LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 24/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted
Second Letter to Timothy 03/10-17: “You have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, and my suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on April 23-24/19
Aoun receives joint French US delegation: Countries that feed terrorism do not believe in democracy
Minister of Finance submits to cabinet secretariat revised version of draft budget
Lebanon: Hariri Demands Consensus on State Budget
Berri, interlocutors tackle overall situation
Saudi Arabia to Launch Projects to Support Lebanon, Displaced Syrians
Nasrallah: Israeli Home-Front Not Prepared For War
Nasrallah Says No New Israeli War on Lebanon
Salameh: Lebanon Isn’t on Verge of Bankruptcy
Hariri Slams ‘Fabricated’ Claims Published in Hizbullah Daily
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Gemayel: We Aspire to Change in Political System's Structure
Fattouh announces Salameh best Arab Central Bank Governor
Hariri: Banks ready to help government but we should carry out reforms first
Future bloc convenes at Center House to discuss latest developments
Hassan: We will mitigate crisis’ impact on pensions and wages
Jumblatt tackles latest developments with Saudi Ambassador
Defense Minister: Military Institutions Not Responsible for State Deficit
U.S. Puts Up $10 mn Reward for Hizbullah Information
Saudi Royal Advisor Affirms ‘Strong' Lebanon Ties
US Offering $ 10 Million For Info On Hezbollah's Mechanisms

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 23-24/19
Iranian Parliament Labels All U.S. Military Forces as Terrorist
IRGC Threatens to Close Hormuz Strait
US Looking To Sign New Agreement With Iran: Brian Hook
Complaint Filed against Netanyahu’s Nomination to Form Govt.
Palestinian To Iranian Media: Israel Is Stronger Future Unpredictabl
Saudi Arabia Welcomes US Decision to Stop Waivers on Iran Oil Imports
France says Iran/Instex mechanism is making positive progress
Bahrain Welcomes US Decision on Iranian Oil Waivers
Saudi, French Land Forces Hold Joint Exercise
Damascus Opens Airspace to Qatar Airways
Assassinations Rock Southern Syria
Russia to Lease Syria’s Tartus Port for 49 Years
Probe shows Sri Lanka attacks ‘retaliation for Christchurch’
UNICEF: At least 45 children killed in Sri Lanka attacks
Sri Lanka detains Syrian for questioning over attacks, say sources'
Sri Lanka arrests 40 suspects after bombings, toll up to 321
ISIS Claims Responsibility for Sri Lanka Easter Sunday Bombings
Gaza Cleric Mahmoud Al-Hasanat Rebukes Arab Leaders Who 'Whine' About Notre-Dame Cathedral From Which 'A Crusade Against Islam' Was Once Declared
ISIS Supporters Celebrate Easter Sunday Bombings In Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan minister says attacks were ‘retaliation for Christchurch’ massacre
Ukraine Leaps into Unknown after Comic Elected Presiden
Bodies of Three Mountaineers Found in Canada

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 23-24/19
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Gemayel: We Aspire to Change in Political System's Structure/Kataeb.org/Wednesday 24th April 2019
US Offering $ 10 Million For Info On Hezbollah's Mechanisms/Jerusalem Post/April 23/19
Iranian Parliament Labels All U.S. Military Forces as Terrorist/The Associated Press/April 23/19
Palestinian To Iranian Media: Israel Is Stronger Future Unpredictable/Jerusalem Post/April 23/19
ISIS Supporters Celebrate Easter Sunday Bombings In Sri Lanka/MEMRI/April 23/2019
Sri Lankan minister says attacks were ‘retaliation for Christchurch’ massacre/Reuters/April 23/19
U.S. Withdrawal From Syria Threatens Revival of Kurdish Language, Too/Elizabeth Tsurkov (Northern Syria) /Haaretz/April 23/20
The Persecution of Palestinians No One Mentions/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/April 23/2019
The Burning of Notre Dame and the Destruction of Christian Europe/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/April 23/2019
Algeria and Sudan can learn from the political transitions of 2011/Oussama Romdhani/Al Arabiya/April 23/19
Renewing the Iran Sanctions Waivers (Part 1): Nuclear Activities/Patrick Clawson/The Washington Institute/April 23/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on April 23-24/19
Aoun receives joint French US delegation: Countries that feed terrorism do not believe in democracy
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, said on Tuesday that the Middle East has witnessed many wars under the banner of consolidating freedom and establishing democracy. "The fight against terrorism has begun in 1981 in Afghanistan, yet the region is still suffering; it knows neither the promised peace nor democracy. There has only been an expansion of terrorism that has spread throughout the world," Aoun told a visiting French-US delegation from the French city of Bordeaux and the United States of America, headed by Father Nabil Mwanes. The delegation is on a pilgrimage visit to Lebanon marking Easter holiday."The countries that nurture terrorism do not believe in democracy or human rights. Moreover, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and annexing the Golan to it, in no way serves the establishment of freedom and democracy, but rather serves the logic of force," Aoun added. "When a country is declared a national homeland for a particular religion, it means a return to racist ideologies that reject the other and do not respect international laws and norms based on respect for the natural right to difference, freedom of conscience, and expression," the President maintained. Separately, President Michel Aoun met at Baabda palace with State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud, with whom he discussed an array of judicial affairs. On another level, the President signed a decree allowing the release of LL.700 billion in overdue payments since 2017 to the independent municipal fund. The decree bore the signatures of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Interior Minister Rayya Hassan. President Aoun also received on Tuesday an invitation from President of the American University of Beirut, Dr. Fadlo Khuri, to lay the cornerstone of a new medical center at the AUB. He finally welcomed Lebanon's Ambassador to South Korea, Antoine Azzam, over the bilateral relations between the two countries.

Minister of Finance submits to cabinet secretariat revised version of draft budget
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, submitted to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers the revised version of the draft budget and the proposed articles, after a re-evaluation of the basic draft submitted on August 30, 2018, including the austerity measure

Lebanon: Hariri Demands Consensus on State Budget
Beirut - Mohamed Choucair/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/Prime Minister Saad Hariri is seeking for consensus in the government to pave way for the swift approval of the 2019 draft state budget, Lebanese ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday.“Hariri is after a swift approval of the budget but he rejects being hasty to prevent political clashes among cabinet members,” the sources said. The PM is expected to kick off meetings on Tuesday with concerned parties to tackle the draft budget before referring it to the cabinet for final approval. The sources said Hariri had no objections to remarks made by President Michel Aoun following a meeting he held with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rahi on Sunday. Aoun had called on all sides to speed up efforts in ending the economic crisis the soonest. However, the sources said the president should not have launched accusations against certain political figures by claiming that he could end the crisis if “those who do not have skills” are unable to resolve it quickly. The sources wondered whether Aoun was referring to Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who first proposed a draft budget last August, then annexed to it another draft with amendments. They said Aoun could have also been referring to Hariri.

Berri, interlocutors tackle overall situation
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday met at his Ain Tineh residence with State Minister for Foreign Trade Affairs Hassan Murad, with talks reportedly touching on the general situation.
This afternoon, Speaker Berri met with a delegation of the Gathering of Muslim Scholars, with whom he discussed the overall situation in Lebanon and the broad region. Speaking in the name of the delegation, Judge Sheikh Ahmad Al Zein said that the delegation stressed in front of the Speaker the need to address the simmering economic crisis with measures and taxes that do not entail low-income people and the underprivileged. The delegation also underlined the dire need to safeguard national unity at this difficult stage, jailing the Speaker's national role in this regard. Later, Berri met with Environment Minister, Fadi Jreissati, with talks reportedly touching on the current situation and relevant ministerial affairs, including trash and quarries' dossier.

Saudi Arabia to Launch Projects to Support Lebanon, Displaced Syrians
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/Saudi Royal Court Advisor, General Supervisor of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief), Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said his country will implement a series of relief and humanitarian projects that will serve the Lebanese population and displaced Syrians. “We look forward to meeting officials and representatives of the organizations to build strong bridges of cooperation for the benefit of the refugees and the underprivileged in various areas of Lebanon,” the official said upon arriving in Beirut on Monday. He added that his visit aims to implement a series of relief and humanitarian projects, meet with Lebanese officials and build bridges of cooperation between KSRelief and the Lebanese.Rabeeah met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, in the presence of Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Al-Bukhari and Secretary-General of the Higher Relief Council, Major General Mohammed Kheir. In remarks following the meeting, he said he was very pleased to meet with Hariri, conveying to him the greetings of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. He noted that the visit “comes as an affirmation of the deeply consolidated relations between the Kingdom and Lebanon.”“During this visit and under the guidance of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, many programs and agreements will be implemented to support the brotherly Lebanese people and relief and humanitarian work in several areas hosting Syrian refugees,” he stressed.

Nasrallah: Israeli Home-Front Not Prepared For War
Jerusalem Post/April 23/19/
“I personally eliminate any possibility for a Zionist war on Lebanon.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has denied reports that the Lebanese Shiite terror organization is planning for war with Israel this summer, saying that the IDF would not start a military conflict with the group because the Israeli home-front is not prepared. “What was published in the newspapers about a war with Israel was mistaken and badly timed,” he said, referring to reports by Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper that he told Hezbollah commanders to expect to go to war with Israel this summer, a war in which he expected to be killed.  I personally eliminate any possibility for a Zionist war on Lebanon.”According to Hezbollah’s al-Manar website Nasrallah stressed that the leader of the Shiite terror group hopes to “participate in liberating occupied Palestine and pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem. “Although the Resistance always prepares for the worst possibilities, I personally tend to rule out the possibility of witnessing an Israeli war on Lebanon because the enemy’s ‘home’ front is not ready for that,” he was said Monday night during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the founding of Hezbollah’s youth movement.
The Hezbollah leader said that while Israel boasts about their missile defense system, it cannot defend the country’s citizens against the threat posed by Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.
“The events of the recent weeks have proved the unpreparedness of the Israeli home front. We saw how two missiles were fired by mistake from Gaza and landed in the Tel Aviv surroundings and then another missile was shot off from Gaza and landed north of Tel Aviv. All the Israeli measures were not able to do anything,” he said referring to a recent round of violence between Hamas and Israel.“Neither the air force nor the ground forces can settle the battle in favor of the Israeli enemy,” Nasrallah continued, adding that “the Zionists themselves acknowledge that their infantry troops are unable to wage any war.”
Israel and Hezbollah last fought a war – the Second Lebanon War – in 2006, and has since then morphed from a guerrilla group to an army with a set hierarchy and procedures. With the help of Iran, it has rebuilt its arsenal since 2006 and has hundreds of thousands of short-range rockets and several thousand more missiles that can reach deeper into Israel.  In addition to their massive arsenal Hezbollah also has the ability to mobilize close to 30,000 battle-hardened fighters, some of whom are expected to try to infiltrate into Israeli communities on the border to kill or kidnap civilians and soldiers.
In his speech Nasrallah also mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that the Palestinian people should not despair about US President Donald Trump’s yet-unveiled peace plan. “We are in a battle between faith and despair. When the Palestinian people despair, it is possible to impose the ‘deal of the century’ on them, but as long as they have hope, no one can impose anything on them,” he said, adding that “if the Lebanese people would surrender to despair, Trump would give Lebanon to Israel.”

Nasrallah Says No New Israeli War on Lebanon
Naharnet/April 23/19/Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah denied remarks attributed to him and published in Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper that Israel plans to wage war against Lebanon in the summer, and announced that his party is willing to assist in resolving the current economic crisis in the country. “These reports are unfounded and wrong in timing and substance. I have never said, not even to myself, that Israel is planning to wage war on Lebanon, and I did not say that I might be killed during the process,” said Nasrallah in his Monday televised speech. Ruling the possibility of an Israeli aggression, he described al-Rai’s report as “empty and baseless.” He denounced the timing saying it harms Lebanon which is looking forward to its summer tourism season as it grapples with an economic crisis. Al-Rai claimed in its report that Nasrallah has warned Hizbullah officials of an Israeli war on Lebanon, fearing he could be killed. On the economic crisis, Hizbullah leader urged political parties to cooperate together in order to find a way out of it. “There is political consensus on the need for a solution, the problem will affect us all,” he said, pointing out that resolving the crisis needs “cooperation,” noting “the solution will not be easy.”He said Hizbullah is “part of the state” and is willing to shoulder responsibility, “we are part of the state and people, and we are ready to bear responsibility. Approval of a state budget is only the beginning of financial and administrative reform. Discussions underway are our chances to stop corruption.”

Salameh: Lebanon Isn’t on Verge of Bankruptcy
Naharnet/April 23/19/Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh assured on Tuesday that Lebanon is not on the verge of bankruptcy, as the government prepares to impose austerity measures to combat the bulging fiscal deficit, LBCI TV station reported. “According to available data, it does not indicate that Lebanon is on the verge of bankruptcy,” Salameh said, “I can confirm that in terms of the assets of the Banque du Liban and in terms of the assets of the banking sector," he told the station. Salemeh added saying that “35% of Lebanese public debt is in the central bank.”Lebanon’s government plans on implementing strict austerity measures to reduce a ballooning budget deficit and massive national debt. The austerity measures to be adopted in the new budget could lead to wage cuts for state employees amid the economic crisis. The budget is still in the works and is expected to be sent to parliament for approval in the coming weeks. Discussions by the government of what it called "painful" and "unpopular" measures to be taken to try to cut the budget deficit and slow the growth of the national debt, which stands at more than $85 billion, or more than 150% of the gross domestic product, making it among the highest in the world.

