LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 03/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Forgive who sins to you not only seven times, seventy-seven times
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/21-35:”Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.”And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.” Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

’Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on August 02-03/2019
Lebanese President Says Taef Accord Umbrella to Protect National Charter
Presidency Denies Remarks Attributed to Aoun that Caused Financial Harm
Mustaqbal Says Hariri 'Knows His Jurisdiction' after Aoun Asks Him to Convene Cabinet
Berri Sets Parliament Meeting in Oct. to Discuss Article 95
Report: Voting on Qabrshmoun Case in Cabinet Likely 'Dropped'
Rahi: The Lebanese Identity is in Danger
'Khomeini' Assassination Sparks Clashes in Ain el-Hilweh
Strike Cripples ‘Future TV’ Station Close to PM
Mozambique Sues French-Lebanese Billionaire over Debt Scandal

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 02-03/2019
Saudis and UAE begin quiet talks with Tehran in epic Gulf somersault
Iran is ready for the worst in efforts to salvage nuclear deal: Rouhani
Iran sanctions effective, “we will enforce them” everywhere: Pompeo
Pompeo: US Formally Withdraws from INF Missile Treaty
UN Chief Warns: World Will Lose Brake on Nuclear War With Treaty End
UN Chief Guterres Names New UN Communications Chief
Syrian state media: Israeli missile hits in Quneitra
Damascus Agrees to ‘Conditional Truce’ in Idlib Amid Probe into Attack on UN Facilities
Syrian regime agrees ‘conditionally’ to Idlib truce: State media'
Syria at peace talks says ceasefire depends on Turkey
Airstrikes Halt in Syria's Idlib as Ceasefire Declared: Observatory
Western Sanctions Push War-Weary Syrians Deeper into PovertyAir Strikes Stop in Syria's Idlib after Truce Announced
Qaeda Attacks Yemeni Military Camp, Leaves Scores of Casualties
Saudi Women Allowed to Obtain Passports, Travel
Turkish Dam Set to Reduce Flows from Tigris to Iraq
GNA-Affiliated Militias Escalate Threats Against Salame

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 02-03/2019
Mozambique Sues French-Lebanese Billionaire over Debt Scandal/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 02/2019
Saudis and UAE begin quiet talks with Tehran in epic Gulf somersault/DEBKAfile/August 02/2019
Palestinians: What Is Wrong With Building a Hospital/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./August 02/2019
Islamic Terrorism from Mexico to the U.S./Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/August 02/2019
Iran: Flogging a Dead Donkey Is Futile/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/August 02/2019
Erdogan… 'The Miserable Man'/Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/August 02/2019
Houthis Kill Top UAE-Backed Separatist Yemeni Commander/Elana DeLozier/The Washington Institute/August 02/2019
Bahrain’s Perception Problem/Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/August 02/2019
Qatar’s constant attempts to sow discord between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Arab News/August 02/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on August 02-03/2019
Lebanese President Says Taef Accord Umbrella to Protect National Charter
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
President Michel Aoun has lauded the Lebanese army in a speech during a ceremony marking 74 years since the founding of the military institution. “Our national army has proven over the years and crises that it is above interests and polarization and that it is the nation’s guarantee,” said Aoun on Thursday at the ceremony held at the Shukri Ghanem barracks in Fayadiyeh outside Beirut. He hailed the military on its gains and achievements in the past two years, mainly after it “liberated” the country’s eastern borders from terrorists in its “Fajr al-Joroud” operation. The president declared security a “red line,” saying “there will be no leniency with any attempt to tamper with it.” Aoun reiterated his support for the 1989 Taef Agreement that ended Lebanon’s 1975-1990 Civil War. “The Taef Accord which I committed to implement in my swearing-in speech and to which the government was also committed in its policy statement, constitutes an umbrella for all of us to protect the National Charter,” he said. In his speech, Aoun touched on the country’s economic crisis, saying “some of its roots were caused by the region’s wars and the global economic situation, and other reasons were the result of years of accumulated blunders.” However, he reassured the people that Lebanon would be able to overcome the crisis. Thursday’s ceremony was attended by Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab, and other officials.

Presidency Denies Remarks Attributed to Aoun that Caused Financial Harm
Naharnet/August 02/2019
The Presidency on Friday said a media report has “misinterpreted” President Michel Aoun’s latest remarks on the economic situation. “The Reuters agency has reported remarks misinterpreting the content of President Michel Aoun’s speech at the officer graduation ceremony about the sacrifices that the Lebanese must offer to contribute to the revival of national economy,” the Presidency’s press office said in a statement. “The Presidency’s press office categorically denies that the president referred in his speech to 'the possibility of having to go to the International Monetary Fund for help if government reform efforts fail to bring enough improvement to state finances,' as mentioned in Reuters' report," it added. The Presidency also warned against "circulating such fabricated news," noting that the report "created negative repercussions for the Lebanese state's sovereign bonds and their insurance costs."

Mustaqbal Says Hariri 'Knows His Jurisdiction' after Aoun Asks Him to Convene Cabinet
Naharnet/August 02/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri has received a phone call from President Michel Aoun, who asked him to “hold a cabinet session as soon as possible,” news portal Mustaqbal Web, which is affiliated with Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement, said on Friday.
Hariri adviser ex-MP Ammar Houry meanwhile told al-Markazia news agency that “PM Hariri knows his constitutional jurisdiction very well.”“Efforts to resolve the crisis are still ongoing but a happy ending has not been reached yet,” Houry added. Responding to a question, the PM’s aide said “linking between the government’s work and the Mt. Lebanon problem is what is blocking the solution.”“The main problem is the demand that Cabinet discuss the referral of the al-Basatin incident to the Judicial Council, whereas it is unacceptable to confine the two issues to each other,” Houry added. An informed governmental source meanwhile told al-Jadeed TV that Hariri does not want to hold an “explosive” cabinet session, stressing that the premier “will not put Mt. Lebanon’s security at risk.”

Berri Sets Parliament Meeting in Oct. to Discuss Article 95
Naharnet/August 02/2019
Speaker Nabih Berri has called the parliament for a meeting in October to discuss and explain Article 95 of the Lebanese constitution based on a letter sent by President Michel Aoun, the National News Agency reported on Friday. NNA said that Berri set the parliament meeting on October 17, 2019. Last week, Aoun sent a letter to the Speaker in which he asked Parliament to “discuss Article 95 of the Constitution according to norms, especially Clause B.” Article 95 stipulates that “the Chamber of Deputies that is elected on the basis of equality between Muslims and Christians shall take the appropriate measures to bring about the abolition of political confessionalism according to a transitional plan. In his letter, Aoun argues that the “transitional plan” has not started yet and, accordingly, sectarian balance cannot be overlooked in the appointment of public employees. A row erupted between the Free Patriotic Movement and the rest of the political parties after a controversial article was included in the text of the 2019 state budget that was sent to Aoun for approval. The FPM insists that an agreement had been reached on dropping the article during parliament’s debate of the state budget. The article “preserves the employment right” of those who succeeded in Civil Service Council exams for a period of six years. The FPM argues that the results lack sectarian balance.

Report: Voting on Qabrshmoun Case in Cabinet Likely 'Dropped'
Naharnet/August 02/2019
Several contacts were held overnight to resolve the Qabrshmoun crisis that crippled the cabinet meetings as sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri said that parties are considering a new initiative that may record a breakthrough, the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper said on Friday. Sources following closely on the contacts carried out by the Speaker told the daily: “The efforts exerted to convene the cabinet have highly accelerated. Intensive movements continued overnight and tackled a new initiative. Chances are high that it may lead to a major breakthrough.”According to the daily, the political aide to Berri, Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil, has met with Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat and that talks continued until after midnight. They reportedly agreed that the Qabrshmoun incident will not be put for a vote before the cabinet, said the sources. Adding that PM Saad Hariri will not call for a government meeting before a final agreement is reached on that. After the conclusion of Army Day celebration in Fayadieh on Thursday, the sources said that Berri and Hariri left the venue of the celebration in one vehicle where they had plenty of time to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, the mediation efforts of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim continue in order to thwart the obstacles. On Wednesday, Assistant State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Claude Ghanem filed charges against 21 suspects in connection with the deadly Qabrshmoun incident. In June, two bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib, of the Lebanese Democratic Party, were killed in the incident and a third was injured. The minister escaped unharmed as a Progressive Socialist Party supporter was also wounded. Gharib and his party have described the incident as an “ambush” and an “assassination attempt” while the PSP has accused the minister’s bodyguards of forcing their way and opening fire on protesters. The LDP insists the case be referred to the Judicial Council and that it be discussed and voted on in the Cabinet.

Rahi: The Lebanese Identity is in Danger
Naharnet/August 02/2019
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said on Friday that the new political crisis in Lebanon and the “suffocating” economic conditions constitute a “threat” to Lebanon’s national identity and image. “The Lebanese identity is threatened today by the new deteriorating political reality and the stifling socio-economic crisis,” said Rahi at the inauguration of the Socio-Economic Forum in Bkirki. “Violations of the Constitution and introducing new norms are slowly dispeling Lebanon’s image and driving the Lebanese, especially young Christians, to emigrate. Meanwhile, two million displaced and refugees from Syria and Palestine are instituted in Lebanon by a destructive international policy, ” he added. “Unfortunately, the responsible political group in our state does not pay attention to our youth, but rather closes the horizons of their aspirations and opens the doors wide for emigration. Around 40% of our youth are unemployed,” said the Patriarch. “Do political officials realize that a nation without educated young people has no future?” Rahi asked.

