English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 18/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 16/20-24/:”Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 17-18/2020
Aoun Calls for National Meeting as Berri, Hariri Stress Civil Peace as Priority
Aoun: Efforts Ongoing to Address Crisis, Stop Smuggling
Nasrallah says Lebanon should not observe US Syria sanctions
Salameh Says BDL Seeks to Bring Dollar Price Down Gradually
Lebanon Central Bank Aims to Bring Dollar Price down Progressively
U.S. Ambassador Says Washington Not Blocking Entry of Dollars into Lebanon
U.S. Says ‘No’ Sanctions on Lebanon, But on Individuals and Entities
Hariri Meets Jumblat: Whoever Fails to Abide by Caesar Act Must Bear Consequences
Hariri declines Berri's invitation to form cabinet unless Hezbollah excluded
Avoiding the Caesar Act Impact on Lebanon Is Closely Linked to Reforms
Sami Gemayel to Nasrallah: No One Has Right to Impose a Lifestyle on Us
How Will New U.S. Sanctions Impact Syria and Lebanon?
Poverty, Anger Swell in North Lebanon as Crisis Deepens
Lebanon: Scene of Chaos and the Kinship SystemظHazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 17-18/2020
US Hits Syria with Toughest Sanctions yet to Push Assad to End War
Syrian opposition says Caesar sanctions will force Assad regime to negotiate
Vowing New Syria Campaign, U.S. Sanctions Dozens including Assad Wife
Who are the Syrian Individuals and Entities Hit by New U.S. Sanctions?
Israel annexation may draw calls for one state: UAE official
French Court Sentences Assad's Uncle to Prison Over Property Fraud
Iran Joins Turkey in Carrying out Strikes on Iraqi Territories
Iran Warns IAEA against Adopting Resolution to Allow Access to Disputed Sites
Russia, Iran Join Hands to Face US Pressure
Syria Devalues Currency as New US Sanctions Hit
Israel's Netanyahu Mulls Two-Phase West Bank Annexation, Newspaper Says
Israeli Annexation Plans Face Increasing Pressure
Egypt Adheres to Agreement Preserving Its ‘Water Rights’
Retired General Urges US to Act in Libya Before it’s Too Late
Turkey, Russia Conduct Longest Patrol Along M4
UN Documents Thousands of Children’s Rights Violations around the World
Rival Kurdish Groups in Syria Reach Breakthrough Agreement

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
 on June 17-18/2020
Danger: Iran's Arms Embargo About to Expire/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 17/2020
Military Institutions and the Course of Politics/James Stavridis/Bloomberg/June 17/2020
Assad’s Atrocities, Not Sanctions, Have Destroyed Syria/James F. Jeffrey/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wants to censor discussion of links between Islamic doctrine and terrorism at Arizona's Scottsdale /Community College (SCC)./June 17/2020
Germany Confronted its Past and Flourished. So Can the US/Pankaj Mishra/Bloomberg/June 17/2020
West Bank annexation plan will mean EU sanctions and no Arab friends left for Israel/Ksenia Svetlova/Al Arabiya/Wednesday 17 June 2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 17-18/2020
Aoun Calls for National Meeting as Berri, Hariri Stress Civil Peace as Priority
Beirut – Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
The Lebanese Presidency kicked off Tuesday preparations for holding a “comprehensive national meeting” scheduled for June 25 to discuss political, economic and financial issues as officials carried out numerous meetings to contain mounting tensions. Presidential sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting will be held at the Presidential Palace in Baabda at the proposal of President Michel Aoun following talks with Prime Minister Hassan Diab and Speaker Nabih Berri on the latest developments in the country. The sources said former presidents and prime ministers, the heads of political parties and parliamentary blocs and the deputy speaker would be invited. Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting “would discuss the political, economic, financial and monetary crises in the country.”Asked if political leaders would attend this meeting, Ferzli said: “They should comply with this invitation at this sensitive phase. Those who will refuse to attend will be held responsible for their decision.” MP Eli Hankash, of the Kataeb, told Asahrq Al-Awsat that the party would positively receive the invitation. “A final decision would be taken during a party meeting,” he said. The Lebanese Forces (LF) echoed the same position. “The decision of our participation would be taken later after consultations between the bloc and the party,” LF media and communication official Charles Jabbour told Asahrq Al-Awsat. On Tuesday, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri visited Berri at his Ain-el-Tineh residence to discuss the current situation and the latest developments in the country. In a joint statement, the pair affirmed that preserving civil peace is the top priority, highlighting the need to intensify efforts to thwart any attempt to sow sedition. They also condemned attacks on public and private properties and insults against religious figures. Earlier this month, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to voice outrage over the government’s handling of a deep economic crisis, with security forces firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them. The protests then turned violent when clashes erupted between supporters and opponents of the Hezbollah party. Last week in downtown Beirut, dozens of young men on motorcycles caused extensive damage to shops and set a local bank branch on fire as they vented their anger over the stifling crisis.

Aoun: Efforts Ongoing to Address Crisis, Stop Smuggling
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 17/2020
President Michel Aoun said the various crises impacting Lebanon, mainly its financial crisis, are not easy to handle but assured that efforts are ongoing to address them. “We are working on addressing the financial crisis, and it is not easy. The responsibility lies on three sides: The central bank, the banks and the government. Liability definitely is not with the depositors,” said Aoun. Lebanon is in the grips of an economic crisis, its worst since the 1975-1990 war, that in the autumn sparked protests against a political elite accused of incompetence and corruption. Banks have since gradually limited dollar withdrawals, forcing those in need to resort to much higher exchange rates from money changers. Moreover, Aoun declared that the security apparatuses and customs authorities have taken “new measures to stop smuggling through Lebanon’s land border” into Syria, and through “its port.”
Public pressure has mounted lately for a tougher approach to smuggling into Syria, especially of fuel and flour. Earlier this month, the cabinet ordered the seizure of all goods illegally entering or leaving Lebanon. The state spends billions of dollars on subsidies on essentials such as fuel and flour, but smugglers often sell them in war-torn Syria at a hefty mark-up. The border between the two countries has been closed in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. But the mountainous region is difficult to control and Syria's nine-year civil war has seen a surge in smuggling activity.

Nasrallah says Lebanon should not observe US Syria sanctions
Associated Press/June 17/2020
The heavily indebted Lebanon is seeking financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund but rounds of talks have not yet produced an agreement.
BEIRUT: The head of the Hezbollah group on Tuesday said Lebanon should not observe new U.S. sanctions against Syria which he described as deeply hurtful to his country if implemented.
Sayed Hassan Nasrallah also blamed the United States for the dollar shortage in Lebanon, saying Washington is preventing the foreign currency from coming into Lebanon and is pressuring its central bank not to inject fresh amounts into the economy. He called the dollar crisis “a national security issue,” no longer an economic problem. Lebanon is facing an unprecedented confluence of economic and financial crises — characterized by a severe shortage of dollars and negative economic growth. The crises were compounded by the coronavirus virus pandemic that left the country in lockdown for weeks and deepened unemployment and inflation. In addition, new U.S. sanctions against Syria, the toughest yet, are due to go into effect Wednesday penalizing any country or entity that does business with the Syrian government. Nasrallah said Lebanon is likely to be deeply hurt if it observes those sanctions, known as the U.S. Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act. He said Syria is Lebanon’s only land route to the world, so trade would be harmed. Losing the land route with Syria would force Lebanon to turn to Israel, which Nasrallah suggested is the aim of U.S. sanctions and which he said is rejected. Lebanon and Israel are technically at war and Hezbollah have fought a number of wars with Israel, the last in 2006.
The heavily indebted Lebanon is seeking financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund but rounds of talks have not yet produced an agreement.
The new sanctions also undermine Lebanese companies’ chance to take part in reconstruction in Syria and are expected to hamper bilateral trade between the two countries, Nasrallah said.
In a confrontational 100-minute televised speech, Nasrallah said the sanctions on Syria are aimed at creating chaos after Damascus emerged victorious in the nine-year war. The pressure on Lebanon, he said, is aimed to bring the small country in line with US policy and force his group to give up its weapons or increase public pressure so that it does, that will fail.
He urged the Lebanese government “not to succumb to the Caesar Act” which aims to impoverish and bring about hunger to the people of Lebanon and Syria. Addressing the United States, Nasrallah said: “Punish us but why are you punishing the Lebanese people?” Hezbollah is already on the U.S. sanctions list. “Our weapons will remain in our hands. We will not go hungry and we will kill you,” he said, angrily, but didn’t elaborate. “We will not go hungry and we will not let our country go hungry.” Nasrallah said his group would propose to the Lebanese government to turn to Iran to secure its basic needs, without needing US dollars. He said China is also ready to invest in Lebanon. He added that Hezbollah has other cards to play but didn’t elaborate. Turning to Syria, Nasrallah said the sanctions would fail to achieve their desired effects. “Syria’s allies who stood by it during the military, security and political war— and even if their own conditions are also difficult— they will not give up on Syria in the face of this economic war,” Nasrallah said.

