LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 12/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in which you shine like stars in the world
Letter to the Philippians 02/12-18/:”Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.””

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 11-12/2019
France, U.N. Host International Meeting on Aid for Lebanon
Pompeo Says U.S. Ready to Help Lebanon as Le Drian Urges Rapid Govt. Formation
U.S. Official Says 'No Aid Package' to Save Lebanon from Its 'Financial Mess'
Le Drian: International help for Lebanon is conditional to the formation of a reformist government
Paris conference a sign of international concern for Lebanon: Berri
Paris Meeting Urges 'Credible Reforms, Reformist Govt.' in Lebanon
Final statement by International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG)
Hariri Urges 'Harmonious, Credible' Technocrat Government
Hariri Discusses Lebanon Economic Difficulties with British Minister
Lebanon faces ‘chaotic unwinding’ of economy without reforms: ISG
Lebanon Rejects Iranian Threat to Attack Israel from its Territories
Lebanese Labor Minister Receives Requests from 70 Companies to Dismiss 1,500 Employees
Lebanon’s 2019 deficit much bigger than expected: Finance Minister
Lebanon budget deficit 'much bigger' than expected, says minister
Association of Lebanese Industrialists Sounds Alarm over Economic Crisis
Judge Aoun Orders Arrest of Head of Traffic Management Authority
Nasrallah to deliver televised speech Friday
Berri meets UK's Defense senior adviser, Wednesday Gathering MPs, El Hassan
Hobeish follows up on Salloum's file with Oueidat, Bar Association
Hariri thanks participants in ISG meeting: Solution is technocratic government and rescue plan implemented with the support of our friends
Hariri receives Lorimer, Egyptian Ambassador
Convoys roam Tripoli streets
British Envoy in Beirut Affirms Continued Support for Army
Report: Signs of Breakthrough as Banks Mull Easing Restrictions
Diplomats to Lebanon: Expect no aid before government formed
Diplomats in Paris discuss aid for battered Lebanese economy

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 11-11/2019
Iranian Weapons Storage Tunnel Detected on Syria-Iraq Border, Satellite Images Show
Iran is building tunnels in Syria near Iraq border for military use: Source
US Official Warns of Iran-Backed Attacks in Iraq Leading to Uncontrollable Escalation
From Baghdad to Basra, the Faces of Iraq's 'October Revolution'
Targeted killings continue against Iraq protesters: UN report
Iran Warns Citizens against Travel to US
New election in Israel after parliament votes to dissolve itself
US slaps sanctions on Iranian airline over proliferation
Iran dismisses Macron’s call for release of two jailed French nationals
Macron calls for immediate release of French nationals held in Iran
Swiss humanitarian channel to Iran seen within months: Swiss, US officials
Russia, Turkey Express Concern about Militants in Syria's Idlib
US Senate committee approves Turkey sanctions bill
Turkey threatens to deny US access to military bases if sanctions imposed
Turkey Says to Retaliate if US Imposes Sanctions over S-400
Syrian President: Russian Deployment Balanced US, Turkish Role
Anniversary of Victory over ISIS Unites Iraq Politicians, Protesters
Egypt’s al-Sisi calls for ‘bold’ response to countries supporting terrorism
UN Says Cannot Confirm Iran behind Saudi Oil Attack
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time' 2019 person of the year

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 11-12/2019
Support group for Lebanon urges reforms/Christina Farhat/Annahar/December 11/2019
Director of Traffic Management Body detained, causes uproar/Chiri Choukeir/Annahar/December 12/2019
Lebanon's banking sector under immense pressure, warns Pompeo/Christina Farhat/Annahar/December 11/2019
As diplomats gather behind closed doors, protesters take to streets demanding an overhaul of Lebanon’s political system./Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/December 11/2019
*Iranian Weapons Storage Tunnel Detected on Syria-Iraq Border, Satellite Images Show/Yaniv Kubovich/Haaretz/December 11/2019
Michael Pregent: Iraq Protestors "Willing to Die for Change," Deserve Full-Throttled U.S. Support/Marilyn Stern/Middle East Forum Radio/December 11/2019
Spain's 'Migrant Friendly' Border Fences/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 11/2019
Turkey: Murder of Women Reaches Epidemic Proportions/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/December 11/2019
Jihad and Criminality: Inseparable Bedfellows/Raymond Ibrahim/December 11/2019
Trump Is the Least of NATO's Problems/Bobby Ghosh/Bloomberg/December 11/2019
Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Huge Discrepancy/Moammar Al-Eryani/Asharq Al Awsat/December 11/2019
No More Swords in the West, Only Scimitars/Raymond Ibrahim/AMERICAN THINKER/December 11/2019
Time to hit Iraqi elite where it hurts/Sir John Jenkins/Arab News/December 11/2019
Europe oblivious to concerns of growing Iranian threat/Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/December 11/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 11-12/2019
France, U.N. Host International Meeting on Aid for Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Associated Press//Naharnet/December 11/2019
Diplomats were meeting behind closed doors in Paris on Wednesday to consider measures to help Lebanon as it grapples with ongoing political turmoil and its worst economic crisis in decades.
The International Support Group, co-chaired by France and the United Nations, is weighing conditions for providing financial aid to Lebanon. Lebanese businesses and households are growing increasingly desperate as cash supplies there have dwindled. For two months, protests have decried government mismanagement and the current political system. But even as the financial crisis deepens, protesters have denounced the Paris meeting and promised to condemn any international financial assistance to a government they see as corrupt and illegitimate. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned Oct. 29, but he has stayed on as caretaker prime minister since politicians have been unable to form a new government. Protesters want to see a non-sectarian, technocratic government -- and they want all traces of the old regime, including Hariri, out of office. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a press conference ahead of the Paris meeting that Lebanese authorities must "take into account the call of the street." He urged Lebanese authorities to "form a government rapidly because any delay will aggravate the situation." Meanwhile, dozens of protesters in Beirut and Paris rallied Wednesday to call on the leaders meeting in France not to give financial assistance until a new government comes together. "This authority ... no longer represents the Lebanese," said a protester in Beirut reading a letter to be delivered to the French ambassador. Calling the current government corrupt, the protester said: "We don't want (that aid) to go to waste." Hariri has called on Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, the United States, China, and Egypt to send funds to help Lebanon finance imports. But international donors are unlikely to write a check without substantial commitments to reform. More than 50 countries pledged last year to give Lebanon $11 million in aid, conditioned on Hariri implementing long-stalled reforms. Promised reforms never materialized.
The U.N.-created International Support Group for Lebanon has stressed the need for a stable government that listens to public opinion expressed in the ongoing popular uprising, organizers said.
The French foreign ministry said the meeting "should allow the international community to call for the rapid formation of a credible and efficient government to take the decisions necessary to restore the economic situation."
And it urged the authorities to "respond to the aspirations expressed by the Lebanese" people. The aim of the gathering is to identify the conditions and reforms required from the government "so that the international community can accompany Lebanon" on its recovery, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It vowed France's continued support for the country in the current "difficult context," and said stability in Lebanon was essential for the region. The ISG was created in 2013 by then U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help Lebanon deal with the fallout of the war in neighboring Syria. It gathers agencies of the U.N., the European Union, Arab League, United States, China, France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Britain. An organization calling itself the Union of Secular Lebanese in France vowed to protest at the foreign ministry against any meeting with Lebanon's "current corrupt government," which it described as illegitimate. Lebanon has been gripped by unprecedented cross-sectarian protests since October denouncing perceived government mismanagement and corruption. "We ask all those responsible for this meeting to respect the demands of the Lebanese people," the organizers of Wednesday's picket said by email. "Any financial assistance provided under this framework will only support the corrupt... system that is unable to manage the crisis." The U.S. State Department said Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker would attend the ISG meeting "to facilitate the formation of a government capable of implementing economic reforms and ending endemic corruption."

Pompeo Says U.S. Ready to Help Lebanon as Le Drian Urges Rapid Govt. Formation
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 11/2019
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Wednesday that "the responsibility lies with the Lebanese people" to push for a new political order. He said the U.S. is ready to "do the things that the world can do to assist the Lebanese people getting their economy right and getting their government right."The U.S. has escalated its sanctions on Iran-backed Hizbullah, which dominates the national unity government that Saad Hariri headed. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian meanwhile said at a press conference ahead of a Paris meeting for supporting Lebanon that Lebanese authorities must "take into account the call of the street." He urged Lebanese authorities to "form a government rapidly because any delay will aggravate the situation."

U.S. Official Says 'No Aid Package' to Save Lebanon from Its 'Financial Mess'
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 11/2019
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said Wednesday that attendees at a Paris meeting on supporting Lebanon had agreed to give technical advice to Lebanese institutions but they won't provide the bailout that caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri had requested. Hariri had called on Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, the United States, China, and Egypt to send funds to help Lebanon finance imports. "There's no aid package, there is no bailout," Schenker told The Associated Press. "Lebanon is not being saved from its financial mess."Schenker said the group is considering sending some humanitarian aid to Lebanon to alleviate residents' suffering, though it was unclear when or how much. Schenker also insisted the U.S. is not laying out conditions for which groups can be included in the new government. "We have stuck until now with focusing on a set of principles, which is not who is the prime minister, not who is the minister of finance, not what party they're from, not what religion they're from -- but whether they are capable of reform," he told AP.

Le Drian: International help for Lebanon is conditional to the formation of a reformist government
NNA/December 11/2019
French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, announced in the wake of the Paris meeting for the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) that the international community's financial help for Lebanon is conditional to the formation of a "reformist government." Speaking at the end of the meeting, Minister Le Drian said that the only criterion should be the effectiveness of this government in terms of the reforms that the people are waiting for. "Only this approach will allow all participants in this meeting and others to mobilize to give Lebanon all the support it needs," Le Drian said.

Paris conference a sign of international concern for Lebanon: Berri
Reuters, Beirut/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
A Paris conference to mobilize support for Lebanon showed that the international community is more concerned about the country than some Lebanese, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday. "This conference ... is a strong indication that the international community is more interested in Lebanon, its stability and security than some Lebanese," Berri told lawmakers in his parliamentary bloc, Ali Bazzi, one of the MPs said. Berri also said he would call a parliamentary session very soon to debate and approve the 2020 budget.

Paris Meeting Urges 'Credible Reforms, Reformist Govt.' in Lebanon
Naharnet/December 11/2019
A Lebanon support meeting held Wednesday in Paris has urged the crisis-hit country to endorse a “bundle of sustainable, comprehensive and credible economic reforms.”In a draft closing statement, the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) also called on Lebanese authorities to “approve a credible state budget for 2020 within weeks from the formation of the new government.”Speaking after the meeting, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said any international financial support for Lebanon hinges on the formation of what he called a “reformist government.”“The only standard should be this government’s effectiveness in terms of the reforms awaited by the people. Only this approach will allow all the participants in this meeting and others to mobilize in order to offer Lebanon all the support it needs,” Le Drian said. Speaking earlier in the day prior to the meeting, the minister said that Lebanese authorities must "take into account the call of the street."He urged Lebanese authorities to "form a government rapidly because any delay will aggravate the situation."
The secretary general of the Lebanese Foreign Ministry Hani Chemaitelly, who represented Lebanon at the meeting along with other mid-level officials, meanwhile told LBCI television that the atmosphere at the meeting was positive and that the ISG “sent a clear message on being committed to helping and embracing Lebanon.” The TV network for its part reported that Chemaitelly held bilateral talks in Paris with Le Drian, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, director of the Middle East and North Africa department at the French foreign ministry, Christophe Farnaud, and his counterpart at the French foreign ministry. The ISG was created in 2013 by then U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help Lebanon deal with the fallout of the war in neighboring Syria. It gathers agencies of the U.N., the European Union, Arab League, United States, China, France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Britain. Lebanon has been gripped by unprecedented cross-sectarian protests since October denouncing perceived government mismanagement and corruption. Lebanon is also grappling with a free-falling economy, and an escalating liquidity crisis. The dollar exchange rate in the parallel market has shot up from the pegged rate of 1,507 pounds to the greenback to around 2,250. Banks have meanwhile imposed restrictions on withdrawals and transfers. Prime Minister Saad Hariri stepped down two weeks into the revolt, but a deeply divided political class has failed to reach agreement on a new head of government. Hariri remains caretaker premier.

Final statement by International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG)
NNA/December 11/2019
A meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon (156), jointly chaired by France and the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, was held in Paris on December 11th.
China, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Kuwait, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the League of Arab States, the World
Bank and the International Finance Corporation took part in the meeting. Representatives of the Lebanese authorities also attended the discussions.
Lebanon has been left without a government for more than six weeks since Saad Harini resigned on October 29. The Group considers that preserving Lebanon's stability, unity, security, sovereignty,
political independence and territorial integrity requires the urgent formation of an effective and
credible government capable to meet the aspirations expressed by all the Lebanese that will have the capacity and credibility to deliver the necessary substantive policy package of economic reforms, and that will be committed to dissociate the country from regional tensions and crisis. It is urgent for the new government to be in place as quickly as possible.
The Group noted that Lebanon faces a deep economic and social crisis which has placed the country at risk of a chaotic unwinding of its economy and of increased instability. In order to halt the sharp deterioration in the economy and financial sector, to restore confidence in the economy and to address, in a sustainable manner, the social and economic challenges, there is an urgent need for the adoption of a substantial, credible and comprehensive policy package of economic reforms to restore fiscal balance and financial stability and address long-lasting structural deficiencies in the Lebanese economy.
A sustainable financing model is needed to reduce the economy's vulnerability and reliance on external funding. These measures are of utmost importance to bring answers to the aspirations expressed by the Lebanese people.
The context requires, as part of a stabilization strategy, that Lebanese authorities fully commit themselves to timely and decisive measures and reforms. The Group therefore calls upon Lebanon to immediately adopt a reliable 2020 budget as a first step towards a multi-year fiscal program, including permanent revenue and expenditure measures, aiming at sustainable improvement of the primary balance, while strengthening social safety nets to protect the poorest and most vulnerable, and a debt management strategy. It also urges the Lebanese authorities to take decisive action to restore the
stability and sustainability of the funding model of the financial sector, to tackle corruption and tax
evasion (including adoption of an anti-corruption national strategy, the anti-corruption agency law and judicial reform and other measures to instill transparency and accountability) to reform state-owned
enterprises and implement the electricity reform plan including governance-enhancing mechanism (through an independent regulatory body), and to markedly improve economie goverance and the business environment, through the passing of and effectively implementing procurement laws. On the longer run, within the first six months after the formation of the government, ambitious structural measures to ensure a sustainable economic model should be put in place. The Group reaffirms that the conclusions of the CEDRE Conference, agreed upon by the Lebanese authorities on April 6, 2018, are still valid.
In this regard, the Lebanese authority should accelerate implementation of existing projects and commit to prioritize the different projects of the Capital Investment Plan in line with people's needs and expectations and set up an interministerial committee to oversee their timely implementation. The Group considers that the support from international financial institutions
is pivotal to help the authorities sustain their efforts to implement the necessary economic reforms over time.
The Group reaffirms its willingness to support a Lebanon committed to reforms in the implementation of such a comprehensive set of actions, including through technical assistance to a new government, and to ensure Lebanon's access to basic goods and trade facilities, as already provided for by trade facilitation programs, to preserve the livelihood of the population and economic resilience. It encourages the Lebanese authorities to identify reasonable and sustainable ways to face the current crisis, notably through support from their development partners, including international financial institutions.
The Group commends the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces for their actions in securing the peaceful character of the protests and the rights of citizens more broadly. The Group reiterates that the right to peaceful protest must be respected and call on all sides to act responsibly.
The Lebanese delegation has been informed of the conclusions of the meeting. It indicated Lebanon's commitment to work to implement this roadmap with the international community on their side. Against this backdrop, the Group reaffirmed its readiness to accompany Lebanon in swiftly defining precise measures to be taken and modalities of support. Inclusive dialogue with civil society and the private sector must be part of this process. The Group welcomes the prospect of future meetings with different configurations and levels as needed.

