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

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Bible Quotations For today
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14/01-06:”‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on July 02-03/2019
Aoun welcomes former Italian Prime Minister in Baabda
Hariri chairs Future bloc meeting: Protect and consolidate Mountain reconciliation
Hariri receives Satterfield
Hariri Adjourns Cabinet Session Over ‘Qabrshmoun Incident’
French Defense Minister Meets Aoun, Hariri
Qabrshmoun Incident Culprits, Bodies Handed Over after Ibrahim Mediation
Jumblat Says PSP Not 'Above the Law'
Bassil: We Don't Need Permission to Visit Our Regions and People
Hariri Meets Jumblat after War of Words
French Defense Minister visits UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura
Closed meeting between Hariri, Walid and Taymour Jumblatt, at Druze community headquarters
Geagea calls on Christians, Druze to uphold reconciliation
Army arrests two men for involvement in Qabrshmoun shooting incident
Guidanian talks means of boosting tourism relations with his Cypriot counterpart
Man from Lebanon Held in Australia over Sydney Terror Plot
Lebanese Involved in Kazakhstan Brawl Return Home
Report: PSP Says Qabrshmoun Incident Targets Jumblat
Analysis/Where the Far Right of Israel and Lebanon Meet

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 02-03/2019
Israeli Mossad Chief: Iran Seeking to Move its Military Bases to N. Syria
Iraqi PM Orders Integration of PMF into Military
Saudi Crown Prince Holds Talks with Japan’s Emperor in Tokyo
France Warns Iran Against Further Breaches of Nuclear Deal
Nine Wounded in Yemen Rebel Attack on Saudi Airport
Manama Workshop Participant Accuses PA of Persecution, Flees to Israel
UAE, Bahrain Condemn Houthi Attack against Abha Airport
Saudi Arabia to Issue E-commerce System
Saudi Arabia Issues Euro-denominated Bonds for 1st Time
All-Afghan Peace Summit Agreed Upon, but on Taliban Terms
UAE Calls for Dialogue in Sudan to Avoid Confrontation
50 Algerian Lawyers Ready to Defend Historic Leader Accused of 'Weakening Army Morale'
Statement by Global Affairs Canada on the protests in Sudan
Russia: Fire kills 14 sailors aboard navy research submersible

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 02-03/2019
Man from Lebanon Held in Australia over Sydney Terror Plot/Associated Press/July 02/2019
Analysis/Where the Far Right of Israel and Lebanon Meet/Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/July 02/2019
Israeli Mossad Chief: Iran Seeking to Move its Military Bases to N. Syria/ Asharq Al-Awsat/July 02/2019
Dublin's Anti-Israel Boycott Bill: Bad for Ireland, Worse for the Palestinians, Terrible for Everyone/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/July 02/2019
Germany: Some Hate Speech 'More Equal than Others'/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/July 02/2019
Climate Change Puts Insurers to the Test/Nathaniel Bullard/Bloomberg View/June 02/2019
Arab Experts: Israel Can Attack Syria At Any Time Without Cost/Dima Abumaria/Jersualem Post/The Media Line/July 02/2019
Will Israel expand strikes on Iranian targets from Syria to Iraq?/DEBKAfile/July 02/2019
Regional realities see Germany focus on Gulf over Iran/Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/July 02/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on July 02-03/2019
Aoun welcomes former Italian Prime Minister in Baabda
NNA -Tue 02 Jul 2019
President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, on Tuesday welcomed at Baabda palace former Italian Prime Minister, Massimo D'Alema, with whom he discussed the general situation in Lebanon and the region.
Discussions also covered means of bolstering the Lebanese-Italian relations in various domains, in addition to the existing military cooperation between the two countries, especially after Rome II Conference.

Hariri chairs Future bloc meeting: Protect and consolidate Mountain reconciliation

NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
ariri chaired this afternoon the meeting of the Future parliamentary bloc at the Center House. At the end of the meeting, the bloc issued the following statement, read by MP Mohammad Hajjar: "The bloc followed with great concern the political and security developments in the Aley region last weekend and saw it as a dangerous indicator of new alignments that have brought the Lebanese back to a climate of civil conflict, bitter dispute and mutual accusations, which only aim to disrupt the work of the state and break the rules of coexistence.  It goes without saying that no government, even strengthened by the factors of national understanding, will be able to confront the economic and social crises and apply the ministerial declaration and the investment program, in the presence of political and security tensions, sectarian and confessional incentives and attempts to sow division and discord between the national components and sons of the same region. The bloc expresses its regret for the victims who fell during the Kabrchmoun incident, offers its condolences to their families and wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded. It also lauds the measures announced by the High Council of Defense and the official debate that avoided any call to engage the army and security forces in a confrontation with unpredictable results with citizens. The bloc expresses its satisfaction with the directives announced by President Saad Hariri, stressing the need to devote all the time to meeting the challenges and keeping the work of the government and the affairs of the citizens away from the repercussions of political and security tension. The bloc believes that preserving the national reconciliation in the mountains that took place after years of suffering and war is the responsibility of all the leaders concerned, because it must not be compromised under any circumstances. It reiterates its call for the protection and consolidation of this reconciliation and for the cessation of all that could take us back in time and destroy the true foundations of the shared life between the political and spiritual components of the mountain".

Hariri receives Satterfield
NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
The President of the Council of Ministers Saad Hariri received this afternoon at the Grand Serail the U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs, David Satterfield, accompanied by the US Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard, in the presence of former Minister Ghattas Khoury.  The meeting focused on the latest developments and the situation in Lebanon and the region.

Hariri Adjourns Cabinet Session Over ‘Qabrshmoun Incident’
Naharnet/July 02/2019
Waiting almost two hours for the quorum to be met, Prime Minister Saad Hariri adjourned the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday saying the move was necessary in order to vent tension after Sunday's deadly incident in the Alley village of Qabrshmoun. “We need at least 48 hours to vent the tension, that’s why I postponed the session,” said Hariri addressing reporters. To a question whether they plan to refer the issue to the Judicial Council as requested by said Strong Lebanon bloc, Hariri said: “What matters is the outcome and uncovering the perpetrator. They must be referred to the judiciary which in turn will take decisive measures. “I don’t mean to undermine the Judicial Council, but tell me what issues referred to it were solved?” Hariri said. “Let us give the judiciary a chance and let the security apparatuses do their job,” he added. The Cabinet session was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., but by 1:00 p.m., none of the Strong Lebanon bloc ministers had arrived. They were holding a meeting at the Foreign Ministry to discuss the stance they intend to take at the Cabinet regarding the incident. Ministers of the Strong Lebanon bloc mainly includes ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement of Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and the Lebanese Democratic Party of MP Talal Arslan. Arslan on Monday said the incident must be referred to the Judicial Council, the highest judicial court in Lebanon. By 1:14 p.m., the absent ministers began arriving at the Grand Serail. The Cabinet only convened briefly when Hariri left the hall and made the statement to reporters. On Sunday, two guards of al-Gharib, were killed when gunmen opened fire at the Minister’s convoy in the mountain village of Qabshmoun near Beirut. The shooting came as supporters of Druze leader Jumblat, closed roads to prevent Bassil from touring the region. Bassil and al-Gharib are allies. The PSP said in a statement that al-Gharib's guards opened fire "randomly" at a group of people who were closing the road to prevent Bassil from passing. It said a PSP supporter was wounded in the shooting, and that others who had weapons opened fire at al-Gharib's convoy, killing two of his guards. Chief of the Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Arsal escalated political rhetoric on Monday, indirectly accusing Jumblat of fueling the attack.

French Defense Minister Meets Aoun, Hariri

Naharnet/July 02/2019
President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri held separate meetings on Tuesday with French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly leading a delegation of military officials, the National News Agency reported. During the meeting Aoun has hailed the “brethren relations between Lebanon and France,” stressing eagerness on “promoting them at various levels mainly at the level of military aid provided by France to the Lebanese Armed Forces, and its participation in the UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon,” said NNA.
Parly conveyed to Aoun greetings of French President Emmanuel Macron and wished him success, focusing especially on the cooperation between Lebanon and France in various fields, especially military cooperation between the Lebanese and French armies. Later in the day, Parly led the delegation of military officials and visited Hariri at the Grand Serail where discussions highlighted cooperation between the two countries, especially in the military field, said NNA. The meeting was held in the presence of French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher, ex-Minister Ghattas Khoury and Hariri’s military Advisor Brigadier General Maroun Hitti. Parly later held a meeting with Speaker Nabih. She did not make any statement to reporters after the meeting.

Qabrshmoun Incident Culprits, Bodies Handed Over after Ibrahim Mediation
Naharnet/July 02/2019
The handover of those involved in the deadly Qabrshmoun incident began on Tuesday following a mediation by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim. “The first steps towards restoring security lie in handing over the culprits and we have started to receive the fugitives,” Ibrahim said after meeting Lebanese Democratic Party chief MP Talal Arslan in Khalde. He had earlier visited the Grand Serail and met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri during a cabinet session. Arslan for his part said he has “confidence” in the General Security chief. “When he intervenes in any case, he seeks right and justice in order to restore security and achieve justice for us all,” Arslan added. TV networks meanwhile said three fugitives have so far been handed over to General Security. The army had arrested several suspects in overnight raids. The families of the two victims, Rami Salman and Samer Abu Farraj, were meanwhile transferring their bodies from the Western Shahhar hospital to another hospital. Salman and Abu Farraj, bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib, were killed in a Qabrshmoun clash involving the minister's convoy and supporters of the Progressive Socialist Party. Another bodyguard and a PSP supporter were wounded in the incident. Arslan and Gharib have described the clash as an armed ambush while the PSP has accused the minister's bodyguards of forcing their way in and opening fire at protesters gathered in the area. The protesters in Qabrshmoun and other Aley towns, some of whom were reportedly armed, were blocking roads to prevent Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil from touring the region. MTV meanwhile reported that Ibrahim is "satisfied" by the progress made and that, at the instructions of President Michel Aoun, he had communicated with Gharib and Minister Akram Shehayyeb of the PSP prior to meeting Hariri. Al-Jadeed TV for its part said that contacts are still ongoing between Ibrahim and all parties, especially Arslan, Bassil and PSP leader Walid Jumblat.