Salameh Says BDL Seeks to Bring Dollar Price Down Gradually
Naharnet/June 17/2020
Central Bank governor Riad Salameh said the central bank aims to bring the price of the US dollar down, in agreement with the licensed money changers, in order to help stabilize the prices, media reports said on Wednesday. The "central bank’s goal in agreement with licensed money changers is to bring the dollar price down progressively in the parallel market in order to contribute as much as we can to price stability,” Salameh was quoted as saying. “This approach is necessary in a cash economy ... we hope that reforms will be implemented ... to bring confidence,” he added. After a crisis meeting last week, President Michel Aoun announced that the central bank would implement measures including "feeding dollars into the market", in a bid to support the Lebanese pound. A new electronic foreign exchange trading platform will open on June 23 as part of efforts to unify the price of dollars on a parallel market.
Salameh said the platform aims to guide the market. “The daily volume is 4 million dollars on average. These amounts are purchased from the market and sold to the market. Therefore, the reserves of the central bank are not in danger. The central bank is always committed to maintaining the stability of the Lebanese pound or at least calming the fluctuations in the exchange market,” he concluded.

Lebanon Central Bank Aims to Bring Dollar Price down Progressively
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
The Lebanese central bank aims to bring down the price of the US dollar progressively with the agreement of licensed foreign currency dealers to help stabilize prices as much as it can, governor Riad Salameh told Reuters on Tuesday.
President Michel Aoun said on Friday the central bank would supply the currency market with dollars from Monday as part of an effort to prop up the Lebanese pound, which has shed more than 60 percent of its value since October.
Responding to a written question from Reuters, Salameh did not say if the central bank had started supplying the market with dollars. “Our aim is with the agreement of the licensed exchangers to bring the price of the dollar progressively lower, contributing as much as we can to stabilize the prices,” he wrote.
“This approach is necessary in a cash economy,” he said. “We hope that reforms will be enacted ... to bring confidence.” Lebanon is grappling with an acute financial crisis seen as the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war. Its currency has fallen amid a hard currency liquidity crunch, which led the state to default on its sovereign debt in March. Dollars continue to trade on a parallel market despite official efforts to regulate dealing. Licensed foreign currency dealers agreed with the government earlier this month to work to gradually reduce the exchange rate to 3,200 pounds per dollar.
On the parallel market on Wednesday, one dealer said he bought dollars at a rate of 4,700 and another at 4,800. The official rates on offer at licensed dealers were 3,860/3,910. Queues formed outside some licensed dealers, where several customers said they had bought a maximum of $200 at the 3,910 rate.
Lebanon still applies an official peg of 1,507.5 pounds to the dollar for imports of fuel, medicine and wheat. A new electronic exchange trading platform will open on June 23 as part of the effort to unify the rates. The platform was intended to act as a market maker, Salameh said.“The daily volume is $4 million on average. These amounts are purchased from the market and sold to the market. Thus, the reserves of the central bank are not at stake,” he wrote. The central bank has always been committed to preserve the stability of the pound or at least to moderate the volatility of the fluctuations in the exchange market.”

U.S. Ambassador Says Washington Not Blocking Entry of Dollars into Lebanon
Naharnet/June 17/2020
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Wednesday denied that her country is blocking the entry of U.S. dollars into Lebanon. In remarks to LBCI television, Shea added that claims that the United States is behind Lebanon’s economic crisis are false fabrications. She said that decades of corruption and unsustainable decisions are instead to blame for the crisis. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had on Tuesday blamed the United States for the dollar shortage in Lebanon, saying Washington is preventing the foreign currency from coming into Lebanon and is pressuring its central bank not to inject fresh amounts into the economy. Lebanon is facing an unprecedented confluence of economic and financial crises characterized by a severe shortage of dollars and negative economic growth. The crises were compounded by the coronavirus virus pandemic that left the country in a lockdown for weeks and deepened unemployment and inflation. In addition, new U.S. sanctions against Syria, the toughest yet, went into effect Wednesday penalizing any country or entity that does business with the Syrian government.

U.S. Says ‘No’ Sanctions on Lebanon, But on Individuals and Entities
Naharnet/June 17/2020
A new batch of U.S. sanctions “doesn’t” target Lebanon or any of the government institutions, but imposes sanctions on parties involved in money laundering or financing terrorism, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported on Wednesday.
“There are no U.S. sanctions against Lebanon or the government institutions. Some U.S. sanctions are imposed on a number of individuals or entities accused of money laundering or financing terrorism,” a senior source in the U.S. administration told the daily. Moreover, a U.S. official said in remarks to al-Rai that the U.S. government “continues” to provide assistance to Lebanon through “various ways.” “The U.S. government allocates funds close to a quarter of a billion dollars annually to help Lebanon in various ways including financial, direct, and indirect,” he said. “Blaming the collapse of the Lebanese economy on non-existent U.S. sanctions is a matter of imagination, propaganda and misinformation,” he noted. On the U.S.’s role in the economic hardships that Lebanon faces, he said that the Lebanese “themselves are responsible for it, mainly parties that prioritize regional wars over economic growth.”
He said investors and capitalist ventures have no favor in investing in war-torn or unstable countries. “Capital escapes from wars and prefers stability and the rule of law. Lebanon, like Iran or Venezuela, is governed by gangs parallel to the state, and this deprives the country of foreign investment,” he concluded.

Hariri Meets Jumblat: Whoever Fails to Abide by Caesar Act Must Bear Consequences
Naharnet/June 17/2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Wednesday evening at the Center House with Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat, who was accompanied by a parliamentary and party delegation. “Discussions focused on the latest political developments in the country and coordination between the PSP and al-Mustaqbal Movement,” said a statement issued by Hariri’s office. Hariri and Jumblatt then held a closed-door meeting. After the meeting, Jumblat said: “We came today with the Democratic Gathering, the Progressive Socialist Party, and friends on a visit of solidarity with the symbol of Lebanese and Sunni moderation, the son of the martyr Rafik Hariri.” “We came to express solidarity with Beirut and Tripoli. We came to emphasize dialogue despite all the difficult circumstances, and the long path. We know that with Sheikh Saad, Speaker Nabih Berri and all the sincere people we will overcome these difficulties. We will not lose hope,” Jumblat added. When Jumblat was asked to comment on the Caesar Act, Hariri answered: “Did we prepare the Caesar Act? We always hear someone asking us about this law, did we write it? The U.S. Congress prepared the law, the U.S. Senate ratified it, and the U.S. President signed it.”
Asked whether Lebanon will be able to withstand the repercussions, Hariri said: “There are repercussions for this law. It is up to the Lebanese state to see how it will deal with this law.”“We could turn a blind eye to it, but if Lebanon endures the results, whoever fails to abide by this law must bear the consequences,” he added. Asedked whether he will participate in the upcoming national dialogue session in Baabda, Hariri said: “As to the issue of dialogue, everything will be decided in due time. In principle, we are not against dialogue, but in light of the crisis and the collapse we are experiencing, dialogue is not useful without results.”

Hariri declines Berri's invitation to form cabinet unless Hezbollah excluded
The Arab Weekly/June 17/2020
BEIRUT - Lebanese political sources revealed that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri sought once again to persuade former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to form a national unity government able to assist Lebanon out of its economic meltdown. These sources, however, confirmed that Hariri, who visited Berri in his home on Tuesday, once again refused to form such a government, stressing that there is no benefit in the current circumstances to forming a government unless Hezbollah is completely excluded from it.
The sources stated that Hariri reiterated his conviction that all external, Arab and international doors will be closed to Lebanon as long as Hezbollah is in the government in one way or another.
Foreign donors say that Lebanon should implement reforms to address the root causes of the crisis, but the Hassan Diab government has yet to adopt a new approach. Former Lebanese Economy Minister Nasser al-Saidi agreed with Hariri's conviction that “nobody will lend to the Lebanese government.”
Hariri stressed that what applies to Hezbollah also applies to Gebran Bassil, the president of the Free Patriotic Movement, who is not welcomed in the relevant Arab or European capitals or in the United States due to his close ties with Hezbollah and his ongoing coordination with the group.
The same sources indicated that Hariri is adamant in refusing to form any government to replace the current one headed by Diab in light of Hezbollah's insistence that it be represented in this government, even indirectly through a person affiliated with it. They said that Hezbollah would consider its absence from government to be a defeat for it and a moral victory for the US administration that it could not tolerate. Diab was appointed premiere thanks to Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, Christian President Michel Aoun and Shia Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Neither Hariri, the traditional ally of the West and the Arab Gulf states, nor Druze leader Walid Jumblatt participated in the government.
The meeting between Berri and Hariri came days after Diab said there had been “an attempted coup against the government,” stressing that this coup “failed and did not succeed in deepening the crisis.”
Diab said that his government “enjoys a high degree of trust by citizens and that fact has disturbed many of those who had bet on its failure and started disseminating rumours and fake news, but we continued our work,” without naming specific persons or entities.
He stressed that “the attempted coup has failed, and all of the secret and public meetings and all instructions of internal and joint operations have not succeeded in toppling the workshop on exposing corruption (referring to the government) (...) but they have once again revealed that people's lives do not matter to them, and that their goal is to protect themselves, and not to express the real pain of the people.”Political sources also said that the discussion between Berri and Hariri touched on the events that took place in central Beirut last Friday evening, when members of Hezbollah and Berri’s Amal Movement were accused of vandalising shops and businesses and chanting sectarian slogans, like “Shia, Shia, Shia” and insulting Prophet Mohamed’s wife Sayyida Aisha.
Berri said that his movement had not engaged in vandalism or burned shops and that its elements intervened only in order to maintain order and stop attacks on private property. A statement issued following the Berri-Hariri meeting did not touch on the issue of forming a government of national unity, but stressed that “there is no other priority that tops the priority of preserving civil peace and intensifying efforts to stop the slippage towards sedition, and of condemning acts of vandalism that affected public and private properties.”
Hours following the meeting with Berri, Hariri met with Major General Abbas Ibrahim, director general of public security. Sources close to the president's office speculated that the Lebanese president would hold extensive discussions next week about how to resolve the country's dire financial situation.
The president has already begun inviting heads of parliamentary blocs, the prime minister, the parliament speaker, former heads of government, former presidents, security officials and economic experts to these discussions.