Hariri Urges 'Harmonious, Credible' Technocrat Government
Naharnet/December 11/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday thanked France and the U.N. for the Lebanon support meeting that was held in Paris and called for expediting the formation of a “credible and harmonious” technocrat cabinet.
“I thank France and the United Nations for inviting the International Support Group for Lebanon to today’s meeting in Paris, and I also thank all of Lebanon’s friends, brothers and the representatives of the international institutions who took part in the meeting and expressed their keenness on helping Lebanon overcome the dire economic crisis it is facing,” Hariri said in a statement released by his office. Adding that he took note of the closing statement that was issued by the ISG, the caretaker PM said “expediting the formation of a harmonious and credible technocrat government” is necessary to overcome the crisis. He also called for “devising a salvation plan for the economic, social, monetary, financial and productive sectors” and implementing it “with the full support of Lebanon’s brothers and friends in the international community, the international financial institutions and the Arab funds.”

Hariri Discusses Lebanon Economic Difficulties with British Minister
Naharnet/December 11/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday called the British Secretary of State for Middle East and North Africa, Andrew Morrison, Hariri’s office said. He discussed with him “the economic difficulties that Lebanon is facing and the efforts to tackle the crisis,” the office said in a statement. Hariri also thanked Morrison for Britain's support for Lebanon.

Lebanon faces ‘chaotic unwinding’ of economy without reforms: ISG
Agencies/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Lebanon faces a chaotic unwinding of its economy and increased instability if it does not enact swift reforms that give international financial institutions the confidence to offer support, the UN-created International Support Group (ISG) for the country said. Grappling with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, Lebanon has been politically paralyzed since Saad Hariri quit as prime minister after mass protests against the ruling elite. The pound currency has slumped and banks have enforced capital controls. “In order to halt the sharp deterioration in the economy ... there is an urgent need for the adoption of a substantial, credible and comprehensive policy package of economic reforms to restore fiscal balance and financial stability,” the ISG said in a final communique after a meeting in Paris on Wednesday. The group urged the Lebanese authorities to adopt a “reliable 2020 budget” in the first weeks after the formation of a new government and fight more rigorously against corruption. Lebanon won pledges of over $11 billion at a conference last year, conditional on reforms that it has failed to implement. The economic crisis is rooted in years of corruption and waste that have generated one of the world’s heaviest public debt burdens. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said a credible government was needed to push through the reforms needed to open the way for international financial support. “The ISG members consider that the support from international financial institutions is pivotal to help the authorities sustain their efforts to implement the necessary economic reforms over time,” the statement added. A diplomatic source said the support group was intent on holding back all financial help until a credible government was in place, adding there would be “no blank check or bailout.”Lebanese anti-government protesters held a rally earlier on Wednesday outside the French embassy in the capital Beirut to protest against the ISG meeting in Paris. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that Paris conference to mobilize support for Lebanon showed that the international community is more concerned about the country than some Lebanese. Caretaker finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Wednesday that Lebanon’s 2019 budget deficit will be much bigger than expected owing to a “very concerning” decrease in state revenues. with Agencies

Lebanon Rejects Iranian Threat to Attack Israel from its Territories
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
Iran’s threat to attack Israel from Lebanese territories sparked outrage in Beirut that condemned Tehran for transforming the country into a “mailbox for the Iran Revolutionary Guards.”Caretaker Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab deemed the threat a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty. Senior Guards commander Morteza Qorbani told Mizan News: “If the Zionist regime makes the smallest mistake toward Iran, we will reduce Tel Aviv to ashes from Lebanon.” He added that Iran would not need to fire a single missile from its territories. Elias Bou Saab slammed the remarks, tweeting: “These statements are unfortunate and unacceptable. They are a violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, which enjoys ties of friendship with Iran that should not infringe on its independent decision-making in any way, shape or form.”Caretaker Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said Qorbani’s remarks are “irresponsible” and “arrogant.”
They are a violation against Lebanon's sovereignty, people and state, he said in a tweet. “Iran may defend itself in any way it likes, but Lebanon is not the Guards’ mailbox or an arena for foreign actors,” he stressed. MP Nadim Gemayel called on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri to issue a clear response to Qorbani’s statements.

Lebanese Labor Minister Receives Requests from 70 Companies to Dismiss 1,500 Employees
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
Lebanese caretaker Labor Minister Kamil Bou Sleiman revealed on Tuesday that during the past 10 days, he has received requests from over 70 companies for the dismissal of more than 1,500 employees as the country endures its worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. “We have been negotiating with them to reach positive results,” the minister said. The eruption of anti-government protests on October 17 have only compounded Lebanon’s economic woes. Hundreds of employees across the country have submitted complaints against employers due to their arbitrary sacking from their jobs or due to their salaries being halved. Bou Sleiman revealed that he had contacted caretaker Justice Minister Albert Serhan to activate labor courts of arbitration in wake of the dire economic situation in the country that has negatively impacted the labor market and the majority of companies. He suggested that the courts hold daily hearings to address cases, he added. Verdicts must be issued after no more than three months.Also on Tuesday, Bou Sleiman visited the General Labor Confederation's headquarters where he called on companies “against rushing to lay off employees at the first setback.”He also demanded that the state pay a portion of its social security dues before the end of the year. The minister also uncovered that his ministry is trying to work on a draft law to regulate the exceptional situation Lebanon is going through and protect employees.

Lebanon’s 2019 deficit much bigger than expected: Finance Minister
Reuters, Beirut/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Lebanon’s 2019 budget deficit will be much bigger than expected owing to a “very concerning” decrease in state revenues, caretaker finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Wednesday, as the country struggles with a deep financial crisis.Khalil said Lebanon, which has been swept by protests since Oct. 17, is facing serious difficulties financing the state, in remarks to reporters aired on broadcaster LBCI.

Lebanon budget deficit 'much bigger' than expected, says minister
Al Jazeera/December 11/2019
Caretaker finance minister says 'we are faced with real difficulties in financing the state as a whole'.
"Our revenues for the last three months of the year have decreased in a very big way as a result of the situation we are living with ... we have numbers that are honestly very worrying," he said. In comments to broadcaster MTV, caretaker Economy Minister Mansour Bteish said Lebanon was losing about $70m to $80m a day, about half its usual income, because of the political paralysis. Bteish said the situation had worsened and required quick solutions, but assured jittery depositors they should not fear for their savings. Lebanon approved a 2019 budget last May that projected a deficit of 7.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). GDP measures the market value of all finished goods and services in an economy, and when the budget was approved in May, the assumption was that Lebanon's economy would grow 1.2 percent. But the economic crisis has deepened severely since then. A shortage of foreign exchange has already led some banks to enforce capital controls though those have not been formalised by the authorities. Banks have all but blocked transfers abroad and capped withdrawals at a few hundred dollars per week. The Lebanese pound meanwhile has lost approximately one-third of its value against the US dollar on a parallel market, the only source of dollars for most importers. The restrictions have led some importers to slash their orders as they have been unable to source dollars at the official rate or make transfers abroad. Scores of companies have laid off workers or slashed their wages. Khalil said public salaries were a priority and would be paid this month and in coming months, but that "doesn't deny that we are faced with real difficulties in financing the state as a whole". It has been six weeks since Saad Hariri resigned as prime minister amid protests against the ruling elite, and Lebanon needs to form a new government to enact urgent reforms it hopes will net support from foreign donors. France hosted a meeting on Wednesday of the International Lebanon Support Group, which includes Gulf Arab donors such as Saudi Arabia, major European powers and the United States, though the meeting is not expected to result in new pledges of aid. Lebanon's public debt burden, equivalent to about 150 percent of GDP, is one of the heaviest in the world. Last year's deficit was equal to about 11.5 percent of GDP, and economic growth rates have been weak for years.

Association of Lebanese Industrialists Sounds Alarm over Economic Crisis
Naharnet/December 11/2019
In light of an aggravating economic crisis, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists sounded the alarm on Wednesday over a shortage in raw materials, warning of escalating measures. Head of the Association, Fadi Gemayel said in a televised press conference: “The industry is facing a fateful challenge related to deprivation of raw materials. It is a matter of life and death. Depriving us of raw materials is a crime and we will not remain idle,” he warned. He said the Association will be compelled to escalate “it is the only way, and we have decided to implement a first step within 10 days at the latest. The necessary measures must be taken immediately to approve financial facilities and ensure liquidity.”Referring to the wave of employee dismissals, he said: “We have kept our employees during the most challenging times, and we will spare nothing to keep that principle.”Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic and financial crisis amid zero economic growth and massive debt. Local banks have imposed unprecedented capital controls and thousands of employees have been either laid off or had their salaries slashed. The crisis has worsened since Oct. 17, when nationwide protests against years of corruption and mismanagement erupted, leading to the resignation of PM Saad Hariri's government two weeks later. Protesters now want that entire political elite, that has ruled the country since the end of the 1975-90 civil war, out. Lebanon imports most of its basic needs, including wheat, petrol and medicine, leading to a huge trade deficit. Importers have been facing difficulties in getting U.S. dollars to cover imports as the local currency, which has been pegged to the dollar since 1997, lost 40% of its value on the black market.

Judge Aoun Orders Arrest of Head of Traffic Management Authority
Naharnet/December 11/2019
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Huda Salloum, the Director of the Traffic, Trucks and Vehicles Management Authority. The National News Agency said Aoun based her decision on the lawsuit filed by the lawyer Wadih Akl, which accuses Salloum of offenses related to bribery, forgery, the waste of public funds, illicit enrichment and mismanagement. The prosecutor referred the file to Beirut First Examining Magistrate Georges Rizk. Ex-interior minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq meanwhile defended Salloum in a tweet, describing her as “one of the most upright employees of the Lebanese state.”“The breach of legal norms in summoning a director general to interrogation without a written permission from the relevant minister is not a minor issue,” Mashnouq warned. “The justice minister must take the necessary measures in order to rectify the situation, or else there is neither a fair judiciary nor a capable state,” Mashnouq added. He also saluted MP Hadi Hbeish of the al-Mustaqbal Movement.

Nasrallah to deliver televised speech Friday
NNA//December 11/2019
Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is to deliver a televised speech upcoming Friday at 5.30 p.m. to dwell on the latest political developments.

Berri meets UK's Defense senior adviser, Wednesday Gathering MPs, El Hassan
NNA/December 11/2019
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, urged all to realize the seriousness of the current situation, stressing the need to remove all obstacles and reasons impeding government formation. Speaker Berri's fresh stance came during the weekly Wednesday Gathering meeting at his Ain Tineh residence.
Discussions touched on the decisions of the international conference in support of Lebanon held in Paris. Berri expressed concerns about the future of the country amid the continuation of the current crises that necessitate a swift solution to the government file, in terms of designation and formation.
The Speaker told his visiting MPs that "the Conference [Paris Conference] in itself was a strong signal that the international community cares about Lebanon, its stability and security more than some Lebanese." Berri also pointed out that a parliamentary session will be held in the near future, to discuss and approve the state budget upon its finalization by the relevant committee working on it. The Speaker also stressed the importance of providing health, social, livelihood and economic security for the Lebanese citizens. On the other hand, Berri received the senior adviser to the British Ministry of Defense for the Middle East, General John Lorimer, with whom he discussed the general situation and the bilateral relations between Lebanon and the UK.
On emerging, General Lorimer gave no statement to media. This afternoon, Berri met with Caretaker Interior and Municipalities Minister, Rayya El Hassan, with talks reportedly touching on the latest developments on the domestic scene, notably the security situation.

Hobeish follows up on Salloum's file with Oueidat, Bar Association
NNA/December 11/2019
MP Hadi Hobeish has arrived at the Baabda Justice Palace in the wake of Judge Ghada Aoun's decision to arrest the Director General of the TTraffic, Trucks and Vehicles Management Authority, Huda Salloum.
On emerging, MP Hobeish announced that he was heading to the Bar Association and later to State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat, to follow up on Salloum's file in light of the recent decision by Mount Lebanon Attorney General, Judge Ghada Aoun. Judge Aoun has referred Salloum's file to Beirut's acting First Investigative Judge George Rizk. On the other hand, the Supreme Judicial Council will hold an extraordinary meeting at 5.00 p.m. this afternoon, to discuss today's developments at the Baabda Justice Palace.

Hariri thanks participants in ISG meeting: Solution is technocratic government and rescue plan implemented with the support of our friends
NNA/December 11/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri thanked France and the United Nations for inviting the International Support Group for Lebanon ISG to meet in Paris today. He also thanked all of Lebanon's friends and brothers and the representatives of international institutions who participated in the meeting and expressed their keenness to help Lebanon get out of the severe economic crisis it faces.Hariri said that he took due note of the final statement issued by the group, adding that he believes that getting out of the crisis requires:
1- Accelerating the formation of a government of technocrats that constitutes a homogeneous and credible working group qualified to provide answers that meet the aspirations of the Lebanese after October 17.
2- Preparing a rescue plan at the economic, social, monetary, financial and production levels.
3- Implementing this plan with the full support of the brothers and friends of Lebanon in the international community, the international financial institutions and Arab funds.

Hariri receives Lorimer, Egyptian Ambassador
NNA/December 11/2019
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri received this evening at the Center House the UK Defense Senior Adviser to the Middle East and North Africa DSAME, Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, at the head of a delegation, and discussed with him the bilateral relations and the cooperation between the two countries. Hariri also met with the new Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon, Yasser Alawi, who said, after the meeting: "I was honored to meet with Prime Minister Hariri. This is my first meeting with him after presenting my credentials. We discussed the situation in the region in general and in Lebanon in particular, and the importance of going ahead immediately with the designation of the Prime Minister and the formation of the government, because wasting time is a choice that Lebanon can't bear."

Convoys roam Tripoli streets
NNA/December 11/2019
A convoy of vehicles set off from Tripoli's southern entrance, and roamed the various streets of the city, NNA correspondent reported on Wednesday.The convoy waving the Lebanese flags reached Abdel Hamid Karami Square [Al Nour Square].

British Envoy in Beirut Affirms Continued Support for Army
Naharnet/December 11/2019
A British envoy who arrived in Beirut late on Tuesday will meet senior Lebanese officials to “discuss the situation in Lebanon at various levels”, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, the UK’s Defence Senior Advisor to the Middle East, met today with President Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda. Lorimer affirmed to the President that Britain “will continue to support the Lebnese army with equipment and training,” the National News Agency quoted him as saying.
Lorimer is scheduled to later meet Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and a group of officials, said the daily. Well-informed sources told the daily that “Lorimer's visit is not different from the mission of the British and French envoys, who had visited Beirut in recent weeks in preparation for forming a comprehensive European position on what is happening in Lebanon at various levels.”Last month, director of the Middle East and North Africa department at the French foreign ministry, Christophe Farnaud; and Richard Moore, Director General for Political Affairs at the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, met in Lebanon with officials.

Report: Signs of Breakthrough as Banks Mull Easing Restrictions
Naharnet/December 11/2019
A breakthrough at the financial level will likely begin to unravel, amid reports that banks are mulling to facilitate “fresh money” transactions after tight measures to deter the sector from collapse, said al-Joumhouria daily on Wednesday. Banks will begin today by allowing depositors withdraw remittances from abroad in the same foreign currency that is transferred to them after they were delivered to the recipients in the Lebanese currency, or by bank checks, according to the daily. Shall banks start applying that, the move paves way to return some money back inside Lebanon, it added. In that context, Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Tuesday evening at the Center House with caretaker Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan and caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil. The meeting was held in the presence of Hariri’s economic advisor Nadim Munla.A statement issued by Hariri’s office said discussions focused on “the financial and economic situation and the 2020 draft state budget.” Depositors have rushed to withdraw their money after banks reopened following a two-week shut-down at the start of the October 17 protests. Lebanese officials estimate that as much as $4 billion have been withdrawn from banks over the past weeks as the local currency loses nearly 40% of its value. The money remains in the country but reflects the deepening confidence crisis banks are facing. Local banks imposed capital control measures unseen before in the country known for its free-market economy, such as limiting withdrawals and transfers of money abroad.

