LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 08.2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’‘Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?’For from him and through him and to him are all things.
Letter to the Romans 11/25-36./:”So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, ‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’ ‘And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’‘Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?’For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 07-08/2020
Lebanon: Salameh Expects Economic Situation to Improve by Mid-2020
Lebanon's New Sunni Leadership Projects
STL: Assignment of Defence Counsel for the Accused Salim Jamil Ayyash
World Bank Official Says Aid to Lebanon Hinges on Reform Program
Aoun Tells Higher Defense Council ‘Security Must Be Controlled’
Diab Urges Businessmen to Be Partners in Salvation Process
Hammoud Replies to Berri: All Lebanese Banks Transferred Funds Abroad
Report: 'Emergency-Like' Measures to Be Enforced Alongside Confidence Vote
Rally Commemorating Rafik Hariri Moved to Center House
In-Absentia Arrest Warrant Issued for Rabih al-Zein
Germanos Says to Resign for 'Family Reasons'
Aswad Files Lawsuit Accusing Protesters of Injuring His Bodyguard
Lebanese Cabinet approves Policy Statement unanimously at Baabda Palace
Pope meets Eastern Catholic patriarchs, Rahi: His Holiness is aware Christians’ role and mission with their Muslim partners
Lebanon's Vatican Ambassador: World sympathizes with us, expects concrete steps
Hitti meets Ambassadors of France, Germany, European Union
Lebanese Consumers Association: Paying Eurobonds will accelerate economic breakdown
Kumar Jha from Ministry of Finance: World Bank awaits the Cabinet's reform program
Abdel Samad meets Daily Star delegation over circumstances to suspend print edition
Moucharafieh meets Lazzarini, Girard, Turkish ambassador
Osman, Indian Ambassador discuss general situation
Germanos tells NNA will step back for family reasons
Ambassador of Denmark, Merit Juhl
Chinese Ambassador to Lebanese, Chinese Businesspeople gathering: We will beat Coronavirus
Suicide epidemic sweeps Lebanon amid economic downturn/The New Arab/February 07/2020
Lebanese leaders hoped protesters would go home. They won't, and here's why/Michal Kranz/The New Arab/February/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 07-08/2020
23 killed in alleged Israeli strike in Syria, says war monitoring group
Palestinian Killed in Protest against Trump Peace Plan
Russia Accuses Israel of Endangering Civilian Flight
Saudi crown prince could soon meet Israel's Netanyahu in historic Cairo summit
British ambassador returns to Iran after brief arrest last month
EU’s Borrell Discusses Middle East, Iran on US Trip
Observers: Major Escalation between Israel, Palestinians Unlikely
Nearly 550 Killed in Iraq Protest Violence, Says Rights Commission
Sistani Condemns Deadly Violence against Iraq Protesters
China Virus Crisis Deepens as Whistleblower Doctor Dies
Trump says Congress should 'expunge' his impeachmen

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 07-08/2020
Political change in Iran may begin with its labor movement/David Ignatius/The Washington Post/February 07/2020
Iran exploits vacuum of power in southern Syria to threaten Israel/Why would Iran do all this in southern Syria?
USA Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenel criticizes Germany for planned celebration of Iran’s terror regime/Benjamin Weinthal/FDD/February 07/2020
Hassan Rouhani, A Man of a Thousand Faces Wears a New Mask/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 07/2020
Palestinians: Arab Leaders Talking to Israel Are 'Traitors, Jews'/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/February 07/2020
Are Iran’s Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani’s demise?/Lela Gilbert & Arielle Del Turco/Jerusalem Post/February 07/2020
Russia reluctant to support Iran’s destabilizing behavior/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 07/2020
Turkey, Russia trying to ensure relations don’t turn ugly/Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/February 07/2020
A tale of coexistence in a divided region/Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/February 07/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 07-08/2020
Lebanon: Salameh Expects Economic Situation to Improve by Mid-2020
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 February, 2020
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said that the current crisis was not financial and economic, but came against internal and external political backdrops. He added that the economic situation would improve by June 2020. Salameh’s words came during his meeting on Thursday with a gathering of Lebanese businessmen and businesswomen in the world. Talks revolved around the current economic, financial, monetary and social conditions in Lebanon, and their impact on the private sector and economic and trade relations with the world. “The problem in Lebanon is not an economic-financial problem, but rather a problem that has preset political backgrounds internally, regionally and internationally,” Salameh said, noting that one of the factors of the problem was linked to “the need to reopen the market so we have foreign currencies, especially in the banking sector in order to revive trade and industry.” “We hope that within three to five weeks, we will put in place a specific mechanism that has the flexibility and freedom to finance urgent cases by banks", the BDL governor announced. The current crisis is a great blow that occurred amid agonizing conditions in the region, Salameh said, stressing that the problem was initially aimed at “shaking the structure.”“But the structure has overcome the dangerous stage,” he underlined. Highlighting the importance of fresh money [coming directly from abroad] in providing liquidity, Salameh said: “From now until next June, the economic and financial situation will be at ease in Lebanon.”

Lebanon's New Sunni Leadership Projects
Asharq Al Awsat/February 07/2020
The outbreak of the Lebanese uprising was preceded by several attempts to form alternative Sunni political entities to the Future movement of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Most of these attempts were made by politicians who had supported Hariri for many years before abandoning him. However, after October 17, many of them realized that the country has changed forever, especially with regard to the way in which Lebanese citizens view their affiliations and loyalties.
Sectarianism will not become irrelevant in the foreseeable future, but what has been happening for more than a hundred days indicates that transcending sectarianism is possible with the national Lebanese identity crystalizing. Thus, they have realized that their old projects have become obsolete.
Saad Hariri’s decline was gradual. It spanned many years, starting in 2009 when the March 14 coalition failed to translate their electoral victory into a political one, as it was forced to form a coalition government with its opponents. Then the setbacks continued: from internal austerity to the eventual total collapse of March 14 to the presidential settlement of 2016 that brought Michel Aoun to the presidency. These events were accompanied by a growing sense of frustration among the Sunni public stemming from their feeling that Hariri, who had invested in the community’s animosity against Hezbollah to mobilize his base, was too weak to stop Hezbollah’s expansion. After the Syrian Revolution, his helplessness became even more apparent. More importantly, Saad Hariri was not able to revive the economic project that was a pillar of his father’s leadership. Indeed, he closed the media and service-delivering institutions that his father established. Making matters worse, he was accused of corruption and imposing unfair taxes; the later culminated with Whats App tax, proposed by one of the Future ministers, which sparked the Lebanese revolution. Last but not least, we have his alliance with Gebran Bassil, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, who was despised by the majority of the Lebanese, as demonstrated by the chants directed against him during the protests. Those who tried to replace Hariri failed because they failed, as he did, in both providing economic prosperity and countering Hezbollah’s influence. For example, Ashraf Rifi, who managed to win the 2016 municipal elections in Tripoli by taking a more hard-line stance on Hezbollah and contrasting the poverty of the city’s residents with their leaders’ wealth, failed miserably in the parliamentary election of 2018. It goes without saying that such projects will have even fewer chances of success in the future for two reasons: the first is their inability to produce the new kind of leadership in an environment where people have grown weary of the traditional leadership model. The second is that it impossible for these current Sunni leaders to mobilize on the basis of confronting Hezbollah since they did not hold a primary seat in the Sunni community at a time of deeper fragmentation within it. Today, the Sunni community, with its fragmentized leadership, presents a model that the rest of the sects should emulate.

STL: Assignment of Defence Counsel for the Accused Salim Jamil Ayyash
Naharnet/February 07/2020
On 5 February 2020, Trial Chamber II decided that Ayyash would be tried in absentia. The following day, the Pre-Trial Judge, Judge Daniel Fransen, requested the Head of Defence Office, Dorothée Le Fraper du Hellen, to assign Counsel to represent the interests and rights of the Accused, said STL in a press release. The Head of Defence Office therefore assigned Emile Aoun, a lawyer at the Beirut Bar, as Lead Counsel and Anta Guissé, a lawyer at the Paris Bar, as Co-Counsel to defend the interests and rights of Salim Jamil Ayyash in the case of The Prosecutor v. Ayyash (STL 18-10) in connection with the attacks against Marwan Hamade, George Hawi and Elias El-Murr. The Head of Defence Office considered that it was in the best interests of the Accused that Emile Aoun, Lead Counsel in the case of The Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al. (STL 11-01), should also represent the interests and rights of Ayyash in the present case (STL 18-10), as the case concerns the same Accused and in view of his in-depth knowledge of the procedures before the STL. The Defence Office will provide all the legal, logistical and financial support necessary to the newly constituted Defence team to enable it to fulfil its Defence mandate.

World Bank Official Says Aid to Lebanon Hinges on Reform Program
Naharnet/February 07/2020
World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha held talks Friday in Beirut with Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni and said the Bank is awaiting the government's reform program to decide how to support the Lebanese people. The official also stressed that the World Bank is committed to helping Lebanon create better job opportunities for its people and in funding projects in the health, education and electricity sectors. Kumar Jha also urged serious steps within specific timeframes and said it is up to the government to decide whether or not to pay off Eurobond debt in March. The official also stressed that any World Bank aid will not harm the poorest segments of the population.

Aoun Tells Higher Defense Council ‘Security Must Be Controlled’
Naharnet/February 07/2020
Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council convened at Baabda on Friday to tackle the security situation before next week’s parliament session dedicated to hold a confidence vote for the new Cabinet, amid demonstrators’ pledges to escalate protests. President Michel Aoun chaired the meeting held in the presence of PM Hassan Diab, ministers and leaders of security and military apparatuses. A spokesman for the Council recited a statement to reporters after the meeting stating that President Michel Aoun has "stressed the need to keep security under control to preserve stability and civil peace."
"He also said that efforts must be coordinated between military and security agencies to preempt any acts of sabotage," added the spokesman. As per regulations, the decisions of the Higher Defense Council are kept secret. The Parliament is scheduled to convene on Tuesday and Wednesday to review the new Cabinet’s Policy Statement and hold a confidence vote. Demonstrators have vowed to escalate protests in parallel with the confidence vote for Diab's government which they rejected since inception on January 21. The policy statement, approved on Thursday, comes as Lebanon grapples with a financial crisis, which has seen the value of the Lebanese pound fall by a fourth on the parallel market. Lebanon has been rocked by protests since October 17 demanding a complete overhaul of a political class which activists say is inept, corrupt and motivated by personal gain. Demonstrators have on several occasions protested near the Parliament in Nejmeh Square preventing lawmakers from reaching the building, demonstrating against rulers blamed for mismanagement, corruption and steering the country towards economic collapse.

Diab Urges Businessmen to Be Partners in Salvation Process
Naharnet/February 07/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday urged the Lebanese to join efforts in order to salvage the country from multiple crises it “inherited from previous policies,” the National News Agency reported on Friday. Diab pinned hopes on the substantial role of the Lebanese abroad, including that of expatriates and businessmen, to assist Lebanon amidst this crucial stage. His remarks came during a meeting at the Grand Serail with a delegation representing the RDCL World, the Association of Lebanese Business People in the World, headed by RDCL World President Fouad Zmokhol. "We are wagering on this role to be part of the rescue plan, because if Lebanon collapses, God forbid, everyone will pay a dear price, be it Lebanese residents, expatriates, ordinary citizens, employees, businessmen, and economic institutions; no one will be spared," Diab warned. "Our country is enduring an exceptional stage that carries many challenges and risks. Today we are facing a dead wall, and the solution remains to destroy the wall that strangles Lebanon, disrupts its economic cycle, causes social and living crises, increases unemployment and triggers an acute shortage of liquidity," Diab said. He went on to point to the dwindling capabilities of the state in light of the current challenges. "Thus, we are exerting relentless efforts and employing all our capabilities and contacts to make a difference; however, we mostly look forward to the important role of Lebanese expatriates and businessmen."

Hammoud Replies to Berri: All Lebanese Banks Transferred Funds Abroad
Naharnet/February 07/2020
Chairman of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL) Samir Hammoud replied to Speaker Nabibh Berri’s statement on Friday saying that all Lebanese banks, not just five of them, have transferred a total of $2.3 billion to banks in Switzerland after the October 17 uprising.
“Reports that owners of five Lebanese banks have transferred $2.3 billion are inaccurate. According to our information, the entire Lebanese banks, not just five of them, have sent funds equivalent to that amount to Swiss banks between October 17, 2019 and January 10, 2020,” said Hammoud in remarks to the daily. “BCCL is aware of the total amounts transferred to Switzerland, but the committee does not have the legal right to know the owners, and therefore there are no known names at all,” added Hammoud. On Wednesday, during his weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting with lawmakers, Berri said he managed to “confirm” that the owners of five Lebanese banks have sent their “personal money” abroad, estimated at $2.3 billion, despite the informal capital controls that have been imposed on depositors since November.

