe. The cell of Tarek Maaroufi – which assassinated the Afghan military and political leader Ahmad Shah Massoud on September 9, 2001 – was also based in Brussels.

Fundamentalists’ hub
The area of Molenbeek in Belgium has been known to be the fundamentalists’ headquarter from where they have been active in planning assassinations in and outside Europe. The leader of the deadly Paris attacks was Abdulhamid Abaoud, a 27-year-old man of Moroccan descent, who has also operated from Syria.A study by the Economist magazine in 2014 showed that Belgium is the western country to have provided the largest proportion of fighters to Syria and Iraq compared to its population. The study showed that there are 22 extremist Belgians for each 1 million. In Denmark, it is 17 extremists for every million while in France it is 11 extremists for each 1 million. All in all, Belgium, whose population is estimated at 11 million, has 250 extremist fighters in Syria and Iraq. It is frightening to see this bright continent which has enlightened the world with arts, sciences and law, witness such a horrible day as it comes under terrorist fire.

Who exactly are the new Syrians?
Dr. Halla Diyab/Al Arabiya/March 2 4/16/
As divided politicians gathered in a small white marquee pitched on a sweeping lawn at the UN’s Palais des Nations in Geneva, their division spoke of the shrinking hopes of finding a political route out of the overdue Syrian peace talks. Meanwhile, the shores of the Mediterranean were lined with hope for ships passing in the dark nightwith refugees and potential extremists. Five years on from the Syrian uprising, the international community is fixated on questions of how and when the two sides will agree on a political resolution. However, another question has received little or none of the world’s attention, which is “who exactly are the new Syrians?” The Syrian crisis has resulted in the largest refugee exodus in recent history. The armed conflict, which erupted five years ago, has forced over eleven million Syrians out of their homes, with 7.6 million internally displaced and four million fleeing Syria. According to the UNHCR data, in Europe alone Syrian asylum applications exceeds 897,645 and the continent has 4,812,204 registered Syrian refugees. Syrian refugees are in the top ten nationalities of Mediterranean Sea arrivals, which numbered 156,519 in 2016. And as thousands of native Syrians pour out of Syria, attempting to reach Europe across the Mediterranean, there are thousands of Europeans openly travelling to Syria to fight with the terrorist group ISIS – possibly over 6,000 according to one EU source. Unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS has established territorial existence in the heart of the Middle East, something which will facilitate the process of settlement and support its long-term goals of reconstructing the identity of Syria. This spatial and ideological crossover is remapping the Syrian existence and these interconnected journeys, together with the rapid territorial expansion of ISIS in Syria – 50 percent of which is reportedly occupied by terrorists– urgently beg the question whether this mass movement of people is a straightforward exodus of desperation for a better life and the desire for survival, or rather, a strategic ISIS orchestrated ploy to eliminate Syrians from Syria, and a war of Syrian extermination.
With the political instability, and increasing upheaval since the uprising, the mass departure of Syrians on boats and the rapid vacation of Syrian land is an opportunity for ISIS to reinforce its territorial existence in Syria by taking over the land and deserted houses. They can fill these with the European and foreign extremists who are flocking to the country, either immigrating with their families or being encouraged to start new families.
This process of extremist resettlement is not only taking advantage of the precarious situation in Syria but is also supporting the long-term goal of ISIS to rear the next generation of loyalists, who will not only be ideologically indoctrinated with the extremists’ narrative but will also be identified with the territorial existence of ISIS on Syrian land. Unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS has established territorial existence in the heart of the Middle East, something which will facilitate the process of settlement and support its long-term goals of reconstructing the identity of Syria by raising a whole new extremist generation in the county.
The breeding strategy of ISIS is based on offering generous financial incentives to the extremists to facilitate their family’s start up project, topped up with additional money for each child born. With ISIS’ influential propaganda machine successfully attracting thousands of foreigners to Syria, the group is achieving an acceleration of their program of eliminating diversity in the Syrian population and systematically transforming Syria into an ISIS’ state. This represents a gradual and internationally unacknowledged operation of cleansing and genocide of the Syrian people.
With estimates suggesting that the majority of Syrians will be located outside Syria in the coming years, relocating to different parts of the world and taking their culture with them, a territorial and cultural vacuum is being created. The ISIS is eradicating any traces of the most iconic Syrian cultural heritage and zealously pouring their own constructed culture into the void. The population shifts of militants and foreign fighters, and the generation that may follow it, will eventually become known as the new Syrians, with their culture not referred to as ISIS culture, but Syrian culture.
