LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 23/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
The world hated me before it hated you & hated me before you. You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 15/18-21:”‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, “Servants are not greater than their master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on July 22-23/2019
Iran Working to Arm Syria and Hezbollah by Sea
British intelligence fears Gulf crisis could lead to attacks on UK by Iranian terror cells
Lebanon: Efforts to Remove Obstacles to Cabinet Sessions
Bolton: Iran, Hizbullah Threaten Security of Western Hemisphere Countries
Aoun Meets Senior UK Officer
Prosecutor Refers Qabrshmoun File to Military Court as Arslan Insists on Judicial Council
Bou Saab Says Culprit Received $19 Million in Military Academy Corruption Scandal
Abu Suleiman: Foreign Labor Law Privileges Palestinain Workers
Lebanon Renaissance Foundation Concludes Its 6th Youth Leadership Program
Death Threats and Ban Calls ahead of Mashrou' Leila's Byblos Gig
Gharib Meets Hariri, Says Open to 'Decent Solutions' for Qabrshmoun Crisis
Washington should wake up to the fact that Hezbollah runs Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 22-23/2019
Iran Arrests 17 For Spying For The CIA, Some Sentenced To Death
Iran Says Busts CIA Spy Ring, Some Sentenced to Death
Britain Says Planning European-Led Protection Force in Gulf
Top Omani Diplomat to Visit Iran amid Regional Tensions
Scores Killed, Injured in Russian Air Strike on Syria Market
Tehran sources: An Israeli Harop drone attacked pro-Iranian Iraqi militia base NE of Baghdad
Hamas meets Iran's supreme leader during warm visit in Tehran
Kushner to Head to Mideast to Push Palestinian Economic Plan
Russian Air Strikes on Syria Market Kill 23
Airstrikes Kill 50 Civilians in Syria's Northwest
Iraq: PMF Denies Attack on its Camp Near Saladdine
Kuwait Promises to Solve Bidoun Issue this Summer
Mohammed bin Zayed: UAE Keen on Navigation Freedom in Gulf, Mideast
Japan to Make Every Effort to Reduce US-Iran Tensions
Israel Considers Granting PA Tax Breaks
French Submarine Lost in 1968 Finally Located in Mediterranean
Egypt Minister of Endowments Warns of ‘Muslim Brotherhood Terrorism’
Six Shiites Dead in Nigeria Clashes over Imprisoned Leader

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 22-23/2019
Iran Working to Arm Syria and Hezbollah by Sea/Yaniv Kubovich/Haartz/July 22/2019
British intelligence fears Gulf crisis could lead to attacks on UK by Iranian terror cells/Agencies/Arab News/July 22/2019
Washington should wake up to the fact that Hezbollah runs Lebanon/Tony Badran/Al Arabiya/July 22/2019
Iran Arrests 17 For Spying For The CIA, Some Sentenced To Death/Jerusalem Post/July 22/2019
Tehran sources: An Israeli Harop drone attacked pro-Iranian Iraqi militia base NE of Baghdad/DebkaFile: 22 July/2019
The Hamas-Iran Plan to Eliminate Israel/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/July 22/2019
To the EU: Iran's Mullahs Will Never Be Your Friend/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/July 22, 2019
The Day Hope Landed on the Moon/Stephen Carter/Bloomberg View/July 22/2019
Hormuz Hostages and ‘Caution and Foresight’/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/July 22/2019
Iran faces long road before it is trusted by neighbors/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/July 22, 2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on July 22-23/2019
Iran Working to Arm Syria and Hezbollah by Sea
Yaniv Kubovich/Haartz/July 22/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/76909/%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%aa%d8%b9%d9%85%d9%84-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%aa%d8%b3%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%ad-%d8%b3%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d9%88%d8%ad%d8%b2%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87-%d8%b9%d9%86/
Tehran prefers sea route due to recent attacks aimed at preventing it from entrenching in Syria and transferring equipment to Lebanon, Israeli officials say
Iran is working to transfer weaponry to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon by sea, to avoid assaults that have targeted arms shipments, Israeli officials believe. According to their assessments, recent attacks, some of which attributed to Israel, that were designed to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria and transferring equipment to Lebanon have led the Iranians to prefer shipping a portion of the weaponry by sea. According to Israeli defense officials, despite growing tensions at sea between Iran and the United States and Britain in the Strait of Hormuz, Israel has not been directly affected. However, officials have warned of the risk that precision missiles launched by Iran or its proxies in the region could hit Israeli naval and commercial vessels. Iran would prefer to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel at sea due to Tehran’s interest in returning to the negotiating table to put a halt to the sanctions against the country, officials believe. These sanctions have increased since the U.S. administration's withdrawal from the international nuclear accord with Iran. Officials also said that the Iranians would prefer that tensions not escalate into war, resorting instead to more isolated, lower-intensity incidents in which it has the upper hand, such as its seizure over the weekend in the Gulf of British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero. However, Israel is preparing for a potential escalation of the situation at sea if Iran is pushed to the wall.
Iran’s envoy to Britain on Sunday urged the U.K. to contain “domestic political forces” which he said wanted to escalate tension between the two countries amid the capture of the Stena Impero. “U.K. government should contain those domestic political forces who want to escalate existing tension between Iran and the U.K. well beyond the issue of ships. This is quite dangerous and unwise at a sensitive time in the region,” Hamid Baeidinejad tweeted. Concerned over Iran's significant role at sea not only in the Gulf but in the Mediterranean, too, Israeli has decided to erect a sea barrier at the military port in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, as part of the effort to protect the port. The move was also motivated by the need to halt civilian tourist naval traffic in the Gulf of Eilat.
Officials said they also currently consider Iran a threat to shipping in the Straits of Tiran, which leads to the Red Sea port of Eilat. In recent weeks, the navy has also been considering acquiring advanced undersea defense systems to help address the threat of naval mines.
Israel is preparing to fend off attacks on vessels through unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), drones, high-speed boats and even long-range anti-ship missiles fired from land. Israeli naval vessels are threatened regardless of Israel's superiority in the naval arena, defense officials believe, while Iran realizes that hurting Israeli vessels would lead to an Israeli response.No Iranian intention to enter into a direct naval conflict has been detected by Israel, leading it to presume that should Iran decide to escalate tensions in the Gulf, it would do so through its proxies - Houthis in Yemen or Hezbollah in Lebanon. These organizations possess advanced means capable of targeting Israeli naval vessels within a 300-km range. *Reuters contributed to this report.

British intelligence fears Gulf crisis could lead to attacks on UK by Iranian terror cells
المخابرات البريطانية تتخوف من أن يقوم حزب الله واذرع إيرانية إرهابية أخرى بهجمات داخل بريطانيا على خلفية أزمة الخليج
Agencies/Arab News/July 22/2019
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*Terror cells linked to the Iranian-funded Hezbollah group are all over Europe, and could launch an attack on the UK if relations between London and Tehran deteriorate further, intelligences sources say.
*Tensions between Britain and Iran have heightened following the seizure of UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero
-A counter-terror operation in 2015 against a Hezbollah-linked found the cell had been stockpiling tons of explosives
LONDON: The UK could come under attack from Iranian-backed terror cells if the ongoing Gulf crisis worsens and relations between London and Tehran continue to deteriorate, intelligence sources have said. Senior intelligence officers in the UK now rank the Islamic Republic only behind Russia and China as the severest threat to the national security of the UK, a Daily Telegraph report on Monday said.Tensions between Britain and Iran have heightened following the seizure of UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz last week, raising concerns of top intelligence bodies in Britain.
According to MI5 and MI6, Iran is funding a network of terror cells across the European continent — including in the UK — and, depending on how the Gulf crisis plays out, could give the green light for attacks to be carried out. A counter-terror operation in 2015 against a Hezbollah-linked cell found the group had been stockpiling tons of explosives on the outskirts of London, something first disclosed by the Telegraph in June, and described as “proper organized terrorism.”A counter-terror operation in 2015 against a Hezbollah-linked cell found the group had been stockpiling tons of explosives.
A source told the newspaper: “Iran has Hezbollah operatives in position to carry out a terrorist attack in the event of a conflict. That is the nature of the domestic threat Iran poses to the UK.”MI5 and Metropolitan Police said they were confident that the 2015 raids had “severely disrupted” Iranian terror activity in the UK, but that cells still existed on the European mainland. The report also disclosed that Iran had been blamed for a series of cyberattacks on the UK, including hacking of politician’s and peers personal information, on the Post Office as well as local government bodies and private sector companies in 2018.
The UK government has sent a letter of protest to the UN Security Council over the seizure of the tankers in “Omani waters when it was interrupted by Iranian forces,” which it says is an “illegal interference by Iran.”The UK government has consistently said it does not seek confrontation with Iran, but the letter added: “It is unacceptable and highly escalatory to threaten shipping going about its legitimate business through internationally recognized transit corridors.”

Lebanon: Efforts to Remove Obstacles to Cabinet Sessions
Beirut - Mohamed Choucair/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri are expected to launch consultations on Monday to hold a cabinet session to place Lebanon on the right track to obtaining $11bn in loans pledged by international donors at the CEDRE conference following last week’s parliamentary approval of the 2019 budget, government sources said. “The Prime Minister will likely call for a cabinet session this week after consulting with President Aoun,” the sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. They added that Hariri refuses to implicate the government in political disputes. Cabinet sessions have been placed on hold since early July, pending a solution to a crisis that emerged over demands to refer to the Judicial Council the killing of two aides to State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib in the Druze area of Aley. “How would the international community respond to the ongoing paralysis of cabinet sessions after all the efforts exerted by foreign sides to help Lebanon revitalize the stagnant economy?” the sources asked. They also expressed surprise at the government remaining the victim of delays amid swift developments in the region. On Friday, Lebanon's parliament passed the 2019 state budget that is aimed at averting a financial crisis in the heavily indebted country and to introduce economic and fiscal reforms, which are a prerequisite for Beirut to obtain $11bn in loans pledged by international donors at the CEDRE conference held in Paris last year. “The approval of the 2019 budget is a step towards achieving the needed administrative and monetary reforms to bring down the deficit,” the sources said. Asharq Al-Awsat learned on Sunday that Aoun supports holding a cabinet session the soonest.