'Khomeini' Assassination Sparks Clashes in Ain el-Hilweh
Naharnet/August 02/2019
Armed clashes broke out Friday afternoon in the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp following the assassination of Hussein Alaeddine, aka “Abu Hassan Khomeini”. The National News Agency said RPGs and machineguns were being used heavily in the camp’s al-Sifsaf area. Khomeini was gunned down at the hands of unknown assailants as he was taking part in a Palestinian demo comprising all of the camp’s political forces. The demonstration, held in support of Palestinian labor rights, was passing through al-Fawqani street, NNA said. The man was rushed to the Labib Medical Center in Sidon where he succumbed to his wounds.The head of the Joint Palestinian Force Colonel Bassam al-Saad meanwhile said that the joint political leadership will hold an urgent meeting to “take the necessary measures and arrest the perpetrators.”

Strike Cripples ‘Future TV’ Station Close to PM
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 02/2019
The Future TV station affiliated with Prime Minister Saad Hariri has stopped airing new programmes, with an employee at the channel saying Thursday a strike over unpaid wages was responsible. Future TV, the main mouthpiece of Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement, has not aired any new material for three consecutive days. The reported industrial action is the first such incident since it was established in 1993 by late billionaire premier Rafik al-Hariri, the current prime minister's father. "This is the first time such a wide movement of this kind has taken place," said the employee, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. "The news broadcast and various other programs have all stopped," the employee told AFP, explaining that the station is now only airing reruns. The incident adds to the crises facing Hariri-affiliated institutions. In January, the family's al-Mustaqbal newspaper issued its last print version, 20 years after it was established. The Saudi Oger firm, a once-mighty construction firm that was the basis of the Hariri business empire, collapsed in 2017, rendering thousands jobless.
'Financial crisis'
Future TV owes its staff "more than 16 months worth of wages" after years of irregular or incomplete payments due to a financial crisis, the employee said. "The situation got worse around a year and a half ago, with employees being paid only a percentage of their monthly salaries in a sporadic and irregular manner," the employee said, adding that management has yet to respond to the strike. Lebanon's media landscape is rife with privately-owned stations and newspapers affiliated with at least one of the country's many political parties, who are often the primary source of funding. That has left little room for an independent press. A series of prominent dailies have disappeared from print over the past three years due to funding shortages. In September last year, political daily Al-Anwar went out of print after nearly 60 years due to "financial losses". In June 2018, prestigious pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat closed its Lebanon offices, where it was first founded in 1946 before being transferred to Saudi ownership. Its printing presses in Beirut stopped the same month, leaving its international version only available online.In late 2016, Lebanese newspaper As-Safir closed, 42 years after publishing its first edition, with the founder saying it had run out of funds.

Mozambique Sues French-Lebanese Billionaire over Debt Scandal
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 02/2019
Mozambique has launched legal action against a French-Lebanese billionaire, Iskandar Safa, whose shipbuilding company is at the heart of a $2 billion debt scandal, officials said Friday. A source at the attorney general's office, in an emailed reply to AFP, confirmed "a case is ongoing" without giving details. In London, an official at the High Court commercial division told AFP the Mozambican government had filed proceedings there against Safa. The papers were submitted on July 31 and no date has been set yet for the hearing, the source said. Safa is CEO of a giant Abu-Dhabi based shipbuilding company, Privinvest, which signed contracts with Mozambique state companies to supply ships and national maritime security. The government's legal moves came after testimony in a New York court last month by a former Credit Suisse banker, Andrew Pearse. Safa, he said, had wired him "millions of dollars in unlawful kickbacks from loan proceeds and illegal payments" for help in securing loans from the bank. The scandal is rooted in loans of $2 billion (1.8 billion euros), undertaken by the government between 2013 and 2015, to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance ships. The government admitted it borrowed the money secretly, forcing international donors to suspend aid. An independent audit found that a quarter of the loans had been unaccounted for, and another $750 million, used to buy equipment, had been over-invoiced. The United States alleges at least $200 million was spent on bribes and kickbacks. Several people have been arrested both in Mozambique and abroad. They include Mozambique's ex-finance minister, Manuel Chang, who is said to have received $12 million for allegedly signing off on debt guarantees. Chang was arrested in South Africa last year on a U.S. extradition request. In an ongoing tussle over where he could stand trial, the Mozambican government this week said it would fight attempts to extradite him to the U.S. after the South African government halted plans to send the minister to his home country. When the hidden debt was revealed, Mozambique -- which relies on donor aid and is one of the world's poorest countries -- was plunged into the worst financial crisis in its history. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused three former Credit Suisse workers of helping to create $2 billion in maritime projects as a front for the scam. They were arrested in London in early January. In May one of them pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder funds over the case. Safa's lawyers and spokesman were not immediately available for comment.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 02-03/2019
Saudis and UAE begin quiet talks with Tehran in epic Gulf somersault
السعوديةوالإمارات يبدآن محادثات هادئة مع طهران لإحتواء الأزمة الحالية
DEBKAfile/August 02/2019
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have quietly embarked on talks with Tehran, after waiting in vain for two months for US forces to punish Iran for attacking their oil facilities. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Gulf states, led by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have concluded that the Trump administration’s goals are not consistent with their own. An official in Abu Dhabi commented this week: “If this [negotiations with Iran] is what Washington is after, we have no interest in participating in his maritime security coalition plan for the Gulf, since its deterrent power will be extremely limited.”
The US-led coalition force has indeed been slow to take off because it is either spurned or ignored by most of the governments invited to join.
The UAE crown prince Sheikh Muhammed bin Ziyad (MbZ) was the first to break away for an independent initiative. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that a UAE delegation arrived in Tehran on July 30 to meet Iranian leaders first time in six years of animosity. They discussed the security of navigation in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the gateway to the Red Sea through the Straits of Abu Mandeb. According to our sources, Abu Dhabi marked the rapprochement by withdrawing its military forces from Yemen and handing over the islands in the mouth of Mandeb and a section of the Saudi western shore to a Yemeni militia, some of whose members were once associated with the pro-Iranian Houthi insurgents. These developments encouraged Tehran, our exclusive sources report, to turn secretly to Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman and propose positive talks like those underway with the UAE. There are first signs that MbS is seriously considering the offer.
This flip flop by Washington’s two senior allies in the Gulf reduces the Trump Administration’s levers against Tehran to sanctions. Iran has meanwhile managed to break out of the international isolation imposed by the US.
This turn of events bears heavily on Israel’s drive against Iran and the personal standing of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at a time that he is leading his Likud party in a campaign for re-election in September.
The Netanyahu-Trump strategic partnership and its ties with the Gulf Arab lineup against Tehran are critical elements for showcasing in his campaign. The turnabout in the Gulf, when it sees the light of day, may put the prime minister on the spot. He will have to explain why Israel has come out as the on nation in the region willing to engage Iran militarily and how come he has lost the active backing of Washington, Riyadh or Abu Dhabi. His most likely option will be to talk up the economic and tech aspects of the ties he has developed with Gulf nations as the strongest element of the alliance.

Iran is ready for the worst in efforts to salvage nuclear deal: Rouhani
Reuters/Thursday, 1 August 2019
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that his country’s officials were ready for the worst as they tried to salvage their nuclear deal with world powers, but he was sure they would eventually prevail.“We have a hard battle ahead, but we shall surely win,” Rouhani said on live television. Iran faces an uphill battle as US sanctions were reimposed after Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran sanctions effective, “we will enforce them” everywhere: Pompeo
Reuters, Bangkok/Friday, 2 August 2019
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said Washington would continue to enforce sanctions against Iran. The sanctions on Iran have been effective and “we will enforce them” everywhere, he said. Pompeo was speaking at a regional youth leadership program in the Thai capital of Bangkok during a wider meeting of Southeast Asian nations with world powers. Pompeo also said “decades of bad behavior”" from China have hampered free trade and prompted tariffs and other action from Washington. US criticism of China has been a running theme at the Bangkok forum, even as US negotiators wrapped up another round of trade talks in Shanghai this week and Washington announced new tariffs on Chinese goods in an ongoing trade war.

Pompeo: US Formally Withdraws from INF Missile Treaty
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 02/2019
The United States on Friday formally abandoned the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, a statement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, accusing Moscow of deliberately violating the Cold War-era arms pact. "The US withdrawal... of the treaty takes effect today," Pompeo said on a visit to Bangkok for a regional summit. "Russia is solely responsible for the treaty's demise."