Hariri Slams ‘Fabricated’ Claims Published in Hizbullah Daily
Naharnet/April 23/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s media office slammed “fabricated” reports published in Hizbullah's al-Akhbar daily on Tuesday alleging the PM has suggested hikes in taxes and fuel prices as part of austerity measures planned by the government. The office said in a statement that “al-Akhbar newspaper is specialized in circulating daily abuses of everything related to PM Saad Hariri. This newspaper said today that an economic and financial paper was allegedly prepared by Hariri and includes procedures in the form of daily fabrications of that newspaper.”In its Tuesday publication, the daily alleged the PM prepared a “paper” suggesting cuts to salaries of state employees, hikes in taxes and fuel prices, and many other unpopular financial measures that affect low-income earners, according to the daily. Hariri’s office added: “The reform paper required to reduce the state deficit and stop the waste of funds is a subject of official discussion with all components of the government. It will be translated into the draft budget to be submitted by the Minister of Finance to the Cabinet. “Reports published by the daily are falsely attributed to Prime Minister Hariri, and include fabricated ideas to sabotage economic advancement and the government program,” said the statement.

Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Gemayel: We Aspire to Change in Political System's Structure
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 24th April 2019
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Tuesday stressed that the party has decided to stand up against illegal arms and the partitioning mentality prevailing over Lebanon, saying that the country's new electoral law has formed a pro-Hezbollah majority and altered the State's political identity.
“The country has been handed over to Hezbollah. The corrupt performance and incompetent management have destroyed Lebanon's economy, “Gemayel said in an interview on LBCI channel. “Our opposition is against a ruling authority that has relinquished the country's sovereignty and surrendered to Hezbollah,” he added.
“Our opposition is against the partitioning mentality that everyone is now adopting.” "The settlement that led to the election of President Michel Aoun has caused a drastic change in the political life in Lebanon,” he pointed out. Gemayel stressed that it is time to pull the country out of the corruption quagmire it is stuck into, saying that the Kataeb party has decided to offer an alternative option for the current reality Lebanon is experiencing. “After the elections, we gave the ruling authority a new chance to prove its good will. However, all the promises made turned out to be empty,” he said. “We have returned to our position as an opposition force given that the same partitioning mentality is still prevailing,” he pointed out. “Remaining loyal to our ancestors' struggle requires full commitment to their cause.”
The Kataeb leader said that change needs time, saying that the state-building requires the presence of a public opinion that revolts against reality. “In order for change to happen, the Lebanese must realize that the only goal behind sectarianism is to boost the politicians' power,” he said. “The Kataeb's role has always been to stand up against reality and wrongdoings," Gemayel affirmed. “Our goal is to expand the opposition force and to cooperate with anyone who wants to prevent the country's deterioration,” he noted. Gemayel stressed that the Kataeb has been constantly putting forth solutions to all of the country's problems, notably that related to electricity, saying that the party is finalizing a challenge contesting the government's power plan.
“The challenge aims at preventing all illegal aspects related to the tendering process and protecting the state's treasury from mismanagement,” he said. Gemayel explained that the state's deficit should be reduced by addressing random employment and favoritism, as well as ending tax evasion, adding that Lebanon cannot overcome hardships unless decentralization and neutrality are enforced. “We aspire to change the political system's structure because it is no longer viable,” he said, pointing out that decentralization would relieve all sects in the country. Gemayel stressed that the Constitution must be revised in a way that would prevent obstruction, saying that the electoral law must be changed. “Every generation must learn from the mistakes of its predecessors; history teaches us that anyone who derived his power from foreign powers ended up vanishing,” he said. “If the people does not hold onto its future and revolt, the country is doomed to ruination,” he warned. “There are two ways to build the country and that’s by either dividing or by adopting a new management system that would preserve the country’s unity." Gemayel deemed the Kataeb party as an examplary model for every young man who aspires to build a civilized country, saying that its goal is to break the vicious circle in which the Lebanese people are living.

Fattouh announces Salameh best Arab Central Bank Governor
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon Riad Salameh has been declared by the Secretary General of Arab Banks Union, Wissam Fattouh, best Arab Central Bank Governor, at the opening ceremony of the "Arab Banking Conference 2019 - Economic Reform and Governance" under the patronage of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. "The despair industry in Lebanon has been trying for years to destroy the monetary stability and the Lebanese economy, but these attempts have failed, and we are now on the threshold of a new campaign," Salameh said in a speech. "This new campaign will fail as well," Salameh said, explaining that "the laws approved by the government and the parliament allowed Lebanon to be in compliance with the fight against money laundering and combating terrorism."He stressed that "the level of compliance in Lebanese banks is high, as confirmed by correspondent banks as well." "Lebanon attaches importance to maintaining its reputation, and we are a country where transfers play an important role in our economy," Salameh said. "International institutions have recognized Lebanon's compliance and this is important," he added.

Hariri: Banks ready to help government but we should carry out reforms first
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - The President of the Council of Ministers Saad Hariri said that the government is committed to fight corruption and squander, and is determined to carry out the necessary reforms for the benefit of the Lebanese citizen and public finance. He added that the banks and the Central Bank Governor would be ready to help.Hariri expressed these stances this afternoon during the opening ceremony of the Arab Banking Conference for 2019 entitled "Economic Reforms and Governance" that he sponsored at the Phoenicia Hotel, at the invitation of the Union of Arab Banks, the Central Bank and the Association of Banks in Lebanon.He said: "We in Lebanon sometimes suffer from campaigns that aim to make people feel desperate. The successful organizations, just as the successful people, like Riad Salame or the Middle East Airline or other Lebanese institutions, are always under attack because they are successful. We want to carry out the necessary reforms for the benefit of the Lebanese citizen and public finance and this is what is happening now. In the end, what concerns me is this reform. I do not have a problem with who takes the credit or says that the reform happened thanks to him. What is important is that these reforms take place because Lebanon cannot continue with laws that go back to the 1950s and 1960s, while we are in 2019." He added, addressing Salame: "I reiterate my congratulations to you and I tell you: God help you and we are with you. The banks supported Lebanon during delicate stages. The problem is that the state did not make the reforms it should have made. In the past, for example, the Paris II Conference was held, and there was a package of reforms that had to be carried out. The governorate and the banks did their job and gave the state 10 000 billion Lebanese pounds with an interest rate of 0.2, on the basis that reforms will be made. But these reforms did not take place, the state took these amounts and spent them but did not make reforms."He concluded: "The state should not resort to the Lebanese banks or the governorate of the Central Bank before carrying out its duty, which it was supposed to do 20 years ago, namely reform. I am confident that the banks and Central Bank Governor will be ready to help us, just as happened in Paris II. Thus, we pray God to help us in the coming days to put the budget on the table of the Council of Ministers for discussion before being referred to Parliament. I am totally confident that the President and the Speaker are very keen to have austerity measures, stop the squander, fight corruption and develop our laws, in the necessary manner."

Future bloc convenes at Center House to discuss latest developments
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - Future bloc on Tuesday convened at the Center House under the chairmanship of MP Bahia Hariri, to tackle the overall situation in the country and most recent political developments. In a statement issued in the wake of the periodic meeting and read out by MP Mohammed Al Qera'awi, the bloc congratulated the Lebanese, in general, and the Christian communities, in particular, on the holy Easter Eid, hoping that the occasion will be a renewed opportunity for Lebanon to emerge from the current simmering socio-economic crises. The bloc stressed that political consensus among the main components of the government and the Parliament on possible measures to address the economic dossier, forms the basis for any salvation project to be complementary with the requirements of reforms. The bloc also regarded the ongoing work to put the final touches on the national draft budget as moving in the right direction, hailing positive stances and positions accompanying such a process.On the other hand, the bloc categorically deplored the atrocious terror attacks that targeted churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, offering condolences to the people of Sri Lanka and its government.

Hassan: We will mitigate crisis’ impact on pensions and wages
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - Minister of the Interior and Municipalities Raya al-Hassan said: "We will work to mitigate the impact on pensions and monthly wages," adding that the country is going through an economic crisis and "we need to strive to control expenses."The minister spoke during her visit to the Headquarters of the General Security, welcoming the efforts of the leadership under the chairmanship of General Abbas Ibrahim.

Jumblatt tackles latest developments with Saudi Ambassador
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - Progressive Socialist Party Head, Walid Jumblatt, received this evening at his Clemenceau residence Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Waleed Bukhari. The meeting took place in the presence of Minister of Industry, Wael Abou Faour, and former Minister Ghazi Al Aridi.
Talks reportedly touched on most recent developments in Lebanon and the broad region.

Defense Minister: Military Institutions Not Responsible for State Deficit
Naharnet/April 23/19/Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab said the Lebanese army is not responsible for the budget deficit but “successive economic policies and waste of public funds are.”In a televised press conference, Bou Saad said “the current economic situation is due to successive economic policies. The military institutions and the Lebanese army are not responsible for the budget deficit.”“It’s true that the budget allocated for the defense ministry is the largest in the government, but it’s not as mistakenly reported responsible for the deficit,” he added. “Lebanese must know that the military institutions are tasked with protecting the country and security. They go to the front unaware of what their fate could be,” added Bou Saab. He said his Ministry should decide on reducing military expenditures based on the spending needs of the army.

U.S. Puts Up $10 mn Reward for Hizbullah Information
Naharnet/April 23/19/The United States on Monday offered a $10 million reward for information that would disrupt the finances of Lebanon's Shiite militant movement Hizbullah. The State Department said it would give the money to anyone who provides intelligence that allows the United States to disrupt Hizbullah in key ways. The areas include information on Hizbullah's donors, on financial institutions that assist its transactions and on businesses controlled by the movement. President Donald Trump's administration has put a top priority on reducing the influence of Iran, the primary backer of Hizbullah.
The State Department listed three alleged Hizbullah financiers as examples of activities it was seeking to stop, with one, Ali Youssef Charara, allegedly funding the group by investing millions of dollars from Hizbullah in the telecommunications industry in West Africa. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has pointed to a recent appeal by Hizbullah for donations as a sign of US success in curbing Iran. On a visit last month to Beirut, Pompeo urged Lebanon to counter the "dark ambitions" of Iran and Hizbullah but was rebuffed by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who said Hizbullah was not a terrorist group and enjoyed a wide base. The United States has vowed for decades to fight Shiite militants in Lebanon, with memories still bitter over the 1983 attack on a military barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. Hizbullah, however, also functions as a political party, with posts in the current cabinet, and enjoys support among some Lebanese who recall its guerrilla campaign that led Israel to withdraw from the country in 2000.

Saudi Royal Advisor Affirms ‘Strong' Lebanon Ties
Naharnet/April 23/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri received Monday evening at the Center House Advisor to the Saudi Royal Court Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Rabeeah, who emphasized Saudi Arabia’s “strong ties with Lebanon,” Hariri’s media office said. Rabeeah was accompanied by the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari and the accompanying delegation, in the presence of the Secretary General of the Higher Relief Committee Maj. Gen. Mohamed Kheir. Discussions highlighted Rabeeah’s mission in Lebanon and the bilateral relations between the two countries. During the meeting, Rabeeah presented to the PM a shield as a token of appreciation. After the meeting, Rabeeah said: “I am pleased to meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri. I conveyed to him the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz and of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz. The visit comes in implementation of these directives and to underline the strong relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. “Through this visit and in application of the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, many programs will be implemented and agreements signed to support humanitarian aid in several areas, to Syrian refugees and the brotherly Lebanese people. This work is a continuation of this strong relationship not only in the humanitarian field, but in all areas,” he concluded.

US Offering $ 10 Million For Info On Hezbollah's Mechanisms
Jerusalem Post/April 23/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/74155/%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7/
It is the first time that the department is offering a reward for information regarding Hezbollah's financial networks.
WASHINGTON - A new program will offer up to $10 million in rewards for information leading to the disruption of the global financial mechanisms of Hezbollah, the US Department of State announced Monday. It is the first time that the department is offering a reward for information regarding Hezbollah's financial networks. According to a December 2017 "Forbes Israel" report, Hezbollah is the richest terror organization in the world, with an estimated annual income of $1.1 billion. The organization's revenue comes from a combination of Iranian support, business investments, donor networks and money laundering activities. The State Department designated Hezbollah a Foreign Terrorist Organization in October 1997, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in October 2001. According to the State Department's announcement, the rewards could be provided for information that would lead to the identification and disruption of a source of revenue for Hezbollah or its fundamental financial facilitation mechanisms; major Hezbollah donors or financial facilitators; financial institutions or exchange houses facilitating Hezbollah transactions; and businesses or investments owned or controlled by Hezbollah or its financiers.
"I'm confident that the (reward) that we are offering today, will provide incentives for people to come forward with information that will help us take down Hezbollah's financial networks," said Assistant Secretary for State for Diplomatic Security Michael T. Evanoff in a press briefing at the State Department: In addition, the State Department has highlighted three individuals as key Hezbollah financiers or facilitators about whom it seeks information: Adham Tabaja, Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi and Ali Youssef Charara. Tabaja is a Hezbollah member who maintains direct ties to senior Hezbollah organizational elements, including the group’s operational component, Islamic Jihad. Bazzi is an important Hezbollah financier who has provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah generated from his business activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Charara is also a key Hezbollah financier as chairman and general manager of Lebanon-based telecommunications company Spectrum Investment Group Holding SAL. He has extensive business interests in the telecommunications industry in West Africa.  "We will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of information that will help us clamp down further on these individuals and on others they use to access the international financial system," said Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea. "Either directly or via cash smuggling networks and other seemingly legitimate businesses and investments. "We will pay for bank records, customs forms, real estate transactions, and anything evidencing money laundering or cash smuggling," he continued. "The United States government is prepared to pay for this information, and we will award up to $10 million for leads that result in financial disruption. Whether by US law enforcement sanctions or other enforcement actions."