Diplomats to Lebanon: Expect no aid before government formed
Associated Press/December 11/2019
Representatives from several countries, including the United States, and international financial institutions agreed on a set of principles Lebanon must meet before it can expect to receive foreign cash.
PARIS: Lebanon cannot expect to receive international aid to its battered economy until a new government undertakes serious reforms, diplomats decided at a closed-door meeting in Paris on Wednesday. The international group, led by France and the United Nations, met to discuss conditions for helping ease turmoil in Lebanon, which is facing its worst financial crisis in decades and political uncertainty amid an ongoing protest movement. Lebanese businesses and households are growing increasingly desperate as cash supplies there have dwindled.
Representatives from several countries, including the United States, and international financial institutions agreed on a set of principles Lebanon must meet before it can expect to receive foreign cash.
U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said attendees agreed to give technical advice to Lebanese institutions but they won’t provide the bailout that caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri had requested. Hariri had called on Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, the United States, China, and Egypt to send funds to help Lebanon finance imports.
“There’s no aid package, there is no bailout,” Schenker told The Associated Press. “Lebanon is not being saved from its financial mess.”
Schenker said the group is considering sending some humanitarian aid to Lebanon to alleviate residents’ suffering, though it was unclear when or how much. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in closing remarks the group supports protesters who have taken to the streets since Oct. 17 to call for an end to corruption and the overhaul of the Lebanese political system. “The Lebanese have mobilized for many weeks to demand reforms. They must be heard,” he said. Le Drian called the “institutional void” that has existed since Hariri resigned as prime minister on Oct. 29 “worrying.”
Hariri stayed on as caretaker prime minister after politicians proved unable to form a new government. Protesters want to see a non-sectarian, technocratic government — and they want all traces of the old regime, including Hariri, out of office. As the Paris meeting got underway, dozens of protesters in Beirut and Paris rallied to call on assembled leaders not to give financial assistance until a new government comes together.
“This authority ... no longer represents the Lebanese,” said a protester in Beirut reading a letter to be delivered to the French ambassador. Calling the current government corrupt, the protester said: “We don’t want (the aid) to go to waste.”Draped in Lebanese flags, protesters outside of the Foreign Ministry in Paris shouted “Revolution!” and criticized French officials for including members of the old government in Wednesday’s discussions. Several Lebanese representatives, including officials from the foreign and finance ministries and the Central Bank, attended.
Le Drian said the international group supported the creation of a “competent government” but did not take a position on what form a new government should take, nor whether Hariri should have a part in it.
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that “the responsibility lies with the Lebanese people” to push for a new political order. He said the U.S. is ready to “do the things that the world can do to assist the Lebanese people getting their economy right and getting their government right.”
The U.S. has escalated its sanctions on the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group, which dominates the national unity government that Hariri headed.
Still, Schenker insisted the U.S. is not laying out conditions for which groups can be included in the new government.
“We have stuck until now with focusing on a set of principles, which is not who is the prime minister, not who is the minister of finance, not what party they’re from, not what religion they’re from — but whether they are capable of reform,” he told AP.
More than 50 countries pledged last year to give Lebanon $11 billion in aid, conditioned on Hariri implementing long-stalled reforms. Promised reforms never materialized. Hundreds of Lebanese business owners gathered Wednesday in central Beirut to protest the delay in forming a new government and threatening a collective tax strike. Organizers said most private businesses have already been unable to pay taxes and are still getting slapped with penalties. “What we are asking for is to cancel the penalties. We can’t afford paying,” said Samir Saliba, a business owner.
In recent weeks, hundreds of people have been laid off or are receiving reduced salaries, while many businesses had to shut down.

Diplomats in Paris discuss aid for battered Lebanese economy
Arab News/AP and Reuters/December 11/2019
Bteish said the situation is "worsening" and requires a quick solution
Lebanon has been swept by protests since Oct. 17
PARIS: Diplomats met behind closed doors in Paris on Wednesday to consider measures to help Lebanon as it grapples with ongoing political turmoil and its worst economic crisis in decades.
The international group, co-chaired by France and the United Nations, is weighing conditions for providing financial aid to Lebanon. Lebanese businesses and households are growing increasingly desperate as cash supplies there have dwindled.
For two months, protests have decried government mismanagement and the current political system. But even as the financial crisis deepens, protesters have denounced the Paris meeting and promised to condemn any international financial assistance to a government they see as corrupt and illegitimate.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned Oct. 29, but he has stayed on as caretaker prime minister since politicians have been unable to form a new government. Protesters want to see a non-sectarian, technocratic government — and they want all traces of the old regime, including Hariri, out of office.
France and the US have made clear they support a new government in Lebanon.
Caretaker economy minister Mansour Bteish told broadcaster MTV on Wednesday that Lebanon’s economy is losing at least $70 million-$80 million a day — about half its usual income — due to the crisis that has paralyzed the country.
Bteish said the situation is “worsening” and requires a quick solution. Lebanon has been swept by protests since Oct. 17 and is now facing the worst economic strains since its 1975-1990 civil war. The pound currency has slumped and banks have enforced capital controls.
Speaking in Washington on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that “the responsibility lies with the Lebanese people” to push for a new political order. He said the US is ready to “do the things that the world can do to assist the Lebanese people getting their economy right and getting their government right.”
The US has escalated its sanctions on the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group, which dominates the national unity government that Hariri headed.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said at a press conference ahead of the Paris meeting that Lebanese authorities must “take into account the call of the street.” He urged Lebanese authorities to “form a government rapidly because any delay will aggravate the situation.”
Meanwhile, dozens of protesters in Beirut and Paris rallied Wednesday to call on the leaders meeting in France not to give financial assistance until a new government comes together.
“This authority ... no longer represents the Lebanese,” said a protester in Beirut reading a letter to be delivered to the French ambassador. Calling the current government corrupt, the protester said: “We don’t want (that aid) to go to waste.”
Hariri has called on Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, the United States, China, and Egypt to send funds to help Lebanon finance imports.
But international donors are unlikely to write a check without substantial commitments to reform. More than 50 countries pledged last year to give Lebanon $11 million in aid, conditioned on Hariri implementing long-stalled reforms. Promised reforms never materialized.
Hundreds of Lebanese business owners gathered in central Beirut protesting the delay in forming a new government and threatening a collective tax strike. Organizers said most private businesses have already been unable to pay taxes and are still getting slapped with penalties.
“What we are asking for is to cancel the penalties. We can’t afford paying,” said Samir Saliba, a business owner.
Saliba said a new campaign is aimed at educating the private sector about their rights and advocate for a blanket tax strike. “People are fed up. We don’t have anything to lose anymore.”
In the last weeks, hundreds of people have been laid off or are receiving reduced salaries, while many businesses had to shut down.
Lebanon’s international support group said Wednesday the country faces a chaotic unwinding of its economy and increased instability if it does not enact swift reforms that give international financial institutions the confidence to offer support.
“In order to halt the sharp deterioration in the economy ... there is an urgent need for the adoption of a substantial, credible and comprehensive policy package of economic reforms to restore fiscal balance and financial stability,” the ISG said in a final communique after a meeting in Paris on Wednesday.
The group urged the Lebanese authorities to adopt a “reliable 2020 budget” in the first weeks after the formation of a new government and fight more rigorously against corruption. “The ISG members consider that the support from international financial institutions is pivotal to help the authorities sustain their efforts to implement the necessary economic reforms over time,” the statement added. (With AP and Reuters)

Support group for Lebanon urges reforms
Christina Farhat/Annahar/December 11/2019
The ISG has recognized the need for the adoption of a substantial, credible, and comprehensive policy package of economic reforms to address infrastructural deficiencies in the Lebanese economy.
BEIRUT: The International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) urged Lebanese officials to implement the necessary reforms and reiterated its willingness to assist in ensuring Lebanon’s access to basic goods, as the small Mediterranean country grapples with its biggest crisis since the civil war.
The meeting of the ISG for Lebanon, chaired jointly by the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon and France, is being held in Paris Wednesday, December 11th. Officials from Saudi Arabia, China, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the United Kingdom are attending the meeting.
According to a draft of the final statement that will be issued later Wednesday, the members of the International Support Group for Lebanon acknowledge that the current crisis puts the country at risk of increased instability and a chaotic unreeling of its economy.
The ISG urged Lebanon to adopt a substantial, credible, and comprehensive policy package of economic reforms to address infrastructural deficiencies in the Lebanese economy and reinstate financial stability, noting that these measures are necessary to answer the grievances expressed by the Lebanese people.
Frozen City Ice World Tour prepares to ignite Beirut’s Christmas spirit
“The members of the ISG acknowledge that Lebanon faces a crisis which puts the country at risk of a chaotic unwinding of its economy and of increased instability,” the ISG's draft statement reads.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister said Lebanon’s stability was “very, very important” to the kingdom.
Lebanon, a country that’s no stranger to political impasse, has been left in the hands of a caretaker government since the resignation of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Thus, maximum pressure has been placed on Lebanon’s different stakeholders to form a new government which would, in turn, pass the 2020 budget in a timely manner, slightly relieving pressure off of the financial sector.
“The ISG urge the Lebanese authorities to take decisive action to restore the stability of the financial sector, to tackle corruption (including adoption of the anti-corruption law and judicial reform), to implement the electricity reform plan including governance-enhancing mechanism (through an independent regulatory body), and to markedly improve governance and the business environment, through the passing of procurement laws," the draft statement reads.
The ISG also reasserted that what was agreed upon at the CEDRE conference still holds and that the Lebanese authorities should continue to commit to implementing different aspects of the agreed-upon capital investment plan in the goal of implementing long-lasting economic reform.
"The ISG members consider that the support from international financial institutions is pivotal to help the authorities sustain their efforts to implement the necessary economic reforms over time. The members of the ISG recall their willingness to support the implementation of such a set of actions, including through assistance to ensure Lebanon’s access to basic goods. They encourage the authorities to seek support from all their development partners, including international financial institutions."
The ISG also commended the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces for their work in protecting the rights of their citizens.
“The members of the ISG reiterate that the right to peaceful protest must be respected and call on all sides to act responsibly,” the draft ISG statement said.

Director of Traffic Management Body detained, causes uproar
Chiri Choukeir/Annahar/December 12/2019
After detaining several members of the traffic management body, Judge Aoun invited Salloum as a witness before detaining her as well on charges of bribery, corruption, fraud, and illicit enrichment.
BEIRUT: Mount Lebanon Prosecutor, Judge Ghana Aoun, ordered earlier today the detainment of Director General of the Traffic Management Body Hoda Salloum. After detaining several members of the traffic management body, Judge Aoun invited Salloum as a witness before detaining her as well on charges of bribery, corruption, fraud, and illicit enrichment. Critics say Aoun failed to follow the mandatory legal procedure by detaining Salloum without notifying the Ministry of Interior. Aoun argued that any suspect of illicit enrichment could be detained without notifying the Interior Ministry.
The case caused an uproar within the Future Movement, with MP Hadi Hobeich making his way to the Justice Palace in Baabda to confront Aoun, accusing her of acting as "militia instead of a Judge."The MP continued to question the credibility of Aoun, saying that he would not "leave Baabda before the case is handled by the General Prosecutor."The reaction of Hobeich was followed by a post on Twitter by MP Nohad Mashnouk, who expressed his outrage at the case. "Director Hoda Salloum is one of the most precise and decent employees in the Lebanese government," he said on Twitter.
Senior Investigative Judge in Beirut, George Rizk, meanwhile, demanded the case be referred to either the Cassation or Appellate Public Prosecution Department where the case would go through the mandatory legal procedure.The Supreme Council of the Judiciary criticized Hobeich's outburst, labeling his comments as an insult to the judiciary.

Lebanon's banking sector under immense pressure, warns Pompeo
Christina Farhat/Annahar/December 11/2019
Pompeo called attention to the financial repercussions of the unofficial capital controls implemented by the banking sector.
BEIRUT: US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, cautioned of the dangers of the increasing pressure on the banking sector while taking the opportunity to denounce the Iranian backed Hezbollah party. Pompeo reinforced the International Support Group (ISG) sentiment, with the ISG meeting being held today in Paris, that the security of Lebanon is in the best interest of the international community. “I know the meeting is taking place; we’re working on it. We know that the financial situation is very serious and that the Central Bank is under real pressure,” Pompeo said in his remarks.
Pompeo called attention to the financial repercussions of the unofficial capital controls implemented by the banking sector. However, he rested the burden of banking rights, and long-term governmental reform, on the shoulders of the Lebanese people.
“The Lebanese people don’t have access to their accounts in a way that is full, and sufficient, and adequate, but the responsibility lies with the Lebanese people. The responsibility on how the government will be formed, and shaped, falls to the Lebanese people to demand Lebanese sovereignty, Lebanese prosperity, and Lebanese freedom from outside influence,” Pompeo said.
The 70th United States Secretary of State also denounced Hezbollah, verbally positioning the group as a roadblock to freedom.
“We have a designated terrorist organization, Hezbollah, and I know that the people of Lebanon understand the risk that that presents to their freedom, and to their capacity to deliver for themselves,” Pompeo said. Speaking on behalf of the United States of America, Pompeo insisted that the State Department’s stance on Hezbollah is not an American proposal, but a proposal by the people of Lebanon. This statement was made weeks after the former Ambassador of the United States of America to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman, was blasted for unraveling US interests during his recent congressional testimony, stating that the protests “fortunately coincide with US interests” against Hezbollah. “This is not an American proposition, this is a proposition of the Lebanese people and we do stand ready to do the things that the world can do to assist the Lebanese people getting their economy righted and their government righted,” Pompeo said.
The tension between the US and Iran is felt in Beirut where the US has intensified its sanctions on Iran-backed Hezbollah. The US took extreme measures, such as sanctioning three top Hezbollah officials earlier this year, that was more geared towards sending a symbolic message than limiting Hezbollah’s influence in practice. With Hariri’s formally accepted explanation to the West on why Hezbollah is represented in government, the distinction between “military wing” Hezbollah, and “political command” Hezbollah, out the window, the question now shifts to what is in store for Hezbollah in the future.
If a Trump re-election is in the cards, US sanctions against Hezbollah are only expected to grow more unrelenting.“We have taken more actions recently against Hezbollah than in the history of our counterterrorism program,“ Sigal P. Mandelker, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the U.S. Treasury said at a conference in the United Arab Emirates in September of this year.

As diplomats gather behind closed doors, protesters take to streets demanding an overhaul of Lebanon’s political system.
Timour Azhari/Al Jazeera/December 11/2019
Beirut, Lebanon - As representatives from a host of nations called on Lebanon on Wednesday to form a new government and enact reforms to unlock billions of dollars in aid, protestors took to the streets of Paris and Beirut demanding an overhaul of Lebanon's political system to pull the country out of its worst economic crisis in a generation. Members of the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISGL) co-chaired by France and the United Nations, gathered behind closed doors in Paris on Wednesday to discuss how to help Lebanon avoid a financial collapse and set it on the path of recovery.
The group, which brought together representatives from Arab Gulf nations, the United States, China, Russia, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the European Union, warned in a post-meeting statement that Lebanon's stability and security depends on the rapid formation of a government with the "capacity and credibility to implement a package of economic reforms," and take "decisive measures."
Lebanon has been without a government for six weeks following the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri amid unprecedented nationwide protests demanding the overthrow of the country's ruling class. The international community had pledged some $11bn in grants and so-called "soft" loans with terms very favourable to Lebanon at a conference more than a year and a half ago. But Hariri's government failed to carry out the reforms that were a pre-condition for unlocking those funds. The group of nations said the aid pledges are still valid, but Lebanon must tackle corruption, create regulatory authorities and implement a plan to overhaul the crippled electricity sector that saps nearly a two billion dollars a year from the country's coffers. The ISGL statement also advised Lebanon to seek the help of international financial institutions. Caretaker Labour Minister Camille Abousleiman told Al Jazeera that was "code for heading to the International Monetary Fund to discuss a potential rescue package."Lebanon must also restore confidence in its monetary system, the ISGL said.
Lebanon relies heavily on remittances for foreign exchange. But transfers of money from abroad have dried up, leading to a shortage of dollars that in turn has hammered the Lebanese pound, which has lost roughly 30 percent of its value on the black market.Banks have effectively imposed capital controls limiting the amount of US dollars customers can withdraw or transfer out of the country. Citizens are struggling to pay their bills and business are laying off workers and cutting salaries. They have basically told us, 'we still have you in mind, but please for heaven's sake let us help you by you helping yourselves'
YASSINE JABER, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, LEBANON
Growing signs of collapse
MP Yassine Jaber, the head of the Lebanese parliament's foreign affairs committee said Wednesday's conference delivered a clear message. "They have basically told us, 'we still have you in mind, but please, for heaven's sake, let us help you by you helping yourselves,'" Jaber told Al Jazeera.
Jaber added that Lebanon is at a critical point where its politicians must regain the confidence of the people, bank depositors, investors and the international community, or the "uprising will become a revolution of the hungry and the unemployed, and they won't leave anything untouched."
Signs of such a scenario are surfacing. A standard bag of Arabic bread, which sells for 1,500 pounds - about $0.70 at black market rates- was reduced from one kilo to 900 grammes this week. The union of bakery owners said the move was necessary because the US dollar shortage has made it difficult to import wheat. Abousleiman noted more than 70 businesses had asked to lay off all their employees in the past 10 days alone. Owners of private sector companies and their employees Wednesday held a large gathering in downtown Beirut where they warned 200,000 jobs could be lost by the end of next year if the situation remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, caretaker Economy Minister Mansour Bteich said during an interview with broadcaster MTV on Wednesday that the wave of unrest has caused the government to lose between $70m - $80m a day in revenue- or roughly half of its pre-unrest take.
Lebanon is already heavily indebted with the third highest debt to GDP ratio in the world. While the 2019 budget had forecast a deficit of 7.6 percent of GDP, state revenues in the past three months have been 40 percent less than forecast, meaning the deficit will be "much larger than expected", caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said on Wednesday. Khalil said the government would pay state salaries this month as scheduled, "despite real difficulties in financing the state".Everyone always says that we need politicians like Hariri because of their international relations to get us money. But what use is it when they steal all of the money that they bring from outside?
SAMER, LEBANESE PROTESTER
'Stop funding our politicians'
As the ISGL conference was underway on Wednesday, small demonstrations were held both in Paris and Lebanon. Protesters called on the international community to hold Lebanese politicians accountable for losing hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade to what many feel was poor management and crony capitalism. In the years before the 2018 aid conference, three donor conferences were held in Paris during which hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and soft loans were pledged and eventually provided to Lebanon by nations and international organizations.
Protesters allege these funds were mismanaged or effectively stolen through shady deals.
"Our politicians are corrupt," read a sign held by a protester in Paris, near the site of the conference. In Beirut at the French Embassy, protesters said the international community was inadvertently propping up politicians that thousands of Lebanese have sought to remove during the nationwide uprising.
Despite resigning at the behest of protestors, Hariri appears poised to return to power, with many parties arguing he alone has the international standing to steer Lebanon through the crisis it faces. "Everyone always says that we need politicians like Hariri because of their international relations to get us money. But what use is it when they steal all of the money that they bring from outside?" Samer, who asked to be identified only by his first name, told Al Jazeera from outside the embassy.
"We tell the embassy and the entire international community very clearly: Stop funding our politicians."
The system is the problem
Rather than rely on the old model of international support for Lebanon, protesters called for the formation of a government of independent experts to shepherd the country through the economic and financial crisis, and hold early elections based on a new, non-sectarian law.
They blame the post-civil war system of power-sharing between sectarian leaders for rampant mismanagement and corruption in the country. Jaber, who caucuses in a bloc with one of those sectarian parties but is not a member of the party itself, said that it was true the system was flawed and that the constitution needed to be revisited. But for him addressing the immediate crisis takes precedent. "If a patient comes to the emergency room bleeding heavily and he also has a temperature, cholesterol and diabetes, you start with stabilizing the patient and stopping the blood flow so you can then treat the other issues," he said.
"Right now we're going downhill so fast, and there are no brakes."