UN Chief Warns: World Will Lose Brake on Nuclear War With Treaty End
Geneva- Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019 - 10:15
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned by rising tensions between nuclear-armed states, warning “the world will lose an invaluable brake on nuclear war” with the expiration of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) on Friday. The INF treaty "is a landmark agreement that helped stabilize Europe and end the Cold War" and its end "will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles,” Guterres told reporters. “Regardless of what transpires, the parties should avoid destabilizing developments and urgently seek agreement on a new common path for international arms control.”Barring a last-minute decision by Russia to destroy a new medium-range missile that NATO says violates the INF, the United States is set to pull out of the accord on Aug. 2, arguing that it needs to develop its own warheads to deter Moscow. Moscow says it is fully compliant with the treaty, negotiated by former US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which eliminated the medium-range missile arsenals of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers. The breakdown of the treaty, the latest in a growing list of East-West tensions, is of grave concern because medium-range rockets would allow Russia to launch a nuclear attack on Europe at very short notice, Western experts and officials say. “I strongly encourage the United States and the Russian Federation to extend the so-called New Start agreement to provide stability and the time to negotiate future arms control measures,” Guterres said. The 2011 New START treaty, a US-Russia arms control pact which limits deployed strategic nuclear weapons, is set to expire in February 2021 but can be extended for five years if both sides agree. Guterres also said he was “troubled by growing friction” between the economies of the United States and China. He warned of the possible “emergence of two competing blocs – each with their own dominant currency, trade and financial rules, their own internet and artificial intelligence strategy, and their own contradictory geopolitical and military views.” The United States and China have levied billions of dollars of tariffs on each other’s goods in a year-long trade war, disrupting global supply chains and roiling financial markets.

UN Chief Guterres Names New UN Communications Chief
Geneva- Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Melissa Fleming of the United States as the world body's communications chief. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that Fleming will succeed Alison Smale of the United Kingdom as undersecretary-general for global communications. Fleming has been the head of communications and spokesperson for the UN refugee agency in Geneva since 2009. She previously served eight years in a similar position at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. From 2016 to 2017, Fleming also served as senior adviser on Guterres' transition team after his election as secretary-general. Dujarric said Fleming brings over 25 years of "strategic vision, innovative management, and communications expertise in multilateral organizations" to her new job in areas including human rights, humanitarian action, conflict prevention, peace-building, free media and nuclear non-proliferation.

Syrian state media: Israeli missile hits in Quneitra
Reuters, Beirut /Thursday, 1 August 2019
An Israeli missile hit a village in the Quneitra countryside in Syria’s southwest near the frontier between the two countries on Thursday, Syrian state media said. State news agency SANA described it as “an Israeli attack” that caused only material damages.
During Syria’s eight-year war, Israel has carried out strikes in Syria which it says have targeted regional arch rival Iran and Tehran’s ally Hezbollah.

Damascus Agrees to ‘Conditional Truce’ in Idlib Amid Probe into Attack on UN Facilities
New York - Beirut - Damascus - London - Ali Barada and Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
The Syrian regime announced on Thursday a conditional cease-fire in the de-escalation zone, northwest of Syria, only hours after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres established a board of inquiry to investigate attacks on the organization’s humanitarian facilities in the area following a request of two-thirds of Security Council members. "The investigation will cover destruction of, or damage to facilities on the de-confliction list and UN-supported facilities in the area,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday, adding that the board of inquiry will "ascertain the facts of these incidents and report to the secretary-general.”In a report released last month, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said air strikes on schools, hospitals, markets and bakeries seem highly unlikely that they are all being hit by accident. On Thursday, a Russian diplomat in New York criticized the UN chief’s decision to establish the board. Meanwhile in Damascus, the Syrian official news agency, SANA, cited a military source who said the government had granted approval for a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in Idlib province starting from Thursday night. But the source conditioned the move to opposition factions withdrawing forces and weaponry from a buffer zone as per the deal between Moscow and Ankara. As part of a deal in Sochi, the two sides agreed last September to establish a buffer zone to halt assaults on Idlib. The regime’s announcement came after Syrian regime forces have intensified their attacks on areas in the northwest of Syria as Russia introduced its special forces to make advances at any cost in the countryside of Latakia. Regime forces seized a handful of four villages, fields and hills in the Hama countryside in the past two days, the first such military achievement since more than two months. Last April 30, Syrian government forces backed by allied militia and Russian air power launched an offensive against opposition factions in Idlib, as well as parts of the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

Syrian regime agrees ‘conditionally’ to Idlib truce: State media
AFP, Damascus/Thursday, 2 August 2019
The Syrian government has agreed to a truce in the northwestern region of Idlib on condition a Turkish-Russian buffer-zone deal is implemented, state news agency SANA reported Thursday. It cited a military source who announced the regime’s “approval for a ceasefire in the deescalation zone in Idlib starting from tonight” on condition rebels withdraw forces and weaponry from a buffer zone as per a September accord struck in the Russian resort of Sochi. The announcement came as talks resumed in Kazakhstan between rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran.
Most of Idlib province and parts of Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia, which currently hosts some three million residents, are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The region is supposed to be protected from a massive government offensive by the Turkish-Russian deal, but it has come under increasing fire by Damascus and its backer Moscow since the end of April. The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of dragging its feet in implementing the deal, which provided for a buffer zone up to 20 kilometers wide separating rebel and regime fighters. Government forces and rebels have also clashed on the edges of the buffer zone, with battles killing nearly 2,000 combatants, including more than 930 regime loyalists over the same period, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. Hospitals, schools, and markets have been hit in the fighting. Moscow’s Syria envoy on Thursday welcomed the move by Damascus. “Of course, we welcome the Syrian government’s decision to introduce a truce,” Alexander Lavrentyev was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency after the first day of peace talks in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and drawn in world powers since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Syria at peace talks says ceasefire depends on Turkey
AFP, Nur-Sultan/Friday, 2 August 2019
Syria’s representative at peace talks in Kazakhstan on Friday said the success of a ceasefire in the northwestern region of Idlib would depend on Turkey disarming rebels of heavy weapons and implementing a buffer zone. Syrian negotiator Bashar Jaafari attacked the Turkish military presence in the northwest of the country and called Syria’s ceasefire statement on Thursday “a test of Turkey’s intentions.” The comments came during the second day of talks brokered by Syria’s allies Russia and Iran, along with rebel-backer Turkey. Jaafari also called on the guarantors of the talks to assume “their responsibilities by putting pressure on Turkey” to fulfil the conditions of an accord struck last year. “The ceasefire agreement is conditioned on Turkey upholding the Astana and Sochi agreements by disarming terrorists of heavy and medium weapons,” Jaafari said. Jaafari accused the militant groups of shelling areas under regime control in northwest Syria “from areas Turkey controls in Idlib.”“Even though we are patient, this time our patience will be limited. We will not be waiting endlessly for Turkey to fulfil its commitments,” he said. Syria’s state news agency SANA reported Thursday that the government had agreed to a truce in Idlib on condition a Turkish-Russian buffer-zone deal is implemented. It cited a military source who announced the regime’s “approval for a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in Idlib starting from tonight” on the condition that jihadists and rebels withdraw forces and weaponry from a buffer zone as per a September accord. Moscow welcomed the statement. Idlib is the last major jihadist-run bastion in Syria after eight years of brutal conflict. Idlib and parts of the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia are under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist group led by Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate.
The region is supposed to be protected from a massive government offensive by a September buffer zone deal, but it has come under increasing bombardment by the regime and its Russian ally over the past three months. A joint statement on the talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan released by Russia, Iran and Turkey showed little progress towards ending Syria’s conflict. The war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with a

Airstrikes Halt in Syria's Idlib as Ceasefire Declared: Observatory
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
Syrian and Russian warplanes mounted no airstrikes in the rebel-held northwest on Friday after a ceasefire was announced, a war monitor said, after three months of violence that has killed hundreds while failing to yield big territorial gains. Though rockets hit both Syrian government- and rebel-held territory on Friday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the level of violence was significantly reduced. “Yesterday, for example, there were already airstrikes by early morning,” Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said. More than 400 civilians have been killed in the escalation over the past three months and more than 440,000 displaced, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said last week. Syrian state media reported that a ceasefire would apply from Thursday night on condition militants comply with an agreement between Russia and Turkey last year which aimed to create a demilitarized buffer zone. Ahmad Sheikho of the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmet, says that since midnight "there are no warplanes in the air" but that artillery shelling continued. Regarding the Syria talks being hosted by Kazakhstan, a Kazakh Foreign Ministry official said most of the opposition delegations at the talks had agreed to a ceasefire, Russia’s RIA news agency said. “A ceasefire has entered force, as the participants have said,” it cited the official as saying. But the official noted that the agreement did not include jihadists who might not observe it. The areas targeted by the government side are part of the last major piece of territory held by rebels who have been defeated across much of Syria by President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran. But Assad’s side has been unable to gain much ground in this latest offensive against the rebels. The government says it has been responding to rebel attacks. In addition to the civilian casualties, the fighting has inflicted a heavy toll on both rebel and government fighters: the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says each side has lost around 1,000 fighters. The most powerful faction in the northwest is the militant Tahrir al-Sham group. Turkey has forces on the ground in the area at a dozen military positions. The United Nations will investigate attacks on UN-supported facilities and other humanitarian sites in the area, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, two days after two-thirds of the Security Council pushed for an inquiry. Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Peru, Poland, Kuwait, the Dominican Republic, and Indonesia delivered a demarche - a formal diplomatic petition - to Guterres on Tuesday over the lack of an inquiry into attacks on some 14 locations.