Bolton: Iran, Hizbullah Threaten Security of Western Hemisphere Countries
Naharnet/July 22/2019
The U.S. national security adviser John Bolton on Monday said that Iran and Hizbullah “support” the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and “directly threaten” the security of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. “Iran and Hizbullah support the illegitimate Maduro dictatorship’s tools of repression, torture, & killing of innocent Venezuelans, and directly threaten the region’s security,” said Bolton in a tweet. “We will continue to expose Maduro’s bedfellows and Iranian efforts to operate in the Western Hemisphere,” he added.

Aoun Meets Senior UK Officer
Naharnet/July 22/2019
President Michel Aoun on Monday met with Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, Britain's senior defence adviser to the Middle East accompanied by the UK ambassador to Lebanon, Chris Rampling and the accompanying delegation, the National News Agency said. Discussions focused on the general situation in Lebanon and the region and the support given by the United Kingdom to the Lebanese army and government, NNA said. “Lebanon backs initiatives that aim to support stability in the region,” NNA quoted President Aoun as telling his visitors. On the presence of displaced Syrians on Lebanese soil, Aoun said: “Although more than 318,000 refugees have returned back to their homeland, but more than 1.6 million refugees still live in Lebanon.” For his part Lorimer said: “The UK will continue to support Lebanon and is interested in preserving its economic situation.”Last week, Lebanon’s Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab visited the United Kingdom and met with Secretary of State for Defence Penny Mordaunt, Minister of State for the Armed Forces Mark Lancaster, and Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter. Britain’s ambassador to Lebanon, Chris Rampling, said “the visit reflects the value Britain places on the relationship with Lebanon and in particular our defence cooperation.”He assured that the UK remains a steadfast supporter to Lebanon through ongoing social, economic, educational and humanitarian projects, in addition to further support to the Lebanese Armed Forces and other security agencies.

Prosecutor Refers Qabrshmoun File to Military Court as Arslan Insists on Judicial Council
Naharnet/July 22/2019
Acting State Prosecutor Imad Qabalan on Monday referred the file of the deadly Qabrshmoun incident to the Military Court.
“This does not mean that things have been resolved, seeing as Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan is still clinging to his rejection of the proposal” of referring the case to the Judicial Council, a top court that looks into national security matters, MTV reported.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri is meanwhile stressing that he will not put the issue of the Judicial Council on the agenda of the upcoming cabinet session, MTV added. The TV network however noted that “there are several proposals to resolve the crisis and Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim is continuing his efforts in this regard.”Two bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib were killed and a third was wounded in a clash with Progressive Socialist Party supporters in the Aley town of Qabrshmoun on June 30. The minister, who is loyal to Arslan’s LDP escaped unharmed as a PSP supporter was wounded. Gharib and Arslan described the incident as an ambush and an assassination attempt while the PSP accused the minister’s bodyguards of forcing their war and firing on protesters. Arslan has insisted that the case should be referred to the Judicial Council, a demand opposed by the PSP and its allies. The case has forced the suspension of cabinet sessions since July 2.

Bou Saab Says Culprit Received $19 Million in Military Academy Corruption Scandal
Naharnet/July 22/2019
Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab on Monday said one of those involved in the Military Academy corruption scandal had pocketed $19 million in bribes. Speaking at a press conference after meeting with the members of the defense parliamentary committee, Bou Saab said the case is still stalled in the Military Court and that he had referred the file to the ministry’s legal department. “I sent a memo to the justice minister without naming anyone and I have not issued a verdict against anyone in the Military Academy admission bribes file. I have rather referred the file to the competent judicial authorities,” the minister added. “I will let the investigation take its course and I have confidence in the judicial inspection committee,” he added.

Abu Suleiman: Foreign Labor Law Privileges Palestinain Workers
Naharnet/July 22/2019
Labor Minister Camille Abu Suleiman explained on Monday that the ministry’s plan to regulate foreign labor in Lebanon gives Palestinian workers privileges prohibited for other foreign laborers, and assured that “our goal is not to increase their burden,” al-Hayat daily reported.
“Palestinians in Lebanon can get their work permits without having to pay any fees,” contrary to other foreign workers said Abu Suleiman in a statement published in the newspaper. Abu Suleiman’s statement came after a report published in al-Hayat expressing the uproar raised by Palestinian factions in Lebanon following the ministry’s decision to regulate foreign labor. “Abu Suleiman assures that the ministry’s plan to regulate foreign labor in Lebanon is not directed against anyone. Rather, it is the implementation of the Lebanese Labor Law, which grants several privileges to Palestinian refugees, benefiting from it, excluding foreigners,” said Abu Suleiman in a statement. "I have always expressed my understanding of the difficult situation the Palestinians are enduring, and defended their cause at the ILO conference in Geneva and the Arab Labor Organization conference in Cairo in the past three months,” he added.
“I have given directives to facilitate the work permit procedures. Our major concern is to implement the Lebanese law which serves our brethren Palestinians especially at this delicate stage they are passing through," added the statement. Palestinian refugees protested in the capital, as well as the south and east of the country, against Lebanon's labor ministry cracking down on businesses employing foreign workers without a permit. Last month, the ministry gave companies a one-month deadline to acquire the necessary work permits. After the grace period expired last week, it started inspections, closing down non-compliant establishments and issuing others with warnings.

Lebanon Renaissance Foundation Concludes Its 6th Youth Leadership Program
Naharnet/July 22/2019
As part of its efforts to promote attitude change and better governance among the Lebanese political apparatus, the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation has completed the sixth edition of the Youth Leadership Program under its motto ‘Politics is an expression of values, not power’’.
The program was concluded on June 29 over a training day focusing on Reflections on Leadership facilitated by Amin Nehme, president of the Lebanese Development Network.
The Program meant to introduce best practices of conduct and values to 22 young practitioners (aged 24 to 30) from nine Lebanese political groups: al-Marada Movement, Jamaa Islamiya, Lebanese Forces, al-Mustaqbal Movement, Free Patriotic Movement, Kataeb Party, Lebanese Democratic Party, Progressive Socialist Party and Tashnag Party. The curriculum comprised 45 hours of lectures and simulations activities on the following themes: Personal dynamics; Government and State Building; Role and Appraisal of the Central Inspection Bureau; Political Systems and Electoral Laws; Radicalism and Religions; Role of Constitutions; Agriculture in Lebanon: Status, Threats and Opportunities; Political Activism & Citizen Values; Human Rights; Political Activism & Citizen Values; Defining and Tackling Corruption; State Budget; Oil and Gas in Lebanon; Environment Threats & Opportunities. Attendance certificates will be remitted to those who respected the presence quota during a closing ceremony that will be held in October 2019. Eighteen speakers shared their thoughts and experiences in fields and matters not sufficiently covered by the Lebanese political discourse. They included leading scholars, former cabinet members, activists and experts: Dr. Charbel Nahas, Dr. Nayla Tabbara, Dr. Riad Saade, Me. Malek Takieddin, Wissam Kanj, Me. Salah Honein, Justice Georges Atiyeh, Me. Ghassan Moukheiber, Dr. Alain Bifani, Dr. Ali Mourad. Dr. Sami Atallah, Dr. Ali Darwich, Serge Yazigi, Fady Bustros, Gilbert Doumit, Jean-Pierre Katrib, and training expert Rouba Fares.

Death Threats and Ban Calls ahead of Mashrou' Leila's Byblos Gig
Naharnet/July 22/2019
The participation of popular Lebanese rock band Mashrou’ Leila in this year’s edition of the Byblos International Festival has sparked a storm of controversy in the country after the young artists were accused of “insulting Christianity” in their songs. The band’s supporters and opponents are clashing on social networking websites, amid calls for boycotting and banning the concert. Some users, including Free Patriotic Movement official Naji Hayek, have openly threatened to resort to violence to prevent the gig from taking place. The Maronite Archbishopric of Byblos has meanwhile issued a statement calling for “barring the Mashrou’ Leila performance on the land of holiness, culture and history,” in reference to the city of Byblos. “The goals and lyrical content of the band Mashrou’ Leila largely contravene with religious and human values and contain attacks on Christian rituals,” the statement said. The head of the Catholic Media Center, Father Abdo Abu Kasam, for his part stressed that “the church will not allow any project or concert that insults our religious sanctities.”“Lebanon is the country of freedoms, but one’s freedom stops at the limit of the other and their respect and dignity,” Abu Kasam added. The band had been banned from performing in Jordan in 2016 over similar accusations. The band has toured several Western and Arab countries, including the UAE and Egypt. In 2017, at least six people were arrested in Egypt after raising the rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at Mashrou’ Leila’s concert in Cairo. The band’s lead singer Hamed Sinno is openly homosexual. With its unique blend of intricate indie rock and enigmatic Arabic poetry, the band has become one of the Middle East's biggest bands. Sinno's lyrics touch on sexuality but have also tackled the curses of Lebanese politics, materialism and social strife, often with satirical twists. Mashrou’ Leila began in 2008 as a university jam band at the American University of Beirut and adopted influences from Balkan melodies, American folk music, and mainstream pop.

Gharib Meets Hariri, Says Open to 'Decent Solutions' for Qabrshmoun Crisis
Naharnet/July 22/2019
State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib on Monday met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail after which he announced that his party is “open to decent solutions” regarding the crisis sparked by the deadly Qabrshmoun incident. “We are keen on the country and on activating the work of the Council of Ministers,” Gharib added. “According to criminal classification, the case of the Qabrshmoun incident should be referred to the Judicial Council,” he said. “PM Hariri is carrying out a series of contacts to reconcile viewpoints,” Gharib added. Explaining that his party’s insistence on referring the case to the Judicial Council is not aimed at “political spite,” Gharib said the Council is “a court for carrying out the investigation and not a verdict.”“An innocent person should not fear anything,” he said. Gharib had announced while entering the meeting that the Military Court is an “obligatory pathway” and not a substitute to the Judicial Council. Acting State Prosecutor Imad Qabalan had referred the file to the Military Court earlier on Monday. Two of Gharib’s bodyguards were killed and a third was wounded in a clash with Progressive Socialist Party supporters in the Aley town of Qabrshmoun on June 30. The minister escaped unharmed as a PSP supporter was wounded. Gharib and his party described the incident as an ambush and an assassination attempt while the PSP accused the minister’s bodyguards of forcing their way and firing on protesters. Gharib’s party has insisted that the case should be referred to the Judicial Council, a demand opposed by the PSP and its allies. The case has forced the suspension of cabinet sessions since July 2.