Transnational identity
ISIS transnational identity relies on the elimination of the Syrians’ national identity, but more significantly on the elevation and prioritizing of the rights and presence of Muslims from outside Syria above the indigenous Syrians. This ideological underpinning was manifested in the first audio speech of the group’s self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, where he encourages Muslims to immigrate to Syria as “Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis … The [Islamic] State is a state for all Muslims”. The land is for the Muslims, all the Muslims”. History has an abundance of examples comparable to the Syrian scenario where people have had to leave their home countries en masse to survive war or oppression. In the 1970s millions of Indochinese took to the seas, fleeing conflict and brutal communist dictatorship; and many perished on these journeys of desperation. But the historical peculiarity of the Syrian situation is that it was sparked by an uprising which was aimed to bring a more politically and socially just society. However the uprising backfired and the country regressed into a state of collapse with the majority of its population fleeing their homeland. According to reports, 75 percent of Syrian refugees are men, 12 percent women and 13 percent children; Syria is gradually being emptied of its youth, and the possibility of viable political opposition thriving within the country is increasingly unlikely, The country is left a divided territory with armed factions fighting each other and al-Assad inside Syria, leaving no real hope for any political reform or rebuilding of the country’s destroyed infrastructure. The spatial exchange is causing the replacement of Syrians with foreign terrorists who have no emotional or national attachment to the country. This can play into the hands of ISIS’ brutality as it allows these fighters to ruthlessly carry out savage atrocities against Syria’s thousand years of ethnic and religious diversity, with the aim of constructing a Syria populated by extremists receptive to the extreme narrative of  With the international community focusing its attention on the peace talks in Geneva, and the rising refugee crisis, we cannot afford to disregard the growing threat of ISIS gradually presenting themselves as the new face of Syria, and so we must not be allowed to be fooled into forgetting to ask in whose interest lies the emptiness of Syria of its people? And in what direction Syria is heading if the situation continues as it is now? And, most importantly, how will the world manage the increasing danger of the new Syrians?

Jihad in Brussels
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/March 24/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7685/jihad-in-brussels
"Islam belongs in Europe.... I am not afraid to say that political Islam should be part of the picture." — Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The Western narrative represents a complete refusal to examine the doctrines of Islam, out of fear of offending Muslims. This is not a purely European phenomenon. The Obama Administration ordered a cleansing of training materials that Islamic groups deemed offensive.
One crucial aspect of sharia that the West refuses to internalize is the injunction to perform jihad, both violent and non-violent.
"[T]he most important factor is Belgium's culture of denial... Observers who point to unpleasant truths such as the high incidence of crime among Moroccan youth and violent tendencies in radical Islam are accused of being propagandists of the extreme-right, and are subsequently ignored and ostracized." — Teun Voten, a Dutch cultural anthropologist who lived in a Muslim area of Brussels between 2005 and 2014.
Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on June 24, 2015, at a conference aptly named "Call to Europe V: Islam in Europe":
"The idea of a clash between Islam and 'the West'... has misled our policies and our narratives. Islam holds a place in our Western societies. Islam belongs in Europe.... I am not afraid to say that political Islam should be part of the picture."
Nine months later, the ignorance, willful blindness and sheer incompetence regarding even the most basic tenets of Islam, which Mogherini betrayed in her statement has reaped yet another lethal result. What she said is fairly representative of the view aired in public by the European political and cultural establishment.
Thirty-one people were killed and around 300 wounded in Brussels on March 22, in the bombings of Brussels airport and Maalbeek metro station, at the heart of the European Union itself. ISIS took responsibility for these latest terrorist attacks
Mogherini, at an official press conference in Jordan, broke down in tears during her comments on the day's terrorist attacks. But the pain she, as one of the highest-profile representatives of the EU, exhibited on behalf of the many killed and wounded in Europe, is self-inflicted. It is Europe's immunity to facts that has led directly to the current state of utter chaos in European security matters.
Predictably, ISIS tried to justify the attacks by claiming that Belgium was targeted because it was "a country participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State" -- despite Belgium having participated only in a limited bombing campaign in Iraq that ended nine months ago. Clearly, the Iraq campaign had nothing to do with the Brussels attacks, but served as a useful excuse because this kind of reasoning feeds into the dominant narrative in Europe, as expounded by Federica Mogherini.
The current Western narrative represents a persistent and unfaltering refusal to examine the doctrines of Islam, out of fear of offending Muslims. This refusal is not a European phenomenon. The White House ordered a cleansing of training materials that Islamic groups deemed offensive as far back as five years ago. In 2013, the Washington Times also reported that countless experts on Islamic terrorism were banned from speaking to any U.S. government counterterrorism conferences, which include those of the FBI and the CIA. Government agencies were instead ordered to invite Muslim Brotherhood front groups.
Western political and military establishments, as well as media and cultural elites, refuse to examine the political and military doctrines of Islam, and make them a subject of honest intellectual inquiry. When they are facing an enemy that uses these very doctrines as its reason for being, this refusal can only be described as gross malfeasance and reckless endangerment.
The political and cultural elites regularly communicate a deep fear that the fight against terrorism, if taken too far, may compromise the very democratic values and freedoms that this fight is meant to preserve. What they ignore is the irony that, by abdicating the right freely to inquire about -- and discuss -- the nature of Islam, they have already compromised the most fundamental democratic value: freedom of thought, expressed by freedom of speech.
Political Islam is indeed already very much a part of the picture in Europe, but not quite in the way Mogherini imagined it.
The political and military doctrines of Islam -- the political Islam to which Mogherini so casually refers -- are codified in Islamic law, sharia, as found in the Quran and the hadiths. Unlike prevailing misconceptions on Islam, these doctrines are not, in mainstream Islam, subject to mitigating interpretations.
The Islamic injunction to perform jihad, both violent and non-violent, seems an aspect of sharia the West refuses to internalize. CIA director John Brennan, in a 2010 speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, when he was deputy national security advisor for homeland security, described jihad as,
"a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women, and children." This is simply not true. As Dr. Majid Rafizadeh writes, the Quran is not open to interpretation:
"The Qur'an has descended, word for word, from the creator Allah, through Muhammad. This is accepted throughout the entirety of the Islamic word... a true Muslim, who represent[s] the real Islam, should be the one who follows and obeys Allah's words (from the Qur'an) completely. As a result, anyone who ignores some of the rules is not, and cannot be, considered a reflection of Islam, a good Muslim, or even a Muslim."
Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Nasr, a scholar of Islamic law and graduate of Egypt's Al Azhar University, explained in November 2015 why the prestigious institution, which educates mainstream Islamic scholars, refuses to denounce ISIS as un-Islamic:
"The Islamic State is a byproduct of Al Azhar's programs. So can Al Azhar denounce itself as un-Islamic? Al Azhar says there must be a caliphate and that it is an obligation for the Muslim world. Al Azhar teaches the law of apostasy and killing the apostate. Al Azhar is hostile towards religious minorities, and teaches things like not building churches, etc. Al Azhar upholds the institution of jizya [extracting tribute from religious minorities]. Al Azhar teaches stoning people. So can Al Azhar denounce itself as un-Islamic?"
Yusuf al-Qaradawi is an extremely influential Islamic cleric and jurist. He is the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, president of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, and the host of a popular Al-Jazeera TV program about sharia. Qaradawi has stated that, "the shariah cannot be amended to conform to changing human values and standards. Rather it is the absolute norm to which all human values and conduct must conform." Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also an Islamist leader, has repeatedly rejected Western attempts to portray his country as an example of "moderate Islam." He states that such a concept is "ugly and offensive; there is no moderate Islam. Islam is Islam."
The jihadists who carry out terrorist attacks in the service of ISIS are merely following the commands in Quran 9:5, "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them..." and Quran 8:39, "So fight them until there is no more fitna [strife] and all submit to the religion of Allah."
Of course, not all Muslims adhere to this view of sharia. Many devout Muslims, including Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, have said they wish to reform it.
There is, however, a persistent refusal by many in the West to acknowledge that sharia is the doctrine with which jihadists justify the war they wage on the West. This refusal is a most dangerous form of dishonesty; it has arguably already cost hundreds of lives on both American and European soil.
Unless Islam is radically reformed, and progressive Muslims are supported in a serious way (instead of bypassed in favor of Muslim Brotherhood fronts and other questionable organizations), these kind of terrorist attacks -- and worse -- could well become even more common throughout the West.
The infantile refusal of many government leaders to face the hard facts about the nature of Islam's tenets, as opposed to indulging in fanciful utopian fantasies, will not change the plans of jihadists; it will only embolden them.
There is now speculation that the terrorist attacks in Brussels might have been revenge for the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, who was apprehended last week as a suspect in the Paris terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015. This speculation misses the point. This time, the excuse is the arrest of a high-profile terrorist; with the next attack, the excuse will be something else. There is never any shortage of things that "offend" jihadists. The heart of the matter, however, is the criminally negligent way in which European and American officials deal with the fundamental issue of the doctrines of Islam.
In a revealing article published November 21, 2015, Teun Voten, a cultural anthropologist who lived in the Muslim majority Molenbeek district of Brussels between 2005 and 2014, asks himself how Molenbeek became the jihadi base of Europe. His answer:
"...the most important factor is Belgium's culture of denial. The country's political debate has been dominated by a complacent progressive elite who firmly believes society can be designed and planned. Observers who point to unpleasant truths such as the high incidence of crime among Moroccan youth and violent tendencies in radical Islam are accused of being propagandists of the extreme-right, and are subsequently ignored and ostracized.
"The debate is paralyzed by a paternalistic discourse in which radical Muslim youths are seen, above all, as victims of social and economic exclusion. They in turn internalize this frame of reference, of course, because it arouses sympathy and frees them from taking responsibility for their actions. The former Socialist mayor Philippe Moureax, who governed Molenbeek from 1992 to 2012 as his private fiefdom, perfected this culture of denial and is to a large extent responsible for the current state of affairs in the neighborhood. "Two journalists had already reported on the presence of radical Islamists in Molenbeek and the danger they posed -- and both became victims of character assassination."
This terror-enabling culture of willful ignorance and denial continues up until today -- compounded by the lack of a central and unified security authority in Brussels. The city has 19 mayors, one for each borough assembly -- as exemplified by the current mayor of Molenbeek, Françoise Schepmans.
One month prior to the Paris attacks, Schepmans received a list "with the names and addresses of more than 80 people suspected as Islamic militants living in her area," according to the New York Times. The list was based on information from Belgium's security apparatus, and included three of the terrorists behind the Paris attacks, including Salah Abdeslam. "What was I supposed to do about them? It is not my job to track possible terrorists," Mayor Schepmans said. "That is the responsibility of the federal police."
Federica Mogherini, the EU's de facto foreign minister (posing at left with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif) said last year, "Islam belongs in Europe.... I am not afraid to say that political Islam should be part of the picture." Françoise Schepmans (right), mayor of the Molenbeek district of Brussels, received a list with the names and addresses of over 80 suspected Islamic militants living in her area. "What was I supposed to do about them? It is not my job to track possible terrorists," she said. "That is the responsibility of the federal police."
This lack of accountability can only exacerbate an already dire situation. Far more damning, according to reports, is that Belgian authorities had accurate advance warnings that terrorists planned to launch attacks at Brussels airport and in the subway -- yet they failed to act. This extremely lax approach to security appears to be a widespread problem in the Belgian -- and probably European -- political and security apparatus.
If there is to be any hope of fighting the terror threats against the West, and actually bringing public life back to a semblance of normality, at an absolute minimum the politics of willful ignorance, political correctness, and denial will have to go.
**Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
© 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.