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on April 23-24/19
Iranian Parliament Labels All U.S. Military Forces as Terrorist
The Associated Press/April 23/19
Move comes a day after Washington ratcheted up pressure on Tehran by announcing that no country would any longer be exempt from U.S. sanctions if it continues to buy Iranian oil
Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill that labels all U.S. military forces as terrorist, state TV reported, a day after Washington ratcheted up pressure on Tehran by announcing that no country would any longer be exempt from U.S. sanctions if it continues to buy Iranian oil.
The bill is a step further from the one last week, when lawmakers approved labelling just U.S. troops in the Middle East as terrorist, in response to the U.S. terrorism designation for Iran's Revolutionary Guard earlier this month. The Trump administration reimposed sanctions on Iran, including on its energy sector, last November, after pulling America out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. The U.S. designation against Iran's Revolutionary Guard — the first-ever for an entire division of another government — added another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary force, making it a crime under U.S. jurisdiction to provide the guard with material support. On Monday, President Donald Trump decided to do away with waivers as part of the administration's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran that aims to eliminate all of its revenue from oil exports that the U.S. says funds destabilizing activity throughout the Mideast and beyond. Hours before Trump's announcement, Iran reiterated its long-running threat to close the Strait of Hormuz if it's prevented from using the crucial waterway in the Persian Gulf through which about a third of all oil traded at sea passes. The U.S. Navy has in the past accused Iranian patrol boats of harassing American warships in the waterway. Iran's Foreign Ministry promptly brushed off Trump's move to stop the oil waivers, saying the Islamic Republic "basically has not seen and does not see any worth and validity for the waivers." But on Tuesday, 173 out of 215 lawmakers at the parliament session in Tehran voted for the new bill. Only four voted against while the rest abstained; the chamber has 290 seats. The bill confirms Iran's earlier label of the U.S. Central Command, also known as CENTCOM, and all its forces as terrorist. Any military and non-military help, including logistics support, to CENTCOM that can be detrimental to the Revolutionary Guard will be considered a terrorist action, the semi-official ISNA news agency said. The bill also demands the Iranian government take unspecified action against other governments that formally back the U.S. designation. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Israel have all supported the Trump administration's designation. The lawmakers also requested Iran's intelligence agency provide a list of all CENTCOM commanders within three months so that Iran's judiciary can prosecute them in absentia as terrorists. The bill requires final approval by Iran's constitutional watchdog to become law.Other than underscoring Iran's defiance, it's unclear what impact the bill could actually have, either in the Persian Gulf or beyond. The Revolutionary Guard has forces and wields influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and is in charge of Iranian missiles that have U.S. bases in their range.

IRGC Threatens to Close Hormuz Strait
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has hinted that it would close the Strait of Hormuz if Iran is prevented from using it, in what appeared to be the first response to the US plan to end waivers on Iranian oil exports. "If Iran’s benefits in the Strait of Hormuz, which according to international rules is an international waterway, are denied, we will close it,” IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said after the Trump administration revealed Monday that it will no longer exempt any countries from US sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil. Iran has previously threatened to close the strait. “Don't play with fire, or you will regret,” Iranian President Rouhani cautioned Trump last July. Rouhani said that the Americans should come to realize that establishing peace with Iran is the mother of all peace and waging war with the country is the mother of all wars. At the same time, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei agreed that Rouhani’s threats to close the international waterway expressed the regime’s policy. Khamenei replaced chief commander of IRGC Mohammad Ali Jafari with Brigadier General Hossein Salami, seven days after the US designated the group a foreign terrorist organization. Tangsiri added that replacing the IRGC commander-in-chief had nothing to do with Washington’s recent decision. However, Iranian Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier-General Abu al-Fadl Shakarji said Monday that Salami’s appointment is a blow to the US. The Iranian foreign ministry said Iran was in "constant talks with its international partners including the Europeans" on Washington’s ending of the exemptions. It added that an “important decision" will be announced later, without elaborating. China, India, North Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, and Greece will face US sanctions starting May in case they continue to purchase Iranian oil. In November, Washington reimposed strict economic sanctions against Tehran and all states that don’t abide by them, after its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.

US Looking To Sign New Agreement With Iran: Brian Hook
Jerusalem Post/April 23/19/“You can either work with the United States or you can work with Iran, but you can’t do both,” Hook told the Saudi-owned television news channel. The United States is looking to sign a new agreement with Iran that covers its nuclear and missile programs, the country’s regional aggression and the arbitrary detention of foreign nationals including Americans, according to US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook. In an interview with Al Arabiya English, Hook said, “That is the kind of deal we need. We are ready to negotiate something like that.” Hook was speaking on Monday, the same day that Washington declared it would start ending waivers to Tehran’s oil customers.  “You can either work with the United States or you can work with Iran, but you can’t do both,” Hook told the Saudi-owned television news channel. He noted that the United States has denied the Iranian regime more than $10 billion in revenue and expects that amount to increase dramatically, with the support of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, countries that Hook said, “share a lot of the United States’ national security goals when it comes to Iran." "Yes, we had very good meetings with both of the Saudis and the Emiratis," he continued. "So it’s in our interest and it’s in their interest to deny the Iranian regime the revenue it needs to fund its foreign policy. “And now Saudi Arabia has been very helpful, increasing its production as it did many months ago in order to offset the loss of Iranian crude, and they’ll continue to be helpful,” he said. “So, there’s a convergence of interest - especially with Arab nations, Israel, the United States [and] many of our European allies. We want a more peaceful Iran, and that’s up to Iran. They can either start behaving more peacefully or they can watch their economy crumble.”
The White House officially announced Monday its intention to end sanction waivers on eight countries that are still trading oil with Iran, increasing its “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic republic. Current exemptions are set to expire in early May.
Some of the countries that are slated to be affected are allies such as India. Other countries that will be affected include China and Turkey, which could open new friction. The goal of the sanctions is not only to create a more peaceful Iranian regime, but also to suck the economic life out of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is predominantly funded by Iran, though it also receives money from business investments, donor networks and money laundering activities. “What we are doing is making it harder for Hezbollah to meet payroll, because 70% of Hezbollah’s revenue comes from the Iranian regime,” Hook told Al Arabiya. “Historically, Iran gives Hezbollah $700 million a year - that’s 70% of their budget.” The State Department designated Hezbollah a Foreign Terrorist Organization in October 1997, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in October 2001. Hook noted that in March, the leader of Hezbollah made a public appeal for donations; it was the first time in history they’ve had to do that. On Monday, the State Department announced a new program that will offer up to $10 million in rewards for information leading to the disruption of Hezbollah's global financial mechanisms, also a first.

Complaint Filed against Netanyahu’s Nomination to Form Govt.
Tel Aviv - Nazir Magally/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/With more than 15,000 signatures from the public, the Movement for Integrity in Israel on Sunday petitioned the High Court of Justice to overturn a decision by President Reuven Rivlin’s to nominate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government. They also asked the court to issue a precautionary order against Netanyahu, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, the Knesset and the Likud party bloc to explain their position and answer questions about Rivlin’s decision. “The appointment of Netanyahu is not constitutional and undermines the solid core of the rule of law in the State of Israel,” said Shahar Ben-Meir, head of the movement. He continued: “It is not only the president who made a mistake here, we have a series of mistakes and sins. The legal advisor must explain why he is silent about the violation of the law. Netanyahu is corrupt and there are strong suspicions against him; and the same advisor has declared that he and the prosecution support an indictment against him.” The petitioners said they were not asking to end Netanyahu’s term as head of an interim government, but to prevent him from exercising his duties and making him a “frozen prime minister”, “because it is unreasonable, illogical and immoral, to hand over the administration of state affairs to a person who is soaked in corruption.”The court is likely to reject the complaint, which will, however, bolster the forces that are supporting the corruption cases against Netanyahu. Ben-Meir said, however, he was optimistic about a positive decision by the High Court of Justice. Undeterred, Netanyahu continued on Monday efforts to form his government. He met representatives of the right-wing Union Party, which announced that they intend to draft a law that would prevent Netanyahu from being tried as long as he is prime minister. In return, they demanded that the government reject US President Donald Trump’s yet unveiled Middle East peace proposal and any plan that includes decisions to evacuate settlements.

Palestinian To Iranian Media: Israel Is Stronger Future Unpredictable
Jerusalem Post/April 23/19
/Soltan-Shahi was described by MEMRI in 2018 as secretary-general of the Organization for Aiding the Islamic Revolution of the Palestinian People in the Office of the Iranian Presidency.
Iran’s Tasnim news ran a long and important interview on Tuesday with a Palestinian named Ali Reza Soltan-Shahi. The interview is interesting because it gives a window not only into Palestinian thinking, but particularly because of the views conveyed to the Iranian regime via the interview.
Soltan-Shahi has appeared before at Iranian events. He was described by MEMRI in 2018 as secretary-general of the Organization for Aiding the Islamic Revolution of the Palestinian People in the Office of the Iranian Presidency. Tasnim describes him only as a former head of the Palestinian Center for Mental Health. The interview begins with a discussion of the Israeli political parties that contested the election. Soltan-Shahi says the 2019 election was the culmination of a process that begin in 1977 and has seen the entrenchment of Likud and the Israeli right. He notes that Labor and Meretz have fallen in their number of seats. He describes Israel as more fundamentalist and religious, an irony considering that the Iranian regime is a fundamentalist theocracy. He argues that the right will gain more power in the future in Israel. He argues that while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form a new government successfully, his “popularity is at the lowest level internationally. Those countries that interact with the Zionist regime, such as the Europeans, their interaction is at its lowest.” He says Israel’s main ally is the United States and the Trump administration.
The interview notes that the privileges Israel enjoys in its relations with the US have made Israel’s policies more efficient and he points to US recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan. What does this unprecedented Israel-US coherence in policy mean going forward? He notes that due to the flexibility the US is showing in terms of more imaginative peace process concepts, tensions will increase in the West Bank and Gaza, which he refers to as the “occupied territories.” Unpredictability will increase and the “resistance may be strengthened.” Israel is also seeking to “strengthen its relations with Arab countries, and as far as possible make these relations more explicit and clearer.” Israel is helping to cement an anti-Iranian alliance even as Iran’s role in the region increases. The interview calls this Iran’s “strong presence.” The interview does not point to direct confrontation between Israel and Iran, but rather Israel encouraging the US to be more tough on Tehran financially. “The Zionist regime will certainly use anti-Iran countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia.”
Soltan-Shahi then discusses the differences between Iran’s view and that of Europe. While European powers supports a two-state solution and Israel withdrawing to the 1967 borders, “they are by no means like us, who demand the complete destruction of the Zionist regime.” Iran and Europe can only cooperate insofar as Iran seeks to highlight Israel’s abuses of international law and violation of international norms, the interviewee says. He indicates such examples as using UNESCO against Israel. What about the rumors of an “Arab NATO” which would oppose Iran? Soltan-Shahi says that experience shows the Arab NATO has not worked well. Egypt, for instance, did not agree to be part of it. “It those that the Arab countries that have the most secret relations with the Zionist regime cannot actually bring Zionists against the Islamic Republic of Iran.” In short, many Arab countries in the region are unwilling to make their relations with Israel public because they know such relations are unpopular at home and will cause protests against their rulers. The interview ends with discussions of whether Trump will be re-elected. “The Jews in the US are financially, politically, economically and media-wise very influential, but it should be borne in mind that eve as the Jews are powerful in the US, the political system is rooted in four-year terms for the Presidency.” Soltan-Shahi says that if Trump is re-elected it would mean the US has changed a lot in the last four years.
The interview is interesting because this is the kind of information that Iranian media seeks to highlight and also what some Iranians read in Farsi. The knowledge of the goals of Israel and the current Israeli government, including the complexity of coalition politics, are laid bare. In general the interview seems to suggest that while Israel has cemented its power and relations with Arab states, as well as gaining from Washington’s policies, it is unable to take things to the next step. This is because, in the view of the interview, the Arab states will not ever actually form a real alliance with Israel. It is an alliance of convenience. With that knowledge a sophisticated regime like Iran’s can continue to insert itself into politics in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and beyond. The interview also points to unpredictable Palestinian responses to any kind of US “deal of the century.” Defeated militarily, the Palestinian “resistance” has less options. But, isolated, it may be unpredictable. This is an important point because the US is pushing a deal that is reportedly in line with Israel’s interests and it is unclear how the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in Gaza will react.
The astute Iranian regime reads the prevailing winds in the region carefully. It correctly understands that while the European powers may be critical of Israel in some international forums, that only Iran really seeks the destruction of Israel. Iran seems to understand that this cannot be achieved by direct confrontation either. Interviews like this point to what information the Iranian regime is receiving and propagating.

Saudi Arabia Welcomes US Decision to Stop Waivers on Iran Oil Imports
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/Saudi Arabia hailed on Tuesday Washington’s decision to stop renewing exemptions granted last year to buyers of Iranian oil, reported the Saudi Press Agency. Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf stressed that the Kingdom completely backs the measure, saying it was necessary to force Iran to quit its destabilizing policies in the region and cease its support of terrorism throughout the world. The regime in Iran has been using state resources in order to finance these dangerous policies in total disregard to international law, he continued. He reiterated Saudi Arabia’s firm stance that the international community must hold the regime accountable to respecting international laws and stop its destructive meddling in the affairs of other countries. Moreover, Assaf underlined Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih’s confirmation that the Kingdom will maintain its firm policy that seeks to achieve stability in oil markets. Falih said Monday that Riyadh would work with other oil producers "to ensure adequate supplies are available to consumers while ensuring the global oil market does not go out of balance."The US demanded on Monday that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues. The US reimposed sanctions in November on exports of Iranian oil after US President Donald Trump last spring unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 accord between Iran and six world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. Eight economies, including China and India, were granted waivers for six months, and several had expected those exemptions to be renewed. Iran’s oil exports have dropped to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from more than 2.5 million bpd prior to the re-imposition of sanctions. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a briefing Monday, said “we’re going to zero across the board,” saying the United States had no plans for a grace period for compliance beyond May 1. The White House intends to deprive Iran of its lifeline of $50 billion in annual oil revenues, he added. The White House said it was working with top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure the market was “adequately supplied.”