Washington should wake up to the fact that Hezbollah runs Lebanon
طوني بدران من موقع العربية: على واشنطن أن تعي حقيقة أن حزب الله يتحكم بلبنان ويدير شؤونه
Tony Badran/Al Arabiya/July 22/2019
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The Lebanese foreign minister acknowledged the US classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but said his government’s disagreement should not preclude “good relations with the USA.”
The US State Department has invited Gebran Bassil to Washington to speak at a conference, despite the Lebanese foreign minister’s known ties with Hezbollah – which the US has designated as a terrorist organization since 1995. This is due to the US’s misguided policy toward Lebanon, which fails to acknowledge that an investment in the country’s “state institutions” is an investment in the Hezbollah state.
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Gebran Bassil, came to Washington last week at the invitation of the US State Department to participate in its Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. The State Department inviting a staunch Hezbollah ally like Bassil – to address a gathering devoted to religious tolerance, no less – encapsulates the deep confusion in Washington about Lebanon.
Just before he took off for Washington, Bassil met with newly sanctioned Hezbollah security chief Wafiq Safa, with whom Bassil has a close relationship. Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s Directorate of General Security, also joined the meeting, an indication of the structural synergy between Hezbollah and Lebanese state institutions.
The Trump administration is aware of Bassil’s relationship with Hezbollah. According to leaked cables originally sent from the Lebanese embassy in Washington to the foreign ministry in Beirut, a senior US Treasury Department official told a visiting Lebanese minister: “We hope the Minister of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs understands that we are following closely his statements about Hezbollah.” The official, the cable continued, “hoped Minister Bassil would distance himself from Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and his group.”
Prior to this, Bassil had made statements in support of Hezbollah following its designation as a terrorist group by the UK. He declared the group would “remain embraced by state institutions and all Lebanese people.” A month later, standing next to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Beirut, Bassil again defended Hezbollah, insisting it “is a political party, that it is not terrorist.”
The Lebanese foreign minister acknowledged the US classification of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but said his government’s disagreement should not preclude “good relations with the USA.” The US has hardly done anything to convince him, or Lebanon more broadly, otherwise. For this reason, Bassil likely felt confident he and his government can continue to have it both ways without consequences, which is why he ignored the US Treasury official’s warning.
Political alliances with Hezbollah have not jeopardized the Lebanese politicians’ ability to receive US support, thanks to the latter’s policy of investing in Lebanon’s so-called “state institutions” and political stability. The Lebanese appear to have concluded – not without justification – that this means the US will only push so far. The Hezbollah-allied foreign minister, therefore, rightly guesses he has little to worry about. Case in point: He was in Washington at the invitation of the State Department.
Incredibly, the US – the world’s lone superpower – has resolved that it needs to prove itself to the Lebanese, so as to convince them to view it as their partner of choice. The Lebanese pocket the goods, and face few demands beyond some measure of compliance by the banks with US sanctions on Hezbollah. The US-funded Lebanese Armed Forces are not asked to do anything to counter Hezbollah; only to “fight ISIS.” In short, US investment in Lebanon works to the advantage of Hezbollah, which dominates the political order.
Bassil, whose ambition is to succeed his father-in-law, Michel Aoun, as president, knows full well that Hezbollah runs Lebanon. Without Hezbollah’s approval, his ambition cannot be realized. The foreign minister understood early that Lebanon was Hezbollah’s domain, and he signed a formal alliance with it in 2006. He witnessed the group’s dominance repeatedly, especially when it paralyzed the country in order to impose his father-in-law as president. He saw how it forced Prime Minister Saad Hariri out of the country in 2011, allowing him back in to the country, and to head the government, only after he had capitulated fully to their demands.
Lebanese publicists dishonestly seek to minimize the group’s power by reducing it to the number of ministries they hold, or the number of their MPs in parliament — even as they hold a majority in both the cabinet and parliament. In fact, Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanon is comprehensive. It exercises decisive influence on the security sector, but also directs the entire political order.
The political order services it in turn. Bassil is not the only official Lebanese visitor to Washington in recent days. Last week, a delegation led by Ali Bazzi, an MP for the Amal party, was in town to discuss the US sanctioning of two Hezbollah lawmakers, which Bazzi called a threat to democracy.
Bazzi also compared Hezbollah to George Washington, saying: “George Washington fought the British occupation for the sake of freedom and independence, and also in my country there are people who resisted and are resisting occupation and terrorism.”
In April, a US official told an Emirati paper on background, “Hezbollah and Amal are one.” Regardless, Lebanese ministers who came to Washington at the time were reassured that Amal’s chief, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, would not be targeted with sanctions.
This is now a pattern. Lebanese delegates – both those allied with, and nominally opposed to, Hezbollah – all come to Washington and condemn any US action against Hezbollah, lobby to water down sanctions, and make the case for going soft on Lebanon, all while asking for continued aid even as they regularly collaborate with Hezbollah. The Lebanese government, in other words, is Hezbollah’s diplomatic and collections arm.
Washington’s long-standing policy that distinguishes between Hezbollah and the Lebanese state is sorely misguided. As Bassil’s relationship with Hezbollah exhibits, this distinction is a false one. An investment in Lebanon’s “state institutions” is an investment in the Hezbollah state.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He tweets @AcrossTheBay.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 22-23/2019
Iran Arrests 17 For Spying For The CIA, Some Sentenced To Death
Jerusalem Post/July 22/2019
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"The identified spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centers in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas."
Iran has captured 17 spies working for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and some have been sentenced to death, Iranian media reported on Monday, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
State television quoted the Intelligence Ministry as saying it had broken up a CIA spying ring and captured 17 suspects. None of the spies were in contact with each other and all of those arrested were Iranian citizens, according to Fars.
The announcement comes after three months of spiraling confrontation with the West that began when new, tighter US sanctions took effect at the start of May, Reuters reported. Last week, Iran captured a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz after Britain's Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar in July 4. "The identified spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centers in the economic, nuclear, infrastructural, military and cyber areas... where they collected classified information," said a ministry statement read on state television.
The CIA recruited some of the spies by offering to aid them with the US visa application process and promises of permanent residence permits, according to Fars. The Iranian nationals were also assured of their safety in Iran and abroad.
Some of the recruitment was conducted by CIA officers on the sidelines of scientific conferences in Europe, Africa and Asia. The agency also began correspondence with some of the Iranian nationals through social networks and email.
As part of the espionage operation, the CIA established fake companies to communicate with the Iranian nationals on the pretext of hiring Iranian experts or supplying equipment from abroad.
The spies established secure communications with the CIA with the help of intelligence tools and complex technical equipment from the agency.
Espionage equipment and money were transported into the country inside stones with spyware embedded in them. Agents would then retrieve the stones from various areas in cities, parks and mountain areas and remove the equipment by breaking the stones.
The agents were also provided with fake identity documents.
The CIA had developed an emergency escape plan for the spies, in which the agents would meet CIA officers at a predetermined place in a border town and then exit the country with the agent. Instead, the agents were captured by Iranian officials when they arrived at the predetermined escape point, according to Fars. Iran's Intelligence Ministry stated that although the spies had undergone training to withstand interrogation, all the members of the spy network ended up confessing to communicating with the CIA. Fars also reported that information from the spies was directed against the US.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry will provide information uncovered regarding this spy ring to intelligence services in other countries, in order to further thwart CIA espionage attempts. This will most likely affect other European and Asian countries as well, according to Fars.
Iranian state media reported that the arrests were made in the Iranian calendar year ending in March 2019, according to Reuters.
The Iranian judiciary issued sentences for the spies a few days ago, according to Fars. Some were sentenced to death while others received long-term prison sentences. Those arrested were professionals and experts in Iran, but did not serve any official roles.
According to the ministry, the spy network failed to sabotage or disrupt activities in the Islamic republic.
It was not immediately clear if the arrests were linked to the case where Iran said in June that it had exposed a large cyber espionage network it alleged was run by the CIA, and that several US spies had been arrested in different countries as a result of this action, according to Reuters.

Iran Says Busts CIA Spy Ring, Some Sentenced to Death
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
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Iran said on Monday that it arrested 17 suspects and sentenced some to death after allegedly dismantling a CIA spy ring.
Security agencies "successfully dismantled a (CIA) spy network," the head of counter-intelligence at the Iranian intelligence ministry, whose identity was not revealed, told reporters in Tehran. "Those who deliberately betrayed the country were handed to the judiciary... some were sentenced to death and some to long-term imprisonment."The suspects were reportedly arrested between March 2018 and March 2019. Iran announced in June that it had broken up an alleged CIA spy ring but it was unclear whether Monday's announcement was linked to the same case. Iran’s new claims come amid soaring tensions between Tehran and Washington. In May 2018, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal putting curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The US administration reimposed biting sanctions on Iran, which retaliated by increasing its enrichment of uranium beyond limits set in the nuclear accord. Trump called off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after Iran downed a US drone, one of a string of incidents including attacks on tankers in the Gulf. The tensions have escalated since British authorities seized an Iranian oil tanker on suspicions it was shipping oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. In what was seen by Britain as a tit-for-tat move, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a UK-flagged tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Friday, angering the US ally.

Britain Says Planning European-Led Protection Force in Gulf
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 22/2019
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Monday said the UK wanted to establish a European-led maritime protection force for the Gulf but emphasized that London was not seeking a confrontation with Iran. "We will now seek to put together a European-led maritime protection mission to support the safe passage of both crew and cargo in this vital region," Hunt told parliament after Iranian authorities seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf on Friday.

Top Omani Diplomat to Visit Iran amid Regional Tensions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 22/2019
Oman's top diplomat will head to Iran this weekend, the Gulf country announced Monday, amid increased regional tensions with the Islamic republic. "Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah will visit Iran on Saturday to discuss bilateral relations and for continuous consultations, particularly in regards to recent regional developments," the sultanate's foreign ministry said on Twitter. Oman has maintained good relations with Iran throughout successive regional crises, allowing it at times to play a key mediating role, including with the United States. Tensions in the Gulf have soared since May amid a deepening standoff between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program, with a string of incidents involving tankers and drones. The U.S. and Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for being behind multiple attacks on tankers in the Gulf in June, which Iran denies. On Friday a British-flagged tanker was impounded by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with its 23 crew members aboard in the Strait of Hormuz. Oman has called for the release of the Stena Impero and for London and Tehran to resolve their dispute with diplomacy. Saudi Arabia slammed Iran's seizure of the ship as "completely unacceptable", urging world powers to "take action to deter such behavior." Both Kuwait and Qatar said they were following with "extreme concern" the developments in the region and urged all parties to exercise restraint. "These actions increase escalation and tensions and put navigation safety under direct threat," the Kuwaiti government said in a statement carried by the official KUNA news agency.  The Gulf has been a theater of increased pressure on Iran from Washington. The U.S. deployed an aircraft carrier task force as well as B-52 bombers, an amphibious assault ship and a missile defense battery to the Gulf in May. The movements came in response to alleged Iranian threats to US interests or those of its Middle East allies. But they have raised concerns, even among governments close to the U.S., that brinksmanship with Tehran could lead to a dangerous miscalculation.