Report: 'Emergency-Like' Measures to Be Enforced Alongside Confidence Vote
Naharnet/February 07/2020
Extremely tight security measures will be imposed next week when the Parliament convenes on a confidence vote for the new government of PM Hassan Diab, with security officials describing the steps similar to ones taken in a state of emergency, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.
“Security forces and army troops will be in a state of emergency in parallel with the confidence session vote,” a security source told the daily on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly. “The troops will carry out intensive and strict measures around several areas mainly in downtown Beirut (the Parliament's location), which will be more like a military operations zone. Military and security forces will be motivated to confront any riots, or any attempt to disturb security,” he added. The parliament would convene on Tuesday and Wednesday to review the new Cabinet’s Policy Statement and hold a confidence vote. The policy statement was approved Thursday expected to outline a broad action plan to save the protest-hit country from one of its worst economic crises in decades. The National News Agency said President Michel Aoun called the Higher Defense Council for a meeting on Friday to discuss security measures in line with the session. Diab and his new government face the twin challenge of angry street protests and a collapsing economy, with Lebanon burdened by debt of nearly 90 billion dollars, or more than 150 percent of GDP.

Rally Commemorating Rafik Hariri Moved to Center House
Naharnet/February 07/2020
A February 14 rally marking the 15th anniversary of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and his companions has been moved from the BIEL venue in central Beirut to the residence of ex-PM Saad Hariri -- the Center House. A statement issued by al-Mustaqbal Movement said the change comes at the request of the former premier. “Seeing as al-Mustaqbal Movement had distributed invitations specifying the rally’s venue as BIEL, and in light of the tight timeframe separating us from the date, it calls on all invitees to take note that the ceremony has been moved to the Center House, where ex-PM Saad Hariri will personally meet them and address a speech to them,” the statement added.

In-Absentia Arrest Warrant Issued for Rabih al-Zein
Naharnet/February 07/2020
Mount Lebanon Investigative Judge Bassam al-Hajj on Friday dismissed a medical report filed by the lawyer of protest movement activist Rabih al-Zein. The judge also issued an in-absentia arrest warrant for al-Zein and ordered a broader investigation. The lawyer, Nouhad Salma, said al-Zein has been admitted into hospital over a medical emergency. “I presented a medical report from the doctor examining my client, but the report was rejected by Judge al-Hajj who considered to be not serious and aimed at procrastination,” the lawyer added. He also noted that the arrest warrant is related to “incitement to the firebombing of banks and the torching of the office of the Free Patriotic Movement” in Jounieh. Al-Zein had been released on bail earlier this week.

Germanos Says to Resign for 'Family Reasons'
Naharnet/February 07/2020
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Peter Germanos announced Friday that he is stepping down. In a phone call to the National News Agency, Germanos said he will on Tuesday submit a request to be relieved of his duties to Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najem for “purely family reasons.”Asked whether his decision is related to not being invited to the meeting of the Higher Defense Council or any other reasons, Germanos denied the hypotheses and stressed that the reason is strictly family-related.

Aswad Files Lawsuit Accusing Protesters of Injuring His Bodyguard
Naharnet/February 07/2020
MP Ziad Aswad of the Strong Lebanon bloc on Friday filed a lawsuit with the Mount Lebanon prosecution through his lawyer Antoine Atallah. The National News Agency said Aswad is suing the protesters Habib Najem, Alain Waked, Wajdi al-Arja, Rabih al-Zein, Carlos Zgheib, Ghassan Bustani, Michel Bustani, Charbel Zgheib aka Charbel Younan and Roger Akiki on charges of “harming one of his bodyguards and vandalizing public and private property.”A clash had erupted Wednesday evening between anti-government protesters and supporters of MP Aswad and the Free Patriotic Movement outside a restaurant the lawmaker was having dinner at in Jounieh. Aswad had tweeted that one of his bodyguards was injured after being run over by a car carrying protesters. “They tried to storm the place and one was carrying a visible gun that was handed over to the Ghazir police station after which it turned out that it is semi-real,” Aswad tweeted on Thursday. A circulated video meanwhile showed supporters of Aswad beating up and insulting a young man and telling him he had no business being in Keserwan since he hails from Tripoli. The video also shows a car with smashed windows. A group of lawyers had on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Aswad’s bodyguards and supporters, accusing them of “inciting hatred and sectarian and regional strife” and calling for their arrest and prosecution. Anti-government protesters have targeted several politicians in public places in recent weeks, mostly at restaurants. The protesters have argued that politicians should not engage in leisure activities at a time the country is facing its worst financial and economic crisis since the civil war.
Lebanon has been rocked by protests since October 17 demanding a complete overhaul of a political class which activists say is inept, corrupt and motivated by personal gain. The demonstrations have reduced in size in recent weeks.

Lebanese Cabinet approves Policy Statement unanimously at Baabda Palace
NNA/February 07/2020
The Cabinet approved the Policy Statement, today at the Presidential Palace in a session held at 9:00 am, chaired by President Michel Aoun, and attended by Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, and Ministers.
The session was preceded by a meeting between the President and Prime Minister, in which the most prominent issues, in the Draft Policy Statement (made by the Ministerial Committee and issued by the Government) were discussed.
After the session, Information Minister, Manal Abdel Samad, made the following statement:
“The Cabinet held a meeting, chaired by His Excellency, the President of the Republic, and attended by the Prime Minister and Ministers. At the beginning, His Excellency welcomed the Prime Minister, and Ministers, and thanked the efforts made to accomplish the Policy Statement, stressing the need to set priorities in every Ministry because the projects are numerous, and it is necessary to highlight what is essential and urgent, more than other issues.
The President of the Republic said: “Work must begin immediately, after the Government gains confidence, to make up for time in the past weeks. I am confident that Ministers can carry out all assigned tasks”
His Excellency asked the Prime Minister to add the issue of return of displaced Syrians to the Policy Statement, especially since the majority of these displaced came to Lebanon escaping difficult security conditions, and must return after it has become safe in most of Syria.
The President pointed out that some countries have been opposing the return of the displaced, and we wonder about reasons for this opposition. Even though we raised this file in all international and regional meetings, to help and encourage them to return, and we are still awaiting international response.
Afterwards, the Prime Minister said “This session is devoted to approving the Policy Statement’s format, which we consider as a work program defining our aspirations and methodology of thinking. This Statement is not reproduced, it resulted from 11 meetings, and will represent a model for following Governments. I praise the efforts exerted to complete the Policy Statement in its final form, and also acknowledge the seriousness that prevailed in Policy Statement- committee discussions, and among members, especially the effort made by the Deputy Prime Minister (Minister of National Defense)”.
PM Diab added that “The Policy Statement is a result of facts and studies, and does not carry any personal approaches or individual calculations. Our ambition is much greater, however pragmatism put us in front of non-ignorable facts”.
The Prime Minister indicated that the name he gave to this Government is “The Government of Facing Challenges”, and asked each Minister to draw up a list of projects to be ready during our meetings with international officials, as well as during work visits.
Afterwards, the Cabinet’s Secretary-General read out the Policy Statement, and some amendments were done. Afterwards the Statement was approved”.
Questions & Answers with Journalists:
Question: What amendments were made to the statement?
Answer: Technical amendments were added as a result of observations, made by concerned parties, i.e. concerned Ministers.
Question: Why was the issues of the displaced added as long as it is in the Statement?
Answer: It is true that it exists, but the desire was to clarify that the displaced in Lebanon are not political refugees, but rather security ones, whom came due to security conditions in order to ensure their safety, this matter is not disputable.
Question: Does this specify Lebanon’s position concerning the return of the displaced?
Answer: A clear and undetailed position, because ideas are visions, in the framework of the Ministerial Statement.
Question: Are there promises within the Policy Statement that set short deadlines for securing electricity?
Answer: There is a plan which was approved in the 2019 Cabinet, which will be implemented with some amendments if necessary, and this is an issue of the specified Ministry, which is the Energy Ministry to study all alternatives and secure electricity as promised.
Question: Why was the name changed to “The Government to Face Challenges”?
Answer: The Prime Minister intended to change the name from “Exceptional Government” to “The Government to Face Challenges”, in order to prevent any confusion which might be negatively understood by the name. Knowing that the Government, and all Ministries, are positive, and that it is also not understood in another framework as an exception for anyone. Hence, the clarification was made, but indeed the Government faces challenges that we all have to face.
Question: Has a paragraph been added to the electricity issue, which allows modifications?
Answers: Yes, the implementation of the electricity plan has been approved with some modifications, if necessary. This is a matter which refers to studies which will be conducted and is technical of course, and the concerned Minister will clarify all matters.
Question: has the “Triple Equation” based on Army, People and Resistance, been changed?
Answer: No, there is no dispute about this equation.
Question: Was the displaced issue inserted, as the President desired?
Answer: This item was noticeable, and His Excellency the President, gave his remarks and added them.
Question: Is it true that there was tension between Ministers?
Answer: There was no tension, because the discussion took place in an objective, scientific and frank manner.
Question: Will investigations continue concerning the issue of smuggling money abroad, till the end?
Answer: This matter was noted in the Policy Statement.
Question: What is the role of Lebanon at the foreign policy level?
Answer: The Foreign Minister gave valuable comments and ideas in this regard, and were added to the statement.
Question: What are the procedures to gain confidence of the international community?
Answer: The main confidence is the people’s confidence and that of the Parliament, because it is elected by the people. As for the international community, when they notice the reforms which will take place and the seriousness of the work and the objective approach in dealing with problems and files, we inevitably regain their confidence.
Question: Was the Eurobond issue raised?
Answer: No, this topic was not raised today.—Presidency Press Office

Pope meets Eastern Catholic patriarchs, Rahi: His Holiness is aware Christians’ role and mission with their Muslim partners
NNA/February 07/2020
The Holy Pontiff, Pope Francis, met this Friday at the Vatican with the Catholic Patriarchs of the East, with whom he tackled affairs related to the Church and the Middle East's overall situation. The Pope received from Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi a memorandum containing a detailed explanation of the situation in Lebanon and the region. After the meeting, Rahi said "I was very happy that His Holiness is aware of the Churches’ issues in the Middle East and of the importance of Christians' presence, role and mission with their Muslim partners."

Lebanon's Vatican Ambassador: World sympathizes with us, expects concrete steps
NNA /February 07/2020
Lebanon's ambassador to the Vatican, Farid Elias Al-Khazen, stressed that "Europe and the Vatican have an interest and love for Lebanon, but the Lebanese have to face their domestic issues. It would have been possible to intervene directly and strongly if a war had been going on in Lebanon and foreign interference has been taking place, but that is not the case."Ambassador Al-Khazen spoke to the NNA, describing the relationship between Lebanon and the Vatican as "normal, but the world is busy with major issues like the Coronavirus and Trump's new heresy, the Deal of the Century." "The Lebanese crisis is internal, and everyone sympathizes with Lebanon," he said, stressing that "the political class ought to initiate more than necessary reforms." "No one will come from abroad to assist this class and do the work on its behalf. The Vatican supports and provides assistance, but fruitful work must take place at the national level," he asserted. Regarding the burdens incurred by Lebanon, he said: "There is an assertion in the Vatican that Lebanon has a certain specificity and cannot tolerate a large number of Syrians. Let's be frank, there is special interest in Lebanon because it is the country of liberties; Christians and Muslims live in it safely, and Christians play an indispensable political role." He pointed out that "His Holiness, Pope Francis deems his visit to Abu Dhabi historic, and should be activated. It is also from this perspective that Lebanon plays a role as an environment and a society prepared historically, politically and culturally for Islamic-Christian conviviality."

Hitti meets Ambassadors of France, Germany, European Union
NNA/February 07/2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, received on Friday French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher, German Ambassador George Berglin and European Union Ambassador Ralph Tarraf.
Discussions reportedly touched on the role of Lebanon in the Middle East peace process and its position vis-à-vis the "Deal of the century".
Minister Hitti also discussed with his visitors the means needed to help Lebanon get out of its economic crisis. The Minister also met with Ambassadors of Switzerland, Poland, Canada and Armenia.

Lebanese Consumers Association: Paying Eurobonds will accelerate economic breakdown
NNA/February 07/2020
The Lebanese Consumers Association on Friday issued a statement, in which it warned of Prime Minister Hassan Diab's promise that his era "will not witness a payment default of Eurobonds."
The statement warned that the Premiere was referring to $ 4.8 billion worth maturities that were due in the first half of 2020, half of which were external bonds. "This payment will be made with the remaining deposit funds in the Central Bank," the statement said. "Paying $ 4.8 billion will most definitely be a new consolation prize for banks and large depositors, but it will deprive the Lebanese economy and the Lebanese in general from purchasing the most basic materials that the country needs including food, medicine, fuel, and other raw materials for industry and agriculture," the statement explained.
"Paying the Eurobonds will torch the remaining citizens' rights," the Lebanese Consumers Association's statement added.