Western Sanctions Push War-Weary Syrians Deeper into Poverty
Associated Press/Naharnet/August 02/2019
Mohammed Haji Abed drives his yellow taxi through the busy streets of the Syrian capital for about 12 hours a day, toiling in the sweltering summer heat but earning barely enough for his family of five to get by.
It was easier for him to make ends meet at the height of his country's civil war, when rebels regularly lobbed mortars into Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts of the city.
In the past year, as the Trump administration tightened sanctions on Syria and re-imposed sanctions on its chief regional ally, Iran, living conditions have become steadily worse, compounding the daily struggles of a worn-out population that has lived through eight years of conflict. "The economic sanctions are affecting the whole country," said Haji Abed, sitting behind the wheel of his car in an eastern Damascus neighborhood that until last year was a front-line with insurgents. "People can't take any more," added the gray-haired man in his late 50s. Sanctions by the U.S., European Union and some Arab countries have been in place since 2011, after President Bashar Assad's security apparatus cracked down on protests against his rule. The sanctions targeted the oil industry, money transfers and a number of institutions and officials, including Assad.
The Trump administration has hiked up the punishment, particularly by moving to stop oil exports by Iran — including its shipments to its ally Syria. In November, the U.S. Treasury Department added a network of Russian and Iranian companies to its blacklist for shipping oil to Syria and warned of "significant risks" for sanctions violators. In early July, a supertanker likely carrying around 2 million barrels of Iranian crude was detained in Gibraltar on suspicion of violating EU sanctions against oil shipments to Syria. The results have hit hard on a population traumatized by a civil war that has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the population over the past eight years.
Once an oil exporter, Syria now relies on imports, and higher fuel costs caused by the sanctions have pushed up prices in nearly every sector. The currency lost a third of its value in 2019 alone, and now stands at 600 Syrian pounds to the dollar, compared to 47 at the onset of the conflict. Eight out of 10 Syrians live below the poverty line, making less than $100 a month, according to the U.N. Haji Abed says he makes 12,000 pounds ($20) a day, but after paying for fuel he is left with only about $5 a day. His rent is $35 a month. What's left after that is barely enough for food and other expenses, he said.
He used to be able to buy unlimited subsidized fuel. But since the new U.S. sanctions, the government set a monthly cap — private car owners can buy 100 liters a month, taxi drivers 350 liters. Those who want more must pay the market price, which is double.
The government says Syria's losses from sanctions are in the billions of dollars. The ban on money transfers and other measures have particularly hurt medicine and pharmaceutical industries, a stinging loss for a country that once produced 90% of what its people needed. Syria now relies on imports of vaccines, medicines for cancer, blood derivatives and dialysis supplies.
This triggers sporadic shortages. "Three months ago, there was no baby formula available," said a pharmacist, Samir Aftimos. "People with children ran from one pharmacy to another to search for it." The crunch was relieved when Iran sent supplies. Because of shipping restrictions, most medicine imports must be brought by land from Lebanon, increasing costs, Assistant Health Minister Habib Abboud told The Associated Press. Companies have a hard time collecting or making payments abroad and several foreign medical companies that used to work in Syria are canceling their licenses, Abboud said. Syria is looking to firms in Russia, China, Iran and India to step in. Around 25 of Syria's 70 medicine factories were destroyed or badly damaged during the conflict, Abboud said. He said many have been repaired as government forces regained large parts of Syria over the past three years. That has brought production nearly back up to pre-war levels, according to the Health Ministry.
One of the largest Syrian companies affected by the war is The Arabian Medical Co., or Thameco, whose factory in the eastern Damascus suburbs of Mleiha was taken by insurgents and heavily damaged during the war. The state-owned company now works out of a Damascus building that used to be a storage space, where dozens of employees produce painkillers, antibiotics and other medicines. But it is difficult to obtain raw materials and spare parts, said Thameco's general manager, Fidaa Ali. "Most foreign companies complied with the conspiracy of the economic sanctions and the imposed embargo on Syria," he said.
EU and U.S. sanctions also target hundreds of entities and individuals, many of them businessmen close to Assad's leadership. Washington adds names to the list each year. The most recent, added in June, was businessman Samer Foz and his family, and their Aman Holding company. Washington accused Foz of making a fortune by developing lands confiscated from Syrians who fled the country. Fares Shehabi, a lawmaker and prominent industrialist, calls EU sanctions on him "unfair" and says they have cost him millions of dollars. "No one can claim not to have been affected by the sanctions. It is not only the people who are under sanctions like myself," said Shehabi, who is based in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once its commercial center. Tayseer Darkalt, who owns a factory in Aleppo producing machines that make potato chips, says that because of sanctions he can't import or export products or spare parts. With no money transfers, he travels abroad to collect payments in cash, but that adds airplane and hotel costs. And he's wary of carrying a lot of cash. "The sanctions are harming normal citizens. They are not punishing the government. They are punishing us."

Air Strikes Stop in Syria's Idlib after Truce Announced
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 02/2019
Air strikes stopped in Syria's Idlib Friday after the government announced it had agreed a truce following weeks of deadly bombardment of the rebel-held region, monitors said. State news agency SANA reported Thursday that the government had agreed to a truce in the northwestern region where air strike and shelling by the government and its Russian ally has killed hundreds sof people since April, many of them civilians. Citing a military source, SANA said a ceasefire would go into effect on Thursday evening but was conditional on the implementation of a Turkish-Russian deal to enforce a buffer zone encircling the region. "A cautious calm has reigned since just before midnight (2100 GMT)," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of Britain-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. He said that Syrian and Russia aircraft were no longer seen flying over Idlib while "fighting on the ground had also ceased on all fronts in the past few hours". An AFP correspondent reported that an early warning system known as Sentry registered the last air raids on the Idlib province town of Khan Sheikhun just two minutes before the truce took effect at midnight. The Sentry programme uses human observers and a network of sensors to compute a predicted impact location when Syrian or allied warplanes take off. The resulting estimate can then trigger air raid sirens near the target zone and send warnings to mobile phone applications, giving residents more time to take cover. Most of Idlib province and parts of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a jihadist alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate. The region was supposed to have been spared from a threatened government offensive last year by a deal struck by Ankara and Moscow in the Russian resort of Sochi in September. But the agreement has faltered and Syrian forces have launched an intensified bombardment of the region with Russian support since late April. According to the Observatory, some 790 civilians have been killed in the past three months along with 1,000 jihadists nd other rebels and around 900 pro-government fighters. The UN says that more than 400,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. SANA's announcement of a ceasefire came as talks resumed in Kazakhstan between rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and driven millions from their homes since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Qaeda Attacks Yemeni Military Camp, Leaves Scores of Casualties
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
Al-Qaeda militants targeted an army base in southern Yemen killing at least 19 soldiers, according to officials and tribal leaders. The gunmen attacked the camp with rocket propelled grenades and automatic rifles around midnight. The militants stormed Al-Mahfad base in Abyan province and remained inside for several hours before military reinforcements came, three security officials told AFP. "The Qaeda gunmen took advantage of what happened (Thursday) in Aden and launched an assault on Al-Mahfad base and clashed with soldiers," a government security official said. "At least 19 soldiers were killed and others wounded," he noted. On Thursday, 49 people were killed in separate attacks by militants targeting security forces in Yemen's Aden. The first attack was a suicide car bombing while the second attack was carried out by Houthis who said they launched a drone and a ballistic missile at a training camp west of Aden.
The attacks were denounced by Yemen, Europe and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Women Allowed to Obtain Passports, Travel
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
The Saudi government has amended some regulations to allow adult women to travel or obtain a passport without the permission of their guardians. Dr. Haya al-Mani, a former member of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that “the amendment of the system on obtaining travel documents is part of the project to continuously empower women.”“The real empowerment of women starts with changing regulations and amending any system that does not grant them rights as citizens,” she said. The amendments to regulations also grant women for the first time the right to register child birth and marriage and to be issued official family documents and be eligible as a guardian to children who are minors. This means Saudi women have now the right to apply for and obtain a family register from the Civil Status Administration. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last October that the Kingdom would review the guardianship system that was issued in 1979. The decrees, issued Wednesday, were made public before dawn Friday in the Kingdom's official weekly Um al-Qura gazette. They came a year after lifting a driving ban for women.

Turkish Dam Set to Reduce Flows from Tigris to Iraq
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
Turkey has started filling a huge hydroelectric dam on the Tigris river, a lawmaker and activists said, despite protests that it will displace thousands of people and risks creating water shortages downstream in Iraq. Citing satellite images, they said that water was starting to build up behind the Ilisu dam, a project that has been decades in the making and which aims to generate 1,200 megawatts of electricity for southeast Turkey. Turkish officials have not commented on work at the dam, Reuters reported. Turkey's State Hydraulic Works (DSI), which oversees dam projects, referred questions to the Presidency, and the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry was not available to comment. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this year that Turkey would start filling the Ilisu dam in June, a year after it briefly held back water before backing down following complaints from Iraq about reduced water flows in mid-summer. According to Reuters, the dam, which first gained Turkish government approval in 1997, is a key part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Project, designed to improve its poorest and least developed region. Iraq says the dam will create water shortages by reducing flows in one of two rivers which the country depends on for much of its supplies. Around 70 percent of Iraq's water supplies flow from neighboring countries, especially via the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which run through Turkey. Satellite images from the past two weeks show the dam has started holding water, said Necdet Ipekyuz, a lawmaker from Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He said a road in the area has already been submerged. "They are taking steps slowly to decrease the reactions to water being held. That is why they are not informing the public," he said, adding that several HDP lawmakers tried to visit the dam in July but were prevented by police. Environmental campaigners have unsuccessfully challenged the dam project at the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds it would damage the country's cultural heritage.