Scores Killed, Injured in Russian Air Strike on Syria Market
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
Sixteen civilians were among 19 people killed Monday in a Russian air strike on a busy market in northwest Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in the latest violence to plague the opposition bastion. At least 45 other people were wounded in the air raid that hit "a wholesale vegetable market in the town of Maaret al-Numan" in Idlib province, the monitor said. The death toll could still rise as many of those wounded are in a critical condition and some people are still trapped under rubble, it added. Observatory head Rami Abdelrahman said 16 of those killed were civilians while three other bodies remain to be identified. However, Russia's defense ministry denied reports that it was responsible for the air strike. "The statements of anonymous representatives of the White Helmets organization financed by Britain and the US about an alleged strike by Russian planes on a market in Maaret al-Numan are fake," said a defense ministry statement quoted by TASS state news agency. The latest strike comes one day after air raids by Damascus and its Russian ally on the opposition-run Idlib region killed 18 people, including a young citizen journalist. Anas al-Dyab, a photographer and videographer in his early 20s, was a member of the White Helmets rescue group who also contributed to AFP. He was killed in Russian air strikes in his hometown of Khan Sheikhoun on Sunday, rescuers and the Observatory said. The Damascus regime and Moscow have stepped up their deadly bombardment of Idlib since late April, despite a September buffer zone deal to protect the region of some three million people from a massive military assault. The spike in violence has killed more than 650 civilians, caused tens of thousands to flee there homes, and damaged or knocked out of service two dozen health facilities.

Tehran sources: An Israeli Harop drone attacked pro-Iranian Iraqi militia base NE of Baghdad
DebkaFile: 22 July/2019
Iranian and Iraq intelligence sources claim an Israeli Harop UAV carried out the attack on the 52nd Brigade of the Hashd Shaabi militia on Friday, July 19. The attack struck the militia at a Badr Brigades camp outside Amerli town in the Salahudin Province northeast of Baghdad. The sources identify the fragments gathered at the site as belonging to the IAF’s Harop, a loitering combat unmanned vehicle, itself a flying bomb, developed by Israel’s Aerospace Industries. This drone is a stealth munition that can loiter for up to six hours before homing in on a target. It has a range of 1,000km. The Badr camp is about 900km from Israel.
Some Russian aviation websites also speculated on Sunday that Israel was responsible for the attack.
According to Iranian Revolutionary Guards, there were no casualties – in denial of local accounts of deaths among Iranian and Hizballah officers.
If the Iranian and Iraqi claim is confirmed, it would represent three groundbreaking events:
1-The Israeli Air Force’s first known attack on an Iranian target using a Harop UCAV.
2-The first Israeli attack deep inside Iraq not far from its border with Iran.
3-The Israeli minister Tzachi Hnegbi’s blunt remark on Sunday, that in the past two years Israel has caused Iranian military deaths in both overt and covert operations, may have betrayed some impatience with the Trump administration’s policy of military restraint against Iran, including Tehran’s threat to Gulf shipping. In certain circles, Washington’s restraint is seen as exposing Israel to bolder Iranian aggression.
Israel has repeatedly put Tehran on notice that its plans to use Iraq as a launching pad for attacks on Israel would not be tolerated.

Hamas meets Iran's supreme leader during warm visit in Tehran
Ynetnews/Associated Press/July 22/2019
'Hamas is Iran's first line of defense' says the terror group's deputy chief during talks with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the alliance between the Palestinian faction and the Islamic Republic appears to expand
Iran's state TV says a delegation from the Palestinian militant group Hamas that is visiting Iran has met with the country's supreme leader. The TV report on Monday says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei held talks with Hamas' deputy chief, Saleh al-Arouri, who is heading the delegation. The Hamas delegation also met with Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Khamenei. "Hamas is Iran's first line of defense," said Al-Arouri following the meeting. The supreme leader issued a statement at the end of the meeting, calling the U.S. peace proposal - dubbed "the deal of the century" - a "dangerous plot" intended to destroy Palestinian identity with money. "This is the main point that one should resist, and not allow them to eliminate the Palestinian identity using money ... several years ago, Palestinians were fighting using stones now they have precision rockets," he said. The Iranian official news agency IRNA says al-Arouri's visit to Tehran follows a visit by senior Iranian parliamentary official Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to Lebanon last week. Iran backs both Hamas and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. Earlier on Sunday, Hamas rulers in Gaza condemned Israel's demolition of a Palestinian village Sur Baher on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which the Supreme Court ruled was an illegal construction. The terror group called for intensifying "resistance" to the "the Zionist settlement project" in an official statement. "The increase in the occupation's crimes against the residents of the holy city is a result of total American support," said Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the militant group.

Kushner to Head to Mideast to Push Palestinian Economic Plan
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 22/2019
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is returning to the Mideast at month's end to promote the administration's $50 billion economic support plan for the Palestinians that they've rejected because it ignores their political demands.
Kushner outlined the plan's ambitious investment and development goals at a Bahrain conference last month. It relies heavily on private sector investment in the West Bank, Gaza as well as Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. The plan acknowledges its success depends on completing a long-elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Trump has cut aid and political support to the Palestinians. Critics say that shows his administration's pro-Israel bias. The U.S. has also refused to endorse a two-state solution that's long been seen as the only viable path to peace.

Russian Air Strikes on Syria Market Kill 23
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 22/2019
Russian air strikes on a market in northwestern Syria killed 23 people on Monday, a monitor said, in the latest violence to plague the country's last major opposition bastion. Moscow, however, denied it was responsible, calling the reports "fake". The jihadist-run Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but it has come under increased bombardment by the Syrian regime and its ally Russia since late April. The spike in violence has killed more than 650 civilians and damaged or knocked out of service two dozen health facilities. More than 330,000 people have fled violence in the area over the past three months, according to the United Nations. On Monday morning, 19 civilians and four people still to be identified were killed in raids that hit a vegetable market and surrounding areas in the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. At least a further 45 people were wounded, according to the monitor, which said the death toll could rise as many of those injured were in a critical condition and people were still trapped under rubble. The Britain-based Observatory says it relies on a network of sources inside Syria and determines whose planes carried out air strikes according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions involved. Men drenched in blood were carried away from the site of the attack by residents and rescue workers, who used mattresses as makeshift stretchers, an AFP photographer said. He saw the corpse of one man sprawled on the ground near a motorcycle, rubble surrounding his lifeless body. With his eyes closed and his face covered in dust, another man clutched the arms of two people helping him out of the area, the photographer added.
Rescue worker killed
The White Helmet's rescue group said that one of its volunteers was killed in the raids. At least six rescue workers have been killed since April. On Sunday, air strikes on Idlib killed 18 people, including a young citizen journalist. Anas al-Dyab, a photographer and videographer in his early 20s, was a member of the White Helmets who also contributed to AFP. He was killed in Russian air strikes in his hometown of Khan Sheikhun on Sunday, rescuers and the Observatory said. Russia and rebel backer Turkey brokered an agreement in September seeking to stave off an all-out regime assault on Idlib, but the deal was never fully implemented as jihadists refused to withdraw from a planned buffer zone. The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, led by ex-members of Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, in January extended its control over the region, which spans most of Idlib province as well as slivers of the adjacent provinces of Latakia, Hama, and Aleppo. The UN has expressed alarm over the escalation of violence in Syria's northwest, warning that it may lead to the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the eight-year civil war.
Pope expresses 'deep concern'
The Vatican too has said it is worried. President Bashar al-Assad received two Vatican cardinals in Damascus on Monday. They handed him a letter from Pope Francis, "who expressed (his) deep concern for the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially the dramatic conditions of the civilian population in Idlib," according to a Vatican statement. Regime forces have been locked in battle with jihadists and allied rebels on the edges of the Idlib region, as they try to advance in the opposition stronghold. But pro-governement forces have failed to secure significant advances in the months-long push. According to Sam Heller, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank (ICG), the violence is likely to continue until "Russia and Turkey reach an agreement to calm" the frontline. In the meantime, "each side will try to put pressure on the other through their Syrian partners on the ground" or "directly, (as) with the Russian bombing of parts of Idlib", he added. Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

Airstrikes Kill 50 Civilians in Syria's Northwest
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 22/2019
Regime and Russian air strikes killed 50 people in northwest Syria on Monday, most of them in a crowded market, a war monitor said, in the latest violence to plague the opposition bastion. In the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, men covered in blood were carried away from the market by residents and rescue workers, who used mattresses as makeshift stretchers, an AFP photographer said. He saw the corpse of one man sprawled on the ground near a motorcycle, rubble surrounding his lifeless body. With his eyes closed and his face covered in dust, another man clutched the arms of two people helping him out of the bombed area, the photographer added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes on the vegetable market and surrounding areas in Maaret al-Numan killed 36 civilians and two unidentified persons. The Britain-based monitor said Russian aircraft carried out the air raids, but Moscow denied it was responsible. "The Russian air force was not carrying out any missions in this part of Syria," said a defense ministry statement. More than 100 other people were wounded, according to the monitor, which said many of those injured were in a critical condition and people remained trapped under the rubble. The head of the local hospital, Radwan Shardub, described his horror at seeing "burnt and carbonized bodies, and body parts". "It's boundless criminality to shameful international silence," he said. The White Helmets rescue group said one of its volunteers was killed during the raids, raising the number of rescue workers killed since April to at least 6.
Fragile truce
The jihadist-run Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but it has come under increased bombardment by the Syrian regime and its ally Russia since late April. The spike in violence has killed more than 690 civilians, and damaged or knocked out of service two dozen health facilities in jihadist-held territory. More than 330,000 people have fled violence in the area over the past three months, according to the United Nations. In total, jihadist and rebel fire into regime-held areas has killed close to 60 non-combatants in that same period, the Observatory says. Another 12 civilians were killed in regime airstrikes in other parts of the bastion on Monday, the war monitor said. Meanwhile, retaliatory rocket fire by jihadists and allied rebels killed 14 civilians in Hama and Aleppo provinces, state-run SANA news agency said. Russia and rebel backer Turkey brokered an agreement in September seeking to stave off an all-out regime assault on Idlib, but the deal was never fully implemented as jihadists refused to withdraw from a planned buffer zone. The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, led by ex-members of al-Qaida's former Syria affiliate, in January extended its control over the region, which spans most of Idlib province as well as slivers of the adjacent provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo.
On Sunday, air strikes on Idlib killed 18 people, including a young citizen journalist. Anas al-Dyab, a photographer and videographer in his early 20s, was a member of the White Helmets who also contributed to AFP. He was killed in Russian air strikes in his hometown of Khan Sheikhun, rescuers and the Observatory said.
'Violence must stop'
The Idlib region "has fast become one of most dangerous places in the world for civilians and aid workers today", said David Swanson of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"This violence must stop and it must stop now," he told AFP. In Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad on Monday received two Vatican cardinals who handed him a letter from Pope Francis expressing "deep concern for the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially the dramatic conditions of the civilian population in Idlib". Regime forces have been locked in battle with jihadists and allied rebels on the edges of the Idlib region but have failed to secure significant advances. According to Sam Heller, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank, the violence is likely to continue until "Russia and Turkey reach an agreement to calm" the frontline. In the meantime, "each side will try to put pressure on the other through their Syrian partners on the ground" or "directly, (as) with the Russian bombing of parts of Idlib", he added. Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