Kumar Jha from Ministry of Finance: World Bank awaits the Cabinet's reform program
NNA/February 07/2020
Finance Minister, Dr. Ghazi Wazni, on Friday met with at his office in the Ministry a delegation from the World Bank Group headed by Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Saroj Kumar Jha. Discussions during the meeting emphasized the World Bank's commitment to supporting Lebanon in terms of creating better job opportunities for the Lebanese people and expanding the horizon of investments in the various sectors, within projects funded in cooperation with the World Bank, especially those related to health, education and electricity. On emerging, Kumar Jha said that the World Bank was awaiting the reform program of the new government to determine accordingly how to support the Lebanese people. "Our meeting with the Minister of Finance was good. The World Bank has been a strong partner to the Lebanese people. We learned from the Minister that the ministerial statement has been finalized and will be voted upon very soon at the House of Parliament." said Kumar Jha. Kumar Jha added the World Bank expected this statement to be strong encompassing solid measures and an action plan with a specific time limit, given the unprecedented crisis facing Lebanon. In reply to a question, the World Bank Official stressed that "The Lebanese government should provide an ambitious reform program that begins with addressing financial and banking issues, in addition to infrastructure, especially in the electricity sector. However, there are also other sectors that need immediate attention."
"Lebanon could overcome the current crisis, but this would require strong political will and an action plan with a specific time limit. This is what the World Bank expects from this new government," maintained Kumar Jha.

Abdel Samad meets Daily Star delegation over circumstances to suspend print edition
NNA/February 07/2020
Minister of Information Dr. Manal Abdel Samad Najed, on Friday met at her office in the Ministry the Daily Star's Editor in Chief, Nabil Ladki, and the English-language Newspaper's Financial and Administrative Director, Jamal Zein, with whom she discussed the circumstances that led to the suspension of the Daily's print edition. Minister Abdel Samad underscored the importance of supporting the press to continue to play its pioneering and cultural role. The Minister emphasized that she will spare no effort to help fortify this profession that has long been a pioneer in Lebanon and the region.

Moucharafieh meets Lazzarini, Girard, Turkish ambassador
NNA/February 07/2020
Minister of Social Affairs, Ramzi Moucharafieh, received this Friday at his office in the Ministry, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Lebanon, Philippe Lazzarini, with whom he discussed the work of international organizations in Lebanon. Minister Moucharafieh then met with the Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Lebanon, Mireille Girard, with talks reportedly touching on the Syrian refugees' issue. Both agreed on the importance of finding a comprehensive national solution to the issue of the return of displaced Syrians to their country. The Minister also met with Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Hakan Cakil, who expressed his country's readiness to cooperate with the ministry on the issue of Syrian refugees.

Osman, Indian Ambassador discuss general situation
NNA/February 07/2020
Internal Security Forces chief, Imad Osman, received this Friday the Indian Ambassador to Lebanon, Suhel Ajaz Khan, with whom he discussed the general situation. Maj. Gen. Osman then received MP Edgard Trabolsi, with the country's general situation featuring high on their talks.

Germanos tells NNA will step back for family reasons
NNA/February 07/2020
Government commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Peter Germanos, told the National News Agency this Friday that he has decided to submit to Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm an application to end his services, for "sheer family reasons."Asked whether or not his decision was influenced by his non-invitation to the meetings of the Higher Defense Council or any other reasons, Judge Germanos dismissed such allegations, affirming that he was stepping back for "sheer family-related reasons."

Ambassador of Denmark, Merit Juhl
NNA/February 07/2020
Minister of Energy and Water, Raymond Ghajar, met this Friday with the Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon, Hakan Cakil, with talks touching on ways to bolster cooperation in the fields of electricity, gas and water, especially in light of the opportunities available for investment in Lebanon in the sectors of energy and water. The Minister also welcomed the Ambassador of Denmark, Merete Juhl, and tackled with her the projects for securing wind energy and the possibility of using a Danish-made wind turbines for that purpose. The Danish Ambassador expressed her country's desire to continue working in Lebanon and securing the necessary funding for future projects, for the sake of both countries.

Tarraf visits Najjar, utters European willingness to assist Lebanon
NNA/February 07/2020
Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Michel Najjar, received this Friday the head of the European Union Mission, Ralph Tarraf, on a protocol visit during which they discussed the political and economic conditions in the country and the current challenges facing Lebanon. Ambassador Tarraf expressed "the interest and willingness of the European Union to assist Lebanon, especially in terms of the projects related to public transport, after the government gains confidence."

Chinese Ambassador to Lebanese, Chinese Businesspeople gathering: We will beat Coronavirus
NNA/February 07/2020
Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon, Wang Kejian, on Friday confirmed before a delegation representing the Lebanese-Chinese Businesspeople gathering, headed by Ali Mahmoud Al-Abdullah, that China would beat the Coronavirus. "China will overcome the Coronavirus and its aftermath," the Chinese diplomat asserted. He also affirmed that the Chinese Government was doing a great job to contain the situation. "China will be able to overcome the difficulties accompanying this stage, especially that the Chinese economy is strong and able to deal with the crisis," he added.
The Chinese Ambassador thanked the delegation for its solidarity visit, noting that the effect of the virus on the economy would be temporary and short. "The Chinese maritime shipments do not pose any health risk," he added.
He finally confirmed that China was cooperating responsibly and transparently with the World Health Organization and was sharing information about the virus, its prevention, and its treatment methods.

Suicide epidemic sweeps Lebanon amid economic downturn
The New Arab/February 07/2020
Two suicides were reported on Wednesday by local media in Lebanon, as concern grew over the mental state of citizens amid harsh economic conditions.Tags:Lebanon, suicides, Embrace, protests, banks, economy, A Lebanese father of three shot himself on Wednesday, as reports of a second suicide on the same day surfaced amid growing concerns of the impact of the economy on the protest-hit country's citizens. Danny Abou Haider, 41, ended his life shortly after returning from work, his father who was in the house at the time told local media. It was reported that Haider had been dismissed from his job, where he had only received only part of his salary the previous month. A second suicide was reported on Wednesday after the body of Antonio Tannous, a member of the Internal Security Forces, was found in the outskirts of Akkar, with his gun by his side. Wednesday's reported suicides are not the first arising amid the harsh economic conditions faced by many in Lebanon today. Naji Fliti, a 40-year-old father of two, committed suicide outside his home in the border region of Arsal on Sunday after he was unable pay outstanding medical bills for his cancer-stricken wife, according to local reports.
His death resonated with many on social media, who blamed the country's under-fire political class for failing to address a months-long economic downturn. "He is a victim of this regime, of this political class and their financial and monetary policies," Doumit Azzi Draiby, an activist, said on Twitter. Protesters gathered in central Beirut on Wednesday to mourn Abi Haidar's death. "How many more suicides do you want?" read one placard raised by a protester. Lebanon's dire economic situation has resulted in inflation, swelling unemployment and fears of a currency devaluation. Last month, banks rolled out currency control measures, putting limits on the amount people can withdraw. The World Bank says around a third of Lebanese live in poverty and has warned the struggling economy could further deteriorate if a new cabinet is not formed quickly.
A state of anxiety
A number of attempted suicides were also reported on Wednesday, including one of a man who was hospitalised after setting himself on fire and another man prevented from jumping off a tall building.  Many have also reached out to the local NGO Embrace, who runs a suicide prevention hotline. "Those thinking of attempting suicide are most likely suffering a mental illness, which comes as a result of increased stress and anxiety," Lea Zeinoun, executive director at Embrace, told The New Arab. "So there is a biological factor there, which is then amplified by environmental and economic factor. "It is important not to pinpoint a suicide to one factor, as that simplifies the situation of mental illness, which is much deeper than that," Zeinoun says. "When it comes to suicide, it is important to mention two things. Firstly, there are people who think about it, and secondly, there are people who attempt it," Zeinoun said, noting that the organisation has had an increase in rate of calls recently. "We encourage people to reach out and speak to someone and we offer a telephone service to support them."Embrace had requested from government officials to enable their prevention hotline to be accessed free of charge.
"They refused to do that," she tells The New Arab. "So now we tell those who cannot afford to call us to give us a missed call and we would call them back."The group operates with volunteers who have undergone specialised training in listening and suicide risk assessment. Their hotline number is 1564.

Lebanese leaders hoped protesters would go home. They won't, and here's why
ميكال كرنز/القيادات في لبنان يتمنون أن تنتهي الإنتفاضة ويعود الثوار إلى منازلهم ولكن هذا التمني لن يتحقق لهذه الأسباب
Michal Kranz/The New Arab/February/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/82982/%d9%85%d9%8a%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%84-%d9%83%d8%b1%d9%86%d8%b2-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%85%d9%86%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a3%d9%86/
Over three months since they began, Lebanon's anti-government protests have seen their fair share of stops and starts.
Protest fatigue, disillusionment, and partisan violence helped dampen protestors' spirits in December as the country's leaders struggled to form a new government that would appease the street and pave the way for Lebanon's economic recovery.
Yet in mid-January, demonstrations started up again, this time with a new ferocity and at times turning violence, just in time for recetly appointed Prime Minister Hassan Diab's cabinet to be unveiled on 21 January. Nationwide marches have now continued into February.
Now, Lebanese authorities are attempting to force another round of protest doldrums, this time perhaps permanently. Over the last several weeks, security forces have used instances of rioting to justify the use of excessive force and intimidation tactics, along with mass arrests, and they have also taken steps to limit the ability of people to demonstrate altogether.
New concrete walls and police fences have been erected across Beirut's downtown, and late last month, there were attempts to open Martyrs' Square to traffic for the first time since October 17.
But in the long run, tactics like these are inevitably doomed to fail. Few Lebanese are convinced that Prime Minister Hassan Diab's new government is anything but a refashioning of the status quo under the tutelage of Hezbollah and its political allies, and there remains no credible solution to stop Lebanon's downward spiral toward economic ruin and mass poverty.
Lebanese authorities are attempting to force another round of protest doldrums
Under other circumstances, the political will to revolt may have evaporated by now. But in Lebanon, deteriorating material conditions and ever-rising frustration with the political elite's inability to relieve public suffering means that the country's months-long unrest will not be stifled anytime soon.
In the eyes of Lebanon's leaders, the political class has done its job - it has paid lip service to the aims of the revolution, allowed people to protest peacefully, and has created a new government that keeps them at the reins while giving the illusion of progress. Now, they want a return to normalcy.
But the steps the new cabinet has taken have not convinced demonstrators and civil society to give them what they want. Although the cabinet is indeed full of new faces and includes several ministers who are experts in their fields, it is far from independent.
Not to mention, Lebanon's parliament has remained unchanged since the beginning of the protests and is still headed by one of the demonstrators' primary targets, Speaker Nabih Berri.
It is difficult to imagine that any of Lebanon's corrupt politicians will face accountability for their crimes before a shift takes place here first, ideally spurred by new elections under the auspices of a revised electoral law.
Yet political changes like these are only part of the solution. Diab's cabinet has yet to lay out a credible economic recovery and reform plan that will convince the international community to lend its support to Lebanon.
The 2020 budget passed by parliament this week is unrealistic and offers little that would alleviate the country's economic crisis. Although no new taxes were proposed, no economic assistance to the Lebanese people has been discussed either, even though rates of poverty in the country are set to rise if current realities continue.
It is no surprise then that many of the most committed demonstrators this month have hailed from the poorest parts of Lebanon - Tripoli, the north, and the Beqaa Valley. Without changes in material conditions, these people have little incentive to leave the streets. After all, how can they be expected to return to their daily lives when their already dire standards of living are degrading even further?
How can they be expected to return to their daily lives when their already dire standards of living are degrading even further?
Ultimately, political ideals aside, the longevity of this protest movement will be determined by people's quality of life. The longer that access to basic goods and services is not available to Lebanese people at the bottom, and the longer that the Lebanese nation feels stifled by its traditional sectarian leaders, the longer these protests will go on.
Parties such as Hezbollah that have urged Lebanon to give this new government a chance are missing the point - words and promises are not enough anymore.
Although protest energy may wax and wane, Lebanon's landscape has been forever changed by the realisation that a broad popular movement can indeed command power here. At the end of the day, so long as tangible changes don't take place in people's lives, masses of demonstrators are guaranteed to come back down to Lebanon's streets.
"If I go back home, maybe my son will come down," a protester told me last month in front of the concrete security barrier that went up in Riad al-Solh Square. "If a tired person sits, there is another who will come."
*Michal Kranz is a freelance journalist based in Beirut, covering everything from US national security to refugee issues in Lebanon.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 07-08/2020
23 killed in alleged Israeli strike in Syria, says war monitoring group
Ynet,Associated Press|/February 07/2020
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that at least 3 of the victims from the pre-dawn raid were Iranian nationals; earlier reports placed the number of fatalities at only 12
At least 23 people were killed in Syria in a Thursday pre-dawn raid, attributed to Israel, said a war monitoring group. Three of the victims are reported to be Iranian nationals. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 15 of those killed belonged to pro-Iranian militias operating in the country and eight of the victims were part of the official Syrian army. Damage from the alleged Israeli strike in Syria overnight. Earlier reports placed the number of fatalities at only 12.  A few hours before the attack, an Iranian cargo plane operated by Tehran-based Saha Airlines - owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard - was spotted making its way back from Damascus to the Iranian capital.
The aircraft flying along the route that in the past was used to transport arms from Iran to Syria. The state news agency SANA said the Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles in the suburbs of the capital and the country's south before they reached their targets. It said the Israeli warplanes fired the missiles while flying over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and neighboring Lebanon. Damage from the alleged Israeli strike in Syria overnight. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian war through a network of activists on the ground, said the airstrikes that occurred after midnight on Wednesday. They hit Syrian army positions and those of Iranian-backed militiamen west and south of the capital, as well as the Mazzeh military airbase in Damascus. the Observatory said. A "large number of missiles" hit multiple positions in these areas, triggering a fire at the Scientific Research Center in the Damascus suburb of Jamraya. The Observatory said the strikes inflicted casualties but had no definitive figure. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Palestinian Killed in Protest against Trump Peace Plan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 February, 2020
A Palestinian protester was shot dead in the West Bank on Friday as Palestinian and U.S. leaders blamed each other for violence that erupted after President Donald Trump unveiled a Middle East Peace plan that Palestinians rejected as one-sided. Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces have repeatedly clashed since the peace proposals were unveiled by Trump, with Israel's prime minister at his side. Friday's killing raised the Palestinian death toll to four. Israelis have been wounded. On Friday, mourners had gathered in the occupied West Bank for the funeral of a Palestinian police officer who was shot dead in the unrest a day earlier. Palestinian authorities said he was killed by Israeli gunfire. Israel has not commented. There were sporadic clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces near Azzun, where the funeral was held. Palestinians also clashed with Israeli troops in Jericho and burned tires in the West Bank village of Bil'in. Palestinian medics said one protester had been shot and killed near Tulkarm on Friday. The Israeli army said dozens of Palestinian rioters had hurled rocks and fire bombs at troops, and soldiers had identified a Palestinian who threw a firebomb and "responded with fire in order to remove the threat." "The Palestinian people will not allow the 'Deal of the Century' to pass," said Mohammed Barakeh, waving a Palestinian flag in Bil'in, referring to the US peace deal. "They are fighting for their national character and the independence of their country," said Barakeh, a former Israeli lawmaker and member of Israel's 21% Arab minority, many of whom identify with Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza. President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority has rejected Trump's peace plan, which would give Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including the disputed holy city of Jerusalem and nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlements. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Washington was to blame for the unrest since the plan was unveiled. "Those who introduce plans for annexation and the legalizing of occupation and settlements are really responsible for deepening violence and counter-violence," he said. He said Abbas would go to the UN Security Council with "a genuine peace plan". Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner, the main architect of the US plan, has denounced the Palestinian leadership, breaking from decades of diplomacy when Washington sought to appear neutral. On Thursday, he blamed Abbas for the violence. Israeli police said security chiefs had met on Thursday and would increase security "across the country, with emphasis on Jerusalem". Palestinians have long boycotted relations with the Trump administration, which they view as biased.