Avoiding the Caesar Act Impact on Lebanon Is Closely Linked to Reforms
Washington- Elie Youssef/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
The Caesar Act is designed to punish the Syrian regime, until it “changes its behavior and accepts a peaceful path to a political solution in Syria,” according to officials in the US administration.
But the close links between Lebanon and Syria through dozens of bilateral agreements signed during the era of Syrian tutelage have had the new measures against the Syrian regime directly affect its neighbor, according to experts.
Basically, the Caesar Act seeks to drive Iran out of Syria and close the corridor from Tehran to Beirut via Baghdad and Damascus. And since it does not clearly define the entities, institutions, and even individuals who will be subject to its sanctions, discretion may prevail.
Some Lebanese were getting ready to have “a portion of the pie” of the projects that could be implemented in Syria. But the collapse of the exchange rate of the Syrian and Lebanese pounds exposed the reality of the structural problem faced by the two countries.
While there are no signs of imminent progress in the discussions between Beirut and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which asked the Lebanese state to prioritize three files, including the electricity, the fight against corruption, and the closure of illegal crossings, the country could face increased losses as a result of the implementation of the Caesar Act. Paul Salem, the president of the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said that a large part of the recent collapse in the financial, monetary, and economic situation in Lebanon and Syria was due to fears of the implementation of the new US bill.
“There is no doubt that the two economies are intertwined and the bill further complicates the situation… Unfortunately, the two regimes may not be affected, and fear is for the Lebanese and Syrian people, as the social cost in both countries will be high, and we see signs of this in prices of food and medicine,” Salem told Asharq Al-Awsat. He noted, however, that despite the stance against Iran and Hezbollah, the US Administration still declares its support for Lebanon as long as it undertakes economic and political reform and faces corruption.
“Washington has not yet abandoned Lebanon, but the problem lies in the economic and financial collapse, the main reasons for which are the mismanagement of the Lebanese, and not only because of our association with Syria. The US or even France will not roam the world to prevent the fall of Lebanon, and there is no safety card to prevent it from collapsing,” he underlined. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Tony Badran, a senior researcher at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, said that financial and commodity smuggling to Syria became a structural issue that turned Lebanon into a center to avoid sanctions against the Assad regime. “When Lebanese merchants import goods from abroad, they must obtain approvals, and all the ministries, especially the Ministry of Energy and banks, know that the import requests are much greater than Lebanon’s need and that they have been earmarked for Syria,” he explained. “All of this will stop with the Caesar Act and violators will be subject to sanctions,” he remarked, adding: “What is certain is that avoiding the repercussions of the bill depends on Lebanon’s response to the conditions of the international community in implementing reforms.”

Sami Gemayel to Nasrallah: No One Has Right to Impose a Lifestyle on Us
Naharnet/June 17/2020
Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel on Wednesday stressed that no one has the right to impose a certain “lifestyle” on the Lebanese, in response to remarks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
“No one has the right to drag us into the place they want and no one has the right to impose on us a lifestyle that we don’t want,” said Gemayel at a press conference. “We don’t want to live in isolation and be cut off from the West, Arabs and the entire world,” he added. Lamenting that Lebanon is “paying the price of Hizbullah’s policy” due to “the force of weapons,” Gemayel warned that Nasrallah is trying to “pull us out of the global economy, deepen our international and Arab isolation and turn us into a country with no ambition or prosperity.”
He added: “Does a Lebanese group have the right to decide on behalf of all Lebanese?”“We don’t want a defiant society but rather an open one and we don’t want militias but rather a single arsenal of weapons, which is that of the army,” Gemayel went on to say. Addressing Nasrallah, he added: “We are not collaborators but rather Lebanese and we are asking you to place yourself with us, under the constitution, so that we protect Lebanon together through our heroic army.”Nasrallah had on Tuesday said his group would propose to the Lebanese government to turn to Iran to secure its basic needs, without needing U.S. dollars. He said China is also ready to invest in Lebanon.

How Will New U.S. Sanctions Impact Syria and Lebanon?
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/June 17/2020
The United States is imposing new sanctions this week against the Syrian government over alleged crimes during the nine-year war, just as Damascus hopes to launch post-conflict reconstruction.
The sanctions could likewise have a serious knock-on effect in neighbouring Lebanon, which was in many respects Damascus's lifeline and rear base during the war. What does the Caesar Act aim to achieve? How will these new restrictions likely affect ordinary Syrians? And what are the repercussions for other countries?
- To what end? -
Syrian government officials and associated businessmen have already come under US and EU sanctions. But under the Caesar Act, the US aims to hamper any foreign person who deals with the Damascus government, or the Iranian and Russian presence on the ground in support of the regime. They target sectors including construction, the military, and oil and gas, while the central bank could be labelled a "financial institution of primary money laundering concern".
"The US has yet to clarify where -- or to what extent -- the sanctions will be implemented, but it's safe to say that the real estate, construction, energy and infrastructure sectors will be particularly affected," said Edward Dehnert, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit. Among Washington's many conditions for any future lifting of sanctions are establishing "meaningful accountability for perpetrators of war crimes", an end to regime or Russian bombardment of civilians, the freeing of political detainees, and the safe return of refugees. "The Caesar Act is the latest iteration of ongoing US efforts to force a political settlement, and enact... the removal of (President) Bashar al-Assad," Dehnert said."We don't see this happening any time soon. Mr Assad's position is secure," he added. But the sanctions might be somewhat successful in "impeding the extent to which the regime and its cronies are able to profit from the economic opportunities" provided by reconstruction.
"The sanctions are designed to maintain the Assad regime's status as a pariah, and the threat of US punitive action will be enough to scare off the majority of foreign investment," he said.
- How will Syrians be affected? -
Damascus has condemned the measures, and said they would compound "the suffering of the Syrian people" in a war-battered economy.
Analysts from the International Crisis Group and Chatham House have said mere expectations of the sanctions have already accelerated the Syrian pound's recent plunge in value on the black market. Dehnert said the measures would complicate food and fuel imports, and push more Syrians into poverty. "Unfortunately the Syrian people will suffer the most," he said. "Syrians will suffer a further erosion to their purchasing power, while employment opportunities continue to contract."
For almost two years, government-held areas in Syria have been gripped by fuel shortages and long power cuts. In Damascus, Heba Shaaban, a 28-year-old masters student, said sanctions were "nothing new for Syrians". "We've suffered a lot from those already in place... and which in one way or another cause price hikes." This time, "should we expect freezing cold nights in winter and boiling hot ones in summer during power cuts?"Hossam Tutanji, a manager of a dispensary in Old Damascus, fears "restrictions on importing equipment and tools" for medical centres.
- What impact on other countries? -
The Caesar Act also targets the influence of top regime backers Russia and Iran, which both have plenty of experience circumventing sanctions.
"If anything, the latest measures could have the opposite effect," Dehnert said.
"By warding off the more mainstream investment activity, the US is reducing the competitiveness of investment opportunities -- a race in which Russia and Iran already hold significant advantage," he said.
The sanctions could also dampen the enthusiasm of the United Arab Emirates, which had taken the lead among Gulf countries in re-establishing diplomatic and economic ties with Damascus.
They could have a serious knock-on effect in Lebanon, which was in many respects Damascus's lifeline and rear base during the war.
"The Caesar Act aims to starve Lebanon just as it aims to starve Syria," Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon's Hizbullah movement which supports the Damascus regime, said in a televised speech on Tuesday night.
The government in Beirut has set up a committee to start studying the possible impacts on its many trade links with Syria.
Lebanon is already virtually bankrupt and fresh restrictions on its access to the Syrian reconstruction market are likely to make things worse.
"Lebanese construction firms and contractors engaging in Syrian projects will be affected," Dehnert said. "Logistics, shipping and road haulage" in Lebanon could also be affected, as could agricultural and industrial players, he said.
"While food producers do not specifically target the Syrian market, they do use Syria as a corridor to supplying the wider Middle Eastern market."