Banking sanctions take center stage as Iranian rhetoric toughens
Mohammad Ali Shabani/Al-Monitor/March 24/16
All is not well in post-sanctions Iran. In his first Nowruz message since the signing and implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), President Hassan Rouhani was muted about the sanctions relief. He only used the word “sanctions” twice, and when he did, he merely broadly stated, “Banking, financial, monetary, oil, gas, petrochemical, insurance and transportation sanctions … have been lifted. Conditions for the economic activities of our people have gotten greater and greater."
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is of a different mindset. In his Nowruz speech, in which he referred to “sanctions” at least 28 times, Khamenei stated, “The Americans have said that they would lift sanctions, and they have actually done so on paper, but through other ways and methods, they are acting in a way that the result of sanctions repeal will not be witnessed at all.”
Normalization of Iran’s trade with the world is of utmost importance to the Iranian leadership for multiple reasons. For Rouhani and his moderate camp, political fortunes are greatly tied to the JCPOA having a tangible impact on the lives of ordinary Iranians. Indeed, for those seeking a more open Iran, it is greatly unfortunate that the lifting of banking and financial sanctions has done little to remove fears about doing business with Iran. If you don’t believe the Iranian insiders who tell Al-Monitor that few to none of the major players yet dare go near Iran, listen to Ayatollah Khamenei, who usually avoids going into detail.
“Today, in all Western countries and in all those countries that are under their influence, our banking transactions have been blocked. We have a problem bringing our wealth — which has been kept in their banks — back to the country. We have a problem conducting different financial transactions that require the assistance of banks. … The US Department of the Treasury acts in a way … that big companies, agencies and banks do not dare to approach the Islamic Republic and have business transactions with it.”
To grasp the impact of lingering fears about engaging with Iranian banks and businesses, one must consider the motivations for Iran’s strategic decision to negotiate over its nuclear program. Moreover, one must grasp the nature of decision-making in the Islamic Republic.
The economic pain of the sanctions did not decisively bring Iran to the table. Rather, what contributed to changing calculations was concern over who Iranians may blame for the pain. Iran is no exception to the rule that all politics is local. Thus, a key motive for the Islamic Republic’s decision to seriously engage with the six world powers was to prove to Iranians that it has reasonably and in good faith sought a resolution to the nuclear issue. Khamenei’s aim was to show Iranians that their leadership has left no stone unturned in pursuing their interests. The centrality of avoiding blame extends to the very heart of Iran’s complex decision-making.
While Khamenei has final say on key national security and foreign policy issues, there are many decision shapers. The supreme leader’s ultimate role is to act as the check in a state void of institutions strong enough to provide systemic balance. Thus, while having final say on important matters of state, the supreme leader often also acts as a bellwether of the political climate. Though complex and cumbersome, Iranian decision-making has certain benefits — at least for the political leadership. One member of the Supreme National Security Council, the highest decision-making body in Iran, told Al-Monitor in late 2014, amid the nuclear negotiations, “Once a decision is made, it is very strong … if anything goes wrong, there is no one person to blame. The [political] system will say, ‘OK, we did our best, but … everybody was involved, [and] it seems we took the wrong decision.’ Otherwise, this blame game will cripple the country." It is against this backdrop that one must view Khamenei’s specific and repeated reference to the continued troubles of Iranian banks in his Nowruz speech.
To be fair, Khamenei’s anti-American discourse, which centers on words like “treachery” and “animosity,” has been amplified by a series of bad experiences stretching over the terms of four Iranian presidents. In the 1990s, then-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s outreach to US oil firms was met with Congress’ passage of the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, the foundation for subsequent secondary US sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector. In the early 2000s, under then-President Mohammad Khatami, tacit Iranian-American collaboration to successfully overthrow the Taliban ended as the Islamic Republic was labeled a member of the infamous “Axis of Evil.” Moreover, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran-US dialogue on Iraq faltered, while the White House not only rejected a nuclear fuel swap it had promoted but opted to instead push for intensified UN Security Council sanctions.
Despite these missed opportunities, most Iranians have so far favored engagement with the United States, as evidenced by their support for the JCPOA and the preceding negotiations. However, there are new and potentially troublesome dynamics at play that may greatly feed sentiment that faults the United States for the continued ostracizing of the Iranian economy.
In the past, talk of American treachery has fallen on deaf ears among many Iranians, partly because the Islamic Republic’s dealings with the United States were largely kept in the dark. In contrast, the highly publicized nature of the direct, high-level Iran-US engagement that led to the JCPOA has paved the way for anti-American sentiment to potentially find new breeding ground in Iran — should the United States come to be perceived as duplicitous.
To this end, there is a strong and shared interest between Rouhani and US President Barack Obama that ordinary Iranians imminently see — and feel — the normalization of Iran’s economic engagement with the world.
What is at stake is less about the future of the JCPOA and more about the risk of inopportune shifts in the Iranian political landscape at a crucial crossroads. Over the next 15 months, both Iran and the United States are set to hold important presidential elections. For President Obama, facilitating US commitments under the JCPOA is thus not only about securing an important aspect of his legacy, but more so, ensuring that his successor — whomever he or she may be — will encounter the same constructive Iranian approach he has benefited from so much. If not, it will be to the detriment of all.

