LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 17.2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Sunday of the Faithful Departed
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke16/19-31/19 "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-- 28 for I have five brothers--so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"
The Day of the Lord
Thessalonians05/01-10/1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers,you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 16-17/2020
Family of American held in Lebanon claims he’s a hostage, US senator threatens sanctions
Nasrallah says spirit of Trump's plan will impact maritime border demarcation, oil wealth
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah calls for boycott of US products as ‘part of the battle’
Nasrallah Hails Govt. 'Courage', Urges Opposition, Majority to Form Panel
National crisis puts Lebanon's survival at stake, Hezbollah leader says
Hezbollah Unveils Qasem Soleimani Wooden Statue on Israel’s Border, Ideal for Lag BaOmer
President Aoun demands 'standardizing pricing of airline tickets' in Lebanese pounds
Premiership Press Office denies circulated news about government measures, ministerial decisions
Diab asks Hout to cancel pricing of travel tickets in dollars
Rahi from Rome: Church must move consciences
Abdel Samad says a 'free and responsible' word is required
Lebanon's State-Owned Carrier to Require Payment in Dollars
Khalid bin Salman: Iran's Treacherous Militias Assassinated Rafik Hariri
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani will start today a Visit to Lebanon
Lebanon: Hariri's Speech Establishes a New Stage
FPM to Sue MEA over Obliging Customers to Pay in Dollar
MEA reverses decision to accept only dollars hours after announcing it
After parliament vote, Lebanon’s new government faces financial credibility test/Samar Kadi/The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020
The big picture in Syria/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 16-17/2020
Iran’s satellite launch reflects larger failure
Rockets Land Near US Embassy in Baghdad
Iran’s Rouhani says Tehran will never talk to US under pressure
Iraqis rally to support protest leader for prime minister
Zarif Says Iran Could Reverse Nuclear Breaches If Europe Acts
Pompeo to Asharq Al-Awsat: US Committed to Preventing Iran From Acquiring Weapons
Saudi FM: Iran should change behavior first before any discussions
Kuwait appoints finance, electricity and water ministers in cabinet reshuffle
UAE reports new coronavirus case in Chinese man, says condition stable
Oman sees biggest Gulf clash risk in Strait of Hormuz
Syria says Russian-backed regime army captures most of opposition-held Aleppo
Syrian President al-Assad vows to defeat opposition, as forces gain new ground
Hamas Criticizes Israeli Army's Strategic Plan
Palestinians Say Any Future Peace Talks Must Be Through An International Group
Israel Strikes Hamas Positions in Gaza
Qatar Says Talks with Saudi to Defuse Gulf Crisis Stall
Yemen Govt Urges Int’l Community to Curb Iran’s Weapons Smuggling to Houthis
Darfur Camps Rejoice as Sudan Agrees to Hand Bashir to ICC
Canada, Other Nations Press Iran for More Cooperation in Downed Plane Probe

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 16-17/2020
Who Remembers the Qatar Crisis?/Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 16/2020
The United Nations and The Libyan Crisis?/Jebril Elabidi/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 16/2020
"They Came to Kill Him": The Persecution of Christians - November 2019
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/February 16/2020
Inaction will only feed malign Iranian behavior/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 16/2020
Russia, Turkey and Iran scramble for supremacy amid Idlib bloodbath/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/February 16/2020
Will Turkey find its way in the complicated Idlib chessboard?/Yasar Yakis/Arab News/February 16/2020
Landing a blow against climate change/Ibrahim Thiaw/Arab News/February 16/2020
In Idlib, Washington is taken hostage by its own illusions/Yavuz Baydar/The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 16-17/2020
Family of American held in Lebanon claims he’s a hostage, US senator threatens sanctions
Fox News/February 16/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/83239/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d9%85%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%83%d9%8a-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%86-%d9%8a%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%b9%d9%91%d9%8e%d8%af/
Lebanon could soon find itself punished by sanctions over the detention of an American citizen.
The plight of the New Hampshire resident, Amer Fakhoury, has caught the attention of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is threatening to sanction individuals involved in his imprisonment.
Shaheen is pressing the Lebanese government to release him, especially since he has been diagnosed with cancer. The family is also urging President Trump to intervene.
“There has been no evidence to substantiate the charges against Amer Fakhoury and his health condition is dire,” Shaheen said in a statement to Fox News. “Time is of the essence, and the Lebanese government needs to understand there will be consequences for his continued detention.”
Amer Fakhoury is pleading the Trump administration to work to get him back from Lebanon.
LEBANESE-AMERICAN BEING HELD IN BEIRUT NOW RISKS DEATH SENTENCE AFTER MURDER CHARGE, JUDGE SAYS
Shaheen, who is reportedly working on a sanctions bill, stated, “Whenever an American is held unjustly by a foreign government, we as a nation need to do everything we can to bring them home. All options, including sanctions, are on the table to secure Mr. Fakhoury’s freedom, reunite him with his family and provide the care he urgently needs.”
According to the US Aid website, the United States gave around $201 million in assistance to Lebanon in 2019. The Trump administration released economic and military aid in December even though Fakhoury was then being held without any charges.
His family thanked Shaheen for her help and called for his immediate release., noting that he has stage four B cell lymphoma.
“He is gravely ill and the hospital lacks the basic medicine in order to treat him properly,” the family said in a statement.
In urging Trump’s support, Fakhoury’s family said he supported the president in 2016 and even posed with him for a picture.
“The family calls on President Trump to help bring this innocent American citizen back home,” the statement said. “He is in critical condition and every day his health is deteriorating. We fear that our father will die in Lebanon.”
Fakhoury was arrested in his native Lebanon during a family trip last September after he was accused in a pro-Hezbollah publication of torturing Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners while he served with the South Lebanon Army (SLA) at Khiam prison.
DAUGHTER OF AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN LEBANON CALLS ON TRUMP TO ACT
The SLA was a predominantly Christian force allied and supported by Israel during its proxy war against Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups in the 1980s and ’90s.
After being held without charges for nearly six months, The Associated Press reported that Fakhoury was charged earlier this month by a military judge with murder and attempted murder of prisoners at a jail run by the SLA. He was also charged with kidnapping and torture.
His lawyer, Celine Atallah, told Fox News the charges are fabricated, noting that after all the investigations were made into the infamous prison and the names of those accused of torture and murder were made public, Fakhoury was not among them.
Atallah maintains that there is no evidence to support his continued detention.
“Amer’s only crime is that he is a United States citizen, which is making the Lebanese government hold him hostage to gain leverage over the United States,” she said. “This is an egregious act of criminality by them …. to torture and refuse to release a critically ill innocent American citizen just for them to gain leverage over the United States.”
She added: “They should understand that our government does not negotiate with terrorists, and they should be on notice of the sanctions being drafted by Sen. Shaheen, as diplomacy does not work with these people.”
FAMILY OF US CITIZEN IMPRISONED IN LEBANON PLEADS FOR HIS RELEASE: ‘THIS IS A CRY FOR HELP’
Atallah said she hopes that incoming U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea will make Fakhoury’s release “one of her first priorities.”
The plight of the New Hampshire resident caught the attention of his U.S Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, who has threatened to sanction individuals involved in his imprisonment. (Fakhoury Family)
Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who focuses on the region, said “the Lebanese government should suffer the consequences of its agencies illegally imprisoning an American citizen.”
“Hezbollah runs the entire political order in Lebanon. Hence, any government which emerges from that order is a Hezbollah government,” Badran said.
“This latest government does not have the fig leaf of political figures the West is comfortable with, like former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Whether or not the government includes such figures is irrelevant. The real power behind it is the same regardless. And that’s Hezbollah.”
A State Department official told Fox News that the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon is closely monitoring the Fakhoury case.
“We are concerned about his welfare, as doctors report his health is failing and he requires urgent specialized medical treatment. We have raised these concerns at all appropriate levels with the Lebanese government. We will continue to follow his case closely, and to provide him and his family all appropriate consular assistance,” the statement said.
Questions emailed by Fox News to Lebanese authorities were not returned.
*Fox News Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
*Ben Evansky reports for Fox News on the United Nations and international affairs. He can be followed @BenEvansky

Nasrallah says spirit of Trump's plan will impact maritime border demarcation, oil wealth
NNA /February 16/2020
Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, deemed Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called "deal of the century" will have its effect on Lebanon's maritime border demarcation with occupied Palestine and its oil wealth.
"This plan transcends to Lebanon because it gives Shebaa farms and a portion of al-Ghajar to the Israeli entity, and there is a risk of resettlement due to the deal's refusal of the refugees' return, alongside the effect of the plan's spirit in terms of the American quest to demarcate the maritime borders and the oil wealth," he said. Addressing the Lebanese in a televised speech in commemoration of "martyrs of the resistance", Nasrallah said "the masses of the resistance and its axis are facing a new challenge at the regional level."
"If there is someone in Lebanon who fears the risk of resettlement, we must respect his will...for what is the guarantee in guarding this fear, especially in the event of changes and shifts in the Arab position and in light of the financial crisis?" he questioned.
"The Trump administration, during the past weeks, committed two huge crimes when it assassinated Soleimani and al-Mohandes in a public operation and the second crime is Trump's announcement of the so-called century deal, and therefore the first is a prelude to the second crime," Nasrallah corroborated.
He deemed that "what was referred to as the deal of the century, is a dictating deal in which the Palestinian side had no part."
"Trump's plan to eliminate the Palestinian cause, is an Israeli plan adopted by Trump to completely and humiliatingly abolish the Palestinian and Arab cause, and by this deal he offers the Palestinians a terrible state," underlined Nasrallah.
"Arab foreign ministers and the Arab Parliamentary Union meeting in Amman and the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Jeddah and Malaysia and the positions of Russia, China, the European Union, the United Nations and even the Democratic Party in the US Senate, have all voiced rejection to this plan, and this is a good factor that can be built upon," the Hezbollah Secretary-General went on.
He also welcomed the Lebanese position in this respect, commending the "official Lebanese consensus, especially the three presidents and the people, in rejecting this deal." Referring to America's practices in the region, Nasrallah stressed on the call "to establish a resistance front in the face of the American arrogance, including the legal prosecution of these crimes, even if no outcome is reached." He pointed out that "all peoples of the region will carry a gun because this American tyrant has left no room for anyone," suggesting the boycotting of American goods as one good means of confrontation.
The Secretary-General revealed that "the weak point of Israel is the human element, while the weak point of the American is money," adding that "the Arab nation has potential and capabilities, but requires decision." Nasrallah called on the people of the region to "confront the snake's head represented by the Trump administration that practices a kind of superiority. If the peoples of the region want to preserve their dignity, identity and wealth, their choice would be popular resistance, and all forms of resistance, including armed resistance."
"The Israeli army would still be in Lebanon until the very moment, had we accepted the 'de facto policy' and the status quo, but our choice was the resistance," Nasrallah emphasized, citing Lebanon's experience as an example of such confrontation.
Marking the 40-day memorial of the resistance axis martyrs, Nasrallah paid tribute to the fallen Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, considering that "the crowds at the funeral of the late Soleimani, and at the commemoration of the victory of the Iranian Islamic revolution, is a message to the enemy and the friend, that the more risks and challenges increase, the greater this fort."
Nasrallah outlined the "common characteristics of the five resistance martyr leaders" celebrated on this day, which can be summarized by "faith, sincerity, love of people, extreme humility, great courage, responsibility, trust in God, constant jihad, creativity, reaping victories, passion for martyrdom and seeking to meet the Lord, and reaching martyrdom against the American and Zionist enemies of humanity." He added that these common traits have marked their lives with greatness, and their martyrdom has impacted the nation after their fall. "The resistance is not words and slogans that are separate from reality" he went on. "The martyrdom of Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Sayyid Abbas al-Moussawi has signaled in a new stage, likewise the martyrdom of Hajj Imad and now Soleimani and al-Mohandes...They have summoned the resistance into the whole region, and the axis of the region and Iran have entered a new stage," maintained Nasrallah. The Hezbollah Secretary-General also saluted the people of Bahrain "who demand their natural rights and reject the pace of normalization with the Israeli enemy."
Moving on to the local Lebanese scene, Nasrallah touched on the prevailing economic and financial crisis in the country, highlighting the need to "address the concerns of the Lebanese, especially their daily living, economic and monetary situation, the fate of deposits in banks, the high prices without control, the loss of some commodities, the price of the dollar, the increase in the unemployment rate, the collapse of some companies, the stagnation of commercial movement and the disposal of industrial and agricultural produce; in addition to people's concern about the impact of this crisis on the security side and the deterioration of state services."
"We are all responsible," he asserted. Nasrallah wished that "the previous government did not resign", while commending Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the cabinet ministers "for their courage to assume responsibility, and not to escape from it." "We wish this government success and support and we will not abandon it; we will stand by it with all our possible means because the issue is related to the country," Nasrallah pledged. While referring to the existing consensus over the difficulty of the situation, Nasrallah emphasized that the approach to economic dossiers must be separated from the political files, due to the many differences between the Lebanese components when it comes to politics. Nasrallah also stressed the need to refrain from exchanging accusations over the responsibility for the deteriorating economic situation, and to accord the new government an opportunity within a reasonable timeframe to work to prevent the country's collapse, bankruptcy and fall.