Jumblat Says PSP Not 'Above the Law'

Naharnet/July 02/2019
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat stressed Tuesday that his party is not “above the law,” in the wake of the deadly Qabrshmoun incident. “Away from this torrent of attacks, insults and incitement, the PSP is not above the law, seeing as it was the party that called for an investigation from the very first moment,” Jumblat tweeted. “On this occasion, it extends condolences to the families of the victims and wishes recovery for the wounded,” Jumblat added. The PSP “lauds the role of the army, the Intelligence Directorate and all security agencies in consolidating security and stability,” he said. Two bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib were killed in a Qabrshmoun clash involving the minister's convoy and PSP supporters. Another bodyguard and a PSP supporter were wounded in the incident. Gharib and his Lebanese Democratic Party have described the clash as an “armed ambush” while the PSP has accused the minister's bodyguards of forcing their way in and opening fire at protesters gathered in the area. The protesters in Qabrshmoun and other Aley towns, some of whom were reportedly armed, were blocking roads to prevent Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil from touring the region.

Bassil: We Don't Need Permission to Visit Our Regions and People

Naharnet/July 02/2019
Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday defended his latest tour of the Aley district, stressing that he does not a “permission” from any party to go to any Lebanese region. “What happened in Qabrshmoun is rejected and we have a responsibility to contain what happened and no one wants strife,” Bassil said after the weekly meeting of the Strong Lebanon bloc, referring to an armed clash involving the convoy of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib which resulted in the death of two bodyguards and the injury of two people. “The incident reminds us of a tragic era and harms the image of the state,” Bassil added. “I've been touring all Lebanese regions without exception... The FPM is present in all regions and religious communities and it is normal to visit supporters during any tour,” he said. Supporters of the Progressive Socialist Party had blocked roads during Bassil's Aley visit on Sunday to prevent him from touring the region prior to the deadly incident with Gharib's convoy in the afternoon. “The tours should not annoy anyone seeing as we are voicing remarks about openness,” Bassil said. “Aley and Chouf are dear regions... We see all Lebanese as equal,” he stressed. Noting that his speeches in Kahale and Sofar did not include any provocation, Bassil added: “We do not want to eliminate anyone and we do not have the ability to do so.”“We cannot give up the freedom of movement, expression and belief and we do not need a permission from anyone to visit our regions and people,” he underscored. “We want a deep reconciliation” between Druze and Christians in Chouf and Aley, he added, emphasizing that “the attempt to entangle us in a Christian-Druze strife will not succeed.”“We will seek an inter-Druze reconciliation,” Bassil revealed. Asked about the deadly Qabrshmoun incident, the FPM chief said “no one doubts that what happened was premeditated.”“Some might consider our win of four parliamentary seats in Mount Lebanon as an attack on him, but in politics we are not attacking anyone. Is it required to eliminate ourselves and our people? Is it a problem that a Movement has the ability to bring together all sects among its ranks? Is it required to have sectarian cantons and protectorates?” Bassil said. Reassuring that the FPM “will not fall into an ambush or a strife,” Bassil told reporters that “Christians do not know how to live without the Druze in Mount Lebanon.” “We have built firm understandings in this country and they will not manage to break them, neither with gunfire nor with words,” he added.

Hariri Meets Jumblat after War of Words
Naharnet/July 02/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Tuesday met for the first time since their latest war of words.The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Druze religious authority in Verdun on the sidelines of condolences over the death of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Ali Zeineddine. MP Taymour Jumblat took part in the meeting. LBCI television said the talks will be followed by a prearranged closed-door meeting. Asked about the latest security incident in the Aley district, Jumblat said he does not want to comment.

French Defense Minister visits UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura
NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
French Defense Minister, Florence Parly, accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, arrived at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura aboard a helicopter from Beirut airport, amid security measures by UNIFIL and the Lebanese army. Greeting the French Minister at UNIFIL headquarters had been UNIFIL Commander General Stefano Del Col, and senior peacekeeping officers. A closed meeting was held between General Del Col and Minister Parly, where Del Col briefed the Minister on UNIFIL's mission under UN Resolution #1701 and its role in south Lebanon. The French Minister then returned to Beirut aboard a helicopter.

Closed meeting between Hariri, Walid and Taymour Jumblatt, at Druze community headquarters

NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
A closed meeting is currently being held between Prime Minister Saad Hariri, PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, and MP Teymour Jumblatt, at the Druze community headquarters in Verdun, according to NNA correspondent.

Geagea calls on Christians, Druze to uphold reconciliation
NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
Lebanese Forces Party leader, Samir Geagea, on Tuesday called on all the Christian and Druze residents of Lebanon’s mountain to adhere to reconciliation "regardless of the political incidents taking place today.”"Politics may differ today, yet return to the agreement later; however, this should not reflect on the general atmosphere in our villages, towns, and cities in the mountainous regions,” Geagea said, deploring those giving incitement speeches when least needed. Geagea's remarks came after his visit, along with his wife, MP Strida Geagea, and an accompanying LF delegation to Dar al-Mouwahdin al-Druze in Verdun to offer condolences upon the loss of Sheikh Ali Zaineddine.

Army arrests two men for involvement in Qabrshmoun shooting inciden
t
NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
The Army Intelligence Directorate has arrested two men on suspicion of involvement in the shooting incident that took place on Sunday in the Aley town of Qabrshmoun, a communiqué by the Army command said Tuesday. The two arrested persons, identified with the initials Fa.Aa. and Kh.Gh., were found possessing weapons, grenades and ammunition. An interrogation was launched under the supervision of the concerned judiciary.

Guidanian talks means of boosting tourism relations with his Cypriot counterpart

NNA - Tue 02 Jul 2019
Tourism Minister Avedis Guidanian, on Tuesday held lengthy meetings with his Cypriot counterpart Savvas Perdios, over means of bolstering bilateral tourism relations.
Minister Perdios has arrived in Lebanon this morning at the head of a Cypriot tourist delegation. A series of meetings took place on Tuesday between the Lebanese and Cypriot sides, reportedly focusing on means of boosting tourism relations between the two countries and creating a joint tourism product, to be promoted in the world markets in the benefit of both countries' tourism. The two sides discussed the scheduling of meetings and bilateral meetings between the two parties, whether at the level of ministers or tour operators' companies during July and next August in preparation for the launch of joint projects and products in September.

Man from Lebanon Held in Australia over Sydney Terror Plot
Associated Press/July 02/2019
Three men were arrested on Tuesday over an Islamic State group-inspired plot to attack a variety of Sydney targets including police and defense buildings, courts, churches and diplomatic missions, Australian police said. A 20-year-old suspect had been monitored by police for a year since he returned to Sydney from Lebanon, Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Ian McCartney said. He was known to police in Lebanon. The suspect is expected to be charged with preparing for a terrorist act and preparing to enter Afghanistan for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities on behalf of the Islamic State group, McCartney said, adding that he was to go to Afghanistan to take part in a separate plot. He could be sentenced to life in prison on each charge if found guilty."There were a number of plans both internationally in terms of him traveling overseas, but also a domestic plan which was evolving at the same time," McCartney said. A 23-year-old man is expected to be charged with being a member of a terrorist organization, the Islamic State group. He could be imprisoned for 10 years. A 30-year-old man who is an associate of the other two was expected to be charged with obtaining financial benefit by deception through fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits. He too faces 10 years in prison. The men are expected to appear in a Sydney court by Wednesday. McCartney said the planning was in its early stages, and that the men had yet to obtain guns or explosives. The plot was the 16th major terrorist attack to be thwarted by police in Australia since the threat level was raised in September 2014, McCartney said. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the case demonstrated Australia's need for temporary exclusion orders like Britain has.
The government will introduce a bill to Parliament on Thursday that would allow him to prevent an Australian citizen from returning to Australia for a period of up to two years if that citizen posed a threat. "This is incredibly important because it will be alleged in relation to one of the individuals who has been arrested and charged today that he returned from overseas as an Australian citizen and obviously given his activities that he's alleged to have been involved in over the course of the last 12 months, has resulted in his arrest today," Dutton told reporters. "We obviously have a very serious threat in this country. The fact that now 16 attempted terrorist attacks have been disrupted successfully within our country says to the Australian public that this threat has not diminished, it's not going away and it remains current, particularly when we got Australians overseas in a theater of war being trained by ISIL or being inspired otherwise online and we want to deal with those people as best we can," Dutton added. ISIL is an acronym for the Islamic State group. Dutton said the three Sydney residents came to know each other by sharing extremist views online. The Islamic State group is expanding its footprint in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, recruiting new fighters and plotting attacks on the United States and other Western countries, U.S. and Afghan security officials have told The Associated Press. Nearly two decades after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the extremist group is seen as an even greater threat than the Taliban because of its increasingly sophisticated military capabilities and its strategy of targeting civilians, both in Afghanistan and abroad. Concerns run so deep that many have come to see the Taliban, which have also clashed with IS, as a potential partner in containing it. A U.S. intelligence official based in Afghanistan told the AP that a recent wave of attacks in the capital, Kabul, is "practice runs" for even bigger attacks in Europe and the United States. Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University, sees Afghanistan as a possible new base for IS now that it has been driven from Iraq and Syria.