GNA-Affiliated Militias Escalate Threats Against Salame
Cairo- Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 2 August, 2019
Security fears have risen on likely attempts by armed militias in the capital, Tripoli, to assassinate UN Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame. Meanwhile, official threats by militias loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, have escalated on Thursday for the second day in a row. These threats were issued in rejection of Salame’s recent briefing at the Security Council on the military and political situation in the country, considering Salame’s continued stay in Libya “betrayal to the martyrs’ blood.”The so-called “support force” in Tripoli said in a statement addressing all pro-Sarraj militias that the UN envoy “has become a major part of the country’s current crisis.”It accused him of “not distinguishing between right and wrong and the aggressor and victims,” in his most recent briefing, demanding the concerned authorities to immediately intervene “before it is too late.”
Sarraj government forces’-led “Volcano of Rage” operation expressed its dissatisfaction at Salame’s briefing, describing it as “unsuccessful” and called on him to “correct it” officially and on media. Mohannad Younes, minister of martyrs and wounded affairs in Sarraj’s government, has joined the campaign and said Salame’s briefing was “full of lies.”“These practices can’t be tolerated, and Libya's freemen will show their response in the field,” Younes tweeted. Salame had expressed concern about the increasing frequency of attacks on Mitiga airport, which serves as the only functioning airport in the greater Tripoli area and has closed many times over the past four months. He called upon authorities in Tripoli to stop using the airport for military purposes and for the attacking forces to halt targeting it immediately, in reference to Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s forces. “There are unconfirmed allegations that human rights abuses may have taken place in the city of Gheryan,” Salame said, after Sarraj forces have taken control over the city one month ago to be later regained by the Libyan National Army (LNA) forces. He noted that the UN mission is currently investigating this issue. The LNA intervened in the conflict between the UN envoy and Sarraj’s government, and its spokesman General Brigadier Ahmed al-Mesmari said that Salame’s briefing has intimidated terrorists in Tripoli. He also wondered how Sarraj can protest Salame’s briefing while Salah Badi and Osama al-Juwaili, both wanted internationally, are fighting with his forces.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 02-03/2019
Palestinians: What Is Wrong With Building a Hospital?
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./August 02/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14638/palestinians-gaza-hospital
One would expect Palestinian leaders to have welcomed a new hospital that would serve the two million residents of the Gaza Strip. These leaders, however, have no problem sacrificing the lives of Palestinian patients on the altar of their hatred of the peace plan.
The Palestinian Authority leadership is right about one thing: one party in this conflict is indeed using the dispute for its own ends – but it is not the Trump administration. The only party that deserves blame is Abbas and his associates. They are rejecting a desperately needed medical facility solely in order to be able to continue to lay the blame for the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at the doorstep of Israel.
The Palestinian Authority is probably the only government worldwide that views establishing a modern hospital as a "conspiracy." It now remains to be seen whether the international community will cave in to Abbas's campaign and ditch the hospital project, or decide actually to help the Palestinian people, whose leaders know only how to help themselves.
Leaders of the Palestinian Authority have reached a new depth of obsession: they are now seeking to prevent the establishment of a new hospital for their people in the Gaza Strip. Pictured: The Erez border crossing in Israel, at the border with the Gaza Strip, near which Israel, Hamas, the United Nations, Qatar and Egypt have agreed to establish the new hospital to treat Gazan patients.
It hardly counts as news that Palestinian Authority leaders are obsessed with US President Donald J. Trump and his administration. Yet, these leaders have actually reached a new depth of obsession: they are now seeking to prevent the establishment of a new hospital for their people in the Gaza Strip.
The new field hospital, consisting of 16 departments, is slated to be built near the Erez border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The hospital was approved by Israel as part of ceasefire understandings reached during the past few weeks with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip under the auspices of the United Nations, Qatar and Egypt.
The 43,000-square foot hospital will rely on the infrastructure, expertise and resources of an international NGO named Friendship and is meant to ensure a significant improvement in medical services to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Bizarrely, while Israel has approved the project, Palestinian Authority officials are trying to foil it. Palestinian Authority Minister of Health Mai Kaila, during a meeting in her West Bank office in Ramallah, reportedly told the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Process Jimmy McGoldrick on July 31 that the field hospital was part of a plan to separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip and that the Palestinian Authority government considers the plan to build a hospital a "part of the Deal of the Century."
"If the objective of establishing this hospital is humane, it would have been better to support and develop existing hospitals in the Gaza Strip," the Palestinian minister told the UN official. "This project wears the dress of humanity while concealing a dangerous political aspect."
Kaila asked the UN official to relay a message to all relevant parties: The Palestinian Authority government has effectively washed its hands of the new hospital.
One would expect Palestinian leaders to have welcomed a new hospital that would serve the two million residents of the Gaza Strip. These leaders, however, have no problem sacrificing the lives of Palestinian patients on the altar of their hatred of the peace plan.
Palestinian Authority officials have justified their opposition to the construction of the hospital by arguing that it is designed to "separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip."
"The hospital that Israel and the US are seeking to establish on the northern border of the Gaza Strip," the Palestinian government had already stated on July 8, "is part of ongoing attempts to solidify the separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under humanitarian pretexts."
This claim is totally baseless to the point of being surreal.
What does the construction of a modern hospital have to do with the "separation" of the West Bank from the Gaza Strip? The two entities have, in fact, been politically separated from each other ever since Hamas's violent overthrow of the Palestinian Authority regime in Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. Since then, the Palestinians have had two distinct mini-states that have, in fact, always been culturally separate: one in the West Bank, previously a part of Jordan and now under the control of President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority; and the other in the Gaza Strip, previously a part of Egypt, and now under the control of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
For the past two years, Abbas and other Palestinian Authority leaders have developed the habit of blaming everything they do not like on the Trump administration and its "Deal of the Century."
As far as the Palestinian Authority is concerned, even the economic portion of the Trump plan, which offers them billions of dollars to boost the Palestinian economy and improve their living conditions, is a "conspiracy" related to the "Deal of the Century."
The latest spin from the Palestinian Authority claims -- falsely – that the construction of the new hospital is also part of Trump's "Deal of the Century."
The Palestinian Authority government -- headed by Mohammed Shtayyeh, whom Abbas appointed as prime minister last month -- and in total disregard of the needs of its people in the Gaza Strip, was quick to reject the hospital project. Shtayyeh and his government do not take any decisions unless they are approved by Abbas. Those decisions are later endorsed by the Palestinian Authority leadership (including Abbas and his PLO and Fatah officials) which then publishes them in its official media outlets.
In the Palestinian Authority's campaign against the new hospital, one can see further proof of a conspiracy theory mindset that continues to plague Palestinian leaders. For the past two years, for instance, Palestinian leaders have been warning about a US-Israeli "conspiracy" to liquidate the Palestinian cause. By this, they appear to mean any peace proposal that does not comply with Palestinian national aspirations, such as an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital, as well as forcing Israel to absorb millions of the descendants of Palestinian refugees from a war that Arabs (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi forces and Iraq) initiated in 1948.
Although no such "conspiracy" has surfaced so far, Palestinian leaders simply consider anything the Israelis or Americans offer them a "conspiracy."
When, in February, the US convened a Middle East conference in Warsaw to try to thwart Iranian aggression, the Palestinian leadership again alleged that the gathering was a "conspiracy" against Arabs. Again, no damage was caused to the Palestinians as a result of the conference; the Palestinian talk about a "conspiracy" looked irrelevant, if not ridiculous.
Some Palestinians have even gone as far as to claim that the continued rivalry between Abbas's ruling Fatah faction and Hamas is the result of a US-Israeli "conspiracy." The charge is based on the assumption that Israel and the US do not want to see the Palestinians united. This claim, of course, is also baseless: neither Israel nor the US has anything to do with the Fatah-Hamas dispute. Recurring attempts by some Arab states to end the dispute have failed only because of the unwillingness of Fatah and Hamas to make concessions to each other.
The Palestinian leaders' abhorrence of Trump and the US administration has reached a fever pitch, especially as the Americans are proceeding with their peace plan in spite of strong Palestinian opposition. The Palestinian leaders see how the Trump administration is moving forward with its plan in cooperation with some Arab states, an act Palestinian leaders view as turning their back on their Palestinian brothers.
For the past several years, the residents of the Gaza Strip have been complaining about lack of medicine and medical equipment.
If the hospital is not built, the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip will have been denied – by their own leaders – an invaluable resource.
In addition, earlier this year, the Palestinian Authority government announced that it was halting medical referrals for Palestinians to Israeli hospitals. The catastrophic move hurt only the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Authority government illogically tried to justify its decision by saying that it had been taken in response to the sums Israel deducted from tax revenues. Israel openly states it does this in response to the payments the Palestinian government makes to families of Palestinian terrorists, "security prisoners" and suicide bombers who believe they will enter Paradise as martyrs or shahids and who were killed while carrying out attacks against Israel
The Palestinian Authority, by halting medical referrals to Israeli hospitals and depriving their people of access to excellent medical treatment in Israel, has placed the lives of thousands of their citizens at risk. Several Palestinians have denounced the decision as a "mistake," "hasty," and "uncalculated."
The Palestinian Authority leadership is right about one thing: one party in this conflict is indeed using the dispute for its own ends – but it is not the Trump administration. The only party that deserves blame is Abbas and his associates. They are rejecting a desperately needed medical facility solely in order to be able to continue to lay the blame for the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at the doorstep of Israel. Abbas seems to fear that a new hospital -- which has received Israeli approval – would strip him of his claim that Israel is responsible for Palestinian misery.
Abbas holds Israel responsible for the economic and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, all the while hiding the fact that for the past two years he has been imposing harsh sanctions on the residents of the Gaza Strip. His sanctions include his own suspension of the salaries of thousands of employees and social welfare assistance to many needy Palestinian families.
Also, Abbas apparently does not want to see any improvement in the living conditions of his people if they are living under the rule of Hamas. He seems to be hoping that if the situation in the Gaza Strip gets worse, the Palestinians there will eventually revolt against his rivals in Hamas and remove them from power. As Hamas remains in full control in Gaza, however, this hope seems far-fetched. There are no signs of any major challenge to its regime, except possibly from Iran. Unsurprisingly, Iran's mullahs have been using Hamas as yet another of their regional proxies, which now include the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Finally, the Palestinian Authority has rejected the new hospital for a sad, old reason: it seems to want all international projects to be funneled exclusively under its auspices, doubtless the better to get its hands on nice chunks of money and transfer them to its leaders' personal coffers.
The Palestinian Authority is probably the only government in the world that views establishing a modern hospital as a "conspiracy." It now remains to be seen whether the international community will cave in to Abbas's campaign and ditch the hospital project, or decide actually to help the Palestinian people, whose leaders know only how to help themselves.
*Bassam Tawil is an Arab Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 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.