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 11-12/2019
Iranian Weapons Storage Tunnel Detected on Syria-Iraq Border, Satellite Images Show
هآرتس: الأقمار الصناعية تكتشف انفاق هي مخازن أسلحة على الحدود السورية-العراقية
Yaniv Kubovich/Haaretz/December 11/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81377/%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1%d8%aa%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d9%82%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d9%83%d8%aa%d8%b4%d9%81-%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%81%d8%a7%d9%82-%d9%87%d9%8a/
Tunnel reportedly appears to be meant for storing advanced weapons and large vehicles to protect them from air attack.
Satellite imagery released on Tuesday show signs of a tunnel being dug at an Iranian base on the Syria-Iraq border, which an intelligence report compiled by ImageSat International said appears appropriate for storing advanced weapons systems and large vehicles to protect them from aerial attacks.
Construction of the Imam Ali base was first reported in September, and a week later it was attacked by drones. The site is near the Albukamal Al-Qaim border crossing.
Israel-based ImageSat International said work on the tunnel was accelerated a few weeks after the base was attacked the first time, on September 9. It estimated the tunnel to be four to five meters wide, with an unknown length. Because the ground in the area is flat and hard, it is unlikely the tunnel will be expanded greatly in the future, the report said.
It is possible that the excavation began as a result of lessons learned from previous attacks, it adds.
The fact that Iran is building a new base on the Syria-Iraq border was first reported in September by Fox News. The base is meant to house thousands of troops and precision munitions and missiles. The report, attributed to Western intelligence officials, says the base's construction was approved by Iranian leaders and the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is overseeing the construction.
A week after the report on the base being built, Syrian opposition forces reported that drones had attacked Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 18 people were killed in that attack which targeted a militia convoy.

Iran is building tunnels in Syria near Iraq border for military use: Source
Souad El Skaf, Al Arabiya/EnglishTuesday, 10 December 2019
Iran is excavating tunnels at its Imam Ali military base in Syria near the Iraqi border, according to new satellite images. The images released by ImageSat Intl. (ISI) estimated the tunnel’s width to be around four or five feet, which is suitable for holding trucks and large vehicles, possibly to store advanced weapon systems or sensitive elements, according to ISI. Iran is an ally of the regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and has offered military advisers, sent allied militias and material support to help the Syrian government forces in the eight-year civil war. Israel considers Iran a national security threat and says it will not tolerate Iran’s presence on its borders. It has recently acknowledged striking Iranian targets in Syria. On Sunday, airstrikes by unidentified warplanes have killed five pro-Iran fighters in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor near the Iraqi border, a Britain-based war monitor said.

US Official Warns of Iran-Backed Attacks in Iraq Leading to Uncontrollable Escalation
Baghdad- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
A senior US military official said on Wednesday attacks by Iranian-backed groups on bases hosting US forces in Iraq were gathering pace and becoming more sophisticated, pushing all sides closer to an uncontrollable escalation. His warning came two days after four Katyusha rockets struck a base near Baghdad international airport, wounding five members of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service. It was the latest in a spate of rocket strikes in the past five weeks on military installations hosting members of the US-led coalition whose objective is to defeat ISIS insurgents. The official said the attacks were jeopardizing the coalition's ability to combat ISIS militants. Tension between the United States and Iran has ramped up in the region over US economic sanctions that are hitting Tehran hard. The two sides have traded blame over attacks on oil installations, militia arms depots as well as military bases hosting US forces. "We're used to harassing fire," said the military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But the pace of (that) was (previously) pretty episodic ... (Now) the level of complexity is increasing, the volume of rockets being shot in a single volley is increasing and is very concerning to us."The official added: "There is a point at which their actions change things on the ground and make it more likely that some other actions, some other choices made - by somebody, whether it's them or us - will escalate unintentionally." The military official said Iranian-armed militias were approaching a red line where the coalition would respond with force, and "no one will like the outcome".
There have been no claims of responsibility for any of the attacks. However, the US military official said intelligence and forensic analyses of the rockets and launchers pointed to Iranian-backed militia groups, notably Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH). Iraqi paramilitary groups have in turn accused the United States and Israel of bombing their weapons depots and bases. Most of Iraq's Shiite militia groups are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella that has allies in parliament and government. They report to the prime minister but have their own command structure outside the military.
The military official said Iraq's Shiite-led government had not taken action over the incidents. "It's very concerning to me...That it's acceptable that we're getting attacked by elements that are supposedly being brought in under the heel of the Iraqi government as part of its security forces."
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned last month under pressure from mass anti-government protests. He is currently carrying out his duties in a caretaker capacity. Militia groups used a converted flatbed truck to launch a barrage of 17 rockets on the Qayyara military base south of Mosul on Nov. 8, the US military official said. He said the incident caused no major damage or loss of life, but the technique was replicated in attacks on both Balad and Ain Al-Asad air bases last week, using rockets large enough to cause significant damage to living compounds and runways at Ain Al-Asad. Friday's attack near Baghdad airport was with significantly larger 240-millimeter rockets not known to have been used in Iraq since 2011.

From Baghdad to Basra, the Faces of Iraq's 'October Revolution'
Baghdad- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
They hail from Basra's poorest slums and Baghdad's best universities and count among their ranks artists, tribal dignitaries, and desperate young men. Iraq's "October Revolution" reflects a diverse society. But the people hitting Iraq's streets since October 1 have one thing in common: they are frustrated and sad but immeasurably determined to see their oil-rich homeland shed government graft and sectarian politics. In a flowing black veil, with the Iraqi flag draped over her shoulders, Um Qassem emanates steely courage as chaos rages around the 53-year-old woman: military-grade tear gas canisters and smoke bombs tear by, leaving trails of grey, orange and purple smoke in the air. Fired by security forces near Baghdad's main protest camp of Tahrir Square, such canisters have proved lethal, cracking protesters' skulls, necks, and rib cages."I've got a revolutionary soul," says the 53-year-old after spending almost two consecutive months on Tahrir, in the eye of the storm. She says she has joined every demonstration in Iraq since ex-dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in the US-led invasion of 2003, his regime replaced by a ruling system now slammed by protesters as inefficient and corrupt. "The politicians have villas and we've got nothing at all," says Um Qassem, who can neither read nor write.
'Armoured Division'
To fight back, protesters have formed "special units," or teams of men in bicycle helmets and thick gloves who pour water onto the incoming canisters or kick them back at police. One 21-year-old man has scraped together what he can for the dangerous job: a blue construction helmet, a first aid kit strapped to his forearm and a grubby white welding glove to toss the grenades back. Another wore an oxygen mask and carried a makeshift shield made of part of an aluminum barrel, with an Iraqi flag emblazoned on it. A third man looked ready for war, sporting face-paint like DC Comics character the Joker, a flak jacket and a metal grate spray-painted with the words: "Tahrir Armoured Division."They are beloved by the protesters for putting their lives on the line to keep canisters away from the crowds trying to get on with their revolution.
Women on the front
But in case a projectile makes it past that first line of defense and wounds an activist, the volunteer medics come in. Dotted around Tahrir Square are field clinics where young medical students or protesters with rudimentary first aid knowledge treat those suffocating from tear gas, hit by a rubber bullet or wounded by live fire. Fatma, 23, wears diving goggles and a medical mask to protect herself from clouds of tear gas as she squirts bottles of serum on protesters affected by the smoke. "It's the first time I'm protesting," says Sahar, 22, an engineering student, only her eyes visible behind a mustard scarf wrapped around her face. "I'm not afraid," says the young Baghdad native, packing some medical equipment and bravely trekking to the frontline, where teenagers are facing off against security forces.
Martyrs, memorialized
Red eyes, bloody wounds and streaks of soot from burning car tires: actor Muntazar Ali recreates them all for an emotional street theatre production in his protest-hit hometown of Basra. He played a demonstrator shot dead in a salvo of bullets and tear gas just a few hundred meters from where real violence was playing out. The painfully realistic play brought the mostly-male audience to shoulder-shaking sobs, many of them having lost a friend or relative in weeks of bloodshed. More than 450 people have died and nearly 20,000 have been wounded, a mounting death toll that pushed Ali Hussani, a 34-year-old tribal member, to hit the streets. "I'm here so the police officers and soldiers who killed protesters will be judged," he says, a traditional checkered scarf carefully wrapped around his head.
Only the beginning
In Tahrir, there are clans and clerics, like 41-year-old Nasser al-Waili. There are Instagram stars and university professors including Adel Naji, 56. But the protests' engine is the students less than half their age: schoolchildren defying their parents to skip class or activists bringing food to the square despite threats of kidnapping. They are Zein Rafid and Hassan al-Tamimi, Banin Diaa and 24-year-old Taha Mushtaq. "We want change," says Mushtaq frankly, his large eyes framed by imposing eyeglasses. They are proud of turning protest spots into melting pots, where they can speak freely and build the society they have always dreamed of in Iraq. "We want to make everything more beautiful," says one 20-year-old building painter, retouching chipped sidewalk paint near Tahrir. The participation of youth, 60 percent of Iraq's 40 million people, has moved their elders. "Those of us with white hair should also be here to support the youth," said Hassan Abu Alaa, 65, fondly known as the "sheikh of the protesters." In Basra, 22-year-old Minatallah Mohammad paints a mural of deep blue seas and star-studded skies as part of anti-government protests -- a hopeful horizon for the many thousands of young people putting their aspirations into this "October Revolution."Asked what he wanted out of the uprising, a demonstrator wearing a "Guy Fawkes" mask, a symbol used by anti-establishment protesters everywhere, barely paused to think. "A future."

Targeted killings continue against Iraq protesters: UN report
The Associated Press, Baghdad/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Deliberate killings, abduction and arbitrary detention are among abuses that continue against Iraqi anti-government demonstrators by unknown groups, according to a UN report released Wednesday. The report comes amid a string of targeted assassinations and arrests of civil activists and journalists that have fostered fear among protesters. Meanwhile, violence resumed in central Baghdad as 31 protesters were wounded when security forces fired tear gas to disperse them from Wathba square, a central plaza in the capital, security and health officials said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The report from the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq called on the government to identify unknown groups targeting protesters and hold them accountable, in a report released on Wednesday based on 183 interviews conducted between Nov. 5 and Dec. 5. “UNAMI continues to receive credible allegations of deliberate killings, abduction and arbitrary detention carried out by unknown armed men described as ‘militia,’ ‘unknown third parties,’ ‘armed entities,’ ‘outlaws’ and ‘spoilers,’” the report said.
“The government must identify those groups responsible without delay and hold perpetrators accountable,” the report went on. “Bearing the primary responsibility for the protection of its people, the state must spare no effort to protect the peaceful protesters from violence by armed actors operating outside state control as well as those with formal and informal reporting lines within the state.”The UN also said “credible information” indicated that high profile activists and journalists were being targeted for arrest by both Iraqi security forces and “groups described as ‘militia.’” At least five high-profile activists have recently gone missing, the report said. “Outside Tahrir (Square), we are not safe,” said Ahmed, a protester who did not provide his last name fearing reprisal. “We know these kidnappings and killings are being done by these militia groups to scare us and make us leave.”
The report was published one day after the assassination of Ali Najm al-Lami, who was kidnapped from Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protest movement, and killed in the Al-Shaab area, northeast of Baghdad, where his body was found with a gunshot wound to the head. The perpetrators were not identified. At least three other civil activists have disappeared. Zaid al-Khafaji, 22, a photojournalist known for documenting the protests, was taken from his home after returning from the square at approximately 4 a.m. in the Qahira neighborhood, northeast of Baghdad. A black car with at least four men was seen taking al-Khafaji. The vast majority of anti-government protesters arrested by security forces since Oct. 1 have been released without charge, the report said. Oct. 1 was when mass demonstrations engulfed Iraq as thousands of protesters took to the streets to decry rampant government corruption.

Iran Warns Citizens against Travel to US
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
Iran warned its citizens, particularly scientists, on Tuesday not to visit America, saying Iranians there were subjected to arbitrary and lengthy detention in inhuman conditions. “Iranian citizens, particularly elites and scientists, are requested to seriously avoid traveling to America, even to take part in scientific conferences and even having an invitation,” a travel advisory on the foreign ministry website said. The United States and Iran on Saturday swapped prisoners - American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained for three years on spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani, accused of sanction violations - in a rare act of cooperation between two longtime foes. Soleimani was arrested upon arrival in the US last year after being invited to take part in a research program at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Washington has demanded that Iran release the Americans it is holding, including father and son Siamak and Baquer Namazi; Michael R. White, a Navy veteran imprisoned last year; and Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent missing since 2007. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday Tehran is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, tweeting: “The ball is in the US’ court”. Tensions have heightened between Iran and the United States since US President Donald Trump last year pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Tehran’s economy. Iran has responded by gradually scaling back its commitments under the agreement.