Poverty, Anger Swell in North Lebanon as Crisis Deepens
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 17/2020
Years ago Ahlam had escaped poverty in Lebanon for a better life in Europe, but then a family tragedy forced her back home to a country now in the throes of a raging economic crisis. In the northern port city of Tripoli, a web of electric wires hangs low over a narrow street as men sit around a table drinking coffee in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood. Inside her small flat in a dilapidated building there, 54-year-old Ahlam leans over the kitchen sink and rinses dishes, her hair and slim body draped in black. "I escaped the poverty and deprivation we lived under in Bab al-Tebbaneh, only to return back to extreme poverty," she told AFP, fatigue visible on her emaciated face. Ahlam is one of thousands in Tripoli now struggling to put food on the table, as Lebanon's worst economic crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war has rapidly deepened in recent weeks.
The downturn has sparked unprecedented protests nationwide against a ruling elite widely deemed incompetent and corrupt, which includes wealthy politicians from Tripoli. Ahlam and her husband, seeking better chances abroad, had in 2015 sold all their furniture to join the migrant route to Europe.
They paid a trafficker to take them by sea to Europe, her husband leaving first before Ahlam followed two weeks later on a boat packed with migrants from Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She eventually made it to Germany where she reunited in the Cologne area with one of her sons and they lived a "dignified life" for around two years. But the death of her other son forced the couple to return to Tripoli to help take care of his wife and two children, so three years ago Ahlam arrived back to build up her life again from scratch.
'Borrow to buy bread'
Ahlam found work in the villa of a well-off Tripoli family, earning a monthly wage of 500,000 Lebanese pounds. That would once have been equivalent to around $330 before the start of the downturn late last year, but it would now fetch barely $100 on the black market. "My income can only buy me vegetables," Ahlam said. "I sometimes have to borrow money to buy oil and bread. "Many days, we just eat leftovers," she said. Food prices have risen by more than 70 percent since the autumn, according to the non-governmental Consumer Protection Association.
The inflation has been a blow in a country where more than 45 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line and about one third of the workforce is unemployed. But Lebanese in Tripoli, long a poorer city with a history of sectarian violence, are among the hardest hit. According to a 2015 study by the United Nations, 57 percent of the city's population already lived at or below the poverty line and 26 percent suffered extreme poverty. Ahlam said she would return to Germany in a heartbeat if she could. "I no longer feel like I'm part of this country... I'd be ready to try again, just to flee this bankrupt country where we live humiliated."
'State abandoned us'
Tripoli emerged as a vibrant protest hub in the nationwide demonstrations from October last year, earning the city the title the "bride of the revolution".
After the Lebanese currency plunged to record lows last week, angry protests erupted again, with standoffs between security forces and demonstrators leaving dozens wounded in Tripoli. In recent months, scores of protesters have rallied outside the homes of politicians in Tripoli against what they describe as the government's neglect of the port city and its residents. "All officials in Lebanon are thieves... We should be angry," said Fayad Darwish, a 55-year-old father of seven whose income has evaporated because of the de-facto devaluation.
Tripoli's economic struggles were long compounded by sectarian violence.
From 2007 to 2014, the city was the scene of frequent clashes between Sunni residents of the Bab al-Tebbaneh district, and Alawite residents of neighbouring Jabal Mohsen. With a high number of school dropouts or unemployed among the young men of Bab al-Tebbaneh, many were paid to take up arms while others joined jihadist groups in Syria or resorted to taking and dealing drugs.
"This area has paid heavily in blood for battles that have nothing to do with us," said Abu Mohammad, a 70-year-old resident. "We are worried about our youth and the possibility they may slide back into violence and take up weapons again because of growing poverty."
In a former frontline street near Bab al-Tebbaneh, a group of young men passed around a joint.Taking a drag, one of men, aged in his twenties, said: "We have nothing else to do.""We are all unemployed here," his friend chimed in. "The state has abandoned us."

Lebanon: Scene of Chaos and the Kinship System
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 17/2020
When a regime loses the pillars of its legitimacy, and the revolution against it is subsequently rattled and obstructed, then the collapse is total. This is the state of affairs in Lebanon today: neither a regime, nor change.
In such an environment, fears flourish, among them is the fear of what some refer to as “autonomous security”. Every sect takes it upon itself to protect its regions from two threats: from the extensive economic crisis’s transformation into an extensive security crisis and from the sectarian and regional other that is “gunning for us” and might think of “expanding into our areas”. The military institution and the security forces, under these circumstances, cease to be a source of security because as they collapse as living standards rip them apart and may lead the soldiers and security staff back to their sectarian and regional origins. The potential cessation of US aid to the Lebanese army would multiply the likelihood of this dangerous development.
Some of those who are worried about this scenario have seen evidence for it in some of Beirut’s neighborhoods and alleys and in rural areas where divergent sects coexist. It is said that weapons are being distributed, organizations are being established and partisan coordination meetings are being held… On top of that, there is what became known to all: from the provocations by motorcycle riders, to attempting to storm the Ain al-Rummanah (Christian) area, to insulting some (Sunni) sacred figures, not to mention the chant of “Shiite… Shiite”.
None are oblivious. Everyone has become aware that this sectarian tension serves particular functions: the October Revolution ought not to resume, smuggling to Syria ought not to be stopped, the “Cesar Act” ought not to be applied in Lebanon and, of course, the equation that pits the resistance in opposition to bread and bread in opposition to the resistance ought not to become apparent. And who knows, this misrepresentation campaign may develop into a military campaign in the south, thus renewing the cry of battle with Israel that no cry can rise above.
But, why is it that, in this part of the world, the potential for “things to turn sectarian” is so strong?
Going back less than two decades in past, we remember that Iraq in 2003, after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, there appeared a sectarian forest that Saddam had done nothing with but suppress, allowing it to expand and fester in the shadows. Also, the Lebanese of the sovereignty movement, on March 14, 2005, did not manage to provide a single clear example demonstrating their overcoming of sectarianism. We know, from more recent history, that the Syrian revolution was transformed, alongside the regime’s brutality and the word’s neglect, into a civil war (the same is true, with a difference in the details, for the Yemeni and Libyan revolutions). Later, in 2019 and 2020, the Iraqis revolted, but the Sunnis kept themselves out of the revolution, and the Lebanese revolted, but Hezbollah kept the Shiites out of it.
Among the other very well-known examples, is one which takes us back further: “The Socialist Arab Baath Party”, described as secular, which proposed “uniting the Arab nation”, ended up splitting in two, one under Alawite leadership in Syria and another under Sunni Tikriti leadership in Iraq. The slogan of the battle with Israel has been made, by Hezbollah and because of it, into an element of a new Shiite identity. The parties described as ideological in the Arab Levant, like the Communists and the Syrian Nationalists, maintained their waning presence through this or that sect’s protection.
In such a situation, hopes in the fight against sectarianism dwindle. Education and encountering the outside world can modernize sects and sectarianism far more than they can undermine them. Social class, which may intersect with the sect and may incite rebellion from time to time, suffices itself, at the decisive moment, with being a mere economic player that has neither consciousness of itself nor the potential for politicization as such.
The fact that members of the same group live side by side, the emphasis on origins, possession of the family’s genealogical tree, the predominance of consanguineous marriage, the values of retribution and the accompanying payment of blood money (diyya)... all of these have been, since pre-modern times, the foundations of our extended kinship system. With modernity, the economy and education adapted to the kinship system: the first turned these groups into wealth distribution networks, and the second provided uneven degrees of reception to foreign schools, which thereby contributed to reinforcing the given divergence. The traditionalists’ regimes did not challenge this state of affairs, and the military regimes that came to power through coup d'états enshrined it and intensified it.
This does not mean that we have always been sectarian: 200 years ago, there were no sects in the way we know them today. Nevertheless, our tribal social composition laid the groundwork for sectarianism’s subsequent development. This also does not mean that we are destined to remain divided into sects forever. However, the era of sectarianism and the kinship system can last for a long time when we do not resist them, and we did not resist them. We resisted capitalism, colonialism, Zionism and reactionaries, but we did not resist sectarianism and the kinship system. Even today, the more pervasive they become, and today their pervasiveness is at its peak, the more our intellectuals insist on denying their existence or downplaying their ubiquity.
Indeed, modernist ideology and its political parties, which overtook our intellectuals, did nothing but modernize the traditional through various forms of denying reality. This often manifested in sectarian parties’ “Nationalism” and took them on the journey of “fighting imperialism and Zionism”. Today’s manifestations of this phenomenon are the “progressive” positions supporting Hezbollah and the Baath Party. And the last of the theaters, until further notice, may be Lebanon, where there is neither a regime nor change, only ruin to be brought down upon “brethren” at the hands of their “brethren”.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 17-18/2020
US Hits Syria with Toughest Sanctions yet to Push Assad to End War
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
The United States on Wednesday imposed its toughest sanctions ever targeting Syrian president Bashar Assad to choke off revenue for his government in a bid to force it back to United Nations-led negotiations and broker an end to the country’s nearly decade-long war. "We anticipate many more sanctions and we will not stop until Assad and his regime stop their needless, brutal war against the Syrian people," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
He called the sanctions "the beginning of what will be a sustained campaign of economic and political pressure to deny the Assad regime revenue and support it uses to wage war and commit mass atrocities against the Syrian people."
Pompeo was announcing the coming into force of the Caesar Act, which punishes any companies that work with Assad and has already led the Syrian currency to plummet in value. The first batch of designations target 39 people or entities, including Assad personally as well as his wife Asma -- the first time she has been targeted by US sanctions. They also target Assad’s brother, sister, a few senior generals and Iranian militia. Under the law, any assets in the United States will be frozen. President Assad has been under US sanctions since he began to crush an uprising in 2011. Born in Britain to a cardiologist father and diplomat mother, Asma is a former investment banker who had styled herself as a progressive reformer and modern face of the Assads. But Pompeo in his statement charged that Asma, with the support of her husband and her own Akhras family, "has become one of Syria's most notorious war profiteers."
Effects felt in Syria
Others designated under the Caesar Act include Mohammed Hamsho, one of Syria's most prominent businesspeople, and the Fatemiyoun, an Iranian-led division of Afghan Shiite Muslims that has been deployed to prop up Assad.
Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has succeeded in winning back virtually all of Syria except the Idlib area after a war that has killed more than 380,000 people.
The Caesar Act, passed by the US Congress last year with bipartisan support, seeks to prevent Assad's normalization without accountability for human rights abuses. It penalizes in the United States any company that deals with Assad and blocks reconstruction assistance from Washington. Syria's central bank on Wednesday devalued the pound after the currency depreciated for weeks on the black market in anticipation of the law. Pompeo said the goal was to force Assad into accepting Security Council Resolution 2254 of 2015 -- which called for a ceasefire, elections and political transition in Syria. A UN-driven process has made no headway, with Assad last year launching a major offensive backed by Russian airpower to retake Idlib. Pompeo said the United States was undertaking the pressure campaign "in full cooperation with other like-minded countries."
The European Union has imposed its own sanctions over Syria and a French court separately on Wednesday convicted an uncle of Bashar over money-laundering and misappropriation of government funds. The Caesar Act is named after a former Syrian military photographer who fled at great personal risk in 2014 with 55,000 images of brutality in Assad's jails.
‘Broken country’
Syria has already been under US and European Union sanctions that have frozen the assets of the state and hundreds of companies and individuals. Washington already bans export and investment in Syria by Americans, as well as transactions involving oil and hydrocarbon products. But the new sanctions can freeze the assets of anyone dealing with Syria, regardless of nationality, and cover many more sectors. It also targets those dealing with entities from Russia and Iran, Assad’s main backers. In a call with reporters, a senior administration official said investment plans in areas, including in reconstruction, that were to aid Assad’s government had already fizzled out due to fear of the Caesar Act. “It’s meant to keep the foreign investors out,” he said. Several analysts agreed. “If you are engaging in these sectors, you will be cut off from the US financial system, which is the most powerful in the world. For you as a company, you choose between that and investing in a broken country,” said Elizabeth Tsurkov, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, according to Reuters.