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah calls for boycott of US products as ‘part of the battle’
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/Sunday, 16 February 2020
Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah has called for Lebanese citizens to boycott US goods and products as “part of the battle” against President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan, the militia leader said in a speech on Sunday. “Why are we not resorting to boycotting American products? This is part of the battle. If we do not want to boycott all goods, we choose some companies, and this is a form of confrontation,” Nasrallah said in his televised speech. “The Israeli is afraid of death while the American’s weakness is his security and economy,” he added. Iraqi-Lebanese columnist and writer Hussain Abdul-Hussain reacted to Nasrallah’s call for a boycott of US products by saying that his comments were out of touch with reality on the ground. “This shows how dangerously delusional Iran and its militias are. Here, Hezbollah’s Nasrallah calls on Lebanon to boycott US products. He doesn’t understand that an economy in free fall, like Lebanon, cannot exert boycott/economic pressure on anyone, let alone America,” Abdul-Hussain tweeted. Lebanon may not survive if its new government fails, Nasrallah warned during his speech, urging the country’s divided politicians not to obstruct the cabinet as it seeks to address an unprecedented economic and financial crisis. Nasrallah also said there was no point in politicians trading blame over the causes of the crisis, after former prime minister Saad al-Hariri on Friday accused his rivals of pushing the country to near-collapse. Banks are curtailing access to deposits, the Lebanese pound has slumped, inflation has spiked and firms are shedding jobs and slashing wages in a financial crisis. Hariri resigned last year amid mass demonstrations against the ruling class.Supporting the government was a “national duty,” Nasrallah said. “This is not a party matter. If this government fails, it is not known whether a country will remain for someone to ride in on a white horse and form a new government.” (With Reuters)

Nasrallah Hails Govt. 'Courage', Urges Opposition, Majority to Form Panel
Naharnet/February 16/2020
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday lauded Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the ministers of his government for accepting their posts amid the dire economic and financial situations in the country. “We must laud the government’s PM and ministers for their courage to shoulder responsibility, because we will face difficult and sensitive circumstances,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating Hizbullah’s slain leaders as well as Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. “The situation is very difficult and I call for separating the financial and economic file from the political conflict in the country and leaving aside the settling of scores,” he urged. Warning that those who “call for despair are committing national treason,” Nasrallah urged “awareness, bravery, sacrifice and the shunning of wrong calculations.” He suggested forming “a panel bringing together the opposition and the majority because the economic and financial situation is in a dangerous state.”“The priority is for seeking salvation because the situation is threatening everyone,” he said. • “Help the government, because should it manage to stop the collapse, it would be offering a great service to all Lebanese and those who live in Lebanon,” Nasrallah urged, addressing rivals. “Stop the incitement against the government and this is part of giving it a chance,” he said. Reiterating that “this is not Hizbullah's government, although Hizbullah backs it and wants it to succeed,” Nasrallah warned that calling the government "Hizbullah's government" is harmful to “Lebanon's Arab and international ties.”

National crisis puts Lebanon's survival at stake, Hezbollah leader says
The National/February 16/2020
Hassan Nasrallah said supporting the Hezbollah-backed government was a national duty
Lebanon may not survive if its new government fails, the leader of Hezbollah warned on Sunday, urging the country's divided politicians not to obstruct the Cabinet that was backed by the Iran-aligned militant group.
Hassan Nasrallah also said there was no point in politicians trading blame over the causes of the crisis, after former prime minister Saad Hariri on Friday accused his rivals of pushing the country to near-collapse.
Banks are curtailing access to deposits, the Lebanese pound has slumped, inflation has soared and companies are shedding jobs and slashing wages in a financial crisis. Mr Hariri resigned last year amid mass demonstrations against the ruling class. Lebanon’s public debt was $89.5 billion (Dh328bn) as of November, most of it held by the Lebanese banks. The country is due to pay $1.2bn in March when a Eurobond matures, followed by another $700 million in April and $600m in June. Hezbollah is one of the main backers of Prime Minister Hassan Diab's Cabinet, which was formed last month after the failure to establish a new national unity Cabinet led by Mr Hariri. The new government received a vote of confidence last week while protests continued to rage on the streets of Beirut. Mr Nasrallah said supporting the government was a "national duty". "This is not a party matter," he said. "If this government fails, it is not known whether a country will remain for someone to ride in on a white horse and form a new government." Analysts say Hezbollah's role in forming the Cabinet could make it harder for Mr Diab to secure badly needed financial support from western and Arabian Gulf states that are alarmed by the Tehran-backed group's influence. Mr Nasrallah said that while Hezbollah backed the Cabinet, it was not "Hezbollah's government", and that opponents who described it as such were making it more difficult to combat the crisis and damaging Lebanon's international ties.
Lebanon last week asked the International Monetary Fund for technical assistance on dealing with the economic crisis. Speaking in Dubai, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said Lebanon needed urgent and deep structural reforms. "We are sending a small team to Lebanon," Ms Georgieva said. "We’ll do our best to give a diagnostics recommendation on measures to take but the taking is in the hands of Lebanon."

Hezbollah Unveils Qasem Soleimani Wooden Statue on Israel’s Border, Ideal for Lag BaOmer
David Israel/Jewish press/February 16/2020
On Sunday, a large, wooden statue of Qasem Soleimani pointing toward Israel was unveiled by Hezbollah members in Maroun El Ras, a Lebanese village in southern Lebanon, some 75 miles south east of Beirut, and roughly 0.62 mile from the border with Israel. Qasem Soleimani was an Iranian major-general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who, from 1998 until his death in 2020, served as commander of its Quds Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. Soleimani was assassinated in a targeted US drone strike on 3 January 2020 in Baghdad.

President Aoun demands 'standardizing pricing of airline tickets' in Lebanese pounds
NNA/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 
In an issued statement by the Presidency Information Office on Sunday, it indicated that President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, has demanded the issuance of airline tickets in Lebanese pounds, according to the Lebanese laws.
The statement added that "President Aoun will follow-up with the relevant judicial authorities on the violations that might be committed in airline ticket pricing in currencies other than the Lebanese pounds, so as to take the necessary measures against the violators." The Presidency statement came in wake of today's announcement by the Middle East Airlines, and other airline companies operating in Lebanon that, starting Monday, they will accept payments in US dollars only.

Premiership Press Office denies circulated news about government measures, ministerial decisions
NNA/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 
In an issued statement by the press office of the Council of Ministers' Presidency on Sunday, it categorically denied recent circulated news regarding ministerial decisions and government measures.
"Some sides have been continuing for two months to promote false news through the media and social networking sites, pumping either personal or political fabrications. Moreover, these sides have recently resorted to the promotion of false news aimed at undermining the economic, financial and social stability of the country, and tampering with the future of the Lebanese and harming their interests," the statement said. "Accordingly, the Premiership press office is keen on asserting that everything that was published about governmental measures or news related to ministerial decisions is incorrect," the statement asserted. It, thus, urged the sides behind such false news to "stop pouring their toxins into the diaries of the Lebanese, whose daily difficulties are the result of the accumulation of wrong policies that brought the country to collapse."

Diab asks Hout to cancel pricing of travel tickets in dollars
NNA/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 
Prime Minister Hassan Diab followed-up Sunday on the issue of the Middle East Airlines' decision to price its tickets in US dollars, by contacting MEA Board of Directors Chairman, Mohamed al-Hout, to inquire about the reasons for the decision at this time. Diab also contacted the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, in this regard. The Prime Minister asked the MEA Chairman to cancel the company's decision to issue travel tickets in US currency.

Rahi from Rome: Church must move consciences
NNA/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, considered that the Church cannot afford to give heed to various thoughts and opinions, but must however, touch people's consciences. His words came as he presided over Sunday Mass at Foligno Cathedral in Italy, where the relics of Saint Maroun are preserved. "It is the Church that always addresses the consciences and minds of people...It cannot compromise on anything, otherwise it would be abandoning its role and mission. We thank the Lord who created the Church so that it may remain the permanent voice of the conscience, the voice of God," the Patriarch said. "Saint Maroun, whose remains we honor here today, teaches us many things we desperately need to live by, namely his profound union with God, with prayer, meditation, austerity, and death...As much as he was united with God, he became united with all people, and this is the main secret. Any healthy relationship that we can live on the horizontal level, we can only live if our vertical living is intact with God. Peace with God, peace with all of humanity," al-Rahi corroborated. "With you, we pray for the intention of all officials in Lebanon to return to God, to prayer and repentance...so that they can reunite with each other," the Patriarch concluded.

Abdel Samad says a 'free and responsible' word is required
NNA/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 
Minister of Information, Dr. Manal Abdel Samad Najd, tweeted Sunday, saying: "The statement by the Council of Ministers' Presidency on false and fabricated news today, reminded me of the rumor that targeted me on the day I assumed my responsibilities at the Information Ministry, about appointing my sister as my advisor and transferring her to my office. The rumor died when I ignored it, and its falsehood was clear to all...The media must inform, not fabricate news. A free and responsible word is required."

Lebanon's State-Owned Carrier to Require Payment in Dollars
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Lebanon’s state-owned carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) will only accept payment in U.S. dollars from Monday, the National News Agency reported, as the country grapples with a foreign currency liquidity crisis. The decision reported late on Saturday and confirmed to Reuters by an MEA source on Sunday drew criticism including from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) whose leader, former foreign minister Gebran Bassil, called the move illegal. Writing on Twitter, MP Fouad Makhzoumi said the move put the Lebanese under effective “house arrest” and must be canceled. Lebanon is grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis that came to a head last year as capital flows into the country slowed down and protests erupted against ruling politicians over decades of corruption and bad governance. Officials at Middle East Airlines, which is owned by the central bank, could not immediately be reached for comment on the accusations that its decision was illegal. NNA said MEA would accept bank cards and cheques as long as they were issued in foreign currency. The MEA source said the report was correct, adding: “We are following reactions about this matter and we may have a position on this in the coming week”.

Khalid bin Salman: Iran's Treacherous Militias Assassinated Rafik Hariri
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Saudi Arabia’s Vice Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman said on Sunday that the Iranian treacherous militias assassinated late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri because it got fed up with his development project. This came in tweets, which the Prince posted on his official Twitter account, marking the 15th anniversary of Hariri's assassination. The Prince said Hariri was a national leader "who led the march of reconstruction and stability in his homeland.”Hariri’s “national project, which aims for stability, prosperity and coexistence, will remain in the face of the sectarian militias that do not believe in the homeland or the dignity of its citizens,” he said in another tweet. Hariri was assassinated in an explosion in Lebanon’s capital Beirut in 2005.

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani will start today a Visit to Lebanon
Agencies/February 16/2020
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani will arrive in Beirut today evening, the Iranian embassy said. A statement issued by the embassy said Larijani will lead a delegation comprising parliamentary and political figures on a two-day visit.
It added that he is scheduled to meet with senior Lebanese officials.

Lebanon: Hariri's Speech Establishes a New Stage
Beirut – Ashraq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Speaking on the 15th anniversary of the assassination of his father, Lebanese former prime minister Saad Hariri gave a speech that sparked a multitude of responses. Some said it signaled a new phase for Lebanon. “There is no doubt that there is a new political stage,” Lebanese lawmaker Mohammed Al Hajjar said. In an oblique hint at Gebran Bassil, Hariri said that as a Prime Minister, he in fact had to deal with two presidents of the Republic at the same time, noting: “I was always required to secure the relationship with the shadow president in order to protect stability with the original president”.
In a speech on the 15th commemoration of the assassination of martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, during a ceremony in the Center House in the presence of a large number of officials and Future movement supporters, Hariri said, addressing the shadow president: “You wasted half of the president’s mandate in disruption and cancellation wars. You sabotaged the mandate and registered the collapse of the country under your name and the name of the mandate”. Addressing his supporters, Hariri added: “I am not going anywhere. I am staying in my country and among my people and I will remain in the political work. The Future movement will remain! The free, patriotic, sovereign Lebanese who want a country that benefits them and their children will also remain and no one can scare them”. He also reiterated his support for early elections. “After Hariri's words, there is no doubt that there is a new political stage, especially with parties that were under the so-called March 14 Alliance in government,” Future movement lawmaker Hajjar said. Hajjar also decried rival politicians for leveling accusations against Hariri’s legacy.

FPM to Sue MEA over Obliging Customers to Pay in Dollar
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/2020
The Free Patriotic Movement announced Sunday that it will file a lawsuit against Lebanon’s national carrier, the Middle East Airlines, after the company said customers can no longer pay for their tickets in Lebanese lira. The FPM said the lawsuit will be filed by its “corruption files officer”, the lawyer Wadih Akl, at the request of Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil. Accusing MEA of “violating the laws and depriving the Lebanese of their simplest rights, including traveling with their available currency,” the FPM called on MEA chairman Mohammed al-Hout to “reverse this decision,” noting that “not accepting the national currency represents a criminal offense and violates the text stipulated in the 2020 state budget, which makes national currency transactions binding.” In a statement, MEA had announced that cash, payment cards and checks would be accepted as long as they are in “foreign currency.”
Lebanon is in the throes of an economic meltdown and a biting liquidity crunch that has seen the local currency depreciate on the parallel market and banks impose stringent controls on withdrawals and transfers abroad. In the wake of the announcement, dozens of customers crowded the MEA offices at Beirut airport -- the only one open on Sunday -- in the hopes of paying for their tickets in Lebanese pounds, images broadcast on local TV showed. Middle East Airlines (MEA) is majority-owned by the Lebanese state and administrated by the country's central bank.
The Lebanese pound has been officially pegged at 1,507 pounds to the U.S. dollar since 1997, and the two currencies are used interchangeably in the tiny Middle Eastern country. But in recent months, the pound has plunged against the greenback on the parallel exchange market.
Informal currency controls imposed since late last year have sparked public outrage in the protest-hit country, where an anti-government popular movement launched on October 17 has grown increasingly angry at banking policies.
Major banks in Lebanon began tightening banking controls this month, halving the amount of dollars depositors are allowed to withdraw every month. It will still be possible to complete certain transactions -- such as modifying reservations and paying for excess baggage -- in local currency at Beirut airport, MEA said. MEA offices had so far continued to accept payments in pounds at the official rate and Sunday's announcement was met with an angry response on social media. "MEA: A national airline that does not accept payment in its own national currency. Logic redefined," one Twitter user wrote.
Another posted in response to the news: "Middle East (MEA) belongs to the Lebanese state, it's a flagrant violation of the law. We're not heading for collapse, we're in the middle of it." The central bank chief said in January that he agreed with money exchange houses capping the parallel rate at 2,000, but the price of dollars at some exchanges continues to rise.