Islamic Terrorism from Mexico to the U.S.
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/August 02/2019
A captured Islamic State fighter recently confessed how, in an effort to terrorize America on its own soil, the Islamic terror group is committed to exploiting the porous US-Mexico border, including through the aid of ISIS-sympathizers living in the United States.
Abu Henricki, a Canadian citizen of Trinidadian origin, told researchers with the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism that ISIS sought to recruit him and others to penetrate the US-Mexican border through routes originating in various Central American locales.
“The plan came from someone from the New Jersey state of America,” Henricki confessed. “I was going to take the boat from Puerto Rico into Mexico. He [N.J. resident] was going to smuggle me in…. They [ISIS] wanted to use these people [sympathizers living in the U.S.] because they were from these areas.”
Other Trinidadians, he said, were also approached to “do the same thing.”
“Our intent was not to support any political agenda,” the nonpartisan International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism said. “We don’t want this to be used for fearmongering… That said, it would be erroneous — and detrimental to our safety and security — to outright downplay the potential terrorist threats emanating from our borders, similar to the Bush administration casting aside initial warnings about al-Qaeda plots with the result of American citizens eventually suffering the 9/11 attacks.”
More importantly, the notion that Islamic terrorists might infiltrate through the U.S. southern border is not a hypothetical. It has already happened. For example, in 2017 in Edmonton, Abdulahi Hasan Sharif launched what police labeled a terrorist attack: he stabbed a police officer and rammed his vehicle into four pedestrians. The Somali national had an ISIS flag in his vehicle; he also reached Canada by illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.
Furthermore, according to a November, 2018, report from the Center for Immigration Studies:
“From only public realm reporting, 15 suspected terrorists have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border, or en route, since 2001.
The 15 terrorism-associated migrants who traveled to the U.S. southern border likely represent a significant under-count since most information reflecting such border-crossers resides in classified or protected government archives and intelligence databases.
Affiliations included al-Shabbab, al-Ittihad al-Islamiya, Hezbollah, the Pakistani Taliban, ISIS, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh, and the Tamil Tigers.
At least five of the 15 were prosecuted for crimes in North American courts. One is currently under Canadian prosecution for multiple attempted murder counts. Of the four in the United States, one was prosecuted for lying to the FBI about terrorism involvement, one for asylum fraud, one for providing material support to a terrorist organization, and one for illegal entry, false statements, and passport mutilation.”
Europe also offers an analogical lesson. As the 2018 National Strategy for Counterterrorism of the United States of America report says
ISIS has been innovative and determined in its pursuit of attacks in the West. The group has exploited weaknesses in European border security to great effect by capitalizing on the migrant crisis to seed attack operatives into the region. For instance, two of the perpetrators of the 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris, France, [which killed over 130 people] infiltrated the country by posing as migrants.
The US-Mexico border is so alluring that long before ISIS came onto the scene, other Islamic terrorists were eying it—including as a potential gateway to smuggle anthrax into the US and kill 330,000 Americans—and operating in it.
The examples are many. In 2011, federal officials announced that FBI and DEA agents disrupted a plot to commit a “significant terrorist act in the United States,” tied to Iran with roots in Mexico. Months earlier a jihadi cell in Mexico was found to have a weapons cache of 100 M-16 assault rifles, 100 AR-15 rifles, 2,500 hand grenades, C4 explosives and antitank munitions. The weapons, it turned out, had been smuggled by Muslims from Iraq. According to the report, “obvious concerns have arisen concerning Hezbollah’s presence in Mexico and possible ties to Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTO’s) operating along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Such “concerns” might have been expected, considering that a year earlier it was reported that,
Mexican authorities have rolled up a Hezbollah network being built in Tijuana, right across the border from Texas and closer to American homes than the terrorist hideouts in the Bekaa Valley are to Israel. Its goal, according to a Kuwaiti newspaper that reported on the investigation: to strike targets in Israel and the West. Over the years, Hezbollah—rich with Iranian oil money and narcocash—has generated revenue by cozying up with Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs and people into the U.S.
As far back as 2006, “Mexican authorities investigated the activities of the Murabitun [a Muslim missionary organization named after a historic jihadi group that terrorized Spain in the eleventh century] due to reports of alleged immigration and visa abuses involving the group’s European members and possible radicals, including al-Qaeda.”
The idea that Islamic terror groups are operating in Mexico and eyeing—and exploiting—the porous U.S.-Mexico border is not a hypothetical; it is a fact. At least 15—though likely many more—suspected terrorists have already been apprehended crossing the border since 2001; one of them, an ISIS supporter, already launched a terrorist attack that nearly killed five.
The only question left is how much more evidence, and how many more attacks—and at what greater severity—are needed before this problem is addressed?

Iran: Flogging a Dead Donkey Is Futile
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/August 02/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/77215/%d8%a3%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%87%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%ac%d9%8e%d9%84%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%a9-%d8%a3%d9%85%d8%b1-%d8%ba%d9%8a/
Of all the futile things one could imagine beating a dead donkey in the hope of forcing it to move on is the proverbial example. Right now, we are witnessing an example of that in the diplomatic gesticulations designed to maintain the so-called "Iran nuclear deal" on life support machine.
The Europeans pretend to be working on a magic potion that shall have the dead donkey up and running in no time. For their part, Tehran’s Khomeinist leaders insist that the donkey is alive and well but continue to pull off its legs one by one. The Russians and the Chinese serenade the dead donkey every now and then but are clearly not interested in whether it is dead or alive.
In theory, the “deal”, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was the fruit of collective efforts by the five permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council plus Germany on one side and Iran’s Khomeinist establishment on the other. However, in reality, it was a diabolical elixir that President Barack Obama concocted by using every dubious ingredient he could get hold of. Interestingly, all the seven participants in this charade have violated its terms while blaming others for doing so. The Americans started violating the JCPOA even under Obama when they claimed that the term “lifting sanctions” didn’t really mean that and that what was really promised was “suspending” sanctions that could snap back any time Washington wanted.
Obama gave the mullahs some money, from Iran’s frozen assets, to sweeten them and “recognized” Iran’s right to enrich low-grade uranium, a right guaranteed for all nations under international law. But, he reneged on is a promise to have an American company buy the stock of plutonium that the mullahs had amassed at the Arak Plant for no discernible reason.
Obama’s successor, President Donald Trump, had the merit of honesty by simply denouncing the JCPOA as a bad deal for everybody.
The Russians violated their pledge under the “deal” by suspending their purchase of Tehran’s higher-grade enriched uranium after only half of the stock had been transferred out of Iran.
The Chinese also cheated with dilatory tactics to avoid fulfilling their commitment to redesign and rebuild the Arak Plutonium Plant for peaceful purposes. They also used every trick in the book to avoid releasing funds they owe to Iran for oil imports, amounting a tidy sum of $22 billion.
The European trio, Great Britain, France and Germany also ignored their promises under JCPOA by continuing to deny Iran normal banking facilities available to almost every other nation. And, when Trump activated Obama’s snap-back mechanism for sanctions, they shut Iran out with the excuse that the new US policy prevented any move in favor of the Islamic Republic. Despite countless pirouettes by Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy point woman, the EU trio have, in effect, followed the new American policy on Iran.
The biggest cheat in all this has been the Islamic Republic itself, which, I believe, did not intend to honor its promises.
It dragged its feet on adhering to the so-called Additional Protocols, refused to open all its nuclear sites to inspection and, as already noted, did not dispose of its plutonium and enriched uranium stocks.
Theoretically, the Obama “deal” is supposed to have delayed Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by at least two years. Also, theoretically, it has put large chunks of Iran’s trade, scientific and industrial policies under supervision by 5+1 thus violating Iran’s national sovereignty. However, because the JCPOA is not a treaty, and thus, isn’t legally binding, none of those theoretical possibilities need be taken seriously.
Trump may have done everyone a service by exposing the fraudulent nature of JCPOA and seeking a fresh round of negotiations to address the totality of issues that have kept relations between Iran and the outside world in a state of crisis for the past four decades. The wisest course in the interest of all concerned is to bury the dead donkey and clear the deck for new initiatives on a solid legal basis.
The forthcoming G7 summit could issue the death certificate for the donkey and call on the UN Security Council to reassert control of the Iran dossier, a control wrested away by Obama. Fresh negotiations could then take place to address the demands of all sides concerned.
The 12-point desiderata published by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could be incorporated in a broader agenda not as a diktat but as a contribution to transparent efforts to find a compromise.
Some may object that the Khomeinist leader of Tehran cannot be trusted under any circumstances and that they could end up hoodwinking Trump as did all his predecessors by surrendering at the 11th hour.
Although no one could rule out such a possibility, I believe that this time the mullahs are in a much tighter corner and that saving themselves with a fudge would not be that easy for two reasons. First, it is unlikely that Trump would simply back down and re-endorse what he has called “the worst deal in history”, especially because the current US policy on Iran is practically cost-free for Washington.
The Islamic Republic’s "Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boasts that his regime shall never go “begging” top talk to the “Great Satan.” However, President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif keep harping on the possibility of new negotiations as Trump wants. Last week, several members of the Islamic Majlis (the ersatz parliament) called for “tension-reduction” efforts with help from Iraq and Oman.
The second reason why cheat-and-retreat may not be that easy for the mullahs this time is that the Khomeinist system is going through its deepest crisis with widespread corruption, administrative ineptitude and internecine feuds weakening its claim of legitimacy against a background of growing popular dissent.
It is time to declare the JCPOA dead and buried.
The failure of the G7 summit to come up with a united and constructive stance on the “Iran problem” would encourage the mullahs to pursue policies that have done so much harm to Iran, indeed to the whole Middle East, in the past four decades.