New election in Israel after parliament votes to dissolve itself
Reuters, Jerusalem/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Israel headed on Wednesday towards a third national election in less than a year with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing the fight of his life for political survival after a criminal indictment. After giving its preliminary approval, and barring last-minute progress in deadlocked efforts to form a new government, parliament was set to vote for its dissolution later in the day and approve a March 2 election date already agreed by the two major parties. What had once seemed nearly impossible to many Israelis - a third visit to polling stations after inconclusive elections in April and September - carries a heavy economic price: it will be well into 2020 before a new budget is passed, which will mean months of cutbacks that will weigh on growth. Neither Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party nor the centrist Blue and White party led by his main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz, won enough seats in the Knesset (parliament) for a governing majority in the previous two contests. Both men were delegated the task of forming a coalition, but failed. Each has blamed the other for the impasse, in which neither could agree on the terms for a "rotating" premiership. In the two previous national ballots, Netanyahu's opponents focused on the three corruption investigations against him that included allegations he dispensed favours to media barons in a push for more favourable media coverage. But this time, Israel's longest-serving leader is running under the cloud of criminal indictment after charges of bribery, breach of trust and fraud against him were announced last month. Denying any wrongdoing, Netanyahu, 70, has accused legal authorities of attempting a "coup" aimed at ousting a popular right-wing leader. Critics alleged that Netanyahu was trying to undermine the rule of law and set an election campaign theme portraying himself as the victim of “deep state” conspiracy. As prime minister, Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign as a result of the indictment, and while in office he can ask the legislature to grant him immunity from prosecution. As caretaker premier, Netanyahu would remain in the post until a new government is formed - a process that could stretch months past a March ballot if what is likely to be tortuous coalition-building is taken into account. "The entire country is held hostage by the prime minister's legal battles," the left-wing Haaretz newspaper said in an editorial on Wednesday. Netanyahu, vowing to "win big" at the polls, has described himself as best-placed to deal with Israel's many security threats. He has citing challenges posed by arch-enemy Iran as a main reason why Gantz should rally to his call for a unity government. An opinion poll on Israel's Channel 13 news on Tuesday forecast Blue and White would win 37 seats to Likud's 33 in the 120-member parliament, increasing the one-seat advantage it gained in the election in April. But it also indicated that both parties could still struggle to secure enough allies for a majority coalition.

US slaps sanctions on Iranian airline over proliferation
Agencies/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
The Trump administration on Wednesday hit Iran with new sanctions that target several transportation firms as it continues its “maximum pressure campaign” against the regime over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Washington targeted three general sales agents of Mahan Air over the role the airline has played in weapons of mass destruction proliferation, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the State Department. Also blacklisted was an Iranian shipping network involved in smuggling lethal aid from Iran to Yemen on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its elite foreign paramilitary and espionage arm the Quds Force. “Today’s action against this lethal aid network is yet another example of the US government cutting off all avenues for the delivery of weapons to Houthi rebels,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Mahan Air, which is already under US sanctions, has transported fighters and supplies to war-ravaged Syria to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to the Treasury. Pompeo said in the briefing that Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programs funnel money away from the Iranian people and increase the regime’s acts of terrorism. “As long as its maligned behavior continues, so will our maximum pressure,” said Pompeo, in reference to the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran. The Trump administration imposed its “maximum pressure” campaign, increasing targeted sanctions on the Iranian regime, since leaving the Obama-era nuclear deal in 2018. The sanctions have led to “a complete collapse of Iran’s oil sector,” America’s top Iran advisor Brian Hook told Al Arabiya English in an interview last month. Hook said the sanctions have also collapsed Iran’s petrochemical, industrial metal, and precious metals sectors. Pompeo said that Hook, along with the State Department, are working on efforts to return Americans detained in Iran and “are very focused on getting every one of these Americans back.”“We don’t send pallets of cash, send bags of money. We don’t change our policy. You see today we’re still announcing continuation of our maximum pressure campaign. But if we can find an opening to deliver these people back to their families and back to America, we will certainly do that," said Pompeo. The previous US administration under President Barack Obama secretly delivered $400 million in cash to Tehran on the same day the regime released four American prisoners in 2016. At the time, the administration said it had settled a longstanding Iranian claim at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in The Hague, releasing $400 million in funds frozen since 1981. The funds were part of a trust fund Iran used before its 1979 Islamic Revolution to buy US military equipment that was tied up for decades in litigation at the tribunal.

Iran dismisses Macron’s call for release of two jailed French nationals
Reuters/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Iran dismissed as interference in its state matters French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for the release of two French nationals jailed in the Islamic Republic since June, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday. “Iran’s government and judiciary do not take advice from others ... Interference in our state matters is unacceptable,” IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying. On Tuesday, President Macron said the imprisonment of two French nationals in Iran was unbearable and demanded their immediate release, in a case that complicates French efforts to defuse tension between Washington and Tehran. “On Human Rights Day, my thoughts go to Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, our compatriots held in Iran, and their families,” Macron said on Twitter.

Macron calls for immediate release of French nationals held in Iran
Reuters, Paris/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday the imprisonment of two French nationals in Iran was unbearable and demanded their immediate release, in a case that complicates French efforts to defuse tension between Washington and Tehran. “On Human Rights Day, my thoughts go to Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, our compatriots held in Iran, and their families,” Macron said on Twitter. “Their imprisonment is intolerable. They must be freed without delay. I told President Rouhani, I repeat it here,” he wrote. Paris reported the arrest of Marchal, a senior researcher at Science-Po university, in mid-October, while his Franco-Iranian colleague Adelkhah has been in prison in Iran since June.

Swiss humanitarian channel to Iran seen within months: Swiss, US officials
Reuters, Bern/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
A humanitarian channel to bring food and medicine to Iran could be up and running within months, senior Swiss and US officials told Reuters, helping supply Swiss goods to the struggling population without tripping over US sanctions. Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from sanctions that Washington re-imposed last year after US President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program. But the US measures targeting everything from oil sales to shipping and financial activities have deterred several foreign banks from doing business with Iran - including humanitarian deals - just as Iran grapples with major protests. Pascale Baeriswyl, Swiss state secretary for foreign affairs, and US Ambassador Edward McMullen spoke in separate interviews in the Swiss capital late on Tuesday, days after a rare Swiss-brokered prisoner swap by arch foes Iran and the United States. “Our role is really to be able to provide food and health goods to the Iranian people. And therefore we are working hard on establishing that humanitarian channel,” Baeriswyl said.US clarifications announced in October on how to verify and certify such deals - bypassing Iran’s central bank and ensuring that no payments are transferred to Iran - helped advance the project so as to safeguard Swiss exporters. “Ultimately that depends on companies and banks wanting to participate....We have made progress recently,” Baeriswyl said. Asked whether the mechanism could be operational in the first half of 2020, she replied: “I hope so, but it is very difficult to predict since it is not entirely in our hands.”McMullen was also upbeat. “Fortunately, I think we are at that point now where we are working with Switzerland on the final details. And hopefully we’ll be seeing some kind of finality to that conversation in the near future,” he said. To be sure, big Swiss companies like Nestle and drugmakers Roche and Novartis already produce in Iran. The new channel could encourage smaller players to export food and medicine to Iran. France has led efforts for more than a year to set up a separate European trade mechanism for humanitarian and food goods with Iran, which has stalled. Baeriswyl said: “If this (Swiss) model works it would be great if others could follow... It’s not a competing instrument, just a slightly different approach.”January marks the 40th anniversary of Switzerland’s taking on a mandate of a neutral “protecting power”, representing US diplomatic interests in Iran since Washington and Tehran cut ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Baeriswyl, who held talks in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in October that were revealed in Twitter posts, met him again in Zurich last weekend for the handover of US and Iranian prisoners. “We stand ready - if both parties ask us to - to facilitate more (exchanges), of course,” she said.

Russia, Turkey Express Concern about Militants in Syria's Idlib
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
Russia, Turkey and Iran are concerned about the increased presence of terrorist groups in Syria’s Idlib province, the three countries said after talks in Kazakhstan, pledging to coordinate actions aimed at eliminating the militants. Moscow, Ankara and Tehran “highlighted the necessity to establish calm on the ground”, the trio said in a joint statement after the talks, also attended by representatives of the Damascus regime and the Syrian armed opposition. The three countries also said they rejected attempts to create “new realities on the ground, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives” and that they were opposed to the illegal seizure and transfer of Syrian oil revenues. Commenting on the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, the three nations said it should be governed by a sense of “compromise and constructive engagement” without foreign interference and externally imposed timelines.

US Senate committee approves Turkey sanctions bill
Reuters, Washington/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
A US Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in northern Syria and plans to buy a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara.
The Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted by 18-4 to send the “Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act of 2019” for a vote in the full Senate.
“Now’s the time for the Senate to come together and take this opportunity to change Turkey’s behavior,” said Senator Jim Risch, the panel’s Republican chairman. Another Republican, Senator Rand Paul, spoke against the bill. He said the Trump administration objected to it because it would weaken the president’s power and could make it more difficult to negotiate with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan on matters such as the NATO ally’s purchase of the missile system and fighting in Syria.
Other senators strongly disagreed. Many lawmakers, Trump’s fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, are angry about Turkey’s S-400 purchase, which they see as a threat to NATO systems. They are also furious about Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria, who until recently were fighting alongside American forces against ISIS militants. “This is not some minor dustup with this country. This is a drift by this country, Turkey, to go an entirely different direction than what they have in the past,” Risch said. “They’ve thumbed their nose at us, and they’ve thumbed their nose at their other NATO allies,” he said.

Turkey threatens to deny US access to military bases if sanctions imposed
AFP, Istanbul/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Turkey said on Wednesday it would retaliate against any US sanctions over its purchase of Russian defense systems, adding that with Britain it had agreed to speed up a joint fighter jet program to meet Turkish defense needs. US lawmakers will vote - and likely pass - a defense bill later on Wednesday that calls for sanctions against Turkey over Ankara’s decision to procure the S-400 defenses. Turkey and the United States, NATO allies, have been at odds over the purchase. Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and cannot be integrated into NATO defenses. In response, it has suspended Turkey from the F-35 jet program, where it was a manufacturer and buyer, and threatened sanctions. In an interview with Turkish broadcaster A Haber, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said any US sanctions would harm US-Turkish ties and repeated a threat of retaliation. “US lawmakers must understand they will get nowhere with impositions. If the United States approaches us positively, we will also react positively. But, if they take negative towards us, then we will retaliate these,” Cavusoglu said. Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over a host of issues in recent years. Turkey has been enraged with the US support for the Syrian Kurdish-led YPG, which Cavusoglu called the “financing of terrorism” on Wednesday. He added that Turkey was open to alternatives to buying the F-35 jets, including from Russia. He said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had discussed speeding up work on the TF-X joint fighter jet project to meet Turkey’s defense needs. “We bought the S-400s because the most suitable offer on air defense systems came from Russia. Until we produce it ourselves, the alternative to the F-35 could be the Russian market, but we are open to other alternatives too,” Cavusoglu said. Turkey and Britain agreed a 100 million pound ($133 million) deal in 2017 to develop Turkish fighter jets, and Turkey’s Kale Group said it was setting up a joint venture with Rolls-Royce to work on the project. In March Rolls-Royce said it had scaled back efforts to join the program. A Turkish source said the disagreement with Rolls-Royce stemmed from licensing issues, which are “critical and indispensable” for Turkey. But the source said talks had been revived and added Turkey expected the project to advance after a solution was reached.

Turkey Says to Retaliate if US Imposes Sanctions over S-400
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
Turkey warned on Wednesday it would retaliate against any US sanctions over its purchase of Russian defense systems. US lawmakers will vote - and likely pass - a defense bill later on Wednesday that calls for sanctions against Turkey over Ankara’s decision to procure the S-400 defenses. Turkey and the United States, NATO allies, have been at odds over the purchase. Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and cannot be integrated into NATO defenses. In response, it has suspended Turkey from the F-35 jet program, where it was a manufacturer and buyer, and threatened sanctions. In an interview with Turkish broadcaster A Haber, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said any US sanctions would harm US-Turkish ties and repeated a threat of retaliation.“US lawmakers must understand they will get nowhere with impositions. If the United States approaches us positively, we will also react positively. But, if they take negative towards us, then we will retaliate,” he added. Moreover, he suggested that Washington could be barred from using two strategic air bases in retaliation, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. "In the event of a decision to sanction Turkey, the Incirlik and Kurecik airbases can be brought to the agenda," Anadolu quoted Cavusoglu as saying. Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey has been a main base for US operations in the Middle East and more recently in the fight against the ISIS group in Syria and Iraq, while Kurecik, in eastern Turkey, is a key NATO base.
Ties between Ankara and Washington have been strained over a host of issues in recent years. Turkey has been enraged with the US support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Cavusoglu called the “financing of terrorism” on Wednesday. He added that Turkey was open to alternatives to buying the F-35 jets, including from Russia. He said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had discussed speeding up work on the TF-X joint fighter jet project to meet Turkey’s defense needs. “We bought the S-400s because the most suitable offer on air defense systems came from Russia. Until we produce it ourselves, the alternative to the F-35 could be the Russian market, but we are open to other alternatives too,” Cavusoglu said. Turkey and Britain agreed a 100 million pound ($133 million) deal in 2017 to develop Turkish fighter jets, and Turkey’s Kale Group said it was setting up a joint venture with Rolls-Royce to work on the project. In March Rolls-Royce said it had scaled back efforts to join the program.

Syrian President: Russian Deployment Balanced US, Turkish Role
Damascus, London- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019 -
Europe, the US, and Turkey are the main players in creating chaos and supporting terrorism in Syria, and the Russian deployment east of the country balanced their “negative role,” announced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad said Europe is the main player in creating this chaos by supporting the terrorists from the very beginning, adding that some regimes like the French regime sent armaments. “They sent armaments; they created this chaos. That’s why a lot of people find it difficult to stay in Syria; millions of people couldn’t live here so they had to get out of Syria.”Assad was speaking in an interview with Italian Rai News 24 TV on November 26, 2019 which was expected to be broadcast on December 2nd, but state TV broadcast it after the Italian TV refrained from doing so. Asked about the Russian role in Syria, Assad said that Russians believe that international law, and international order based on it, is in their interest and in the interest of everybody in the world. He indicated that by supporting Syria, Moscow is supporting international law, adding that being against the terrorists is in the interest of Russian people and the rest of the world. The Syrian President indicated that he would only meet former ally Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan if his country’s interests called for it. “I always say that my job is not to be happy with what I’m doing... It’s not about my feelings, it’s about the interests of Syria, so wherever our interests go, I will go.”In his first comment on recent developments in Lebanon, Assad said it would affect Syria more than any other country because they are neighboring countries. “But again, if it’s spontaneous and it’s about reform and getting rid of the sectarian political system, that would be good for Lebanon.”Regarding reconstructing Syria, Assad explained that the funds are available, but the problem is that sanctions prevent the businessmen or companies from coming and working in the country. However, he asserted that “some foreign companies have started finding ways to evade these sanctions and we have started planning. It’s going to be slow, without the sanctions we wouldn’t have a problem with funding.”

Anniversary of Victory over ISIS Unites Iraq Politicians, Protesters
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 December, 2019
The last 60 days, especially since October 1, have changed the political landscape in Iraq. Partisan supremacies that held the reigns of the country for 16 years and manipulated elections have been confronted with a different reality. Iraqi youth ignited the street with anti-government protests rejecting all changes introduced in the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. As protests persisted, amid a crackdown by security forces that left more than 400 dead and 20,000 wounded, the vast majority of whom are members of the poorest Shiite classes, the gap between demonstrators and politicians widened.But for the first time in nearly two months, politicians and protesters shared a celebration on Tuesday. Three years ago, in 2017, former Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi declared military victory over ISIS.To celebrate the anniversary, Iraq’s outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced December 10 would be a national holiday. Differences aside, protesters and politicians celebrated the victory each in their own way. Demonstrators celebrated in the streets, while politicians expressed their feelings through the cables of congratulations they gave out on this occasion. Iraqi President Barham Salih, in a speech, expressed his joy in victory on the one hand and his concern about selecting the next head of government on the other. In a speech, Salih said: “As I call on the political blocs, to cooperate with us in order to nominate those we accept and agree to assign him to head the cabinet and form a new government within the constitutional deadline to ensure that problems are solved and the reconstruction of the country and institutions is promoted as aspired by our young men, women, children, elderly and all the spectrum of Iraqi society.”“Remembrance of victory is an example for unity, the promotion of a united will and a firm determination to build our Iraq that we want.”

Egypt’s al-Sisi calls for ‘bold’ response to countries supporting terrorism
Tommy Hilton, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi opened the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development in Africa on Wednesday by calling for a comprehensive and bold response to countries supporting terrorism. “Terrorism remains a malignant cancer afflicting African nations undermining states and societies. Therefore, combatting terrorism in a comprehensive manner requires identifying its states and supporters and confronting them collectively and boldly,” said al-Sisi in his opening remarks in Aswan, Egypt. “We must continue to work together, to turn the page on a painful history of conflicts in Africa, which has negatively affected the continent’s developmental aspirations,” he added. Al-Sisi also addressed the conflict in Libya, saying that Egypt was the first country to be affected. Libya has been in a state of unrest since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, with multiple factions currently fighting in a civil war. “We will move towards achieving a comprehensive solution in Libya within months,” he added. Al-Sisi pointed to development as a solution to terrorism, claiming “development is the best shield against conflict.”African heads of state and officials are attending the Aswan Forum in Egypt to discuss objectives to achieve peace and sustainable development in the continent. The inaugural meeting of the forum is titled “An Agenda for Sustainable Peace, Security and Development in Africa,” taking place over December 11-12. Following the forum, the African Union Center for Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development (AUC-PCRD) will be launching in Cairo, according to al-Sisi.