MEA reverses decision to accept only dollars hours after announcing it
Tala Ramadan/Annahar/February 16 2020
Hundreds of customers had flocked to MEA offices to purchase tickets before the decision was due to go into effect Monday.
BEIRUT: State-owned Middle East Airlines reversed on Sunday a decision to only accept dollars just hours after announcing it. The decision, which was reversed at the request of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, sparked discontent among Lebanese citizens. Hundreds of customers had flocked to MEA offices to purchase tickets before the now-reversed decision was due to go into effect Monday. Earlier in the day, MEA issued a statement announcing that all airlines operating in Lebanon will only accept payments in U.S dollars. Credit and debit cards, along with checks, will continue to be accepted “provided that the operation is in foreign currency," the statement added. Lebanese have borne the brunt of a massive dollar shortage across Lebanon as the value of the Lebanese lira continues to drop. It has lost more than 30 percent on the foreign exchange market since nationwide protests broke out in October 2019.
Following the MEA's first announcement, concerned Lebanese took to social media to voice their discontent while Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil has called the move “illegal.”The Association of Travel and Tourist Agents in Lebanon had issued a statement arguing that the move to only accept dollars came amid continued efforts to solve the problem of unfair competition between airlines, members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and travel agencies, which almost toppled the sector and its employees. ”MEA had been accepting payments in Lebanese lira, delivering a hit to travel agents. The Association also thanked "all those who contributed to solving this issue," including political officials, led by President General Michel Aoun, among others. Later in the day, the president's office issued a statement condemning the move, saying that he had urged the Association to follow in the footsteps of MEA and accept payments in Lira.

After parliament vote, Lebanon’s new government faces financial credibility test
Samar Kadi/The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020
Lebanon has one of the highest debt ratios in the world, standing at more than 150% of GDP.
BEIRUT - The government of Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, which narrowly won a vote of confidence during a controversial parliament session, will soon face its first painful test with public debt maturities including a $1.2 billion Eurobond due in March, part of $2.5 billion owed this year.
The new cabinet secured 63 votes out of the 84 lawmakers in the 128-member chamber who attended the session February 11. The meeting convened under tight security while anti-government protesters threw stones and clashed with security forces outside fortified barriers surrounding the parliament building.
More than 40 lawmakers skipped the vote. Those who attended skirted the clashes, some reaching parliament on the back of motorcycles or in armoured police vehicles. Eggs and paint were hurled at the cars of MPs and ministers. One MP was hit by stones and needed stitches to close the wound.
“They are criminals hiding behind the army and police. The people reject them. They constitute the worst and most corrupt political class in the world sneaking into parliament like rodents,” said protester Ghada Hassaniyeh.
Lebanon has one of the highest debt ratios in the world, standing at more than 150% of GDP. Lack of economic growth and high unemployment rates sparked nationwide protests since October against the long-standing ruling class accused of corruption and graft.
Diab urged the international community and local opponents to give his Hezbollah-backed government a chance to rescue Lebanon’s economy from collapse. He vowed to fight corruption, while ushering in judicial, financial and administrative reforms, but offered few specifics in his 16-page policy statement.
Economic expert Kamal Hamdan advised defaulting on payments and called for rescheduling the debts, which he said would have less grave repercussions locally than paying them.
“Such a scenario has been applied in many countries that had similar crises in the past decade,” Hamdan said. “Priority should be given to securing depositors’ savings and the people’s means of living, medication and education of their children.”
“The government should alleviate the effect of such a decision on Lebanon’s reputation by designing an action plan and a clear road map within a fixed time schedule that would help regain gradual confidence in the economy, the banking sector and national currency,” Hamdan said.
“Holders of Eurobonds who have amassed fortunes from extremely high-interest rates over years should acknowledge that the other party is in an extremely difficult situation and that it cannot dispose of whatever scarce foreign currency reserves it has to repay debts, while the people are struggling to secure basic means of livelihood,” he added. While Lebanon could ask the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for technical help to draw up an emergency plan, Hamdan advised against direct involvement of the international monetary groups.
“We have excellent Lebanese economic experts who can devise a programme and ask the World Bank and IMF to give their opinion. We should not have them involved directly because the nation could not bear their conditions,” Hamdan said.
“We need a timed implementable action plan. It should include revisions of the taxation system, streamlining public spending, recovering embezzled public funds and purging the judiciary from corruption and ensuring its full independence.”
International donors pledged some $11 billion in grants and loans for Lebanon in 2018, calling for major reforms to unleash the money. In recent weeks, friendly countries said they will not bail Lebanon out without major policy and regulatory changes.
“Unless the government shows that it has a clear vision and a strong will to implement needed reforms regardless of the sacrifices no one will assist us,” Hamdan said. “If we don’t help ourselves in the first place, no one will help us.”

The big picture in Syria
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020
Syrian refugees head northwest through the town of Hazano in Idlib province as they flee renewed fighting Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. (AP)
There is a distribution of roles in northern Syrian at the expense of the Syrian people. Figures released by the United Nations indicate that there are 700,000 additional refugees from north-western Syria. It is a staggering figure that reflects the scale of the tragedy that the world has been watching for years.
It seems Turkey is adamant on establishing a safety zone 35km deep inside Syrian territory. Ankara is doing this through an agreement with Moscow, which wants to have the Syrian regime’s forces, with the help of Iranian militias, control the major routes such as the Aleppo-Hama road and the Jisr al-Shughour-Aleppo road. These are the outlines of the battle in northern Syria that includes Idlib. There are Russian-Turkish understandings and there is an American eagerness for a Turkish role in the area within the framework of a general agreement between Washington and Ankara.
Until the picture in northern Syria becomes clearer, the tragedy of the Syrian people gets renewed daily and their exodus increases. It doesn’t look like the Syrian war is over. In fact, it looks like it is in its infancy despite all these years. The only constants of the affair are that the regime that has been in existence for 50 years has no future and that Syria, as we know it, no longer exists. Syria is not only fragmented but requires $250 billion-$300 billion to be rebuilt. Where is that money going to come from? All we know is that the existing regime is not going to step down and leave Damascus even if that means the end of Syria.
The title chosen by Sam Dagher for his book on Syria best summarises the situation: “Assad or We Burn the Country.” Syria and the Syrians will be sacrificed for the survival of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus but his survival is not crucial because he has already fulfilled the role required of him: destroy Syria. Before the rise to power of the Ba’ath Party and its empty slogans on March 8, 1963, Syria was bustling with commercial activity and was set to become a country capable of providing a model for the region.
Recent developments in Syria revealed that Turkey knows what it wants and that its goals are specific. This is what the Americans and the Russians also know. Occasional confrontations take place between Moscow and Ankara but these interactions soon find their way to settlements, often at the expense of the Syrians. From the beginning, Turkey has played all the roles that contributed to bringing Syria to its current state.
Turkey has accepted hundreds of thousands of Syrians but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also sold many illusions to the Syrians before it became clear that he suffers from many personality disorders, including delusions of grandeur, thinking that the region has never seen a more charismatic leader than himself. To prove to the Syrians that their fate is the last thing on his mind, Erdogan finds nothing better to do than send Syrian fighters to Libya to fight a battle that has nothing to do with Syria and the Syrians. It is necessary to look at the big picture and not just at what is going on in northern Syria. The big picture shows what is going on in Syria is an integral part of the changes in the region, including the decline of the Iranian role. This does not mean that the Iranian role is no longer present in Syria. Rather, it means that Russia is closer to grabbing many threads in Damascus. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Damascus in early January was not a chance one. It was immediately after Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani’s assassination by the Americans and we know that the slain commander of al-Quds Force played a pivotal role in enabling Assad to remain in Damascus.
While in Damascus, Putin not only summoned Assad to a Russian base but was keen to visit the Umayyad Mosque and the Orthodox Patriarchate in the city, sending a strong signal that Russia gives importance to the role of the Sunnis in Syria and cares about the Christian minority there.
This does not mean that Russia is ready to get rid of Iran in Syria. Moscow needs the ground contribution of the Iranian and Iran-backed militias, given that its military intervention relies more on the air force than anything else.
A country such as Lebanon, facing the risk of collapse, must avoid using the issue of Syrian refugees as a scapegoat for its internal problems. Lebanon’s collapse was caused by the politics of the “Hezbollah era” that began with the election of Michel Aoun as president of Lebanon on October 31, 2016.
Before that era, which removed all walls separating Lebanese state institutions and Hezbollah, the party’s weapons had a role in drawing Lebanon into the Syrian quagmire. The party caused the displacement of tens of thousands of Syrians to Lebanon through its direct participation in cleansing areas in the vicinity of Damascus and along the Lebanese borders of their Sunni inhabitants, just as the Syrian regime wished. That was also Iran’s wish, which is working to change in the demographic composition of Syria.
Every time the Syrian issue is raised, it is inevitable to return to the big picture, which means, among other things, that betting on the Syrian regime is misplaced. There are understandings along broad lines taking shape within the context of five foreign occupations: Israeli, American, Russian, Turkish and Iranian. What is regrettable is that Lebanon’s political leadership cannot absorb the complexities of the Syrian situation on a scale larger than small local policies. What is even more unfortunate is that more and more Syrians will be displaced as the war becomes more and more complex.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 16-17/2020
Iran’s satellite launch reflects larger failure
The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020
Despite the usual propaganda rituals that accompany its regime-orchestrated events, Iran’s celebration of the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution highlighted Tehran’s problems with the world and with its own population.
For the occasion, Iran attempted to launch a satellite into orbit. The celebratory intent of the launch was illustrated by the name given to the satellite: Zafar — Farsi for “Victory,” it was called. “Failure” could have been a more appropriate name. The satellite exploded and fell to Earth before reaching orbit. The attempt triggered suspicions of an intent by Tehran to use its space programme for ballistic development purposes, especially that Tehran also unveiled a new a short-range ballistic missile. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ website said the Raad-500 missile was equipped with new-generation engines. France, among other Western countries, condemned the launch, “which calls on technologies used for ballistic missiles and, in particular, intercontinental ballistic missiles.” “Iran’s ballistic programme hurts regional stability and affects European security. France calls on Iran to fully respect its international obligations in this matter.”In the usual propensity of the regime at exaggerating and distorting the facts, Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi still found reason to celebrate. “But We’re UNSTOPPABLE! We have more Upcoming Great Iranian Satellites!” he tweeted, before euphemistically admitting that “sometimes life does not go the way we like it to go.” Life is bound to continue not going Tehran’s way as long as its rulers follow aggressive and costly ambitions that have nothing to do with the demands of their increasingly discontented population.

Rockets Land Near US Embassy in Baghdad
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
A US military source confirmed that several missiles landed near the US embassy in Baghdad, early on Sunday. There were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties. Multiple strong explosions were heard, followed by aircraft circling near the area, AFP reported. Sunday's assault sent warning sirens blaring across the diplomatic compound, according to the source. This was 19th attack since October to target either the embassy or the US troops stationed alongside local forces across Iraq. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Iran’s Rouhani says Tehran will never talk to US under pressure
Reuters, Dubai/Sunday, 16 February 2020
Iran will never hold talks with its longtime foe, the United States, under pressure, President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised news conference on Sunday, adding that Tehran’s help was essential to establish security in the Middle East. “Iran will never negotiate under pressure ... We will never yield to America’s pressure and we will not negotiate from a position of weakness. America’s ‘maximum pressure’ towards Iran is doomed to failure,” Rouhani said. Read: Iran warns it will strike US and Israel if they make the ‘slightest error’“Securing peace and stability in the sensitive region of Middle East and in the Persian Gulf is impossible without Iran’s help.”

Iraqis rally to support protest leader for prime minister
AFP, Karbala/Sunday, 16 February 2020
Hundreds of Iraqis rallied Sunday to support a protest leader they want as prime minister instead of current premier-designate Mohammad Allawi, who they see as too close to the ruling class.
Appointed on February 1, Allawi has pledged to announce his cabinet lineup within the week even as he faces ongoing protests against his nomination -- and a new contender. In the shrine city of Karbala, dozens of students took to the streets carrying photos of Alaa al-Rikaby, a pharmacist who has emerged as a prominent activist in the protest hotspot of Nasiriyah, further south. “We’re here to show our support for Alaa al-Rikaby, the candidate of the people!” said Seif al-Hasnawy, a 20-year-old student. Rikaby, who has a round face and closely-trimmed beard, began demonstrating in early October alongside others fed up with rampant corruption, lack of jobs and poor public services. He has since risen to local fame with a series of videos posted on Twitter to his tens of thousands of followers, discussing politics and a path forward for the otherwise leaderless anti-government movement. In one video last week, he asked protesters who gather at squares across the country to show whether they would back him for the post of prime minister, in a novel approach for a political nomination in Iraq. “If the people decide so, I’d accept,” he said in his latest video on Thursday. “This post has no value as such for me. I don’t see it as a prize, but rather as a huge responsibility,” said Rikaby, who has a tent pitched in central Nasiriyah targeted in a recent stun grenade attack. In Karbala, university student Hassan Qazwini told AFP: “We protesters have numerous demands, and one of them is an independent prime minister without ties to parties -- like Alaa al-Rikaby.”Before Rikaby, Faeq al-Sheikh Ali, a liberal critic of the ruling class, also declared himself a candidate but has not received mass public or political backing. Allawi was nominated on February 1 as a consensus candidate among Iraq’s fractured political parties but has only been publicly endorsed by cleric Moqtada Sadr, who has a cult-like following across the country. Allawi has until March 2 to form a government and Iraqi officials have quietly expressed skepticism that he would be able to complete it in time. But in a surprising tweet on Saturday, Allawi said he would be ready to submit a cabinet to parliament within the week for a vote of confidence. Parliament is officially in recess until mid-March and the house speaker, Mohammed Halbusi, has not yet scheduled an extraordinary session.