Lebanese Involved in Kazakhstan Brawl Return Home

Associated Press/Naharnet/July 02/2019
125 Lebanese nationals arrived at dawn on Tuesday at the Beirut airport coming from Kazakhstan after the weekend brawl between Kazakh and Arab workers in one of the country's largest oil fields. Lebanon's ambassador to Kazakhstan, Jescar Khoury, told LBCI that Lebanese workers were in good health. Saturday’s brawl between Kazakh workers and their Arab colleagues has left 30 people wounded and led to an outcry in Lebanon and Jordan. Videos of the attacks on Arab engineers and workers were widely circulated on social media in Arab countries. The scenes showed them being kicked and punched by large numbers of local workers. Some of those attacked were covered in blood and badly bruised. Interfax-Kazakhstan said the brawl erupted after a Lebanese contractor reportedly posted a photo on WhatsApp featuring a Kazakh female colleague that many in the former Soviet nation saw as insulting.
According to Lebanese and Jordanian officials, the wounded engineers and workers include Lebanese, Jordanians and Palestinians. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had ordered officials to follow the case. Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab also called his counterpart in Kazakhstan to discuss protecting the Lebanese workers. Lebanon's ambassador to Kazakhstan, Jescar Khoury, had assured that Lebanese citizens who worked at the oil field were placed under police protection in a hotel in a nearby city.

Report: PSP Says Qabrshmoun Incident Targets Jumblat

Naharnet/July 02/2019
The Progressive Socialist Party said that Sunday’s Qabrshmoun incident was part of a campaign aiming to limit the role of Druze leader and PSP chief Walid Jumblat and that it began with “sizing down” his representation in the Cabinet, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.
Unnamed PSP sources told the daily that the deadly incident in the Aley village of Qabrshmoun was the latest in a series of episodes meant to target Jumblat. “The campaign began when the ministerial representation of Jumblat’s bloc in the new Cabinet was sized down, followed by appointments in public administrations, the Choueifat incident and many other events,” they said. They emphasized that PSP ministers “will express firmly the position of the party with emphasis on holding the other side responsible,” in reference to Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and what was described as his “instigating” visit to the region. On Sunday, two guards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib, were killed when gunmen opened fire at the Minister’s convoy in the mountain village of Qabshmoun near Beirut. The shooting came as supporters of Druze leader Jumblat, closed roads to prevent Bassil from touring the region. Bassil and al-Gharib are allies. The PSP said in a statement that al-Gharib's guards opened fire "randomly" at a group of people who were closing the road to prevent Bassil from passing. It said a PSP supporter was wounded in the shooting, and that others who had weapons opened fire at al-Gharib's convoy, killing two of his guards.

Analysis/Where the Far Right of Israel and Lebanon Meet
زفي بارئيل/هآرتس: نقاط إلتقاء أقصى اليمين المتطرف في إسرائيل مع لبنان
Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/July 02/2019

Lebanon's discriminatory and xenophobic policies echo those of right-wingers here at home. Upper Nazareth is a case in point.
It’s a shame Israel’s right wing can’t recruit political leaders from our neighbors. If it could, the Free Patriotic Movement would be a natural partner. Gebran Bassil, Lebanon’s foreign minister, is a leading member of that movement, and his utterances echo and even surpass the racist rhetoric of our luminaries of the extreme right in Israel. In the way he hounds foreign workers, for instance, he sounds just like Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, and his comments about Lebanese genetic superiority sound just like touts of fans of the so-called Chosen People here.
Recently Bassil tweeted: “We have established the concept for our Lebanese belonging which is above any other belonging. We said that it was genetic." In a recent meeting with young supporters of his party, he explained that, “we definitely do want to distinguish the Lebanese citizen [as being] above non-Lebanese, at work, in taxation and in many other things as well. This is not racist discrimination but an expression of a state’s sovereignty over its territories.”
He added that the state must naturally “protect the Lebanese worker over any other workers – whether Syrian, Palestinian, French, Iranian or American. The Lebanese above all.”
Three years ago Bassil suggested enacting a law to the effect that a Lebanese mother could confer citizenship to her children only if she wasn’t married to a Syrian or Palestinian.
Racism in Lebanon, however, isn’t confined to a specific political leader or party. In a country that officially recognizes 18 ethnic groups – based on which political power and funding are determined – there is constant anxiety over alien ethnic and religious elements penetrating the delicate balance. That is also the main reason why Lebanon refuses to grant citizenship to Palestinians or refugees from Syria, whether they recently fled for their lives or have been living for years in that country.
Xenophobia is also a familiar phenomenon in Lebanese society. A leading journalist, Dalal al-Bizri, wrote years ago that “Lebanese are mostly racist.” One doesn’t have to dig deep to find the roots of racism, she wrote: Many people oppose the ethnic situation in the country but don’t realize that this very arrangement has seeped into their very souls, and as a result they maintain ethnic and regional loyalties.
The result is that even perfectly legitimate Lebanese citizens, not just refugees or other aliens, find themselves in the same situation as Israeli Arabs who are trying to find housing in a Jewish town.
Take the case of Hadat, located near Beirut. Its laws forbid Christians from selling or renting property to a Muslim, whether Sunni or Shi'ite. Mayor George Aoun, a member of Minister Bassil’s party, declared that the city opposes demographic change and "it isn’t ashamed of that. We are operating according to the constitution, which dictates a life of cooperation."
It's true that Hadat has changed: Where it once had a solid Christian majority, today only 35 to 45 percent of its population are Christian; the remaining residents are Muslim. Aoun says he isn’t racist and is proud of “our Shi'ite brothers who bought 60 percent of the properties in the city,” but if he is forced to revoke the legislation about selling property to Muslims, he will quit.
All that remains is for the mayor to sign a twin-cities agreement with Upper Nazareth – whose name was just changed to Nof Hagalil or, literally, Galilee View – and change his city’s name from Hadat to Lebanon View.
The reasoning cited by the people of Hadat are also strikingly similar to those of their peers across the Green Line in Israel: “We want our sons to stay in the city, not leave it,” one Hadat resident told Yahoo News. But why should they leave? There's no need for elaboration – after all, who wants to live in a city with a Muslim majority?
In Lebanon, the discrimination against foreign workers, Syrian refugees and Palestinians isn’t just a personal or municipal matter: There have been reports of the police and army harassing refugees, and frequent arrest of Syrian and Palestinian workers is a part of reality, as is denying work permits to refugees and migrants and banning them from a host of jobs.
Some Lebanese are ashamed of the extreme positions taken by the mayor and foreign minister, and protest them openly. Last week hundreds of intellectuals, journalists, artists and academics signed a petition expressing disgust at the racist narrative disseminated by Bassil, with respect to treatment of those they call “unfortunates who were expelled from their own country by the murderous Syrian regime. This racism does not represent us,” the petitioners wrote, adding that it is designed to serve populist leaders hoping to reap political benefit.
In addition, commenters on Lebanese social media have called Bassil’s recent declarations "Nazi utterances befitting Hitler." In Saudi Arabia, there have been calls to throw out the roughly 200,000 Lebanese workers in the kingdom, who have been helping to boost the Lebanese economy.
The Lebanese constitution states that any citizen in the country can live wherever he or she wants. But property owners and municipal authorities have found ways to circumvent the law, by rezoning the lands, converting those earmarked for housing into lands for agriculture, and banning high-rise construction that could attract “undesirables.” The upshot? Even so-called kosher Lebanese citizens, not just refugees or foreigners, are finding themselves feeling like Israel’s Arabs do when they want to buy a home in a Jewish locale.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 02-03/2019
Israeli Mossad Chief: Iran Seeking to Move its Military Bases to N. Syria
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency Yossi Cohen said Monday that Iran and its proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah party, were planning to move parts of their military bases in southern Syria to the North. Cohen said "Mossad is detecting a trend" in response to Israeli strikes in Syria and that Iran and Hezbollah "are asking to move some bases to northern Syria, a place that they mistakenly think we will have a harder time reaching."In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria that have targeted Iran and Hezbollah, which it calls the biggest threat to its borders. Iran and Hezbollah are fighting on the side of regime leader Bashar Assad in the Syrian war, and Israel says they are trying to turn Syria into a new front against Israelis. Speaking at a security conference in Israel, Cohen acknowledged that Israel had carried out several strikes against Iranian targets inside Syria. In an apparent reference to reported Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria early Monday, he said Israel was not interested in a conflict with its neighbor, reported Israeli media. He stressed that Israel cannot allow Syria to transform into a logistics base to transport weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel had worked covertly and openly for the past four years to prevent the further entrenchment of forces in Syria. The Iranians will eventually conclude that their efforts in Syria “are not worth it,” he remarked. Turning to tensions between Gulf countries, the United States and Iran over a series of recent attacks on oil tankers, oil fields in Saudi Arabia and targets in Baghdad, Cohen said: "I can tell you, with certainty, from the best sources of Israeli and Western intelligence, that Iran is behind the attacks." “They were approved by the Iranian leadership, and were carried out, at least mostly, by the Revolutionary Guard and their surrogates." He did not specify which attacks he was referring to nor provide further details on the sources. Four ships, including three oil tankers, were damaged in sabotage attacks off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in May, while two more tankers, Norwegian and Japanese, came under attack in the Gulf of Oman on June 13. The United States and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran, which strongly denies the accusations.

