LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 19.2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Obey your parents as if you were their slave/Arrogance has no cure because the germ of evil has persisted in it
Sirach/chapter 03/01-16: “Children, listen to me; I am your father. Do what I tell you and you will be safe, for the Lord has given fathers authority over their children and given children the obligation to obey their mothers. If you respect your father, you can make up for your sins, and if you honor your mother, you are earning great wealth. If you respect your father, one day your own children will make you happy; the Lord will hear your prayers. If you obey the Lord by honoring your father and making your mother happy, you will live a long life. Obey your parents as if you were their slave. Honor your father in everything you do and say, so that you may receive his blessing. When parents give their blessing, they give strength to their children’s homes, but when they curse their children, they destroy the very foundations. Never seek honor for yourself at your father’s expense; it is not to your credit if he is dishonored. Your own honor comes from the respect that you show to your father. If children do not honor their mothers, it is their own disgrace. My child, take care of your father when he grows old; give him no cause for worry as long as he lives. Be sympathetic even if his mind fails him; don’t look down on him just because you are strong and healthy. The Lord will not forget the kindness you show to your father; it will help you make up for your sins. When you are in trouble, the Lord will remember your kindness and will help you; your sins will melt away like frost in warm sunshine. Those who abandon their parents or give them cause for anger may as well be cursing the Lord; they are already under the Lord’s curse.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 18-19/2020
Ahmad Tawfic, Another Martyr For The Revolution
Demonstrators Hold Candlelight Vigils after Protester Dies of Wounds
Lebanon’s Tripoli prepares for day of rage after protester Ahmad Toufiq dies
IMF begins talks with Lebanese officials in effort to resolve nation’s financial crisis/Najia Houssari/Arab News/February 18/2020
Lebanon PM will meet IMF delegation amid deeping economic struggles
Lebanese memes, posts mock Nasrallah’s call to boycott US goods in Lebanon
Report: U.S. 'Pressures' Lebanon to Release Fakhoury
Fitch Ratings: Lebanon Finances Point to Debt Restructuring
Diab, IFC Team Discuss Development of Transport Sector, Airport
Strong Lebanon Bloc Stresses Importance of Recovering Stolen Funds
Financial Prosecutor Sues 18 Money Changers for Violating Law
Bahaa Hariri Breaks Silence in Rare Statement
UK Official Meets Aoun, Affirms Backing for Lebanon
Greek Foreign Minister to Visit Lebanon Wednesday
8 Activists Charged with Bank Torching, Referred to Criminal Court
Probe Ordered in Alleged Eurobond Operations Involving Lebanese Banks
Diab chairs meeting with IFC delegation
Berri meets British Defence Senior Advisors, Ministers of Justice and Defence
Diplomats felicitate Hitti, Syrian Ambassador affirms Lebanon and Syria cannot succeed without integration
Mortada discusses means of supporting Lebanese farmers with Japanese Ambassador
Hariri meets US Ambassador
Akar meets British Defence Senior Advisor
Strong Lebanon' bloc: To put dossier of stolen money recovery above tensions
Geagea, Canadian ambassador tackle political developments
Geagea: Nasrallah's call for loyalist, opposition to cooperate attempt to evade responsibility
Telecom Minister meets Spanish Ambassador
Ibrahim presses charges against 18 money changers

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 18-19/2020
First ever Iranian display of future nuclear-capable Sejjil missile/DEBKAfile/February 18/2020
Explosion kills two in Syria’s Qamishli: Monitor
Turkey 'Not Satisfied' by Russia Proposals on Idlib
Turkey Court Acquits Rights Defender Kavala in Gezi Park Trial
UN rights official denounces attacks, deaths in northwest Syria bombings
Iran’s Khamenei says voting in parliament elections is a religious duty
US Senator Murphy met with Iran FM Zarif last week: Source
Iran jails eight climate activists for spying for, cooperation with US
Iran releases detained German prisoner, sets trial for French scholars
Israeli PM Netanyahu’s trial to start march 17
UN envoy condemns use rifles loaded with birdshot against Iraqi protesters
Ashraf Ghani Secures Second Term as Afghan President
U.N. Welcomes Help in Enforcing Libya Arms Embargo

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 18-19/2020
Erdogan Plots to Take Over Turkey’s Largest Private Bank – For the Third Time/Aykan Erdemir/FDD/February 18/2020
Why We Should Grow the Active Duty Army/Bradley Bowman/FDD/February 18/2020
UN’s New Anti-Israel Blacklist Condemns Companies for Generic Business Activities/David May/FDD/February 18/2020
Iran’s elections likely to make things worse for the region/Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/February 18/2020
Why Russia needs to be onboard OPEC+ more than ever/Faisal Faeq/Arab News/February 18/2020
DP World delisting is a straw in the wind for Gulf markets/Frank Kane/Arab News/February 19/2020
Understanding the process to resolve banking disputes/Dimah Talal Alsharif/Arab News/February 18/2020
Islamists' Response to Peace Plan/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/February 18/2020
Why Did President Trump Expand the Travel Ban?/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/February 18/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 18-19/2020
Ahmad Toufic, Another Martyr For The Revolution
LCCC/February 18/2020
Lebanese today in all Lebanese provinces paid tribute to Ahmad Toufic, who passed away in the hospital after three months of unsuccessful treatment. Ahmad was shot by the Lebanese security forces in Tripoli, north Lebanon with a rubber bullet while peacefully participating in a protest demonstration three months ago.

Demonstrators Hold Candlelight Vigils after Protester Dies of Wounds
Naharnet/February 18/2020
Anti-government demonstrators on Tuesday held candlelight vigils in Beirut, Baalbek and Tyre in tribute to Ahmed Toufiq, a protester who died of his wounds Monday after being injured in clashes in the northern city of Tripoli in October. The demonstrators staged the sit-ins at Beirut’s Martyrs Square, Baalbek’s Khalil Mutran Square and Tyres al-Alam Square. Toufiq was injured by gunshots fired by the army during a violent demo on Tripoli’s Jemmayzet Street during which a hand grenade was hurled at the army without exploding.

Lebanon’s Tripoli prepares for day of rage after protester Ahmad Tawfiq dies
Tommy Hilton, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli is preparing for a “day of rage” on Tuesday after a protester who was reportedly shot by the guards of an MP died on Monday night. Ahmad Tawfiq was reportedly shot in the stomach three months ago in Tripoli, according to Lebanese journalists online. Lebanese protesters online called for a day of rage in Tripoli, with users sharing photos of Tawfiq and commemorating him. Arabic hashtags of Tawfiq's name and day of rage were spreading across Twitter on Tuesday morning. Tawfiq’s funeral took place in Talhaya, in the northern Lebanese province of Akkar close to Tripoli, on Tuesday, reported Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA). According to the NNA, a speech at the funeral called for “a transparent investigation clarifying the circumstances of the incident.” Janoubia news agency also posted a photograph the coffin draped in a Lebanese flag. Lebanon has been rocked by anti-government protests since October. Nationwide demonstrations have criticized the whole political establishment for corruption, nepotism, and a worsening economic crisis.

IMF begins talks with Lebanese officials in effort to resolve nation’s financial crisis
Najia Houssari/Arab News/February 18/2020
International Monetary Fund will give advice but final decision rests with Lebanon’s government
As financial chaos continues, money changers are accused of profiteering, and robberies are more common
BEIRUT: Meetings between Lebanese officials and a delegation from the International Monetary Fund began on Tuesday in an attempt to find a solution to the nation’s financial crisis.
Lebanon asked the IMF six days ago for help to develop an economic rescue plan in light of a $1.2billion Eurobond debt that is due for repayment on March 9. It is the first of three looming debts due between now and June, worth $2.5bn in total, plus an additional $2bn in interest on a $30 billion debt portfolio. The participants in the meetings will include Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, central bank Governor Riad Salameh and representatives of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon.
“Lebanon’s economic and financial crisis is being addressed to mitigate its repercussions,” President Michel Aoun told the UK’s Senior Defense Adviser for Middle Eastern Affairs, Lt. Gen. Sir John Lorimer. “The IMF will provide its technical expertise in setting up a plan. “The unstable situation in several Middle Eastern countries in general, and in Syria in particular, has negatively affected Lebanon.” Amal Movement MP Yassin Jaber said: “Lebanon will wait for what the IMF delegation has to say. It will advise Lebanon and will not impose anything. It will then be up to the 20-minister cabinet to decide whether or not to take the advice.” The economic uncertainty has caused chaos in the money markets, and anger at what many see as profiteering by the banks and money changers. They have hiked the exchange rate against the dollar to 2,500 Lebanese pounds, even though the official exchange rate remains at 1,507, and in defiance of an agreement to limit the rate to 2,000 pounds. “The banks’ practices are a form of systematic fraud. They are confiscating the depositors’ money after having (imposed) high interest rates and reaped huge profits,” said MP Mohammad Kabbara. Mahmoud Murad, the head of the Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon, said: “The 2,000 Lebanese pounds price that was agreed upon between the (syndicate) and Salameh after the new government received the parliament’s confidence did not last for more than a week. This is due to the competition from illegal money changers found on roads and in homes.”

Lebanon PM will meet IMF delegation amid deeping economic struggles
AFP/BeirutTuesday, 18 February 2020
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is due to meet Lebanon’s prime minister Tuesday as the debt-ridden country seeks assistance to rescue its moribund economy. Lebanon has the world’s third-highest debt to GDP ratio and has been sliding towards default in recent months, with tight capital controls and a currency devaluation already hitting purchasing power. “Prime Minister Hassan Diab meets at 4 pm (1400 GMT) with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund,” the state NNA news agency reported. Diab’s government won parliament’s confidence only last week and the state immediately requested the Fund’s advice on tackling the economic crisis. Lebanon is expected to decide whether to pay $1.2 billion in Eurobonds that reach maturity on March 9 or to default on its debt. The IMF delegation is expected to provide an assessment of the measures needed to rebuild the economy but has not been asked to provide financial assistance.