Russia Accuses Israel of Endangering Civilian Flight
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 07/2020
The Russian army on Friday accused Israel of using a civilian plane carrying 172 passengers as a shield against Syrian anti-aircraft fire while carrying out air strikes near Damascus. Israel's air force hit targets in the capital area at dawn on Thursday sparking a Syrian riposte, Russia's defence ministry said in a statement. "At the time of the attack by Israeli planes... an Airbus-320 airliner was on approach to landing... in the death zone of air strikes and artillery," it said. The "quick reaction" of air traffic controllers at Damascus airport enabled the A320 to leave the zone "which was in the firing line of Syrian anti-aircraft defence systems." The Airbus arriving from Tehran landed safely at the Hmeimim airbase operated by Russia in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia, the ministry added, without naming the airline. "The recourse to civilian aircraft as cover or to block a riposte by Syrian forces during military air operations has become characteristic of the Israeli air force," the ministry charged. Israeli radars have "a clear view of the situation in the skies around Damascus airport," the Russian army said, accusing Israel of "making a total mockery of the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians". The accusations were made less than a month after Iranian forces admitted mistakenly shooting down a Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737, killing all 176 people on board, just after take-off from Tehran. The disaster unfolded with Iran on high alert fearing US retaliation to Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq. Thursday's Israeli strikes killed 23 Syrian and foreign fighters, a monitoring group said. Israel has carried out repeated strikes in Syria since the civil war erupted in 2011, mainly targeting government forces and their Iranian and Hezbollah allies.

Saudi crown prince could soon meet Israel's Netanyahu in historic Cairo summit
The New Arab/February 07/2020
The United States is seeking to engineer a historic meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at a summit in Egypt, Israel Hayom revealed Friday.
"Intensive" talks are allegedly taking place between the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to arrange a summit in Cairo where the two leaders could meet, senior Arab officials told the Israeli newspaper. The officials also said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been mediating between Israel and Saudi Arabia on the issue for months. "In recent days there have been very intensive discussions between Washington, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to arrange a summit meeting in Cairo as early as the coming weeks, even before the election in Israel, which aside from the host, Egypt, will be attended by the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and also the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain and Oman," a senior Arab diplomatic source told Israel Hayom. If such a summit were to take place, President Donald Trump's peace plan for Israel and Palestine would likely feature high on the agenda.
The White House revealed the long-awaited details of the so-called "Deal of the Century" last month. It has since been rejected by the Palestinians, the Arab League and by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). But ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman attended the Tuesday unveiling in Washington, in a tacit sign of support for the US initiative. Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Arab states that are close US allies, have said they appreciated Trump's efforts and called for renewed negotiations without commenting on the plan's content.
The proposal makes numerous concessions to Israel, including the establishment of a Palestinian capital in Abu Dis and the annexation of all illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, but is currently on the path of normalising relations with the country despite an official Arab League boycott of the country. Israel has peace deals with only two Arab countries - Jordan and Egypt - but its occupation of Palestinian territory has long served as a major factor preventing similar accords with the rest of the Arab world. Jordan reportedly also received an invitation to attend the summit but King Abdullah wanted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to receive a summit invitation, a senior official said. A senior PA official told Israel Hayom that the Palestinians had discussed the matter with the US but that for the time being "Abbas and the leadership in Ramallah would adhere to their boycott of Washington and to freezing diplomatic ties with Israel". The White House told the PA that "this would likely be Abbas' and the Palestinians' last chance to climb down from the tree and partake in the diplomatic developments unfolding in the region," according to the official. Abbas is set to arrive in New York City on Monday and address the UN Security Council on Tuesday on the US plan. While in New York, Abbas will hold a press conference with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told The New Arab’s Arabic-language service on Friday. Olmert is expected to express his opposition to the plan, according to Israel Hayom. Meanwhile, Trump's son-in-law and architect of the peace plan Jared Kushner claimed Abbas was "surprised with how good the plan was for the Palestinian people". "But he locked himself into a position before it came out and I don't know why he did that," he added. The PA rejected Kushner's accusations of incitement on Friday, linking the violence instead to the 'Deal of the Century' itself, which gives Israel the green light to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank, while retaining overriding control over security, border checkpoints and air and maritime space over isolated cantons proposed to make up a Palestinian mini-state.

British ambassador returns to Iran after brief arrest last month
Reuters/February 07/2020
Britain’s ambassador to Iran is back in Tehran, he said late on Thursday, some three weeks after he returned to London following his brief arrest by Iranian security forces. Rob Macaire was called an “undesirable element” by Iran’s judiciary after officials accused him of attending an illegal protest last month and a hardline cleric said he should be expelled, state media reported. The ambassador said he had attended a vigil for victims of the crash of a Ukrainian airliner, amid public anger over Iran’s belated admission that it accidentally shot down the plane. Britain called Macaire’s detention a violation of diplomatic conventions, and he flew back to London in mid-January. In an Instagram video posted on Thursday, Macaire said in Farsi that that visit was “an important trip that was planned some time ago” and had included a meeting with foreign minister Dominic Raab. Macaire, who has been in the post since 2018, added that he had recently returned to Tehran. Tensions between Iran and the West have risen since top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3, prompting an Iranian missile attack against a U.S. base in Iraq days later. Friction between Tehran and Washington has been building since 2018, when President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a six-nation nuclear deal in which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of most sanctions.Iran announced in January that it would abandon restrictions on enriching uranium but would continue to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Macaire said in the video posting that Britain wanted to use the dispute resolution mechanism in the nuclear deal - which Britain, France and Germany triggered last month - to find a path forward.

EU’s Borrell Discusses Middle East, Iran on US Trip
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 February, 2020
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell on Friday briefed US leaders on a trip to Iran aimed at easing tensions and discussed a US Middle East plan that he has denounced. On his first trip to Washington since assuming his position in December, Borrell met Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and said afterward they discussed "many things." Asked by reporters as he exited if he spoke to Pompeo about Iran and the Middle East, Borrell replied, "Everything."
Borrell earlier in the week visited Tehran where he met President Hassan Rouhani and voiced hope for an easing of tensions and preservation of a 2015 accord that sharply curtailed Iran's nuclear program. Fears of all-out war soared last month when the United States killed Iran's most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Iraq. Trump in 2018 walked out of the nuclear deal negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama and instead imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran, vowing to combat the clerical regime's regional role. Borrell will also meet in Washington with Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, the architect of a Middle East plan unveiled last week, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress. Borrell has criticized Trump's long-awaited Middle East initiative, saying the Israelis and Palestinians should directly negotiate a two-state solution based on the lines before the 1967 Six-Day War. The US plan "departs from these internationally agreed parameters," Borrell said in a statement earlier this week. Borrell said the European Union was "especially concerned" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's push to annex much of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. The Trump plan was widely seen as giving a green light to annexation by saying that areas of Jewish settlements would become part of Israel, while also proposing a demilitarized Palestinian state. Borrell's criticism came after the European Union was unable to issue a joint statement denouncing the Trump plan due to opposition from a handful of members, most vocally Hungary's right-wing government. The Palestinian leadership swiftly rejected the plan and has refused to deal with Trump, seeing him as biased after a series of major pro-Israel steps including recognizing contested Jerusalem as the Jewish state's undivided capital.

Observers: Major Escalation between Israel, Palestinians Unlikely
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 February, 2020
With the ongoing launch of incendiary balloons and projectiles from the Gaza Strip, and the wave of military operations in Jerusalem and the West Bank against Israeli soldiers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a set of threats on Thursday. He also canceled a press conference and went “to the field” to be with the soldiers who were being hit. Meanwhile, settlement leaders launched a campaign calling for a response to the Palestinians by annexing settlements, as well as the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea to Israel. However, despite the increase in the number of Palestinian attacks over the past days, Israeli security and intelligence officials said the recent developments were “limited,” adding “they could expand, but could also drop.” Security sources in Tel Aviv said: “There is more than one indication that the situation is fragile, but at present, it is still restrained.”
“Security coordination between the Israeli army and the Palestinian security services is ongoing, while the Palestinian president has declared his adherence to using only peaceful means to respond to the [deal of the century],” they added. However, the same sources did not rule out a flare-up any moment, especially if Israel undertakes to unilaterally implement the terms of the deal, which was announced by US President Donald Trump last week. “The Palestinians are waiting for Israel to take practical steps in the policy of annexation. They are now behaving cautiously. If the government implements the annexations, there could be a flare-up, whether by popular uprising or by random or organized individual operations,” said General Amos Yadlin, the executive director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and former head of the Israeli military intelligence.
Eitan Dengot, a former Israeli Army general, said: “The Palestinians know what price they would pay if they resort to violence, and I don’t think that Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) wants to end the last phase of his rule by setting fire again. I believe that Hamas is more cautious… and the Israeli army is certainly not concerned with an escalation, especially on the eve of the elections.” “Therefore, I think that things will be limited, although the Palestinians do not like the [Deal of the Century],” he noted.
Palestinians strongly reject the US plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, seen as heavily favoring Israel.