France says Iran/Instex mechanism is making positive progress
Tue 23 Apr 2019/NNA - The 'Instex' mechanism set up by France, Britain and Germany for Iran to skirt U.S. sanctions is making positive progress, said the French foreign ministry on Tuesday, as it responded to the latest moves by the U.S. government to put pressure on Iran.
"The work that has been put in place is making positive progress, with a view to an eventual conclusion. Iran must also, for its part, make progress on its equivalent counterparty," said the French foreign ministry in an electronic briefing. France also reiterated its support for a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
On Monday, the U.S. demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, in a move aimed at choking off Tehran's oil revenues. Instex was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports with purchases of EU goods, but those ambitions have been toned down. Diplomats say that, realistically, it will be used only for smaller transactions such as purchases of humanitarian products or food. -- REUTERS

Bahrain Welcomes US Decision on Iranian Oil Waivers
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/Bahrain welcomed on Monday the decision of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo concerning Iran’s oil exports. "This step is crucial in order to further support and strengthen efforts exerted in combating terrorism and eradicating Iran’s malign and dangerous activities that aim to undermine security and stability and support terrorist organizations and militias in the region," Bahrain’s foreign ministry said. "The Kingdom commends the pivotal role of the United States in its relentless efforts and strategic decisions to eliminate violence, extremism and terrorism, and all those supporting or funding it on the regional and international levels," the ministry said in a statement. The Kingdom reiterated its unequivocal support to the US and called for the need to enhance international efforts aimed at eradicating the Iranian regime’s malign activities and policies that threaten security and peace, and end its attempts to spread chaos in the region. The US demanded on Monday that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "we're going to zero across the board.” He added that the United States had no plans for a grace period beyond May 1 for countries to comply.

Saudi, French Land Forces Hold Joint Exercise
Dammam - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/The Royal Saudi Land Forces and French forces launched on Monday the Asad Al Ganob 3 joint exercise in the Eastern Province. Abdullah bin Saeed al-Qahtani, the commander of the Eastern Province, attended the launching of the military drill.
Qahtani delivered a speech to announce the launch of the third edition of Asad Al Ganob exercise between the Royal Saudi Land Forces and French forces in the Eastern Province. The drill allows both sides to exchange expertise and skills, said the commander of the French forces taking part in the exercise.

Damascus Opens Airspace to Qatar Airways
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 23/19/Syria's government has agreed to allow planes from regional aviation giant Qatar Airways to fly over the country after eight years of conflict kept its planes at bay. "Transport Minister Ali Hammoud has agreed to allow Qatar Airways to cross Syrian airspace, based on a request from the Qatari civil aviation authority," the ministry said late Monday in a statement. Most airlines stopped flying over Syria after war broke out in 2011, instead taking longer routes to circumvent the war zone. But the conflict has largely wound down in recent years, after major regime advances against rebels and jihadists with Russian military backing since 2015."The agreement came on the principle of reciprocity, as SyrianAir crosses Qatari airspace and never stopped flying to Doha throughout the war," it said. The use of Syrian airspace would see "increased revenues in hard currency for the benefit of the Syrian state", it added. Qatar, a small Gulf state that has traditionally supported the Syrian opposition, suspended its ties with Damascus after the war broke out. Syria was suspended from the Arab League in November 2011, as the death toll was escalating and several regional powers bet on President Bashar al-Assad's demise. But his regime today controls almost 60 percent of the country. Fellow Gulf states the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have reopened their missions in Damascus. A high-ranking Iraqi official told AFP last year that Baghdad was helping to mediate a restoration of ties between Damascus and Doha. But Qatar, a country in a bitter feud with its Gulf neighbours, in January ruled out the possibility of re-opening an embassy in the Syrian capital.

Assassinations Rock Southern Syria
Daraa (southern Syria) - Riyad al-Zein/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/Assassinations have been on the rise in southern Syria, where a Russian-mediated deal with the opposition has been holding since July. Observers believe that the increased attacks in the area are a reflection of a power struggle between Iran and Russia.Most of the victims in eight cases documented this month were leaders of reconciliation factions, regime officers or pro-Iran militia figures, according to activists in the south. The latest assassination attempt took place on Sunday in the city of Dael in Daraa’s countryside where unknown assailants opened fire from machine guns at two former opposition leaders Fadi Shahadat and Mazid al-Jamous,. The incident took place a few hours after the killing of Abu al-Nur al-Bardan, a former leader in Al-Muataz Billah Army, who joined the fifth brigade’s forces in Daraa after the regime took back the area from the opposition. Bardan was shot dead near his residence in the city of Tafas in Daraa’s western countryside. He was considered a close associate of Abu Morshed al-Bardan, the former commander of Al-Muataz Billah Army. Local sources in Daraa’s countryside affirmed that Abu Morshed al-Bardan and his close associates had been exposed to several assassination attempts by unidentified persons after the Russian-mediated deal. Bardan is considered among the first opposition leaders to approve the deal in Daraa’s western countryside after which he became close to Russia. He has recently attended several important meetings in the southern region with representatives from the Syrian regime, including the Syrian Defense Minister and the head of national security. Syrian regime officials and figures close to Hezbollah and Iran have also been the target of assassination attacks in Daraa this month. Among them is Abu Hussein, the leader of an Iranian-backed militia in the city of Busra al-Harir in northeast Daraa, who was killed in a recent attack.

Russia to Lease Syria’s Tartus Port for 49 Years
Damascus, London- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 23 April, 2019/Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and discussed Moscow’s efforts to help the Middle Eastern country’s economic revival, as well as trade and economic cooperation “particularly in the fields of energy, industry and increasing trade,” according to Russian sources. Assad and the Russian envoy also discussed mechanisms to overcome obstacles including those from the sanctions which “countries against the Syrian people imposed on Syria.” “We have made considerable progress on that matter and hope that a contract will be signed within a week and the port of Tartus will be used by Russian businesses for 49 years," Borisov was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency. In December 2017, Russia’s Federation Council ratified an agreement between Moscow and Assad’s government on Russian forces' access to the naval base in Tartus. A few days ago, Syrian state media reported a shortage in fuel which caused the rationing of available quantities, pointing out that this was due to the difficulties in importing fuel and the halting of credit line from Iran. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem said in a statement on Saturday carried by state-owned Syrian news agency (SANA) that "Syria is always coordinating with Iran". On the other hand, news of leasing Tartus port caused widespread discontent among Syrians, who have been witnessing unprecedented economic distress for the past two weeks. Syrian port workers are worried about the future of their work and the consequences of Russia's control over the port. In 2017, Moscow and Damascus signed an agreement on the deployment of a Russian navy logistics support center in Tartus for the term of 49 years. Russia and Iran are competing for influence in Syria. Moscow’s intention to lease Tartus port comes after Iran leased from the Syrian regime its commercial port of Latakia in October 2018. During an unannounced visit to Tehran in February, Assad signed with his Iranian counterpart, Hasan Rouhani, an agreement allowing Iran to manage the commercial port of Latakia, which angered the Russian side. Russia is looking to explore oil fields in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, and establish a land bridge to Europe across the Middle East to strengthen its role as a major supplier of gas to Europe. Moscow is also interested in Lebanon, especially that, over the past two years, trade exchange has doubled between the two countries. It is also eyeing the oil storage facility at Tripoli port, 30 kilometers from the Syrian border and 60 kilometers from the Syrian port of Tartus. Sources in Damascus said that leasing Tartus port to Russia is a clear indication of the shared influence and control, especially that there are Iranian-Russian interests in using the Syrian territory to extend gas pipelines in the region and resume the railway project linking Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Various media outlets reported Iranian and Russian forces are clashing in several areas, which SANA categorically denied saying no such thing occurred. Soon after the news broke of leasing Tartus port, allies and opposition figures denounced the move, prompting social media activists affiliated with the regime to promote that the ports of Tartus and Latakia were operated by the Philippine’s International Container Terminal Services Inc up until 2011 when both ports were classified dangerous areas. The pro-regime critics considered the lease a “tactical move by Syria” in the face of the economic war declared on it. They argued that this would restore activity to the quasi-paralyzed port as a result of the economic blockade, and will allow the import of food and oil to Syria. Earlier, al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the Syrian government, disclosed in an article “Unprecedented Disclosure on Oil” that the serious shortage of fuel in Syria is due of Iran halting a credit line to Syria after US sanctions. The newspaper pointed out that Syria daily needs 4.5 million liters of gasoline, 6 million liters, 7 thousand tons of fuel, and 12 hundred tons of gas, amounting to $200 million every month. Meanwhile, Moscow has pushed for a political process involving talks on a new constitution and elections as a way to end the conflict, but Assad has played down the possibility that the Turkey-backed opposition or foreign countries might participate. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said late on Friday that Assad met Moscow’s Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, and several Russian Defence Ministry officials. They discussed the formation of a constitutional committee, which Syria’s opposition last year agreed to join under UN auspices during Sochi peace conference. SANA said meetings had focused on the next round of talks in Kazakhstan involving Syria, its allies Russia and Iran, and the rebels’ backer Turkey.

Probe shows Sri Lanka attacks ‘retaliation for Christchurch’
Reuters, AFP, Colombo/Tuesday, 23 April 2019/Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bomb attacks were retaliation for a recent attack on mosques in New Zealand, a Sri Lankan official said on Tuesday, adding that two domestic Islamist groups were believed to be responsible. “The initial investigation has revealed that this was in retaliation for the New Zealand mosque attack,” junior minister for defence Ruwan Wijewardene told parliament. “It was done by National Thawheed Jama’ut along with JMI,” he said, referring to another local group, Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim. Fifty people were killed in shooting attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on March 15.

UNICEF: At least 45 children killed in Sri Lanka attacks
AFP, Geneva/uesday, 23 April 2019/At least 45 children were among the more than 320 people killed in suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, the UNICEF said on Tuesday. “The total now is 45 children who died,” UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told reporters in Geneva.
He added that the toll from the Sunday attacks could rise as many other minors “are wounded and are now fighting for their lives in intensive care units across the country.” UNICEF has confirmed that 27 children were killed and another 10 injured in the attack at St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo.
In the eastern city of Batticaloa, 13 children were killed, including an 18-month-old baby, UNICEF said. Those 40 children who lost their lives in the two cities were Sri Lankan nationals, while UNICEF has confirmed that another five children of foreign nationality were also killed.
Boulierac was not immediately able to provide details on where the non-Sri Lankan children died. Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, who was on vacation in Sri Lanka with his family at the weekend, lost three of his four children in the attack, a spokesman for his clothing retail group Bestseller has said. Twenty children have also been admitted to hospital following the attack in Colombo, including four who were in intensive care. Sri Lanka has named the local Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath, as the chief suspect, for the violence that has sparked local and international outrage.

Sri Lanka detains Syrian for questioning over attacks, say sources
Reuters, Colombo/Tuesday, 23 April 2019/Sri Lankan police are holding a Syrian national in custody for questioning over the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels, three government and military sources told Reuters on Tuesday. “The terrorist investigation division of the police arrested a Syrian national following the attacks for interrogation,” a source said. Two other officials with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the detention. “He was arrested after interrogation of local suspects,” a second source said. No group has yet to claim responsibility for Easter Sunday’s suicide bomb attacks on three churches and four luxury hotels that killed 290 people and wounded about 500 people.

Sri Lanka arrests 40 suspects after bombings, toll up to 321
Agencies, Colombo/Tuesday, 23 April 2019/As a state of emergency took effect on Tuesday giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived. Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena gave the military a wider berth to detain and arrest suspects - powers that were used during the 26-year civil war but withdrawn when it ended in 2009. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the death toll from Sunday’s attacks rose to 321, with several people dying of their injuries overnight, a police spokesman said Tuesday. Around 500 people were wounded in the blasts, Ruwan Gunasekera said in a statement.He added that 40 people were now under arrest in connection with the attacks, which Sri Lanka’s government has blamed on a previously little-known local Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath. On Monday, officials disclosed that warnings had been received weeks ago of the possibility of an attack by the radical group. Nationwide three-minute silence observed .Early Tuesday, Sri Lankans across the island nation observed three minutes of silence to pay tribute to nearly 321 people killed in a string of suicide attacks. National flags were lowered and people bowed their heads as the silence began at 8:30 am local time (0300 GMT), the time the first of six attacks occurred on Sunday. The government has declared a full day of national mourning on Tuesday, with flags at all government institutions lowered to half mast, liquor shops ordered shut and radio stations and television channels expected to play somber music. At St Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo where the first suicide bomb detonated on Sunday morning, a crowd of several dozen people held up candles and prayed silently, palms pressed together, eyes squeezed shut. Some of them struggled to hold back tears, and as the three minutes drew to a close, the crowd began to recite prayers. Sri Lanka travel advisory issued for Emiratis . In the UAE, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, (MoFAIC), has issued a warning cautioning UAE citizens against traveling to Sri Lanka following the current events taking place in the country, reports WAM. In a statement issued on Sunday, the ministry also urged Emiratis currently in Sri Lanka to exercise caution and to return back to the UAE.