Iraq: PMF Denies Attack on its Camp Near Saladdine
Baghdad - Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
The recent incident at the Martyrs’ Camp of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) near Amerli in Saladdine governorate, was a fire resulting from solid fuel burning due to malfunction, announced a commission of inquiry of PMF. The commission denied there was a drone or guided missile attack on the camp, asserting that investigations have shown that the explosion was not a military attack. It also added in its report that none of the Forces’ members were killed during the incident north of Baghdad. PMF sent a probing committee of security, intelligence, missile, field engineering, explosives, and drones experts to the Camp to investigate the incident, which reportedly resulted in the death and injury of two Iranian military advisers. Meanwhile, member of the State of Law Coalition MP Mansour al-Baiji accused the United States of bombing this camp. The Iraqi government should take action and respond to the US targeting of PMF members, said Baiji adding that the investigative committees are merely a tool to procrastinate the case and will not yield any results. He warned that targeting the group’s sites is a dangerous and sensitive issue and the government should make this clear to all Iraqis.

Kuwait Promises to Solve Bidoun Issue this Summer
Kuwait - Merza al-Khuwaldi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
Kuwaiti Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim revealed Sunday that Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has ordered to resolve the issue of illegal residents (Bidoun) by the end of summer. “The Kuwaiti government is working closely with parliament to find a comprehensive solution to the situation involving the country’s illegal residents, in a way that would not inhibit their national identity rights,” said Al-Ghanim. Their problem is the oldest and most complicated issue in the country. This month, Kuwait’s State Security agency arrested 15 activists from the Bidoun community, after they organized a sit-in at al-Hurriya Square in al-Jahra town near Kuwait City on July 12. According to Al-Ghanim, “The solution will be set in motion by legislation the parliament seeks to approve in its forthcoming term, or in an emergency session if need be.”He confirmed a government initiative to solve the illegal residents’ issue, saying it was not announced in order to ensure its success and to prevent parties with ill intentions from benefiting from the process or result. He also explained that he cannot divulge details because talks and deliberations are underway between the parliament, government and other concerned authorities on several points.
The speaker promised that the solution would be just and conclusive, taking into account all humanitarian aspects without any effect on national identity. “We neither created nor started this problem as it was inherited by every sector in the country,” Al-Ghanim said.

Mohammed bin Zayed: UAE Keen on Navigation Freedom in Gulf, Mideast
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, said Monday that the UAE was keen on the freedom and safety of international navigation in the Gulf and the Middle East. The Crown Prince, who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, said that the UAE “would cooperate with China and other friendly countries to achieve this goal to ensure the safe flow of oil supplies worldwide.”“China, with its great capability and potential, has a pivotal role in the world and an influential presence in regional and international issues,” Emirates News Agency quoted him as saying. “China enjoys strong relations with Gulf states and other Arab and Middle East countries, and the UAE is looking forward to an active Chinese role in establishing peace in the Middle East and address the source of regional dangers and threats,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. He also pointed to the cooperation between the two countries in working against terrorism and extremism, which he described as the greatest threat to world security, stability, and development.

Japan to Make Every Effort to Reduce US-Iran Tensions
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed on Monday that Tokyo wants to make every effort to reduce tension between the United States and Iran before responding to an expected US request to send its navy to guard strategic waters off Iran. Japanese media have said a US proposal to boost surveillance of Middle East oil shipping lanes off Iran and Yemen, where the United States says Iran and its proxies have carried out tanker attacks, could be on the agenda of Abe’s talks with US national security adviser John Bolton. Abe said that before making a decision on joining the United States, Japan would like to fulfill what it sees as a unique role it has to play in reducing tension. “We have a long tradition of friendship with Iran and I’ve met with its president any number of times, as well as other leaders,” Abe told a news conference a day after his coalition’s victory in an election for parliament’s upper house. “Before we make any decisions on what to do, Japan would like to make every effort to reduce tensions between Iran and the United States.”Japan needed to gather information on what the United States is thinking and what it hoped to accomplish, Abe said, adding that the two allies remained in close contact. Bolton, who heads to South Korea after Japan, met Japanese national security adviser Shotaro Yachi and Foreign Minister Taro Kono and later described his talks with Kono as “useful”. “We had a very productive discussion, we talked about a very wide range of issues,” Bolton told reporters. Last week, Iran captured a British tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in what was the latest escalation in three months of spiraling confrontation with the West that began when new, tighter US sanctions took effect at the start of May. Washington imposed the sanctions after President Donald Trump pulled out of a deal signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, which had provided Iran access to world trade in return for curbs on its nuclear program. European countries including Britain have been caught in the middle. They disagreed with the US decision to quit the nuclear deal but have so far failed to offer Iran another way to receive the deal’s promised economic benefits. Britain was thrust more directly into the confrontation on July 4, when its Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker off the coast of Gibraltar. Britain accused it of violating sanctions on Syria, prompting repeated Iranian threats of retaliation. While Iran’s official line is that its capture of the Stena Impero was because of safety issues, it has done little to hide that the move was retaliatory.

Israel Considers Granting PA Tax Breaks
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
Israel is considering granting the Palestinian Authority (PA) tax breaks to prevent its economic collapse, reported Israel Hayom newspaper. The Israeli cabinet is expected to discuss the provision of economic facilities to circumvent the law of deduction of the salaries of the families of martyrs and prisoners from the funds owed to the Authority. The PA is suffering from a large financial deficit following its rejection to receive tax revenues from Tel Aviv after authorities deducted amounts from them. Israel Hayom confirmed that over the past few weeks, talks were held between the two sides to find a way to ease economic pressure on the PA. The talks were approved by political officials in Tel Aviv especially that Israeli security services fear the Authority is under threat of economic collapse. Reports claim that Israel’s Finance Ministry could waiver imposing fees of Palestine’s fuel purchases from Israel, which could save about 200 million shekels a year, thus ease the economic pressure. However, PA sources noted that any reduction of the allowances of the families of the martyrs and prisoners is unacceptable, no matter the alternatives. PA President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday the leadership will not accept the tax revenues, collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians if it was not paid in full.  Tel Aviv fears a potential collapse of power that could lead to chaos. Since the deduction law entered into effect, Israeli political and security apparatus are seeking ways to bypass the transfer of funds to the Palestinians without breaking the law, in a manner that does not raise criticism of public opinion.

French Submarine Lost in 1968 Finally Located in Mediterranean
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
A private search vessel has located a French submarine that went missing in the western Mediterranean more than 50 years ago, officials said Monday, raising hopes the mystery over the disappearance can finally be solved. "It's a success, a relief and a technical feat," Defense Minister Florence Parly wrote on Twitter, after the wreck was discovered off the southern French port of Toulon. "I am thinking of the families who have waited for this moment for so long." The Minerve submarine was lost off France's southern coast with 52 sailors on board on January 17, 1968, Agence France Presse reported. Despite multiple search efforts over the years, it had never been found, AFP said. Parly announced a new search mission at the beginning of 2019, backed by the latest technology and naval vessels, following fresh demands from the families of deceased sailors to find the remains of their loved ones.
Tides and currents in the western Mediterranean were modeled by the team, while data from the time of the accident was also re-analyzed, including seismic reports indicating the likely implosion of the vessel as it dropped to the seabed. But the discovery was ultimately made by a boat belonging to private US company Ocean Infinity, which found the Minerve 45 kilometers from Toulon at a depth of 2,370 meters, a senior French naval officer told AFP. The boat, the Seabed Constructor, arrived on the scene last Tuesday, the officer said on condition of anonymity.
The Seabed Constructor was also successful in locating Argentina's lost San Juan submarine in November 2018 which had disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean a year earlier. The cause of the accident involving the Minerve has never been announced. Experts have speculated that it could have been due to a problem with its rudder, a collision with another boat, the explosion of a missile or torpedo, or a fault with its oxygen supply systems. In February, Israel began deducting about $11.5 million a month from tax revenues transferred by Israel to the Palestinians and did so continuously during 2019. The amount totaled to about $138 million, which is equivalent to the payments paid by the PA to the families of martyrs and prisoners in 2018. The newspaper reported that Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, is responsible for the tax authority, however, officials at Kahlon’s office noted that the issue is purely political and the Minister acts according to the government’s decisions. The office of the Israeli government coordinator in the Palestinian territories declined to comment on the report. Head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Avi Dichter, rejected reports claiming that the PA would collapse, saying he doesn’t fear this would happen. Dichter stated that the security forces opposed the tax reduction law from the outset for fear of the collapse of the PA, but Israel cannot accept a position in which the PA cooperates with it while paying to the “saboteurs.”The MK told Israel Hayom that “we can overcome the obstacles and monitor the amount of money received by terrorists' families. We expect that this will be done.”