Nearly 550 Killed in Iraq Protest Violence, Says Rights Commission
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 February, 2020
Nearly 550 Iraqis have been killed in protest-related violence since unprecedented anti-government demonstrations erupted in the capital and southern cities in October, the Iraqi Human Rights Commission said on Friday. Iraq's health ministry confirmed the first protester shot dead on October 1 but clammed up thereafter. The Commission has since repeatedly complained that authorities declined its requests for information on deaths, injuries and arrests. The Commission, which is government-funded but operates independently, became the only source for death tolls until it too faced pressure last year to stop reporting. It has resumed its public reporting and on Friday shared its latest statistics with AFP, showing that 543 people have been killed since October, including 276 in Baghdad alone. Seventeen members of the security forces are among the dead nationwide, according to the updated list. The remaining are all protesters or activists, including 22 who were assassinated. Up to 30,000 more have been wounded during the rallies, according to medical sources. Iraq's security forces have used live ammunition, tear gas, smoke bombs and even machine gun fire to try to disperse rallies in the capital and Shiite-majority south. The Commission found that many of the wounded or killed were shot by live rounds, but Iraq's government has repeatedly denied its security forces are shooting at the protesters. Others have died when military-grade tear gas canisters have pierced their skulls or chests, after security forces improperly fired such equipment. The Commission did not lay blame on any particular side but protesters themselves have singled out armed factions and the military wings of political parties, alongside the security forces. The United Nations, for its part, has accused unnamed "militias" for a vast campaign of assassinations, kidnappings and threats. The Commission has documented more than 2,700 arrests, with 328 people still detained. Another 72 Iraqis are categorized as disappeared.

Sistani Condemns Deadly Violence against Iraq Protesters
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 7 February, 2020
Iraq's top religious authority, Ali al-Sistani, condemned on Friday deadly violence that killed protesters at sit-ins this week in the southern city of Najaf and said a new government must have the trust and support of the people. Sistani also called on security forces to protect anti-government demonstrators from any further attacks. His remarks were delivered by a representative during his weekly Friday sermon in the city of Karbala. "It is the security forces that must take responsibility to keep the peace, protect the protest squares and peaceful demonstrators and identify attackers and rabble rousers," he said. At least eight people were killed on Wednesday when followers of populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed an anti-government protest camp in Najaf. They stormed a Karbala camp on Thursday wounding at least 10. Sadr last week instructed his followers to leave some protest sites where they had supported demonstrators after Sadr and Iran-aligned political blocs reached a deal to name new Prime Minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi - a choice protesters reject. Allawi condemned the violence and called on Twitter on the outgoing cabinet which is acting in a caretaker capacity to “protect protesters”. Sistani rarely comments on politics. But he has addressed Iraq’s popular uprising, which broke out among the country’s majority Shiite masses in Baghdad and the south in October, in almost every Friday sermon since. His words carry weight for millions of Shiites, both the protesters and the Shiite-dominated and Iran-aligned political establishment they oppose. He has urged early elections, political reform and condemned the killing of nearly 500 peaceful protesters by security forces and militias that Shiite Iran backs. Anti-government protesters now want him to put Sadr, whose religious pedigree comes from a Najaf family, in his place.

China Virus Crisis Deepens as Whistleblower Doctor Dies
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 07/2020
A Chinese doctor who was punished after raising the alarm about China's new coronavirus died from the pathogen on Friday, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has now killed more than 630 people. At least 31,000 people have now been infected by a virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang brought to light in late December. The disease has since spread across China, prompting the government to lock down cities of tens of millions of people, and panic has spiralled around the globe as more than 240 cases have emerged in two dozen countries.
A quarantined cruise ship in Japan now has 61 confirmed cases. Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, whose countries have tussled over trade and human rights, spoke on the phone about the health emergency. Xi urged "the US side to respond reasonably to the novel coronavirus outbreak", according to the official Xinhua news agency. Trump expressed his "confidence" in China's ability to tackle the epidemic, the White House said. Beijing has been angered by bans on arrivals from China instituted by the United States and other countries.
Li, 34, died early Friday, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, an announcement that triggered deep sadness on social media over a doctor hailed as a hero. "He is a hero who warned others with his life," a fellow Wuhan doctor wrote on Weibo. There was also a rare collective bout of anger at the authorities and bold demands, including the hashtag "we demand freedom of speech", which was censored. "Those fat officials who live on public money, may you die from a snowstorm," wrote another Weibo user in a comment that was later scrubbed. In a sign that the criticism has shaken the Communist government, its anti-graft agency announced that it was sending a team to Wuhan to "conduct a comprehensive investigation into issues involving Dr. Li Wenliang reported by the masses". The foreign ministry and the National Health Commission expressed condolences for his death.
Death censored
Li's death has also highlighted the enormous risks that frontline doctors have taken to treat patients in overwhelmed and under-equipped hospitals in Wuhan, the quarantined city of 11 million people where the virus emerged in December. Medical staff are overstretched and lack sufficient protective gear, the deputy governor of Hubei province admitted Thursday. Li sent out a message about the new coronavirus to colleagues on December 30 in Wuhan -- the city at the epicentre of the crisis -- but was later among a group of people summoned by police for "rumour-mongering". He later contracted the disease while treating a patient. Censors appeared to struggle with how to deal with his death. State-run newspaper Global Times and state broadcaster CCTV first reported on Weibo that Li had died late Thursday, only to delete their posts after the death rapidly surged to be among the top topics on the popular platform. The World Health Organization reacted to the first reports of his death to express sadness. Analysts have said that local authorities played down the extent of the outbreak in early January because they were holding political meetings at the time and wanted to project an aura of stability.
The first fatality was reported on January 11. The death toll has since soared to 636, with 73 more reported on Friday and an additional 3,000 new infections.
Global spread
The virus is believed have emerged from a market selling exotic animals in Wuhan before jumping to humans and spreading across China and abroad as millions travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday. Researchers at the South China Agricultural University have identified the pangolin as a "potential intermediate host" for the disease as the genome sequences of viruses found on the scaly mammal are 99 percent identical to those on coronavirus patients. To control the spread, authorities have placed some 56 million people in Wuhan and surrounding cities under virtual lockdown. Authorities in Wuhan are "combing" communities to find people suspected or confirmed to have the virus and place them in quarantine, state media said. Major airlines have suspended flights to and from the country, while several countries have advised their citizens to leave China. But cases keep emerging. Two cruise ships carrying thousands of holidaymakers in Hong Kong and Japan have been placed under quarantine as authorities test people for infections. On Friday another 41 people tested positive aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan, bringing the total number of infected cases on the ship to 61. Another cruise ship carrying a passenger suspected of infection with coronavirus will not be allowed to dock in southern Japan, the government said Friday. In Hong Kong, 3,600 people are facing a third night confined aboard the World Dream, where eight former passengers have tested positive for the virus.

Trump says Congress should 'expunge' his impeachment
AFP/NNA/February 07/2020
U.S. President Donald Trump called Friday on Congress to "expunge" his impeachment for abuse of power following his acquittal in the Senate.
"Should they expunge impeachment in the House? They should because it was a hoax," he told reporters at the White House."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 07-08/2020
Political change in Iran may begin with its labor movement
David Ignatius/The Washington Post/February 07/2020
We’re living in the information age. But when it comes to fundamental change in society, organized industrial workers remain a powerful, bedrock force. And that’s just as true in Iran as in other modern nations.
The Iranian labor movement may seem like a remote topic when the news is dominated by the hangover of impeachment and the dawn of America’s presidential primaries, not to mention the danger of global pandemic from coronavirus. But Iran remains the cockpit for destabilizing events in the world — and worker protest may be the X factor there.
Iran is moving slowly and erratically toward an eventual inflection point. The 1979 revolution is aging, as are the regime’s leaders. The ruling clerics operate at home and abroad through the praetorian guard known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but its charismatic appeal died last month with Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the IRGC’s Quds Force.
The IRGC today is the vanguard of a police state that governs through fear. Given the organization’s skill at suppressing dissent, Iran’s political stasis could last another decade. But it’s difficult to imagine such a regime lasting forever in such a sophisticated nation. So how might Iran change?
The Iranian labor movement is often overlooked in assessments of the country. But labor protest has been vociferous, broadly based and hard to suppress for two decades. Indeed, angry workers may be the political force most feared by the clerical regime.
Iran has seen intermittent strikes by bus drivers, truckers, refinery workers and many others. Labor leaders have been jailed and allegedly tortured, but they keep coming back. The complaints that fuel these working-class protests have been aggravated recently by U.S. economic sanctions, to be sure, but strikes in Iran long predated the Trump administration. They seem to reflect popular anger at internal corruption, inequality and mismanagement, rather than just a response to external pressure.
The regime’s anxiety about labor unrest was captured by the BBC Persian Television in a December story that quoted former president Mohammad Khatami. “If the middle-class and upper-class join with the working-class protesters, then no amount of military and security power can do anything. It will be the regime versus the people,” said Khatami, according to a translation by Alireza Nader, an Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Khatami’s comments followed dramatic nationwide protests in November, after the regime increased gasoline prices. The bloodiest confrontation was in Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran. Protesters there, reportedly including petrochemical workers, went into the streets, and the regime responded brutally, purportedly with automatic weapons and tank fire. IranWire, an independent news organization that monitors Iran, cited a provincial official who said 148 protesters were killed over five days.
“The regime fears organized labor, knowing full well that oil strikes were essential to bringing down the Shah in 1978 and 1979,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst with the FDD. Mariam Memarsadeghi, who follows Iranian labor unions and co-founded a civil-society group called Tavaana, explained during an interview that there is a “synergy between labor strikes and street protests.”
The Iranian labor movement has produced some brave leaders over the past two decades, including Mansoor Osanloo, who was jailed in 2005 after he formed a bus drivers’ union that protested by refusing to take passengers’ fares; and Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, a teachers’ union organizer who has led protests for more than a decade, despite repeated arrests.
Labor protests have continued to grow despite repression, according to data gathered by Kevan Harris and Zep Kalb of the University of California at Los Angeles. Using Iranian newspapers, they found that protests rose from 2012 to 2016 and strikes outside Tehran increased sharply over that time, they wrote for The Post in 2018.
A truckers strike in 2018 showed the potentially crippling nationwide effects of labor protest. Some Trump administration officials were so enthusiastic that they hoped to exacerbate the economic tensions that had produced the strike — and even organize testimonials from Iranian truckers in America. (It turned out there weren’t many.)
But beware: The one sure way to poison the Iranian labor movement would be heavy-handed U.S. government support. Instead, this is a challenge for labor unions globally. Recall the rise of Solidarity in Poland, when union activists around the world backed the movement that eventually helped derail communism in Eastern Europe. A similar international mobilization to support Iranian workers would invoke the timeless slogan, “Solidarity.”
Angry workers drive political change in Iran, China and even Donald Trump’s America. When you see a wave of strikes spreading across Iran, despite brutal crackdowns, you’ll know that Iran may finally be entering a new era.