Iraqi PM Orders Integration of PMF into Military

Baghdad – Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi issued on Monday a decree ordering the integration of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) into the military. “In the interest of the public good and as per the powers granted to us by the constitution ... the following is decreed: all Popular Mobilization Forces are to operate as an indivisible part of the armed forces and be subject to the same regulations,” the decree said. He also ordered that groups that are not affiliated with the PMF to choose between joining political work or face prosecution. Those who choose to integrate into the military must abandon their old names and sever ties to political groups. Those who choose politics will not be allowed to carry weapons, the decree said. Headquarters, economic offices and checkpoints manned by militias are to be shut down. Groups have until July 31 to abide by the new regulations. Those that do not will be considered outlaws. The PMF already reports to the prime minister, who is the commander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces, but Abdul Mahdi’s decree forces groups that make up the PMF to choose between political and paramilitary activity. Monday’s decree was announced a day after the president, speaker and PM agreed to limit the possession of weapons in Iraq to the state. It was also issued after rioters stormed the Bahraini embassy in Baghdad last week in protest against Manama’s hosting of an economic workshop as part of the United States yet unveiled peace plan for the Middle East.

Saudi Crown Prince Holds Talks with Japan’s Emperor in Tokyo

Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, held talks on Tuesday with Japan’s Emperor Naruhito in Tokyo, reported the Saudi Press Agency. The Emperor received Crown Prince Mohammed at the Akasaka Imperial Palace and expressed to him his gratitude for his participation at last week’s G20 summit that was held in Osaka. For his part, the Crown Prince relayed to him the greetings of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz on the occasion of his ascension to the throne earlier this year.
The two royals also discussed bilateral ties, stressing their keenness to develop and bolster them in all fields.

France Warns Iran Against Further Breaches of Nuclear Deal
Paris- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
France warned Iran on Tuesday against carrying out any further measures that could hinder its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, but appeared to hold off on confronting Tehran over its decision to exceed its low enriched uranium (LEU) limits. In a statement, President Emmanuel Macron said he had "noted with concern" Tehran's overstepping of the limit set in the 2015 deal with world powers and called on Iran "to immediately reverse this overshoot and abstain from any other measure that would undermine its nuclear obligations". The French leader said he would continue in the coming days to work towards a resolution of the standoff between Iran and the US that would see Tehran "fully respect its obligations and continue to benefit from the economic advantages of the (2015) deal." France, along with Britain and Germany, is seeking to save the deal since US President Donald Trump quit the accord last year and imposed punishing sanctions on Iran. Paris had been cautious about responding following Monday’s confirmation by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Tehran had amassed more LEU than permitted under the accord. Iran announced in May that it would no longer respect the limit set on its enriched uranium and heavy water stockpiles. The move is a test of European diplomacy after French, British, and German officials had promised a strong diplomatic response if Iran fundamentally breached the deal. The Europeans, who opposed Trump’s decision to abandon the agreement, had pleaded with Iran to keep within its parameters. Under the terms of the deal, if any party believes Iran has violated the agreement, they can trigger a dispute resolution process that could end at the UN Security Council with a so-called snapback of UN sanctions on Iran. The European powers are attempting to establish a trade barter mechanism system with Iran to enable medical and food transfers to satisfy some of Tehran’s demands that its economic needs are met despite the US sanctions.However, the system falls short of ensuring oil sales revenue as Iran has called for.

Nine Wounded in Yemen Rebel Attack on Saudi Airport
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 02/2019
A Yemeni rebel attack on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia wounded nine civilians Tuesday, a Riyadh-led coalition said, the latest in a series of strikes on the site. "The terrorist attack on Abha airport... led to the injury of nine civilians, including eight Saudi citizens and one carrying an Indian passport," the military coalition said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Earlier, the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels said they "launched a wide operation targeting warplanes at Abha international airport" with drones, according to their Al-Masira television channel. The rebels in neighbouring Yemen -- who have faced persistent coalition bombing since March 2015 which has exacted a heavy civilian death toll -- have stepped up missile and drone attacks across the border in recent weeks. On June 12, a rebel missile attack on Abha airport wounded 26 civilians, drawing promises of "stern action" from the coalition. And on June 23, another rebel attack on Abha airport killed a Syrian national and wounded 21 other civilians, according to the coalition. The raids come amid heightened regional tensions after Washington -- a key ally of Riyadh -- accused Iran of shooting down a US drone over international waters and of carrying out attacks on oil tankers in the strategic Gulf of Oman. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to Huthi rebels, a charge Tehran denies. Following recent attacks, Saudi state media have reported an intensification of coalition air raids on rebel positions in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah and the Huthi-held capital Sanaa. The coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in 2015 when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into Saudi exile as the rebels closed in on his last remaining territory in and around the second city Aden. Since then, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, many of them civilians, relief agencies say. The fighting has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people displaced and in need of aid.

Manama Workshop Participant Accuses PA of Persecution, Flees to Israel
Ramallah – Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Ashraf Ghanem, one of the Palestinians participants in last week’s “Peace to Prosperity” economic workshop in Bahrain, accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of persecuting him, saying he was forced to flee the West Bank to Israel. On Friday night, a number of PA intelligence officers raided Ghanem’s home in an attempt to arrest him for participating in the workshop, he told Israeli media. They confiscated all his identification papers, passport and credit cards. Ghanem was one of the businessmen that took part in a conference organized by the US in Bahrain to discuss the economic aspect of the yet undisclosed US Middle East plan, challenging the authority's decision to boycott. He said he was threatened before participating and that he is now being persecuted by the authorities along with his colleagues. In an interview with Israeli television, Ghanem attacked the PA, describing them as “terrorists who do not want peace.”Ghanem claimed that he had received calls from Palestinian security officers who asked him to surrender in order to discuss his participation in the Bahrain Workshop. He claimed he managed to escape from his home, adding that he “can’t move around because the Palestinian security forces took all my documents. I don’t have any money because they also took my credit cards. They even confiscated the security cameras from my home and searched the homes of my brothers.”Ghanem said he does not intend to hand himself over to the authorities and accused Fatah of threatening to kill him.
Another businessman, Ashraf Jabari, who is a close associate to US Ambassador David Friedman and who participated in the conference, said that he too was threatened by the PA and that he was housing other participants in the workshop to protect them. Another figure, Salah Abu Mayala was released Sunday by the authorities who arrested him for two days for attending the workshop. Reports revealed that the release was in response to a stern warning by the US embassy. US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt said Sunday the White House was "pleased" with Abu Mayala's release. He said on Twitter that the White House looked forward to further discussions with those who attended the workshop and "anyone else who wants a better future for the Palestinians." The PA has made no official statement on the arrest or release of any of the participants. It accuses the businessmen who took part in the workshop of financial and taxation breaches and claims that some are wanted by the judiciary. Some officials close to PA President Mahmoud Abbas had warned that any Palestinian who participates in the workshop would be considered an Israeli-US traitor.
The PA has been refusing to deal with Donald Trump’s administration since December 2017 when the US president recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

UAE, Bahrain Condemn Houthi Attack against Abha Airport
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain denounced on Tuesday the terrorist attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militias against Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation slammed the attack that violates all international laws and conventions, it said in a statement carried by the UAE news agency (WAM). The UAE reiterated its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia, its full support to the brothers in the Kingdom, its support to all measures taken to protect its security and stability and confront extremism and terrorism. "The security of the UAE and Saudi Arabia is indivisible," the statement noted, adding, "any threat or danger to the Kingdom's security is considered a threat to UAE's security and stability."Eight Saudi citizens and an Indian national were wounded in Tuesday’s attack. Bahrain strongly condemned the terrorist attack, reiterating its “unequivocal” and “unwavering” support to Saudi Arabia’s efforts to bolster security and peace in the region and counter terrorism on regional and international levels. The Foreign Ministry underscored is solidarity with Riyadh against all those aiming to undermine the Kingdom's security and stability or threaten its interests, reported Bahrain’s news agency (BNA). It stressed the need for the international community to intensify its efforts in combating Iranian-backed terrorist militias that seek to disrupt security and stability in the region and the world.

Saudi Arabia to Issue E-commerce System
Riyadh - Mosaed al-Zayani/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Saudi Arabia plans to issue a new e-commerce system to further organize the relationship among the concerned parties in the sector in light of the growth of e-commerce in the country. The Kingdom is considered one of the 10 fastest growing states in e-commerce around the world. E-commerce is also one of the pillars of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 under the National Transformation Program, and a major contributor to its economy. The system is expected to be issued soon through a project set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Investment, aiming at supporting and developing e-commerce, enhancing confidence in the sector and providing consumer protection against fraud, deception or misinformation. Meanwhile, the system will be applied on all parties that practice e-commerce in Saudi Arabia or provide goods or services within the country. It includes significant provisions regarding consumer protection. The e-commerce seller or provider of services is required to provide consumers with a clear and understandable statement on the contract’s terms and conditions through technical steps that the consumer must follow to purchase a commodity or service. The system also adds information on the service provider, description and prices of its services and goods, including any additional fees, payment and delivery arrangements and implementation. Furthermore, it calls for the submission of an invoice to the consumer showing the price of the product or service. It requires the service provider, practicing a profession subject to a specific regulation and requiring a license or authorization, to submit information on the professional entity or organization the provider has registered in, the applicable professional title, the country in which this title was granted and any other information the Ministry of Commerce and Investment considers important for consumer protection. The system warns an e-commerce practitioner from making ads containing false information, claims that directly or indirectly deceive consumers or publishing a logo or trademark with no copyright. The Ministry of Commerce and Investment has the right to force any side not complying with the conditions to withdraw the advertisement within one working day after notification, in addition to blocking the violator in case of failure to heed the request. It also has the right to issue a statement on the violation in coordination with the Communications and Information Technology Commission.