Lebanese memes, posts mock Nasrallah’s call to boycott US goods in Lebanon
Joanne Serrieh, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is being mocked by Lebanese people online for calling for a boycott of American goods and products despite members of his organization owning American clothes and products.
Nasrallah, who has led Hezbollah since 1992 and has close ties with Iran, called for the boycott during a speech on Sunday as “part of the battle” against US President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan. In response, Lebanese people took to social media to share sarcastic memes and posts. Sheikh Mohammed Elhajj Hasan, a Free Shia Movement cleric, shared a photo of Nasrallah’s son Jawad wearing a sweatshirt with “Timberland USA.73” written on it. Hasan wrote “before suggesting to your audience boycotting the US, please remove your son’s sweatshirt and dress him in Iranian [clothing].”
He pointed out Nasrallah’s son is the man in the center of the photo. Others shared the photo as well with similar criticism.
Dima Sadek, a Shia Lebanese journalist, shared a meme depicting cartoon character Tom from “Tom and Jerry” as a neighborhood spy speaking in a dialect from southern Lebanon, an area that is predominately Shia. He’s talking about someone named Abbas, a common Shia name. He says, “Peace be upon you Hajj, Abbas is smoking Marlboro.”
Twitter user Ma3lick’s Wrist responded to the call for boycott with several questions. “What about all the payment in US dollar? Is that halal? Why don’t they use the Iranian currency?”
Cynthia Karam, Lebanese Twitter user, sarcastically wrote in Arabic “If I see any Hezbollah member carrying an iPhone, I will complain about him to Nasrallah.”
Lebanese people have frequently responded to political situations in entertaining ways using sarcasm and jokes.
Viral videos of demonstrators singing and dancing in the streets were widely shared over the past few months. One of the most popular videos was of protesters surrounding a car with a toddler in it while they sang and danced to “Baby Shark.”Anti-government protests have been ongoing since October last year driven by the slogan “all of them [politicians] means all of them.” Lebanese people across the country are continuing to denounce years of government corruption, and demand solutions to the country’s political and economic crisis.

Report: U.S. 'Pressures' Lebanon to Release Fakhoury
Associated Press/Naharnet/February 18/2020
Under the pretext of health conditions, Lebanon is being “pressured” to release Amer Fakhoury charged with murder and torture of Lebanese citizens during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday. Fakhoury, Lebanese-American, is reportedly undergoing cancer treatment, and it remains unclear if he'll be able to stand trial. According to “informed sources,” the United States is threatening to impose “strict sanctions” on Lebanon if it keeps Fakhoury in custody, urging authorities to let Fakhoury fly back to the United States, said the daily. “The case must be followed up closely,” said the sources, pointing out that “US pressures on Lebanon in secret are greater than those brought out to public.” Last week, a U.S. senator Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who is reportedly working on a sanctions bill, said that Fakhoury is “being held by authorities despite no proof of wrongdoing.” Earlier in February, a military investigative judge charged Fakhoury with murder and torture of Lebanese citizens, crimes he allegedly committed during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, judicial officials had said. The accusations could carry a death sentence. Amer Fakhoury is accused of working as a senior warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by an Israel-backed Lebanese militia. The prison has been described by human rights groups as a center for torture. He was detained in September after he returned to his native Lebanon from the U.S., and Lebanon's intelligence service says he confessed during questioning to being a warden.

Fitch Ratings: Lebanon Finances Point to Debt Restructuring
Associated Press/Naharnet/February 18/2020
Lebanon's financial situation points to a likely restructuring of the country's massive debt and financial sector to preserve declining foreign currency reserves, Fitch Ratings said Tuesday. The credit rating agency's report comes as Lebanese officials are debating whether to pay back $1.2 billion worth of Eurobonds that mature on March 9 amid a severe economic and financial crisis, the worst since the country's 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon has never defaulted before, and the decision is causing much anxiety in the crisis-hit country. Many have argued the priority should be to use shrinking foreign currency to pay for imports of basic needs such as wheat, medicine and fuel. A delegation from the International Monetary Fund was expected to visit Lebanon this week to meet officials and give an assessment on what is needed to save the plummeting economy. Lebanese banks have imposed capital controls to manage depleting foreign currency. Lebanon's economy has depended heavily on U.S. dollars since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990. Fitch said the Lebanese central bank's declining gross foreign currency assets remain sufficient on paper for the country to pay its external debt service in 2020 and into 2021, "provided de facto capital controls are maintained." It added that Lebanon's gross external financing requirement stands at less than $10 billion annually in 2020 and 2021, while the central bank has $29 billion of gross foreign currency reserves at its disposal. "However, this capacity to pay will become increasingly stretched and it would be unrealistic, both economically and politically, to run these assets to zero," Fitch said. Lebanon has one of the highest debt to GDP ratios in the world, standing at about $87 billion or more than 150% of the country's GDP. Most of the debt is held by local lenders but there are concerns that if Lebanon defaults, some foreign investors might take legal action against the tiny country. The economic and financial crisis has worsened since mid-October, when nationwide protests began against the ruling elite that is blamed for years of corruption and mismanagement. President Michel Aoun said Tuesday the government is working to limit the effects of the crisis, adding that the IMF delegation will give the government its technical experience.

Diab, IFC Team Discuss Development of Transport Sector, Airport
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/2020
A delegation from the World Bank's private lending arm met Tuesday with Prime Minister Hassan Diab, as the debt-ridden country seeks assistance to rescue its moribund economy. The meeting tackled the possibility of “launching joint cooperation projects between the public and private sectors and the issue of developing the transportation sector and the airport,” the National News Agency said. The meeting was attended by the ministers of economy, industry, public works and transport and energy, in addition to Council of Ministers Secretary-General Mahmoud Makkiyeh. Lebanon has the world's third-highest debt to GDP ratio and has been sliding towards default in recent months, with tight capital controls and a currency devaluation already hitting purchasing power. Diab's government won parliament's confidence only last week and the state immediately requested the International Monetary Fund's advice on tackling the economic crisis. Lebanon is expected to decide whether to pay $1.2 billion in Eurobonds that reach maturity on March 9 or to default on its debt. A IMF delegation is due to start talks with top Lebanese officials on Thursday, a source close to the prime minister told AFP.

Strong Lebanon Bloc Stresses Importance of Recovering Stolen Funds
Naharnet/February 18/2020
The Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc, which is led by the Free Patriotic Movement, on Tuesday stressed the importance of recovering the state’s stolen funds and establishing a financial crimes court among other measures. Decrying the “continued suffering of the Lebanese due to the selective and unfair measures that the banks are imposing,” the bloc said the central bank is yet to answer its inquiry about the suspicious transfers abroad of large sums of money. “We will not accept to remain silent and we have information that millions and billions were transferred, especially after October 17,” the bloc added in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. “Citizens cannot withdraw 200 or 300 dollars per week,” Strong Lebanon lamented. Noting that it is continuing in parliament “the legislative course related to the recovery of stolen funds, the lifting of bank secrecy, the unveiling of accounts and properties, and the court specialized in financial crimes,” the bloc urged all political blocs to “put this file above all polarization.”

Financial Prosecutor Sues 18 Money Changers for Violating Law
Naharnet/February 18/2020
Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim on Tuesday filed lawsuits against 18 money exchange shops on charges of violating the law regulating the sector and “harming the state’s financial standing.”“He referred the files to the investigative judges of the governorates,” the National News Agency said. In January, money changers had agreed Tuesday to cap the dollar exchange rate at 2,000 pounds. It later turned out that the cap was for the maximum rate they would offer those seeking to sell their dollars and not the opposite. The rate at which they would sell the dollar meanwhile continued to rise and reportedly hit the LBP 2,600 mark in recent days. The Lebanese pound is officially pegged to the greenback at a rate of 1,500 to the dollar but the country's sharp economic downturn has sent the currency into a tailspin in foreign exchange offices. The Lebanese Money Changers Association had announced in January that it had agreed with the central bank on "an exchange rate for the U.S. dollar capped at 2,000 Lebanese pounds." The cap in the parallel market of foreign exchange offices has however created a fully illegal black market with higher rates. Debt-ridden Lebanon faces its most serious economic crisis since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war.

Bahaa Hariri Breaks Silence in Rare Statement
Naharnet/February 18/2020
Lebanese-Saudi billionaire Bahaa Hariri, the eldest son of slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri, issued a rare statement Tuesday in which he denied playing behind-the-scenes roles in Lebanon’s troubled political life. “For a while now, Lebanese media outlets have been circulating news related to Sheikh Bahaeddine Hariri that have nothing to do with reality, following 15 years of intentional silence on his side, during which he stayed away from Lebanon and did not even exploit his commercial projects for personal or political marketing,” the statement said. It noted that Bahaa’s visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017 was made at an invitation from the Saudi leadership. “Anyone who gets invited by the kingdom meets the invitation, except for its enemies from the Iranian militias and their cronies,” the statement added. As for reports that he sent an envoy to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat in November 2017, Hariri’s statement clarified the ambiguity. “In fact Jumblat communicated with Sheikh Bahaa Hariri via WhatsApp and spoke of threats facing the country, most importantly his speculation that the Israeli entity would launch a destructive war on Lebanon and the region. Accordingly, an agreement was reached on a meeting between him and an envoy dispatched by Sheikh Bahaeddine Hariri and this is what happened,” the statement said. Turning to Bahaa Hariri’s relation with ex-minister Ashraf Rifi, the statement said the Lebanese-Saudi billionaire sent him armored cars “after his security was exposed by the ruling authorities at the time,” noting that Rifi and his team had “unveiled the killer of his father, Martyr Premier Rafik Hariri, according to the report of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission.”“They did not engage in any communication after that,” the statement added.

UK Official Meets Aoun, Affirms Backing for Lebanon
Naharnet/February 18/2020
Senior adviser to the British Ministry of Defense for Middle East Affairs, General Sir John Lorimer, reiterated Britain’s “continued support” for crisis-hit Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. Lorimer’s position came during talks with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Presidential Palace, NNA said. The UK official affirmed that “Britain will continue to support Lebanon, especially its army and security forces,” as the country grapples its worst economic crisis in decades. For his part, Aoun said the "regional tension in several Middle Eastern states, mainly in Syria, had taken its toll on the situation in Lebanon," stressing the need to counter the repercussions. In January, the UK had affirmed through its British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling that “we stand ready to support Lebanon, but we look to this government to demonstrate its commitment to the reforms which Lebanon desperately needs.”

Greek Foreign Minister to Visit Lebanon Wednesday
Naharnet/February 18/2020
The Foreign Minister of Greece is expected to visit Lebanon on Wednesday for talks with senior officials, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. Nikos Dendias's visit comes as Lebanon grapples with an unprecedented economic crisis very similar to Greece’s 2007–08 financial crisis.
Dendias is scheduled to meet with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, PM Hassan Diab and his Lebanese counterpart Nasif Hitti. Hitt and Dendias will speak at a press conference after the meeting.