Erdogan… 'The Miserable Man'
Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/August 02/2019
Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has sharpened his speech against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, when he warned him that the ruling president’s party had been overwhelmed by “widespread misery”.
In parallel, the leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, criticized Erdogan’s policies - which he considered wrong in Egypt, Syria, and Libya - and called on the Turkish president to change his foreign policy, abandon the Muslim Brotherhood, reconcile with Egypt, and stop sending arms to Libya.
Between the transformation of yesterday’s allies into today’s enemies and the Turkish opposition’s exploitation of the state of confusion in the regime’s foreign and internal policies, Erdogan's AKP seems to be living its darkest moments. The old days of its glorious popularity are gone, while political skirmishes within the ruling party are the most painful to the president. Successive defeats are seen from within the ruling party as a natural result of domestic political failure and reckless policies.
It may be too early to say that developments in Turkey indicate that the Justice and Development Party has reached its end, but the enormous and extraordinary popularity that Erdogan used to enjoy has become something from the past.
It is enough to see that Erdogan, despite all his frantic campaigns and hundreds of speeches during the municipal elections, was unable to help his aide - former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in the Istanbul elections.
The party has encountered failure after Erdogan used to easily determine who will be elected in any municipality of his choice.
Erdogan, who served as prime minister in 2003 and took over the presidency since 2014, has governed Turkey for 16 years. Today, he is suffering in his tenure and his road is no longer paved with roses.
His previous sweeping victories in five parliamentary elections, three rounds of local elections, two presidential elections by popular vote and two referendums between 2002 and early 2018, have all become history that cannot be repeated again.
It is true that the presidential elections will not be held until 2023, but the path of Erdogan’s rule will be thorny until that date. Erdogan - who won the Jewish courage award, quickly recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and strengthened his economic ties with Tel Aviv - is now boasting the Palestinian cause. Erdogan, whose country is ranked first in imprisoning journalists, is bragging about press freedom. Erdogan, whose foreign ministry said that “the policy of violence pursued by the Chinese authorities against the Turkic-speaking Uighurs minority in the Xinjiang region of China represents a great disgrace to humanity,” returned to declare that the “Uighurs minority live a happy life.”
There are dozens of such contradictions. Erdogan’s policy of jumping on two ropes was finally uncovered.
History will undoubtedly remember Erdogan; but his image will first start waning in the Turkish popular memory. The man has become more politically desperate. Soon, he will be the target of his closest allies, who will turn on his policies, oppose his principles, and work to overthrow him, after none of them had dared to hint at this possibility throughout the years of his rule.
Indeed, he is the president who has become miserable, because of his intolerable policies at the internal and external levels.

Houthis Kill Top UAE-Backed Separatist Yemeni Commander
Elana DeLozier/The Washington Institute/August 02/2019
Coming just weeks after Abu Dhabi's drawdown from the anti-Houthi fight, the provocative attack could be a pivotal moment for Yemen’s future.
On August 1, a Houthi strike on a military graduation ceremony in Aden killed a major southern military figure. Brig. Gen. Munir Mahmoud Ahmad al-Mashali, more commonly known as Abu Yamamah al-Yafaei, was a high-profile commander of the UAE-backed Security Belt Forces. He also supported a breakaway independent South Yemen in the chaos of the civil war with Houthi forces, which in 2014 deposed the internationally recognized government in Sana, the capital. His death sent shock waves across the south.
The civil war itself has stalemated between Saudi and UAE-backed government forces on one hand, and Houthi-aligned forces supported politically and militarily by Iran on the other. An Iranian missile or drone was probably involved in today’s attack. Apart from Abu Yamamah, more than thirty soldiers were killed and dozens injured during the parade at the al-Jala military base, located in Aden’s Buraiqa district. Despite publicly supporting the government of Yemeni prime minister Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the UAE has primarily empowered those who favor the emergence of a separate South Yemen with Aden as its capital—often to the chagrin of Saudi Arabia, its close ally and partner in Yemen.
The attack is reminiscent of another Houthi-led strike on a military graduation ceremony, at al-Anad Air Base in Lahij in January 2019. At least six people were killed in that action, including Yemen’s military intelligence chief. The Houthis have regularly targeted southern military gatherings.
GOVERNMENT FIGHTER AND SEPARATIST
Abu Yamamah, forty-five at the time of his death, started his career as a southern military officer, fought in the civil war against the north in 1994, and then helped form the nucleus of the southern resistance movement that spearheaded protests in 2007. Sentenced to death by the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh around 2010, he went into hiding in Yafa, in southern Yemen. He participated in protests against Saleh’s rule in 2011, and when the war against the Houthis broke out in 2015, he led forces against them in the south. His military effectiveness earned him several nicknames, including “Lion of the South” and “the feared one.” Eventually appointed to lead the Security Belt Forces in Aden, he quickly became a key military commander in charge of area counterterrorism operations. He was a well-known member of the al-Yafai tribe, one of the largest tribal confederations in Yemen, known for its rugged toughness and support for southern independence. Under his leadership, the Security Belt Forces recruited heavily from Yafa and surrounding areas. His stature as one of the foremost military commanders in southern Yemen made him a target for his enemies, including the Houthis and al-Qaeda.
As head of the Security Belt Forces, Abu Yamamah technically reported to the Hadi-led central government. But he also attended meetings as a representative of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks to separate from the Hadi government. Like Abu Yamamah, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the STC head, was sentenced to death by the Saleh government, and the two were in hiding together in Yafa. In a June 2019 meeting in Aden that I attended as part of a U.S. delegation with the STC, the soft-spoken Abu Yamamah sat only two seats away from Zubaidi, thus demonstrating his elevated stature in the pro-separatist group. At the same time, he wore his government military uniform and the red hat indicative of the Security Belt Forces. This arrangement aptly reflects the current state of security in southern Yemen, where major figures—many favored by the UAE for their fighting skills—ostensibly work for the Hadi government but practically favor an STC-led state. Complicating this scene further is Saudi opposition to the STC’s separatist goals and the inherent friction this can create with the UAE.
REACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
In response to Abu Yamamah’s death, the Yemeni government released a statement praising his sacrifice and saying that the solution to the national conflict was liberating Yemeni soil from the Houthis. Specific Yemeni officials also expressed condolences, including Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, who called the attack “heinous.”
So far, the STC has been careful in its public statements, releasing a video calling the attack “treacherous” and eulogizing Abu Yamamah and others as “sacrificing their lives for the... independence of the south.” Beyond this, they have asked southerners to “be patient” as they plan an appropriate response. The reaction from certain locals has been swifter. The community near Abu Yamamah’s hometown, for example, appears to have at least temporarily closed a road to the north, a response that is likely to be mitigated by tribal negotiation. Moreover, as is common in Yemen, the family of Abu Yamamah may volunteer to avenge his death, although it is unclear what form that would take.
Abu Yamamah’s death may have a ripple effect on the greater Yemeni conflict, perhaps even heightening hostilities. Capturing the mood among many, Summer Ahmed, an activist for southern independence, said Abu Yamamah’s killing felt “like a deadly earthquake shook the south.” Southern sources predict street protests will follow against the Houthis and, notably, against the Hadi government as well. Conspiracy theories about culpability often abound following such attacks, given the Yemeni reality that adversaries often form impromptu alliances against a common enemy. In this case, many such theories ascribe complicity or turning a blind eye to the Hadi government or the Islah Party, an Islamist bloc—charges that could ignite especially impassioned independence protests. Southern media are particularly focused on a security alert allegedly issued by the government on July 29, about which STC officials claim they were unaware, warning of potential terrorist attacks against major military figures and security checkpoints. The STC officials accuse the government overall of inadequately protecting them—a claim the government has previously parried by complaining that STC-aligned forces do not share their plans with it and insist on arranging their own security.
In addition to potential protests, STC-aligned forces are likely to ramp up their fight against the Houthis along the north-south front in provinces such as Dhale. STC figures voice hope that UAE forces, which remain operational in Yemen against terrorist threats in the south, will aid in this effort, although it is not clear if this is outside their new scope away from the Houthi fight and toward the counterterrorism mission.
CONCLUSION
Indeed, this attack comes just weeks after the UAE announced its drawdown from the military fight against the Houthis and its granting of full support instead for United Nations–led diplomatic efforts to contain the group. Although Houthis regularly target military gatherings in the south, suggesting the UAE military departure was not the catalyst, the killing of one of the UAE’s favored military commanders by the Iran-equipped Houthis will not go unnoticed in Abu Dhabi. In fact, the attack suggests Iran is providing the Houthis with exactly the kinds of capabilities the UAE has long feared. The Gulf federation has reacted to recent events involving Iran in the region with unease and caution; it will likely advise the same type of caution to the STC.
Caution can be the basis of a smart military and diplomatic strategy if backfilled with a political plan—but such a workable political plan has long proven absent in Yemen. The death of Abu Yamamah, in addition to inevitably sparking fury in the south, should reignite a debate about what the political future of Yemen can and should look like and how outside actors so closely involved in the country can help get it there.
*Elana DeLozier is a research fellow in The Washington Institute’s Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy.