Saudi Arabia Issues Euro-denominated Bonds for 1st Time
Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Saudi Arabia has issued Euro-denominated bonds, its first in that currency, after the Kingdom hired Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale as global coordinators and bookrunners for the potential new deal, while BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Samba Capital were mandated as lead managers and passive bookrunners. The Saudi issuance of Euro-denominated bonds in tranches of eight and 20 years, depending on market conditions, comes at a time when the country was rated A1 by Moody's and A + by Fitch Ratings. Saudi Arabia has begun its approach to global markets by issuing bonds and sukuk in the dollar, and through the Euro-bonds, the country seeks to diversify its investor base, reduce costs and open up new markets, according to experts. Financial expert Mohammed al-Omran explained that Saudi Arabia announced that it will target international markets and foreign currencies. He added that the euro-bonds will be relatively distant from the dollar-bonds, stressing that the goal is to diversify the currency, reduce cost and establish relations with new markets. Omran indicated that euro's current comparative advantage is the lower interest rates, less than 1 percent, while interest on the dollar is about 2 percent, noting that savings will be 1.25 percent per year in euros compared to the dollar. For his part, economic expert Mohammed Al Abbas indicated that major institutions and banks are racing to enter the Saudi market which is trying to attract international investments and foreign funds, as investors seek confidence in the economy. He stated that the rush on the Saudi market is an indication on high confidence that large companies and investors have in the Kingdom. He stressed that Saudi Arabia is interested in encouraging foreign investments and entering the European markets through Euro-bonds. Bonds are low-risk financial instruments and can be disposed at any time, in addition that countries that issue the bonds are obliged to pay them according to the issuance date, according to economic expert Khalaf al-Shammari. The euro market is characterized by a variety of investors from new institutions and portfolios, which analysts believe Saudi Arabia can take advantage of.

All-Afghan Peace Summit Agreed Upon, but on Taliban Terms
Islamabad- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
An all-Afghan peace summit will be held July 7 and 8 in the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, but it would seem on Taliban terms as there will be no official government representation. Rather, according to Germany's special representative Ambassador Markus Potzel in a statement on Tuesday, those attending "will participate only in their personal capacity and on an equal footing." The Taliban have flatly refused to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government, while repeatedly offering talks with anyone who comes to the table as an ordinary Afghan. The Taliban have already twice met with prominent Afghans, including former President Hamid Karzai and even members of the government's peace council as well as opposition politicians. Those meetings have both been held in Moscow. The announced talks come just a day after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a devastating attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul that killed at least six people and wounded more than 100 others, many of them children attending two schools in the area, according to the education ministry in Kabul. Monday's attack occurred at the height of morning rush hour. It began with a powerful car bomb and lasted nearly 10 hours as five gunmen holed up in a high-rise building fired into a nearby defense ministry building, which the militants said was the target of the attack. Police eventually killed all five attackers. Hafiz Khan, who operates a car battery workshop near the site of the downtown explosion, was waiting Tuesday along with dozens of other shopkeepers for police permission to enter the area, which was still cordoned off by Afghan security personnel. "Immediately after the blast all I could see was dark black smoke everywhere, for minutes I wasn't sure where I was," said Khan looking into Kabul's devastated market area. "It was the most dangerous moment of my life."President Ghani condemned Monday's attack, saying the Taliban "wanted to continue this war."
However, he has not responded to the announcement of next week's talks. He has previously demanded the Taliban talk directly with his government, some of whom have complained about their continuing exclusion from meetings between Taliban and the US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. Khalilzad, who is holding a seventh round of direct talks with the Taliban in Doha, already held a battery of meetings with the Afghan president in Kabul last month. In an overnight tweet, he welcomed the announced all-Afghan talks. He tweeted that "this dialogue is an essential element of the four-part peace framework & and important step in advancing the #AfghanPeaceProcess."Germany will co-sponsor the talks with Qatar, according to the statement issued by Potzel, who is the German special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan. An earlier intra-Afghan dialogue in Qatar was scuttled when the two sides couldn't agree on participants. Potzel said the invitations this time have been jointly issued by Germany and Qatar. "Afghanistan stands at a critical moment of opportunity for progress toward peace," said Potzel in his statement. "Only Afghans themselves can decide the future of their country."He said both Qatar and Germany are hoping the talks will create trust between the warring sides. "Peace will never come to Afghanistan," said an angry Sawab Gul, who was waiting in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday to open his partially destroyed bedding store. At 40 years old Gul said he has never seen peace in his country and held out little hope for the current attempts at finding an end to Afghanistan's relentless wars. "Every day people are dying. Afghanistan is like a hell for us Afghans," he said. "I don't think I will ever see peace."

UAE Calls for Dialogue in Sudan to Avoid Confrontation
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash on Tuesday urged Sudan's army and protesters to continue dialogue and avoid violence after protest leaders called for a one-day "civil disobedience" campaign. "It is important for dialogue to continue in Sudan away from disputes and towards an agreement regarding transition arrangements," Gargash wrote on Twitter. He said any transition should guarantee the establishment of a stable constitutional system. Sudanese protest leaders called Monday for the nationwide campaign on July 14, just a day after they organized mass protests against the ruling generals. "It is essential to avoid confrontation and escalation. It is clear that the opposition and the army need each other and need to reach agreement and avoid escalation of the crisis," Gargash said. Calls for the civil disobedience campaign, the second such general strike in less than a month, came as the two sides traded blame for violence during Sunday's "million-man" march that left casualties.

50 Algerian Lawyers Ready to Defend Historic Leader Accused of 'Weakening Army Morale'
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
Fifty Algerian lawyers expressed their readiness to defend an icon of the war of independence, Lakhdar Bouregaa, who was arrested Saturday for making statements against the army and its chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah. Bouregaa, 86, was arrested at his home and taken to an intelligence services base. According to state TV, a judge in the Algiers court of Bir Murad Reiss accused Bouregaa of “contributing to weakening the army’s morale” and “insulting authorities.” Abdullah Habbol, a lawyer at the Supreme Court and a former judge, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he volunteered to defend Bouregaa on the day after his imprisonment, noting that a large number of lawyers would also defend him. A source at the Algiers Bar Association said 50 lawyers had gone to the court of Bir Mourad Rais to retrieve the case documents to prepare for his defense. On Saturday, Bouregaa declared that the “People's National Army is not descendant of the National Liberation Army,” in what was interpreted by the military as a comment against its reputation. He told reporters and opposition figures that Salah “has since 2004 acted as political governor for Abdelaziz Bouteflika,” referring to when the former president assigned him as the country’s army chief of staff, replacing General Mohamed Ammari. Meanwhile, lawyers and activists organized on Monday a demonstration in front of the Bouira court in the east of the capital to demand the release of young people from the region who were imprisoned for raising the Amazigh flag last Friday. A judge at the Sidi M'hamed district court issued an order that 16 people be placed in provisional detention on charges of “endangering the safety of the nation by raising flags other than the national flag.”

Statement by Global Affairs Canada on the protests in Sudan
July 2, 2019 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada today issued the following statement on the ongoing protests and situation in Sudan:
“Canada commends the courage of the Sudanese people, who continue to exercise their fundamental right to freedom of expression and assembly. We call on the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to avoid any violent response and to respect the rights of the people.
“We support the African Union’s (AU’s) suspension of Sudan from all of its activities, and we commend the ongoing AU/Ethiopia mediation effort. As the AU-imposed deadline to hand over power to a civilian-led transition team has now passed, we urgently call for good faith negotiations to secure the path to a genuine civilian-led government.
“The violent response by the TMC to peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable, and we condemn the killing and wounding of unarmed, peaceful protestors. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who were unjustly killed and those who were injured in these attacks. Canada calls for a full investigation of the incidents and for the perpetrators be held to account. We will continue to stand with the people of Sudan and their just demands for democracy and human rights.”

Russia: Fire kills 14 sailors aboard navy research submersible
NNA -Tue 02 Jul 2019
A fire aboard a Russian navy research submersible has killed 14 crew members, the Russian defence ministry says.
It says the crew members were poisoned by fumes when the vessel caught fire while taking biometric measurements in Russian territorial waters on Monday. The fire was later put out and the vessel is now at Severomorsk, the main base of the Russian Northern Fleet in the Murmansk region. An investigation into the incident is now under way. Submersibles are generally smaller vessels with limited crew on board supported by ships on the surface, while submarines are larger vessels capable of operating autonomously over long distances.
The Kursk submarine, which was destroyed by an explosion in the Barents Sea in August 2000 with the loss of its crew of 118, was also part of the Northern Fleet.—BBC