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Sri Lanka Easter Sunday Bombings
Reuters, DPA and The Associated Press/April 23/ 2019/Earlier, deputy defense minister says an extreme Islamist group is believed to be responsible for bombings that killed at least 311 people on Easter Day
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for coordinated bombings in Sri Lanka which killed 321 people and injured about 500 others, the group's AMAQ news agency said on Tuesday, providing no evidence to the claim. Earlier, the Sri Lankan deputy defense minister said that according to initial investigations by the government, the bombings were intended as retaliation for last month's attack against Muslims in Christchurch, without providing evidence or explaining where the information came from. On March 15, a white supremacist gunman opened fire on worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people in what was the country's worst-ever mass shooting. "We believe [the massacre] was carried out by an extreme Islamist group as a reprisal to the Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand," State Minister for Defense Ruwan Wijewardene said in a statement to parliament.
"This group is known to have links to an organization named National Thowheed Jamath. We should take immediate steps to ban any such organization that have links to extremist elements," he added. Authorities in Sri Lanka are further increasing security measures after at least 311 people were killed in eight separate attacks on Sunday. The explosions took place during busy Easter services at Christian churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo and in three five-star hotels in the capital. As a state of emergency took effect Tuesday giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived. Police issued orders Tuesday that anyone parking a car on the street and leaving unattended must put a note with their phone number on the windscreen.
Postal officials meanwhile said they would no longer accept pre-wrapped parcels for mailing.  A warning shared with Sri Lankan security agencies on April 11 said a local group was planning a suicide terror attack against churches in Sri Lanka. Priyalal Disanayaka, the deputy inspector general of police, signed the letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies. He asked the four security directors to "pay extra attention" to the places and VIPs in their care.The intelligence report attached to his letter called the group National Towheed Jamaar, said it was targeting "some important churches" in a suicide terrorist attack that was planned to take place "shortly." The report named six individuals likely to be involved in the plot. On Monday, Sri Lanka's health minister held up a copy of the report while describing its contents, spurring questions about what Sri Lanka police had done to protect the public from an attack.

Gaza Cleric Mahmoud Al-Hasanat Rebukes Arab Leaders Who 'Whine' About Notre-Dame Cathedral From Which 'A Crusade Against Islam' Was Once Declared
MEMRI/April 23/2019/In a Friday sermon delivered in Gaza on April 19, 2019, Mahmoud Al-Hasanat, an Islamic cleric, referred to the fire in the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Al-Hasanat rebuked Arab leaders for shedding tears for the French cathedral and collecting funds to rebuild it while they remained silent when mosques in Syria and Gaza were burned down and destroyed. Al-Hasanat said that thousands of people are being burned in Syria today, but Arab leaders do not shed tears for them. "Our blood is cheap, but the blood of the French and Parisians is expensive." Al-Hasanat added that a Crusade against Islam was once declared from this very cathedral. "The heads of Muslims were chopped off and people were killed in the streets, after war [against Islam] had been declared in this cathedral." He concluded by saying: "This is their principle: Killing an animal in the jungle is an unforgivable crime, but killing an entire Muslim people is a matter open for debate."
Click here to view this clip on MEMRI TV
https://www.memri.org/tv/gaza-cleric-mahmoud-hassanat-notre-dam-fire
Mahmoud Al-Hasanat: "The people who whine about the burning of a cathedral in Paris… A centuries-old cathedral was burned down. The Umayyad Mosque… Damascus was completely burned down, Damascus was completely burned down, and it is much older than that cathedral. It is 4,000 years old. The Umayyad Mosque was also burned down. Did they shed tears over it? By Allah, they did not. In New Zealand, 60 Muslims were martyred in one minute, but not a single Arab ruler attended their funerals. "Gaza was burned down in three consecutive wars. Did they shed tears over it? No, by Allah, they did not. To this day, thousands of people are being burned in Baghuz and in Idlib, in Syria. Did they shed tears over them? Our blood is cheap, but the blood of the French and Parisians is expensive. All the Arab rulers rose to the occasion, and collected donations in order to rebuild that cathedral. That is just great! That is just great! Also, they all sent messages of grief. Thirty four billion dollars were collected so far from the Arab countries, from the EU, and from foreign countries, in order to rebuild that cathedral, but Gaza mosques that were destroyed have still not been rebuilt."From that very cathedral, they once declared a Crusade against Islam. The heads of Muslims were chopped off, and people were killed in the streets, after war [against Islam] had been declared in this cathedral. Indeed, these are crocodile tears. These are crocodile tears. This is their principle: Killing an animal in the jungle is an unforgivable crime, but killing an entire Muslim people is a matter open for debate."

ISIS Supporters Celebrate Easter Sunday Bombings In Sri Lanka
MEMRI/April 23/2019
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
The multiple April 21, 2019 bombings in Sri Lanka, which targeted a number of churches and hotels, as well as other locations, and in which more than 200 people were killed and hundreds were wounded, appear to have been coordinated by a single organization. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombings, many of which appear to be suicide attacks, supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) have taken to Telegram to celebrate them. A Kashmiri pro-ISIS channel mentioned a poster that had been released on April 20, one day before the attacks, by the pro-ISIS Indonesian media outlet Ash-Shaff Foundation. The poster, showing a hooded man standing in front of the Notre Dame in Paris with a text threatening "lone wolf attacks" in "Crusader" churches, [1] seems to be a reaction to the April 15, 2019 Notre Dame fire. The Kashmiri channel, however, associated it with the Sri Lanka bombings, writing in English: "As-Shaff foundation (Pro Islamic State Media) had released a poster yesterday threatening of attacks and bloodshed in churches. And today three churches were attacked in Sri-Lanka, there is a possibility that Islamic State lonewolves executed this attack, but there is no claim from the official Islamic State sources." [2]
The pro-ISIS Muntasir Media Foundation released a poster celebrating the Sri Lanka attacks themselves.
Another pro-ISIS media outlet, the Ash Shaff News Agency (which may or may not be linked to the Ash-the Shaff Foundation) celebrated the attack with several sarcastic posts. After providing information on the explosions in English and Indonesian, it commented: "What a great news and bad news for kuffar[unbelievers]. Ok Mr Kuffar, Welcome and enjoying in Jahannam [Hell]. HAHA..." In a later post, after quoting media sources that blamed the blasts on the Islamist group National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ), whose members include jihadis returned from Syria, Ash Shaff commented: "Ok Mr TerroriST what a great job, S A L U T E 4 You!" Following the seventh and eighth explosions, the media outlet posed: "Looks like the party is getting more exciting, nice weekend yaa Kuffar idiot! LOL".[4]
ISIS supporter Al-Basha'ir wrote in Arabic on his own Telegram channel: "These burning churches, I think that terrorists are behind them, but Allah knows best. Notre Dame and now Sri Lanka." [5] Another pro-ISIS channel, Hamlat Fadh Al-Mukhabarat (The Campaign to Expose Intelligence Agents), published a gruesome photo of the carnage in one of the churches, with the Arabic text: "Preliminary photos of the celebration that was held today in the churches of Sri Lanka. We in turn congratulate them on this beautiful, festive day and ask Allah to repeat it on many days and for extended periods." [6]
The pro-ISIS Quraysh Media published a poster with the caption: "Sri Lanka pays the price. Islamic State."
[1] Telegram.me/ Publisher_Media_Ash_Shaff, April 20, 2019.
[2] Telegram.me/xcptz, April 21, 2019.
[3] Telegram.me/ MUNTASIR, April 21, 2019.
[4] Telegram.me/ ASH SHAFF NEWS, April 21, 2019.
[5] Telegram.me/ Al-Basha'ir, April 21, 2019.
[6] Telegram.me/ Hamlat Fadh Al-Mukhabarat, April 21, 2019.

Sri Lankan minister says attacks were ‘retaliation for Christchurch’ massacre
Reuters/April 23/19
COLOMBO: An initial probe into the deadly suicide bomb attacks, which killed 321 people and injured about 500 others, shows it was “retaliation for Christchurch,” the country’s deputy defense minister said earlier Tuesday.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka (on Sunday) was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene told parliament.
Fifty people were killed in shooting attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on March 15.
Wijewardene said investigations showed that a local group called National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) was behind the attack and was linked to a little-known radical Islamist group in India.
“This National Thowheeth Jamaath group which carried out the attacks had close links with JMI it has now been revealed,” Wijewardene told parliament, in an apparent reference to a group known as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also told journalists on Tuesday that there was "specific intelligence" from India on the attacks, and that he believed there may be "some links" with Daesh. He also disclosed that a fourth hotel was also a target, but the attack failed.
A state of emergency took effect Tuesday giving the military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived, officials said.
Daesh has claimed responsibility for the bombings, the group’s propaganda agency AMAQ reported, but have not provided any evidence.
Sources said police are holding a Syrian national in custody for questioning over attacks, Reuters reported.
“The terrorist investigation division of the police arrested a Syrian national following the attacks for interrogation,” a source said. Two other officials with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the detention.
“He was arrested after interrogation of local suspects,” a second source said.
Sri Lanka’s president gave the military a wider berth to detain and arrest suspects — powers that were used during the 26-year civil war but withdrawn when it ended in 2009.
Two Saudis were among the 31 foreigners killed in the attack, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
On Tuesday, which President Maithripala Sirisena declared a day of mourning, Sri Lankan authorities planned to brief foreign diplomats and receive assistance from the FBI and other foreign intelligence-gathering agencies after officials disclosed Monday that warnings had been received weeks ago of the possibility of an attack by the radical Muslim group blamed for the bloodshed.
The country fell silent for three minutes Tuesday on a day of national mourning to honor those killed.
Flags were lowered to half-mast on government buildings, and people bowed their heads and reflected silently on the violence that has caused international outrage.
The silence began at 8:30 am (0300 GMT), the time that the first of six bombs detonated on Sunday morning, unleashing carnage at high-end hotels and churches packed with Easter worshippers.
The first memorial services for the victims, among them dozens of foreigners, were being held Tuesday, hours after the government imposed a state of emergency and said an Islamist group was behind the violence.
At St Anthony's Shrine in Colombo -- where scores died as they gathered for Easter Sunday prayers -- a few dozen people held candles and prayed silently, palms pressed together.
The six near-simultaneous attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels and three related blasts later Sunday were the South Asian island nation’s deadliest violence in a decade. The government blocked most social media to curtail false information. Even after an overnight, nationwide curfew was lifted, the streets of central Colombo remained mostly deserted and shops closed as armed soldiers stood guard.
Wickremesinghe said he feared the massacre could unleash instability and he vowed to “vest all necessary powers with the defense forces” to act against those responsible.
In an indication of the tensions, three explosions caused panic but apparently no injuries Monday as police were defusing bombs inside a van parked near one of the stricken churches. Dozens of detonators were discovered near Colombo’s main bus depot, but officials declined to say whether they were linked to the attacks.
At Bandaranaike International Airport outside of Colombo early Tuesday morning, police walked explosive-sniffing dogs outside as inside cheery video advertisements of gamblers and snorkelers played. At a roadside checkpoint at the airport, security officials checked car trunks and questioned drivers.
Nuns walk past military personnel standing guard at the St Sebastian's Church in Negombo on April 23, 2019 – the military have been given far reaching powers to arrest people suspected of terrorism. (Ishara S. Kodikara /AFP)
The lack of social media access was contributing to the confusion and doing little to reassure residents and visitors that the danger had passed.
International intelligence agencies had warned that the little-known group, National Thowfeek Jamaath, was planning attacks, but word apparently didn’t reach the prime minister’s office until after the massacre, exposing the continuing political turmoil in the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government.
Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the warnings started April 4, the defense ministry wrote to the police chief with information that included the group’s name and police wrote April 11 to the heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division.
Sirisena, who was out of the country Sunday, had ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in October and dissolved the Cabinet. The Supreme Court reversed his actions, but the prime minister has not been allowed into meetings of the Security Council since October, leaving him and his government in the dark about the intelligence.
It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken after the threats. Authorities said they knew where the group trained and had safe houses, but did not identify any of the suicide bombers, whose bodies were recovered, or the two dozen other suspects taken into custody.
All the bombers were Sri Lankans, but authorities said they strongly suspected foreign links, Senaratne said.
Also unclear was a motive. The history of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million including large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.
In the 26-year civil war, the Tamil Tigers, a powerful rebel army known for using suicide bombers, was finally crushed by the government in 2009 but had little history of targeting Christians. Anti-Muslim bigotry fed by Buddhist nationalists has swept the country recently, but there is no history of Islamic militancy. Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.
Two of the stricken churches are Catholic and one Protestant. The three hotels and one of the churches, St. Anthony’s Shrine, are frequented by foreigners. Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said 39 foreigners were killed, although the foreign ministry gave the figure as 31. The reason for the discrepancy wasn’t clear, but some victims were dual nationals.
India and Britain have confirmed eight dead each. The US State Department confirmed that at least four Americans dead and several seriously wounded. Others were confirmed to be from Bangladesh, China, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Turkey and Australia.
The scale of the violence recalled the worst days of the civil war, when the Tamil Tigers, from the ethnic Tamil minority, sought independence from the Sinhalese-dominated, majority Buddhist country. The Tamils are Hindu, Muslim and Christian.
The six near-simultaneous blasts were set off Sunday morning at St. Anthony’s and the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels in Colombo, as well as the two churches outside Colombo. They collapsed ceilings and blew out windows, killing worshippers and hotel guests, and leaving behind scenes of smoke, soot, blood, broken glass, screams and wailing alarms.
The military confirmed two other related blasts, one near an overpass and another at a guesthouse where two people were killed. A ninth blast, which killed three police officers, was set off by occupants of a safe house trying to evade arrest, authorities said.
A morgue worker in Negombo, outside Colombo, where St. Sebastian’s Church was targeted, said many bodies were hard to identify because of the blasts. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said at least 110 of the dead were killed at St. Sebastian’s, making it the deadliest of the attacks.
Nilantha Lakmal, a businessman who took his family to St. Sebastian’s for Mass, said they all escaped unharmed, but he remained haunted by images of bodies being taken from the sanctuary.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said the attacks could have been thwarted.
“We placed our hands on our heads when we came to know that these deaths could have been avoided. Why this was not prevented?” he said.