Israeli security firm’s advice on Brussels airport security unheeded
DEBKAfile Special Report March 24/16
The Belgian government some weeks ago hired an Israeli security firm to inspect security arrangements at the Zaventem airport of Brussels. The security experts, who were asked for advice on improvements, submitted initial recommendations for urgent upgrades. However those improvements had not been installed by Tuesday, March 22, when Islamist terrorists hit the airport’s departure hall with exploding suitcases, claiming more than 30 deaths and injuring scores of victims..The Israeli firm was not alone in underlining the urgency of security upgrades at Zaventem airport in recent weeks. On Feb. 29, European Union security agencies called for an immediate overhaul of the security measures at Belgian airports and borders, which were wide open to access by terrorists and lacked the tools for inspecting passengers on arrival and departure. After the attack, it turned out that Ukrainian security guards, who had been hired and posted at the airport, had mostly deserted their stations. The few remaining there had carried out only cursory checks. Not only was Zaventem airport wide open to hostile infiltration, so too is Brussels’ second airport Charleroi, the terminus for flights to and from Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey. Although the Belgian authorities were warned that Charleroi presented Islamic State terrorists with an open door from those countries into Europe, passengers passing through were still not subjected to searches, even when they headed to Zaventem for connecting flights.
Finally, under the shock of terror, Belgium decided to stem the flow of terrorists by keeping its air space and airports shut to traffic Thursday.
Both Western and Israeli counterterrorism experts meet with skepticism the stream of reports the Belgian authorities and media were still putting out Thursday about the identities of the terrorists who struck the airport and Metro, their numbers and their methods of operation. An Israeli security expert commented that these reports don’t match the evidence and leave too many questions unanswered to be credible. The account of the taxi driver, who said he had driven three terrorists to the airport, is one example. He said that his cab was too small for the five heavy suitcases they wanted to load onto his cab, so they only loaded three. Did that mean that five suitcase bombs were to have been blown up at the airport? And what happened to the two left behind? Also at odds with the official claim of suicide bombers are the black gloves that two terrorists wore on their left hands, obviously covering remote control mechanisms for the bombs in the luggage carts they were pushing through the departure hall. Despite the spreading shock effect of the airport attack, it is also becoming clear that the terrorists only accomplished the first part of their jihadist mission. The Islamic State, which approved the operation, had envisaged a much bigger atrocity. This is attested to by the discovery of three bags containing identical kits of firearms and ammunition, a bomb belt, two AK-47 automatic rifles, magazines and hand grenades – all intact and unused. The police detonated them by controlled explosion. Those kits were concealed in advance in apparent readiness to strike the emergency teams, the medics, the security forces and the other first responders when they arrived to tend the victims of the first attack. The kits were placed at strategic points, either by an advance team of terrorist operatives masquerading as airport personnel, or a staff employee.
When investigators examined the submachine guns, they found that someone had tried to fire one of them and it jammed. This might explain why the second half of the Brussels airport atrocity, the mega-massacre, was stalled. By sheer chance, therefore, hundreds of Belgian security officers and emergency aid personnel were saved from being trapped from three directions in a ball of fire. Belgian police and security units have been chasing desperately, with very few intelligence clues, for a broad network of at least 20 Islamists, who must have spent months setting up the complicated Brussels operations at the airport and Metro station. The planning would have involved exhaustive reconnaissance, the precise study of the targeted locations, arms providers, logistics, finance, communications and prepared escape routes – before the bombers went in.
http://www.debka.com/article/25319/Israeli-security-firm%E2%80%99s-advice-on-Brussels-airport-security-unheeded

Brussels Attacks Raise Questions on Readiness
Matthew Levitt/New York Times/March 24/16
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/brussels-attacks-raise-questions-on-readiness
Because the Islamic State and other terrorist adversaries have become increasingly disciplined and well-coordinated, Western governments need to be even more so to prevent further attacks. A week after the attacks early last year in Paris against the magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery, Belgian police officers were fired on as they executed a search warrant in the town of Verviers. Officials learned that the assailants were members of a terrorist cell that had been planning a significant attack on Belgian police officers or civilians. The incident changed the way counterterrorism officials perceived the Islamic State threat in Europe and made clear that Belgium itself had a greater problem on its hands than it realized. Before the plot was disrupted, the United States Department of Homeland Security would later explain, nearly all of about a dozen Islamic State plots and attacks in the West had involved lone assailants or small groups. But, the report presciently warned, "the involvement of a large number of operatives and group leaders based in multiple countries in future ISIL-linked plotting could create significant obstacles in the detection and disruption" of new plots. Indeed, that is now the case, and as the investigation of the even more brutal November attacks in Paris showed, Belgium is a major source of the threat. The attacks on Tuesday in Brussels raised the most serious questions about how prepared the nation was for that threat. Belgium has two intelligence agencies, a federal police department, many local police departments and a federal Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis. The federal police have begun an initiative that has trained nearly 18,000 police officers to recognize the signs of radicalization.
The federal police maintain a consolidated list of terrorism suspects focused on some 670 people who have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq (and, more recently, Libya), those who have returned from fighting abroad, those who seem inclined to become foreign terrorist fighters and those who radicalize and support them. Another list, focused on about 100 purely criminal cases, may be combined with that because of the increasing overlap between the two. Belgium intensified efforts to prevent young people from becoming radicalized over the last 18 months, with federal security agencies coordinating with district task forces to share information. And yet the system is still a work in progress. There aren't enough police officers in Molenbeek, the Muslim-majority municipality in Brussels that has been linked to most Belgian terrorist cases and where Salah Abdeslam, the lone surviving suspect in the November attacks in Paris, grew up and was captured in a police raid last week. After the November attacks, 50 more officers were assigned to Molenbeek, but since the local department had 185 empty slots, this still left a huge deficit. Just eight officers are in the community policing group there.