8 Activists Charged with Bank Torching, Referred to Criminal Court
Naharnet/February 18/2020
Mount Lebanon Examining Magistrate Bassam al-Hajj on Monday issued an indictment in the file of protest movement activist Rabih al-Zein and seven others. The indictment says al-Zein “incited to the felony of the premeditated torching of banks.”He was referred along with seven others to the Mount Lebanon Criminal Court. Al-Hajj had issued an in-absentia arrest warrant for al-Zein in recent days.

Probe Ordered in Alleged Eurobond Operations Involving Lebanese Banks
Naharnet/February 18/2020
Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm on Tuesday asked State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat to request information from the central bank’s Special Investigation Commission on alleged Eurobond operations involving some Lebanese banks and global financial firms. The National News Agency said Najm's move follows “media reports that some Lebanese banks have placed their bonds under the name of some foreign institutions to pressure the State to pay the debt.” Lebanon has the world's third-highest debt to GDP ratio and has been sliding towards default in recent months, with tight capital controls and a currency devaluation already hitting purchasing power. Lebanon is expected to decide soon whether to pay $1.2 billion in Eurobonds that reach maturity on March 9 or to default on its debt. The country has requested help from the International Monetary Fund to assess the measures needed to rebuild the economy, but has not yet asked for financial assistance. An IMF delegation is due to start talks with top Lebanese officials on Thursday.

Diab chairs meeting with IFC delegation
NNA/February 18/2020
Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, chaired Tuesday at the Grand Serail, a meeting attended by a delegation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), alongside Ministers Raoul Nehme (Economy), Imad Hoballah (Industry), Michel Najjar (Public Works and Transportation), and Raymond Ghajar (Energy), as well as Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Mohammad Makkieh. The meeting was devoted to discussing projects of cooperation between the public and private sectors, in addition to the development of the airport and the transportation sector.

Berri meets British Defence Senior Advisors, Ministers of Justice and Defence
NNA/February 18/2020
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday held talks with the UK's Defence Senior Advisor, Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, who came to Ain-el-Tineh in the company of British Ambassador to Lebanon, Chris Rampling. The meeting reportedly featured high on the current general situation in Lebanon and the broader region. Berri later received Minister of Justice, Marie-Claude Najm, with whom he discussed an array of ministerial affairs, in addition to the means to bolster the judiciary work. The Speaker also met today with Minister of National Defence, Zeina Akar, over the latest security and political developments and the latest economic and financial situation on the local scene. Separately, Berri cabled his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhanshu, to whom he expressed solidarity with China amid the current Coronavirus crisis.

Diplomats felicitate Hitti, Syrian Ambassador affirms Lebanon and Syria cannot succeed without integration
NNA/February 18/2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, on Tuesday welcomed Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel Karim Ali, who relayed to him the felicitations of his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem. "I listened to the minister's point of view on the means to endure the delicate situation in fraternal Lebanon and to face the many challenges before this government," the Syrian diplomat said. "We discussed the situation in Syria, which has witnessed many victories, and which should allow more cooperation to face common challenges and to seek exits where we see mutual interest for both of our countries in the political and economic fields," he added. Ali confirmed close coordination between the authorities of the two countries over the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland. "With regard to the ongoing coordination over the refugee file, it has been more than clear that we have spared no effort or initiative to encourage Syrian nationals to return to all its areas and partake in its reconstruction process," the Syrian Ambassador said. Moreover, Ali denied having relayed any invitation to the minister to visit Syria. Separately, the Foreign Minister also met respectively with the ambassadors of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Qatar, and Austria, who congratulated him on his assumption of office.

Mortada discusses means of supporting Lebanese farmers with Japanese Ambassador
NNA/February 18/2020
Agriculture and Culture Minister, Abbas Mortada, on Tuesday met in his office at the Ministry the Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon, Takeshi Okubo, who came on a protocol visit. The pair reportedly discussed means of cooperation between Lebanon and Japan in the various domains, especially in terms of providing support to the Lebanese farmers and the agricultural sector. Minister Mortada highlighted the necessity of cooperation between Lebanon and Japan, hailing Japan's humanitarian, social and economic support to Lebanon. The Minister also underlined the importance of cooperation between the two countries, notably in the cultural sphere, given that Lebanon is a country rich in its cultural, civilizational and archaeological heritage."

Hariri meets US Ambassador
NNA/February 18/2020
Former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, welcomed on Tuesday at his residence in Downtown Beirut the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, who came on a farewell visit upon the end of her diplomatic mission in Lebanon.

Akar meets British Defence Senior Advisor
NNA/February 18/2020
Vice Prime Minister, National Defense Minister Zeina Akar Adra, on Tuesday met in her office at the Ministry with the UK's Defence Senior Advisor, Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, who came in the company of British Ambassador to Lebanon, Chris Rampling, and British Military Attaché.
Sir John Lorimer congratulated Minister Akar on her new ministerial post. The meeting reportedly featured high on the existing cooperation projects between the two sides, including the joint border towers project to secure the borders with Syria. Sir Lorimer expressed his Country's readiness to boost cooperation between the two sides. On the other hand, Minister Akar met with UN Resident Coordinator for Lebanon, Philippe Lazzarini, with talks reportedly touching on the general headlines of coordination between the United Nations agencies and the concerned Lebanese ministries within the framework of the support provided by the United Nations Organization to Lebanon.

Strong Lebanon' bloc: To put dossier of stolen money recovery above tensions
NNA/February 18/2020
The "Strong Lebanon" parliamentary bloc convened in a periodic meeting on Tuesday under the chairmanship of MP Gebran Bassil, and followed up on the legislative path relevant to the recovery of stolen money, in addition to the current situation on banks. Reading out the bloc's statement following the meeting, former minister Mansour Bteish indicated that conferees lengthily discussed the unfair measures taken by the banks in this juncture. He added that the Central Bank had not given answers yet about money transfers abroad, especially after October 17, 2019. "We will not remain silent; we have information about the transfer of millions and billions," Bteish said. He went on to say that the bloc was keenly following up on the legislative path of the recovery of stolen money, urging all political forces to put this dossier above their tensions.

Geagea, Canadian ambassador tackle political developments
NNA/February 18/2020
"Lebanese Forces" Party Leader, Samir Geagea, on Tuesday received in Meerab Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuelle Lamoureux, with whom he discussed most recent political and economic developments in the country.

Geagea: Nasrallah's call for loyalist, opposition to cooperate attempt to evade responsibility
NNA/February 18/2020
"Lebanese Forces" party leader, Samir Geagea, on Tuesday stressed during a meeting with the press in Meerab that Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's call for loyalists and oppositionists to cooperate in a bid to save the country was "an attempt to start evading responsibility."
"The ones that can help now more than ever to remedy the situation, halt deterioration, and bring back a healthy economy to the country are Hezbollah and Sayyed Nasrallah," Geagea maintained. "If he [Nasrallah] seriously wants to help at the strategic level, the issue requires of him three main steps; the first step is to expose any of its corrupt allies; the second it is to distance [Hezbollah] from regional developments -- given that the party's interference in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria has had a negative impact on Lebanon at the economic and financial levels; the third and most basic step is to help the Lebanese state recover an acceptable limit of its credibility in order to be able to rise again," Geagea explained, asking of Hezbollah to leave strategic and military decisions up to the state.

Telecom Minister meets Spanish Ambassador
NNA/February 18/2020
Minister of Telecommunications, Talal Hawwat, met Tuesday with Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon, Jose Maria Ferre, who congratulated his host on his new post. According to a statement by the Minister's press office, the pair discussed the current general situation in Lebanon and the economic and political challenges.

Ibrahim presses charges against 18 money changers
NNA/February 18/2020
Financial Prosecutor, Judge Ali Ibrahim, on Tuesday pressed charges against 18 money changers for violating currency exchange-related law and harming the state's financial prestige. Judge Ibrahim referred the files to First Investigative Judges of the governorates.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 18-19/2020
First ever Iranian display of future nuclear-capable Sejjil missile
DEBKAfile/February 18/2020
The first ever footage of the Sejjil medium-range rocket designed to carry a nuclear warhead was shown on Iranian media this week. The 59-foot tall rocket was shown in its underground bunker along with trials. Tehran has hitherto kept this rocket and its attributes closely secret. Western intelligence experts estimate that the Sejjil has a range of 2,000-2,500km. It is powered with solid fuel in contrast to the other rockets in Iran’s war arsenal and can be launched from any angle whereas the Shehab series take off vertically. Iran can therefore fire the Sejjil at short notice for surprise attacks since its launch preparations take place underground and are hard to discover or disrupt. DEBKAfile adds: The newly shown rocket is Iran’s first wholly designed and manufactured home produced missile; none of its components were borrowed or bought from Russia, China or North Korea, like the earlier generations of projectiles stockpiled by the Islamic Republic. Sejjil is 18.2m long and can carry a payload of 500-1,500 kgs of explosives. Its targeting margin of error is 20m; and its warhead is designed to penetrate the layers of armor protecting anti-missile missile systems. Tehran offered no explanation as to why this footage was released at this time.

Explosion kills two in Syria’s Qamishli: Monitor
Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
A woman and a young were killed in an explosion that rocked the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The cause of the explosion, which occured in a factory for collecting scrap and plastic, is yet to be determined, the monitor said. Police blocked roads around the area following the explosion.

Turkey 'Not Satisfied' by Russia Proposals on Idlib
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/2020
Turkey said Tuesday that Russia had yet to offer an acceptable solution to the worsening violence in northwestern Syria, but added that talks were ongoing. Syrian forces, backed by Russian air power, have pressed a brutal offensive in Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in the northwest of the country, displacing some 900,000 people in less than three months. Turkey and Russia, who back opposing sides, were again locked in talks in Moscow on Tuesday after an earlier round of discussions in Ankara last week failed to produce an agreement. "For the moment, no satisfying result has obtained from the negotiations," Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters in Ankara. Kalin rejected claims by Moscow that the offensive was necessary to prevent attacks against a Russian military base in the area.  "These statements do not correspond with the reality on the ground," he said. Turkey has bolstered its military positions in Idlib in recent weeks and has clashed with Syrian forces. Ankara backs certain rebel groups in the region, and wants to prevent another wave of refugees adding to the 3.7 million Syrians that it already hosts. More than half the displaced in Idlib are children, the UN says, and many are now sleeping rough in harsh winter conditions. The wave of displacement is the biggest since the start of the civil war nearly nine years ago and the largest exodus of civilians since World War II.