Syrian opposition says Caesar sanctions will force Assad regime to negotiate
The New Arab/June 17/2020
The Syrian opposition “interim government” has welcomed the implementation of US sanctions passed under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, the Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday night. At a live event broadcast on the Internet by the Horan Foundation humanitarian group, the interim government’s economy minister, Abdul Hakim Al-Masri said that the Ceasar Act sanctions will force the Assad regime to negotiate with the opposition. “If countries are serious about implementing [the sanctions] the regime will be forced to move to a political settlement.”
The opposition interim government operates in areas of Syria held by anti-Assad rebels. With heavy backing from Russia and Iran, the Assad regime has since 2015 managed to capture areas of Syria previously held by rebels, leaving only the Idlib region and areas near the Turkish border under rebel control. In late 2019, the regime launched a deadly assault on Idlib province, causing over a million refugees to flee and sparking Turkish intervention. A ceasefire was reached in March but it is frequently violated by the regime and its backers. Al-Masri said that the Caesar Act targets the regime’s aviation, energy, and telecommunications sectors and aims to cut off financing for the regime’s ‘reconstruction projects’, adding that the regime and its backers would be ‘totally’ targeted by the Caesar law. He noted that a passage in the Caesar Act allows food and medical supplies to enter Syria – after US presidential authorization - without being subject to sanctions. However, he said that the regime could be used by the regime “as an excuse to pressure the people”. An estimated 80 percent of Syrians live in poverty and Syria is currently facing an economic crisis as the value of the Syrian lira plummets. The regime reportedly reduced the official exchange rate of the lira from 704 liras to one dollar down to 1,256 liras to one dollar on Wednesday.
On the black market, the lira is trading at approximately 3,000 liras to one dollar.
The crisis has left many Syrians unable to buy essential items and protests against Assad have broken out in regime-controlled areas, notably in Suweida. The regime has blamed the crisis on the Caesar Act but many observers have said that other factors are responsible, including the inability of Iran and Russia to continue supporting the regime financially and corruption and in-fighting among key regime figures. On Tuesday, the UN’s envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, said that Syrians could face starvation and that 9.3 million people in the country are suffering from food insecurity, with two million more threatened by it.
Pedersen added that coronavirus could increasingly threaten Syria as a result of the economic chaos. The US insists that its sanctions only target the regime, not the Syrian people. On Tuesday US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft told the UN Security Council that the aim of the sanctions was to “prevent the Assad regime from securing a military victory” and deprive it of “the revenue and the support it has used to commit the large-scale atrocities and human rights violations that prevent a political resolution”.

Vowing New Syria Campaign, U.S. Sanctions Dozens including Assad Wife
Naharnet/June 17/2020
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's wife and dozens of others as it vowed a vast pressure campaign under a new law that has already rattled the war-torn nation's economy.
The Caesar Act, which took effect Wednesday, punishes under U.S. law any company that works with Assad, casting a cloud over efforts to rebuild Syria.
"We anticipate many more sanctions and we will not stop until Assad and his regime stop their needless, brutal war against the Syrian people," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, vowing a "sustained campaign of economic and political pressure."
The first batch of designations target 39 people or entities, including Assad personally as well as his wife Asma -- the first time she has been hit by U.S. sanctions. Under the law, any assets in the United States will be frozen. President Assad has been under U.S. sanctions since he began to crush an uprising in 2011.
Born in Britain to a cardiologist father and diplomat mother, Asma al-Assad is a former investment banker who had styled herself as a progressive reformer and modern face of the Assads. She announced in August that she had recovered from breast cancer.
But Pompeo in his statement charged that Asma al-Assad, with the support of her husband and her own Akhras family, "has become one of Syria's most notorious war profiteers."
- Effects felt in Syria -
Syrian government-controlled areas this month saw rare protests over the skyrocketing cost of living. President Assad last week sacked his prime minister of four years. On Wednesday, the central bank devalued the country's pound after the currency depreciated for weeks on the black market in anticipation of the law. Nonetheless, in its first batch of sanctions, the United States focused on Syrians and avoided targeting Russian companies -- a step that could send further chills through the economy.
The Treasury Department took action against companies involved in major property projects for post-war Syria including Marota City, a luxury residential complex, and Grand Town Tourist City, a development near the Damascus airport set to include an exclusive hotel and golf course.
"To make way for five-star real estate, the regime has evicted and razed the property of tens of thousands of residents from areas in Damascus that were until recently working-class neighborhoods sympathetic to the opposition," the Treasury Department said.
People and groups designated by the State Department include Mohammed Hamsho, one of Syria's most prominent business persons, and the Fatemiyoun, an Iranian-led division of Afghan Shiite Muslims that has been deployed to prop up Assad. Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has succeeded in winning back virtually all of Syria except the Idlib area after a war that has killed more than 380,000 people and saw the rise of the ultra-violent Islamic State movement.
- Seeking political solution -
The Caesar Act, passed by the U.S. Congress last year with bipartisan support, aims to prevent Assad's normalization without accountability for human rights abuses. It also blocks U.S. reconstruction assistance. Humanitarian groups are exempt from the sanctions on working in Syria.
Pompeo said the goal was to force Assad into accepting Security Council Resolution 2254 of 2015 -- which called for a ceasefire, elections and political transition in Syria. A UN-driven process has made no headway, with Assad last year launching a major offensive backed by Russian airpower to retake Idlib.
Representative Eliot Engel, a Democrat who helped spearhead the law, said the Caesar Act was long overdue.
"It shouldn't have taken so long to get this bill enacted and it shouldn't have taken Congress to push the administration to take a positive step to address the crisis," Engel said. Pompeo said the United States was undertaking the pressure campaign "in full cooperation with other like-minded countries."
The European Union has imposed its own sanctions over Syria and a French court separately on Wednesday convicted an uncle of Bashar al-Assad over money-laundering and misappropriation of government funds.
The Caesar Act is named after a former Syrian military photographer who fled at great personal risk in 2014 with 55,000 images of brutality in Assad's jails.