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 02-03/2019
Dublin's Anti-Israel Boycott Bill: Bad for Ireland, Worse for the Palestinians, Terrible for Everyone
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/July 02/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14483/ireland-israel-boycott-bill
The chief government figure opposing the bill is Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. Coveney argues that Ireland risks its standing in the European Union because the bill is legally unsound. He is correct. A Brussels-based EU trade official warned the Irish government that "the bill would be in contravention of EU competence on trade matters," as the EU Commercial Treaty demands uniformity in member-state trade policies.
Irish politicians who passed it would likely be regarded as racist, particularly in view of the German Parliament's recent resolution to designate BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel) as anti-Semitic.
In addition, there could be "potentially huge losses of US tax benefits for US companies with subsidiaries in Ireland, if the Bill is passed into law. This could potentially lead to major US companies pulling out of Ireland, and for other companies who were considering relocating, to not do so."
The bill may also may well hurt Ireland's effort to secure a position on the UN Security Council (UNSC) in the 2020-2021 vote by regional member-states in the General Assembly. Canada and Norway are competing with Ireland for the two seats allotted to the UNSC's West Europe/North America region.
[The] legislation... will harm the interests of Palestinians -- an estimated 30,000 of whom are employed by Israeli businesses in the West Bank... The Ireland Israel Alliance also accuses the bill's supporters of hypocrisy, and cites their failure to condemn analogous situations in which Irish firms invest in international companies that do business in other occupied territories around the world.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his governing Fine Gael party oppose a bill that would make it a crime for Irish citizens to import or sell anything produced by Israelis in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Varadkar may wisely be pressuring politicians who voted in favor of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill to examine the possible negative consequences for Ireland's national interest if the bill becomes law.
The bill, introduced by Irish Senator Frances Black and crafted to impose a prison term of up to five years or a 250,000 euro fine on any Irish citizen who violates it, is now being studied by a joint committee of both houses of the Irish legislature. Varadkar's party is likely counting on arguments submitted by Irish organizations opposed to the bill to persuade some of its supporters to reconsider their initial vote. In addition, Perhaps Varadkar and Fine Gael will be able to persuade enough of the 14 abstaining senators in the Upper House -- where the vote in July 2018 was 25-20 in favor, and in late January 2019 in the Lower House (Dáil) 75-45 in favor -- to oppose it.
All of the major opposition parties -- the Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Independents -- back enactment of the legislation. Recently, a group of Irish activists urged Ireland to boycott the 2019 Eurovision song contest, hosted by the Jewish state this year.
One leading supporter of the bill is Gerry Adams, the former head of Ireland's Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which used terrorist tactics to try to force the British out of Northern Ireland. Adams has previously called for the expulsion of Israel's Ambassador to Ireland for Israel having tried to prevent its border being breached -- with the purpose of Israeli soldiers and civilians kidnapped or killed -- in violent efforts organized regularly for more a year by the Hamas government of the Gaza Strip.
The chief government figure opposing the bill is Foreign Minister Simon Coveney. Coveney argues that Ireland risks its standing in the European Union because the bill is legally unsound. He is correct. A Brussels-based EU trade official warned the Irish government that "the bill would be in contravention of EU competence on trade matters," as the EU Commercial Treaty demands uniformity in member-state trade policies. In addition, in a position paper submitted to the Irish Legislature's Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade by the Ireland Israel Alliance (IIA), the New York-based Lawfare Project claims "draws attention to potentially huge losses of US tax benefits for US companies with subsidiaries in Ireland, if the Bill is passed into law. This could potentially lead to major US companies pulling out of Ireland, and for other companies who were considering relocating, to not do so."
Irish politicians who passed it would likely be regarded as racist, particularly in view of the German Parliament's recent resolution to designate BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel) as anti-Semitic. The bill may also may well hurt Ireland's effort to secure a position on the UN Security Council (UNSC) in the 2020-2021 vote by regional member-states in the General Assembly. Canada and Norway are competing with Ireland for the two seats allotted to the UNSC's West Europe/North America region. Dublin may be concerned that the United States and other allies of Israel within the West Europe/North American caucus will mobilize against Ireland in the UNSC vote.
Opponents of the proposed bill are trying to marshal arguments to demonstrate that it will have a negative impact on Ireland's economic interests.
The Ireland Israel Alliance, with chapters in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is a prominent pro-Israeli lobby group fighting the bill, on the grounds that the legislation it will harm the interests of Palestinians -- an estimated 30,000 of whom are employed by Israeli businesses in the West Bank. The lobby claims that these workers are paid "much higher salaries than they would obtain in the Palestinian Authority."
The IIA also accuses the bill's supporters of hypocrisy, and cites their failure to condemn analogous situations in which Irish firms invest in international companies that do business in other occupied territories around the world. In a review in the American Thinker of Martin Blecher's book, Israeli Settlements: Land Politics Beyond the Geneva Convention, Michael Curtis cites specific examples of the higher moral standard to which Israel is held, in contrast to situations such as Russia's occupation of Ukrainian Crimea and parts of Georgia and Moldova, Turkey's occupation of Northern Cyprus and Morocco's occupation of the Western Sahara.
It is not merely that Israel is held to a higher standard than other countries, however, which makes the above underlying assumption inapplicable. More importantly, the territories occupied in 1967 were taken in a victory over aggressive Arab-state invaders determined to wipe Israel off the map. While the Arab-initiated wars against Israel stem from a collective failure to abide by the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Britain's eight-century-long occupation of Ireland, for example, was an effort to integrate into the home country all Irish land -- to which the UK had no legal claim – and to erase Irish culture, eradicate Irish religious traditions and suppress Ireland's language. This may help to explain why the Irish political class identifies with the Palestinians, albeit mistakenly, and lean towards supporting a bill that really is not in Ireland's interest, the Palestinians' interest or anyone's interest.
*Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Germany: Some Hate Speech 'More Equal than Others'
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/July 02/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14484/germany-hate-speech-al-quds
Although the "military arm" of Hezbollah is prohibited in the EU, the "political arm" is not, which means that in Germany, Hezbollah is free to engage in "non-military" activities -- such as fundraising.
On the one hand, the federal police conduct countrywide raids on middle-aged Germans who post their thoughts on Facebook, while on the other, members of openly lethal terrorist organizations who espouse nothing but hatred towards a specific ethnic group, the Jews, are not only allowed to march in the heart of the German capital... but are free to organize and fundraise for their purpose.
That participants in the anti-Semitic Al Quds march have been allowed to flaunt their hatred for nearly four decades now, while middle-aged Germans are having their apartments searched for anti-Semitic and racist messages on Facebook, exposes a disturbing double standard in the application of the law.
At the very least, it shows that German authorities appear to harbor extremely selective views of what constitutes hate speech, based, it seems, on nothing more than the identity of the group that voices it.
In June, the "Al Quds Day" march took place in Berlin. Al Quds Day, in the words of the late historian Robert S. Wistrich, is "The holiday proclaimed by Khomeini in 1979 to call for Israel's annihilation" which "has since been celebrated worldwide..."
In Germany, Al Quds Day marches have been taking place in the country's capital since the 1980s[1], first in Bonn and since 1996 in Berlin. On Al Quds Day in December 2000, more than 2,000 demonstrators in the Kurfürstendamm -- a central boulevard in Berlin -- called for "the liberation of Palestine and the holy city of Jerusalem". In November 2002, only one year after 9/11, the march featured slogans such as "Death to Israel" and "Death to the USA". At the march in 2016, the slogans were, among others, "Death to Israel", "Zionists kill children", and so on.
Despite nearly four decades of such rhetoric -- the kind that is arguably capable -- according to paragraph 130 of Germany's Criminal Code, which prohibits hate speech -- "of disturbing the public peace" by inciting "hatred against a national, racial, religious group or a group defined by their ethnic origins", German authorities have continually refused to ban the Al Quds Day march. The argument is, reportedly, that the Administrative Court would overrule such a ban. "A constitutional state must act in accordance with the rule of law," said the spokesperson for the interior administration of the city of Berlin, Martin Pallgen. "Freedom of assembly and expression also applies to those who reject the rule of law". Instead, German authorities have prohibited marchers from being overtly anti-Semitic and inciting hatred against Jews. The exercise is a bit like telling a neo-Nazi march please to cover up the swastikas to look more presentable.
It has not helped. In 2016, police issued specific instructions for the march's participants, banning them from expressing anti-Semitic views or inciting violence against Jews. That restriction, according to Benjamin Steinitz, the director of the Berlin-based Department for Research and Information on anti-Semitism (RIAS), curbed the undisguised hate speech somewhat, but led to the use of "coded messages", frequently in Arabic or Farsi, which most German police do not speak. "So," said Steinitz in 2017, "the police regulations have had some effect, but since the goal of this demonstration is the dismantling of the State of Israel, the anti-Semitic content is always there."
Indeed, according to Der Tagesspiegel, despite the specific police instructions of previous years, in the June 2018 march, the police had to issue the following instructions to the participants:
"It is forbidden to burn dolls. There must be no open calls for kidnapping or murder. The participants should not chant, 'Zionists into the gas' or 'Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight alone'".
According to Der Tagesspiegel, these were all incidents that happened in previous marches -- and all, presumably, violations of Germany's hate speech laws.
This year, according to a report by RIAS, "The Al Quds march did not lose any of its anti-Semitic character, despite attempts to deceive the public by the organizers". The report mentions, as an example, the presence of anti-Semitic posters and praising Hezbollah. Protesters wearing T-shirts with the name and slogans of the terrorist group Hamas -- which vows to eliminate Israel -- were also present.
The refusal of the authorities to ban the Al Quds march appears even more suspect in light of the fact that around the same time of the march, on June 6, German authorities launched nationwide coordinated police raids in 13 federal states against suspects who had posted hate speech online. In a total of 38 cases, apartments were searched and suspects interrogated, the Federal Criminal Police Office reported. The suspects were alleged to have posted hate comments, including "public calls for crimes, insults of officials or anti-Semitic verbal abuse." One of the largest operations reportedly took place in the city of Koblenz, where the apartments of 12 suspects were searched in connection to two far right-wing Facebook groups. The 12 suspects were between the ages of 45 and 68, and were believed to be responsible for the groups called "The Patriots," and "Our Germany patriotic & free." The groups were suspected of having made the following comment, among others, about refugee family reunification: "In my opinion all should be gassed". The nationwide action day to combat hate postings was established three years ago and has since been held once a year. The Federal Police claim that most of the hate speech is "from the right-wing extremist spectrum" (77%), 9% from the "extreme-left" and 14% "foreign or religious ideologies or no concrete political motivation".
While the Federal Criminal Police Office was searching the homes of middle-aged Germans posting racist comments in Facebook groups, a recent German intelligence report concluded that in 2018, the membership numbers in German for Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based Iranian proxy terrorist organization, rose to a total of 1050, up from 950 in 2017. "Hezbollah denies the right of existence of the State of Israel and fights it with terrorist means," the intelligence report noted. "In Germany, the followers of Hezbollah maintain organizational and ideological cohesion in local mosques associations that are financed primarily by donations." The report also mentioned the travel of functionaries between Lebanon and Germany for the purpose of connecting with Hezbollah and noted that "Hezbollah is against the idea of ​​international understanding and the peaceful coexistence of peoples".
The presence of such a large number of Hezbollah operatives in the country does not appear to worry the German government. Although the "military arm" of Hezbollah is prohibited in the EU, the "political arm" is not, which means that Hezbollah is free to engage in "non-military" activities in Germany -- such as fundraising. In March, the German government refused to ban the terrorist organization in its entirety, and in June, a majority of the Bundestag, including the Christian Social Union, the Social Democratic Party, the Left, the Greens, Free Democrats and Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) rejected a proposal by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to ban or alternatively limit Hezbollah's operations in Germany, such as abolishing its non-profit status.
Thus, there seems to be in Germany a revealingly uneven application of hate speech laws.
On the one hand, the federal police conduct countrywide raids on middle-aged Germans who post their thoughts on Facebook. On the other hand, people who back openly lethal terrorist organizations that espouse nothing but hatred towards a specific ethnic group, the Jews, are free to organize, fundraise, and march in the heart of the German capital -- if they please just omit "Zionists to the gas" or "Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight alone".
Whatever one's opinion of hate speech laws, they, like all laws, have to be applied in an equal and consistent manner. That participants in the anti-Semitic Al Quds march have been allowed literally to parade their hatred for nearly four decades now, while middle-aged Germans are having their apartments searched for anti-Semitic and racist messages on Facebook, exposes a disturbing double standard in the application of the law.
It shows at the very least, that German authorities appear to harbor extremely selective views of what constitutes hate speech, based, it seems, on nothing more than the identity of the group that voices it.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
[1] Arne Behrensen, AJC, "Antisemitism 'Made in Iran': The International Dimensions of Al Quds Day", p 25
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Climate Change Puts Insurers to the Test
Nathaniel Bullard/Bloomberg View/June 02/2019
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority has begun its latest stress test for general and life insurers. This biennial exercise tests the insurance industry’s market resilience to physical events of the sort that have garnered a lot of media coverage in recent years: hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, windstorms, floods. It also includes two new risks: climate change and cybersecurity.
The Bank of England requires companies to consider how certain climate-related scenarios would affect their business, each with transition risks as economies decarbonize and meet the climate targets of the Paris Agreement and physical risks.
The first scenario is one of quick change and “disorderly transition” in order to meet the targets.
A sudden transition (a Minsky moment), ensuing from rapid global action and policies, and materializing over the medium-term business planning horizon that results in achieving a temperature increase being kept below 2°C (relative to pre-industrial levels) but only following a disorderly transition. In this scenario, transition risk is maximized.
This scenario involves some significant write-downs in specific asset classes. The Bank of England asks general insurers to make changes to the equity value of “sections of the portfolio comprising material exposure” to energy and transport sectors:
The second scenario is one of “a long-term orderly transition” to carbon neutrality by 2050.
A long-term orderly transition scenario that is broadly in line with the Paris Agreement. This involves a maximum temperature increase being kept well below 2°C (relative to pre-industrial levels) with the economy transitioning in the next three decades to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and greenhouse-gas neutrality in the decades thereafter.
The write-downs in this scenario are not as significant. At the same time, the increase in equity values for renewable power generation and electric automobile manufacturers is greater.
I was struck by the logic of grouping climate change and cybersecurity as new risks to test. Both are global; both are pervasive; both have a very broad range of vulnerabilities that will impact business.
Climate change affects companies that contribute to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, as well as those that will feel the impacts of rising sea levels, floods or fires, changes in where people choose to live, or changes in consumption patterns. But it’s probably easier to count the few areas of modern life not subject to cybersecurity risk than to outline the countless areas that are. When hackers can use internet-connected fish tanks or the remote controls on motorized hotel curtains to breach network security, it’s hard to think of where one is safe from cyberthreats.
But I also reflected on a paradox in the bank’s stress-test scenarios. Cybersecurity is a readily apparent threat in the near-term, but the bank’s risk scenario is so broad that “firms should consider claims arising from all lines of business in addition to stand-alone cyber products.” Meanwhile, climate change is not currently as apparent a threat in many places, and while its implications will play out in decades or centuries, the bank’s risk scenario is specific to asset classes and business lines.
Exercises such as this one, however, should serve to pull both of these pervasive risks and broad attack surfaces into the same frame of thinking about risk. Cybersecurity also becomes a matter of the long term; climate change becomes something increasingly present today, too.