Turkey Court Acquits Rights Defender Kavala in Gezi Park Trial
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/2020
A Turkish court acquitted leading civil society figures, including rights defender Osman Kavala, on Tuesday in a highly controversial trial over the anti-government "Gezi Park" protests of 2013.
The judge said there was "not enough concrete evidence" that Kavala and the other 15 defendants sought to overthrow the government.  Kavala, who spent more than 800 days in pre-trial detention and faced a life sentence if convicted, became a symbol of what critics say is a crackdown on Turkey's civil society under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He received loud cheers as he left the packed courtroom in Silivri, on the outskirts of Istanbul. Prosecutors accused the group of orchestrating the mass protests of 2013 that began over plans to demolish Gezi Park -- one of the only green spaces in Istanbul's center -- but quickly spiraled into broader demonstrations against Erdogan, then prime minister. Erdogan has called Kavala an agent of U.S. financier George Soros, whose efforts to promote democracy around the world have made him a target for several authoritarian leaders."This is a trial that should have never happened in the first place. This whole process has caused untold misery to those who were so wrongfully targeted," Emma Sinclair-Webb, of Human Rights Watch, told AFP at the courthouse.
Seven of the defendants, who remain on the run, were not formally acquitted.
'Conspiracy theory' -
Andrew Gardner, of Amnesty International, said the verdict was "obviously fantastic news" but warned against too much optimism. There are "countless other trials of journalists, of opposition political activists, of human rights defenders. The justice system is completely devoid of independence and impartiality in Turkey," he told AFP. In December, the European Court of Human Rights heavily criticized the quality of the Gezi Park prosecution. It ruled that the 657-page indictment against Kavala lacked "facts, information or evidence" to raise even the suspicion that he helped organize the protests, let alone attempted to overthrow the government, and called for his immediate release. "The bill of indictment… set out a conspiracy theory, devoid of ascertainable facts," it said. The Turkish court still put Kavala and the other defendants through two more hearings in December and January. The Project on Middle East Democracy, a US-based advocacy group, said the case "made a mockery of due process and the rule of law" in a briefing note this week. Defense lawyers were denied the chance to cross-examine the key government witness, identified as Murat Papuc, when he gave evidence in December after he claimed his life was in danger. They also decried the inclusion of testimony from a police officer who was convicted of kicking a Gezi Park protester to death in July 2013, but who now claims he was a victim of the demonstrations. The defendants received support from Ekrem Imamoglu, the new high-profile mayor of Istanbul who took control of the city out of the hands of the ruling party last year. "The acquittal of all the defendants in the #GeziPark trial is a true source of joy, and restores trust in the Turkish judicial system. I salute all those who stand to defend our city's history, culture and nature," he tweeted.
Kavala's supporters say he was targeted because he worked to build bridges across Turkey's often fractious ethnic and social divides, in contrast to the combative rhetoric favored by Erdogan's ruling party. As chairman of the Anatolian Culture Foundation, which promotes human rights through art, Kavala even sought to build ties with neighboring Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations.

UN rights official denounces attacks, deaths in northwest Syria bombings
Reuters/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Nearly 300 civilians have been killed in attacks this year in northwest Syria, 93 percent of them caused by strikes by the Syrian government and its ally Russia, the top United Nations human rights official said on Tuesday. In a statement expressing “horror at the scale of the humanitarian crisis”, Michelle Bachelet denounced direct hits on or near camps of displaced civilians, as well as on medical and education facilities, including two hospitals on Monday. She has previously said such acts could be war crimes. Her spokesman Rupert Colville, asked whether Syria and Russia were deliberately targeting civilians and buildings protected under international law, told a Geneva briefing: “The sheer quantity of attacks on hospitals, medical facilities, and schools would suggest they cannot all be accidental.”

Iran’s Khamenei says voting in parliament elections is a religious duty
Reuters, Dubai/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Iranians voting in the parliament election on Friday is a religious duty, according to media reports, days before the vote seen as a referendum on the clerical establishment’s popularity. He also said in a Twitter post that a high turnout in a parliamentary election will display unity in Iran against “enemies”.“America will fail to create divisions between the authorities and Iranians ... a high turnout will display our unity against the enemies,” Khamenei tweeted.

US Senator Murphy met with Iran FM Zarif last week: Source
Lauren Holtmeier, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
A US Senator held secret meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week, according to an unnamed source briefed by the French delegation to the Munich Security Conference, reported the Federalist.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy is the latest Western official to meet Iranian regime officials in the months after Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane that killed all 176 people on board. Last week, Zarif met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, sparking criticism online. Canadians questioned Trudeau’s seemingly friendly embrace of Zarif following the death of 57 Canadian citizens on the Ukrainian airliner. “Not a good look to see PM Trudeau with smiling FM Zarif,” tweeted Bessma Momani, a professor of international relations at the University of Waterloo.
In early January, European Union High Representative Joseph Borrell met with Zarif to discuss recent developments in Iraq, the need for de-escalation and the importance of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, said a press release on the EU’s website.
“The High Representative offered his full engagement to contribute to de-escalation,” the statement read. Despite Iran’s continued malign activity in the region, Western governments continue to engage with Iranian officials. Some see this as a legitimization of Iran’s actions in the Middle East and meddling around the world. Murphy, who allegedly met with Zarif during the Munich Security Conference, has been a vocal advocate of cooperating with Iran and backed the Iran nuclear deal. He also criticized America’s decision to kill Soleimani. In 2017, before Trump officially withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear deal in May 2018, Murphy said in an interview “The President is about to impose on himself and this country a dramatic self-inflicted wound because by pulling out of this agreement, Iran will go back onto a path to develop a nuclear weapon.”Murphy also condemned the decision to kill the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, on January 3, 2020.In an interview with US news program “Face the Nation,” Murphy said: “We do not generally execute high-level political figures of sovereign nations, in part because we know that that opens a Pandora’s box that may expose American officials to assassination, but also because we know that ultimately that might get more Americans killed, as it likely will in this.”No Americans have yet died in retaliatory Iranian strikes, but over 100 US troops were found to have traumatic brain injuries after a January 8 Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi military base that held US personnel. Murphy has also been vocal in his calls for a restrained US approach to Iran and has spoken at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a pro-Iran lobby. In January, three Republican senators, including Ted Cruz (TX) and Tom Cotton (Ark) asked the US Department of Justice to investigate NIAC, which they believe acts as a “foreign agent of the Islamic Republic.”

Iran jails eight climate activists for spying for, cooperation with US
Bloomberg/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Iran sentenced eight environmentalists to prison terms of between four and 10 years for spying for and collaborating with the US, the spokesman for the country’s judiciary said on Tuesday. The sentences are final, Gholam Hossein Esmaili told reporters at a televised news conference. Read: French academic jailed in Iran ‘very weakened’ by hunger strike: Committee. They were arrested in January and February 2018 and several of the individuals are dual citizens of the US and the UK.

Iran releases detained German prisoner, sets trial for French scholars
Agencies/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Iran on Tuesday released a German prisoner who was detained in the country as part of a prisoner swap, as the trial date for two detained French scholars was set for next month. Iran said Tuesday that a German held in Iran has been released as part of a prisoner swap for an Iranian held in Germany on suspicion of violating US sanctions.“We announced that we are ready to (release) this German national... on condition that they (the Germans) do not extradite our citizen to America,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said. “On Sunday... the Iranian national left Germany and entered Iran, and on Monday... we released the German national,” he told a televised news conference. Tehran has repeatedly jailed dual citizens in recent years, mostly on espionage charges. Meanwhile, the trial of two French scholars held in Iran was set to begin on March 3, their lawyers told AFP. France has called for the release of French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah and her French colleague Roland Marchal, who had been detained since June. Iran has rejected France’s call as an interference at Tehran’s state matters. “We do not recognise dual nationality. She is Iranian. We do not let other states to interfere in our judiciary matters. Their court session will be on March 3,” Esmaili said. Adelkhah’s lawyer told Reuters last month that Iran had dropped spying charges against Adelkhah but she faced other security-related charges. The issue has complicated ties between Tehran and Paris, both parties to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Washington exited the deal in 2018 and has reimposed sanctions that has hit Iran’s economy hard. Iran sentenced eight environmentalists to prison terms of between four and 10 years for spying for and collaborating with the US, the spokesman for the country’s judiciary said on Tuesday.

Israeli PM Netanyahu’s trial to start march 17
AFP, Jerusalem/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
The trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges will open on March 17, the justice ministry said Tuesday. It said the indictment would be read by judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman in the presence of Netanyahu in Jerusalem. The announcement comes as the 70-year-old prime minister campaigns ahead of March 2 elections, Israel’s third in less than a year, after two previous polls resulted in a deadlock between Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz. Gantz had refused after September elections to join a unity government led by Netanyahu, saying he must first settle his differences with the judiciary before taking power. Netanyahu was charged in the autumn last year with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit formally presented the charge sheet to the Jerusalem district court on January 28 after Netanyahu had withdrawn a request seeking parliamentary immunity lodged earlier that month. His opponents had already mustered a majority in the legislature to deny him immunity. Netanyahu is Israel’s only head of government to have been indicted during his term in office. Under Israeli law, a sitting prime minister is only required to step down once convicted of an offence and after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted. Netanyahu denies the charges and says he is the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt.

UN envoy condemns use rifles loaded with birdshot against Iraqi protesters
Reuters/Tuesday, 18 February 2020
The top United Nations envoy to Iraq condemned on Monday the use of hunting rifles loaded with birdshot against peaceful protesters in Baghdad and urged the government to ensure those demonstrating are not harmed. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said it had received credible allegations of protesters being targeted with hunting rifles, stones and firebombs on the nights of February 14-16, leading to at least 50 injuries. At least 150 people were injured in the Shia Muslim holy city of Karbala in January alone due to similar tactics, UNAMI said in a statement. “The continued pattern of the use of excessive force, with ambiguously identified armed groups and unclear loyalties, is a grave security concern that must be tackled urgently and decisively. Peaceful protesters should be protected at all times,” said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq. There was no immediate comment from Iraqi authorities. Iraq is facing an extraordinary domestic crisis as nearly 500 people have been killed since October in protests demanding the ouster of what demonstrators see as a corrupt ruling elite and an end to foreign interference mainly by Iran and the United States. At least nine people were wounded on Monday in Baghdad during renewed clashes between protesters and security forces, police sources said. Two were wounded because of birdshot and the rest suffered teargas-related injures. Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi said on Saturday a new government would be formed in the coming week. Allawi appealed to Iraqis for their support hours after his appointment by President Barham Salih earlier this month, but protesters have already rejected him as a stooge of the political elite.