Who are the Syrian Individuals and Entities Hit by New U.S. Sanctions?
Associated Press/Naharnet/June 17/2020
The Trump administration on Wednesday ramped up pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad and his inner circle with a raft of new economic and travel sanctions for human rights abuses and blocking a settlement of the country's bloody nine-year conflict.
The State Department said 39 Syrian individuals, including Assad and his wife, had been designated for the new sanctions. Others include members of the extended Assad family, senior military leaders and business executives. Many of those on the list were already subject to U.S. sanctions, but the penalties also target non-Syrians who do business with them.
Separately, the Treasury Department announced it has imposed sanctions on 24 individuals, companies and government agencies that "are actively supporting the corrupt reconstruction efforts" of Assad.
One newcomer to the U.S. blacklists is Assad's wife, Asma, who had not been previously targeted but was hit for becoming what the State Department said is "one of Syria's most notorious war profiteers."
The sanctions are the result of legislation known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, named after the pseudonym of a Syrian policeman who turned over photographs of thousands of victims of torture by the Assad government.
In addition to Bashar and Asma Assad, those designated on Wednesday include Assad's sister Bushra; his brother, Maher, and his wife, Manal; Mohamed Hamsho, the head of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce; his wife, Rania al-Dabbas; his son, Ahmed, a show jumper in Syria's equestrian team in the 2012 Olympics; and Ghassan Ali, a right-hand man of Maher Assad, and Samer al-Dana, who are leaders of the Syrian military's Fourth Division.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the following individuals have been added to the Specially Designated Nationals List of its Office of Foreign Assets Control:
- AL-ASSAD, Asma (Arabic: اسماء الاسد) (a.k.a. AKHRAS, Asma; a.k.a. AL-AKHRAS, Asma), Damascus, Syria; DOB 11 Aug 1975; POB Acton, United Kingdom; nationality Syria; alt. nationality United Kingdom; Gender Female (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- AL-ASSAD, Bushra (Arabic: بشرى الاسد) (a.k.a. SHAWKAT, Bushra), Dubai, United Arab Emirates; DOB 24 Oct 1960; POB Egypt; nationality Syria; Gender Female (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- AL-ASSAD, Manal (Arabic: منال الاسد) (a.k.a. AL-AHMAD, Manal; a.k.a. AL-AKHRAZ, Manal; a.k.a. JAADAN, Manal), Damascus, Syria; DOB 02 Feb 1970; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Female (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- ALDABBAS, Rania (a.k.a. AL DABAS, Rania Raslan; a.k.a. AL DABBAS, Rania Raslan (Arabic: رانية رسلان الدباس); a.k.a. DABAS, Rania Raslan; a.k.a. DABBAS, Rania Raslan), Damascus, Syria; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; DOB 02 Jun 1974; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Female; Passport N003000785 (Syria) (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- AL-DANA, Samer (Arabic: سامر الدانا), Damascus, Syria; DOB 01 May 1968; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Passport 3463215 (Syria); Brigadier General; Commander of the 41st Brigade of the FOURTH DIVISION of the Syrian Arab Army (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- AL-OLABI, Adel Anwar (Arabic: عادل انور العلبي) (a.k.a. AL-OLABI, Adil Anwar; a.k.a. AL-'ULABI, 'Adel Anwar; a.k.a. EL-OULABI, Adel Anouar), Damascus, Syria; DOB 1976; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male (individual) [SYRIA].
- AL-ZUBAIDI, Khaled (Arabic: خالد الزبيدي) (a.k.a. AL-ZUBAIDI, Khaled Bassam; a.k.a. AL-ZUBAIDI, Mohammed Khaled Bassam; a.k.a. ZUBAIDI, Mohammed Khaled; a.k.a. ZUBEDI, Khalid), Syria; Canada; DOB 10 Apr 1976; nationality Syria; alt. nationality Canada; Gender Male; Passport N 006540969 (Syria); alt. Passport HC246053 (Canada) (individual) [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- BILAL, Ghassan Ali (Arabic: غسان علي بلال) (a.k.a. BELAL, Ghassan), Damascus, Syria; DOB 1966; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Commander of the 555th Regiment and Director of the Security Bureau of the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arab Army (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- HAMCHO, Sumaia Saber (Arabic: سعمية صابر حمشو) (a.k.a. HAMSHO, Somaya Saber), Doha, Qatar; DOB 16 Apr 1965; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; alt. nationality Qatar; Gender Female; Passport 01175686 (Qatar) (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- HAMSHO, Ahmad Sabir Mohammed (a.k.a. HAMCHO, Ahmad Saber (Arabic: احمد صابر حمشو); a.k.a. HAMCHO, Ahmad Saber Mohamad; a.k.a. HAMSHOU, Ahmed Saber Mohammed), Damascus, Syria; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; London, United Kingdom; DOB 25 Nov 1992; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Passport N005364444 (Syria) (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- HAMSHO, Ali Muhammad (Arabic: علي محمد حمشو) (a.k.a. HAMCHO, Ali; a.k.a. HAMCHO, Ali Mohamad; a.k.a. HAMSHOU, Ali Mohammed), Damascus, Syria; Paris, France; DOB 03 Nov 1998; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Passport N005361042 (Syria) (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- HAMSHO, Amr Mohamed (a.k.a. HAMCHO, Amre (Arabic: عمرو حمشو); a.k.a. HAMCHO, Amre Mohamad; a.k.a. HAMSHO, Amrou Mohammed; a.k.a. - HAMSHOU, Amrou Mohammed), Damascus, Syria; DOB 07 Mar 1995; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Passport N005361043 (Syria) (individual) [SYRIA-EO13894].
- JAMALEDDINE, Nazir Ahmad Mohammed (Arabic: نذير احمد محمد جمال الدين) (a.k.a. JAMAL EDDIN, Mohammed Nazer; a.k.a. JAMAL EDDINE, Natheer Ahmed Mohammed; a.k.a. JAMAL EDDINE, Nathier Ahmed Mohammed), Damascus, Syria; DOB 02 Jan 1962; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Passport N011612445 (Syria); alt. Passport 002-17-L022286 (Syria); National ID No. 010-30208342 (Syria) (individual) [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- KALAI, Nader (Arabic: نادر قلعي) (a.k.a. AL KALAI, Nadir; a.k.a. KALAI, Nader Mohamad; a.k.a. KALAI, Nader Mohammed Wajieh; a.k.a. KALEI, Nader; a.k.a. QALAI, Nader; a.k.a. QALEI, Nader), 871 Young Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2V8, Canada; Ain El Mraisse, Beirut, Lebanon; Saifi Street, Jemayzeh, Beirut, Lebanon; Capsurville, Dekwaneh, El Metn Jemayzeh, Beirut, Lebanon; Ghrayeb Bldg, Sami Soloh St, Badaro, Beirut, Lebanon; DOB 09 Jul 1965; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; alt. nationality Canada; Gender Male; Passport N 010170320 (Syria); National ID No. 010-40036453 (Syria); alt. National ID No. 34191608 (Canada) (individual) [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
The following entities have meanwhile been added to OFAC's SDN List:
- AL-AMAR ONE-PERSON LLC (Arabic: شركة العمار ذات الشخص الواحد المحدودة المسؤولية) (a.k.a. AL-AMMAR LLC ONE PERSON COMPANY; a.k.a. "AL-AMMAR"), Rural Damascus, Syria; Organization Established Date 18 Jan 2017; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- APEX DEVELOPMENT AND PROJECTS LLC (Arabic: شركة القمة للتطویر والمشاریع المحدودة المسؤولیة) (a.k.a. AL 'QIMA DEVELOPMENT AND PROJECTS LLC; a.k.a. SUMMIT DEVELOPMENT AND PROJECTS LLC), Rural Damascus, Syria; Organization Established Date 17 Jan 2018; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- ART HOUSE GMBH, Sieveringerstrasse 164, Vienna 1190, Austria; National ID No. FN292891 y (Austria) [SYRIA] (Linked To: CASTLE HOLDING GMBH).
- BUNYAN DAMASCUS PRIVATE JOINT STOCK COMPANY (Arabic: شركة بنيان دمشق المساهمة المغلفة الخاصة) (a.k.a. BUNYAN DAMASCUS), Marota City, Eastern Villas, Mazeh, Damascus 096311, Syria; Organization Established Date Apr 2018; Organization Type: Construction of buildings; alt. Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] (Linked To: DAMASCUS CHAM HOLDING COMPANY).
- CASTLE HOLDING GMBH (a.k.a. "CASTLE HOLDING"; a.k.a. "CASTLE HOLDING INVESTMENT"; a.k.a. "CASTLE INVEST"; a.k.a. "CASTLE INVEST HOLDING"), Sieveringerstrasse 164, Vienna 1190, Austria; National ID No. FN292092Y (Austria) [SYRIA] (Linked To: KALAI, Nader).
- CASTLE INVESTMENT HOLDING (Arabic: شركة كاسل إنفست هولدنغ ش.م.ل.) (a.k.a. CASTLE INVEST HOLDING COMPANY SAL; a.k.a. CASTLE INVEST HOLDING SAL; a.k.a. CASTLE INVESTMENT HOLDING PRIVATE JSC; a.k.a. "CASTLE HOLDINGS"), West Mazzeh, Damascus, Syria; First Floor, Sami Saleh Avenue, Beirut, Lebanon; Registration Number 1900127 (Lebanon) [SYRIA] (Linked To: KALAI, Nader).
- DAMASCUS CHAM FOR MANAGEMENT LLC (Arabic: دمشق الشام الادارة) (a.k.a. DAMASCUS CHAM MANAGEMENT CO. LTD.; a.k.a. DAMASCUS CHAM MANAGEMENT ONE-PERSON CO. LTD.), Marota City, Eastern Villas, Mazeh, Damascus 096311, Syria; Organization Established Date 2018; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] (Linked To: DAMASCUS CHAM HOLDING COMPANY).
- DAMASCUS CHAM HOLDING COMPANY (Arabic: شركة دمشق الشام القابضة) (a.k.a. DAMASCUS CHAM HOLDING PRIVATE JSC; a.k.a. DAMASCUS CHAM PRIVATE JOINT STOCK COMPANY), Marota City, Eastern Villas, Mazeh, Damascus 096311, Syria; Organization Established Date 17 Dec 2016; Business Registration Number 17951 (Syria) [SYRIA].
- EBLA HOTEL (Arabic: فندق إيبلا) (a.k.a. EBLA HOTEL AND OMAYAD PALACE FOR CONFERENCES), Airport Road - 4th Bridge, Damascus, Syria; P.O. Box 6416, Damascus, Syria; Organization Established Date 1989; Organization Type: Short term accommodation activities [SYRIA].
- FOURTH DIVISION OF THE SYRIAN ARAB ARMY (Arabic: الفرقة الرابعة في الجيش العربي السوري), Syria [SYRIA-EO13894].
- GRAND TOWN TOURIST CITY (Arabic: غراند تاون المدينة السياحة) (a.k.a. GRAND TOWN; a.k.a. GRAND TOWN TOURISM PROJECT (Arabic: مشروع غراند تاون السياحي); a.k.a. ZK GRAND TOWN), Airport Road, after the Fourth Bridge, Damascus, Syria; Website www.facebook.com/ZKGrandTown/; Organization Established Date 2017; Organization Type: Real estate activities on a fee or contract basis [SYRIA].
- KALAI INDUSTRIES (Arabic: قلعي للصناعات) (a.k.a. KALAI INDUSTRIES MANAGEMENT; a.k.a. MOHAMMED KALAI), Dara Autostrad (Amman Highway), Kessweh, 500m after the Katakir Bridge, Damascus, Syria; Organization Established Date 1990; Registration Number 38372 (Syria) [SYRIA] (Linked To: KALAI, Nader).
- MIRZA COMPANY (Arabic: شركة ميرزا) (a.k.a. MIRZA CO.), Marota City, Eastern Villas, Mazeh, Damascus 096311, Syria; Organization Established Date 14 Jan 2018; Organization Type: Construction of buildings; alt. Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] (Linked To: DAMASCUS CHAM HOLDING COMPANY).
- RAMAK DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS LLC (Arabic: راماك للمشاريع التنموية و الانسانية) (a.k.a. RAMAK COMPANY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS LLC), Rural Damascus, Syria; Organization Established Date 08 Aug 2011; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property; alt. Organization Type: Construction of buildings [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- RAWAFED DAMASCUS PRIVATE JOINT STOCK COMPANY (Arabic: شركة روافد دمشق المساهمة المغفلة الخاصة) (a.k.a. RAWAFED DAMASCUS INVESTMENTS COMPANY; a.k.a. RAWAFED DAMASCUS PRIVATE JSC; a.k.a. RAWAFID DAMASCUS PRIVATE JOINT STOCK COMPANY; a.k.a. TRIBUTARIES DAMASCUS PRIVATE JSC), Marota City, Damascus, Syria; Organization Established Date 08 Apr 2018; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property; alt. Organization Type: Construction of buildings [SYRIA].
- TAMAYOZ LLC (Arabic: شركة تميز المحدودة المسؤولية) (a.k.a. EXCELLENCE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY), Damascus, Syria; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- TELEFOCUS CONSULTANTS INC (a.k.a. TELEFOCUS CONSULTANTS INC CANADA), 871 Young Ave, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2V8, Canada; Commercial Registry Number 3234614 (Canada) [SYRIA] (Linked To: KALAI, Nader).
- TELEFOCUS SAL OFFSHORE (Arabic: تيليفوكوس ش.م.ل.(اوف شور)), Mir Bachir St, Riad El Solh, Beirut, Lebanon; 7th Floor-Riad-Solh Lazarieh Tower, Beirut, Lebanon; 1470 Bachoura - Azaria Building - 7th Floor, Beirut, Lebanon; Registration Number 1802940 (Lebanon) [SYRIA] (Linked To: KALAI, Nader).
- TIMEET TRADING LLC (Arabic: شركة التيميت للتجارة المحدودة المسؤولية) (a.k.a. ULTIMATE TRADING LLC), Rural Damascus, Syria; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- WINGS PRIVATE JSC (Arabic: شركة الاجنحة المساهمة المغفلة الخاصة) (a.k.a. WINGS PRIVATE JOINT STOCK COMPANY), Rural Damascus, Syria; Organization Type: Real estate activities with own or leased property [SYRIA] [SYRIA-CAESAR].
- ZUBAIDI AND QALEI LLC (Arabic: شركة زبيدي وقلعي المحدودة المسؤولية) (a.k.a. ZUBEDI & KALAI; a.k.a. ZUBEDI AND KALAI; a.k.a. "ZK HOLDING"), Airport Road, Damascus, Syria; P.O. Box 6416, Damascus, Syria; Organization Type: Real estate activities on a fee or contract basis [SYRIA].
The following changes have been made to OFAC's SDN List:
- AL-ASAD, Mahir (a.k.a. ASSAD, Mahar; a.k.a. ASSAD, Maher); DOB 1968; Lieutenant Colonel; Position: Brigade Commander in the Syrian Army's 4th Armored Division (individual) [SYRIA]. -to- AL-ASSAD, Maher (Arabic: ماهر الأسد) (a.k.a. AL-ASAD, Mahir; a.k.a. ASSAD, Mahar; a.k.a. ASSAD, Maher), Damascus, Syria; DOB 08 Dec 1967; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Diplomatic Passport 4138 (Syria); Major General; Commander of the Syrian Army's 4th Armored Division (individual) [SYRIA] [SYRIA-EO13894].
- AL-ASSAD, Bashar (a.k.a. AL ASSAD, Bashar Hafez; a.k.a. AL-ASAD, Bashar; a.k.a. ASSAD, Bashar); DOB 11 Sep 1965; POB Damascus, Syria; President of the Syrian Arab Republic (individual) [SYRIA]. -to- AL-ASSAD, Bashar (Arabic: بشار الأسد) (a.k.a. AL ASSAD, Bashar Hafez; a.k.a. AL-ASAD, Bashar; a.k.a. ASSAD, Bashar), Damascus, Syria; DOB 11 Sep 1965; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; President of the Syrian Arab Republic (individual) [SYRIA] [SYRIA-EO13894].
- FATEMIYOUN DIVISION (a.k.a. FATEMIOUN BRIGADE; a.k.a. FATEMIOUN MILITARY DIVISION; a.k.a. FATEMIYOUN; a.k.a. FATEMIYOUN BATTALION; a.k.a. FATEMIYOUN FORCE; a.k.a. FATEMIYYUN; a.k.a. LIWA FATEMIYOUN), Syria; Iran; Additional Sanctions Information - Subject to Secondary Sanctions [SDGT] [IRGC] [IFSR] [IRAN-HR] (Linked To: ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS (IRGC)-QODS FORCE). -to- FATEMIYOUN DIVISION (Arabic: لواء فاطميون) (a.k.a. FATEMIOUN BRIGADE; a.k.a. FATEMIOUN MILITARY DIVISION; a.k.a. FATEMIYOUN; a.k.a. FATEMIYOUN BATTALION; a.k.a. FATEMIYOUN FORCE; a.k.a. FATEMIYYUN; a.k.a. LIWA FATEMIYOUN), Syria; Iran; Additional Sanctions Information - Subject to Secondary Sanctions [SDGT] [IRGC] [IFSR] [IRAN-HR] [SYRIA-EO13894] (Linked To: ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS (IRGC)-QODS FORCE).
- HAMSHO, Muhammad (a.k.a. HAMCHO, Mohamed; a.k.a. HAMSHO, Mohammad; a.k.a. HAMSHO, Mohammed Saber; a.k.a. HAMSHOU, Mohammed; a.k.a. HAMSHU, Muhammad Sabir); DOB 20 May 1966; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Passport 002954347 (individual) [SYRIA]. -to- HAMSHO, Muhammad (a.k.a. HAMCHO, Mohamed; a.k.a. HAMSHO, Mohammad; a.k.a. HAMSHO, Mohammed Saber; a.k.a. HAMSHOU, Mohammed; a.k.a. HAMSHU, Muhammad Sabir), Syria; DOB 20 May 1966; POB Damascus, Syria; nationality Syria; Gender Male; Passport 002954347 (Syria) (individual) [SYRIA] [SYRIA-EO13894].