Iran exploits vacuum of power in southern Syria to threaten Israel
Why would Iran do all this in southern Syria?
Seth J.Frantzmam/Jerusalem Post/February 07/2020
Syrian regime media reported airstrikes across a wide area around Damascus on Thursday morning. Incidents took place near Marj al-Sultan Airport, about 8 km. north of Damascus International Airport, at a key interchange of the M5 northeast of Damascus and south of the city near Kiswa and Izra.
Meanwhile, Damascus is distracted by a major battle in northern Syria against Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and extremists. Iran may be maneuvering to increase its role in southern Syria amid the tensions as the Syrian regime focuses on fighting in northern Syria’s Idlib.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force has a new commander, Esmail Ghaani. He took over after Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike. Soleimani had raged against Israel and, along with IRGC leader Hossein Salami, had vowed to confront and destroy Israel.
Ghaani wants to fill the big shoes left behind. The US says Ghaani will continue the role of the force. He met with the heads of Iraq-based Shi’ite militias. Ghaani has been designated by the US as a terrorist since 2012. He was responsible for financial disbursements to Hezbollah in Lebanon and “Quds Force weapons shipments intended for The Gambia,” the Pentagon said in a recent report.
Ghaani has elevated Mohammed Hejazi, the man behind transferring precision-guided munitions to Hezbollah. This indicates that Ghaani will want to use his existing networks and knowledge to challenge Israel.
Iran’s role in Syria is well known. It has sent members of the IRGC to Syria to support the Assad regime, and it has recruited tens of thousands of fighters, mostly Shi’ites, to go to Syria and fight. Reports indicate that more than $30 billion has been spent by Iran in Syria and 80,000 fighters recruited and trained by the IRGC have travelled to Syria. However, the overall numbers of IRGC members in Syria may be under a thousand. Tens of thousands of the recruited fighters are said to be from other countries.
The fighters are only one layer of the Iranian role. Iran uses roads and airports to move weapons and people to Syria and to Hezbollah. One route is via the Iraqi border crossing at Albukamal. Iran has built a base called Imam Ali there over the last two years, complete with storage warehouses and tunnels. Arms can flow from there toward Deir Ezzor and Mayadin or via the road that links Albukamal to a network of bases and airstrips nicknamed T2, T3 and then Tiyas, or T4. Iran has hangers for drones at Tiya and has sought to bring in weapon systems like the 3rd Khordad air-defense system. This is part of Iran’s attempt to bring in its own air defense.
Iran is doing all this in southern Syria because it is not only where it has a network of militias and bases but also where the Assad regime in Damascus is less focused. After the Syrian regime retook southern Syria’s Dara’a in July 2018, the area was supposed to remain quiet while the regime focuses on fighting extremists and opposition groups in the north.
Iran exploits this to entrench in Syria and threaten Israel. Last year, for instance, there was rocket fire in January, September and November from Syria aimed at Israel. This coincided each time with rising tensions and Syrian regime claims that Israel carried out airstrikes. Iran’s IRGC also had a Hezbollah “killer drone” team attempt to launch a drone at Israel in August 2019.
This must be seen as part of the wider context of Iran’s use of drones and rockets. Between October and December 2019, Iran’s militias in Iraq carried out more than 10 attacks on bases in Iraq where US forces are housed. Iran fired cruise missiles and 25 drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq facility in September and sought to transfer more dangerous missile technology to Yemen’s Houthis in October.
When looking at Iran’s plans in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen between August and December, it clearly was escalating in each area against both Israel and the US. For instance, reports in early December indicated Iran was moving ballistic missiles to Iraq. On December 27, Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah fired rockets that killed a US contractor. The US retaliated with airstrikes against five targets in Syria and Iraq. Pro-Iranian groups protested at the US Embassy, and the US killed Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a commander in the Popular Mobilization Forces.
It can be understood in retrospect how Iran was seeking to pressure the US in Syria and Iraq and also target Israel. Israel revealed Hezbollah’s attempts to acquire precision guidance for its missile arsenal in August. Hezbollah was planning an advanced missile construction facility in Lebanon last year.
The Syrian regime media reports of airstrikes come in this context. Israel struck 54 targets in Syria last year, according to data released by the IDF in early January. That comes on top of the “thousands” of targets Israel reportedly struck in Syria. In mid-January, the Syrian regime also accused Israel of a strike in Homs at or near the T4 airbase, according to Al Jazeera.
Ghaani was already in charge of the Quds Force at that time. Iran believes it can use regional opposition to the US “Deal of the Century” to leverage support for its work in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. That is why pro-Iranian groups in Iraq, such as the Badr Organization, have sought partnerships to push for a new prime minister to try to get the US to leave. They have also apparently blocked the US from deploying Patriot missiles.  Iran wants to have a free hand in southern Syria. While the Syrian regime – which lacks soldiers and has fought an exhausting nine-year war against rebels that has seen 10 million people driven from their homes – focuses on the north, Iran will run its weapons through southern Syria.

USA Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenel criticizes Germany for planned celebration of Iran’s terror regime
Benjamin Weinthal/FDD/February 07/2020
A month after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps fired numerous ballistic missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq, Germany’s government is slated to celebrate the founding of the Islamic Republic, prompting a public rebuke from America’s highest-profile ambassador in continental Europe.
Iran marks “Islamic Revolution’s Victory Day” on Feb. 11 as a national holiday when the mullahs order state-sponsored demonstrations in every Iranian city.
“Germany has a moral responsibility to say to Iran very firmly and clearly that it is unacceptable to deny basic human rights to your people, or kill protesters in the streets or push gay people off buildings. Celebrating the regime’s ongoing existence sends the opposite message,” the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, told Fox News on Thursday.
Grenell, a former Fox News contributor, has been urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration for years to end its support for the Iranian regime.
The German Foreign Ministry told Fox News in a statement Wednesday that the country’s “usual practice in diplomatic relations also includes the celebration of national holidays in the other country.”
“As the Federal Republic of Germany continues to maintain diplomatic relations with Iran, this also applies to the upcoming national holiday,” the statement continued.
Germany’s celebration of Iran’s regime comes at a sensitive time for American-Iranian relations.
Tehran’s Jan. 8 missile strikes, launched in response to the targeted killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, caused traumatic brain injuries to 64 American military personnel, the U.S. Department of Defense said.
President Donald Trump authorized the elimination of Soleimani in Iraq, claiming he planning imminent attacks against U.S. diplomats. Soleimani, one of the world’s leading international terrorists, was responsible for the murder of over 600 American troops in the Middle East, the U.S. state department said.
The U.S. government has classified Iran’s clerical regime as the largest state sponsor of terrorism.
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sent a congratulatory telegram to Iran’s rulers last year, lauding the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the radical Islamic regime.
When asked if Steinmeier plans to send a telegram once again this year, his office told Fox News in a statement: “Greeting telegrams from the Federal President are created and transmitted in coordination with the Federal Government on the respective national holiday. All questions related to this will be answered after the respective national holiday.”
Merkel’s office declined to comment about her government honoring Iran’s regime.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, accused Iran’s regime during a January congressional hearing on anti-Semitism of being the worst state sponsor of Holocaust denial and antisemitism.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, told Fox News this week that Steinmeier’s speech at the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi death camp, last month in Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum is “meaningless if Germany continues to honor the Holocaust-denying, Israel-hating, genocide-seeking Iranian regime.”
Bild, Germany’s highest-circulation newspaper, cited Steinmeier and Germany Deputy Foreign Minister Niels Annen, who celebrated Iran’s regime at Tehran’s embassy last year, as helping to make “anti-Semitism socially respectable” in Germany.
Annen told a German news outlet at that time that he had “no regrets” about celebrating the regime.
Grenell’s call for the Merkel government to stop boosting the Iranian regime was echoed by one of the leading German officials on the front lines of the struggle against the rise of anti-Semitism and Iranian-sponsored terrorism.
Uwe Becker, the commissioner for Jewish life in the German state of Hesse, told Fox News that his country should not congratulate Tehran’s rulers for their “Iranian revolution anniversary.”
“Germany should send a clear signal against the backdrop of human rights violations in Iran and the continuing threats by the Tehran mullah regime to destroy Israel,” he said. “The Iranian National Day is not just an anniversary, it commemorates the violent revolution of 1979 and the beginning of the reign of terror.”
Becker said Iran’s regime supports the terrorist organization Hezbollah in “and strengthens terrorism in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.”
“At the same time, the Tehran leadership oppresses its own people and denies them freedom and human rights,” he said.
The U.S. government has designated both Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
Germany’s decision to celebrate the Iranian holiday comes weeks after it joined Britain and France in paving a way for possible sanctions to be re-imposed on Iran. The three European powers accused the Islamic Republic of continuing to back away from its international nuclear deal and triggered the “dispute mechanism” — which begins a process that could result in the U.N. restoring sanctions it previously lifted under the deal.
*Benjamin Weinthal reports on human rights in the Middle East and is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @BenWeinthal

Hassan Rouhani, A Man of a Thousand Faces Wears a New Mask
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 07/2020
Whatever one might think of Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic in Iran, one thing is certain: had things gone differently in Iran 40 years ago he might have become a writer of penny-dreadful with provincial themes. Rouhani’s talent for fiction writing is demonstrated by the way he has reinvented himself over the decades.
In 1977, when the first rumbles of revolution roared in Iran he was a student, going by the name of Hassan Fereidun, in England seeking a degree in textile design.
A few months later, he re-named himself Rouhani, meaning spiritual or clerical. Fereidun was a Persian nationalistic name and would not do for a man plotting to cast himself as a champion of faith.
He then spent a few weeks of holidays taking classes in Shiite theology. In the meantime, he grew a beard, cast off Western clothes, thus creating a persona soon aggrandized by the claim which he minted that he was the first to grant Khomeini the title of Imam. Rouhani claims that he did so when addressing a memorial service for Khomeini’s son Mostafa who had passed away in Iraq. There is, of course, no evidence that Rouhani was even present at the service which, incidentally was reported complete with a photo in the daily Kayhan.
In his memoirs, Rouhani recalls his first meeting with Khomeini, in exile in a Paris suburb. He claims that the ayatollah gave him 10,000 tomans (around $1500 in those days) and asked him to return to England and organize students against the Shah.
In the chaos that followed the Shah’s flight from Iran, anyone could have jumped on the revolutionary bandwagon, and Rouhani was among the first to do so. The victorious revolution did not find enough personnel to fill the tens of thousands of jobs left vacant by the previous regime, and he had little difficulty in getting himself elected member of Islamic Majlis (ersatz parliament), nudging his way towards the top table.
The new "Hojat al-Islam'' became one of the most radical champions of the revolution, calling for the dissolution of the national army and stopping payment to a civilian and military pensioner who had served the Shah. Having found out that the new regime had to depend on its security services, the newly minted Hojat al-Islam attached himself to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a liaison between the military and business circles.
During the brief spell of Hashemi Rafsanjani as a “strongman” who tried to cool revolutionary ardor, Rouhani recast himself as a “pro-reform” moderate. As an aide to Rafsanjani, he took part in secret negotiations with emissaries that US President Ronald Reagan had sent to Tehran along with a top agent from Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
By the 1990s, in Western policy circles, Rouhani had acquired the reputation of “a man with whom we can work”.
In the meantime, conscious of the fact that Iranians are suckers for real or fake academic titles, to enhance his persona, Rouhani enrolled in a British college in Glasgow to obtain a PhD in Islamic law. Thus, in a few years’ time, he was able to rebrand himself as Dr. Hassan Rouhani, the “moderate reformist with Western education.”
Two French foreign ministers from opposing political parties, Alain Juppe, and Hubert Vedrine, claimed that they had identified Rouhani as a rising star in Rafsanjani’s entourage. They thought that Rouhani would be one of the men who would eventually lead the Khomeinist revolution into its “Thermidor” or period of normalization. That view later found an even more passionate adept in Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary in Tony Blair’s British cabinet.
However, Rouhani’s career plan hit a diversion when Rafsanjani propelled another of his acolytes, Hojat al-Islam Muhammad Khatami, into the presidential slot. The diversion was prolonged when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad succeeded Khatami, indicating the slow end of Rafsanjani’s influence. During those agonizing years, Rouhani managed to avoid being recycled out of the power system by rendering services to all factions.
The plan worked and rival factions saw Rouhani as their second choice in the wake of the 2009 popular revolts and Ahmadinejad’s eventual break with the” Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Though Khamenei had decided to make a deal with the Obama administration, he did not want the credit to go to Ahmadinejad who had, by then, publicly snubbed him. Rouhani had no difficulty singing from the new hymn-sheet in the form of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that enabled the regime to access to some frozen assets and gain a measure of international respectability.
As talented a Lon Chaney, the classical Hollywood actor known as “Man of A Thousand Faces” because he played numerous different roles, Rouhani is now getting ready to play a new role as “leader of transition” from a rigid regime to a “normal” Third-World style outfit mixing repression at home with good behavior abroad.
To enhance his theological credentials needed to promote himself to the rank of ayatollah, the Hojat al-Islam has launched his theological course, once a week on Thursdays, with over 100 “students”, receiving handsome stipends. In one version of the scenario, Rouhani would combine the positions of president and “Supreme Guide”. In another version, he would have the Constitution amended and the position of ”Supreme Guide” abolished with himself as President and head of state.
Rouhani's message, peddled by cronies including Foreign Minister Muhammad-Javad Zarif, is that the internal opposition and foreign powers worried about Iran should be patient and help “moderates” re-orient the storm-stricken ship of the regime towards calmer waters.
Is Rouhani the man for all seasons as his apologists claim? Is he the man who opposed the killing of over 1500 protesters in three days? Is he the “moderate” who knew nothing about the tripling of petrol prices and the shooting down of the Ukrainian passenger jet?
Will Rouhani’s scenario for easing Khamenei off his pedestal work?
I doubt it. Rouhani may be a talented man of a thousand faces, but 40 years of experience has shown that every one of those faces turned out to be a mask.