Ukraine Leaps into Unknown after Comic Elected President
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 23/19/Ukraine leapt into the unknown Monday after comedian Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president on promises of change but with just a vague blueprint of what he might do as leader. Zelensky, whose previous political experience was playing the president on a TV show, crushed incumbent Petro Poroshenko in a stinging rebuke to the establishment fuelled by voters' anger over war with separatists and social injustice. Ukrainians looked to the future with hope and anxiety after the performer took 73 percent of the vote on Sunday, according to nearly complete official results. Zelensky at 41 will become Ukraine's youngest ever president when he is sworn into office by early June. It remained unclear Monday who would fill top positions in his governement, including prime minister. The star of "Servant of the People", a sitcom now in its third season, has vowed to press ahead with the pro-European course set out by Poroshenko.
But he has also said he wants to improve ties with arch-enemy Russia. On election night, however, he appeared to taunt the Kremlin when he told people in fellow post-Soviet countries that "everything is possible."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday it was "too early to talk about President Putin congratulating Mr Zelensky, or about the possibility of working together."Ties between Ukraine and Russia were shredded after a bloody uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime in 2014, prompting Moscow to annex Crimea and support insurgents in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has claimed around 13,000 lives.
Poroshenko pledges to return
Poroshenko, 53, quickly conceded defeat and said he was ready to coach the successor. But on Monday evening he told a rally he planned to take back the country's top job during the next presidential polls set for 2024.  Several thousand supporters, who gathered outside the presidential offices, chanted they wanted him back "in a year"."With God's help," Poroshenko replied. "We will unite to secure our common victory in the near future.". Poroshenko's faction has the most seats in the legislature and new parliamentary polls are due to be held in October. The Ukrainian president has strong powers over defence, security and foreign policy but will need parliament backing to push through reforms. On the streets of Kiev earlier Monday, many praised the elections as a fair and peaceful transfer of power after popular uprisings of 2004 and 2014. "People showed that they want change," 28-year-old Karina told AFP.
"We had the most honest polls in the history of Ukraine," she added. Zelensky shunned traditional campaign rallies, instead performing comedy gigs, and implied he would use the same unorthodox style to run the country of 45 million that depends on international aid.
US President Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron called the political novice to congratulate him, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged support. G7 ambassadors said they looked forward to working closely with the new leader but also recognized the progress the country had made under Poroshenko since 2014. OSCE observers praised Ukraine's election as "competitive and held with respect for fundamental freedoms", while regretting that the campaigns were thin on substance.
'Political honeymoon'
The Kremlin said it respected the choice of the people but questioned the legitimacy of the polls, noting that "three million" Ukrainian citizens living in Russia could not vote there. Kiev refused to open polling stations at its diplomatic missions in Russia. Zelensky has said that among his top priorities are securing the release of Ukrainians being held prisoner by Russia and rebooting moribund Western-brokered peace talks. But many doubt the political neophyte will be able to stand up to Putin and revive the struggling economy. Questions have also been raised over his close ties to Israel-based tycoon Igor Kolomoysky. Victoriya, a 74-year-old pensioner, said she liked the new president-elect but expressed concern that he may not last long. "He has not met this pack of wolves yet," she said. Analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said that Zelensky's political "honeymoon" would last two or three months before reality kicks in. Ukrainians want to see a quick end to the war in the east and pay less for utility bills, Fesenko told AFP. "It will be extremely difficult to meet these expectations," he said.

Bodies of Three Mountaineers Found in Canada
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 23/19/The bodies of three world-renowned professional mountaineers -- two Austrians and an American -- were found Sunday after they went missing during an avalanche on a western Canadian summit, the national parks agency said. American Jess Roskelley, 36, and Hansjorg Auer, 35, and David Lama, 28, of Austria went missing late Tuesday at Banff National Park. Authorities launched an aerial search the next day. The three men were attempting to climb the east face of Howse Pass, an isolated and highly difficult route.
They were part of a team of experienced athletes sponsored by American outdoor equipment firm The North Face. "Parks Canada extends our sincere condolences to their families, friends and loved ones," the agency said in a statement. "We would also like to acknowledge the impact that this has had on the tight-knit, local and international climbing communities. Our thoughts are with families, friends and all those who have been affected by this tragic incident." Roskelley was the son of John Roskelley, who was also considered one of the best mountaineers of his own generation. Father and son had climbed Mount Everest together in 2003. At the time, the younger Roskelley was only 20 years old, and became the youngest mountaineer to climb the planet's highest mountain above sea level. ran's oil revenues. Instex was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports with purchases of EU goods, but those ambitions have been toned down. Diplomats say that, realistically, it will be used only for smaller transactions such as purchases of humanitarian products or food. -- REUTERS

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 23-24/19
U.S. Withdrawal From Syria Threatens Revival of Kurdish Language, Too
Elizabeth Tsurkov (Northern Syria) /Haaretz/April 23/2019
The civil war lessened the Assad regime’s grip on northeastern Syria, allowing Kurdish culture to be seen and heard again. Locals worry that recent events will force it underground once more.
QAMISHLI and AL-MALIKIYAH, Northern Syria — The students at Rojava University rise to welcome their Kurdish literature professor. The large room is dimly lit by indirect sunlight because the electricity is cut off most hours of the day, and the lecturer, whose students address him as “professor,” has not completed his master’s degree.Yet despite the immense challenges, the students are making history: They are among the first to ever attend a university in which classes and reading materials are in Kurmanji — the dialect of Kurdish spoken in Syria and Turkey.
Rojava University, opened only three years ago in the autonomous region established by Syria’s Kurds in northeastern Syria, is part of the revival of the long-suppressed Kurdish language. However, this revival is now under threat as the future of the region hangs in the balance following an announcement on the drawdown of the U.S. forces whose presence has protected the Kurds from a regime takeover or Turkish invasion.
Some 10 percent of Syria’s population are Kurds. But under the Ba’ath Party regimes of Syrian presidents Hafez and Bashar Assad, expressions of Kurdish identity have been suppressed and penalized. The Kurds suffered discrimination in public sector employment, while Kurdish-majority areas in Syria’s northeast — bordering the areas inhabited by Kurds in Iraq and Turkey — received disproportionately smaller state budgets, contributing to the region’s impoverishment. Publications in Kurdish were banned during the reign of Hafez Assad and only slightly relaxed under his son’s rule, starting in the year 2000.
Speaking to Haaretz in his spacious home in central Qamishli, Zara, a famous Kurdish novelist and poet, recounts being interrogated in 1978 for publishing an apolitical Kurdish children’s song in a Kurdish-language newspaper in Turkey. (Most of the Kurds’ names in this article were changed to protect the identity of Syrians speaking to an Israeli reporter.) Prior to the interrogation, Zara was able to avoid the harassment of authorities for years by publishing using a pen name and traveling to Banyas — a majority-Alawite town with a decreased secret police presence — to mail his poems and novels. Zara’s books could not be published in Syria and either had to be printed outside of Syria and smuggled into the country, or printed in Damascus while falsely claiming the books were printed in Beirut.
Kurdish language education has been banned under the Arab nationalist regimes that have ruled Syria since independence. Shiyar, a resident of Qamishli in his 30s, recalls being sent to study Kurdish by his father. “He told me not to speak about this. I used to carry the notebook under my clothes. I was constantly afraid. I was a child, but I could feel something was abnormal about this situation,” he tells Haaretz. Later, as an adult, “I realized that I and the teacher could have been arrested, tortured and even killed for doing this.” Barin, a journalist and activist from Qamishli, describes becoming involved in covert study circles of the Kurdish language in 2009, during her time at Aleppo University. “We were five people studying with a teacher. The idea was for each of us to learn the language and then teach it to five more people,” she explains. Despite limiting the number of students in an effort to prevent infiltration by the regime, after Barin began teaching the Kurmanji alphabet to five students, someone informed on her. The secret police raided her workplace and her supervisor had to bribe them to leave, following which he fired her. “This was the moment I realized that I am a Kurd; I am not Syrian. I will never forget this terrifying moment,” she says, her eyes glistening.
‘Sweetest days’
In 2011, with the outbreak of the civil war, the Assad regime lost its tight grip over large swaths of Syria. Kurdish towns witnessed anti-regime protests that featured Kurdish chants and flags. Syrians across the country rushed to enjoy the newly created space to organize, protest, publish magazines and debate politics for the first time in their lives. Across Syria’s northeast, Kurds rushed to study their long-banned language. Samira Hajj Ali , co-chair of the educational body of Syria’s northeast region, recalls studying Kurdish for the first time in her life in 2012. “We gathered money and built a two-room school in Qamishli,” she says, adding that despite the lack of electricity that winter and it being so cold in the school that “our pencils would fall out of our hands,” she still remembers that time as “the sweetest days of my life.”In mid-2012, Syrian opposition factions stormed Aleppo City, forcing the regime to shift forces there to protect Syria’s largest city. Most regime forces withdrew from the country’s northeast, ceding the territory to the militarily most dominant Kurdish party, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which remains the region’s ruling party to this day. (It maintains a “third way” policy of not aligning with the Assad regime but not fighting it either.) With Kurds in control of their own region for the first time in Syria’s post-independence history, all prohibitions on studying or using the Kurdish language were lifted.
Storefronts, street signs and official documents across the region now feature both Arabic and Kurdish, and at times the Syriac language as well, used by the region’s Assyrian community. Public events and a plethora of local media outlets that sprang up in the area celebrate the region’s ethnic and linguistic diversity. Starting in 2017, the local administration implemented its own curriculum and Kurdish-language education in schools. In Kurdish-majority areas, Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians now study in their own languages in grades 1 through 10. Rojava University currently offers classes mostly in Arabic, with only Kurdish literature being taught in Kurdish. Hajj Ali tells Haaretz that the intention is to begin teaching additional subjects in Kurdish in the coming years.
Kurdish ‘indoctrination’
Not all the region’s residents are rushing to embrace the new curriculum, though. Some oppose it due to educational content that they see as indoctrination by the Democratic Union Party, which sets the curricula. Others are concerned about the long-term viability of the region’s educational system, worried that if the Syrian regime retakes the area, their children will be at a disadvantage because they’ve studied an unrecognized curriculum and would only know Arabic as a second language. In areas recaptured from the opposition by the Syrian regime, children have had to repeat all classes they’ve studied in opposition-run schools due to the regime’s refusal to recognize the alternative curriculum. Such fears have increased following President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement last December regarding the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria. The decision has since been partially reversed with a residual force of several hundred U.S. personnel set to remain in place. But the autonomy of the region faces threats both from the emboldened Assad regime and neighboring Turkey. The Assad regime refuses to accept any genuine autonomy inside Syria’s borders, ceding control over certain regions only due to its military weakness. Now that Syria’s opposition and the Islamic State have been largely defeated due to Iranian and Russian support, the regime is determined to extend its control over Syria’s oil-rich northeast.
Another threat is Turkey, which has vehemently opposed the emergence of Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria — particularly due to the close organizational and ideological ties between the Democratic Union Party and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group that has waged a guerrilla campaign against Turkey since 1984. Turkey has made repeated threats and even mobilized forces to invade the region. Locals in northeastern Syria are painfully aware of the reality in Efrin, a region in northwestern Syria previously under the control of the Democratic Union Party, which was captured by Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian armed factions in early 2018. Since that takeover, the Kurdish language has again been erased from the region, celebrations of Newroz (the Kurdish New Year) were banned, Kurdish statues destroyed and Turkish is taught as a second language in schools while instruction is done in Arabic. For Syrian Kurds, schools were a place of oppression and violence where they were forced to attend classes on history and nationalism that erased their identity. Shiyar, who studied Kurdish in secret as a child, describes being beaten by a teacher twice a week in front of his classmates for an entire semester at age 13 for refusing to join the ruling Ba’ath Party. “He would slap my head so hard it would hit the wall,” he recalls. Shiyar did not tell his parents about the abuse, fearing his father would complain and then be arrested. Today, Shiyar’s children attend Kurdish schools. “I will never let my children study in regime schools again,” he says defiantly. “If Assad comes back, we will have to escape.”
*Elizabeth Tsurkov is a Research Fellow specializing in Syria and Iraq at the Jerusalem-based Forum for Regional Thinking. You can follow her on Twitter @Elizrael.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/.premium.MAGAZINE-u-s-withdrawal-from-syria-threatens-revival-of-kurdish-language-too-1.7159846