Arab Experts: Israel Can Attack Syria At Any Time Without Cost
ديما أبوريما/جيزالزولم بوست/خبراء عرب يفيدون بأن إسرائيل قادرة على ضرب سوريا في أي وقت دون أثمان
Dima Abumaria/Jersualem Post/The Media Line/July 02/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/76290/%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%a7-%d8%a3%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%a7-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b2%d9%88%d9%84%d9%85-%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%aa-%d8%ae%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%a8/

Egyptian analyst says war inevitable.
A number of civilians – including a child – were killed Sunday night during what is believed to have been the largest Israeli strike on military sites in Syria since that country’s civil war began more than eight years ago. Israel has said nothing about being behind the attack.
Ali Abd al-Hamad, an Egyptian political analyst who heads an organization in Cairo called the General Nasserite Conference, said the region was on the brink of a greater conflict.
All parties are trying to hold their nerve, Hamad said, “but war is inevitable.” According to SANA, a Syrian state media organization, the Syrian air force detected the Israeli missiles, which were fired from planes in Lebanese airspace and targeted sites west of Homs and south of Damascus.
SANA reported that the Israel Air Force fired a number of rockets, killing four civilians, including a one-month-old child, and injuring 21, among them children in the town of Sahnaya, near Damascus.
The agency said earlier that the shock waves severely damaged a number of homes in the town. The strikes were mainly in an area that was controlled for years by anti-Assad rebels until last July, when Syrian and allied forces recaptured much of the country’s South.
“Israel is using its limited freedom of operation in order to demonstrate its power after its failure in the south of Syria,” Hisham Jaber, a Lebanese military expert and former general, told The Media Line.
Jaber explained that Israel had bet on supporting certain armed groups during the Syrian civil war, in addition to trying to establish a security strip like the one it once had in southern Lebanon, but failed on both counts.
“The survival of the Syrian state has thwarted the Israeli plans there,” he said. Moreover, Jaber said Moscow must have approved the Israeli strikes, as Russia forbids any airplanes from entering Syrian airspace without its approval.
“Let’s not forget that Israel and Russia are allies and [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu has visited Moscow more than once recently,” he explained.
Imad Awad, a Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs and head of a think tank in Jerusalem, told The Media Line that Israel was applying pressure in an effort to reorder the equation in Syria in accordance with its ambitions, “taking advantage of the complicated regional situation.”
Awad added that Israel felt comfortable acting in the Syrian arena because there were multiple players involved.
“Israel has targeted Damascus more than 200 times in the past three years,” he related, adding that the Assad regime was concentrating on reestablishing its control over Syria, so it would not start a war with Israel. Moreover, he said that Moscow would not allow Iran to retaliate from Syria.
“Also, Hezbollah hasn’t and won’t attack Israel from there, as the latter would then target Lebanon,” Awad said.
Hezbollah’s spokesperson, reached by The Media Line, declined to comment on the issue.
Israel remains concerned that Tehran is using the renewed Syrian army presence near the Israeli border as cover to establish its own military presence in the area, something Israel says it will not allow.
On June 12, Netanyahu, speaking hours after Israel allegedly fired missiles at a Syrian army base located near the border, vowed to continue to preemptively strike Iranian military targets in Syria.
“The series of challenges we are dealing with is unceasing. We will respond vigorously and with force to all attacks against us,” Netanyahu said. “However, we will not act only after the fact. We will destroy the enemy’s capabilities before the fact.”
Hamad stressed to The Media Line that the Arab position had deteriorated and the balance of power in the region “unfortunately” did not allow a proper response to confront the “Zionist enemy.” To that extent, he believes that Russia is protecting its interests with Israel.
As long as the Assad government is not in a position to act, he said, “Syria is forced to accept what is happening until things [in the country] completely settle down.”

Will Israel expand strikes on Iranian targets from Syria to Iraq?
DEBKAfile/July 02/2019

Reports that Iran’s armed drones which attacked Saudi oil targets on May 14 came from Iraq – not Saudi Arabia – may shift the IDF’s anti-Iran targeting map in a new direction.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) seem to have added Iraq to Syria and Yemen as their new war front. Israel may find itself having to expand its area of operations accordingly. DEBKAfile asks: Is anyone in the region acting to put a spoke in Tehran’s expansionist wheel?
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday, July 2 “We will soon reveal evidence that Iran was lying throughout about its nuclear program,” and added: “Israel will not let Iran get away with developing a nuclear weapon.”
DEBKAfile’s second question is this: Is anyone impeding Iran’s lies or its nuclear plans?
These questions impelled Netanyahu to assign the Mossad Director Yossie Cohen with making some telling comments at a lecture in Tel Aviv: “A string of attacks on fuel installations and tankers took place in recent weeks. Finding the culprit is an essential topic of discussion, but I can say with certainty that Iran was behind these attacks. They were approved by the Iranian regime and executed by the Revolutionary Guards.”
Cohen put in plain and unequivocal language what President Donald Trump and the Saudi and UAE crown princes have declined to spell out: that Iran and the IRGC were the cause of these upsets. Israel backed these words up with action. Early Monday morning, July 1, the Israeli Air Force and Navy unleashed missiles that wiped out IRGC missile stores in Syria. They blew a large hole in the Iranian-Hizballah missile stockpile for attacking Israel, but stopped there. Did this operation have any impact on Israel’s prime goal of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran? The answer is no.
Tehran may be expected to hit back. Against whom and when? According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, it would not suit Tehran’s other plans at this time to single Israel out and make the Jewish state a key regional player, while the IRGC is expanding its frontline area into Iraq.
The fact that neither the US nor Saudi Arabia responded to the Iranian drone attack by striking IRGC bases in Iraq from which the drone was launched, or even addressing the intelligence data confirming this, has left the initiative with Israel to try and fill the void – or not. For now, Israel can count only on strong verbal backing and sanctions-wielding from Washington and tacit support from friendly Gulf nations, but nothing more is on substantial is available for helping Israel to take on Iran in earnest.