Egypt Minister of Endowments Warns of ‘Muslim Brotherhood Terrorism’
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 22 July, 2019
Egyptian Minister of Endowments Mohammed Mokhtar Jomaa warned of the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, officially classified as a terrorist group since November 2014. Egypt accuses the group of stoking chaos and violence in the country following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, but the group usually denies the accusation. The minister reiterated his rejection of the Brotherhood and its rhetoric, pointing out in a statement that the group’s slogan is “either to rule or kill and destroy.”Morsi ruled the country for a year before his ouster, after which he was imprisoned. He died while standing trial in June this year. Jomaa said members of the Brotherhood claim they are “God's chosen group”, noting that since its establishment, the terrorist organization has been threatening Egypt. It is driven by its treasonous collaboration with enemies of the Arab world and its belief that its authority can only be built on the ruins of its nations. He called for “complete vigilance and hard work to uproot extremism”. Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders and supporters are being tried in Egypt in cases mostly linked to violence. On Sunday, an Egyptian military court adjourned to July 29 the trial of 304 defendants in the Hasm movement case, involving the attempted assassination of the assistant attorney general. Defendants include former minister and member of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau Mohammed Ali Bishr. Investigations revealed that the suspects received intelligence support from Qatar and Turkey, in agreement with Brotherhood fugitive leaders, to attack the police and armed forces and obstruct state institutions. In another case, the criminal court of Cairo adjourned to August 4 the trial of 11 defendants, including Brotherhood fugitive leaders in Turkey, suspected in the assassination attempt of the Alexandria security director.
The prosecution accuses the defendants, including two prisoners, of joining the Hasm movement, which is the armed wing of the Brotherhood, and providing its members with funds, equipment, weapons and other means of logistical support and attempting to assassinate the former Alexandria security chief and his guards.

Six Shiites Dead in Nigeria Clashes over Imprisoned Leader
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 22/2019
At least six Shiite Muslim protesters were killed in clashes with Nigerian police in the capital Abuja on Monday, witnesses told AFP, the latest deadly violence over the lengthy detention of a religious leader. Hundreds of protesters from the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), a Shia sect, marched demanding the release of pro-Iranian cleric Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been held since December 2015 on various charges, including terrorism. Hundreds of his supporters, including women and children, were killed by the security forces, in December 2015, according to a toll established by rights watchdogs.
After witnessing the violence on Monday, a Shiite protester, Abdullahi Musa, said: "I am right now in front of six dead bodies, one of them is an underage boy." "Many, many people were shot."An AFP journalist said he saw police open fire with live ammunition as well as tear gas, while protesters threw petrol bombs at the officers."I saw six people dead in different places, one of them was a teenager," the journalist said. A senior police officer was also killed in the violence, according to local reports, which the journalist verified.
A local fire station was set ablaze.
The IMN have held almost daily marches in the capital in recent months amid concerns Zakzaky's health is deteriorating. Zakzaky remains in government custody despite the federal high court ordering his release. The government has refused and filed fresh criminal charges, including culpable homicide that is "punishable with death". The move has enraged his supporters who say Zakzaky is in urgent need of medical treatment being denied by the authorities. Police on Monday described the clashes as "a violent protest" but gave no casualty figures. "The police are taking adequate measures to bring the situation under control," Nigerian police spokesperson Frank Mba said. Amnesty International condemned the police action as a "reckless use of force". "This new crackdown is part of a shocking pattern in which security forces have used live ammunition to disperse IMN supporters who are simply exercising their freedom of expression," the rights group said. Nigerian broadcast company Channels TV said one of its journalists was hit by a stray bullet.
- 'Assassinate my parents' -
Zakzaky has been at loggerheads with Nigeria's secular authorities for years because of his call for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution. Northern Nigeria is majority Sunni Muslim. He was detained after violence during a religious procession in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria in December 2015. Rights groups say some 350 mostly unarmed Shiite marchers were killed by the Nigerian army and buried in mass graves. The military denies the claim. Since then, several protest marches by IMN supporters have led to violence with the police. In October 2018, the IMN and human rights groups said, more than 40 people were killed when the security forces opened fire on crowds on the outskirts of the capital. The official toll is six. After a rare visit by medical staff, the IMN said Zakzaky was suffering from a number of conditions including lead poisoning, high blood pressure, and glaucoma which can lead to partial blindness.
Zakzaky's wife, Zeenah Ibrahim, has also been detained since 2015. She had an un-treated bullet wound, medical staff said.  Their son Mohammed Zakzaky earlier this month said it was a miracle they were still alive. "It appears that there is a deliberate attempt to assassinate my parents through deliberate negligence towards their health," he said. A spokesperson for President Muhammadu Buhari last week called for an end to the IMN's protests which "openly insult the President." The IMN said they would continue demonstrating as past court orders for Zakzaky's release had been ignored.
"This government deliberately intends to provoke the movement into violence," said IMN spokesperson Ibrahim Musa in a statement.  The IMN, which emerged as a student movement in the late 1970s, was inspired by the Islamic revolution in Iran. The sect is met with hostility in Nigeria, where the Sunni elite are allied with Saudi Arabia.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 22-23/2019
The Hamas-Iran Plan to Eliminate Israel
بسام طويل/معهد كايتستون: مخطط حماس وإيران لإنالة إسرائيل وتدميرها
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/July 22/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14575/hamas-iran-eliminate-israel
"There are Jews everywhere. We must attack every Jew on planet Earth! We must slaughter and kill them, with Allah's help. We will lacerate and tear them to pieces." — Fathi Hammad, Hamas senior leader, at a rally near the Gaza-Israel border, July 14, 2019.
Haniyeh's statements coincided with a visit to Iran by a senior Hamas delegation. Headed by the Palestinian arch-terrorist Saleh Arouri, the delegation will spend a few days in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders on ways of strengthening relations between the two sides.
If the Hamas arch-terrorist succeeds in his mission to secure more funding from Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip will most likely ratchet up their terror activities against Israel. The most effective way to stop Hamas from carrying out its plan to "slaughter" every Jew is by increasing international sanctions and other means of pressure on Iran -- before it is too late.
In the Hamas lexicon, launching arson kites at Israeli farms and villages near the border with the Gaza Strip is defined as "peaceful resistance." Pictured: Firefighters attempt to extinguish a burning wheat field in Nahal Oz, Israel, next to the border with Gaza after it was torched by an incendiary kite launched by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, on May 15, 2018.
Has Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that rules the Gaza Strip, finally accepted the two-state solution and abandoned its objective to destroy Israel?
The headlines in some Arab media outlets on July 20 created the impression that Hamas has changed its policy and is no longer seeking the annihilation of Israel. More remarkably, the headlines made it seem as if Hamas were presenting a new plan for peace with Israel.
Quoting statements by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, several Arab media organizations ran headlines implying that the terror group now favors the two-state solution. "Hamas does not oppose the establishment of a [Palestinian] state on the 1967 borders," the headlines shouted.
Haniyeh reportedly made his statements during a video conference interview with Turkish journalists in Istanbul. The interview was organized by a group called the Palestinian Forum for Communication and Media, which describes itself as an "independent media organization aiming to enhance coordination between Arab and international media organizations to support the Palestinian cause."
Although the initial impression created by Haniyeh's statements suggest a dramatic shift in Hamas's policy – from seeking the destruction of Israel to accepting the two-state solution – it quickly becomes clear from reading the rest of his remarks that there is no change in the terror group's strategy or ideology.
Haniyeh carefully clarified that accepting a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 "borders" does not mean that Hamas would recognize Israel's right to exist. "Hamas is not opposed to the establishment of a state on the 1967 borders, but insists on not recognizing the Israeli occupation of the rest of the Palestinian territories," the Hamas leader is quoted as telling the Turkish journalists.
Haniyeh, to his credit, was more honest that the editors who chose the misleading headlines suggesting that Hamas has accepted the two-state solution.
Listen closely to what Haniyeh was really saying: "If we are offered a Palestinian state next to Israel, we will not say no. While we will take whatever Israel gives us, we will never recognize its right to exist. We will use the state as a launching pad to liberate all Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River."
Haniyeh's remarks are nothing but a smokescreen, intended, it seems, to deceive the world into thinking that his terror group has softened its position towards Israel and Jews.
Yet, the Hamas leader was quite clear about the terror group's stance. He even went as far as assuring the Turkish journalists that his movement will never abandon the "armed struggle" against Israel. "We often resort to peaceful and popular resistance [against Israel]," Haniyeh said. "This does not mean, however, that we have given up our armed resistance against Israel."
For Haniyeh, the weekly demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel border, which are being held in the context of the Hamas-sponsored "Great March of Return," as "peaceful" and "popular" acts of "resistance." The protests, which began in March 2018, are anything but "peaceful" and "popular."
In the Hamas lexicon, launching rocks and arson kites at Israeli farms and villages near the border with the Gaza Strip is defined as "peaceful resistance."
Although the organizers of the protests have been publicly calling on participants to preserve the "peacefulness" of their weekly demonstrations, Palestinians have repeatedly attempted to infiltrate into Israel by knocking down the security fence along the border or hurling firebombs and explosive devices at Israeli soldiers. They are probably doing that because they do not listen to what their leaders tell them, or because they have lost faith in their leaders and believe that violence is the only way to extract concessions from Israel.
Last Friday, the protests were held under the banner of "The Friday of burning the Zionist flag." The demonstrators not only burned Israeli flags; they also clashed with Israeli soldiers. Reports from the Gaza Strip said that more than 70 Palestinians were injured during the clashes.
In addition, since the beginning of the protests in March 2018, more than 260 Palestinians have been killed, and thousands injured. The number of Palestinians taking part in the Friday protests finally appears to be declining: many Gazans have apparently reached the conclusion that their leaders are using them to advance their own interests. Since the marches started, Palestinians have seen no improvement in their living conditions.
If you follow Hamas's logic, it is only a matter of time before the organization declares that firing rockets again and kidnapping Israeli villagers are also "peaceful" and "popular" means of "resistance." The mainstream media in the West will doubtless continue dutifully to rewrite its definitions.
Hamas's true intentions were expressed by one of its senior leaders, Fathi Hammad. During a rally near the Gaza-Israel border, he recently said: "There are Jews everywhere. We must attack every Jew on planet Earth! We must slaughter and kill them, with Allah's help. We will lacerate and tear them to pieces." He also urged Palestinians to purchase "five-shekel knives" and "cut the necks of Jews."
Haniyeh's statements coincided with a visit to Iran by a senior Hamas delegation. Headed by the Palestinian arch-terrorist Saleh Arouri, the delegation will spend a few days in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders on ways of strengthening relations between the two sides.
In November 2018, the US Department of State offered a five million dollar reward for information about Arouri, who serves as deputy head of Hamas's "political bureau."
Saleh Arouri's covert operational activities, including the handling of Hamas terrorist squads, are mainly carried out in Lebanon and Turkey," according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. "In Lebanon, where he lives today, he operates under the sponsorship of Hezbollah with no interference from the Lebanese government, while in Turkey the authorities ignore his activities and those of Hamas."
Arouri is one of the founders of Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Qassam Brigades, and is responsible for several bloody terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, including the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.
Notably, Arouri is not travelling to Tehran to discuss with Iranian leaders ways to improve the living conditions of Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. He is wholly preoccupied with how to acquire more weapons and money for killing Jews. It is no coincidence that Hamas chose a commander of its armed wing to head the delegation to Iran. He is going to Tehran to request weapons and funding for terror activities, his special expertise.
The Iranian leaders, for their part, are not about to offer Arouri and his friends cash to construct hospitals and schools in the Gaza Strip. Iran will ensure that its money is earmarked for building more terror tunnels along the Gaza-Israel border and manufacturing rockets that will be used to attack Israel.
Iran's leaders never tire of reminding everyone of their desire to annihilate Israel. The most recent threat came from a senior Iranian lawmaker, Mojtaba Zolnour, chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. "If the US attacks us, only half an hour will remain of Israel's lifespan," he said.
In another threat earlier this year, the second-in-command of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that Iran will obliterate Israel if it starts a war, and the Israelis will not even be able to bury their dead. "Our strategy is [to wipe] Israel [off] the world's political geography and Israel seems to be approaching this reality by its mischiefs," Brigadier General Hossein Salami told reporters in Tehran. If Israel "does anything that leads to a new war, certainly it will be [the kind of war] that will result in their elimination, and the occupied territories will be retaken. Israelis won't even have a cemetery in Palestine to bury their corpses."
In welcoming the Hamas delegation, the leaders of Iran seem to know something that is hidden by misleading headlines: that Hamas remains committed to its goal of destroying Israel.
The Iranian leaders know that Arouri, with his proven record of terrorism and his hands dripping with Jewish blood, is someone Tehran can do business with. Hamas is desperate for cash and weapons. It needs these resources not because it is ready to accept the two-state solution, but in order to prepare for the next war with Israel.
It seems that Arouri is seeking to affirm to his Tehran cash-cow that Hamas is still very much on the same page as they are: eliminating Israel and replacing it with an Iranian-backed terror state.
If the Hamas arch-terrorist succeeds in his mission to secure more funding from Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip will most likely ratchet up their terror activities against Israel. The most effective way to stop Hamas from carrying out its plan to "slaughter" every Jew is by increasing international sanctions and other means of pressure on Iran -- before it is too late.
*Bassam Tawil is an Arab Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 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.