Zarif Says Iran Could Reverse Nuclear Breaches If Europe Acts
Munich- Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Iran would be willing to move back towards the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) if Europe provides "meaningful" economic benefits, announced Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif on the sidelines of Munich Security Conference (MSC). Zarif met with members of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Munich where they discussed the nuclear deal, Europe's obligations under the deal, and regional and international issues. He pointed out that Iran is ready to return from reducing its nuclear obligations if Europe abides by its obligations and takes practical steps in this field.
The Iranian FM also met his Ukrainian counterpart Vadym Prystaiko on Saturday and reviewed issues related to the Ukrainian plane crash in Tehran that claimed the lives of all passengers on board on January 3. During the meeting, both sides discussed the continuation of cooperation on inquiry into the disaster, and conferred on the efforts made to reduce the sufferings of the victims, according to IRNA news agency. The Iranian air defenses unintentionally downed a Ukrainian Boeing 737 near Tehran, minuted after it took off, killing all 167 passengers. Zarif earlier held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern, and his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne. The FM also acknowledged that Iran was not able to extract information from the black box from the Ukrainian airliner, but said that Tehran will not hand over the box to foreign governments.
Speaking during an interview with NBC, Zarif stated that under international aviation rules, Iran had the right to lead the investigation into the downing of the airliner. But he said Tehran needed software, cables and additional expertise from the US or other Western countries to be able to decipher the information in the black box. "We have asked for help, why haven't the United States helped us? This is a humanitarian issue. Why haven't they given us the software? Why haven't they given us the expertise?" Zarif said. He admitted there are still a lot of unknowns and more than anybody else, Iran wants to know what is in the black box and what actually happened. NBC asked Zarif whether anyone is working on the black box or trying to decipher it. The FM asserted that Iran will not “touch the black box without the presence of all interested parties.”

Pompeo to Asharq Al-Awsat: US Committed to Preventing Iran From Acquiring Weapons
Washington- Heba El-Koudsy/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 -
Before landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Feb 19, US Secretary of state Mike Pompeo underscored the importance of the US-Saudi partnership, saying it is critical as the two countries work to confront Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region. Pompeo’s visit to Saudi Arabia is tied to a score of hot topics and coincides with major ongoing events. It comes as Washington continues its efforts to find a solution to the conflict in Syria, cooperates with NATO in combating terrorism, assists Iraqi forces with training and intelligence, and continues to crack down on Iran, especially after the killing of the commander of the “Quds Force” General Qassem Soleimani. In this short interview with Asharq Al Awsat newspaper, Pompeo, stressed that the United States is committed to ensuring that Iran is not able to buy and sell weapons and to renew the UN Security Council arms embargo and restrictions on arms transfers to Tehran, which expires on October 2020. Following the US airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, what are the United States’ options to address the threats of the Iranian-backed terrorism from Lebanese Hezbollah to Iraqi Shiite militias to Yemen Houthi militias? The US action against the Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani saved American lives and protected Iraq’s sovereignty. Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of more than 600 Americans and countless Arabs and others in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere, and he was actively working to kill more at the very moment we killed him. As the President has made very clear, we will not tolerate attacks that harm Americans.
President Trump proposed expanding NATO’s membership to include Middle Eastern nations? What would be the difference from any other coalitions that the United States called for and formed? As the White House has reiterated, the President is focused on the value of NATO increasing its role in preventing conflict and preserving peace in the Middle East. While discussions continue, there is broad agreement that NATO could contribute more to regional stability and the fight against international terrorism.
Washington has been focusing on anti-government protests in Iran. How can the United States help the Iranian people who are suffering the most from Tehran’s suppressive regime and the negative effects of the US economic sanctions? As I have said before, this is my message to the Iranian people, “The United States hears you; the United States supports you; the United States is with you.” This support is more important now than ever before, particularly in the face of this regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors. The focus of our campaign of maximum diplomatic isolation, economic pressure, and military deterrence remains on changing this regime’s behavior. While it is up to the Iranian people to determine the future course of their nation, the United States will continue to stand with them and echo their calls for justice and accountability.
Saudi Arabia is a key US ally in the Middle East; how do you evaluate the strategic cooperation between the two countries, and what more can be done to make full use of this cooperation to reach peace and stability in countries like Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon?
We are determined to ensure the safety of the American people and our national security, and that requires reliable partners and stability in the Middle East. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plays a vital role in this regard and we will maintain the important strategic partnership between our two nations. For 75 years, Saudi Arabia has been a staunch partner in advancing shared goals in the Middle East, including as a founding member of the Coalition to Defeat ISIS, through its contributions to the Syria Stabilization Fund, and its efforts to help stabilize the Iraqi economy and thwart Iranian aggression.
What steps are you currently taking to urge the United Nations Security Council to renew its arms embargo against Iran when it expires next October?
The United States is committed to ensuring that Iran is not able to buy and sell weapons, which only helps the regime continue to destabilize the region, bring about more violence, and prolong conflict and suffering. In August 2019, I spoke to the UN Security Council to stress the importance of renewing the restrictions on Iran. The arms embargo, as well as the travel ban on Iran’s worst agents of terror, cannot be allowed to expire. The Security Council needs to extend these restrictions, so long as Iran’s behavior continues. We have a countdown clock on the State Department’s Iran webpage to show how time is ticking down until Iran is unshackled to create new turmoil. The United States seeks a deal with Iran that comprehensively addresses the regime’s destabilizing behavior (not just its nuclear program but also its missile program), support for terrorist proxies, and malign regional activities. Iran must simply conduct itself like a normal nation. That is not too much to ask.

Saudi FM: Iran should change behavior first before any discussions
Souad El Skaf, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 15 February 2020
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said no “private messages,” or “direct contact” had taken place to ease tensions with Iran, saying that Tehran first needed to change its behavior before talks can happen. “Our message to Iran is to change its behavior first before anything is to be discussed,” Prince Faisal said on Saturday during a panel discussion at the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany. He said the Kingdom’s message is “quite clear.” “Until we can talk about the real sources of that instability, talk is going to be unproductive,” Prince Faisal added.
Responding to a question about whether there has been a change in the Kingdom’s approach to Yemen, Prince Faisal said: “It’s not a shift from the Saudi side actually we saw after the September attacks on our oil facilities where the Iranians attacked the facilities but then they asked the Houthis to take the blame for it, and I think that sent a wakeup call to the Houthis that they are not partners with Iran but they are tools for the Iranian regime to use as they see fit.”“And that was an incentive for the backchannel which was always present to activate and we continue to have that dialogue. There has been some recent escalation but we are committed to finding a way forward if the Houthis are willing to focus their attention on the interests of Yemen,” said Prince Faisal. He added: “So our message has always been consistent to the Houthis and to all parties in Yemen that you should work toward bettering Yemen and toward the interests of Yemen we may differ on what is in the best interest of Yemen but that is an argument that is worth having rather than actuating the agendas of regional players.”Prince Faisal said “Since our intervention in Yemen we have always said that we favor a political resolution, we favored every political dialogue whether its… by Martin Griffiths or his predecessor and we will continue to support that.”

Kuwait appoints finance, electricity and water ministers in cabinet reshuffle
Reuters, KuwaitSunday, 16 February 2020
Kuwait has appointed Barrak Ali al-Shitan as finance minister and Mohamed Hagi Boushahri as minister of electricity and water in a limited government reshuffle announced on Sunday in an Emiri decree.

UAE reports new coronavirus case in Chinese man, says condition stable
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/Sunday, 16 February 2020
A new case of the coronavirus was diagnosed in a Chinese man in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, state news agency WAM reported citing the country’s health authorities. UAE’s Ministry of Health said that the man, aged 37, is currently in stable condition and is being monitored through “continuous periodic examination according to the standards of the World Health Organization.”Last Sunday, the UAE announced that a 73-year-old Chinese woman who contracted the deadly coronavirus has been cured, making her the first person in the country to beat the virus. Liu Yujia, the Chinese citizen, received treatment in one of the country's hospitals, state news agency WAM reported. The death toll from China’s coronavirus epidemic jumped past 1,600 on Sunday after 139 more people died in hard-hit Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Oman sees biggest Gulf clash risk in Strait of Hormuz
Reuters, Munich/Sunday, 16 February 2020
The risk of a military confrontation is higher in the Strait of Hormuz than anywhere else in the Gulf region, Oman's foreign minister said, due in part to the growing number of military vessels from different countries that are guarding it. The waterway between Iran and Oman - 33 km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point - is the conduit for some 30% of all crude and other oil liquids traded by sea. Friction between Iran and the West had led several nations to send task forces to guard shipping there, and Washington has blamed Tehran for attacks on international merchant vessels in or near the area, something Tehran denies. "There are a lot of military ships in the Hormuz (area) and our concern is there could be a mistake," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah said late on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. That would make that area the riskiest flashpoint in the Gulf over the coming months, he added. Iran cannot legally close the waterway unilaterally because part of it is in Omani territorial waters. However, ships that sail it pass through Iranian waters, which are under the responsibility of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy. Tehran has also threatened reprisals for the January 3 killing of its top military commander, Qassim Soleimani, in a US drone strike, though regional analysts have said that is unlikely to involve an intervention in the Strait. Washington, which in 2018 decided to pull out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and re-impose sanctions on it, is leading a naval mission to protect oil tankers and cargo ships that includes Britain. France leads a separate European mission, and Japan, Russia, South Korea and China have also sent naval assets to the region. There have been periodic confrontations between the Iranian Guards and the U.S. military in the Gulf in recent years. US officials have said closing the Strait would be crossing a "red line" and America would take action to reopen it. "The only thing for Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar is the Strait of Hormuz and if it is blocked we will all be in trouble so that's why it is important to maintain the safeguard of maritime navigation," Kuwait's foreign minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah told the same conference.

Syria says Russian-backed regime army captures most of opposition-held Aleppo
Reuters/Sunday, 16 February 2020
Syrian state media said on Sunday government forces had seized most of opposition-held Aleppo province in another major gain by a Russian-backed offensive. Russian warplanes mounted heavy air strikes in the area on Sunday, bombing towns including Anadan, which was later seized by Syrian government forces backed by Iranian-backed militias, activists reported.

Syrian President al-Assad vows to defeat opposition, as forces gain new ground
The Associated Press, Damascus/Sunday, 16 February 2020
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday his government was determined to win back all Syrian territories, as state media reported significant advances against the last opposition-held enclaves in the country’s northwest. The Syrian government offensive has piled pressure on opposition forces backed by Turkey. On Sunday, Syrian troops captured at least 30 villages and towns in the western Aleppo countryside, state media and activists said. The fighting in rural Aleppo and nearby Idlib province has unleashed a humanitarian crisis. Over 800,000 civilians out of nearly 4 million living in the enclave have been displaced, living in open fields and temporary shelters for the most part in harsh winter conditions. The Syrian government’s new advance effectively secures its hold on Aleppo province and its capital for the first time since 2012. State news agency SANA reported reported 30 villages and towns around the city were captured on Sunday. Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor Syria Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the report. “This means the control of Aleppo (city), and the countryside and securing all of Aleppo,” Abdul-Rahman said. The armed opposition is now squeezed into a shrinking area of nearby Idlib province, where the government is also on the offensive. The opposition had been driven out of Aleppo city’s eastern quarters in late 2016, which they controlled for years while battling government forces who were in charge in the western part. “The Syrian people are determined to liberate all Syrian territories,” President Assad said according to the Syrian state news agency on Sunday. Assad was speaking during a meeting with visiting Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani. Both Iran and Russia have heavily backed Assad in the civil war.
The Syrian leader also claimed “terrorists” in northwestern Syria were using residents as “human shields,” in an attempt to stop Syrian troops from advancing into the territory. Syria’s government considers all the opposition in the nine-year war as “terrorists” and has repeatedly leveled accusation that they take residents of areas they control as hostages. But many of the displaced in Syria’s Idlib province have fled the fighting in other parts of the country, choosing to live in areas outside of government control. A Syrian man on a motorbike in the deserted Syrian city of Kafranbel, in Idlib province, amid an ongoing pro-regime offensive, on February 15, 2020. (AFP) Turkey has sent thousands of troops and equipment into the opposition enclave, in an attempt to stall the government advance. Turkey, which backs the opposition, has called for an end to the Syrian government offensive. It also fears that the displaced may overwhelm its borders. Turkey is already home to more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees. The United Nations has also called for a ceasefire. Larijani, meanwhile, reiterated his country’s support for Syria in fighting terrorism. Iran has played a key role in supporting Assad’s war efforts, sending financial support as well as fighters to back up Syrian military operations. Support from Russia and Iran has enabled Assad’s forces to regain control of much of the territories they had lost to armed groups who worked to topple him. Over 400,000 people have been killed and half of Syria’s population displaced since peaceful protests in 2011 turned into a civil war stoked by foreign interventions.

Hamas Criticizes Israeli Army's Strategic Plan
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Hamas Movement slammed Saturday the five-year plan prepared by Israeli Army Chief Commander Aviv Kochavi for his forces to deal with the expected challenges during the coming period. It said the plan affirms the “criminal mentality that governs the occupation leaders.”
The movement stressed that it is a plan of gangs that neglects all norms and humanitarian laws. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Kochavi’s plan “seeks a lost victory and an impossible end for the battles launched by this aggressive army.” Qassem explained that the Israeli army wants to replace its inability to resolve military battles by committing massacres against civilians. Kochavi’s plan highlights the occupation army’s intention to destroy the resistance’s capabilities and try to liquidate half of its fighters, he added. The spokesman stressed that this occupation hasn’t refrained from doing so in its previous wars, in which it wreaked deaths, destruction and sabotage, “yet it couldn’t achieve any of its aggression’s goals.” “All these military plans and preparations for wars will never stop our people from carrying on with their resistance to grab their rights and freedom and end the occupation,” noted Qassem. Hamas also stressed that the resistance will continue to accumulate power, exercise its duty to defend its people and move on with its liberation and return project. “Our resistance will prevent the occupation from achieving any of its goals due to its bravery and unity in the battlefield, through the joint operations room, and the supporting people.”Kochavi developed a plan for the next four years (2020 - 2024), dubbed the Momentum Plan, and it calls for strengthening the operational capabilities of the occupation army, upgrading the quantity and quality of armaments for the Air Force and turning the military into a deadly, high-tech force that fights in a unified manner at sea, on land, in air and in cyber and electronic warfare. It also seeks to reduce the period of any future military confrontation for a few days or a few weeks, by strengthening military intelligence and developing “enemy detection capabilities” to attack it accurately. Iran is high on the occupation army’s list of priorities, and Kochavi said he intends to appoint a full general to oversee all elements of the Iranian threat, from the Islamic Republic's nuclear program to its military expansion in the region.