Ashraf Ghani Secures Second Term as Afghan President
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/2020
Ashraf Ghani has secured a second term as president of Afghanistan, according to final results announced Tuesday, lining him up to become the man negotiating with the Taliban over the war-torn country's future if the U.S. agrees to withdraw its troops. The results came nearly five months after the September 28 2019 poll, after vote-rigging allegations by Ghani's main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who served as Afghanistan's chief executive, forced a recount. Election commission chief Hawa Alam Nuristani said Ghani had taken 50.64 percent of the votes, compared to Abdullah's 39.52 percent.
"May God help him in serving the people of Afghanistan... I also pray that peace comes to our country," she added at a press conference in the capital Kabul. Abdullah's team was quick to dismiss the final count, however. "The results announced by the commission have no legitimacy," Abdullah's election campaign spokesman Faraidoon Khwazoon told AFP shortly after the announcement. When asked about what Abdullah's team planned to do next, he said they had "many options" and would "firmly stand against the injustice." Abdullah lost to Ghani in 2014 in a divisive election that saw his supporters hold violent demonstrations before the US finally intervened to broker an awkward power-sharing deal between the two rivals. Current vice-president Abdul Rashid Dostum, a powerful Uzbek former warlord and Abdullah's ally, has also threatened to form a parallel government if fraudulent election results are announced. This time, however, the US is unlikely to give Abdullah or his allies much support.
A possible deal
The final results come just as Washington seeks a deal with the Taliban which would allow it to withdraw troops in return for various security guarantees and a promise that the militants would hold peace talks with the Afghan government. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed a wish to get troops home from America's longest war. His peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Monday that he was "cautiously optimistic" about progress toward an eventual deal, adding that the US has "commitments from the Talibs on security issues". Once the deal is reached the Afghan government under Ghani would have to prepare to meet the Taliban and negotiate a formal peace agreement on behalf of the Afghan people. Political analyst Atta Noori called the results "a step forward towards the possible talks with the Taliban". "A shaky government was in no position to talk with the Taliban. Now is the time for Ghani to act as a statesman and form an inclusive team to talk with the Taliban," he told AFP, adding that people from Abdullah's camp should be among the negotiators. As for Abdullah's next steps, Noori said the talks were "more important" than fraud allegations. Nearly one million of the initial 2.7 million votes were purged owing to irregularities, meaning the election saw by far the lowest turnout of any Afghan poll. Ultimately, only 1.8 million votes were counted -- a tiny number given Afghanistan's estimated population of 35 million and 9.6 million registered voters. Voters stayed away from polls en masse amid threats of Taliban violence and cynicism that any politician in a country beset with nepotism and corruption could really chart a new course for ordinary Afghans.

U.N. Welcomes Help in Enforcing Libya Arms Embargo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/2020
The United Nations on Tuesday welcomed a new EU naval operation to enforce an arms embargo on Libya as the warring sides in the conflict met for military talks in Geneva. EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to a naval mission that will be authorized to intervene to stop weapons shipments into the North African state. "Whoever can help in monitoring the arms embargo is welcome in whatever part of Libya," U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame told reporters. "What is needed is that member states of the UN come to the rescue... in monitoring the violations of the arms embargo, otherwise it will not end," he said. Salame said the embargo was being violated by air, land and sea, pointing to Libya's large and porous border. The U.N. envoy on Tuesday began hosting a second round of talks in Geneva to attempt to turn a shaky truce between the U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli and eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar into a lasting ceasefire. States including Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt support Haftar, while the U.N.-recognized government led by Fayez al-Sarraj is backed by Turkey and Qatar. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday the new EU mission should be implemented "in agreement with the UN Security Council". Lavrov was meeting his Italian counterpart in Rome over the EU agreement which several countries had demanded should not encourage a spike in migrant crossings from North Africa to Europe. "The ships will be deployed to the east to monitor weapons, not along the migrant route," Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said.
- No talks together -
Libya has been in turmoil since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with rival armed factions still vying for power. In the latest outbreak of fighting, Haftar launched his offensive on Tripoli last April, but after rapid advances his forces stalled on the edges of the capital.
The fighting has left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced some 140,000 according to the United Nations. Five senior officers from the Government of National Accord (GNA) and five appointed by Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) were taking part in the Geneva talks -- part of broader efforts to end the conflict in the country. Salame said he was meeting with the two sides separately but did not rule out possible joint talks at a later date. A first round of the talks ended with no result earlier this month but Salame said there was "more hope" this time, mainly because of the approval of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a "lasting ceasefire." World leaders had agreed at a Berlin summit last month to end all meddling in the conflict and stop the flow of weapons, but little has changed on the ground since then. Salame said the truce was "very fragile" but "nobody has so far renegued on the principle of accepting the truce.".He said agreeing a ceasefire was "not a precondition" for talks planned to start in Geneva on February 26 on finding a political solution to the long-running conflict.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 18-19/2020
Erdogan Plots to Take Over Turkey’s Largest Private Bank – For the Third Time
Aykan Erdemir/FDD/February 18/2020
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday reportedly approved plans for Ankara’s Treasury to take a 28 percent stake in Isbank, the country’s largest publicly listed lender. Turkey’s protracted economic downturn and the growing public reaction to mounting Turkish casualties in Syria have prompted Erdogan’s desperate attempt to change the news cycle with a daring takeover plan – an effort likely to exacerbate the country’s political and economic crisis.
Over the last two years, Erdogan made two failed attempts to take over Isbank. In September 2018, he called for an investigation into the status of four Isbank board members appointed by the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the country’s pro-secular main opposition in parliament. A month later, Erdogan first floated the idea of transferring Isbank shares to the Treasury – a threat he repeated in February 2019. Following both threats, the lender’s shares fell 6 percent. Yesterday, after news emerged of Erdogan’s latest attempt, Isbank shares fell by almost 3 percent.
The Turkish president’s motivations for targeting Isbank, and, by extension, Turkey’s pro-secular forces, are as much ideological as economic. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of both the Turkish Republic and the CHP, established the bank in 1924. In his 1938 will, he bequeathed his shares to the party and allocated the dividends to the Turkish Linguistic Society and the Turkish Historical Society, two institutions central to his secular republican nation-building project. Long before Erdogan’s ascent, two short-lived attempts to take over the bank, first by a government led by CHP’s rivals in 1953 and then by a military junta in 1981, failed as courts ultimately overturned these partisan expropriation attempts.
Challenging Isbank and the CHP is part of Turkish Islamists,’ and therefore Erdogan’s, lifelong struggle to undermine the legacy of Turkey’s founding father and his secularizing institutions and reforms. Hence, a leading columnist for Turkey’s radical Islamist daily Yeni Akit rushed to endorse Erdogan’s plans on Thursday, going so far as to recommend the transfer of Isbank’s shares to Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs.
Isbank’s tradition of good governance and strong economic performance has posed an embarrassing challenge to Turkey’s Islamist government, since it puts to shame Turkey’s sluggish public lenders, which struggle under the misguided management of Erdogan and his son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, who has been serving as the minister of finance and treasury since July 2018. On their watch, as one of the leading Turkish economists warns, the country’s risk premium has been “the highest by far among emerging economies,” as Turkey remains “the riskiest country among emerging economies.”
This poor management is also driving away foreign investors. UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank by assets, launched the sale earlier this month of a 12 percent stake in Turkey’s third-largest bank, Yapi Kredi. Meanwhile the world’s seventh-largest lender, HSBC, is reportedly considering selling its Turkish business “amid concerns about the country’s volatile currency and economic outlook.”
With his threats against Isbank, Erdogan can succeed in manipulating the Turkish news cycle for a few more days, thereby buying himself some respite from embarrassing reports on the deepening crises in the economy and in Syria. However, both Erdogan and Turkey would fare better if the Turkish president could keep his hands off the country’s largest listed lender and start addressing the fallout from his and his son-in-law’s misguided economic and foreign policies.
*Aykan Erdemir is a former member of the Turkish parliament and the senior director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from Aykan and CEFP, please subscribe HERE. Follow him on Twitter @aykan_erdemir. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Why We Should Grow the Active Duty Army
Bradley Bowman/FDD/February 18/2020
The Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2021 budget proposal released this week seeks a modest increase in active duty Army end strength. Since the proposed topline for the defense budget fails to keep pace with inflation, some in Congress may face the temptation to pilfer resources dedicated to Army end strength to fund other priorities. A closer look at the Army’s demanding operational tempo (optempo) demonstrates why any cut would be a mistake that reduces readiness and burdens soldiers and their families.
The Army measures the optempo of its units with a ratio comparing the time the unit is deployed versus the time the unit is not deployed. In Army parlance, this is a unit’s “deploy to dwell” ratio.
For active duty units, the Army believes a 1:3 deploy to dwell ratio is ideal. Under such a scenario, for example, for every 9 months deployed, a unit would spend 27 months not deployed.
When an active duty unit has only a 1:2 deploy to dwell ratio, the Army considers this a “redline” for maintaining readiness.
To be clear, when a unit deploys, for example, from Fort Bragg or Fort Hood to another location in the U.S. for training, it is still considered dwell time.
So, in terms of understanding stress on soldiers and their families, the deploy to dwell ratio should be understood as actually painting a rosier picture than reality warrants.
That fact makes the current deploy to dwell ratio for key active duty units particularly concerning.
Active duty Army corps and division headquarters, as well as brigade combat teams (BCTs), combat aviation brigades (CABs), and Patriot battalions, all have an average deploy to dwell ratio below the Army redline of 1:2.
In fact, corps headquarters are currently home on average for less time than they spend deployed. And half of Patriot battalions are at an approximate 1:1 deploy to dwell ratio.
This hectic optempo is not surprising when one considers the number of soldiers deployed around the world.
The Army notes that it fulfills 60 percent of combatant commander personnel requirements. In January, that meant approximately 113,000 soldiers were deployed overseas in over 140 countries. That includes 37,300 in the Central Command area of responsibility (AOR) and 24,600 in the Indo-Pacific Command AOR.
Here’s the problem with such a hectic optempo.
Soldiers utilize time between deployments to take leave, reconnect with their families, and attend Army schools and individual training opportunities important to soldier competence and professional development.
Units use the time between deployments to repair equipment and conduct essential collective training.
When time is compressed between deployments, units are forced to prioritize collective training—sacrificing soldier leave, individual training, and professional development.
America’s soldiers are incredibly resilient and able to endure great hardship to accomplish the mission. But over time, a deploy to dwell ratio below 1:3 takes a toll on soldiers and their families, hurting readiness and morale.
For the current fiscal year, FY2020, the authorized Regular Army (or active duty) end strength is 480,000. Due to successful recruiting, the Army utilized authorities to go slightly above authorized end strength and has now increased its goal for this fiscal year to 485,000 soldiers.
To recognize this progress and facilitate “modest growth of about 1,000 soldiers per year for the next four or five years,” the Army is requesting an authorized active duty end strength for FY 2021 of almost 486,000.
Even with this growth, the active duty force would be significantly smaller than the post-9/11 high of approximately 566,000 soldiers. This reduction matters, because the fewer soldiers there are, the more frequently the rest need to deploy, which reduces deploy to dwell ratios.
Admittedly, growing the active duty to 486,000 will not solve the Army’s deploy to dwell challenges—but it can help. And modestly increasing the size of the active duty over the next few years—without lowering standards—can steadily begin to address optempo challenges.
Optempo concerns are, of course, not the only consideration when determining the optimal size of the Army. Army leaders also look at what is necessary to support the National Defense Strategy and associated war plans.
The Pentagon is working to develop joint doctrine and operational concepts that will inform future force structure requirements. That process and its result will have important implications for the size of the active duty Army.
In the meantime, leaders should ensure that America’s soldiers have sufficient time between deployments to reset and train for the full range of conflicts they may encounter in the uncertain future.
For now, that means supporting a modest increase in the size of the active duty Army.
Any failure to do so—and especially any effort to cut the size of the active duty Army—would only put a heavier burden on soldiers who are already enduring so much to keep Americans safe.
Bradley Bowman, a former Army officer, is senior director for the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