To the EU: Iran's Mullahs Will Never Be Your Friend
مجيد رافيزادا/معهد كايتستون/أقول للإتحاد الأوروبي بأن ملالي إيران لن يكونوا اصدقاء لكم
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/July 22, 2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/76905/%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a7-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%aa%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a3%d9%82%d9%88%d9%84-%d9%84%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%aa/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14571/iran-eu-mullahs-friends
Despite these attacks, and attempted attacks, the EU, despite its ceaseless moral sanctimony, continues to soften its tone toward Iran, presumably out of a zeal for doing business even with a country designated the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
The more the EU appeases the Iranian government, the more it empowers it to pursue aggressive and terrorist activities.
The EU needs to stop appeasing the ruling mullahs of Iran who are consistently engaged in terror activities in Europe, and join its old transatlantic partner, the US, in putting even more pressure on Iran's fundamentalist government.
Iran has recently become more aggressive and breached the 300kg limit on enriched uranium, among several other malign actions. Pictured: The Isfahan uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, Iran.
The extent to which the European Union is willing to go in order to appease the ruling mullahs of Iran, is unfathomable. To witness the EU siding with the fundamentalist government of Iran rather than backing its old transatlantic partner, the United States, is a shock.
Since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the flawed agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) , Iran's leaders have been consistently pushing for Europe to do more to appease them; more than it is capable of delivering.
First, the EU came up with a mechanism called the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX). Its purpose was to shield the Iranian government from economic sanctions, in order to assist its ruling clerics -- and Europe -- in gaining more revenues.
Then, Iran became more aggressive and breached the 300kg limit on enriched uranium, among several other malign actions (here, here and here). The increased level of enrichment was a blatant violation of Iran's agreement and contrary to the shared international desire -- except for Iran's ayatollahs -- to de-escalate regional tensions.
The Trump administration rightfully classified the development as "nuclear blackmail", an example of what seems tantamount to a scarcely concealed, increasingly desperate effort to force the Europeans into persuading the United States to lift the sanctions against it.
Although Iran has clearly breached the JCPOA and although the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran violated the JCPOA, the response from Europe has been muted. After a meeting with foreign ministers, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, said that the EU's focus remains to "keep the agreement in place", telling reporters that Europe will consider Iran to be "fully compliant" with the nuclear agreement.
Instead of reacting to the fact that Iran poses an enormous threat to the EU national security interests, the EU will more likely attempt to chart other paths to help the ruling mullahs of Iran. In recent years, since the JCPOA was reached between the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, plus Germany) and the Islamic Republic, a series of assassination and terrorist plots across Europe, some successful and others not, have been traced back to Tehran.
On an evening in November 2017, as Ahmed Mola Nissire walked up to his home in The Hague, Netherlands, an assassin gunned him down right in front of his door. Nissire, a Dutch citizen of Iranian origin, was 52 years old, and a prominent figure in the Arab Struggle for the Liberation of Ahvaz, an activist group that fights for the formation of a separate state in Western Iran.
For the first time, Dutch authorities publicly announced that it was the Iranian government which commissioned the murder. Based on Nissire's resistance to Iran's tyrannical government, a target had been placed on his back, and his life was ended to further the goals of Iran's autocratic rulers -- whom the EU supports and shields.
Nissire's death is not an isolated case. Another of Tehran's political opponents, Ali Motamed, was killed under similar circumstances in Amsterdam in 2015.
European officials also foiled a terrorist attack that targeted a large Free Iran convention in Paris, attended in June 2018 by many high-level speakers -- including former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.
An Iranian diplomat and several other individuals of Iranian origin were soon arrested in France, Belgium and Germany. After a thorough investigation, French officials concluded that the Iranian regime had been behind the bomb plot. If the terrorist attack had been successful, the loss of life would have been staggering, but the devastating toll it would have taken on the community that fights for human rights, would have been immeasurable. Now it is clear there is a target on the backs of those who stand up for freedom and human rights.
This certainly was not an isolated plot in Europe. Iran's attacks were also detected in 2018 in Denmark, where officials accused Tehran of attempting to assassinate one of its citizens. Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen emphasized the seriousness of the plot by saying:
"An Iranian intelligence agency has planned an assassination on Danish soil. This is completely unacceptable. In fact, the gravity of the matter is difficult to describe. That has been made crystal clear to the Iranian ambassador in Copenhagen today."
Despite these attacks, and attempted attacks, the EU, despite its ceaseless moral sanctimony, continues to soften its tone toward Iran, presumably out of a zeal for doing business even with a country designated the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
The more the EU appeases the Iranian government, the more it empowers it to pursue aggressive and terrorist activities.
The EU needs to stop appeasing the ruling mullahs of Iran who are consistently engaged in terror activities in Europe, and join its old transatlantic partner, the US, in putting even more pressure on Iran's fundamentalist government.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 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.

The Day Hope Landed on the Moon
Stephen Carter/Bloomberg View/July 22/2019
When I remember the moon landing, I think about my father. Fifty years ago, on the evening of Sunday, July 20, 1969, we sat together in Dad’s capacious study in our house in Ithaca, New York, holding our breaths, hardly uttering a word as the Eagle touched down.
My father, raised in Barbados, was a stern and distant man of donnish bent. He was rarely impressed and almost never smiled. But when Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 mission commander, stepped onto the lunar surface, Dad grinned from ear to ear. The nation joined in. The world joined in. The jubilation of the moment cannot be explained. There is no analogy.
A glowing profile a few days before launch insisted that Armstrong’s “acts” would “survive in all probability as long as mankind exists.” That was how people felt, as if history had suddenly taken a sharp turn. Actually it hadn’t — but we were in the grip of a fevered optimism.
If you’re not old enough to remember, the chances are you don’t appreciate how desperately the nation and the world needed Apollo 11. The Vietnam War seemed eternal. Richard Nixon was in the White House. Meanwhile, heroes were falling everywhere. Just 13 months earlier, Robert Kennedy had been assassinated in Los Angeles. Two months before that, Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered. During the spring and summer of 1968, the nation’s cities had burned.
That weekend, the nation’s left was in a particularly bad way. On Saturday morning — literally the day before the Eagle touched down — I had witnessed my father’s agony after learning that the previous night, Senator Edward Kennedy had driven his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. The senator would (quite justifiably) be dogged by questions about Chappaquiddick for the rest of his political career.
My father was bereft. He had worked in John Kennedy’s administration and been part of Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign. He was among those who had seen Teddy as the best hope to defeat President Richard Nixon in 1972. Now that hope was gone.
Yet now one of his hero John Kennedy’s greatest dreams was about to be realized, and Dad was smiling. JFK’s promise to put a man on the moon within the decade has given us the phrase “moon shot,” used routinely nowadays to describe the commitment of vast resources to solving a specified problem.
It’s easy to forget how in the 1950s and early 1960s, the US lagged behind the Soviet Union in the space race. The Soviets launched the first true satellite, put the first man in space, put the first woman in space, and accomplished the first spacewalk. The US was terrified of falling further behind. Winning the race to the moon became among the highest of national priorities.
Yet there were those who harbored doubts. Civil rights groups protested the cost, asking why the money wasn’t being spent on building affordable housing and solving other urban problems. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. had observed wryly, “In a few years we can be assured that we will set a man on the moon and with an adequate telescope he will be able to see the slums on Earth with their intensified congestion, decay and turbulence.” In the spring of 1969, scant weeks before the launch of Apollo 11, the National Welfare Rights Organization even staged a sit-in outside Mission Control in Houston.
As I watched with excitement Armstrong climbing down to the lunar surface, I was aware of none of this ferment. My father was heavily involved in the movement, but he had not chosen to share such concerns with his children. Our middle-class parents had raised us as far as possible from “the slums on Earth” of which King spoke.
The young teenager I was had grown up reading science fiction and dreaming of outer space. I was too caught up in the delight of the moment to consider other possible ways to spend the money. Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey” had been released the year before, and I lost count of how many times I saw it. In my teenaged mind’s eye, I foresaw a near future in which hopping onto a spacecraft was little different than hopping onto a plane. I wanted lunar colonies, space stations, missions to our sister planets and beyond.
Finally the moment came. “Armstrong on the moon!” flashed the television. We all remember his carefully scripted first words — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” — even if he flubbed them by omitting “a” before “man.” But I’ve always liked his next words, because they were spontaneous: “Yes, the surface is fine and powdery. I can pick it up loosely with my toe.”
In the half century since, it’s become common to describe the mission as a waste in that sense, because so little was learned.
The criticism misses the mark. The moon landing, like the space program itself, served a different set of needs. All through history, the stars have been shining down on what we are pleased to call civilization. Reaching those distant glimmers has been a human dream for as long as there have been human beings to look upward in wonder. The desire has quickened in billions of hearts. And for a jubilant moment on the evening of July 20, 1969, we really thought the world had taken one giant leap along the way.