UN Says Cannot Confirm Iran behind Saudi Oil Attack
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 11/2019
The UN has been unable to confirm Iranian involvement in a dramatic attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, secretary-general Antonio Guterres said Tuesday. Drones and cruise missiles were used in the September bombardment, which knocked out half of the kingdom's crude production and fueled a record surge in prices. Saudi officials, the United States and several European countries accused Iran of responsibility for the attack, which Tehran has denied. UN investigators had been given access to debris of the weapons used in the attack, Guterres said in a six-monthly report to the Security Council on Iran's nuclear program, seen by AFP on Tuesday. But the investigation was not able to "independently corroborate that the cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles used in these attacks are of Iranian origin," the report said. An investigation into the attack is continuing and will be submitted to the Security Council when finished, Guterres said.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time' 2019 person of the year
NNA/December 11/2019
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who became the voice of conscience for a generation facing the climate change emergency, was named Wednesday as Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year. The 16-year-old first made headlines with her solo strike against global warming outside Sweden's parliament in August 2018. "We can't just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow. That is all we are saying," Thunberg told Time. The Swedish activist was in Madrid as the award was announced, at a UN climate forum tasked with saving the world from runaway global warming.--AFP

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 11-12/2019
Michael Pregent: Iraq Protestors "Willing to Die for Change," Deserve Full-Throttled U.S. Support
Marilyn Stern/Middle East Forum Radio/December 11/2019
Michael Pregent, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, spoke to Middle East Forum Radio host Gregg Roman on December 4 about the mass protests that have taken place against Iraq's Iranian-backed regime since the last week of October and the need for an international response.
According to Pregent, the distinguishing features of the protests in Iraq, like those in Iran-dominated Lebanon and Iran itself, are that they are largely leaderless and animated by the government's economic mismanagement and corruption.
In Iraq, which is blessed with abundant oil revenue and faces no crippling economic sanctions, outrage over government failure is particularly acute: "Basically, the complaint is that a country that can export 3.6 million barrels of oil a day cannot provide clean water, electricity, internet and jobs to a community that it's taken for granted."
Unlike in Lebanon, the protestors squarely place the blame for their misery on Iran, said Pregent:
These are Shia youth protesting against the status quo; protesting against the Shia religious parties tied to Iran [and] blaming Iran for Iraq's inability ... to manage its economy. Basically, [the protesters are] protesting politicians [who] are more beholden to Tehran than the Iraqi people.
Although Muqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shia cleric and politician whose militia forces control the Baghdad slums where the largest protests have originated, has tried to assume leadership of the movement – reportedly with Saudi funding – Pregent clarified that the protests have "nothing to do with al Sadr" and even less with his militant anti-Western ethos.
[Al Sadr] tried to hijack the protest movement only to be rejected by the Shia youth. ... They want a movement based on economic rights of prosperity [and] opportunities. They want to see Western investors, professors, entrepreneurs and tech people instead of people in uniform and diplomats."
Clockwise from top left: Nouri al-Maliki, Hadi al-Amiri, Qais Khazali, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The Iranian power structure is centered around four "kingmakers" tied to Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command (IRGC), who "decide who the prime minister will be by using heavy-handed tactics, bribes, [and] threats": former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki; Hadi al-Amiri, leader of Badr Corps; Qais Khazali, leader of the Asai'b Ahl Al-Haq militia; and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who heads the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Committee (Al-Hashd Al-Sha'abi) and Kataib Hezbollah militia, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. "It doesn't matter who the prime minister is ... as long as these four individuals remain influential," says Pregent.
In principle, the U.S. has enormous influence in Iraq. "We [the U.S.] are the guarantors for all of those loans ... going into Iraq's construction," says Pregent. "We have a lot of tools, ... smart power and soft power to use ... to put pressure on Baghdad." Unfortunately, these tools haven't been used effectively, he says.
Part of the problem appears to be ignorance of and denial about Iran's role in the country. Al-Muhandis "is a designated terrorist," he notes, but "anytime I ask a State Department official, defense official or intel official, that stumps them. That shouldn't be the case." High turnover among American officials dealing with Iraq contributes to the problem:
There's a new American every year. That's the benefit that these Iraqi politicians have ... they develop the playbook. ... There is no institutional knowledge that's being captured on the American side. ... So, it's very easy for the lucky politicians tied to Tehran to be able to tell new Americans in an English accent, ... '[We] just need more American money and more American training equipment and we'll get it sorted out in the future.' That's the tactic. To wait [it] out until you get the next American.
Half-measures aren't likely to be effective in Iraq. "I'm concerned that the West will be happy if there is another prime minister that appears to be moderate," says Pregent. "This status quo response ... is just not going to work with Iraqis this time as long as those individuals that I mentioned earlier still maintain power."
Specifically, the U.S. "should name those individuals in Iraq in charge of the Ministry of the Interior through [Amiri's] Badr Corps, and also the militias" and expand its Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to include the IRGC and its proxies. "It doesn't mean we have to start targeting them, but the message would be loud and clear," says Pregent.
"You have to do more than just say you're behind something."
Pregent suggests that, without further action, mere rhetorical support for those resisting Iran could do more harm than good. "Anything that allows Tehran to say, 'This is an Israeli, Saudi, U.S. operation to back saboteurs,' is something we should stay clear of." He cited the example of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared the establishment of an interim government earlier this year that gained widespread diplomatic support from the West, but little else. "[W]hen Guaido came to our attention. We said 'we support Guaido.' We thought that would be enough." But Guaido's campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro has since faltered. "You have to do more than just say you're behind something."
Pregent emphasized the unique strategic opportunity to counter Iran's pursuit of regional hegemony by disrupting a critical link in its much-vaunted land bridge from Tehran to Lebanon. "The best thing about that land bridge is ... protesters are occupying it in Iraq," and "the people that are protesting are willing to die for change."
*Marilyn Stern is the producer of Middle East Forum Radio.