To its credit, the Belgian government quickly instituted 12 new counterterrorism measures after the Verviers raids. Eighteen more were put in place after the Paris attacks. But what is needed are not new programs but full staffing of the existing intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and removal of the walls between intelligence services. Belgium is not unique in its need to improve. The European Union counterterrorism coordinator recently reported that several member states still have no electronic connection to Interpol on all their border crossings. More to the point, the coordinator bluntly concluded that "information sharing still does not reflect the threat." For example, European databases record only 2,786 verified foreign terrorist fighters despite "well-founded estimates that around 5,000 EU citizens have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIL and other extremist groups," the report said. Worse still, over 90 percent of the reports of verified foreign terrorist fighters came from just five member states. Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, notes that the Islamic State has developed an "external action command" to train operatives in carrying out sophisticated attacks in the West. Our adversaries are disciplined and coordinated. We need to be much more so to fight them.
**Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute.

Assad cannot keep Europe safe from ISIS
Kyle Orton/Now Lebanon/March 24/16
The inevitable calls to work with the Syrian regime to eliminate ISIS after the recent bombings in Brussels must be ignored
The long arm of the Islamic State (ISIS) has struck again. Tuesday morning, Zaventem airport in Brussels was hit by two suicide bombers and soon after a third man detonated at Maelbeek metro station, not far from the headquarters of the European Union. At least 31 people were slaughtered and around 270 were injured. Belgium has a long history as a hub of global jihadism and some of its citizens were key in forming ISIS's statelet. In the wake of the attack, as Western governments look for ways to hasten the demise of ISIS, it will likely be said—again—that the quickest way to do that is by striking a devil's bargain with the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. From Assad's role in helping ISIS lay its groundwork in Iraq even before the U.S. invasion to Assad's help, by omission and commission, in nurturing ISIS in the years since the uprising against him began as a means of defeating the opposition to Assad's deliberate incitement of a sectarian war, there is nothing that could be further from the truth. While Assad remains in power, ISIS will remain alive.
ISIS's Foreign Operations
The major wave of ISIS's foreign attacks began after Taha Falaha, ISIS's powerful official spokesman, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, put out a call in September 2014, just after the United States began airstrikes in Syria, for Muslims "wherever you may be" to "kill a disbelieving American or European". While Falaha named soldiers, police and intelligence officers as legitimate targets, he also specifically said: "Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military, for they have the same ruling." Falaha added that if an IED or even a rock should not be to hand and you are unable to run an infidel over in your car, "then spit in his face." There was one notable exception.
In May 2014, a gun attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels killed four people. The man who carried it out, a psychopath named Mehdi Nemmouche, who once said, "It's such a pleasure to cut off a baby's head," had been guided by a Belgian of Moroccan descent, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Abaaoud was implicated in two further plots, one a botched attempt to blow up churches and police stations in April 2015, and the other a thwarted attempt in August 2015 to shoot-up a high-speed rail journey from Paris to Amsterdam. Despite this nuisance-level terrorism, "from late summer we knew something big was being planned," said a French intelligence official. Abaaoud was keeping "security services busy and distracted with these mini-plots while preparing the real attack." This impressive tradecraft paid off in the most spectacularly horrific fashion on November 13, with the co-ordinated shooting of cafés, suicide bombings against the Stade de France and the systematic butchery at the Bataclan that left 130 people dead in Paris.
There has been an argument made that ISIS is placing increasing emphasis on foreign attacks as a means of maintaining momentum as its caliphate shrinks. But this misses the timeline. The major losses suffered by ISIS—in Tikrit, Tel Abyad, Hassakeh City, Al-Houl, Sinjar, and more ambiguously in Ramadi and Al-Shadadi—all came after the foreign attacks had begun, starting after Falaha's speech and really gathering pace in early 2015. More to the point: foreign attacks are in ISIS's DNA and ISIS did not originate in 2014 but in the camp set up with Al-Qaeda's seed money and run by Ahmed al-Khalayleh (Abu Musab az-Zarqawi) in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 2000 and which was transferred to Iraq in 2002. One of the first ISIS-"inspired" attacks, for instance, was the June 2007 Glasgow airport attack. The perpetrator wrote of having "learned from [ISIS] the love for death" and ISIS's predecessor claimed the attack.
ISIS initially declared itself a state in 2006 and its program has not altered much since then: by portraying momentum and power, on the ground by expanding the caliphate but also abroad by having the ability to punish and deter enemies or would-be enemies, ISIS is able to claim this shows the favor of God, which attracts foreign recruits at a greater rate than those who cannot make this claim. Foreign recruits, more motivated by ideology than ISIS's in-theater recruits and with no social connection to the land of the Middle East, are prepared to sacrifice themselves and commit atrocities unhesitatingly to fortify and expand the caliphate—which helps attract in more foreign recruits. Thus, the local state-building enterprise and the foreign networks are intimately connected. Especially after ISIS's former leaders were undone by infiltrators, ISIS has developed a mania for pre-emptive infiltration of its foes—"Don't hear about us, hear from us," as it has been summarized. These foreign networks ISIS is now able to activate are a sign of maturation and increased reach, not desperation.