UN’s New Anti-Israel Blacklist Condemns Companies for Generic Business Activities
David May/FDD/February 18/2020
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released a blacklist on Wednesday of 112 companies operating in “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory … and in the occupied Syrian Golan.” Though her report claims to target companies whose specific activities raise “particular human rights concerns,” the vast majority of companies on the list appear to be conducting generic business activities.
The blacklist divides the 112 firms into 10 categories. Many companies belong to multiple. Category E, accounting for 61 companies, deals with the “provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements.” This could apply to nearly any firm working with Israeli communities in the disputed territories. Category G, accounting for 68 companies, covers “the use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes,” which could also include nearly any company with a footprint in Jewish areas of the West Bank. Additionally, 10 companies are listed under category F for providing “banking and financial” services to the settlements. All but one of these financial firms are also listed under category E, which includes anything from providing loans to maintaining banks and ATMs.
Only eight of the blacklisted companies are connected to defense-related activities, and two are associated with constructing either Israeli settlements or the security barrier. Given that the barrier has prevented terrorism, the United Nations is effectively punishing these companies for protecting Israeli lives.
In terms of national origin, 94 of the listed companies are Israeli, 11 are from four European countries, six are from the United States, and one is from Thailand. Of the American companies, four are travel-related, one manufactures food products, and one provides surveillance and identification equipment.
The blacklist is an obvious attempt to boost the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. The BDS National Committee welcomed the database and encouraged “strategic boycotts and divestment campaigns” against companies on the list. The Palestinian Authority also vowed to punish the listed companies.
Only time will tell whether the blacklist accomplishes what its creators intended. Companies complying with the blacklist could face unwanted consequences. Airbnb’s attempt to placate the BDS campaign serves as a prime example: When Airbnb announced a withdrawal in November 2018, lawsuits and state-level anti-BDS laws convinced the company to reverse course.
In the meantime, the federal and state governments are gearing up to enforce their laws designed to counter anti-Israel boycotts. These laws already expressly forbid boycott compliance. But additional measures could reinforce the message.
*David May is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from David and CEFP, please subscribe HERE. Follow David on Twitter @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on y.

Iran’s elections likely to make things worse for the region
Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/February 18/2020
Iran’s hardliners are expected to consolidate their grip on power through engineering parliamentary elections set for Feb. 21. With most moderates barred from running, the elections will offer little real choice for the Iranian people, but are likely to make matters worse in the region.
The pool of candidates allowed to run for office is predetermined by the Guardian Council, controlled by conservatives and headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to official figures, the council rejected 7,296 candidates and permitted only 7,148 to run. Causes for rejection were not made clear, as the council relies on some Byzantine rules to weed out unfriendly candidates. But, according to Iran experts, those rejected were mostly reformists. They also point out that the high rejection ratio, over 50 percent, is unusually high.
What is at stake at these elections is charting the future for Iran internally and abroad. The hardliners are hoping to take advantage of the siege mentality they have built, especially after the killing on Jan. 3 of Qassem Soleimani of the Quds Force, by portraying Iran as the victim of an America bent on their destruction. America is blamed for Iran’s worsening economic conditions and for the widespread protests demanding reform. The downing of the Ukrainian airliner, which killed 176 civilians, is also blamed on America in some twisted narrative that is circulating during the election campaign.
The level of threats coming out of Iran these days is alarming, but it is likely to get even worse after the election later this week of a new crop of extremists, who will likely rubberstamp what the conservative leadership decides. There is little doubt that Iran’s regional proxies are in trouble with their own constituencies, but that fact will only harden Iran’s extremists’ resolve to keep them in power. In Iraq, following Soleimani’s death, each major Iranian-backed militia has secured a position from which it tries to dictate the future of the country, whether by trying to suppress peaceful protests of Iraqi youth, or lobbing missiles at US forces and diplomats to try to force them out. With the new elections, we may see an increase in these attempts.
In Yemen, the last two months have witnessed a dangerous escalation by the Houthi militias, another proxy of Tehran. Not only have they reneged on the commitments they made in Sweden in Dec. 2018 and failed to evacuate Hodeidah, the crux of the Stockholm Agreement, but they have launched major attacks against previously quiet fronts, in Marib, Al-Jawf, Al-Dhaleh and elsewhere.
In Lebanon, Iran’s proxies and allies have turned the country into a clerically dominated vassal. This situation is especially ironic, because Lebanon is the most religiously diverse country in the region, with about 15 sects supposedly dividing power amongst themselves. The government and parliament have been incapable of providing the most basic of government services. The physical, financial and administrative infrastructures of Lebanon are crumbling and the country is teetering toward bankruptcy and economic meltdown. This turn of events is another irony: Lebanese professionals are famous for contributing significantly to the wellbeing of other countries. The Gulf, South America and Australia, inter alia, owe a lot of gratitude to Lebanese engineers, physicians, and business experts. However, within Lebanon, the power grab by Hezbollah and its allies have effectively excluded those same professionals from helping their own country. One of Soleimani’s last actions was a meeting with Hezbollah’s leaders, where he reportedly dispatched instructions on how to deal with the political crisis in Lebanon; he micromanaged Lebanon as he did Syria and Iraq’s affairs.
Having secured the results of the Friday elections, the hardliners must expect that the new crop of Iran’s parliamentarians would return the favor and push an even more bellicose regional policy. They see Syria as a success and the model to follow in other countries where Iran is currently involved. Iran has made clear that it is willing to push things further in other parts of the region to reach an outcome. The hardliners are on to something. In a way, the future of Iran’s meddling in the region is already here, in Syria. Iran and its allies have fought ruthlessly to maintain Syrian President Bashar Assad in power at the cost of hundreds of thousands of Syrian lives and millions of refugees and internally displaced persons. Utter destruction, as we see it playing out now in Syria, appears to be Iran’s modus operandi. With limited resources, Tehran has resorted to sectarian-based civil war to divide and rule, and prop up proxies that owe their fate to its support.
There is little doubt that Iran’s regional proxies are in trouble with their own constituencies, but that fact will only harden Iran’s extremists’ resolve to keep them in power. Rebuilding those countries is not in Iran’s interest. For example, its policy is based on blocking return to civilian rule in Iraq, insisting instead on maintaining militia control of the government, and those militias are also instrumental in suppressing peaceful protests, marginalizing regular security forces and harassing US and coalition forces. Without foreign troops, the militias will have the run of the country and Iran will monopolize power. The Syrian model demonstrates the devastating extent to which Iran will go to maintain its grip on the country. The same goes for other countries where Iran has chosen to make a foothold. After the elections, we could see an unhinged Iranian regional policy that will push matters further. Reformists at home and abroad will be put under pressure to go along or make way. These changes in Iran require a careful reassessment of US and European policies toward Iran to respond to the rising power of extremists.
*Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council’s assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. Twitter: @abuhamad1

Why Russia needs to be onboard OPEC+ more than ever
Faisal Faeq/Arab News/February 18/2020
OPEC+ efforts have been successful for 38 months in maintaining adequate supplies and absorbing a crude oil surplus.
Even during the pessimistic days of 2019, where concerns over slowing global growth and the impact of the US-China trade dispute dominated sentiment, OPEC+ managed to keep the market in balance.
Such collaboration is now needed more than ever as the coronavirus adds a new twist to the supply-demand narrative. Cooperation between Saudi Arabia, Russia and other exporters within OPEC+ has been a calming force in otherwise turbulent times for the global economy. That cooperation looks set to continue throughout the rest of the year, ensuring that the upcoming meeting of oil exporters in Vienna will start on a positive note.
Global oil demand is certain to be impacted by the virus as China is the world’s largest crude oil importer. It buys more than 10 million barrels per day (bpd), which is 10 percent of global oil demand.
Saudi Arabia and Russia appear to be heading toward the fourth consecutive year of OPEC+ collaboration when producers gather in early March. A continuation of the output cuts agreement with a possible deepening of agreed reductions is widely anticipated. However, some analysts have argued that the coronavirus outbreak may mark the end of Russia-OPEC cooperation. Shrinking Chinese oil demand as a result of coronavirus outbreak is hitting Russia hardest because oil arriving by pipeline rather than tanker, cannot be easily diverted elsewhere
On the contrary, Russia need to be onboard OPEC+ more than ever in both output cuts scenarios — whether extending or deepening.
Russia’s economy depends on hydrocarbons. Oil and gas accounts more than 60 percent of Russian exports and more than 30 percent of Russian GDP.
Not only is the country one of the top oil producers in the world, it is also the second largest producer of natural gas and the major gas supplier to Europe.
Natural gas markets showed a strong relationship with the crude oil market.
Natural gas exports prices in Russia are linked to crude oil prices. Hence Russia is more concerned about sustainable oil prices than other OPEC+ members. More importantly, Russian ESPO crude oil reaches China by a 4,188 kilometer-long pipeline. This is the only crude oil that arrives onshore in the country by pipeline.
Last December 2019 Russia exported around 1.7 million bpd of crude oil to China. ESPO crude accounted for about 500,000 bpd, which is almost 30 percent of all Russia crude exports to the country.
Therefore shrinking Chinese oil demand as a result of coronavirus outbreak is hitting Russia hardest because oil arriving by pipeline rather than tanker, cannot be easily diverted elsewhere. Similarly, Russian gas that is transported to Europe cannot be transported elsewhere for the same reason.
Russian ESPO crude oil also the most popular crude grade for the independent Shandong “teapot” refineries. Such realities reveal just how dependent Russian oil exports are on the world’s second largest economy and why continued cooperation with OPEC is more important than ever.
• Faisal Faeq is an energy and oil marketing adviser. He was formerly with OPEC and Saudi Aramco.