Israel annexation may draw calls for one state: UAE official

Associated Press/ June 17, 2020
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: A senior Emirati official warned Wednesday that Israel's planned annexation of parts of the West Bank could lead Arab states to call for a single bi-national state for Israelis and Palestinians.
The Arab minister’s remarks, delivered to an influential Washington think tank, struck a new setback to Israel's hopes of normalizing relations with the Arab world and added to the increasingly vocal international opposition to the Israeli annexation plan.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the strategically important Jordan Valley. Such a unilateral move would dash Palestinian hopes of establishing a viable independent state.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built dozens of settlements that are now home to nearly 500,000 Israelis. The Palestinians seek the territory as the heartland of their future state. Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal under international law. Anwar Gargash, the United Arab Emirates's minister of state for foreign affairs, told the Washington-based Middle East Institute that his country is committed to dialog and the two-state solution to the decades-long conflict. But he added that "ultimately, I personally believe that if we are going where we are going today, and we lose the possibility of really implementing a two-state solution, we will really be talking about equal rights and one state." A binational state of Israelis and Palestinians would mean an end to Israel's goal of being a democracy with a solid Jewish majority.
Israel has cultivated close, but clandestine, ties with several Arab states, including the UAE, because of their shared concern about Iran. Those warming relations have manifested themselves publicly with Israeli ministers visiting the UAE, Israeli athletes attending sports events and some quiet business ties.
Israel only has formal diplomatic relations with Egypt and Jordan, which also have both strongly criticized the annexation plan. Gargash told the American Jewish Committee Tuesday that "the UAE is clearly against any annexation as being proposed by the current Israeli government."
Last Friday, Yousef Al Otaiba, the Gulf state's ambassador to the US, published an editorial in a leading Israeli newspaper warning that annexation of occupied territory would "upend" Israel’s efforts to improve ties with Arab countries.
Also Wednesday, Gargash said "less than 100" Emirati soldiers remain in Yemen amid a Saudi-led war on the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that hold the capital, Sanaa. The UAE began to withdraw in July 2019 from the yearslong war in the Arab world’s poorest nation amid international criticism of a campaign that saw airstrikes kill civilians and prisoners tortured.