The Paris Connection
Abaaoud was killed five days after the Paris attacks, but there was one surviving conspirator: Salah Abdeslam, who had backed out of the plot. Abdeslam, after four months of hiding in Molenbeek, the now-notorious Belgian suburb that has been called the "jihadi capital of Europe," was arrested on Friday. The balance of probability at the present time, therefore, is that the Brussels attack was related to Abdeslam's arrest—either as revenge or more likely to pre-empt the roll up of networks as the authorities interrogate Abdeslam—and that it was carried out by the same cell as the Paris attacks.
Daunting as it is that the same cell has managed to conduct two operations in the heart of Europe, it would actually be worse if these were two separate cells. What the degree of connection to ISIS "Central" is also remains to be seen: the November 13 attacks in Paris are the only confirmed case so far of ISIS's leaders in Raqqa planning and ordering an attack in which they then sent operatives they had trained inside the caliphate to implement. Because of the very extensive Belgian dimension to the Paris atrocity, the attack in Brussels is not completely out of the blue, but it does raise some questions.
There is a very deep-rooted and outsized jihadi-Salafist community in Brussels and Belgium writ large related to its ideal geography so central in Europe. Belgium possesses a large and diverse Muslim population, problems in intelligence-sharing between the six government entities in the country, and a legal environment that, while not as permissive as Austria, is nonetheless problematic. What is "off-message" about this attack is that, like Vienna or Bosnia, Belgium tends to be a recruitment, fund-raising, facilitation and logistics hub, rather than a site of attacks. This is among the reasons it is likely the attack was related to Abdeslam's arrest.
An Intelligence Failure?
Still, all talk of an "intelligence failure" should be ignored; the problem is political. There are long term policies that might have and might still at least ameliorate the problem, related to immigration and integration. There is the political system itself: an Arab dictatorship can take those it sees as radicalized into custody, submit them to re-education and simply keep the ones that aren't "cured". Needless to say free countries cannot utilize this option. And finally there is the simple operational policy.
It takes 20 men to monitor a terrorism suspect full-time—even when you know where he is. Governments could devote the necessary resources so that all suspects can be surveilled, but it is expensive, especially with the scale of the problem Belgium has, the largest European contributor, proportionally, excluding only Albania and Bosnia, to the jihadi-Salafists in Syria and Iraq. Belgium publically conceded—a week before this attack—that "we don't have the infrastructure to properly investigate or monitor hundreds of individuals suspected of terror links."
Governments usually know where to look— this is why so many people who end up committing terrorism in the West, including two of the suicide-killers in Brussels (the brothers Ibrahim and Khaled Bakraoui), are already on government watch-lists—but they often can't afford to do more than take down their name. Governments inevitably prioritize and make trade-offs; that Brussels seems to have done this badly is a separate matter—and, again, a question for politicians, not intelligence officials.
Sharia4Belgium
A specific dynamic that has made Belgium one of the largest pools of recruits for ISIS is the formation and evolution of Sharia4Belgium in early 2010. Sharia4Belgium was founded as an offshoot of the British Al-Muhajiroun, led by Anjem Choudary.
Unlike the jihadi-Salafists of the 1990s, where to be allowed contact with their underground networks meant already being a die-hard true believer, Sharia4Belgium was an overt organization that ostensibly worked within the law to seize the government one convert at a time through dawa (proselytization).
Sharia4Belgium was very successful in radicalizing a large number of people in a short space of time. The authorities began acting against Sharia4Belgium in late 2012, but by then it was too late—Syria had begun, and many of the zealots decamped to the Fertile Crescent, helped by the Syrian connections of another Sharia4Belgium leader, Omar Bakri.
At least 79 Sharia4Belgium alumni have gone to Syria and Iraq where they used their pre-existing, strong presence on social media to send out messages and images, "usually with the aim of recruiting susceptible friends and family back in Europe."
Here the public nature of Sharia4Belgium proved important: these messages reached a wider audience than if the group was concealed, exposing many more young Muslims than otherwise would have been the case to the ideas and the practice of jihadi-Salafism, creating much wider concentric circles around the actual terrorists, a strategic depth we can now see ISIS exploiting.
Founding the Caliphate
Sharia4Belgium members formed a key part of the networks that founded ISIS's caliphate. ISIS had set up Al-Nusra Front as its secret Syrian wing in late 2011, but Nusra was becoming too independent. In mid-2012, ISIS's "track two" took shape: the group began lobbying a series of people and groups in Aleppo to pledge loyalty to the caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and defect from Nusra. Instrumental in this strategy was ISIS's deputy, Samir al-Khlifawi (Haji Bakr), a former intelligence officer in Saddam's regime, who managed to recruit several Nusra commanders and many of the foreign jihadis already in place in Syria.
The key "track two" leaders were Amr al-Absi (Abu al-Atheer), one of the most vociferous encouragers of the caliphate declaration and one of the men who worked hardest to forge the connections that made it possible, and Tarkhan Batirashvili (Abu Omar al-Shishani). Both groups had a large contingent of Europeans, mostly Belgians, Dutch and Frenchmen, with Batirashvili's group having a small but significant contingent of Brits, the most infamous of whom is Mohammed Emwazi ("Jihadi John"). It was Al-Absi's group, where the deputy handling European recruits was Sharia4Belgium member Houssien Elouassaki, that Abaaoud joined in January 2014.