Palestinians: Arab Leaders Talking to Israel Are 'Traitors, Jews'
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/February 07/2020
Why is it permissible for Egypt's Abdel Fattah Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah to have diplomatic relations with Israel, and not permissible for the leader of Sudan to sit with the Israeli prime minister?
Several key Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, seem to be fed up with the ongoing Palestinian rejection of every proposed Palestinian-Israeli peace plan. The Palestinians have never even proposed a counter-offer.
The Palestinians' threats and condemnations... seem primarily aimed at deterring Arabs from even considering the possibility of making peace with Israel. The former stand-off was working brilliantly for the Palestinians; why stop? The Palestinian leadership would like to continue holding the entire Arab world hostage to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What the Palestinian leaders clearly do not want is for Arab leaders to act in the interests of their own people. Arab heads of state now have the opportunity to decide whether they will permit Palestinian leaders to continue their time-tested strategy of terrorizing everyone into submission, or -- unlike the Palestinian leaders -- to seek the best for their own people.
If Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is so strongly opposed to Arabs talking to Israelis or making peace with Israel, why does he continue to talk with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan -- the only two Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel? Pictured: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Jordan's King Abdullah on January 16, 2014 in Amman, Jordan.
After rejecting and strongly condemning US President Donald Trump's plan for Mideast peace, the Palestinian leadership has now found the time to threaten Arabs not to make peace with Israel. In addition, Palestinian leaders have also stepped up their attacks against the US and are inciting Arabs against the Americans and Arab leaders who maintain close ties with the Trump administration.
The vicious Palestinian attacks on the US increased after Trump announced last week his "Peace to Prosperity" plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Shortly after the announcement, Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and other West Bank and Gaza Strip cities to burn photos of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as US and Israeli flags. The protests erupted shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a speech in Ramallah in which he rejected the Trump plan, dubbing it a "conspiracy" and "slap of the century."
The Palestinians' attacks on the US and Israel came as a surprise to no one. Palestinian officials have a long history of inciting their people against both countries. Sometimes it even seems as if these officials are competing with each other as to who can use the harshest rhetoric against them.
The vitriolic rhetoric against the US and Israel plays into the hands of Iran's proxies in the region, particularly Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) -- the two Gaza-based groups that reject Israel's very right to exist and continue to engage in anti-Israel terrorism as a means to "liberate all Palestine, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river."
When Abbas tells his people that he will cut all ties with the US, he is actually endorsing the anti-US policies of Iran, Hamas and PIJ. In the eyes of these three parties, the Trump plan is a new "American aggression" and "conspiracy" against the Palestinian people and their rights. In the past week, for instance, he has repeatedly condemned the plan, also known as the "Deal of the Century," as a "conspiracy" designed to eliminate the Palestinian issue. In Arabic, when Abbas talks about the US and the Trump plan, he sounds exactly like Hamas and PIJ.
Next week, Abbas is planning to urge the United Nations Security Council to reject the Trump peace plan on the pretext that it "contradicts international laws and legitimacy."
His drive against the Trump plan also coincides with a campaign waged by his PA and other Palestinians against Arabs allegedly engaged in normalization with Israel.
The latest victim of this anti-normalization campaign is Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, who recently met in Uganda with Netanyahu. As a result of the campaign of incitement, the Sudanese leader is now being depicted on various social media platforms as a "Zionist agent," "traitor" and "pig."
One post featuring him wearing a Jewish skullcap with the Star of David in the background, sarcastically refers to the Sudanese leader as Abdel Fattah Menahem -- implying that he is not an Arab, but a Jew -- if being a Jew is something terrible.
Burhan had not signed a peace treaty with Israel. He had not announced that his country was establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. He had not even announced that Sudan had decided to recognize Israel's right to exist. All he did was to meet with Netanyahu. For Abbas and the PA leadership, the mere meeting was enough to wage a smear campaign against the head of an Arab state.
This is the same Abbas whose predecessor as PA president, Yasser Arafat, in 1993 signed the Oslo Accord with Israel, marking the beginning of a "peace process" that also saw the PLO officially recognize Israel.
Why is it permissible for the Palestinians to engage in a "peace process" and recognize Israel and not permissible for an Arab leader to sit with an Israeli official?
If Abbas is so strongly opposed to Arabs talking to Israelis or making peace with Israel, why does he continue to talk with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan -- the only two Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel? Why is it permissible for Egypt's Abdel Fattah Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah to have diplomatic relations with Israel, and not permissible for the leader of Sudan to sit with the Israeli prime minister?
Would Abbas and the Palestinians dare to unleash a campaign of incitement against Sisi and King Abdullah because of Egypt's and Jordan's peace treaties with Israel? Of course not: Abbas might well be afraid that Egypt and Jordan would retaliate by punishing the Palestinians living there or banning Palestinian leaders from visiting Cairo and Amman.
The Palestinian attacks on the Sudanese leader seem to reflect Abbas's and Palestinians' fears of being abandoned by their Arab brothers. These fears are not unjustified. Several key Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, seem to be fed up with the ongoing Palestinian rejection of every proposed peace plan with Israel. The Palestinians have never even proposed a counter-offer.
Echoing the growing Palestinian sense of frustration and disillusionment with their Arab brothers, several senior Palestinian leaders took turns this week assailing the Sudanese leader for his brief encounter with Netanyahu.
As far as the Palestinians are concerned, Burhan is easy prey because Sudan is not a neighboring country (as are Egypt and Jordan) and only a small number of Palestinians live there.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat was the first to come out against the Burhan-Netanyahu meeting in Uganda.
Erekat described the meeting as a "stab in the back of the Palestinian people and a blatant departure from the [2002] Arab Peace Initiative, at a time when the administration of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to liquidate the Palestinian issue and annex Jerusalem."
The PA's Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Hussein, warned of the "growing phenomenon of normalization with the Israeli occupation and its dangerous effects on the Palestinian issue." The Palestinians, he said, "are following with great pain and anxiety this bitter, disgraceful and rejected phenomenon."
Another senior PLO official, Ahmed Majdalani, incited the Sudanese people against their leader by urging them to "take the necessary measures to confront" his policies.
Other Palestinian officials went as far as demanding that Burhan "apologize" for his meeting with Netanyahu.
The Palestinians' threats and condemnations of Burhan seem primarily aimed at deterring Arabs from even considering the possibility of making peace with Israel. The former stand-off was working brilliantly for the Palestinians; why stop?
The Palestinian leadership would like to continue holding the entire Arab world hostage to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What the Palestinian leaders clearly do not want is for Arab leaders to act in the interests of their own people.
Arab heads of state now have the opportunity to decide whether they will permit Palestinian leaders to continue their time-tested strategy of terrorizing everyone into submission, or -- unlike the Palestinian leaders -- to seek the best for their own people.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Are Iran’s Christian converts at greater risk after Soleimani’s demise?
Lela Gilbert & Arielle Del Turco/Jerusalem Post/February 07/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/82985/%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%aa-%d9%88%d8%a3%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%83%d9%88-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a/
On January 3, the United States eliminated Soleimani, a powerful figure who coordinated the Iranian proxy militias responsible for mayhem and violence across the Middle East.
Following the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the international spotlight is once again on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s many human rights violations, particularly its incessant persecution of Christian converts.
On January 3, the United States eliminated Soleimani, a powerful figure who coordinated the Iranian proxy militias responsible for mayhem and violence across the Middle East.
Well before the death of Soleimani, ever-increasing numbers of Iranian protesters had taken to the streets in dozens of cities. Emboldened by his death, more demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent weeks, voicing their frustration with Iran’s leadership.
Unsurprisingly, authorities used the chaos to arrest at least one well-known Christian human rights activist. Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi was detained January 12 in Tehran after criticizing the “soft repression” of the Iranian regime on Twitter. Her location and status remain unknown.
Iranian converts to Christianity bear the brunt of the regime’s disdain. When the Iranian government feels threatened, Iran’s beleaguered Christians, particularly converts from Islam, feel the backlash of increased scrutiny and harassment from the government.
As a convert from a Muslim background, Mohammadi is no exception. In July of 2019, she was arrested after she was physically assaulted by a woman who took offense to the way she was dressed. Last month, she was expelled from her university in Tehran without explanation. The Iranian regime’s crackdown on Mohammadi is just a small close-up of the mullahs’ large-scale attempt to repress the growth of Christianity in Iran.
A new report released in January by Christian Solidarity Worldwide found that over the last year, Christians in Iran were regularly subjected to hate speech from government officials, invasive government surveillance, and harassment by authorities. Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List reported that at least 169 Christians were arrested during the most recent annual reporting period. The relatives of Christians often face public humiliation while their family members await trial and serve long prison sentence.
Conservative estimates place the number of Christians in Iran between 500,000 to 800,000 believers, but others claim there are more than one million. Traditionally, Christian families amount to around 250,000, while the remainder consists of converts from Islam. Most converts from Islam belong to the underground Protestant house-church movement, which Iran considers to be illegal. Meanwhile, according to Islamic and Iranian law, conversion from Islam is a capital offense.
The Iranian regime conducts mass arrests of Christians during the Christmas season to intimidate believers and prevent the spread of Christianity. This year was no exception. Reports indicate that at least nine Christians were arrested on December 30, 2019, on charges of “affiliation with Christian Zionists and recruitment of Muslims to home churches.”
Dabrina Bet Tamraz, an Iranian Christian and persecution survivor, explains, “Christmas celebrations make it easier for Iranian authorities to arrest a group of Christians at one time.”
One reason that Iran’s Islamist leaders so aggressively target Christians is because of their own apocalyptic religious views. These beliefs include the reappearance of the “hidden imam,” a messianic figure who is expected to reemerge and conquer the world.
But there is, perhaps, another reason as well. Another belief claims that increasing violence and war against America, Israel and their Western allies will hasten the “end of days.”
This past summer, according to a MEMRI news report, senior Iranian Ayatollah Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri embraced this apocalyptic vision titled “In Order for the Hidden Imam to Reappear we Must Engage in Widespread Fighting with the West.” That fighting is believed to include, as is often said, “wiping the state of Israel off the map.”
It is noteworthy that Iran’s Christian converts are accused, among other things, of “affiliation with Christian Zionists.” This is suggested because of their newfound devotion to the Bible and their awareness of the sacred role of Israel in Jewish and Christian scriptures.
Meanwhile, despite the regime’s effort to crack down on the spread of Christianity, reports from Iran suggest that the number of Christian converts is growing rapidly. Clearly this distresses Iran’s leaders. Christianity is considered an existential threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran. That is reason enough for authorities to imprison new converts to Christianity and to persecute those who share their Christian faith with others.
*Lela Gilbert is an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom.
*Arielle Del Turco works for the Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty.