Palestinians Say Any Future Peace Talks Must Be Through An International Group
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said any future peace talks must be sponsored by international teamwork, not only through the US. His remarks came during a meeting with 21 Republican and Democrat members in the US Congress on Saturday, on the sidelines of the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC). Shtayyeh also added that any solution to the Palestinian cause shall be based on with UN resolutions. He stressed that the recently announced “Deal of the Century,” which aims at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, does not meet the Palestinian citizens’ minimum legitimate rights.
He also highlighted the seriousness of the decisions issued by the US administration regarding the Palestinian cause, noting in particular “the attempt to liquidate its components, the most important of which is the refugee issue.” Shtayyeh warned against Israel’s schemes to annex the Jordan Valley and some area in the West Bank, saying such plan undermines any chance to establish a geographically connected Palestinian state. Palestinians are now working on convincing the world that it is necessary to adopt President Mahmoud Abbas’s vision to launch negotiations under international multilateral sponsorship for a specified period of time. Abbas said these talks shall be based on international legitimacy and would cancel any previous resolutions and settlements or anti-peace measures. However, the US and Israel rejected the proposal. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee is scheduled to hold a consultative meeting on Sunday in Ramallah to discuss the Palestinian action at both domestic and international levels against the peace deal announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this year. Committee Member Saleh Raafat said the consultative meeting will also tackle the next steps on what was announced at the UN and the Human Rights Council on companies operating in settlements in the West Bank and the occupied Golan Heights, whether Israeli, European or US companies. “Messages will be sent to all foreign countries that have companies operating in the settlements in order to close them and hold them accountable, in accordance with the Human Rights Council decision, which considered that these companies have violated international laws,” Raafat explained. Russia, Europe and China are working to counter this peace deal and are seeking to hold a real international peace conference, in which many countries participate along with the Arab Quartet, he noted.

Israel Strikes Hamas Positions in Gaza
Gaza- Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
The Israeli air force attacked Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in retaliation to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave into Israel, a military statement said. The exchange of fire between both sides has escalated since last month after US President Donald Trump unveiled his Middle East peace plan, angrily rejected by the Palestinians as a capitulation to Israeli objectives. "Fighter planes and helicopters have targeted positions of the terrorist organization Hamas in central Gaza Strip," including a military post, said the Israeli military, which earlier reported two projectiles had been fired into the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip. Following the rocket fire, Israel announced it would cancel a slight easing of the blockade on the Gaza Strip. "The extension of the fishing zone, the restoration of 500 commercial permits and the delivery of cement have been canceled," because of the rocket fire, COGAT, the Israel defense ministry unit that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008 but over the past year, the Islamists had gradually shaped an informal truce with Israel, under which the Jewish state has eased its crippling blockade of Gaza.
Israel justifies the blockade by the need to contain the Islamist movement Hamas -- designated a terrorist organization by much of the West -- which has controlled the enclave since 2007. Critics say it is collective punishment of two million people and feeds extremism. Palestinians in Gaza have launched rockets, mortar shells and balloons rigged with explosives at southern Israel on a near-daily basis since Trump's plan was unveiled.

Qatar Says Talks with Saudi to Defuse Gulf Crisis Stall
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/2020
Talks between Doha and Riyadh to resolve a two-year-old regional spat have stalled, Qatar's foreign minister has said, with diplomats and analysts suggesting the situation has hit a stalemate. Saudi Arabia, along with its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, cut all diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017. The four governments accused Doha of backing radical Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and seeking closer ties with Saudi arch-rival Tehran -- allegations Qatar vehemently denies. "We have always been very open for dialogue, since the start of the Gulf Cooperation Council (regional bloc) crisis," Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. "It's been almost three years since the crisis started. We are not the perpetrators of that crisis and we've been very open and clear that we are open to any genuine intention to resolve this problem. "We demonstrated this when there was an opening last year in November. Unfortunately these efforts didn't succeed and have been suspended at the beginning of January." Two diplomats in Doha said they did not see any indications that the nascent talks could be resumed for the foreseeable future following a flurry of engagement at the end of 2019. The pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted a Gulf diplomat on Wednesday who suggested Riyadh pulled out of the talks because the Qatari negotiators "did not seem serious in reaching compromise." The unnamed diplomat accused Doha's team of "prevaricating to prolong the negotiations" and added that Riyadh wanted a solution that included all of the boycotting countries. Abdulrahman said that while Qatar was not responsible for the suspension, Doha remained open to further dialogue. "We are trying to address the substance, to understand the root causes, and not to deal with whatever is said in the media or mentioned by non-officials," he said. "We want to be forward-looking... so that it's not repeated again." King's College London assistant professor Andreas Krieg said the Saudis were "unhappy" that the Qataris demanded "some sign of goodwill" before engaging in reconciliation efforts. "They already came to an agreement (on) overflight rights. The Saudis wanted to go ahead, but then Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman changed his mind while in a majlis (formal gathering) in Abu Dhabi," he told AFP. "It runs very deep. The UAE have not taken a tiny step away from crisis mode. They can sustain this indefinitely."Krieg said the UAE's motivation to boycott Qatar was Doha's perceived closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood, while for Saudi the priority was to address Qatar's alleged closeness to Iran.

Yemen Govt Urges Int’l Community to Curb Iran’s Weapons Smuggling to Houthis
Aden- Ali Rabee/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020 -
The Yemeni government has renewed its call to the international community to classify the Houthi group, which is loyal to Iran, as a terrorist organization. This came after the group continued to pose a threat to Yemenis, international interests, and neighboring countries. The Yemeni government also called for greater international pressure on Iran to stop smuggling arms shipments to the group. This followed a US Navy warship seizing a shipment of Iranian weapons that officials said were being sent to Houthis in Yemen. Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar Al-Aryani welcomed the seizure and stressed that Houthi militias continue to pose danger on Yemenis and abort peace efforts. According to Aryani, the seized shipment included 150 “Dehlavieh” anti-tank guided missiles, a type of missile designed by Iran based off of a Russian variant. Also recovered were three surface-to-air missiles, components for unmanned surface and aerial vessels, thermal imaging weapons scopes, and other advanced weapon components. The shipment would be a direct violation of a United Nations Security Council Resolution forbidding the supply, sale, or transfer of weapons to the Houthis. Aryani said the pernicious Iranian role in Yemen and its continued smuggling of weapons played a major role in the recent escalation, the failure to implement the Sweden agreement, the continuing of Yemeni bloodshed, the aggravation of suffering, and the obstruction of all efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis peacefully. The Yemeni minister called on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to impose deterrent sanctions on the Tehran regime. He called for putting enough pressure on the Iranian regime to stop its arms smuggling to Houthi militias, saying it constitutes blatant interference in the Yemeni affairs and violates the principles of sovereignty, international law, and UNSC resolutions related to the Yemeni crisis.

Darfur Camps Rejoice as Sudan Agrees to Hand Bashir to ICC
Khartoum- Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
In the sprawling Camp Kalma, refugees displaced by the Darfur conflict are overjoyed at the decision by Sudan's new authorities to finally deliver president Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court. Bashir, who was deposed in April 2019 following mass protests, has for the past decade flouted International Criminal Court arrest warrants on charges of genocide and war crimes in the ravaged Darfur region of western Sudan. On Tuesday, Sudan's transitional authorities agreed to transfer him to stand trial before the court based in The Hague. "There was rejoicing across the camp after people heard Bashir is being handed over to the ICC," 65-year-old refugee Adam Ali, a longtime resident of Kalma camp in Nyala, capital of South Darfur state, told AFP. Darfuris and rebel groups have repeatedly demanded he be handed over to the ICC over alleged war crimes in a conflict which according to the United Nations left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million others. Local community leader Yaqoob Mohamed said the decision was "a victory for the victims" and would go a long way towards "rebuilding trust" with the leadership in Khartoum. Hundreds of thousands of those displaced by the conflict that broke out in 2003 in Darfur, a vast region made up of five states, still live in camps and remain dependent on aid provided by the UN and other international organizations.
The conflict erupted when African minority rebels rose up against Bashir's Arab-dominated government in Khartoum that they accused of marginalizing the region. To crush the rebellion, Bashir's government unleashed an armed militia, accused by rights groups of ethnic cleansing and widespread rape.
Thousands of the militiamen were later incorporated into the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by commander and current political powerbroker Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti. The decision to surrender Bashir to the ICC came after protracted talks between rebel groups including from Darfur and Sudan's ruling body who took power after Bashir's ouster and arrest. Three of his aides, including former defense and interior ministers, are also to be handed over to the court, although a timeframe has not been announced. "If Bashir and his aides are not handed to the ICC, peace will never find its way to Darfur," said Hassan Issac, another Darfuri living in Kalma.
Hassan Isaac Mohamed, a 72-year-old Darfuri, said he felt "relief" in the wake of a war that had decimated his family, killing his father and two brothers. Government spokesman Faisal Mohamed told reporters on Wednesday that "details of how Bashir and others will be presented in front of the ICC will be discussed with the ICC and armed groups". Rights groups are pressing for a swift handover of the toppled strongman. Since its creation in August, Sudan's transitional government has been pushing to forge a peace settlement with rebel groups and to end conflicts across the country. It has promised accountability and kept Bashir in Khartoum's Kober prison on a string of charges including corruption. In December, the veteran leader was sentenced to two years in a community reform center over accusations of illegally acquiring and using foreign funds. He was removed from power after street protests against his rule broke out in December 2018 triggering unrest that left dozens dead, hundreds wounded and thousands jailed. "We were relieved when Bashir fell but now we feel like we can finally start to recover from the impact of war," said camp resident Jamal Muhammed.

Canada, Other Nations Press Iran for More Cooperation in Downed Plane Probe
Asharq Al-Awsat/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 16 February, 2020
Diplomats from nations that lost citizens when Iran shot down a Ukrainian airliner pushed Iran’s foreign minister Saturday for more cooperation from Tehran on the investigation and other issues. Amid heightened tensions with the United States, Iran said it accidentally shot the aircraft down Jan. 8 after mistaking it for an incoming missile attack. All 176 people aboard the Ukraine International Airlines plane died. The victims included 57 Canadian citizens as well as 11 Ukrainians, 17 people from Sweden, four Afghans and four British citizens, as well as Iranians. Iran has not turned over the black boxes or committed to compensation for the victims. Diplomats pressed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for action in a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said. “On behalf of the grieving nations of this tragedy, we told Minister Zarif in no uncertain terms that Iran must take steps toward resolving many outstanding questions of fact and of law,” Champagne told reporters. "We pressed Iran on the need for a thorough, transparent and credible investigation in full compliance with the Convention on Civil Aviation. This, of course, means allowing for the black boxes to be transferred to a facility with the capacity to properly download and analyze their contents,” he said. Diplomats from Britain, Afghanistan and Ukraine also took part in the meeting. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said they emphasized the need for quick action in the case. “We are talking about weeks and months,” he said. “We're not talking about years.”

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 16-17/2020
Who Remembers the Qatar Crisis?
Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 16/2020
When the four countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain) severed their relations with Qatar, nearly two and a half years ago, because of its constant incitement to extremism and the financing of terrorist groups, the Qatari crisis was then talk of the Gulf councils, and it continued to be present in the media and political for months later, then began to gradually decline.
The four countries have a clear stance. Their demands are known and their message is the same: we will never return to the previous situation, while the Qatari government - the only one affected by the boycott - adopted the method of political and media escalation. It only implemented a superficial change, failing to radically adjust its behavior.
More than two years have passed, and Doha is still scuffling, while its crisis has become forgotten. Nothing has ever changed for the four countries, which went on their way, while Doha continued to suffer from its isolation.
Contrary to its media policy that claims that the country has become stronger thanks to the boycott, Doha has finally succumbed to the political reality, finally admitting that the ball is in its court and that shouting and lamenting will not benefit it.
It took the decision to send its foreign minister to Riyadh. But the latter did not work for the success of the negotiations, based on the six principles declared by the Arab quartet. Those include the commitment to combating extremism and terrorism in all their forms, preventing their financing, and stopping incitement and hate speech, as well as the full adherence to the 2013 Riyadh Agreement, the supplemental agreement, and its implementation mechanisms for 2014, under the wings of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Doha attended the meeting only to buy time and sell words without any practical actions. Consequently, its foreign minister returned empty-handed as expected. What’s worse, Qatar lost its pride to find itself forced to go to Riyadh against its will to search for a solution that would end its crisis.
What is left for Qatar after it missed the only real opportunity since the beginning of its crisis?! In fact, many forget that Doha is nothing more than a big media trumpet, which thinks that by creating media crises, interfering in the affairs of others, promoting fictitious stories and lies, it would proudly tell its opponents: we are here.
In short, this false media excitement is summed up by the Economist magazine, when it mocked the Emir of Qatar’s inconsistency, when he said, “We want freedom of expression for the people of the region and they are not happy with it”, while most Qataris are forced to remain silent.
Perhaps the excitement-based Qatari media policy has been successful and somewhat exciting in previous decades. Today, it expired.
Excitement does not make an impact on public opinion. Even the biggest criminals and terrorists make exciting speeches, but what do they become after that? Indeed, this is the reality of Qatar today. It believes that its media trumpets are able to save it from the most severe crisis it faces in its history.
If these negotiations had taken place at the beginning of the crisis, they would have had an echo and media and popular interest. Today, many people are no longer interested in Qatar… whether it returns, or remains isolated or whether negotiations succeed or fail...
Everyone has become convinced that these four countries have issues and concerns that are more important and useful than a forgotten crisis.
This is the bitter truth that Qatari politicians insist on neglecting. They will remain isolated until they commit to extinguishing the fires that their policy had ignited. Moreover, no one remembers them, whether they returned to their surroundings, or remained isolated.