DP World delisting is a straw in the wind for Gulf markets
Frank Kane/Arab News/February 19/2020
As a straw in the wind, the decision by Dubai authorities to delist shares in DP World tells us a lot about the regional economic and financial situation. But it raises as many questions as it answers.
DP World is one of the few regional companies that has made it big on the global stage. Its international network of maritime and land ports, as a well as an increasing number of industrial zones, grew out of the old P&O business that Dubai bought in 2006, and has been a star performer in the UAE economy for most of that time. It has been estimated that some 25 percent of Dubai’s economy is generated by activities in Jebel Ali and its associated industrial zone. It is a growing force in Saudi Arabia via its plans for big-time investment in the booming port of Jeddah.
But DP World’s involvement with public equity markets has never sat easily within the government-owned Dubai World conglomerate. Its initial public offering (IPO) in late 2007 was mispriced and badly timed, coming just as fears of a credit crunch in the global financial system were growing.
Then there was a four-year listing on the London Stock Exchange that ended in 2015 with DP World retreating back to Dubai amid complaints about weak trading volumes. Now it is intending to cancel that listing — on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange — with an offer to shareholders to buy them out at a 30 percent premium to the market price last week. With a premium like that, you can expect investors to rush for the door.
The official rationale for the delisting was, again, that stock markets did not really understand DP World and was not giving it the valuation it deserved. The short-term priorities of equity investors did not coincide with the long-term capital requirements of an infrastructure business such as DP World, it said.
There is some sense in all that, but surely an equal reason for the delisting was the ongoing financial liabilities of the Dubai World conglomerate that owns 80 percent of the shares. As part of the deal, DP World will take on an extra $8 billion in debt, allowing its parent to meet other obligations. It expects an investment rating that will allow it to assume more debt in the future.
This looks like a pre-emptive move to head off concerns about corporate debt levels in Dubai. Since the 2011 restructuring of debts owed by Dubai World and other entities in the emirate, there has been a regular round of what some bankers call “extend and pretend” — extend the terms of the liabilities and pretend they will get them repaid in full one day.
The overall level of corporate and quasi-corporate debt in the emirate has remained stubbornly above the $100 billion mark.
All the talk in financial circles in Dubai these days is about debt. Restructuring and renegotiating deals are the order of the day, as the economy stays stuck in a real estate-induced rut. Dubai World strategists are to be commended for having recognized the challenge early and acted on it.
But the delisting decision raises issues for other parts of the UAE financial system too. It will remove from Nasdaq Dubai its biggest stock by far, and one of the few with international recognition. Sure, there are still some big beasts on the UAE markets, with the mobile phone companies Etisalat and Du and some big real estate developers, to say nothing of the Adnoc Distribution business IPO’d in 2017. But the removal of some $11 billion of market capitalization with DP World’s delisting will hit Nasdaq Dubai hard.
Inevitably, there are calls already to merge that exchange in with the Dubai Financial Market, and even with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, to produce a pan-UAE stock exchange. These notions have been in the air for many years. Meanwhile, the contrast with Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul could not be more stark. A couple of months after the Kingdom staged the biggest IPO in history with the listing of Saudi Aramco, the UAE abandons one of its flagship listings with DP World.
The final lesson from the DP World decision could be that the center of investment gravity in the Gulf is slipping inexorably toward Riyadh.
• Frank Kane is an award-winning business journalist based in Dubai. Twitter: @frankkanedubai

Understanding the process to resolve banking disputes
Dimah Talal Alsharif/Arab News/February 18/2020
When it comes to bank-related cases, the large number of semi-judicial committees confuses people. A lack of clarity on their jurisdiction further adds to the problem. In many cases, people have to run from pillar to post to get their minor issues resolved because they don’t know who to contact and where to get specialized legal advice from.
Today, we will be elaborating on the lawsuits related to banking disputes, as such cases fall under the purview of the Banking Disputes Committee.
A case should meet two conditions to be referred to the committee. First, one of the parties to the dispute is a bank and the second is that the problem arises due to the current banking practices in the country.
For example, in some cases, if the financier is a bank, then it will be within the jurisdiction of the Banking Disputes Committee, but if it is not a bank, then the case is referred to the Financial Disputes Committee.
Furthermore, regarding lawsuits that arise from real estate financing contracts, between beneficiaries and real estate financiers, the Banking Disputes Committee will consider them only if the financier is a bank.
The committee has the right to ask parties to the dispute to submit the agreements concluded between them as well as supporting documents.
The committee may also guarantee its decisions with expedited enforceability in specific cases and situations, as the relevant authorities are obliged to implement the final decisions issued by any of the committees as well as decisions of the Executive Committee and urgent decisions.
But how can you file the lawsuit?
First, a statement of claim has to be directed to the secretary-general of the banking committee specifying the claimant’s requests, attaching with it the supporting documents.
The request must be clear and comprehensive, taking into consideration that among the principles adopted by the committee is one that states that the party’s submitted requests will be final.
After the case is filed and registered, the defendant will be notified and given three weeks to respond and once he submits his response, the plaintiff will be requested to respond within three weeks.
The respondent comments on the defendant’s response and, consequently, the defendant will be requested to comment within three weeks. After the response of the defendant is received, the case will be prepared and studied by the committee on a specific date.
As for the appeal, the Banking Disputes Committee’s decision will be considered final and enforceable unless one of the parties submits an appeal within 30 days from the date of receiving his copy of the decision, or from the date specified for receiving the copy of the decision, whichever is earlier.
After that, the decision of the appellate committees is considered final and cannot be objected to before any other party, except when a petition for reconsideration is submitted to the appeals committees. This applies to limited and specific cases stipulated in the law of civil proceedings, such as building the decision on false or adulterated documents.
It is not permissible to hear a case related to banking disputes if five years have passed since the due date of the amount in question, or from the date of discovering the incident in question unless the plaintiff provides an excuse that the committee accepts, and this is one of the things that some people overlook and lose their rights due to negligence.
*Dimah Talal Alsharif is a Saudi legal consultant, head of the health law department at the law firm of Majed Garoub and a member of the International Association of Lawyers.