Hormuz Hostages and ‘Caution and Foresight’
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/July 22/2019
Fifty years after man set foot on the moon for the first time and the hopes that emerged from that scene, the Middle East seems to be stuck in old and new conflicts that deprive it of the opportunity to embark on the train of natural states engaged in development and progress.
In these five decades, the Palestinians have not found their state… Nor the Kurds their rights. Fear has retained the title of first citizen in the region. Countries are worried about their borders, or fearing surprises inside their home. Governments are unable to meet development goals. Modern institutions are incapable of coping with existing problems and predicting imminent ones… It is a painful region full of conflicts, waves of refugees and suicidal tendencies that are destroying it and threatening the whole world.
If this region had previously been worried about its wealth and land from lurking foreign powers, it is now afraid of the adventurous approach of countries dreaming of grabbing the title of the great local state. A quick look at the region shows how it is crowded with small mobile armies, rockets, drones and reckless policies.
Last week, one had to follow two events at the same time. The celebration of the anniversary of the first man on the moon and the crisis that erupted near the Strait of Hormuz, with all its local and international implications.
As oil tankers became the victims of a new hostage crisis, people in the region and the world remembered an old similar crisis that unfolded 40 years ago, when the Iranian revolution took Americans hostage at their country's embassy in Tehran. Some are quick to conclude that the region has not changed, nor has Iran.
As I watched the video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard about the British oil tanker’s capture, I remembered what I had heard on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka. The Japanese speaker was trying to explain his country’s current concerns.
“Japan lives in a difficult region and you do not choose your neighbors,” he said, referring on the one hand to North Korea's behavior and its repeated celebrations of its latest military production, and on the other hand, to the Chinese rise and its economic, political and possibly security implications on his country.
He said countries should be both rational and firm. Rational, to avoid engaging in any escalation resorted to by a mischievous or reckless neighbor; and firm, by possessing elements of strength that can deter players who like to play on the edge of the abyss.
The elements of power, in his opinion, are to develop your own strengths to defend yourself, and at the same time, forge alliances that form a protective umbrella against adventures. He considered that the most difficult challenge a country can face is dealing with a worried and aggressive neighbor, who follows a path that does not comply with international values and the principles and resolutions of the United Nations.
The video released by the Revolutionary Guard poses many questions. Why did Iran choose a British tanker? Is it about the release of the Iranian tanker detained in Gibraltar? Is it precisely because Britain is overwhelmed these days by the search for a successor to Theresa May, fearing a Brexit without agreement? Or is it because Britain today is no longer the Britain of the past, which sent its fleet in the early 1980s to reclaim the Falkland Islands and defeat the Argentine generals who tried to humiliate the former empire? Is it because Britain can no longer wage war alone, and because Donald Trump will not wage a war for Britain?
Many questions arise: Why did Iran choose the path of escalation? Did it make sure that Trump meant what he said when he announced that he did not want to go to war? Did it consider this step as a show of force that awakens national feelings and distracts its citizens from their suffering due to the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Iranian oil exports?
Did Tehran want to provide an example of the possibility of resorting to a partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz with a series of incidents that prompt countries to advise their tankers to avoid the trap of the strait? Does Tehran want to change the rules of the game so that the world’s only demand is for it to stop meddling with the Strait of Hormuz, instead of demanding that it put its ballistic arsenal and regional policy on the table in any future negotiations?
The countries of the region find it difficult to understand Iranian behavior, which is far from relying on the conventional international norms. Tehran claims that it wants the withdrawal of the forces of major powers from the region, but acts in a way that justifies these countries to strengthen their presence.
The bombing or seizure of tankers unequivocally confirm that the problem with Iran lies in its behavior before it its nuclear ambitions. This is why the countries of the region cannot but take all the necessary measures to strike a balance that prevents a slide into war.
In this context, it is possible to understand Saudi Arabia’s decision to accept to host US forces “to raise the level of joint action in defending the security and stability of the region and ensuring peace.” Saudi Arabia, which has openly declared that it does not want war, sees US troops as “a continuation of military cooperation between the two countries, which aims to keep pressure on Iran and prevent it from further escalating” the tension.
The region has no interest in a new war. But the conditions for stability do not seem to be available. Iran has not changed and continues to reject international norms. Forty years after Americans were held hostage at their country’s embassy in Tehran, oil tankers are being held hostage near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran is betting that the decision of war is not appropriate for Trump, who is aspiring for a second presidential term. Some believe that the sanctions are painful enough to tempt it into taking risks. Others believe that straining the line of contention with the West and its allies is a policy it uses to renew the cohesion of its regime. But this type of game is not suitable for all times and places. The brink of war is fraught with dangers. Tehran should take advantage of its foreign minister’s advice to others to deal with “caution and foresight.”

Iran faces long road before it is trusted by neighbors
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/July 22, 2019
A closed-door conference held recently in Europe concerning developments on the political scene in the Middle East and ways to address them was attended by high-profile characters from several countries, including Iran. The discussions during the event and informal talks in the breaks between sessions focused on the tensions between the US and Iran, their consequences, the options at hand and the repercussions of these tensions on the region.
The leading figures appearing at the event from the Iranian side were all close to President Hassan Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. Most of these figures occupy or once occupied senior positions within the government. Some of the meetings were heated whereas others were calm, with some of those present trying to ease the tensions whenever they reached an advanced stage of controversy or mutual recrimination or got bogged down in efforts to prove a particular viewpoint or to refute a certain argument.
I won’t go into details about the content of the conference and the various sessions, which lasted for a day-and-a-half. I did, however, come away from the event having reached several conclusions and made a number of observations concerning Iranian affairs that I believe are important, which I will summarize in the following points.
First: The political bloc known as the moderates or reformists is deeply concerned about its future in Iran. Some of those attending the conference said openly that this political bloc would face massive challenges in the foreseeable future due to the increasing domination of the fundamentalists over state apparatuses, Parliament, and the entire government.
These moderates fear that the fate of Rouhani and Zarif will be similar to that of former President Mohammed Khatami and perhaps that of the late Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in ambiguous circumstances, with the finger of blame being pointed at the fundamentalists.
Second: The Iranian government believes that escaping the current crisis Iran is experiencing depends on improving relations with the Gulf nations, especially Saudi Arabia, and that dialogue between Riyadh and Tehran is the shorter, more reasonable and more effective course for the Iranian side. Saudi Arabia is seen as being capable of salvaging the reformist bloc on the one hand and easing US pressure on Iran on the other.
Third: The Iranian reformist-moderate bloc is not opposed to the Islamic revolutionary principles on which the regime is founded, despite their efforts to present themselves to the West as being liberal. When they are confronted with facts, they find themselves in limbo without convincing answers or acceptable justifications, shifting quickly to the more well-known discourse and language adopted by the hard-line revolutionary regime and its fundamentalist supporters.
The recent conference saw numerous verbal lapses by the Iranian delegates, putting their colleagues in awkward situations. Many of those present noted the disgruntled expressions on the faces of the more junior or more genuinely moderate delegates as their colleagues launched extremist tirades. These outbursts confirmed the prevalent belief among the people in the region that the internal, superficial disputes between the wings of the regime do not substantially affect the Iranian regime’s foreign policy.
The Iranian government headed by Rouhani is still not involved in making the country’s key strategic and critical decisions, even in the difficult circumstances like those which Iran is currently experiencing. Indeed, officials of the Iranian Foreign Ministry are not updated on many of the details related to the developments of Iran’s relations with the world, especially those intermediaries tasked with attempting to bring Iran’s views closer to those of the international community.
The regime’s profoundly racist and supremacist anti-Arab worldview is, in general, still an insurmountable obstacle
The “unofficial” shadow foreign ministry, represented by former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and which is linked to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is kept more regularly updated about these developments and is closer to the leadership’s decision-making circle than the official Foreign Ministry represented by Zarif. Fifth: The problem of the Iranian regime’s profoundly racist and supremacist anti-Arab worldview is, in general, still an insurmountable obstacle for Iran before anybody else. The political leadership in Iran is still unwilling or unable to let go of the nation’s imperial historical legacy. Indeed, it has ardently embraced this legacy and allowed it to dominate the Iranian conscious and subconscious mindset, despite the impossibility of reviving this legacy given the concepts of the modern world and the nation state, let alone the lack of ability among Iran’s leadership to ensure that the country plays a role as a leading nation or presents an attractive model of governance at home and abroad.
Sixth: The team of the former US President Barack Obama and those affiliated with him are still liaising with the Iranian government. Some former officials in the administration play a strong voluntary role in convincing European governments and companies to deal with Iran economically, commercially and politically. The Iranian participants at the conference couldn’t hide their nostalgic yearning for the Obama administration and its soft approach to Tehran, which enabled the regime to expand its influence across the region, with its militias and sleeper cells becoming active in every sphere.
In the end, there is still a long and bumpy road ahead for the Iranian regime if it wishes to gain the confidence of the region’s countries, to prove its goodwill and to work to change its behavior toward the region and the world. This requires the Iranian regime to change its mindset through working to gain confidence and to convince the other parties, by doing so steadily, that its change in behavior is not tactical but a real strategic change, albeit gradually.
While the Gulf nations are always ready and prepared to strengthen relations with their neighbors, their historic experiences with Iran following the 1979 revolution prove that we should always question the regime’s objectives and remain deeply skeptical about its intentions, with its words being deceptive by default until proven otherwise. Although this approach is frustrating in the context of conducting international relations in general, it is, unfortunately, not only acceptable but essential in the case of Iran.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is Head of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). Twitter: @mohalsulami