The United Nations and The Libyan Crisis?
Jebril Elabidi/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 16/2020
Have the United Nations and the mission led by Ghassan Salame in Libya become a part of the Libyan crisis? After a mishandling based on a misreading of the Libyan crisis and Salame becoming involved in serious violations of red lines in Libya, especially after he repeated the same mistakes in his reports to the UN and Security Council. The mission under Salameh started to ignore the Libyan parliament’s legitimacy and was selective with who it meets and has a dialogue with without passing through the legitimate Speaker of Parliament.
In his briefings to the Security Council Salameh did not mention many important matters while he exaggerated other more minor ones. He was silent about Turkish mercenaries and weapons being brought to Tripoli. His briefings lacked truth and realism; in fact, it revealed that it leaned towards the Government of National Accord while ignoring popular rejection of it. Indeed, even among members of al-Sarraj’s Presidential Council, after Barca and Fezzan resigned which entailed that it lost legitimacy. After losing its condition for existence, the international mission continued to deal with the council, making it complicit with the Libyan crisis. It was silent about the expenditure of billions from the peoples’ treasury without issuing a budget by parliament to begin with or there being a monitor as economic supervision procedures require.
The UN mission has intentionally shifted the locations of negotiations, from Ghadames in Libya to Skhirat in Morocco, then to the Tunisian capital and later to Geneva, Paris and Rome. In fact, it used its envoys to fragment the crisis and drown it in detail, while members of the mission became suspicious to Libyans due to the misguidance in the biased reports or the mission selecting representatives of the dialogue committee.
This committee lacked friends and supporters. In fact, it included a high-ranking official from the Muslim Brotherhood who was named an independent member of the dialogue committee in Skhirat. This committee produced a shameful agreement that was violated dozens of times without a single condemnation by the mission. On the contrary, it continued to recognize the Presidential Council even after most of its members resigned, which led to one group to take over the council without there being representatives of the two other main parties. Despite this grave violation, the international mission, as a monitor over the agreement, did not declare that the agreement was violated and has become obsolete.
The Skhirat agreement was sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ibn Kiran government, and consequently, the supposed “Agreement” failed and did not qualify as a consensual deal. The UN mission’s insistence on this clinically dead agreement rendered it complicit in the crisis rather than a mediator.
The Skhirat government, recognized by the UN mission, naturalized and legitimized militias. Actually, it enabled them to protect this fragile government instead of implementing its clauses to redeploy the militias outside the cities and then dissolve, without a single condemnation by the mission.
Now, there is a war on terror and its advocates in Libya. It cannot be described as anything else, as what is happening is a return of the state and its status after being taken over by systematic chaos. Despite this, the UN mission and its delegates still misread the Libyan crisis.
Salameh has tried to disregard his job description as UN envoy by ignoring sovereign Libyan bodies such as parliament and attempting to deal with defected or suspended parliamentarians and choosing among them representatives of parliament in the Geneva talks and entirely ignoring the Speaker. This has rendered the international mission complicit in complicating the Libyan crisis.
The composition of the international mission in Libya needs reconsideration, starting from its head to its mechanism and authorities. That is a result of it becoming a part of the Libyan crisis in many respects and has made it unwanted on Libyan land, especially after the accusations against it have become both extensive and problematic. The UN has precedence in trying to divide Libya and manipulating it in what was known as Bevin-Sforza Plan that our ancestors and the founding fathers of the modern Libya state overthrew.

تقرير مفصل عن اضطهاد المسيحيين في شهر تشرين الثاني لسنة 2019
"They Came to Kill Him": The Persecution of Christians - November 2019
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/February 16/2020
"He was a 15-year-old adolescent. He was so deeply asleep in his bed that he didn't hear any of the noise around him. They thrust the blade of the axe so deeply into his skull, to the point we had to use a hammer to get it out of his head." Many Christians have been displaced by these ongoing attacks and live in "extreme misery," added another local: "This is beyond persecution. It is a dramatic situation, plunging thousands of families into a deplorable humanitarian crisis." — Rebecca, a witness, Barnabas Fund, November 15, 2019, Cameroon.
A group of Muslims beat, robbed, and threatened to kill a Christian evangelist if he did not convert to Islam.... [T]he Muslims indicated that they had physical pains and injuries. Fløttum offered to pray for them, they accepted, and he complied. They said they felt better and urged him to go with them and pray for another of their friends who was also suffering from a foot injury.... "They were very nice and I couldn't believe they would deceive me," he later said. They took him to a backyard, pushed him down a cellar staircase, and began to beat and kick him in the face...."While they kept me there, they threatened me and said they would kill me if I did not convert to Islam....I was scared and actually thought they were going to kill me because they said they had a knife and didn't want witnesses." — Idag.no, November 28, 2019, Norway.
"...although the Egyptian government has made some modest progress toward legalizing informal churches around the country and improving public discourse about Coptic rights, it has taken few steps toward systematically improving religious freedom conditions for vulnerable Christian populations, particularly in rural areas." — United States Commission on Interreligious Freedom (USCIRF), Annual Report 2019, Egypt.
Turkey's Council of State recently approved converting Istanbul's historic Chora Church, currently a museum, into a mosque. Chora Church's uniquely old and surprisingly intact artwork was first made in 1315 — more than a century before the Turkish invasion and conquest of Constantinople in 1453. (Image source: Gryffindor/Wikimedia Commons)
The Slaughter of Christians
Syria: On November 11, Islamic gunmen opened fire on a vehicle known to be carrying Christian leaders. Two Armenian priests, Father Abrahim Petoyan and Father Hovsep Petoyan, a father and son, were killed and a deacon was seriously wounded. ISIS claimed responsibility. The Armenians had been going to inspect repairs on an Armenian Catholic church that had earlier been damaged in Deir ez-Zor. "We continue to feel the presence of ISIS," responded the Armenian Catholic Archbishop Boutros Marayati of Aleppo, adding that Deir ez-Zor "is a very important town for us, because it is there that many of our martyrs were killed as they fled the Turkish genocide of 1915. Today there are no Armenian Catholics left there. Undoubtedly, the Turks don't want us to return, because our presence would be a reminder of the Armenian genocide."
Turkey: On November 19, in the streets of the city of Diyarbakir, Korean evangelist Jinwook Kim, 41, was stabbed and later died from his injuries. A 16-year-old Muslim was later arrested. According to the report,
Kim had arrived in Diyarbakir with his family earlier this year and was pastoring a small community of Christians. The assailant stabbed Kim three times: twice in the heart, once in the back. Officials, however, claim that the incident occurred in an effort to steal Kim's phone. Local believers urge the authorities to investigate the incident as an assassination, rather than an attempt at extortion. Kim was married and had one child, although his second is expected to be born in the coming days.... He had lived in Turkey for five years.
"This wasn't just a robbery; they came to kill him," insists another local Christian, who received a death threat the day after this incident:
"We always get threats. A brother prophesied a few days ago that they (the government) are going to kick out these foreigners, and probably kill a few Turkish brothers. They are going to cause chaos. They know that I am trying to spread the Gospel, so they may target me too. This may be a sign."
Ethiopia: "Two Ethiopian pastors have been beheaded in Sebeta, near the capital Addis Ababa, in an outburst of violence against Christians." The attack erupted after a leading Muslim incited his supporters against the government over some supposed infraction against him. The report added that "the situation on the ground has become quite challenging for Christians and many churches have been burnt this year. There is also an unverified report that a group of Christians has been forced out of the majority-Muslim town of Ginir, located 303 miles south-east of the capital."
Nigeria: Muslim Fulani herdsmen continued their raids of murder on Christian communities. Two incidents were especially notable. First, in the early hours of November 14, machete-wielding Muslim raiders hacked to death four Christians as they slept in their bedrooms in Agban village, near Kagoro. All of the victims were farmers and members of the local church. Ten days later, on November 24, Muslim herdsmen attacked Agom, a Christian village, around 4:30 a.m. They hacked an 87-year-old Christian to death with machetes and shot another Christian in the head; he died instantly. Both men, regular churchgoers, had been sleeping in their homes.
Cameroon: On November 6 in Moskota, Islamic militants affiliated with Boko Haram attacked a church where they killed David Mokoni, a retired pastor, as well as a hearing-impaired Christian boy. Another pastor was shot in the leg. Afterwards, the militants looted the church, and even took the pastors' ceremonial robes. "Boko Haram has been stepping up its attacks on Christian villages in Far North Cameroon in an attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate from north-eastern Nigeria all the way to northern Cameroon," the report said. The most recent attack follows a "brutal spate of attacks since late October, by gangs of up to 200 militants, [which] has left eight dead": "The first of the attacks came on 30 October with the looting of six mainly-Christian villages in Mayo Sava district.... On 31 October, five people were hacked to death when militants armed with axes, knives and wooden clubs stormed the village of Kotserehé. A sixth wounded man later died from his injuries." Rebecca, a witness, described the slaughter of a boy in Kotserehé: "He was a 15-year-old adolescent. He was so deeply asleep in his bed that he didn't hear any of the noise around him. They thrust the blade of the axe so deeply into his skull, to the point we had to use a hammer to get it out of his head." Many Christians have been displaced by these ongoing attacks and live in "extreme misery," added another local: "This is beyond persecution. It is a dramatic situation, plunging thousands of families into a deplorable humanitarian crisis."
Pakistan: Muslim bakers murdered a teenage Christian coworker and police are covering it up, alleged Sarwar Masih, the father of Akash Masih, the slain 18-year-old: "My son was an expert at baking and making shawarma and burgers" and his "expertise was liked by the customers." As a result, "he faced discrimination and religious jealousy at his workplace. He often complained about the unfavorable situation at the bakery, but he continued working to help his family." One day the bakery called the father and said his son was sick and sent to a hospital. Sarwar rushed there only to learn that his son had already died. When he contacted police, the bakery threatened him and police were unresponsive. They claimed that his son had "committed suicide," even though signs of torture were visible on his neck and back. "These are delaying tactics to defuse the evidences against the culprits," Sarwar reported: "Christians face hatred and discrimination even after their death."
Separately, on November 16, an armed Muslim mob attacked and drove out the Christian families of a small village in Lahore. One Christian teenage girl, Sonia Sarwar, was killed and six others seriously injured in the riot. "The attack was aimed at displacing around ten Christian families from this area," explained Nazir Masih, whose legs were wounded in the attack: "Arshad Kambho, an influential Muslim, wants to grab the property of the Christians." Since 2015, Kambho had been trying to steal the Christians' land. He took them twice to courts, and twice the courts had ruled in favor of the Christians. "Since then, Kambho has been creating disputes with the Christians to damage them and drag them into an allegation," another local said.
Attacks on Christian Churches
Syria: On November 11 — the same day that the two Armenian priests were killed in a hail of bullets (see above) — three car bombings took place in the city of Qamishli, which holds a significant Christian population. One of the bombs detonated near a Chaldean church and killed at least six civilians, as well as damaging the church building; another detonated near an Assyrian Christian-owned market, and a third detonated near a Catholic school. All of the attacks were claimed by ISIS.
Egypt: On Friday, November 1, a fire broke out in a Coptic church in Shubra. According to the report, "The fire had started at around 8:30 am close to the church theatre hall, in a building adjacent to the church itself. Anba Makary, Bishop of South Shubra, was then officiating Mass on the ground floor for persons with disabilities. They were all safely evacuated." In the preceding two weeks, in October, two other churches had been torched. Police concluded that all three fires three were due to electrical malfunctions. Christians argued otherwise, that the cause was arson.
In a separate incident, the civil council of the village of Neda ordered the church of St. George to remove its bell tower, in keeping with Islamic law. The church, fearing that this was just the first warning of a downward spiral toward closure, made a direct appeal to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. According to the November 17 report,
"[T]he actual construction of the church has been a slow process. It was originally established in 1911, but it didn't receive building permits until 2006. Because the village Christians are poor, construction has been slow. They are afraid that the village extremists will stop them from continuing construction without the intervention of the President. Churches are a contentious subject in Egypt, which is an officially Islamic country. The construction of churches is tightly regulated by the state..."
Pakistan: A Muslim mob demolished a wall and the front door of a Catholic church in the Punjab on the pretext that it was not formally registered. However, according to church member Naseer Masih, "Muslims do not want the church in the village because they have bad feelings towards Christians." The report states:
"On 4 November 50 policemen arrived in front of the [church] gate and asked Catholics if they had ever had problems praying in church. Christians have responded that they had never had difficulties. Meanwhile, a crowd of 60 people gathered to bring a tractor and hammers. With the tractor they knocked down the door, then the Muslims completed the destruction with hammers."
The police just stood by and watched. "[W]e had no warning from the police before the accident," said Naseer. "The Muslims carried out the destruction and the policemen did nothing against them. This means that they are on their side.... We have prepared all the documents," he added, referring to the legality of the modest, now ruined church that had been built in 2007.
Turkey: According to a November 21 report, "Turkey's Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, has recently approved changing the historic Chora Greek Orthodox Church located in Istanbul, currently a museum, into a mosque":
"Commentators say that sets the legal precedent for transforming Hagia Sophia, the very symbol of Byzantine and Orthodox Christianity, which is also currently an official museum, back into a mosque.... The interior of the [Chora] church, which was originally built as part of a monastery complex outside the walls of Constantinople, is covered with some of the oldest and finest surviving Byzantine mosaics and frescoes."
*Chora Church's uniquely old and surprisingly intact artwork was first made in 1315—more than a century before the Turkish invasion and conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The artwork images of Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus (view here). All these historic frescoes are set to be destroyed when the church is transformation into a mosque.
France: On Sunday, November 3, a statue of St. Bernadette in the chapel of the St. Florent hermitage in Oberhaslach was found beheaded. Because in France, approximately two churches are reportedly violated every day, this bit of vandalism attracted little attention. According to PI-News, 1,063 attacks on Christian churches or symbols (crucifixes, icons, statues) were registered in France in just 2018. A separate January 2017 study revealed that "Islamist extremist attacks on Christians" in France — which holds one of Europe's largest Muslim populations — rose by 38 percent, going from 273 attacks in 2015 to 376 in 2016; the majority occurred during Christmas season and "many of the attacks took place in churches and other places of worship." Unsurprisingly, the parish where the beheaded statue was found suffered an arson attack the year before.
General Hate for and Abuse of Christians
Norway: A group of Muslims beat, robbed, and threatened to kill a Christian evangelist if he did not convert to Islam. According to the report, Roar Fløttum was "preaching the gospel and praying for the sick" on November 27, following a prayer meeting in the church he attends in Trondheim, when he encountered a group of Muslim men. During their conversation, the Muslims indicated that they had physical pains and injuries. Fløttum offered to pray for them, they accepted, and he complied. They said they felt better and urged him to go with them and pray for another of their friends who was also suffering from a foot injury. Fløttum went. "They were very nice and I couldn't believe they would deceive me," he later said. They took him to a backyard, pushed him down a cellar staircase, and began to beat and kick him in the face. They kept him hostage there for about an hour, robbed him of his credit cards and about a thousand kroner (equivalent to about $108 USD). "While they kept me there, they threatened me and said they would kill me if I did not convert to Islam," recalled the Norwegian.
"They wanted me to say some words in Arabic [likely the shahada, 'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,' which, when recited before Muslim witnesses, makes the reciter a Muslim]. I was scared and actually thought they were going to kill me because they said they had a knife and didn't want witnesses."
Egypt: A knife-wielding Muslim man stabbed a Christian family—consisting of a mother and her two sons—and left one of the boys in critical condition. The incident occurred on the evening of Sunday, November 17, in Minya. When the Muslim man saw the family sitting outside their home, as is customary in Egypt, he began yelling at them to go back inside. When the older son refused, the man, identified variously as "Ali," or "Muhammad," went to his home nearby and returned with a knife. He lunged at the family, stabbed the mother in the head, sliced the younger brother's face, and stabbed the older brother several times in the gut (images here). A separate report adds that, "Last year, Mohammed attacked another Christian man with a cleaver.... He is known to hate Christians." "We can't get back to the village," one of the sons reported.
"Right now, we try to avoid fights and disputes with them. The extremists' family live in a house which is not far away from us. We will not let them induce us to fight them or anything like that. If we did something like that, we will lose our rights to punish the extremist. We want law enforcement."
Uganda: On November 10, Muslim relatives of a Christian father of four young children poisoned and almost killed him for leaving Islam. Ronald Rajab Nayekuliza, 48, had converted earlier and proceeded to build a church and raise pigs as livestock. His brothers, already angered by his conversion, responded by building a mosque near the church, while local Muslims regularly hurled stones at the church during Sunday worship. Next, his older brother, Anus Wako, began sending threatening messages:
"You rearing pigs is against the faith of our father. We are from a Muslim family, and our father did not allow the keeping of pigs. While our father was still alive, you were a Muslim; that is why he gave you land to live in, not for the construction of the church. Our family has become a laughingstock to our Muslim neighbors."
Then, on the morning of November 8, Ronald found six of his piglets slaughtered: "I knew it must be my brothers; that really confirmed my earlier fears. My brothers had threatened me with witchcraft as well as receiving curses from Allah. This has made me live in great fear of my life and that of my family." Two days later he attended a memorial for his father, where his brothers and other local Muslims were gathered. Before leaving, Ronald told his pregnant wife that "he was feeling a kind of nausea," she said. "Immediately he started to vomit, then followed by diarrhea, with fever and complaining of abdominal pain." They rushed him to a hospital, where he lost consciousness. After doctors confirmed that he had been poisoned with a pesticide, police were sent to the brothers' home: "When the four brothers saw the police vehicle, two of them fled," a Christian local said. "The police arrested two brothers, Anus Wako and Kalipan Waswa, who were released on bond after four days." Ronald spent more than a week recovering in the hospital. "My husband is better but still very weak, with blurry vision and feeling numbness in his body," his wife reported.
Pakistan: On November 10, Muslim arsonists reportedly torched a Christian home in Al-Noor town. Witnesses saw two motorcyclists who had attended a nearby Islamic rally hurl a packet near where the house first caught fire. "The fire was extremely hot and it melted the stuff inside," Manzoor Masih, the father of the family said:
"It looks like they used some chemical which turned all the stuff into ashes within no time. The fire damaged beds, mattresses, furniture, trunks, cloths, crookery, fans, computers, the UPS, and the entire electric system.... For the last six months, different groups keep pressuring my family to leave this neighborhood and go to a Christian settlement. However, we never gave into their threats.... I never thought we would face this much hatred for not selling our house. It's really heartbreaking and disappointing for a Christian living in this country..."
Turkey: A recreational facility in the town of Dargeçit referred to as the "Nation's Garden" is, as revealed in November, being built atop the graves of Christian and Armenian Christians—both of which groups were victims of the 1915 genocide by Ottoman Turkey. "Is it now the turn of our deceased?" responded Evgil Türker, chairperson of the Federation of the Syriac Associations:
"This mustn't happen; we strongly condemn it... Of course, this event reminded us of the past. There had been similar cases in the past.... [T]his is looting. This is proof that the deceased of others [meaning non-Muslims] are not respected.... [T]his mentality has to be stopped."
Egypt: A Christian activist and social media blogger, Ramy Kamel, who exposes the plight of his coreligionists, was arrested and falsely charged with "terrorism," presumably to silence him. In response, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a statement in which it "strongly condemns" Egypt's treatment of him:
"Mr. Kamel is an activist and prominent member of the Maspero Youth Union, advocating for full civil rights for Egypt's Coptic Christian community and documenting abuses against its members. On November 23, National Security Agency officers stormed his home; confiscated his mobile phone, laptop, and other belongings related to his advocacy work; and took him into custody. One day later, the Supreme State Security Prosecution announced a series of spurious charges against Mr. Kamel, including membership in a terrorist organization, spreading false information, and disturbing the public order.
USCIRF Vice Chair Nadine Maenza elaborated:
"USCIRF calls on the Egyptian government to immediately release Mr. Kamel from detention and dismiss the preposterous charges against him. His arrest casts doubt on the sincerity of Egypt's promises of working toward greater religious freedom; Egypt cannot pledge improved rights and freedoms for Copts and other non-Muslim communities, while at the same time bringing false charges against its own citizens who are advocating for those same reforms."
The USCIRF statement concludes:
"Egypt's Coptic Christians represent the single largest non-Muslim community in the Middle East, likely comprising 10-15 percent of the country's population of over 100 million. Despite their integral role in Egyptian society and history, they have long faced discrimination and periodic violence for their faith. In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF found that although the Egyptian government has made some modest progress toward legalizing informal churches around the country and improving public discourse about Coptic rights, it has taken few steps toward systematically improving religious freedom conditions for vulnerable Christian populations, particularly in rural areas."
Pakistan: The only Christian journalist registered with the Lahore Press Club finally resigned after years of harassment and discrimination from her Muslim coworkers. Gonila Gill, 38, had covered the persecution of minorities since 2002. In 2014, while remaining Christian, she married a Muslim journalist. Soon after, the harassment began in earnest. Her coworkers "told me that I would never get pregnant until I converted," and her husband was accused of being an "infidel." She finally resigned, "owing to the mental torture her colleagues put her through from not converting to Islam" notes a November 19 report. "Speaking to the media, Gill said people are vile, but no matter what she will not lose faith in her religion."
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Picture Enclosed: *Chora Church's uniquely old and surprisingly intact artwork was first made in 1315—more than a century before the Turkish invasion and conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The artwork images of Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus (view here). All these historic frescoes are set to be destroyed when the church is transformation into a mosque.