Russia reluctant to support Iran’s destabilizing behavior
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 07/2020
Amid the rising tension between the Islamic Republic and the US, Russia has been in a difficult situation. Should it unequivocally support the Iranian leaders despite their destabilizing behavior in the region? Moscow has been shrewdly avoiding any attemptto declare its robust and unconditional support for the Iranian leaders.
When top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was killed on an order from US President Donald Trump last month, Russian leaders tried to avoid being dragged into the conflict, so they did not declare military support for Tehran. The only reaction that Moscow gave was an announcement of condemnation. President Vladimir Putin, in a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, “agreedthat US actions have the potential to seriously aggravate the situation in the region.”
In addition, in the midst of US-Iran tensions in May last year, Moscow did not offer military support for the Iranian regime when the US deployed a Patriot missile battery, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the USS Leyte Gulf guided missile cruiser, Carrier Air Wing Seven, and destroyers from Destroyer Squadron Two to the Middle East in order to deter the Iranian regime from carrying out its threats, which included closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian leaders most likely expect more support from global power Russia. After all, the two countries share a common interest in counterbalancing and scuttling US foreign policy in the region. Russia’s ties with Tehran extend its regional influence and give it leverage that can be used to push the West — and the US in particular — to lift sanctions against Moscow. Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, improving ties with Tehran has been a major part of Russia’s foreign policy, as it has been using Tehran as a bargaining chip to reassert its global leadership.
However, amid the latest developments, Russian leaders likely believe that the Iranian authorities are at least partially to blame for the rising tensions and, thus, the killing of Soleimani. As the Pentagon saidin a statement, Soleimani “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” It also said: “At the direction of the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Soleimani.” The strike itself “was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.” The statement also pointed to the previous deadly actions of Soleimani and his Quds Force, which was “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.”
It is also not in Russia’s interest that the Iranian leaders have been increasingly exploiting their strategic advantage by issuing threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, which is another tactic in the asymmetric war strategy employed by Tehran. Then-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammed Ali Jafari was in 2018 quoted by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency as saying: “We will make the enemy understand that either everyone can use the Strait of Hormuz or no one.” And, last year, armed forces chief of staff Mohammed Bagheri said: “If our oil does not go through the strait, other countries’ oil will certainly not cross the strait either.”
For Russia’s leaders, stability is critical in order to safeguard Moscow’s assets and interests in the Middle East. Therefore, not only does the Kremlin likely believe that the Iranian regime has brought on these problems by its own irrational actions, but it is also not in Russia’s interests that Tehran has been pursuing aggressive policies such as attacking oil tankers in the Gulf.
In addition, Moscow does not want to see the rising tensions between the US and the Iranian regime lead to war, turning the region into a conflict zone. This might again endanger the hold on power of Syria’s Bashar Assad, Moscow’s key ally. Russia’s strategic interests in the Mediterranean Sea are intertwined with the political establishment in Damascus because the Syrian port of Tartus — its second largest — houses Russia’s only naval basein the region. In addition, Syria has been purchasing arms from Moscow for decades.
Russian leaders likely believe that the Iranian authorities are at least partially to blame for the rising tensions.
Russia reluctant to support Iran’s destabilizing behavior
Amid the rising tension between the Islamic Republic and the US, Russia has been in a difficult situation. Should it unequivocally support the Iranian leaders despite their destabilizing behavior in the region? Moscow has been shrewdly avoiding any attemptto declare its robust and unconditional support for the Iranian leaders.
When top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani was killed on an order from US President Donald Trump last month, Russian leaders tried to avoid being dragged into the conflict, so they did not declare military support for Tehran. The only reaction that Moscow gave was an announcement of condemnation. President Vladimir Putin, in a joint statement with French President Emmanuel Macron, “agreedthat US actions have the potential to seriously aggravate the situation in the region.”
In addition, in the midst of US-Iran tensions in May last year, Moscow did not offer military support for the Iranian regime when the US deployed a Patriot missile battery, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the USS Leyte Gulf guided missile cruiser, Carrier Air Wing Seven, and destroyers from Destroyer Squadron Two to the Middle East in order to deter the Iranian regime from carrying out its threats, which included closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian leaders most likely expect more support from global power Russia. After all, the two countries share a common interest in counterbalancing and scuttling US foreign policy in the region. Russia’s ties with Tehran extend its regional influence and give it leverage that can be used to push the West — and the US in particular — to lift sanctions against Moscow. Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, improving ties with Tehran has been a major part of Russia’s foreign policy, as it has been using Tehran as a bargaining chip to reassert its global leadership.
However, amid the latest developments, Russian leaders likely believe that the Iranian authorities are at least partially to blame for the rising tensions and, thus, the killing of Soleimani. As the Pentagon saidin a statement, Soleimani “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” It also said: “At the direction of the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Soleimani.” The strike itself “was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.” The statement also pointed to the previous deadly actions of Soleimani and his Quds Force, which was “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.”
It is also not in Russia’s interest that the Iranian leaders have been increasingly exploiting their strategic advantage by issuing threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, which is another tactic in the asymmetric war strategy employed by Tehran. Then-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammed Ali Jafari was in 2018 quoted by the semi-official Tasnim News Agency as saying: “We will make the enemy understand that either everyone can use the Strait of Hormuz or no one.” And, last year, armed forces chief of staff Mohammed Bagheri said: “If our oil does not go through the strait, other countries’ oil will certainly not cross the strait either.”
For Russia’s leaders, stability is critical in order to safeguard Moscow’s assets and interests in the Middle East. Therefore, not only does the Kremlin likely believe that the Iranian regime has brought on these problems by its own irrational actions, but it is also not in Russia’s interests that Tehran has been pursuing aggressive policies such as attacking oil tankers in the Gulf.
In addition, Moscow does not want to see the rising tensions between the US and the Iranian regime lead to war, turning the region into a conflict zone. This might again endanger the hold on power of Syria’s Bashar Assad, Moscow’s key ally. Russia’s strategic interests in the Mediterranean Sea are intertwined with the political establishment in Damascus because the Syrian port of Tartus — its second largest — houses Russia’s only naval basein the region. In addition, Syria has been purchasing arms from Moscow for decades.
Russian leaders likely believe that the Iranian authorities are at least partially to blame for the rising tensions.
The rising tensions between Washington and Tehran are undermining the theocratic establishment’s efforts to support the Syrian regime economically and militarily. If the tensions spiral out of control, Syrian oppositional and rebel groups might become empowered once again and threaten Russia’s strategic and geopolitical interests in the country.
Finally, as a global power, Russia has to maintain its international status and prestige. Demonstrating too much support for a regime that has been wreaking havoc in many nations in the region does not bode well for Moscow. Iran’s destabilizing behavior is inimical to Russia’s strategic and geopolitical interests in the region.
*-Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in

Turkey, Russia trying to ensure relations don’t turn ugly
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/February 07/2020
Although Ankara and Moscow hold opposing stances regarding the Syria war, the two have managed to put their differences aside and cooperate on certain issues within the framework of the Astana peace process and the Sochi agreement. However, despite much common ground on various bilateral issues, developments in Idlib pose a serious challenge for both countries, whose leaders have taken Turkish-Russian relations to a more personalized mode in recent years. It seems the two countries are seeking to ride out the storm and avoid playing any Russian roulette in Syria.
Amid the Idlib tension, a significant visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Ukraine took place this week. The visit was not only important within the Syria context but, more importantly, for Turkish-Ukrainian bilateral relations. In a joint press conference, Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky announced a proposed free trade agreement between the countries; an increase of military assistance to the latter’s army; and reiterated Ankara’s position regarding Crimea. Each of these decisions was crucial and should be evaluated on an individual basis.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 after a controversial referendum. Turkey, as well as the UN General Assembly, sees the Russian move as illegal and this view was once again reiterated during this visit. Erdogan stated that Turkey’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will continue, adding that Ankara is “closely” monitoring the situation of the Crimean Tatars, whom it gives considerable support.
Turkey considers itself to be a protector of the Crimean Tatars — an ethnic Turkic minority. While some of them have left Crimea and moved to Ukraine, some have stayed on the peninsula. While Ankara has close relations with the Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey, it also keeps its channels open with those who remain on the peninsula. Turkish officials often come together with Crimean Tatar leaders, the most prominent being Mustafa Abdulcemil Kirimoglu, who was received by Erdogan in Kiev during the visit. Kirimoglu, which means “son of the Crimea” in Turkish, is the honorary president of the Crimean Tatars’ representative body and a member of the Ukrainian Parliament.
I recall the support of the Turkish people to a Crimean Tatar jazz singer, Jamala, when she won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with a highly politicized song “1944,” which refers to the mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea under the orders of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin during the Second World War. While her victory caused much joy in Kiev and Ankara, it led to anger in Moscow, whose politicians called for a boycott of the following year’s contest in protest at the political content of her song.
Aside from the issues with Russia in Syria, Crimea is a separate matter for Turkey and its position is not new. Crimea is, therefore, another matter on which both Ankara and Moscow agree to disagree.
Another significant aspect of Erdogan’s visit was that Turkish and Ukrainian officials agreed on financial support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and enhancing strategic cooperation in the defense industry. “Today, an important agreement on military and financial cooperation has been reached, under which the Turkish partners will provide financial support to the Ukrainian army,” Zelensky said. The steps to be taken to provide armaments and military equipment were discussed during negotiations between the two countries’ delegations under the chairmanship of Zelensky and Erdogan.
The military-technical field is one of the most successful areas of cooperation between the two countries, as there are more than 50 joint projects in this area. The Ukrainian defense minister wrote on Facebook that Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation in the defense industry is to be in the following areas: “Joint production of anti-tank weapons; repairs and operation of helicopters; supply of aircraft engines; cooperation in the field of counteraction to unmanned aerial systems; transport aviation; and simulator systems.”
From Kiev’s point of view, close cooperation with Turkey means help for Ukraine’s level of security on its southern border. It also means paving the way for improvements in its air defense capabilities and joint participation in NATO programs. In March, the Turkish defense minister is expected to pay an official visit to Kiev to discuss the first steps toward the practical implementation of the deal’s provisions.
Crimea is another matter on which both Ankara and Moscow agree to disagree.
Finally, the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding talks on a free trade area between the Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ministry of Ukraine and the Trade Ministry of Turkey was another significant aspect of the visit. Some reports interpreted the timing of the Turkish president’s visit to Ukraine as not being a coincidence, considering the tense Turkish-Russian relations due to the latest developments in Idlib. Indeed, leaders do sometimes pay symbolic visits to convey messages to certain actors. However, any diplomatic correspondent checking the content, meetings and the deals signed during the visit would understand that it was pre-planned, but that it was overshadowed by developments in Idlib.
Coming back to the beginning, Russian-Turkish relations are multifaceted. They can’t be broken up by or started with Syria. By handling the matter of Idlib responsibly, Turkish-Russian relations can ride out the storm once again.
*Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkey’s relations with the Middle East. Twitter: @SinemCngz

A tale of coexistence in a divided region
Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/February 07/2020
For 70 years, the Israeli-Palestinian problem has remained open, like a festering wound, prohibiting a lasting peace in the wider region from ever taking hold. In the fallout from US President Donald Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” proposal to resolve the issue, a parallel story of cultural and religious coexistence could not be more incongruous. However, in Morocco, the oldest Arab Kingdom, coexistence was given a glimmer of hope last month with the opening of the Bayt Dakira, a spiritual and heritage space that seeks to preserve and enhance the Judeo-Moroccan memory in the old city of Essaouira. The museum is the latest in a long line of efforts to restore and redefine North Africa’s Jewish roots.
The tale of Al-Yahud Al-Maghariba (the Moroccan Jews) is not one that is often told. At their peak in the 1940s, they made up about 5 percent of the country’s population and were critical to Morocco’s financial instructions, trading businesses and guilds of craftsmen. After the creation of the state of Israel, the community dispersed, some owing to panic and others to “Operation Yachin,” a policy to encourage the migration of Jews from Morocco to Israel. But, as the stories of Libyan, Iraqi, Yemeni and Syrian Jews have been lost amid the conflicts of the Middle East, the Jews of Morocco are not just surviving, but thriving in a country they have called home for thousands of years.
To the Moroccan authorities, the country’s Jewish community is a living symbol of its persistence as a religious sanctuary. For many centuries, the country’s sovereigns have issued “dahir” decrees, according protection to communities and freedom of worship. In every Moroccan city, the “mellah” (Jewish quarter) is almost an annex of the sultan’s palace, reflective of the symbiotic relationship between the country’s primary executive and religious power and its Jewish business community. It was, therefore, only fitting that King Mohammed himself opened the Bayt Dakira, echoing the policy of his grandfather and namesake, who rejected Nazi orders to deport the country’s Jewish community. “There are no Jews in Morocco; there are only Moroccan citizens,” was his response to the Vichy government of France’s request to turn over Jews. He added: “I reiterate as I did in the past that the Jews are under my protection, and I reject any distinction that should be made among my people.” While other rulers made common cause with the Nazis, Mohammed V, as “Commander of the Faithful,” exercised his authority in the protection of not only Muslims, but all of his Jewish and Christian subjects too. During the course of the Second World War, not a single Moroccan Jew was handed over to the Nazi authorities.
The Bayt Dakira is part of a wider effort to restore the country’s Jewish legacy. This has included the renovation of a dozen synagogues, 167 Jewish cemeteries and 12,600 graves in recognition of the importance of Morocco’s Jewish heritage. In an era when issues in the Holy Land have massively skewed the narrative of the Jewish role and contribution to Muslim societies, the case of Morocco is incredibly important. Some of the most prominent political, academic and cultural figures to originate from the Arab world in the last few centuries have been Maghrebi Jews, including US Supreme Court justices, Nobel Prize laureates, French Prime Minister Pierre Mendes France, and his British counterpart Benjamin Disraeli.
During the course of the Second World War, not a single Moroccan Jew was handed over to the Nazi authorities.
Arab education ministries would often balk at how Morocco’s religious academy includes Judaism in its curriculum, even teaching future imams about the six orders of the Mishnah. However, in reality, adopting such a mindset actually improves cross-cultural understanding and reduces the tensions to which the region has become accustomed. To Andre Azoulay — the current king’s trusted adviser, who is touted as the most powerful Jew in the Muslim world — projects such as Bayt Dakira are as much about correcting stereotypes and misconceptions as they are about preserving heritage. Speaking at the opening, he stated that in rejecting “amnesia, regression and archaism,” what was once the region’s only Jewish-majority city can now stand as an example of the diversity and cultural richness of living together.
Though the work of the Haim and Celia Zafrani International Research Center on the history of the relations between Judaism and Islam, and Azoulay’s Essaouira-Mogador Association, may seem parochial, it echoes far beyond the Atlas Mountains that shelter Essaouira. As Abu Dhabi moves toward building its first synagogue as part of the Abrahamic Family House project, it will be intriguing to see whether — among the conflict and the ill will — other Arab countries will seek to explore their Hebraic heritage.
*Zaid M. Belbagi is a political commentator, and an adviser to private clients between London and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Twitter: @Moulay_Zaid