Regional realities see Germany focus on Gulf over Iran
Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/July 02/2019
Berlin was last week the theater for events promoting deeper engagement between Germany and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The events were organized by official groups such as the Federal Academy for Security Cooperation and private organizations like the German-Arab Friendship Society. In another sign of renewed interest in the GCC region, chambers of commerce were also active, as well as Germany’s three major foundations (Bertelsmann, Konrad Adenauer, Berghof), which participated fully in the happenings.
The return to active GCC-Germany engagement is in part a result of the energetic efforts of GCC embassies in Berlin and Germany’s diplomatic missions in the region. They have been trying to reverse recent trends of estrangement between the two sides as a result of their diverging views on regional issues, human rights, the war in Yemen, and the nuclear deal with Iran. Declining trade over four years may be another sign, with German exports to the GCC declining from around $32 billion in 2014 to $23 billion in 2018.
While diplomats deserve credit for the active return of GCC-German dialogue, there are also several political and economic factors that underpin the change. First, Germany has been disillusioned by Iran’s policies in the region. There was hope that signing the nuclear deal in 2015 and the accompanying rise in the country’s international standing would lead Iran to change its posture and become more compliant with international norms. However, the opposite has taken place. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has interpreted the deal as a license to increase its destabilizing activities in the region. The financial windfall was used in part to fund IRGC activities and those of its proxies. Iran’s brazen behavior was epitomized by threats to close the Strait of Hormuz and Bab Al-Mandab Strait and impede its neighbors’ oil exports. Those threats were followed by attacks on oil tankers and increased missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations. Germany has been critical of the reimposed US sanctions, but did not agree with Iran on how to resist them.
The recent visit by Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to Iran found that Tehran was not in a mood to climb down from its confrontational position. Iran’s breach of the nuclear deal’s limitations has alarmed Germany, its foremost champion within the EU. Now that those breaches have been confirmed, there are likely to be serious consequences.
Iran’s breach of the nuclear deal’s limitations has alarmed Germany, its foremost champion within the EU.
At the private level, Iran’s standing in Germany has also suffered significantly because of its hardening regional positions since the nuclear deal was signed, but especially since revelations about its role in perpetuating the Syrian refugee crisis and the criminal activities of Hezbollah in Europe. The only exception may be among the lunatic fringe, where some extremist groups have tried to find common cause with Iran, based on some mythical kinship between the two nations. It is reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s efforts to woo Iran to its camp against Russia and Britain. In 1939, Germany provided Iran with a “scientific library” of more than 7,500 books selected to convince Iranian readers of the kinship between the two ethnic groups. Germany remained Iran’s foremost foreign supporter and, for decades, its No. 1 trading partner. In recent years, some Germans of Iranian origin have participated in right-wing attacks on immigrants based on those Nazi notions.
The disillusion with Iran is especially clear in the German business community. The nuclear deal did not result in a trade boom and they found the Iranian market to be insignificant and hard to navigate. Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) is less than $400 billion and is quickly shrinking.
Trade between Germany and Iran has in fact collapsed despite Berlin and the EU’s efforts to facilitate that trade and get around US sanctions. German Chamber of Commerce information shows that German exports to Iran totaled about $525 million during the period January to April 2019, down a dramatic 49 percent compared to the same four months in 2018. Iranian exports to Germany, at around $92 million, were almost negligible in comparison.
It is estimated that about 60 German companies are still doing business in Iran, according to the Chamber’s data, but their numbers are declining and their footprint in the country is also shrinking.
With efforts failing to increase trade and investment flows with Iran, Germany’s businesses are seeking to return to their traditional partners in the GCC. The combined GCC GDP is $1.8 trillion, or 4.5 times Iran’s market. And Germany’s exports to the GCC are currently about $23 billion, or 50 times its exports to Iran.
The reality in the Gulf region is clearly affecting German attitudes. While there is palpable skepticism about US strategy on Iran, there appears to be even more frustration with Tehran’s brinkmanship, which is endangering international shipping in the Gulf and increasing its destabilizing regional activities and support for terrorist groups.In addition to these factors, Germany would like to play peacemaker in the region. To be able to play a role in de-escalation, it cannot afford to be seen as siding with Iran against the US and GCC countries.
*Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs & Negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent GCC views. Twitter: @abuhamad1

Iraq becoming a battleground as US-Iran tensions rise

Talmiz Ahmad/Arab News/July 02/2019
Donald Trump addresses US troops at a military base in Iraq. (Reuters)
As the regional security situation has deteriorated over the last two months, Iraq fears it is becoming part of the theater of confrontation. Reflecting this concern, following the attacks on four oil transportation vessels off Fujairah on May 12, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Baghdad demanding that their country stay out of any conflict between the US and Iran. Their slogans were: “No to war” and “Yes to Iraq.”
After national elections in May last year, several different groups came together to appoint Adel Abdul Mahdi as prime minister. But differences among the parties have ensured that it has still not been possible to appoint the country’s defense, interior and justice ministers. Meanwhile, the nation’s problems continue to fester. Iraq’s senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, spoke out sharply on June 14, criticizing “the despicable competition for posts, the ongoing corruption, and failure to fill the acute shortages of services.”
In this fragile scenario, the last thing Iraq needs is to get embroiled in a major regional conflict.
Keeping out will not be easy. Since 2014, when US forces returned to Iraq to fight Daesh, the country has been the stage for US-Iranian competition. While the US built up the Iraqi national forces, Iran shaped a number of formidable Shiite militias, which were clubbed together in the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). Iraq today has about 30 militias with 125,000 members.
One constituent of the PMU, Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba, has been particularly vocal in demanding the departure of US forces from Iraq and, in May, amidst increasing regional tensions, even threatened to attack US targets. Fearing that the aggressive activities of such groups would invite swift US retaliation, the Iraqi government has affirmed that it is “responsible for protecting American interests in Iraq” and has urged all militia not to take any provocative action. And Abdul Mahdi this week issued a decree heavily curbing their powers and forcing them to further integrate into the country’s formal armed forces. They now have to pick between political or military activity.
Most militias have been more moderate, with their spokespersons stressing that the PMU will give priority to “national interests” and will only take decisions after deep thought and wide consultation.
In the face of increasingly severe sanctions, Iran has sought to strengthen its ties with Iraq.
However, the US does not make things easy for the beleaguered Iraqi government. Last December, President Donald Trump visited a US military base in Anbar Province without going to Baghdad and meeting Iraqi leaders, suggesting an infringement of Iraqi sovereignty. He compounded this transgression by saying in February that US troops would stay on in Iraq “to monitor” Iran, thus contradicting the official Iraqi position that the US troops were in the country only to train Iraqis to fight Daesh.
In the face of increasingly severe sanctions, Iran has sought to strengthen its ties with Iraq. It shares a long border with Iraq and, hence, it can evade sanctions more effectively. During the visit of President Hassan Rouhani to Baghdad in March, the two countries agreed to boost bilateral trade from $12 billion to $20 billion and to pursue railway projects that would link southern Iran with Basra and join Tehran and Baghdad with the Syrian coast.
As US-Iran ties deteriorated in May, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif visited Baghdad and said Iran was prepared to pursue “non-aggression” pacts with its Arab neighbors. Iraqi officials used the occasion to convey their opposition to the sanctions on Iran and reject the prospect of war on that country.
Later, the Iraqi electricity minister said that Iraq depended on Iran for 4,000 megawatts of electricity supply and that the US had waived sanctions on these ties, which have considerable significance for the welfare of the Iraqi population. He also clarified that Iranian companies were continuing to work in Iraq and were being paid in Iraqi dinars, thus excluding them from the sanctions framework.
According to regional media reports, Iran is also seeking to enhance defense ties with Iraq, providing the latter with training in artillery and airborne assault, new air defense systems, and engaging in joint military exercises.
However, what is particularly worrisome for regional observers are the rocket attacks aimed at US targets in Iraq. Following the attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on June 13, there was a spate of rocket attacks targeting the Balad Air Base, the Taji base, a base accommodating US military advisers in Mosul, and the complex housing several major oil companies, including ExxonMobil, at Burjesia, near Basra. The US believes that Iranian proxies launched these attacks to warn that any initiation of hostilities on Iran would meet with significant retaliation on its interests in Iraq.
That these rocket attacks were followed the next day by the downing of a US drone that nearly led to a major US assault on Iran suggests that, in the event of a US-Iran military confrontation, Iraq will almost certainly be pulled into the conflict.
The next war will encompass the whole region and wreak horrendous death and destruction. Never has the Middle East called for a peace process so desperately.
*Talmiz Ahmad is an author and former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE. He holds the Ram Sathe Chair for International Studies at Symbiosis International University in Pune, India.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view