Inaction will only feed malign Iranian behavior
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 16/2020
There are still some politicians, scholars and policy analysts who believe that imposing pressure and sanctions is not the answer to Iran’s aggressive policies and military adventurism in the Middle East.
It seems that they have forgotten recent history, where the policy of inaction and appeasement was tested during the eight years of the Obama administration. Five members of the UN Security Council lifted all four rounds of crippling sanctions that took decades to impose on the Islamic Republic. Former President Barack Obama revoked four previous executive orders against Iran — removing US unilateral sanctions and freeing up Iran’s assets, which were estimated to be worth between $50 billion to $150 billion.
The US Department of Treasury removed nearly 400 Iranian citizens from the blocked list, freed up their assets and permitted them to do business with the US. The US gave Iran the ability to re-enter the global financial system and export and import many commodities that were previously banned.
The rest of the Western world followed suit; the EU removed all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions against Tehran and it began doing business with the theocratic establishment. The ruling mullahs were appeased through secret deals, such as the agreement, details of which were obtained by the Associated Press, revealing the fact that more significant restraints on Iran’s nuclear program were lifted even before the expiration of the nuclear deal. This shockingly allowed the Iranian authorities to install more advanced nuclear components than it ever possessed before.
Thanks to the lifting of US, EU and the UN Security Council’s sanctions, which allowed the Iranian regime and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to sell oil and do business freely in the international market, Tehran became financially and economically more powerful.
Upon the JCPOA’s agreement, Barack Obama said that he was “confident” the deal would “meet the national security needs of the United States and our allies.” Less than a year after pursuing this course of appeasement with Tehran, he added that the nuclear deal had helped in “avoiding further conflict and making us safer.”
But did inaction and appeasement policies genuinely turn the Islamic Republic into a civilized, rational and moderate state member of the international community?
Thanks to the lifting of US, EU and the UN Security Council’s sanctions, which allowed the Iranian regime and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to sell oil and do business freely in the international market, Tehran became financially and economically more powerful.
What the world came to observe was that Tehran began more forcefully advancing its ballistic missile program. Iran test-fired many ballistic missiles, capable of carrying multiple nuclear heads, an act in violation of United Nations resolutions 2231, which “calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”
But Iran’s actions were ignored and the expanding militaristic role of the Revolutionary Guard was taken lightly. Iran continued to be listed as the top state sponsor of terrorism — “providing a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world.”
During the appeasement period, Iran also began detaining and arresting more citizens with dual nationality. Not only did the regime detain more Iranian-Americans, but also boasted about it and publicly asked for more money to release them. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pointed out recently: “We should wait and see, the US will offer . . . many billions of dollars to release” (citizens).
As Iran ratcheted up anti-American sentiments, the State Department’s reaction was classic: Ignoring these developments and continuing with appeasement policies. Iranian leaders became more emboldened and empowered, to the extent that they repeatedly harassed naval ships of the world’s superpower without fearing any repercussions. Regionally speaking, as Tehran became more heavily armed with additional revenues and weaponry, it increased its military interventions in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and intensified its advisory, financial, weapons and intelligence assistance to its Shiite proxies and Bashar Assad, bolstering the “Shiite axis.” Iran also increased its strategic and tactical cooperation with Russia to undermine US interests, strengthening the Russia-China-Iran axis.
At the end of the appeasement period, Iran reached an unprecedented level of breaking international laws, even ignoring the nuclear deal, as it was caught pursuing a “clandestine” path to obtain illicit nuclear technology and equipment from German companies “at what is, even by international standards, a quantitatively high level.” Even the German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized Iran, but still no action was taken.
With billions of dollars of revenue pouring into the pockets of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the IRGC, Tehran did not become a rational and moderate state. Iran instead became more empowered and emboldened to pursue its revolutionary ideals and military adventurism in the region. None of these appeasement policies changed the political calculations of Iranian leaders. Combined with the Iranian regime’s funding of violent, terrorist extremists, it should be evident that the national security interests of the US and its allies in the region did not improve.
The bottom line is that inaction and appeasement policies only reinforce Iran’s aggressive and destabilizing policies.
*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