Al-Khlifawi fashioned ISIS's army on Syrian soil in perhaps the most complicated way possible. Wanting to keep the Iraqi hand hidden, Al-Khlifawi forbade ISIS's legions crossing into Syria and instead, with a few senior members such as himself, Adnan as-Suwaydawi, and Abu Ali al-Anbari—all former members of the Saddam regime—directing matters in the background, ISIS used only foreigners who had military experience (the "Chechens" and Uzbeks) to lead those who didn't (everyone else, particularly the Europeans).
ISIS's conquests were preceded mostly by its espionage work, but when force was needed, Syrians were hit with the dual lessons that fanaticism must not be underestimated and that Stalin was right: quantity has a quality all its own. Belgians were a significant component of the ISIS ground troops who inflicted those lessons on Syria.
It's interesting to note that Abaaoud actually rather broke this mold—as did Emwazi. Abaaoud, after initially wavering, sided with ISIS as all-out war overtook the relations between ISIS and Nusra in early 2014, and seems to have been a founding member of Katibat al-Battar, an elite unit mostly run by Libyans, but which had a significant Belgian contingent. Abaaoud was later a military emir in Deir Ezzor. Emwazi was a part of ISIS's Amn ad-Dawla (State Security). In short, Abaaoud and Emwazi actually had military usefulness as individuals, rather than as expendable suicide bombers or cannon fodder.
Europe's Options
With ISIS's wilayats and the increasing reach of its foreign terrorist activity, the argument that it is contained is going to be much harder to make in the coming weeks. The short-term reaction might well be, as after Muaz al-Kasasbeh was burned alive and the Paris attacks, a show of force. But that will subside.
For Europe, unless radical policy change is in the offing, this is the new normal. The United States, protected by the oceans and a better history of assimilation, can only be attacked by ISIS with external plots or by citizens who have been inspired by ISIS, giving security forces many more points of vulnerability to work with and imposing more stringent limits on terrorists' capabilities. Europe is facing something more like low-level guerrilla warfare.
The epicenter for this crisis is Syria, a disaster that has burst its borders. As people flee the devastation, it is changing Europe, too. The migratory flows are strengthening Europe's darkest impulses, which these days also happen to be aligned with the Kremlin. This is putting a strain on the Atlantic Alliance and the chain reaction of radicalization is then set in place as nativist far-Right demagogues push Muslims even further out of the mainstream, ratifying ISIS's narrative that Muslims have to choose between persecution in the West or protection in the caliphate.
The obvious conclusion is that ISIS in its heartland should be defeated, which means ending the Syrian war. Europe will still have an internal terrorism problem, but it will be more manageable. Europe cannot deal with ISIS solely as an internal security matter because while the caliphate remains, it is inspiring and directing too many people for European security services to cope with. There is no "war of ideas" shortcut, either, to halt the flow of Europeans to ISIS's banner: military defeat is what will defeat ISIS's appeal.
When it comes to how to defeat ISIS, we are likely to see, as we did after Paris, commentary suggesting a partnership with Assad and Putin.
Assad's No Ally Against Terrorism
It is important that partnering with Assad be seen as the single most counter-productive thing that the West could do if it wants to defeat ISIS. Empowering local Sunni communities is the only sustainable way to destroy the caliphate; siding with a regime responsible for ninety-five percent of the civilian casualties, using tactics that amount to extermination, is the surest way to have those Sunnis who would be our allies look at ISIS as the lesser-evil.
But there is another reason why siding with Assad to defeat ISIS makes no sense: there is no government in the world as responsible for ISIS's rise as Assad's.
During the US presence in Iraq, foreign fighters were funneled to ISIS's predecessor by Assad's military intelligence service, which began this collaboration with jihadis before the Iraq invasion. As Charles Lister recently put it, "Without help from Damascus [to ISIS] … dozens if not hundreds of US soldiers would still be alive today." If not for Assad's help after the Awakening and the Surge, ISIS might no longer even exist.
When the uprising began against Assad, he released hundreds of jihadist prisoners, including Al-Absi, to try to switch the narrative away from reform and toward sectarianism. Assad then deliberately inflamed sectarian passions and endangered minority communities so they would rally around the regime and he could pose as their defender. It is a matter of simple military fact that Assad barely engaged ISIS during its critical growth period, while hammering the opposition with airstrikes. When the rebels fought ISIS, Assad bombed the rebels. Since Russia's intervention the same tactics have been adopted, leading to ISIS gains against the rebels. Assad has collaborated with ISIS in Syria's energy market, transferring millions of dollars to the terrorist group, and Russia has been a key facilitator of that.
Pro-Assad forces—overwhelmingly composed of foreign, Iranian-controlled Shiite jihadists—backed by devastating Russian airstrikes, are currently moving on ISIS-controlled Palmyra. If the pro-Assad forces take Palmyra this will be held up as evidence that the regime is on the front line against barbarism and thus an ally in what we once called the “War on Terror”. Put aside that the regime has no power to extend beyond Palmyra: this isn't a first step toward "liberating" Raqqa; this is the regime at full stretch trying to score international political points. The notion that Assad is a counter-terrorism partner means ignoring mountains of evidence that terrorism has been the central instrument of the Assad regime's foreign policy.
Assad's cynical policy, first of using ISIS against western troops and then empowering ISIS to cannibalize the rebellion and face Syria's population and the world with a binary choice of the dictatorship or a terrorist takeover of Syria has brought us to this point and spawned a monster that might eventually consume him too—but only after Assad and ISIS worked in tandem to eliminate all the other options. For now Assad still needs ISIS: ISIS's existence is Assad's only chance of survival.