Islamists' Response to Peace Plan
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/February 18/2020
When Hizb-ut-Tahrir says that negotiations and a peace process with Israel are acts of treason, their words are pointed straight at Abbas and the PA leadership. When Hizb-ut-Tahrir says it wants Muslim armies to liberate all of Palestine, the organization is actually calling on Muslims to march on Israel, kill Jews and destroy the state.
While the ideology of Hizb-ut-Tahrir might sound inhospitable, it is shared by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and several other Palestinian terror groups -- particularly regarding the goal of eliminating Israel.
By continuing to incite their people against Israel and the US... Abbas... and other PA officials are driving more Palestinians into the open, welcoming arms of Hizb-ut-Tahrir as well as Iran's proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. By allowing thousands of Islamists to call for the destruction of Israel on the streets of West Bank cities, PA leaders are digging their own graves: The same people they are inciting against Israel and the US will kill these leaders not only for being affiliated with Israelis and Americans but for being too "moderate."
Finally, by making, as they usually do, contradictory claims to their own people, they are losing, among the Palestinians, the little credibility they have left.
At an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo on February 1, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (center) declared that "there will be no relations with Israel and the US, including on security cooperation."
The Palestinian Authority, after rejecting US President Donald Trump's recently unveiled plan for Mideast peace, "Peace to Prosperity," as a "conspiracy" against Palestinians, is now trying to persuade the Israeli public that it is "still" interested in achieving peace with Israel.
Earlier this month, PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would cut all ties with Israel and the US, including security coordination, to protest the Trump plan, which he denounced as the "slap of the century."
"We are informing you," Abbas told Arab foreign ministers during an emergency meeting in Cairo, "that there will be no relations with Israel and the US, including on security cooperation."
Abbas has been making similar threats for the past three years -- probably the reason Palestinians have long stopped taking his threats seriously.
Even journalists covering Palestinian affairs have ridiculed Abbas's repeated empty threats. "The last time Abbas 'cut security ties' with Israel in 2017," AFP reporter Joe Dyke tweeted, "the head of the Palestinian police later said that they had maintained 95 percent of their coordination, just didn't do it publicly."
Notwithstanding Abbas's threats, on February 16, Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, told Israeli journalists in Ramallah that security coordination with Israel would continue. He warned, however, that the security coordination between the Palestinians and Israel "would not continue forever."
He then went further, assuring the Israeli journalists that the PA "was prepared to sign a peace agreement within two weeks if the Israeli government agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."
These remarks were, of course, intended only for the Israeli public: they stand in sharp contrast to statements made by Abbas and senior PA officials -- including Abu Rudaineh himself -- that the Israeli government and its Prime Minister are not partners for peace. "Netanyahu," PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said bluntly in July 2019, "is not a partner for peace."
Abbas and his officials have managed thoroughly to confuse Palestinians. In Arabic, they are telling their people that they have decided to cut all ties with Israel and the US. In English, Abbas's spokesman is telling Israeli journalists that security coordination with Israel is ongoing. In Arabic, Palestinian leaders are telling their people how awful the Netanyahu government is and that it is "responsible for sabotaging the peace process."
As if those lies were not enough, the same PA leaders who are now telling the Israeli public how eager they are to make peace have encouraged Palestinians to take to the streets to burn Israeli and US flags, as well as photos of Trump and Netanyahu, to combat the plan.
In the past few days, the PA also allowed thousands of members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir ("Party of Liberation"), a pan-Islamist organization that describes its ideology as Islam and its stated aim as the re-establishment of the Islamic Caliphate, to stage mass demonstrations in the West Bank against Israel and the US. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, needless to say, does not recognize Israel's right to exist.
At one of the demonstrations in the West Bank city of Hebron, Hizb-ut-Tahrir supporters chanted slogans calling on Muslim armies to "liberate all Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River" -- meaning every inch of Israel.
At similar demonstrations organized by Hizb-ut-Tahrir in the West Bank cities of Jenin and Ramallah, members of the Islamist organization chanted slogans such as, "The land of Palestine is Islamic and belongs only to Muslims." The demonstrators additionally vowed that "the people of Palestine would not give up their right to Haifa and Acre" -- cities officially located in northern Israel. One placard raised by the demonstrators read: "Negotiations and a Peace Process [with Israel] are Treason."
Periodically, the PA leadership bans Hizb-ut-Tahrir from holding rallies in the West Bank. The recent demonstrations, however, could not have taken place without the approval of Abbas, whose security forces made no effort to stop them.
When Hizb-ut-Tahrir says that negotiations and a peace process with Israel are acts of treason, their words are pointed straight at Abbas and the PA leadership. When Hizb-ut-Tahrir says it wants Muslim armies to liberate all of Palestine, the organization is actually calling on Muslims to march on Israel, kill Jews and destroy the state.
Abu Rudaineh's statement that the PA would be prepared to sign a peace agreement with Israel within two weeks is not the kind of rhetoric Hizb-ut-Tahrir wants to hear. For Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Palestinians such as Abu Rudaineh are traitors: they are talking about peace with the same Israel that the Islamists are seeking to eliminate.
Why, then, does the PA leadership allow Hizb-ut-Tahrir to stage such venomous protests on the streets of Palestinians cities?
Most probably because the PA leaders are afraid of the Islamists. Abu Rudaineh, apparently, neglected to tell the Israeli journalists that he had hosted Hizb-ut-Tahrir and backed its agenda. When thousands of Islamists have been given the green light by the PA leadership to chant slogans urging Muslims to attack Israel, the leadership seems to prefer to lie low.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which continues to operate under the PA in the West Bank, at least deserves credit for honesty: it openly wishes to replace Israel with an Islamic Caliphate. In late January, after Trump announce his peace plan, the organization (incorrectly) denounced him as "a Jew usurping Palestine, more than the Jews themselves." (President Trump happens to be a Presbyterian Christian.)
A statement issued by Hizb-ut-Tahrir -- and headlined, "O Muslims! Moreover, O Armies of Muslims! We Seek your Marching Forth. Your Enemy, Trump, Has Bared His Teeth, So Shatter them With your Swords" -- also strongly condemned "the treachery of the rulers in Muslim Lands." This is a direct call to Muslims to wage war on the US and to kill Muslim leaders accused of betraying Islam.
The "rulers," undoubtedly, include Abbas and PA leaders who continue to talk the talk -- but never, not ever, to walk the walk -- about a peace process with Israel.
The statement, along with further dental commentary continues:
"Trump has bared his teeth, making his criminal deal to support the Jewish entity and consolidate its hold over all of Palestine... This criminality must be responded to, by the shattering of the Trump's teeth, by the elimination of the monstrous Jewish entity, restoring all of Palestine to the lands of Islam... Hence, the response against Trump's deal must not be by the way of the current rulers.... Similarly, the response must not be by chanting alone, no matter how fervent, as the chanting of Muslims is for soldiers marching forth for Jihad.... Instead, the response must be from the states who move their armies to uproot the Jewish entity, as the Jews have usurped Palestine and have created a state for them, supported by the collaboration and betrayal of the rulers in the Muslim lands."
While the ideology of Hizb-ut-Tahrir might sound inhospitable, it is shared by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and several other Palestinian terror groups -- particularly regarding the goal of eliminating Israel.
By continuing to incite their people against Israel and the US, day in and day out, Abbas, Abu Rudaineh and other PA officials are driving more Palestinians into the open, welcoming arms of Hizb-ut-Tahrir as well as Iran's proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. By allowing thousands of Islamists to call for the destruction of Israel on the streets of West Bank cities, PA leaders are digging their own graves: The same people they are inciting against Israel and the US will kill these leaders not only for being affiliated with Israelis and Americans but for being too "moderate."
Finally, by making, as they usually do, contradictory claims to their own people, they are losing, among the Palestinians, the little credibility they have left.
*Bassam Tawil is based in the Middle East.
© 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.

Why Did President Trump Expand the Travel Ban?
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/February 18/2020
General justifications for the travel ban include: poor vetting of travelers to the U.S. by the restricted countries; an unwillingness on the part of those countries to share personal data on would-be visitors to the U.S.; and the refusal to accept the return of their nationals if expelled by U.S. authorities.
Kyrgyzstan made the travel-ban list largely because of its lax passport issuance, which has caused a global glut of false Kyrgyzstani passports used by criminals and terrorists to enter Eurasian countries. Kyrgyzstan is also notable for its poor counter-terrorism efforts.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2018 that the U.S. president has the authority to issue such travel bans as part of his duty to protect American citizens. The ruling also determined that the first list of countries placed on the restricted visa program in 2017 did not constitute a "Muslim ban," as North Korea and Venezuela were also included.... Eritrea has more Christians than Muslims. Myanmar is almost entirely Buddhist.
Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, arguing for the administration, opined that it is only logical that any people applying for a visa to the U.S. be properly vetted.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2018 that the U.S. president has the authority to issue travel bans as part of his duty to protect American citizens. Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf (right), arguing for the administration, opined that it is only logical that any people applying for a visa to the U.S. be properly vetted. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)
There are general and specific justifications for U.S. President Donald Trump's January 31 order to add Nigeria, Tanzania, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan and Myanmar (Burma) to the list of seven other countries -- Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen -- subjected to a restriction on travel to the United States.
General justifications for the travel ban include: poor vetting of travelers to the U.S. by the restricted countries; an unwillingness on the part of those countries to share personal data on would-be visitors to the U.S.; and the refusal to accept the return of their nationals if expelled by U.S. authorities.
Although each of the additional six countries added to the list will be subjected to restricted travel – as of February 22 -- Sudan and Tanzania also will be ineligible to participate in the State Department's "green card lottery" program.
The specific justifications for each of the six new countries added to the travel-ban list can be broken down as follows:
Nigeria
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is concerned by the large number of Nigerians who overstay their visas. In 2018, this number was estimated at 30,000. In addition, according to DHS, Nigeria fails to cooperate adequately in efforts to apprehend Nigerian criminals who abscond to and seek safe haven in the U.S.
Nigeria is the country that will suffer the most from the travel ban if it does not satisfy U.S. security concerns. Many Nigerian workers -- green card holders legally employed in the U.S. -- send money back home to their families. The World Bank estimates that remittance funds from the Nigerian global diaspora amount to about $25 billion.
Nigerians make up the largest immigrant group in the U.S. from Africa. At a joint February 4 press conference in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama agreed to address all American security concerns, to avoid being subjected to the travel ban.
Tanzania
Tanzania is on the travel-ban list for three main reasons. First, the Tanzanian government is delinquent in supplying information on its citizens seeking U.S. visas. Second, Tanzania has not upgraded the security of its passport system. Third, U.S. intelligence officials see evidence of growing Islamist radicalization among Tanzanian youth, many of whom traveled to Somalia to join the ranks of the Al-Shabab terrorist group, or sought out terrorist cells in the Tanga region in northeastern Tanzania. Some aspiring Tanzanian jihadists cross the border into Mozambique to fight alongside Islamists in the Cabo Delgado province.
On Tanzania's island of Zanzibar, which is about 99% Muslim, anti-Christian sentiment is high, and there is secessionist sentiment among residents who denounce the "Mfumo Kristo" (the Christian system), by which they claim that mainland Tanzania is governed. This secessionist sentiment often includes a push for strict enforcement of Sharia.
Eritrea
Eritrea earned its place on the travel-ban list due to its failure to accept the return of its citizens who are under U.S. deportation orders. As a consequence of Eritrea's repressive regime, there has been a mass exodus out of the country.
The State Department issues annual travel advisories, warning Americans not to visit several regions in Eritrea due to the prevalence of landmines there, especially along the country's border with Ethiopia. The latest State Department "Crime and Safety Report" on Eritrea also cautions Americans about the violent activities of the Eritrean Islamic Jihad -- also known as the Islamic Salvation Front -- which seeks the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in the Horn of Africa.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan made the travel-ban list largely because of its lax passport issuance, which has caused a global glut of false Kyrgyzstani passports used by criminals and terrorists to enter Eurasian countries. Kyrgyzstan is also notable for its poor counter-terrorism efforts. Hundreds of Kyrgyzstanis reportedly joined ISIS, and it is not known exactly how many of those who were not killed. It is believed that many have returned to Kyrgyzstan.
Sudan
Sudan, which in 1993 was added to the U.S. State Department's list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism" -- and whose genocidal regime was overthrown last April -- may harbor terrorist cells. Nevertheless, as a result of the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, the State Department removed Sudan from the list of countries that most violate religious freedom. In addition, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo invited the head of Sudan's Transitional Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to Washington, and the two countries soon plan to exchange ambassadors for the first time in 23 years. When General al-Burhan visits, the White House might use the occasion to remove Sudan from the restricted travel list.
Myanmar
The ongoing friction between the ethnic Burmans, who are Buddhist, and the ethnic Bangladesh (Rohingya) who are Muslim, has disrupted normal paths of emigration to the U.S. Last year, the U.S. accepted about 5,000 refugees fleeing the violence in Myanmar. Most of these refugees probably hope to bring their families to the U.S. as well. Myanmar's government alleges that the ethnic violence began when a Rohingya Islamic terrorist group attacked police stations in the country's northwestern region; Myanmar's military has since driven most of the Rohingya out of the country.
The DHS tightening of visa grants to citizens of certain countries is referred to by many members of the media and anti-Trump partisans as a "Muslim ban." This is a false characterization of the policy, however. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Tanzania is about one-third Christian and one-third Muslim. Eritrea has more Christians than Muslims. Myanmar is almost entirely Buddhist. Only Sudan and Kyrgyzstan have clear Muslim majorities.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2018 that the U.S. president has the authority to issue such travel bans as part of his duty to protect American citizens. The ruling also determined that the first list of countries placed on the restricted visa program in 2017 did not constitute a "Muslim ban," as North Korea and Venezuela were also included. Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, arguing for the administration, opined that it is only logical that any people applying for a visa to the U.S. be properly vetted.
*Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
© 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.