Russia, Turkey and Iran scramble for supremacy amid Idlib bloodbath
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/February 16/2020
The heartbreaking plight of 700,000 Syrians displaced by President Bashar Assad’s murderous Idlib campaign in recent weeks is comparable in scale to Myanmar’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, despite receiving pitiful levels of media attention. Half of Syria’s 22 million pre-war population has to date been uprooted, with many of Idlib’s refugees having endured multiple displacements. Freezing conditions are killing the most vulnerable, with volumes of aid entering the province proving woefully inadequate.
Yet this is a humanitarian catastrophe wrapped up in a geopolitical quagmire. In recent days, Syrian regime troops and Iranian proxies killed 13 Turkish soldiers and besieged Turkish observation posts. Turkey retaliated, killing dozens of regime troops and paramilitary personnel. A furious President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vows to use force to push back Syrian regime forces and hit targets “anywhere” if his troops are attacked again. With untold thousands slaughtered, the violence threatens to send three million refugees fleeing into Turkey, which already hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees.
Meanwhile Israel, with US support, is growing bolder in striking explicitly Iranian targets throughout Syria and Iraq. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel were killed last week in an Israeli airstrike on Damascus Airport, apparently targeting an Iranian aircraft shipping munitions for Assad’s bloody Idlib campaign. This is just one of dozens of strikes against Syria-based IRGC targets in recent weeks, with the US also showing increased readiness to act against IRGC’s regional assets; not least with the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, and the impounding of Iranian shipments of weapons bound for the Houthis. With even valued proxies like Hezbollah facing sharp financial cuts resulting from US sanctions, this relentless military pressure inevitably erodes Tehran’s ability to continuously bankroll its overseas warmongering.
Human rights groups have documented atrocities and ethnic cleansing in eastern Syria by Arab militias under Turkish command, while US troops were recently involved in skirmishes with pro-Assad elements. Shared enmity toward Erdogan may bring the Kurds and Assad closer together, one consequence of which would be to allow Iran increased influence in the strategically crucial east.
Despite being on opposing sides, Turkey and Russia have thus far interacted with relative amity in carving up their respective Syrian spheres of influence. President Vladimir Putin and Erdogan’s 2018 Sochi deal mapped out a demilitarized zone in Idlib, providing for monitoring roles for Turkish and Russian troops. The two leaders spoke by phone after the latest escalations, and both a Russian delegation and US envoy James Jeffrey visited Ankara.
Observers stopped trying to count Syria’s death toll many years ago after it soared beyond 600,000. It perhaps now exceeds a million.
Moscow could potentially play a decisive role in compelling Assad to accept that the pacification of Idlib is prohibitively costly, given that the regime has few prospects of regaining the province without immense Russian assistance. There is little for Putin to gain from a long, grinding campaign and he perhaps values the relationship with Ankara more highly. Nevertheless, all sides are currently playing hardball in seeking to maximize their narrow interests.
Western diplomats should be energetically pushing key players toward de-escalation, not least as Erdogan has repeatedly hinted at the option of maliciously forcing refugees out of Turkey into Europe. European states must stop pretending that the indefinite continuation of this war is none of their business, not least in terms of mass movements of refugees, terrorism, region-wide destabilization and Tehran’s attempts to push its sphere of influence through to Europe’s southeastern frontiers.
If Ankara and Moscow can reach an understanding over Idlib, they should be encouraged to decisively curtail Iran’s involvement throughout Syria, which is inimical to the long-term interests of both sides. While Turkey and Russia would benefit from finding a peaceful resolution to this conflict which constitutes a burdensome financial drain, Tehran exploits the fog of war to reinforce its dominant regional posture and sees these Arab states as a staging point for attacking its many enemies. Russia has far fewer ideological affiliations with Iran than it has with Israel, so it is long past time to bring this ill-omened marriage of convenience to an end.
Observers stopped trying to count Syria’s death toll many years ago after it soared beyond 600,000. It perhaps now exceeds a million, with millions more lives destroyed through horrific injuries, psychological trauma, the miseries of exile, and the loss of meaningful futures.
Efforts by Turkey, Russia, Israel and Iran to carve out respective spheres of influence over the blood-stained rubble of Syria constitute meaningless lines in the sand. These will quickly be wiped away when the Syrian nation ultimately succeeds in overcoming tyranny and taking destiny in its own hands.
Just because Assad and his genocidal cronies and Russian and Iranian enablers today revel in illusions of impunity for their epic-scale crimes against humanity this doesn’t mean that their situation won’t have radically changed in five or 10 years time.
This is graphically illustrated by the recent willingness of Sudan’s new administration to consider transferring former president and war criminal Omar Al-Bashir to The Hague criminal court. I remember traveling to interview Bashir. His henchmen pressured me not to mention the Hague indictment (I did of course), and ridiculed the prospect of him ever seeing justice. Ironically, some of those henchmen remain embedded within this new administration negotiating to hand Bashir over, as a cheap route to curry favor with the West.
Nevertheless, the international community’s recurrent failures in enforcing international law, and shameful inaction over Syria will come back to haunt leaders in the near future, as well as in the history books.
We hope that families of the countless victims of Bashir, Assad, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Putin and other war criminals will eventually see justice done, but equally in Syria all sides must make urgent efforts to bring this senseless, monstrous war to an end once and for all.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Will Turkey find its way in the complicated Idlib chessboard?
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/February 16/2020
When a Turkish Army detachment came under attack by Russia-supported Syrian forces and lost eight soldiers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that such attacks will not avoid retaliation. In the subsequent days, Turkey has sent reinforcements of some 9,000 soldiers and heavy equipment to Idlib.
On Feb. 11, Piotr Ilyichev, the head of the International Organizations Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, made a statement to the UN Diplomatic Academy: “We understand the difficulties encountered by our Turkish partners. But the Syrian units, Russian units and Russia’s Hmeimim military base are targeted every day by drones. We cannot simply sit and wait while these attacks are carried out.”
Alexei Yerhov, the Russian Ambassador in Ankara, said: “The Syrian Army decided to take back every inch of its territory. It is fighting in its own country for its own people. They are fighting for their ancestral lands and not according to the rules dictated by some bearded foreigners. Through the Sochi agreement of Sept. 17, 2018, Turkey assumed the responsibility to eliminate all radical terrorist groups, tanks, rocket launchers, artillery systems and all heavy weapons. There was also an agreement to open the M-5 and M-4 motorways. Were the terrorists eliminated? Were the motorways opened?”
An ambassador cannot be expected to make this type of statement without strong backing from his government, especially under strict Russian diplomatic practices.
This background is a clear indication that Russia is not at ease with Turkey’s Idlib policy.
The Astana memorandum on deconfliction specified that certain categories of armed opposition were going to be kept outside the scope of ceasefire agreement. These armed opposition factions were: “Members of Daesh, Al-Nusra Front and other groups associated with Al-Qaeda, which would include Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.”
These names were copied from the UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Therefore, Turkey has a double obligation: One stemming from resolution 2254; the other from the commitment that it undertook in the Astana process.
Turkey either misunderstood this exception or took on the responsibility of Idlib because it had its own designs for the province.
Now, everything is unfolding as predicted by experts on the Middle East: The Syrian Army’s operations are raging intensively, the refugee movement toward the Turkish borders continues unabated and innocent Syrian civilians are faced with untold plight.
Turkey may have failed to see where things went wrong. The original mistake was when it expected the Syrian government to spare the armed opposition amassed in Idlib.
To further complicate the situation, the US has stepped in. James Jeffrey, its special representative for Syria, issued a statement after he held talks with Turkey’s presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, saying: “We have martyrs. I present my condolences to the Turkish nation. Today our ally Turkey’s soldiers are faced with threats and these threats come from Russia and from Assad’s government.”
This statement is in stark contrast with Washington’s budget allocation for the Syrian Democratic Forces, Turkey’s archenemy. The Russian Embassy in Ankara did not miss the opportunity and put on its website TV footage prepared by Turkey’s semi-official Anatolia News Agency, adding: “We leave it up to your judgement.”
Turkey may have failed to see where things went wrong. The original mistake was when it expected the Syrian government to spare the armed opposition amassed in Idlib. Apart from this, its Idlib policy also contradicts its oft-repeated commitment of support for Syrian sovereignty,
Turkey now seems set to change the rules of the game by deciding to upgrade its military presence in Idlib in order to gain a bargaining position. Whether the recent reinforcements would lead to military clashes cannot be predicted, because it is unlikely for Turkey to clash with Syrian forces without Russia’s acquiescence.
Erdogan may expect that Moscow would not like to antagonize Turkey, especially now that the US has suddenly started to support Turkey’s operations in Idlib. He must also be aware of inconsistencies in Washington’s attitude.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would not like to withdraw his support for Damascus, nor would he like to end his cooperation with Erdogan, because he covered a long distance in driving a wedge in NATO solidarity by bringing Turkey close to Russia. He would not like to spoil the efforts that he has carefully conducted so far.
Moscow may maintain its silence and decline to intervene, because the military balance in Idlib is in Assad’s favor anyhow.
Let us hope that Turkey will be able to find its way out on this complicated Idlib chessboard.
• Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and a founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar

Landing a blow against climate change
Ibrahim Thiaw/Arab News/February 16/2020
In the face of climate change, providing reliable supplies of renewable energy to all who need it has become one of the biggest development challenges of our time. Meeting the international community’s commitment to keep global warming below 1.5-2 degrees Celsius, relative to preindustrial levels, will require expanded use of bioenergy, carbon storage and capture, land-based mitigation strategies such as reforestation, and other measures.
The problem is that these potential solutions tend to be discussed only at the margins of international policy circles, if at all. Yet experts estimate that the global carbon budget — the amount of additional carbon dioxide we can still emit without triggering potentially catastrophic climate change — will run out in a mere 10 years.
That means there is an urgent need to ramp up bioenergy and land-based mitigation options. We already have the science to do so, and the longer we delay, the greater the possibility that these methods will no longer be viable.
Renewable energy is the best option for averting the most destructive effects of climate change. For six of the last seven years, the global growth of renewable-energy capacity has outpaced that of non-renewables. But while solar and wind are blazing new trails, they still are not meeting global demand.
A decade ago, bioenergy was seen as the most likely candidate to close or at least reduce the supply gap. But its development has stalled for two major reasons. First, efforts to promote it had negative unintended consequences.
The incentives used to scale it up led to the rapid conversion of invaluable virgin land. Tropical forests and other vital ecosystems were transformed into biofuel production zones, creating new threats of food insecurity, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, land degradation and desertification.
In its Special Report on Climate Change and Land last August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that scale and context are the two most important factors to consider when assessing the costs and benefits of biofuel production. Large monocultural biofuel farms simply are not viable. But biofuel farms that are appropriately placed and fully integrated with other activities in the landscape can be sustained ecologically.
For six of the last seven years, the global growth of renewable-energy capacity has outpaced that of non-renewables. But while solar and wind are blazing new trails, they still are not meeting global demand.
Equally important is the context in which biofuels are being produced — meaning the type of land being used, the variety of biofuel crops being grown, and the climate-management regimes that are in place. The costs associated with biofuel production are significantly reduced when it occurs on previously degraded land, or on land that has been freed up through improved agriculture or livestock management.
Under the 1.5-degrees-Celsius warming scenario, an estimated 700 million hectares of land will be needed for bioenergy feedstocks. There are multiple ways to achieve this level of bioenergy production sustainably. For example, policies to reduce food waste could free up to 140 million additional hectares. And some portion of the 2 billion hectares of land that have been degraded in past decades could be restored.
The second reason bioenergy stalled is that it too emits carbon. This challenge persists because the process of carbon capture remains contentious. We simply do not know what long-term effects might follow from capturing carbon and compressing it into hard rock for storage underground.
But academic researchers and the private sector are working on innovations to make the technology viable. Compressed carbon, for example, could be used as a building material, which would be a game changer if scaled up to industrial-level use.
Moreover, whereas traditional bioenergy feedstocks such as acacia, sugarcane, sweet sorghum, managed forests and animal waste pose sustainability challenges, researchers at the University of Oxford are now experimenting with the more water-efficient succulent plants.
Again, succulents could be a game changer, particularly for dryland populations who have a lot of arid degraded land suitable for cultivation. Many of these communities desperately need energy, but would struggle to maintain solar and wind facilities owing to the constant threat posed by dust and sandstorms.
In Mali’s Garalo commune, for example, small-scale farmers are using 600 hectares previously allocated to water-guzzling cotton crops to supply jatropha oil to a hybrid power plant. And in Sweden, the total share of biomass used as fuel — most of it sourced from managed forests — reached 47 percent in 2017, according to Statistics Sweden. Successful models such as these can show us the way forward.
Ultimately, a reliable supply of energy is just as important as an adequate supply of productive land. That will be especially true in the coming decades, when the global population is expected to exceed 9.7 billion people. Yet if global warming is allowed to reach 3 degrees Celsius, the ensuing climatic effects would make almost all land-based mitigation options useless.
That means we must act now to prevent the loss of vital land resources. We need stronger governance mechanisms to keep food, energy and environmental needs in balance. Failing to unleash the full potential of the land-based mitigation options that are currently at our disposal would be an unforgiveable failure, imposing severe consequences on people who have contributed the least to climate change.
Bioenergy and land-based mitigation are not silver bullets, but they will buy us some time. As such, they must be part of the broader response to climate change. The next decade may be our last chance to get the land working for everyone.
*Ibrahim Thiaw is under-secretary-general of the UN and executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2020.

In Idlib, Washington is taken hostage by its own illusions
Yavuz Baydar/The Arab Weekly/February 16/2020
Ankara’s deliberate military escalation, marked by an incursion into Idlib, which is legally recognised Syrian territory, set various elements in motion among the major actors involved in the growing conflict.
On one side, Moscow finds itself facing the bitter lesson that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not as tame as Russian President Vladimir Putin had expected. He finds that the inherent, historic mistrust between Turkey and Russia is once more confirmed. There is no surprise that Putin feels a formidable challenge from Erdogan in the geo-political chess game and this may be a tougher game from now on.
For Putin, Turkey, as ruled by Erdogan, is a significant component in the Russian strategy to weaken the Western bloc, especially NATO. However, the nature of this significance makes it difficult for Moscow to simply sweep Ankara aside as it stages the crucial steps to help Syria re-establish control of its territory. Will the strongman of Russia have to choose between full-scale support for the Bashar Assad regime or will he be forced to make sacrifices to establish a terror balance, carving Idlib in two — north and south of the M5 highway — thereby allowing Erdogan to push through his will?
Much speaks for the former: If he has drawn clear enough conclusions from the latest escalation of words and deeds by Erdogan, Putin would have to deal with his counterpart’s trademark untrustworthiness. Here we are talking about empty promises made with smiles or Erdogan, even later, completely going against his own word. Putin would have to weigh all this against Erdogan’s strategy in Syria and Libya. The more he compromises, the more his own Damascus strategy would be damaged.
By constantly using the refugee flow argument, Erdogan keeps a frightened European Union dependent on his moves and keeps Ankara’s doors open to the West. In addition to this, by insisting on a permanent presence (this is certainly Ankara’s intention for northern Syria) in Idlib, he would hold the sword of Damocles over Assad.
The latter has, of course, nothing to do with demanding justice for the crimes against humanity committed in the Syrian civil war but rather to continue a political war based on an obstinate desire to continue flying the totalitarian flag of the Muslim Brotherhood tradition. Putin’s strategy, which is built on the annihilation of jihadists on Syrian soil, will clash with Erdogan’s — sooner or later. The irony — and this cuts across the entire Syrian quagmire since 2011 — is that the Russian strategy is identical to the one staged by the United States. Washington should, by now, understand, that as long as Russia remains invited in Syria, there is no real way to challenge the legitimacy of the Assad regime.
Damascus is not a real threat to NATO or to the Arab League. The real threat remains, albeit weakened, from the armed Islamist “cause.” Yet, instead of coordinating a decisive, joint action to cleanse northern Syria of these armed Islamists, first Rojava and then Idlib have been seen as the arena for wrestling between Washington and Moscow. One can also add the European Union to this equation.
Statements by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, followed by a rapid visit to Ankara by US Envoy to Syria James Jeffrey, make it clear that international politics is sadly being overshadowed by folly.
The astonishing pro-Erdogan rhetoric was based on the premise that the Turkish military presence on Syrian soil was legitimate, a ridiculous position that has nothing to do with international law.
The challenge Putin is facing with regards to Erdogan has been noted here, yet the Trump administration’s shortsightedness is also clearly inconceivable — except, perhaps, that it is a consequence of the chaos reigning in Washington.
This is exactly the playground Erdogan would prefer remained unchanged. Turkey’s mighty president, whether one claims he is or is not weaker these days, thrives on making maximum use of major divisions and battles of will on the international stage, playing one against the other, successfully.
There is nothing surprising in his by now well-known pattern. The amazing part is that other global leaders, far more powerful and able than Erdogan, choose to fall into this trap, prey to their illusions.
*Yavuz Baydar is a senior Turkish columnist, and news analyst. A founding member of the Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) in Istanbul, he has been reporting on Turkey and monitoring media issues since 1980. A European Press Prize Laureate in 2014, he is also the winner of Germany's 'Journalistenpreis' in 2018.