Bahrain’s Perception Problem
Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/August 02/2019
New demonstrations, executions, and diplomatic quarrels threaten to undermine the island’s efforts to improve its pro-Western profile amid the Iran crisis.
After the kudos of hosting a major economic and peace conference last month, Bahrain, the principal base for U.S. and British naval forces coping with the Iranian threat, is now being criticized for executing Shia activists convicted of terrorist offenses. In June, the world’s attention was focused on Manama as leading officials gathered at the U.S.-organized “Peace to Prosperity” workshop to hear ideas on developing the Palestinian economy. A tangential highlight was the widely circulated video of U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt attending a prayer meeting in the island’s lone synagogue along with visiting Israeli journalists. Then, in mid-July, Bahraini foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa attended an interfaith conference at the State Department in Washington, where he had his photo taken with his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz.
Bahrain’s pro-Western profile has also been enhanced as naval tensions with Iran increased in recent weeks. The island hosts the U.S. NAVCENT headquarters and the Fifth Fleet, as well as a permanent contingent of four British minesweepers and a frigate. Both navies enjoy the warm hospitality offered by Bahrain, and their presence has not been politically contentious.
On July 26, however, a demonstration took place outside the Bahraini embassy in London to protest the impending execution of two Shia who had been found guilty of killing police officers and committing other terrorist offenses in January 2018. One protestor climbed onto the embassy’s roof from a nearby building and began shouting slogans. When Bahraini diplomatic staff were seen tackling him, British police intervened to detain the man, breaking down the door of the embassy in the process.
The next day, the Shia convicts were executed by firing squad. (A third unidentified man, found guilty of murdering a Sunni preacher in an apparently non-terrorist act, was executed at the same time.) Human rights groups argue that the Shia were tortured and forced to sign confessions. Bahrain denies this.

The incident has sparked a war of words, with the Bahraini embassy in Washington issuing a statement on July 26 that attempted to justify the execution by noting that capital punishment is permitted in the United States—probably a reference to the Trump administration’s decision to lift the U.S. ban on federal executions the previous day. In London, the British minister with responsibility for human rights, Tariq Ahmad, rejected such justifications via a statement posted on the Foreign Office website: “The UK remains firmly opposed to the death penalty. We express deep concern and regret that these executions were carried out. The Bahraini authorities remain fully aware of the UK’s position. We will continue to engage with Bahrain on this issue bilaterally and at the UN Human Rights Council.” An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson condemned the execution as well—little surprise given Tehran’s proven support for militancy among its Shia co-religionists across the Persian Gulf.
Meanwhile, London’s embassy in Bahrain warned British citizens that “there have been calls for unauthorised protests on 28 July with potentially more in coming days,” advising them to “remain vigilant and follow the advice of the local authorities.” A man died in one such demonstration, apparently from tear gas inhalation. That protest occurred in the Bilad al-Qadim area of the capital, close to the U.S. embassy, though American officials have not raised their travel advisory level. Other demonstrations, tire burnings, and clashes with security forces have been reported elsewhere on the island.
The timing of the executions adds an unpredictable ingredient to the current regional tensions, already enlivened by Iranian actions against shipping and indications that the United States may no longer be willing to act as the ultimate guarantor of Gulf security. Although Bahrain wants a higher international profile, many are concerned about its repeated failure to bring Shia citizens fully into society, with the result that some frustrated youths look instead to Iranian-supported militancy.
*Simon Henderson is the Baker Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute.

Qatar’s constant attempts to sow discord between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Arab News/August 02/2019
Has the UAE government really changed its stance on the Iran boycott and withdrawn from the Saudi-Bahraini-US alliance? There are only two possibilities: Yes or no.
If the answer is yes, and Abu Dhabi has indeed decided to reconcile with Tehran, then this is its sovereign right; it is surely aware of its own interests and this could be the right decision for it. However, if the story is a lie then the alliance against Iran still holds.
The UAE government has said that its recent meeting with Iran was arranged in advance and conducted with the full knowledge of other Gulf states, not in secrecy. This version was supported by a Gulf source who told Asharq Al-Awsat, the sister publication of Arab News, that the Iranians were trying to exaggerate the news, and that Qatar was spreading false information while inciting the media against the UAE.
Currently, the front against Iran consists of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, all of whom are willing allies. Qatar, on the other hand, recently joined the coalition under pressure from Washington, which has warned Doha against communicating or mediating with the Iranians.
Thus, even if the UAE has changed its stance and is now seeking to solve its problems with Tehran, there is little to worry about because we judge governments based on a set of stances and behaviors over a long period of time.
Throughout the past two decades, the relationship with Abu Dhabi has remained objective, and any differences have been manageable. This is also the case with Kuwait, Muscat and Cairo. But with Doha, things have been different. Its record since 1995 is full of controversies in its relationships with regional states, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and others.
Qatar has distinguished itself as a center of sedition in the region, and its actions in most instances have been negative. When the four states — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain — decided to boycott Doha in June 2017, it was not over differences in political stances but because Qatar had broken its commitments and overstepped all limits to the extent of funding opposition groups targeting Saudi Arabia. These included radical Islamists who were granted residency in Qatar.
Moreover, Doha has also supported and financed radical organizations in the West and Turkey, and devoted considerable resources to the goal of overthrowing the Saudi government. The discord is no longer over television programs, conferences or hostile declarations, which were the type of disputes that were usually resolved in the past.
Qatar’s efforts, which are bound to fail, have now been exposed in the court of public opinion.
Since the beginning of the rift with the other states, the Qataris have sought to dismantle the alliance confronting it. They began by targeting Egypt, trying to create doubt among Saudis over the Egyptian position; they even disseminated audio recordings aimed at sabotaging the relationship between Riyadh and Cairo. Many times they tried, and each time they failed.
The Qatari media then turned its attention to Abu Dhabi, seeking to cause problems between the UAE and the Kingdom through dramatized and exaggerated news stories, as well as outright fabricated reports. Doha also tried to cast doubt on the UAE’s intentions in Yemen, mobilizing Yemenis to write comments critical of Abu Dhabi in a way that gave the impression they were made under Saudi guidance. Qatar also claimed the UAE was increasing its military presence in Yemen, only to reverse its story and say the opposite: That the UAE was abandoning Saudi Arabia to deal with the situation alone.
One by one, the contradictions in the Qatari stories have revealed that Doha’s strategy is to attempt to weaken and dismantle the opposing front. At the same time, the falsehoods have demonstrated the strength of the relationship that binds these four capitals on Yemen and other issues. The UAE, for example, is still present in Yemen on a military level, and is active in the coalition against Iran, in its support for the new Sudan, and in confronting hostile Turkish expansionism.
Qatar’s hostile policy has not changed since the mid-1990s, despite Saudi leniency and concessions. In the 1990s and into the 2000s, it incited Al-Qaeda groups to carry out attacks inside the Kingdom. In 2008, it joined forces with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to support Yemeni groups seeking to carry out similar strikes. Afterward, recordings of Qatari officials talking to Qaddafi about plots to dismember the Saudi state appeared. Indeed, evidence that this conspiracy was taking place at a time when relations between Riyadh and Doha were still reasonable was never denied.
However, conflicts between states have limits, and states that breach these limits can be tolerated no more. Doha now supports the Houthis in Yemen who are attacking Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah. It is also conspiring in the West against Saudi Arabia and incites violence against the Kingdom’s leadership. This is the reason for the dispute and break-up with Doha.
Far from succeeding in its efforts to create discord, Qatar is the reason for the exceptional cooperation among Abu Dhabi, Manama, Cairo and Riyadh — a success story that has widened into other areas of the relationship.
Qatar’s efforts, which are bound to fail, have now been exposed in the court of public opinion.
*Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a veteran columnist. He is the former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat. Twitter: @aalrashed