The Persecution of Palestinians No One Mentions
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/April 23/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14098/palestinians-persecution-saudi-arabia
In Lebanon, Palestinians have long been facing discriminatory and "Apartheid laws" that deny them basic rights, including access to dozens of skilled professions, health-care and education services. According to some reports, thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing Lebanon in recent years as a result of the dire economic conditions and government regulations that deny them basic rights.
In 2015, a Saudi court sentenced Palestinian artist and poet Ashraf Fayadh to death by beheading for "apostasy." Later, however, the court overturned the death sentence and replaced it with an eight-year prison term and 800 lashes. The "evidence" against Fayadh was based on poems included in his book Instructions Within, as well as social media posts and conversations he had in a coffee shop in Saudi Arabia.
Palestinian leaders do not seem to care about the suffering of their people at the hands of Arabs. Yet, these same leaders are quick to condemn Israel on almost every occasion and available platform. Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are so busy fighting each other (and Israel) that they seem to have forgotten about the Palestinians in Arab countries, being killed, wounded and arrested every day.
In 2015, a Saudi court in Abha sentenced Palestinian artist and poet Ashraf Fayadh to death by beheading for "apostasy." Later, however, the court overturned the death sentence and replaced it with an eight-year prison term and 800 lashes. The "evidence" against Fayadh was based on poems included in his book Instructions Within, as well as social media posts and conversations he had in a coffee shop in Saudi Arabia. Pictured: Abha, Saudi Arabia. (Image source: iStock)
Saudi Arabia appears to have joined the list of Arab countries that mistreat Palestinians.
In Syria, thousands of Palestinians have been wounded, murdered and arrested since the beginning of the civil war in 2011. The latest statistics show that nearly 4,000 Palestinians -- 3,920 to be exact -- have been killed in Syria in the past nine years, while 1,750 others are being held in various Syrian government prisons. Another 323 Palestinians have gone missing during the same period.
In Lebanon, Palestinians have long been facing discriminatory and "Apartheid laws" that deny them basic rights, including access to dozens of skilled professions, health-care and education services. According to some reports, thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing Lebanon in recent years as a result of the dire economic conditions and government regulations that deny them basic rights.
It now seems that it is Saudi Arabia's turn to harass and intimidate Palestinians.
A report in the Gulf-based Al-Khaleej Online news site disclosed that the Saudi authorities have in recent weeks arrested and terrorized Palestinians living in the kingdom while the Palestinian embassy in Riyadh has chosen not to intervene.
The report said that more than 30 Palestinians, including students, academics and businessmen, have been secretly rounded up by Saudi security forces. The Saudis, the report added, have also threatened to ban dozens of Palestinians from leaving the kingdom, while many others have been dismissed from their jobs and are facing deportation.
Palestinian sources said that the crackdown on Palestinians in Saudi Arabia began nine months ago, but has intensified in recent weeks.
Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, a Saudi academic and opposition figure, revealed that the Saudi authorities have also frozen the bank accounts and confiscated property belonging to Palestinians in the kingdom. He claimed that the Palestinians were accused of "sympathizing with the Palestinian resistance, supporting Hamas and displaying interest in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip."
In early March, the Saudi authorities announced , without providing further details, that they had arrested six Palestinians in connection with security-related offenses. The Palestinians were among 50 suspects with eight different nationalities arrested by the Saudis. In addition to Saudi Arabia, the remaining suspects are from Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, Jordan, Yemen and the Philippines.
At this stage, it is not clear whether the security crackdown on Palestinians in Saudi Arabia is linked to the arrest of the 50 suspects. Palestinians insist that the crackdown began long before the arrests.
Palestinians families said that their sons who are residing in Saudi Arabia have been subjected to "humiliating interrogation" by Saudi security officers. "The Palestinians were threatened and prohibited from leaving the kingdom," the families were quoted as saying.
As part of the unprecedented crackdown, the Saudi security forces have raided some Palestinian homes and conducted "violent searches" before taking their occupants into custody. The Palestinian detainees are being held in undisclosed locations, their families said.
Nidal Hamideh, a Palestinian living outside Saudi Arabia, said that on April 5, one of his relatives -- Abu Fadi -- was arrested after being summoned for interrogation. "Abu Fadi has been working as an employee for a Saudi company for three years," Hamideh said.
"He and his family members are legal residents of Saudi Arabia and he was never involved in any illegal activities. Lately, Abu Fadi was harassed several times by the Saudi security forces, who questioned him about his residence, work and even political affiliation."
Hamideh said that his family's attempts to find out where Abu Fadi was being held have thus far been unsuccessful.
The Paris Francophone Institute for Freedoms condemned the "arbitrary" Saudi measures against Palestinians in the kingdom as a "blatant violation of international human rights conventions." The institute said it has received testimonies and statements indicating that in Saudi Arabia, in the past few months, dozens of Palestinians have been arrested. The Saudis, it added, have also confiscated properties belonging to the Palestinians.
One of the Palestinians targeted by the Saudis told the Paris Institute that the Palestinians were being interrogated about their support for Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip and for criticizing the Arab government's policies towards the Palestinian issue. "The prolonged detentions without charge, trial or appearance before a judge are arbitrary measures that violate Saudi law and international human rights standards," the institute said.
"The crackdown on freedom of opinion and expression violates human rights conventions and laws and reflects the tyranny of the regime in Saudi Arabia, which denies public freedoms to its citizens and those who come to the kingdom."
The Paris institute expressed deep concern that the Palestinian detainees were being subjected to widespread abuses, including extended periods of incarceration without charge, trial or legal assistance, and called on the Saudi authorities immediately to release all Palestinians, end their travel ban and the confiscation of their properties, and to compensate them for physical and psychological harm.
In November 2015, a Saudi court sentenced Palestinian artist and poet Ashraf Fayadh to death by beheading for "apostasy." Later, however, the court overturned the death sentence and replaced it with an eight-year prison term and 800 lashes. The "evidence" against Fayadh was based on poems included in his book Instructions Within, as well as social media posts and conversations he had in a coffee shop in Saudi Arabia.
In the past few years, relations between the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia have been extremely tense, particularly after reports about a rapprochement between the Saudis and Israel. Several Palestinians have taken to social media to badmouth Saudi leaders and denounce them as corrupt, mentally retarded and traitors.
For now, Palestinian officials are refusing to comment on reports about the crackdown on Palestinians in Saudi Arabia. Palestinian dignitaries are acutely careful when it comes to criticizing Arab heads of state or Arab government policies. They appear to be afraid that any criticism of Arab leaders and governments will only worsen the conditions of Palestinians in the Arab world. They also seem afraid of losing Arab political backing for the Palestinian leadership, especially as the US administration prepares to announce its long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the "deal of the century."
Palestinian leaders do not seem to care about the suffering of their people at the hands of Arabs. Yet, these same leaders are quick to condemn Israel on almost every occasion and available platform. Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are so busy fighting each other (and Israel) that they seem to have forgotten about the Palestinians in Arab countries, being killed, wounded and arrested every day.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Burning of Notre Dame and the Destruction of Christian Europe
كي ميليار/معهد جيتستون: حريق كاتدرائية نوتردام الفرنسية وتدمير أوروبا المسيحيةا
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/April 23/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/74151/%D9%83%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%87%D8%AF-%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%83%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%B1/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14107/notre-dame-destruction-christian-europe
Barely an hour after the flames began to rise above Notre Dame -- at a time when no explanation could be provided by anyone -- the French authorities rushed to say that the fire was an "accident" and that "arson has been ruled out." The remarks sounded like all the official statements made by the French government after attacks in France during the last decade.
The Notre Dame fire also occurred at a time when attacks against churches in France and Europe have been multiplying. More than 800 churches were attacked in France during the year 2018 alone.
Churches in France are empty. The number of priests is decreasing and the priests that are active in France are either very old or come from Africa or Latin America. The dominant religion in France is now Islam. Every year, churches are demolished to make way for parking lots or shopping centers. Mosques are being built all over, and they are full.
The fire that destroyed much of the Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris is a tragedy that is irreparable. Even if the cathedral is rebuilt, it will never be what it was before. Stained glass windows and major architectural elements have been severely damaged and the oak frame totally destroyed. The spire that rose from the cathedral was a unique piece of art. It was drawn by the architect who restored the edifice in the nineteenth century, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who had based his work on 12th century documents.
In addition to the fire, the water needed to extinguish the flames penetrated the limestone of the walls and façade, and weakened them, making them brittle. The roof is non-existent: the nave, the transept and the choir now lie in open air, vulnerable to bad weather. They cannot even be protected until the structure has been examined thoroughly, a task that will take weeks. Three major elements of the structure (the north transept pinion, the pinion located between the two towers and the vault) are also on the verge of collapse.
Notre Dame is more than 800 years old. It survived the turbulence of the Middle Ages, the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, two World Wars and the Nazi occupation of Paris. It did not survive what France is becoming in the 21st century.
The cause of the fire has so far been attributed to "an accident," "a short circuit," and most recently "a computer glitch."
If the fire really was an accident, it is almost impossible to explain how it started. Benjamin Mouton, Notre Dame's former chief architect, explained that the rules were exceptionally strict and that no electric cable or appliance, and no source of heat, could be placed in the attic. He added that an extremely sophisticated alarm system was in place. The company that installed the scaffolding did not use any welding and specialized in this type of work. The fire broke out more than an hour after the workers' departure and none of them was present. It spread so quickly that the firefighters who rushed to the spot as soon as they could get there were shocked. Remi Fromont, the chief architect of the French Historical Monuments said: "The fire could not start from any element present where it started. A real calorific load is necessary to launch such a disaster".
A long, difficult and complex investigation will be conducted.
The possibility that the fire was the result of arson cannot be dismissed. Barely an hour after the flames began to rise above Notre Dame -- at a time when no explanation could be provided by anyone -- the French authorities rushed to say that the fire was an "accident" and that "arson has been ruled out." The remarks sounded like all the official statements made by the French government after attacks in France during the last decade. In November 2015, on the night of the massacre at the Bataclan Theater in Paris, in which jihadists murdered 90 people, the French Department of the Interior said that the government did not know anything, except that a gunfight had occurred. The truth came out only after ISIS claimed responsibility for the slaughter.In Nice, after the truck-attack in July 2016, the French government insisted for several days that the terrorist who crushed 86 people to death was a "man with a nervous breakdown".
In 2018, Sarah Halimi's murderer, who recited verses from the Quran while torturing his victim, was declared "mentally disturbed" and held in a psychiatric institution immediately after his arrest. He will most likely never face a court. On April 8, Alain Finkielkraut and 38 other intellectuals published a text saying that her murderer must not escape justice. The text had no effect.
The fire at Notre Dame took place less than three years after a "commando unit" of jihadi women, later arrested, tried to destroy the cathedral by detonating cylinders of natural gas. Three days before last week's fire, on April 12, the leader of the jihadis, Ines Madani, a young French convert to Islam, was sentenced to eight years in prison for creating a terrorist group affiliated with the Islamic State. The Notre Dame fire also occurred at a time when attacks against churches in France and Europe have been multiplying. More than 800 churches were attacked in France during the year 2018 alone. Many suffered serious damage: broken, beheaded statues, smashed tabernacles, feces thrown on the walls. In several churches, fires were lit. On March 5, the Basilica of St. Denis, where all but three of the Kings of France are buried, was vandalized by a Pakistani refugee. Several stained-glass windows were broken, and the basilica's organ, a national treasure built between 1834 and 1841, was nearly wrecked. Twelve days later, on March 17, a fire broke out at Saint Sulpice, the largest church in Paris, causing serious damage. After days of silence, the police finally admitted that the cause had been arson.
For months, jihadist organizations have been issuing statements calling for the destruction of churches and Christian monuments in Europe. Notre Dame was repeatedly named as a primary target. Despite all that, the Cathedral was not adequately protected. A couple of young men, who entered the Cathedral at night, climbed on the roof last November and shot a video that they then put on YouTube.
Many messages were posted by people with Muslim names on social media -- Twitter, Facebook, the website of Al Jazeera -- expressing a joy to see an important Christian symbol destroyed. Hafsa Askar, a migrant from Morocco and the vice president of the National Union of Students of France (UNEF), the main student organization in France, published a tweet saying, "People are crying on little pieces of wood... it's a delusion of white trash".
French President Emmanuel Macron, who had never even mentioned the attacks on Saint Denis or Saint Sulpice, quickly went to Notre Dame and declared, "Notre Dame is our history, our literature, our imagination". He totally left out cathedral's religious dimension.
The next evening, he said that Notre Dame would be rebuilt in five years: it was a bold statement. Many commentators interpreted his words as dictated by his will desperately to try to regain the confidence of the French people after five months of demonstrations, riots and destruction stemming from his ineffective handling of the "Yellow Vests" uprising. (On March 16, much of the Champs-Élysées was damaged by rioters; repairs have barely begun.) All experts agree that it will almost certainly take far longer than five years to rebuild Notre Dame.
Macron strangely added that the cathedral would be "more beautiful" than before -- as if a badly damaged monument could be more beautiful after restoration. Macron went on to say that the reconstruction would be a "contemporary architectural gesture". The remark raised concern, if not panic, among defenders of historic monuments, who now fear that he may want to ​​add modern architectural elements to a jewel of Gothic architecture. Again, he totally left out the cathedral's religious dimension.
Macron's attitude is not surprising. From the moment he became president, he has kept himself away from any Christian ceremony. Most of the presidents who preceded him did the same. France is a country where a dogmatic secularism reigns supreme. A political leader who dares to call himself a Christian is immediately criticized in the media and can only harm a budding political career. Nathalie Loiseau -- the former director of France's National School of Administration and the leading candidate on the electoral list of Macron's party, "Republic on the Move," for the May 2019 European Parliament elections -- was recently photographed exiting a church after mass, which led to a media debate on whether her church attendance is a "problem."
The results of French secularism are visible. Christianity has been almost completely wiped out from public life. Churches are empty. The number of priests is decreasing and the priests that are active in France are either very old or come from Africa or Latin America. The dominant religion in France is now Islam. Every year, churches are demolished to make way for parking lots or shopping centers. Mosques are being built all over, and they are full. Radical imams proselytize. The murder, three years ago, of Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old priest who was slaughtered by two Islamists while he was saying mass in a church where only five people (three of them old nuns) were present, is telling.
In 1905, the French parliament passed a law decreeing that all the properties of the Catholic Church in France were confiscated. Churches and cathedrals became property of the State. Since then, successive governments have spent little money to maintain them. Those churches that have not been vandalized are in poor condition, and most cathedrals are in poor condition, too. Even before the devastating fire, the Archdiocese of Paris stated that "it can't afford all the repairs" that Notre Dame needed, "estimated at $185 million." According to CBS News, in a March 20, 2018 report:
"The French government, which owns the cathedral, has pledged around $50 million over the next decade, leaving a bill of $135 million. To raise the rest, Picaud helped launch the Friends of Notre-Dame of Paris Foundation. It works to find private donors both in France and across the Atlantic.
"'We know Americans are wealthy, so we go where we think we can find money to help restore the cathedral,' Picaud said."
On the evening of the fire at Notre Dame, hundreds of French people gathered in front of the burning cathedral to sing Psalms and pray. They seemed suddenly to understand that they were losing something immensely precious.
Following the fire, the French government decided to start collecting donations from private individuals, businesses and organizations for reconstruction; more than one billion euros have poured in. French billionaires promised to pay large sums: the Pinault family (the main owners of the retail conglomerate Kering) promised 100 million euros, the Arnault family (owners of LVMH, the world's largest luxury-goods company), 200 million euros, the Bettencourt family (owners of L'Oréal), also 200 million. Many on the French "left" immediately said that wealthy families had too much money, and that these millions would be better used helping the poor than taking care of old stones.
For the foreseeable future, the heart of Paris will bear the terrible scars of a fire that devastated far more than a cathedral. The fire destroyed an essential part of what is left of the almost-lost soul of France and what France could accomplish when the French believed in something higher than their own day-to-day existence. Some hope that the sight of the destroyed cathedral will inspire many French people to follow the example of those who prayed on the night of the disaster. Michel Aupetit, Archbishop of Paris, said on April 17, two days after the fire, that he was sure France would know a "spiritual awakening".
Others, not as optimistic, see in the ashes of the cathedral a symbol of the destruction of Christianity in France. The art historian Jean Clair said that he sees in the destruction of Notre Dame an additional sign of an "irreversible decadence" of France, and of the final collapse of the Judeo-Christian roots of Europe.
An American columnist, Dennis Prager, wrote: "The symbolism of the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral, the most renowned building in Western civilization, the iconic symbol of Western Christendom, is hard to miss. "It is as if God Himself wanted to warn us in the most unmistakable way that Western Christianity is burning -- and with it, Western civilization." Another American author, Rod Dreher, noted: "This catastrophe in Paris today is a sign to all of us Christians, and a sign to all people in the West, especially those who despise the civilization that built this great temple to its God on an island in the Seine where religious rites have been celebrated since the days of pagan Rome. It is a sign of what we are losing, and what we will not recover, if we don't change course now."
For the moment, nothing indicates that France and Western Europe will change course.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27 books on France and Europe.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Algeria and Sudan can learn from the political transitions of 2011
Oussama Romdhani/Al Arabiya/April 23/19
As unrest sweeps away long-tenured rulers in Algeria and Sudan, there are lessons the new political generations there can draw from other transitions in the region since 2011.
The first lesson is that, despite regional ramifications of upheaval in any Arab country, the politics of unrest are essentially local. It might be tempting to see a domino effect in the pattern leading to the fall of the long-time leaders in Algiers and Khartoum. But Omar al-Bashir and Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s respective ousters had more to do with the realities of each country than cross-border trends. Populations in Algeria and Sudan were driven by their own political, social, and economic factors the same way societies in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt rose against long-entrenched authoritarian systems years before.
There are caveats to that theory. Young crowds may get inspiration and encouragement from scenes of protesters in other Arab countries challenging the status quo. Also, it does not need a conspiracy theorist to figure out that some regional actors seeking wider influence can find in the protests an opportunity to settle scores with leaders they dislike. Regime change can appeal to global powers with interventionist agendas.
It remains true, however, that the most fundamental conditions for unrest are home-bred. Populations can put up with rulers who overstay their welcome, until a breaking point is reached.
In recent years, that time has come in many parts of the region. Authoritarians who clung to power for two or three decades, if not more, eventually outlasted their welcome.
The populations under their rule became unwilling to live with the reigns of old and ailing leaders any longer. Young people, in particular, came to see the continued presence of outdated political systems as a daunting obstacle between them and a better future.
But most importantly, socio-economic factors within their countries’ borders led them to that determination. That’s the second lesson new rulers should not forget. In Algeria and Sudan, the economy gave way well before the demonstrators concluded that the old rulers had to go.
Socio-economic indicators provided the regimes in place with early warnings that should have prompted them to adjust the course of their policies, but regimes at risk of extinction have a tendency to stall.
They try to buy time even when time is scarce. Algeria’s bureaucratic statism combined with clan interests rendered the system unresponsive and let young masses down. The country’s undiversified economy could not adjust to the fall of oil prices from $100 a barrel in 2014 to $66 in recent months. Foreign exchange reserves fell by half and GDP growth slumped to less than one percent. The government could not bankroll its social programs.
Youth unemployment was at a rate of about 30 percent and half the population was less than 25 years old, so it was not difficult to predict that young people would be the first to object to the ruling class’s attempt to extend the reign of Bouteflika for a fifth term in office.
Sudan may have been more of an economic basket case as it struggled with an inflation rate of nearly 70 percent, a foreign debt level of about $50 billion, and hard currency reserves at merely seven weeks of imports.
With half the population under the age of 19 and youth unemployment at more than 27 percent, the ticking bomb was waiting to go off anytime. The discredited National Congress Party was out of sync with the demands of the young population. Its Islamist diktat no longer guaranteed the regime’s hold on power.
There are accelerators of the fire, such as the force of social media, the level of violent repression on demonstrators, and the ability of the rulers to read the writing on the wall.
The main protagonists, especially those trying today to hold onto the levers of power, should look at the lessons of the 2011 uprisings. They know that as the dust settles and as democratic transitions are set in motion, economics is likely to come back and haunt them, probably sooner than the inexperienced operators of regime change would have them believe.
The Tunisia case has shown that any transition, even if seemingly successful, will remain precarious unless accompanied by an economic recovery that creates jobs and revives growth – and that’s easier said than done. In the climate of demands and expectations that comes with revolutionary fervour, big-spending policies are going to be more likely than budget rigor. Such policies are, however, untenable.
The interim rulers in Algeria and Sudan may have their minds set on more immediate concerns. In Algeria, there are demands to prosecute corrupt businessmen and investigate allegations of ill-management in the national oil company. On the other hand, there are hints from Sudanese rulers that they see economic difficulties as pressing. Saudi and Emirati expressions of support for Khartoum have included pledges to expedite economic assistance to the nearly bankrupt country.
The military and security establishment in Sudan and Algeria will have to keep in mind the security risks inherent in power vacuums and unsecured borders. They should not commit the mistakes of the post-2011 Tunisian rulers who complacently let Islamist radicals wreak havoc on the country. It took major terrorist incidents for the new political class to realise that national security must be preserved even in a democracy.
These establishments should be allowed to continue doing their job of meeting national security challenges and the new generation of politicians should have its chance to gear the country towards democracy building and economic reconstruction.