Spain's 'Migrant Friendly' Border Fences
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 11/2019
Critics say that the razor wire functions as a significant deterrent to illegal immigration and that by removing it, the Spanish government not only risks unleashing new waves of mass migration from Africa, but also gives effective control of the Spanish border to Morocco, with which Spain has a tense relationship.
The border fences in question involve those at Spain's North African exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla — magnets for Africans seeking a better life in Europe.
The removal of razor wire is in line with the current Socialist government's pro-immigration stance.
"We are not against immigration. We are not even against the illegal immigrant. It is not their fault that an irresponsible government has called them to come here illegally." — Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, Parliamentary Spokesman for the conservative party Vox.
Spanish authorities have begun removing razor wire from border fences along Spain's frontier with Morocco. The Socialist government ordered their removal after migrants who tried to jump the fences to enter Europe illegally suffered injuries. Pictured: Spain's double-fence separating the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco, photographed on August 23, 2018.
Spanish authorities have begun removing razor wire, known as concertina wire, from border fences along Spain's frontier with Morocco. The Socialist government ordered their removal after migrants who tried to jump the fences to enter Europe illegally suffered injuries after coming into contact with the wire.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska justified the removal by saying that Morocco had recently installed concertina wire on fences on its side of the border, and that therefore it was no longer necessary on the Spanish side.
Critics say that the razor wire functions as a significant deterrent to illegal immigration and that by removing it, the Spanish government not only risks unleashing new waves of mass migration from Africa, but also gives effective control of the Spanish border to Morocco, with which Spain has a tense relationship. Morocco frequently dumps large numbers of illegal migrants along the Spanish border to extract concessions from the Spanish government on unrelated issues.
The border fences in question involve those at Spain's North African exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla — magnets for Africans seeking a better life in Europe.
At Ceuta, two parallel fences that are six meters (20 feet) high and topped with concertina wire run eight kilometers (five miles) along the border with Morocco. At Melilla, twin fences that are four meters (13 feet) high run 12 kilometers (eight miles) along the border. The fences at Ceuta and Melilla are fortified with anti-climb mesh, video cameras, noise and motion sensors, spotlights and surveillance posts.
Each year, thousands of migrants — sometimes hundreds at a time — try to scale the fences at Ceuta and Melilla, where they are often successful. Once inside Spanish territory, illegal migrants are in the European Union, where magnanimous human rights laws virtually guarantee that they will never be deported back to their countries of origin.
Migrants who successfully scale the fences at Ceuta and Melilla are normally transferred to processing facilities in mainland Spain. Once there, many migrants continue on to wealthier countries in northern Europe, where social welfare benefits are more generous than in Spain. Only 30% of the migrants who enter Ceuta remain in Spain, according to Clemen Núñez, a director of the Red Cross in Ceuta. The rest normally move on to Britain, France and Germany. The border issue at Ceuta and Melilla is therefore one that affects all of Europe.
Migrants are increasingly using the tactic of mass attacks against the border fences in an effort to overwhelm the border police. During the past 18 months, thousands of migrants equipped with gloves, spike shoes and makeshift hooks have attempted to scale the fences at Ceuta and Melilla, often using extreme violence against the police. Notable recent incidents include:
July 26, 2018. At least 800 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa tried to scale the fence at Ceuta. A total of 602 managed to enter Spanish territory. The migrants used unprecedented violence against Spanish law enforcement. Eleven police officers were injured when migrants attacked them with quicklime, homemade flamethrowers, sticks and sharp objects, as well as with urine and excrement.
August 22, 2018. A total of 119 migrants successfully scaled the fence at Ceuta, after taking advantage of a diminished police presence on the Moroccan side of the border during a Muslim holiday.
October 2018. More than 300 migrants tried to scale the fence at Melilla; 200 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, successfully entered Spanish territory.
May 12, 2019. More than 100 migrants tried to scale the fence at Melilla; 52 migrants, mostly from Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Mali, successfully entered Spanish territory.
August 30, 2019. More than 400 migrants tried to scale the fence at Ceuta; 155 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, successfully entered Spanish territory.
September 19, 2019. At least 60 migrants tried to scale the fence at Melilla; 26 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, managed to enter Spanish territory.
November 18, 2019. A people smuggler transporting 52 migrants — 34 men, 16 women and two children — reached Spanish territory after driving his van at full speed through the border gate at Ceuta. The driver, a 38-year-old Moroccan with French residency, was arrested more than a kilometer inside Spanish territory. The migrants, who claimed to be from Congo, Guinea and the Ivory Coast, were taken to a migrant processing facility in Ceuta.
Hundreds of migrants have suffered cuts and lacerations from the concertina wire, according to the Spanish Red Cross, prompting calls for the razor wire to be removed.
On June 14, 2018, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska vowed to do "everything possible" to remove the "anti-migrant" razor wire fences. During an interview with the Spanish radio station Onda Cero, he said that he had commissioned a report into finding the "least bloody possible means" of preserving border security. "I'm going to do everything possible to see that these razor wire fences at Ceuta and Melilla are removed," he said. "It is one of my main priorities."
On February 23, 2019, Grande-Marlaska, during a campaign stop while on a visit to Ceuta, repeated his pledge to remove the concertina wire. At the same time, he visited a new barbed-wire fence on the Moroccan side of the border. The fence, topped with concertina wire, was paid for by a €140 million ($155 million) grant from the European Union.
On August 26, 2019, Grande-Marlaska, during an interview with Telecinco television, again said that he was determined to eliminate the "bloody means" of border control: "We said that we were going to generate 21st century borders, safer borders, where the concept of security and humanity are not in any way dissociated."
On December 3, 2019, the government began work on a €32 million ($35 million) plan to remove the concertina wires from the fences that separate Ceuta from Morocco. Ironically, the razor wires were first installed by the government of Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2005 — at a cost of €28 million ($30 million).
The removal is in line with the current Socialist government's pro-immigration stance. In June 2018, for instance, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed 630 migrants from the Aquarius migrant ship who were rescued off the coast of Libya. Spain accepted the migrants after the Aquarius was refused entry by Italy and Malta. Italy's then interior minister, Matteo Salvini, accused Spain of "encouraging out-of-control immigration."
A few weeks later, the Spanish government announced that it would end so-called express deportations — the practice of immediately deporting migrants the moment they reach the Spanish border — after the European Court of Justice ruled that summary deportations were a violation of EU law.
In October 2017, the Strasbourg-based court ruled that Spain must pay €10,000 to two African migrants who were summarily deported after they scaled the fence at Melilla in August 2014. The EU court said that Spanish border police failed to verify the identity of the migrants, and failed to provide them with access to lawyers, translators or medical personnel. Spain's previous center-right government appealed the ruling, but the new Socialist government said that it would review that appeal and immediately end the practice of express deportations.
The government has justified the removal of the concertina wires on the grounds of human rights. Government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá said that "this government wants to remove the concertinas without losing any security." She added that "border control must be linked to solidarity and respect for human dignity." Celaá insisted that "you can have border security without hurting people."
Police and border patrols agents, however, have said that without concertina wires, the border will become even more vulnerable to mass incursions than it already is. They added that whenever there are mass attacks against the fences, police are usually outnumbered by the migrants seeking to enter Spain illegally.
The Spanish newspaper ABC reported that police, in private conversations, said that they were worried that the Socialist government in Madrid was prioritizing the wellbeing of migrants over the safety of law enforcement officers. They noted that while eleven officers were injured in the mass attack against the fence in Ceuta on August 30, when migrants attacked police with acid and mace, not a single one of the 155 migrants who managed to reach Spanish territory have been deported.
Spanish border police told ABC that the main function of the concertina wires is not aggressive, but deterrent:
"The concertinas prevent many people from thinking about jumping the fence and, in the event that someone tries or there is a mass jump, they also allow agents to gain some time since they slow down the progress of migrants."
The Senate spokesman of the center-right Popular Party, Ignacio Cosidó, warned that removing the concertina wires would be "a great irresponsibility" and that, in his opinion, this type of "gesture" would send the message that Spain now has an "open door" migration policy.
Santiago Abascal, leader of the Spanish conservative party Vox, the third-largest party in Spain, said that the Socialist government's plan was part of a broader effort to undermine national sovereignty in favor of globalist mass migration. He called for replacing the fences with concrete walls to better secure the border:
"The borders in Ceuta and Melilla are permanently violated by avalanches of immigrants. We are going to propose a reform of the immigration law to be able to expel an immigrant immediately if their documentation is not in order. We believe that the best protection is a concrete wall that is high enough for security forces to control the border."
Taking a page out of U.S. President Donald J. Trump's playbook, Abascal said that new wall should be paid for by Morocco: "It is Morocco which launches waves of clandestine immigrants to blackmail the European Union. Maybe they should pay for it."
On September 12, Vox Secretary General Javier Ortega Smith and Vox Parliamentary Spokesman Iván Espinosa de los Monteros presented a plan in the Spanish Congress to replace the "ineffective fences and concertinas" with a concrete wall that, due to its "thickness, strength and height" would make the borders at "Ceuta and Melilla borders impenetrable and impassable." They said that the wall should be paid for by Spain with "economic collaboration" from the European Union.
Ortega Smith said that proposal to build a wall "is not a propaganda slogan" but a necessity to curb illegal immigration. He explained that the current fences are ineffective because migrants can scale them and, from on top, "throw stones, acids and quicklime" on the border police below. Ortega Smith said that the walls would eliminate the need for concertina wire, an excuse that the Spanish left was using to profess outrage about inhumane treatment: "We do not want migrants to be cut, rather, we do not want them to scale the fence in the first place."
Vox parliamentary spokesman Iván Espinosa de los Monteros blamed the Socialist government for encouraging mass migration. "We are not against immigration," he said during an interview with Spanish public television. "We are not even against the illegal immigrant. It is not their fault that an irresponsible government has called them to come here illegally."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Turkey: Murder of Women Reaches Epidemic Proportions
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/December 11/2019
The cause of 50% of the killings was not determined, but 16% of the women were killed because they wanted to make decisions about their lives, such as wanting a divorce, rejecting offers of reconciliation or even for not answering the phone when called by their men. 13% of the women were killed for "economic reasons."
According to the Turkish women's-rights platform, "We Will Stop Femicide," 652 women were killed by men in the year-and-a-half period prior to November 2018 -- 36 of whom were murdered in October of that year.
"One of the reasons why such a large number of women fall victim to violence is the reluctance and even prevention of relevant institutions to implement current laws." — The Central Women's Committee of Turkey's Human Rights Association (HRA), "Violence against women is a result of discriminatory policies," August 26, 2019.
"There was no finger left unbroken, no women left unbeaten for the last two seasons of a show aired on a pro-government TV channel..." — İlhan Taşcı, Republican People's Party deputy and Radio and Television Supreme Council Member.
"In our religion, the life, dignity and rights of women are untouchable and entrusted [to men]." — Ali Erbaş, President of Diyanet, Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs.
The murder of women by male relatives -- particularly spouses or former spouses -- has become a dangerous trend in Turkey. 652 women were killed in Turkey by men in the year-and-a-half period prior to November 2018, according to the Turkish women's-rights platform, "We Will Stop Femicide." (Image source: iStock)
On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, thousands of Turkish women took part in demonstrations at Istanbul's Taksim Square. The women were protesting the increasing number of murders in the country committed by men against female family members. After reading a statement to the press, the demonstrators were attacked by police with tear gas and plastic bullets.
The murder of women by male relatives -- particularly spouses or former spouses -- has become a dangerous trend in Turkey. The brutal murder, on August 18, of 38-year-old Emine Bulut by her ex-husband -- in front of their 10-year-old daughter -- is one particularly noteworthy case.
Bulut was stabbed multiple times in the neck at a café in the city of Kirikkale, where she had gone to meet the man from whom she had been divorced for several years. In a video of the attack, which went viral on social media, Bulut is seen covered in blood, shouting, "I don't want to die," as her terrified child screams along with her.
In response to the attack, women across Turkey held demonstrations to condemn the killing and called on the government to guarantee their protection.
Bulut's gruesome murder, however, was only one of many attacks against women in Turkey at the hands of the men in their lives. The following examples, from the month of August alone, illustrate the gravity of the situation:
On August 22, a woman was stabbed to death by her abusive husband. Four days prior to her murder, she had taken out a restraining order.
On August 24, a woman who had just given birth was beaten and stabbed by her husband in her hospital bed. The woman had filed for divorce due to domestic violence.
Also on August 24, a man murdered his wife and daughter.
On August 25, the body of a woman, who had been shot in the head, was found near her home. Her husband was arrested as a suspect.
Also on August 25, a woman was shot by her husband after asking him for a divorce.
On August 27, a woman seeking a divorce was stabbed and severely injured by her husband in front of their 4-year-old daughter.
Also on August 27, a man strangled his wife to death with her headscarf.
According to the Turkish women's-rights platform, "We Will Stop Femicide," 652 women were killed by men in the year-and-a-half period prior to November 2018 -- 36 of whom were murdered in October of that year.
The perpetrators of 37% of the cases in October have not been identified, but the rest were found to be husbands, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, brothers, fathers or other male relatives. The cause of 50% of the killings was not determined, but 16% of the women were killed because they wanted to make decisions about their lives, such as wanting a divorce, rejecting offers of reconciliation or even for not answering the phone when called by their men. 13% of the women were killed for "economic reasons."
The Central Women's Committee of Turkey's Human Rights Association (HRA) released a statement on August 26, titled "Violence against women is a result of discriminatory policies," which reads, in part:
"Protecting women from male violence can only be realized through state policies focusing on gender equality. One of the reasons why such a large number of women fall victim to violence is the reluctance and even prevention of relevant institutions to implement current laws.
"The provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Turkey ratified in 1985 and put into effect, are not being implemented. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women's General Recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women significantly states in its 16th paragraph the following: 'Gender-based violence against women, may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in certain circumstances, including in cases of rape, domestic violence or harmful practices, among others.'
"The Istanbul Convention was signed and ratified by Turkey on 11 May 2011 and 14 March 2012 respectively. The purposes of the convention are to protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence; contribute to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and promote substantive equality between women and men, including by empowering women; design a comprehensive framework, policies and measures for the protection of and assistance to all victims of violence against women and domestic violence; promote international co-operation with a view to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence; provide support and assistance to organizations and law enforcement agencies to effectively co-operate in order to adopt and integrated approach to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence. The incidents, however, reveal the ways in which these provisions are not being implemented, how its articles are not complied with, and how they have not been institutionalized.
"Moreover, if the authorities had even enabled the sufficient implementation of the Constitution and Law No. 6284 violence against women would have been prevented."
The lack of law enforcement, however, is only part of the problem, according to the HRA, which says that the media and the country's chief religious institution both share culpability:
"...Violence is normalized in various programs and shows on TV. 16,000 complaints have been lodged before the Radio and Television Supreme Council's communication center within the last 8 months due to violent content on TV, but not a single one was discussed at the council's meetings, according to İlhan Taşcı, CHP [Republican People's Party] deputy and Radio and Television Supreme Council Member. Deputy Taşcı has expressed the horrifying truth about violence against women by saying, 'There was no finger left unbroken, no women left unbeaten for the last two seasons of a show aired on a pro-government TV channel...'
"The statement by Diyanet [Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs] on violence against women is indeed an explicit expression of the mindset that forms the basis of violence. The president of Diyanet, Ali Erbaş, said: 'In our religion, the life, dignity and rights of women are untouchable and entrusted [to men].' By saying so, he declares that all the rights of women are entrusted to men; he thus objectified women. But we women are not entrusted to men or the government that represents male [supremacy]."
By saying that women's life, dignity and rights are "entrusted to men," Erbaş effectively stated that women do not have the right or ability to make their own life choices, independent of men's approval or permission. He thus appears to see women as "men's objects," implying that it is men who are in charge of the implementation of women's rights, including the right to life. Erbaş -- like many other Islamist state authorities in Turkey -- fails to understand that women's rights are women's fundamental, natural, inalienable rights and women are entitled to these rights.
The HRA listed a set of demands to rectify the intolerable situation. These include:
The number of women's shelters should be increased and protected employment opportunities should be offered.
Effective investigations should be initiated into those engaging in violent acts against women; impunity policies should be dropped; reduced sentences should be handed out, for instance, for good conduct, and those based on judges' personal opinions should be put to an end.
Agencies based on gender equality should be established and these should not be male-dominant, but based on women.
The structure of the law enforcement and the judiciary should be revised, focusing on protecting individuals, not the family; officers should be trained within this scope.
Broadcasts and published material that legitimize violence against women should be discontinued without delay.
Misogynistic statements by some government authorities demonstrating their opposition to gender equality; law enforcement and judiciary officials who fail or refuse to apply laws that would protect women; the extremely violent TV content targeting women; and religious teachings that promote violence against women all appear to lead to widespread murders and abuse of women in Turkey.
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Jihad and Criminality: Inseparable Bedfellows
ريموند إبراهيم: الجهاد والإجرام جسم واحد وعقلية واحدة وممارسات واحدة
Raymond Ibrahim/December 11/2019
It’s official: Islamic jihad and generic criminality are intimately connected.
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81380/%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86%d8%af-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%83-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ac%d9%87%d8%a7%d8%af-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%ac%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%85-%d8%ac%d8%b3%d9%85-%d9%88%d8%a7/
According to an earlier UK study:
The lines between terrorism and criminality are becoming blurred as an increasing number of former criminals join the Islamic State… Nearly 60 percent of European jihadists studied by researchers had been jailed previously… Once recruited by ISIS, these people easily transition to committing violence for a different cause… [T]he welcome from ISIS offers criminals a perceived chance at “redemption” without requiring a change in behavior.
Even so, the establishment refuses to see any direct correlation between Islam and criminality. As the director of the study himself explained, criminals “are the perfect fit” because the “Islamic State doesn’t require any intellectual sophistication. It doesn’t ask you to study religion. It makes it all like a computer game.” In other words, criminals are ideal recruits because they don’t know — nor do they care to learn — the first thing about “true” Islam.
Or, as John Brennan memorably asserted of ISIS members when he was head of the CIA, “they’re criminals. Most — many — of them are psychopathic thugs, murderers who use a religious concept and masquerade and mask themselves in that religious construct.”
Here, again, we see how ignorance of history — willful or otherwise — undermines Western security. The fact is, from the very beginnings of Islam and throughout the centuries, the overwhelming majority of Muslims who participated in jihads had no “intellectual sophistication,” did not “study religion,” and generally behaved like “psychopathic thugs, murderers.” That’s because Islam’s “religious construct” was always designed to entice and mobilize such men.
All this is evident in the career of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. After more than a decade of peaceful preaching in Mecca, he had won over only some 100 followers, mostly relatives. Once, however, he took to raiding and plundering all who rejected his Islam — and became immensely successful at it — his followers grew exponentially.
Then and now, those who undertook jihad were never obligated to have sincere or pious intentions. That’s because — and despite all Western projectionism and relativism — Allah is not God; he is not interested in the “condition” of the jihadist’s “heart,” but rather in his sword. The cold, businesslike language of the Koran makes this clear. Whoever commits to the jihad makes a “fine loan to Allah,” which the latter guarantees to pay back “many times over,” always commensurate with the jihadist’s efforts (Koran 2:245, 4:95).
Or as Koran 9:111 succinctly declares: “Allah has bought from the believers their lives and worldly goods, and in return has promised them Paradise: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall kill and be killed… Rejoice then in the bargain you have struck, for that is the supreme triumph.”
In short, any Muslim can join and reap the rewards of jihad — including by plundering, raping, and enslaving non-Muslims — so long as their “efforts” (literally, jihad) are seen as somehow empowering or benefitting Islam. Fighting in Islam’s service — with the risk of dying — was and is all the proof of piety ever needed. Indeed, sometimes fighting has precedence over piety: many dispensations, including not upholding the obligatory prayers and fasting, are granted those who participate in jihad. Ottoman sultans were actually forbidden from going on pilgrimage to Mecca — an otherwise individual obligation for all Muslims — simply because doing so could jeopardize the annual jihad
Consider the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II. He was a notorious pedophile, homosexual, and drunkard; he also had a sadistic side, and perfected the art of impalement. Regardless, he is honored by Muslims around the world — virtually venerated in Turkey — because he was also a successful jihadist and conqueror of Constantinople.
Similarly, Mecca’s tribal elites, Khalid bin al-Walid and Abu Sufyan had for years mocked, mistreated, and eventually evicted Muhammad from Mecca. When he returned a decade later as conqueror, they were among the first to proclaim the shahada, enter the fold of Islam, and become among Muhammad’s closest companions. Otherwise, not much changed.
Khalid (now known as the “Sword of Allah”) continued to engage in the sorts of atrocities that troubled even fellow Muslims — such as slaughtering a Muslim man on the false accusation that he had apostatized, cooking his head, and raping his wife. As for Abu Sufyan, he merely called on the Arabs to “jihad in the way of Allah” in Christian Syria, so that, in his words, they might “seize their lands and cities, and enslave their children and women.”
Whatever their backstories, both Khalid and Sufyan are revered within Islamic historiography because, like Ottoman sultan Mehmet II, they were committed to the jihad, which — even if they “exploited” it for their own gain — also helped expand Islam.
Such was the genius of Muhammad: in the Arabian tribalism of his day, members of one’s extended tribe were as inviolable as non-members were violable. Muhammad took this idea and infused it with a pious rationale. Henceforth there would only be two “tribes” in the world: the umma — which consists of all Muslims, whose blood is vouchsafed — and the “infidels,” who exist to be plundered, enslaved, or killed with impunity, for rejecting Allah.
This also explains why other tribal peoples — Turks and Tatars — also converted to and found Islam compatible with their lives. “[I]f taking lives and ravaging the lands of the infidel were the means by which the ends of expanding Islam were served, then the new converts’ traditional pleasures were now happily endowed with a pious rationale,” writes one historian on the Turks’ conversion to Islam. Similarly, “the Tartars had adopted Islam because it was the easy religion, as Christianity was the hard one,” observed a fourteenth-century European. Whereas Islam complemented the tribal way of life, Christianity only challenged it.
Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) summarized the matter thusly: “He [Muhammad] seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh urges us… and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men.”
Today, not much has changed. Characterizing modern-day jihadists as “criminals,” “psychopathic thugs,” and “murderers” — as if “authentic” jihadists were ever anything more noble — is at best redundant, at worst dangerously misleading.
For many more examples of criminal jihadists throughout history, see Ibrahim’s Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2019/12/11/jihad-and-criminality-inseparable-bedfellows/

Trump Is the Least of NATO's Problems
Bobby Ghosh/Bloomberg/December 11/2019
It was meant to be a celebration of the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But the mood at a gathering of the alliance’s leaders this week in London was anything but celebratory. There was no disguising the fact that NATO is in deep — even existential — trouble.
Nothing illustrated this unease more than the brief elation among NATO hands over Donald Trump’s surprising defense of the alliance. If the American president, previously a NATO skeptic, had had a change of heart, perhaps things were not so dire after all.
Except Trump hadn’t had a change of heart. His defense of the alliance was little more than a rhetorical stick with which to beat French President Emmanuel Macron, who had previously bemoaned the institution’s “brain death.” Credit must also go to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who has done a masterful job of managing Trump, calming the president’s tantrums and stroking his ego. Witness Stoltenberg’s eagerness, at a joint press conference, to credit Trump for increased military spending by many members. “Your leadership on defense spending is having a real impact,” he purred, as the president preened. But Trump’s skepticism was soon on display once again. He carped about Germany’s paltry defense spending, threatened trade penalties against members who don’t pony up and refused to commit to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the all-for-one clause that requires the group to defend any member under attack.
Trump is Trump: There’s every possibility that he’ll arrive at the next NATO summit brandishing a flame-thrower, instead of the pea-shooter he has wielded in London.
And not even Stoltenberg’s diplomatic skills can mask the fundamental problems — both philosophical and practical — that bedevil the alliance. These go beyond the previous spasms of disunity NATO has endured, such as the 1966 French withdrawal from the integrated military command or Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus and showdown with Greece.
An important reason NATO has held together for 70 years is the common perception of the threat posed by the Soviet Union and, more recently, Russia. But core members of the alliance no longer agree on this. Turkey is buying arms from Moscow, including missile systems that endanger NATO defenses; President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more suspicious about America’s intentions than Russia’s. Trump has been cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin at every opportunity, against the advice of his entire military and intelligence community. Macron is ambivalent at best.
Nor is there consensus over the other threats to the West: terrorism, cyberwarfare, China. Turkey and France have accused each other of harboring terrorists. The divisions over Russia compromise the alliance’s ability to defend against online attacks. And some NATO members see China more as a source of money than menace.
Even if most member states were to agree on what constitutes a threat, it doesn’t automatically follow that NATO is the best shield. Cyberwarfare requires subtler, more secretive approaches than the alliance is capable of deploying, and counterterrorism calls for swift, supple responses — not the kind of thing you leave to a giant multinational bureaucracy. Taking on China may require a North Pacific Treaty Organization, in which European militaries would play only a small part.
This doesn’t mean NATO is no longer relevant. It is relevant for the same reason it was at its founding: the potent threat of Moscow. Getting all the members to recognize this, and to act accordingly, will require much more than Stoltenberg’s diplomatic guile — it will take political leadership of a high order from the most powerful members. Nothing said or done in London this week suggested such leadership is at hand.

Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Huge Discrepancy
Moammar Al-Eryani/Asharq Al Awsat/December 11/2019
Every once in a while, we find people comparing the Saudi Arabian model with the Iranian model in the media.
In truth, it is an unfair comparison between a sibling and an enemy between a future and a past, between peace and war, and between construction and destruction.
Supporters of the Iranian regime insist on describing Iran as the “axis of resistance” against the “axis of moderation” represented by Saudi Arabia. They mean that Iran and its proxies in the region represent a barrier against the Israeli project. However, a more accurate comparison would portray the Iranian project and its proxies in the area as a facilitator for Israel. By creating crises, Iran allows Israel to take advantage of the actions of Iran and its proxies to divert Arab attention away from the Palestinian cause to other issues after Iranian infiltration has become an existential threat to Arabs that is no less violent than the Israeli model.
The wars, sectarian liquidations and ethnic conflicts that the Mullah regime has instigated in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Bahrain, is a shame for the regime that took it upon itself to rig the region, expropriate its resources and preoccupy it with one crisis after another. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, dedicates its capacities to deter this danger, plant the seeds of peace, diffuse tension and prevent escalation.
Saudi Arabia today, alongside all the good regimes, represents an orientation towards the future, construction, human wellbeing, integration and tolerance, while the theocratic regime in Iran entrenches itself in the graves of history and ditches of death. Under the aggressive so-called “exportation of revolution” principle, Iran injects the region with poison, vengeance, massacres and prejudices.
The regime in Tehran uses disinformation, deception, and political maneuvering to fool the Arab people and the international community. It is developing weapons of mass destruction, giving foreign powers justifications to intervene in our Arab region. The helpless Iranian people pay the price for the recklessness of their arrogant and evil leadership with their security and livelihoods.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia extends its open arms to the world and leads a sober project based on stability, social and economic wellbeing. This orientation, both materially and morally, reaches the rest of the world.
The Iranian regime suffers from international sanctions on its exports and severe isolation that forces it to knock on the doors of the black market, dealing under the table. Saudi Arabia’s position among the nations, on the other hand, is strengthened day after day. Next November, Riyadh will host the G20 summit, marking a golden moment in history that every Arab and Muslim can be proud of.
From here, the big question is asked: On what grounds do some call for support for the destructive Iranian project against the constructive Arab project represented by Saudi Arabia? What an unfair comparison and an impotent logic.

No More Swords in the West, Only Scimitars
Raymond Ibrahim/AMERICAN THINKER/December 11/2019
“If Islam is terrorizing the West today, that is not because it can, but because the West allows it to. For no matter how diminished, a still swinging Scimitar will always overcome a strong but sheathed Sword.”
Those are the very last two sentences of my 352-page book, Sword and Scimitar, which chronicles fourteen centuries of warfare between Islam and the West. They were meant to contrast how premodern Europeans — chief among them the Crusaders — took a manly stand and fought back against a then powerful and expansionist Islam, whereas their more decadent descendants in the modern West are eager to capitulate to a now weakened but still aggressive Islam in any which way possible.
Although that last sentence about “swinging scimitars” and “sheathed swords” was clearly symbolic, even the symbolism itself was recently validated: The owners of a famous sports team have just discarded their longtime logo — a sword-wielding Crusader — to show how “woke” they are and appease Muslims. According to a recent report:
One of New Zealand’s top rugby union teams, the Crusaders, has scrapped its knight and sword logo after a brand review in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack. The Christchurch-based side has opted for a Maori motif in place of the Crusades imagery following March’s attack in which a gunman opened fire at two mosques, killing 51 people. It did, however, decide to retain its name, despite criticism it was closely linked to the medieval religious wars between Muslims and Christians.
Yet, lest you think in retaining the name “Crusaders” the team is making some sort of stand, according to the NY Times, they are sticking with — or rather are stuck with — the name Crusaders “due to commercial and licensing agreements that could not be altered.” That has not prevented the team owners from spinning their connection to and use of the word “crusade” in a manner reminiscent of George W. Bush: “it was decided that no name better represented the club’s commitment to living its values — crusading for social improvement and inclusiveness, and crusading with heart for our community and for each other,” the club said in a statement.
Such appeasement is not without (shameful) precedent: In 2004, Arabian Business reported that “Spanish football giant Real Madrid has reportedly dropped the Christian cross affixed at the top of its official crest after signing a sponsorship deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.”
Meanwhile, Muslim nations, such as the home of Islam itself, Saudi Arabia (AKA “US friend and ally”™) proudly depict scimitars on their national flags, with the words, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger” — words that have gotten countless people, past and present, slaughtered for not reciting. No non-Muslim seems to be offended or concerned by that, but Westerners are rushing over themselves to change the logos and flags of, not nations, but small teams of men who play with balls — lest they appear too militant, too “mean.”
That, in a nutshell, sums up how the West and Islam see themselves and respond to one another. While Islam venerates its violent, jihadi past, and, wherever possible, seeks to relive it, the West is constantly disavowing its Crusader heritage.
And what exactly were the Crusades, that the West is so keen on distancing itself from? They were a militant, no-nonsense response to more than four centuries of jihadi aggression against and conquests of Christian and European territory. The particular Muslim invasions (between 1071-1094) that occasioned the First Crusade saw hundreds of thousands of Eastern Christians (mostly Armenians and Greeks) slaughtered or enslaved by Muslim Turks acting in the name of jihad. As the Byzantine princess, Anna Komnene (d.1153), who witnessed firsthand what the Turks had wrought in Anatolia, wrote, “cities were obliterated, lands were plundered, and the whole of Rhomaioi [Anatolia] was stained with Christian blood.” It was her father, Alexios the emperor, who implored the West for aid. In a letter to a friend, he summarized what Muslims invaders were doing to Christians:
Noble matrons and their daughters, robbed of everything, are violated one after another, like animals. Some [of their attackers] shamelessly place virgins in front of their own mothers and force them to sing wicked and obscene songs until they have finished having their ways with them . . . [M]en of every age and description, boys, youths, old men, nobles, peasants and what is worse still and yet more distressing, clerics and monks and woe of unprecedented woes, even bishops are defiled with the sin of Sodomy [that is, they are raped]…
It was this — concern for fellow Christians that prompted the First Crusade when it did. At Clermont in 1095, Pope Urban recited a portion of what everyone was talking about:
They [Muslim Turks] have completely destroyed some of God’s churches and they have converted others to the uses of their own cult [mosques]. They ruin the altars with filth and defilement. They circumcise Christians and smear the blood from the circumcision over the altars or throw it into the baptismal fonts. They are pleased to kill others by cutting open their bellies, extracting the end of their intestines, and tying it to a stake. Then, with flogging, they drive their victims around the stake until, when their viscera have spilled out, they fall dead on the ground. They tie others, again, to stakes and shoot arrows at them; they seize others, stretch out their necks, and try to see whether they can cut off their heads with a single blow of a naked sword. And what shall I say about the shocking rape of women? … Who is to revenge all this, who is to repair this damage, if you do not do it?
The Christians present, mostly Franks, cried “God wills it!” and were soon off to provide succor to their eastern coreligionists.
This is what so many in the West are eager to disavow and distance themselves from — including symbolically, by erasing the Crusader’s sword from their rugby team logo; and this is why “no matter how diminished, a still swinging Scimitar will always overcome a strong but sheathed Sword.”
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Judith Friedman Rosen Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute

Time to hit Iraqi elite where it hurts
Sir John Jenkins/Arab News/December 11/2019
Iraq is currently the most important country in the Arab Middle East. It has always been contested territory — in antiquity the site of a shifting border between Rome and Persia — and a place where important things happen. The 7th century battles of Al-Qadisiyyah and Karbala changed history. A hundred years later, the Abbasids with their black flags swept West on their way to destroying the Umayyads in Damascus. In the 9th century, the marshes of the south were the epicenter of the great Zanj Rebellion. During the First World War, the grinding Mesopotamian campaign and its aftermath cemented the northeastern borders of the modern Arab world.
More recently, Iraq has become a place where dreams die. With the benefit of hindsight, the bloody revolution of 1958 was perhaps the last real triumph of Nasserism. And the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, the Gulf War of 1990-91 and the agonies that followed the 2003 invasion all now seem a protracted prelude to what we see not just in Iraq but across the region as a whole: The testing to destruction of a range of political ideologies, from Arab nationalism, Ba’athism and Islamism to the forced imposition of democracy.
So the scenes now being played out on the streets of Baghdad, Basra, Nasiriyah, Hilla, Najaf and Karbala represent, at the same time, the end of illusion and a popular struggle for something else — better, more durable, more authentic — to fill the void. The protesters want an end to a corrupt sectarian system (made in Washington and perfected in Tehran) held in place by greedy and violent elites, and a new political dispensation that represents, listens and better meets their own material needs — those of the vast majority of the population of Iraq. They want this as Iraqis, not as Sunnis or Shiites or Christians or Yazidis or Kurds or Arabs. This is not to say that these identities are not important; they are. But people are tired of these identities being exploited by sectarian entrepreneurs for their own ends. They instead want a truly national politics that gives every Iraqi pride in being an active citizen of a functioning state.
The same is probably true of Lebanon and indeed Iran (or Algeria, where demonstrators have even built walls around polling stations to represent their contempt for the electoral gerrymandering of the ruling military elite). The slogans of the protesters in different countries rhyme: “All of you means all of you,” “We want a country,” “We are Lebanese/Iraqi not Iranian,” “We want you to focus on this country not foreign adventures.” A new revolutionary newspaper in Beirut quotes Umm Kulthum: “We are the people: Nothing is impossible for us.” A remarkable video clip on YouTube shows a traditional religious reciter in front of the Shrine of the Imam Husayn in Karbala declaiming verses appealing to heaven to support the protesters; saying there is not a single man of honor in Iraqi politics and those in power “are all thieves”. Although the protests are national, aimed at national governments and those — particularly but not only Iran — whom they accuse of interfering illegitimately in the affairs of other countries, their sympathies are broader, with Iraqi, Lebanese and Iranian protesters all supporting each other against structures of oppression.
Iraq is where this struggle will be decided. It matters more to the Islamic Republic than anywhere else. Iraq is where the severest external challenge to Ruhollah Khomeini emerged in the 1980s. Najaf threatens the aspirations of Ali Khamenei to establish the unchallenged doctrinal and spiritual authority of Qom. And, in a curious replay of events in the early 1920s, Iran has invested far too much in the recruitment, co-optation and intimidation of Shiite and other leaders in Iraq to let it go to waste.
And it’s getting very nasty. From the beginning of the protests over two months ago, dark forces — almost certainly affiliated to Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi and the Badr-controlled Ministry of the Interior — have been targeting demonstrators with lethal force. In the last week, as demonstrators returned en masse to Baghdad’s Tahrir Square and other key locations, counter-demonstrations have been used as cover for kidnappings, assaults and more killings — this time by stabbing as well as shooting. On Sunday, a prominent activist was assassinated by two men on a motorbike on his way home to Karbala from Baghdad (the CCTV footage is graphic). On the same day, an entire busload of protestors from Karbala went missing. On Monday, four rockets hit a joint US-Iraqi base near Baghdad — the ninth such attack on US facilities in the country in the last five weeks. And there was a mysterious drone attack on Muqtada Al-Sadr’s house in Najaf.
Meanwhile, the political class caucus with Qassem Soleimani and Hezbollah’s Abu Zainab Al-Kawthrani in order to identify a new prime minister who might be acceptable to the usual powerbrokers. They talk about constitutional and other amendments but don’t really mean it. And they offer up the occasional sacrificial lamb in the cause of fighting corruption in the hope the pressure will ease. The protesters want a truly national politics that gives every Iraqi pride in being an active citizen of a functioning state.
But it shouldn’t. Because they are not serious enough. The risk is now of complete political breakdown and a return to civil conflict. The international community has plentiful tools at its disposal to concentrate minds and help find a way through this minefield. The UN is very active on the ground, but it needs support. In a positive move, the US authorities have just sanctioned four individuals in Iraq — including the murderous Al-Khazali brothers — whom they believe to have been instrumental in enabling the bloody crackdown that Iran has demanded. But much more is needed. After all, there is no shortage of suitable targets.
It is true that sanctions can be overdone. But, as Michael Knights of the Washington Institute has recently pointed out, given that many in the Iraqi elite have squirrelled away so much ill-gotten cash outside the country — often in the UK — properly enforced financial sanctions will hit them where it hurts. When I was British ambassador in Baghdad a decade ago, I tried repeatedly to get people interested in the issue of corruption. I failed. But now, as the dark forces of repression continue to crack heads, it is beyond time for us to get cracking on their freedom of movement, their friends and their loot.
*Sir John Jenkins is a senior fellow at Policy Exchange. Until December 2017, he was Corresponding Director (Middle East) at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), based in Manama, Bahrain and was a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He was the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia until January 2015.

Europe oblivious to concerns of growing Iranian threat
Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/December 11/2019
There are increasing signs that Iran is planning more attacks in the Gulf. The US and its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partners are taking note and raising their readiness to deal with Iran’s aggression. Europe, however, is on a different wavelength. While acknowledging that Iran is violating the nuclear deal, UN Security Council resolution 2231 and international human rights law, some European nations are more interested in potential business opportunities with Iran.
Last week, a US Navy warship intercepted what officials called a “significant cache” of advanced Iranian missile parts, which were on their way to the Houthis in Yemen. The capture was especially significant because it was the first time such high-level missile parts had been intercepted en route to Yemen.
Also last week, the UN released a joint letter it had recently received from the ambassadors of France, Germany and the UK about Iran’s development of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. The ambassadors stated: “Iran’s developments of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and related technologies is inconsistent” with resolution 2231, which prohibits Iran from such development. They added that “these activities are the latest in a long series of advances in Iranian ballistic missile technology.” Publicly released US intelligence reports show that Iran possesses the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, with different ranges and capacities.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK and the high representative of the EU said in a joint statement last month that they were “extremely concerned” by Iran’s declaration that it was restarting uranium enrichment activities at the Fordow facility. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that finding in a report it released the same day.
In Iraq, there have been nine missile attacks on joint US-Iraq military facilities in the past month, including an attack this week that saw four missiles fired at US forces. American officials believe that Iran and Iranian-backed groups are behind these increasingly sophisticated attacks. Last Friday, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker said: “Iranian-backed militias are now shelling Iraqi bases with American and anti-(Daesh) coalition forces on them.”
There have also been media reports that Iran is clandestinely positioning short-range ballistic missiles in Iraq that could reach Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
Several factors may explain Iran’s escalations. First, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) must feel emboldened by the lack of direct military response to its brazen attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations in September and other attacks on shipping this year. Second, the IRGC is acting up because US-imposed sanctions are biting and reducing the money available to fund its activities. Third, and probably most important, are the protests directed against the Iranian government at home and against its presence in Iraq and Lebanon. By escalating tensions with the US and its Gulf partners, Iran aims to divert attention from those protests and the brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrators.
At last month’s Manama Dialogue, US officials, including Central Command head Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, warned against Iran’s escalation. McKenzie said the recent deployment of 14,000 additional American troops to the Gulf region had not stopped Iran from planning a major attack similar to its Sept. 14 missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations. He said that the additional troops, fighter jets and air defenses might have deterred Iranian attacks on American targets, but not attacks directed against non-American targets. “My judgment is that it is very possible they will attack again,” McKenzie emphasized.
In light of these assessments, the GCC summit, which took place in Riyadh on Tuesday, also sounded the alarm about possible aggression by Iran. Since the start of Iran’s direct attacks on shipping in May, GCC forces have increased their vigilance. The summit endorsed the recommendations made by the GCC Joint Defense Council, which is composed of ministers of defense, as well those of military commanders, to beef up their defensive capabilities, training and preparedness. Invoking Article 2 of the GCC Mutual Defense Treaty of 2000, the GCC members are mobilizing their resources to deal with the threat coming from Iran.
There are reports that the US is considering deploying more troops and military assets to the region, while the US and GCC are working together in an international coalition to protect maritime navigation. The coalition, known as the International Maritime Security Construct, was proposed by the US in July and started operations in November. Its area of operation covers the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the areas in between.
By escalating tensions with the US and its Gulf partners, Iran aims to divert attention from the protests at home.
But while the GCC and the US are joining forces to defend against Iranian aggression, European allies are not. Reluctant to join US-led efforts for fear of offending Iran, they are working alone — slowly and on a very limited scale — despite Europe’s strategic interest in keeping the Gulf safe for shipping and trade. In late November, French Defense Minister Florence Parly announced that a French naval base in the Gulf would serve as the headquarters for a new European-led maritime security mission. The new center is expected to open early next year and will begin operations with a staff of 15. Despite this small number, Parly said they will “contribute to making maritime navigation in the Gulf as safe as possible.” France hopes to attract about 10 European nations, but so far only the Netherlands has confirmed it will join the initiative over the coming year.
At the NATO summit in London last week, Iran was not on the agenda. Although it is US-led, NATO’s membership is mostly European nations, which appear to be more interested in trading with Iran than worrying about the threats emanating from Tehran. Earlier this month, six more European countries joined Britain, France and Germany in supporting the new European construct called Instex — a financial barter mechanism meant to help Iran circumvent US sanctions and enable European companies to do business with it.
Unfortunately it may take more Iranian attacks to persuade Europe to start worrying.
*Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC’s assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal, and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. Twitter: @abuhamad1