Renewing the Iran Sanctions Waivers (Part 1): Nuclear Activities
تجديد الإعفاءات من العقوبات المفروضة على إيران (الجزء الأول): الأنشطة النووية
پاتريك كلاوسون/معهد واشنطن/23 نيسان/19
Patrick Clawson/The Washington Institute/April 23/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/74164/%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83-%D9%83%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%87%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B9/
Neither blanket extension nor wholesale cancellation is the best course, but several of the expiring waivers would serve U.S. interests if properly—and publicly—revised.
This PolicyWatch is the first in a two-part series on how Washington should handle the upcoming waiver deadlines. Part 2 looks at energy waivers and the exemption for Chabahar port.
As the May 2 deadline for waiver extensions approaches, much attention has been devoted to the temporary waivers for Iranian energy exports—namely, gas and electricity deliveries to Iraq, and oil deliveries to eight countries. On April 22, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the latter deliveries would no longer be permitted. By contrast, the waivers for some Iranian nuclear activities have received little attention, apart from an April 9 letter from nine senators to President Donald Trump demanding their end.
THE U.S. WAIVER TOOLKIT
All U.S. laws regarding sanctions on Iran permit national security waivers, usually temporary; some laws allow permanent exemptions, and of course the president can modify any executive order. During President Trump’s term, the State Department appears to have granted waivers for the following sanctions:
The Iran Freedom and Counterproliferation Act of 2012, specifically sections 1244 (covering energy, shipping, shipbuilding, and ports), 1245 (adding specially designated nationals and any sector of Iran’s economy determined to be “controlled directly or indirectly by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps”), 1246 (“nuclear, military, or ballistic missile” items and precious metals), and 1247 (insurance for the previously cited activities). These sanctions can be waived for up to 180 days.
The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, sections 212(a) (covering insurance for Iranian oil shipments) and 213(a) (government borrowing), which can be waived for up to 180 days.
The Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, section 5(a) (covering oil and gas investment), which can be waived for up to 180 days.
The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012, section 1245(d)(1) (covering foreign banks involved with Iran’s oil trade), which can be waived for up to 120 days.
Individual waivers reportedly include language about permissible transactions, but none of the waivers has been made public, so governments, companies, and observers have no way of telling which transactions are sanctionable unless the State Department informs them directly. In addition to formal waivers, the U.S. government has the option of assuring certain parties that no action will be taken to enforce sanctions under some circumstances—an option the administration has apparently taken with regard to Iraqi imports of Iranian electricity.
IRAN’S NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES: USEFUL VS. DANGEROUS
U.S. nuclear waivers were last issued on November 5, 2018, and the only publicly available information about them is the cursory and ambiguous State Department press release disseminated at the time. It is not clear what exactly the waivers cover; the statement said they permit “nonproliferation projects at Arak, Bushehr, and Fordow,” implying that some activities at those sites are not covered. The only other guidance is that the waivers permit “continuation for a temporary period of certain ongoing projects that impede Iran’s ability to reconstitute its weapons program and that lock in the nuclear status quo until we can secure a stronger deal,” referring to the administration’s 2018 withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The release also stated that “each of the waivers we are granting is conditional on the cooperation of the various stakeholders,” though no information was provided about what will be done to monitor compliance with any specific conditions.
Such ambiguity fits with the JCPOA pattern of releasing only minimal information. For instance, the “Elements of Iran’s R&D Plan” that Tehran prepared as part of the nuclear deal has never been released, which means outside observers have no way of knowing if the regime is observing the many JCPOA provisions that use language such as “consistent with its plan.” The Obama administration reportedly allowed members of Congress to look at a description of the plan, but they likely lacked the technical expertise to evaluate such a document and were not permitted to share it with outside experts.
While it is difficult to evaluate waivers without more information, allowing some of Iran’s nuclear activities to continue is clearly in America’s national security interest. An obvious example is the shipment of used fuel from Bushehr back to Russia, rather than leaving that material—which contains elements that could be recovered for nuclear weapons—in Iranian cooling ponds. The same goes for some of the nuclear safety upgrades being discussed with European countries.
Yet the State Department’s November announcement noted that waivers had also been provided for Fordow and Arak, respectively the site of centrifuges and a heavy water reactor. To be sure, it is America’s interest that these facilities be modified to make them less capable of producing fissile material for a weapon. And there is much to be said for giving Iranian nuclear scientists something innocent to do rather than having them be unemployed. However, general unrestricted waivers for Fordow and Arak would be particularly worrisome given Iran’s long history of deception about those sites—deception that continued this year.
On January 22, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a television interviewer that the regime had concealed extra equipment for the Arak reactor: “There are tubes where the fuel goes [in the calandria, the reactor’s central component]. We had bought similar tubes, but I could not declare this at the time. Only one person in Iran knew this. We told no one but the top man of the regime [Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei]...We did not tell [the other JCPOA parties] that we had other tubes. Otherwise, they would have told us to pour cement into those tubes as well. Now we have the same tubes.” Until this matter is thoroughly investigated and resolved, any waiver for Arak should be strictly conditioned, for instance, requiring a separate waiver for each item shipped.
Salehi went on: “As a matter of fact, I thank God that the JCPOA technical discussions left so many holes about the ways we can act that the other parties cannot claim there is a violation of the deal.” Unfortunately, he is correct. Consider this statement in Annex I of the JCPOA, covering how Iran is permitted to develop advanced IR-8 centrifuges: “Iran will proceed from single centrifuges to small cascades to intermediate cascades in a logical sequence.” That highly generalized sentence does not define any of its terms, meaning the regime could do pretty much whatever it wants and claim it was observing the JCPOA.
Further, Iran can test its centrifuges “with or without uranium” so long as it “does not accumulate enriched uranium”—which begs the question of what constitutes accumulation. Presumably Iran would argue for the technical nuclear meaning (combining the “tails” after an enrichment run) rather than the common meaning (having a large stock of enriched material). If so, the restriction is toothless.
To prevent Iran from exploiting such ambiguities, any new waivers need tight wording and clear definitions. They should also be made available to the public, so that outside experts can evaluate them and supplier companies can be properly briefed on what is and is not allowed.
In addition, waivers should include an explicit verification mechanism—namely, international inspections to see how shipped items are being used—as well as stiff penalties for violations. The example to be avoided is the JCPOA procurement channel, in which the obligation to report relevant shipments to Iran and verify how they are being used falls entirely on the supplier. The International Atomic Energy Agency has no role in that process; rather, its procedures apparently require it to remain silent on any violations because disclosing them would breach the commercial confidentiality guaranteed by its Safeguards Agreement with Iran. Even if that were not the case, violating the JCPOA procurement channel carries no penalties. Far from “trust but verify,” current U.S. policy on certain nuclear issues seems to be “trust and hope for the best,” which is definitely a bad idea in Iran’s case.
CONCLUSION
The debate about nuclear waivers would be better informed if all of them were published. Keeping them from the public is largely ineffective and/or counterproductive: word about many of them is quickly published, but sometimes in a distorted fashion that ill serves U.S. interests, while companies often have no way of knowing which shipments to Iran are sanctionable. Undue confidentiality also adds to the disturbing pattern of secrecy surrounding the nuclear program, facilitating Iran’s clandestine activities and evasion of controls. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Going forward, neither automatic extension of general waivers nor complete rejection of all waivers is the appropriate course. Activities that have a strong nonproliferation benefit (e.g., returning Bushehr’s spent fuel) should certainly be encouraged. At the same time, most nuclear waivers should be tied to strict monitoring and control, ensuring that the material is used only for civilian non-enrichment purposes at specified locations. This requires ongoing inspections to verify that the restrictions are being observed, and a willingness to make all of these findings publicly available. Ideally, Washington can forge international consensus in the coming months, convincing its partners to prevent Iran from expanding its enrichment capacity and investigate past troubling activities.
*Patrick Clawson is the Morningstar Senior Fellow and director of research at The Washington Institute.