French Court Sentences Assad's Uncle to Prison Over Property Fraud
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was found guilty of acquiring millions of euros worth of French property using funds diverted from the Syrian state and sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday.
Rifaat al-Assad was convicted of embezzling Syrian state funds to buy homes and offices worth €90m (£80m) to build a French property portfolio.
The 82-year-old former vice-president denies any wrongdoing. His lawyers say he will appeal. The French court also ruled that all of Rifaat's property in France be seized as well as a property worth 29 million euros in London.
Assad, who was hospitalized with internal bleeding in France in December, was not in court for the ruling. Assad is a former military commander, widely held responsible for crushing an uprising in 1982 against then-president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father. Many thousands were killed.

Iran Joins Turkey in Carrying out Strikes on Iraqi Territories
Baghdad – Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Iran joined Turkey in carrying out airstrikes against Iraqi territories in the northern Kurdistan Region.
Turkish fighter jets struck on Sunday night Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq, destroying “terrorist” hideouts. It carried out 81 attacks against PKK targets in the Sinjar region and nearby areas as part of Operation Claw-Eagle. Ankara carried out even more attacks on Wednesday. Its Defense Ministry announced that warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq’s Haftanin region. “In order to neutralize the PKK and other terrorist elements threatening our people and our borders, our Air Force, along with fire-support equipment, helicopters and our commandos, supported by armed and unarmed drones, have mobilized to the region with air operations,” the ministry said in a tweet. Turkey regularly targets PKK militants, both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based. The two latest airstrikes come amid what Ankara alleges is an increase in militant attacks on Turkish army bases. Kurdish sources revealed that Turkey has even cooperated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps in striking the region. The Rudaw news agency reported that strikes targeted the heights of Baraskan in the village of Alana. No human losses were reported.
Security sources said Iranian forces shelled border regions, wounding several farmers. Tehran has justified its attacks against Kurdish regions in Iraq saying it is targeting the Iranian Kurdish opposition that operates within Iraqi territories.
The joint operations command in Iraq slammed Turkey’s violations earlier this week, saying such acts are a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, good neighborliness and international agreements. It called on Ankara against launching such attacks again and committing any other violations, saying it must respect the common interests of both countries. Iraq said it was prepared to cooperate with Turkey over securing their joint borders. Leading member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Rashad Galali described as “shameful” Turkey’s repeated attacks on Iraqi territory that have been met with no deterrent response from the federal government.

Iran Warns IAEA against Adopting Resolution to Allow Access to Disputed Sites
London/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Iran has warned the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) against endorsing a draft resolution to push Tehran to allow access for inspectors to two disputed sites over unannounced nuclear activities.
“I note with serious concern that, for over four months, Iran has denied us access to two locations and that, for almost a year, it has not engaged in substantive discussions to clarify our questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the IAEA. “I call on Iran to cooperate immediately and fully with the Agency, including by providing prompt access to the locations specified by us,” said Grossi. Iran's Ambassador to the UN in Vienna Kazem Gharib Abadi stated that "Introduction of this resolution aiming to call on Iran to cooperate with the Agency ... is disappointing and absolutely counterproductive." Abadi warned that if the resolution was adopted "Iran would have no choice but to take appropriate measures, the consequences of which would be upon the sponsors of such political and destructive approaches." He did not specify what these measures would be. Abadi argued that the IAEA's access requests were based on allegations from Iran's arch-enemy Israel. Additional information provided by the IAEA in support of its requests "were merely some commercial satellite imageries that contained no convincing underlying reason" to provide access, he added. Iran has accused the European parties to the deal—France, the UK and Germany—of not doing enough to mitigate the impact of American sanctions. In his statement, Abadi hinted that pressing ahead with the resolution could cause "complication and difficulties" for the future of the 2015 accord.
“The Europeans couldn’t sit back and not do anything,” Reuters quoted a Western diplomat as saying.

Russia, Iran Join Hands to Face US Pressure
Moscow - Raed Jaber/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks in Moscow on Tuesday on the Iranian nuclear file and possible means to cement bilateral cooperation against mounting American pressure. Speaking at a press conference, Lavrov denounced the United States’ “unacceptable” policy of resorting to every possible instrument to put pressure on Iran after Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He told reporters that the US move against Iran lacks a legal basis and that Russia will “do everything” to preserve the nuclear deal. Moreover, he said US plans to extend an arms embargo on Iran "contravene international law." He added that the economic and commercial ties with Iran are developing, despite the US sanctions. Further, Lavrov expressed insistence on confronting the US policy against Tehran, which he says undermines stability in the region, specifically, and the world, in general. For his part, Zarif said: “The job of the Trump administration is to exit international agreements and organizations.”The FM said that the nuclear deal was the key issue in talks with his Russian counterpart. He further criticized the latest report published by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he saw as a result of pressure. The two ministers signed a joint agreement to reinforce international law against unilateral steps. A source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the agreement is a symbolic message to Washington and the West that Russia and Iran insist on facing the US policy in the region.

Syria Devalues Currency as New US Sanctions Hit
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Syria's central bank devalued the Syrian pound on Wednesday giving in to weeks of depreciation on the black market as new US sanctions took effect. The central bank raised the official exchange rate from 704 to 1,256 Syrian pounds to the dollar, in a statement published on its social media pages.
The previous rate had been in force since March. Earlier this month, the war-torn country's currency hit a record low on the black market of around 3,000 pounds to the dollar, sparking rare protests, before appreciating slightly after an apparent injection of dollars. On Wednesday, the rate on the parallel market stood at around 2,600 to 2,800 pounds to the dollar, traders told AFP. The devaluation comes as the United States prepares to implement new sanctions this week under the Caesar Act, targeting foreigners doing business with the Damascus regime, as well as reconstruction of the country. Zaki Mehchy, a senior consulting fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank, said the central bank was trying to minimize the gap between the official and black market rates. "It is trying to encourage people to use the official channel instead of the black market," he said. But the pound would probably continue its slide, punctuated by short periods of appreciation, he said. Syria's economy has been battered by nine years of war, and is now reeling from the knock-on effects of a financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon that has stemmed the flow of dollars into regime-held areas.
Analysts have said the recent lows on the black market are likely due to worries ahead of the introduction of new US sanctions, and the sudden fall from grace of tycoon and cousin of the president, Rami Makhlouf, which has set other top businessmen on edge. The Damascus government has long blamed the country's economic crisis on international sanctions. Last week, president Bashar Assad sacked his prime minister of four years after criticism of the government's handling of the crisis. Before the conflict, the exchange rate stood at 47 Syrian pounds to the dollar.

Israel's Netanyahu Mulls Two-Phase West Bank Annexation, Newspaper Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing a limited initial annexation in the occupied West Bank, hoping to quell international opposition to his pledge of wide territorial moves, an Israeli newspaper said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Netanyahu has said a US peace plan, which envisages Israel retaining its settlements in the West Bank, provides an "historic opportunity" to extend Israeli sovereignty to them and to the Jordan Valley area.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in a 1967 war. Palestinians hope to establish a state in those areas and say the peace blueprint announced by President Donald Trump in January kills that prospect.
Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu daily widely seen as reflecting his views, said the right-wing leader was now looking at the possibility of annexation in two phases. It said Netanyahu, who has set July 1 for the start of a cabinet debate on the issue, was considering annexing only small settlements in phase one and, after renewing calls to Palestinians for peace talks, then annexing the remaining ones. Netanyahu's annexation pledges have raised stiff opposition from the Palestinians, Arab countries and European nations, and Israeli officials say Washington has yet to agree to the move.
Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said potential phasing of annexation made no difference. "Netanyahu is trying to confuse the international position which rejects annexation and the world will not be fooled by such a proposition," he said.
The newspaper said Netanyahu does not anticipate a strong punitive response from Europe for annexation, despite vocal opposition. Nonetheless, by limiting annexation initially, he hopes to signal that Israel is attentive to international criticism, Israel Hayom said. It attributed its report to sources that have held discussions with Netanyahu in the last few days, but did not identify them. Netanyahu's office declined to comment. Most countries view Israeli settlements in occupied territory as illegal. Israel rejects this.

Israeli Annexation Plans Face Increasing Pressure
Amman, Tel Aviv- Asharq Al-Awsaat and Nazir Majli/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
International pressure has intensified over the Israeli government’s insistence on implementing a plan to annex Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
Human rights experts at the United Nations said on Tuesday that the annexation scheme violated a basic principle of international law that prohibits the acquisition of land by force. In the same context, Jordan’s King Abdullah II affirmed on Tuesday his country’s opposition to the Israeli plans.
A statement issued by the Jordanian Royal Court quoted King Abdullah as telling committees and leaders in the US Congress that any unilateral Israeli action to annex lands in the West Bank was unacceptable and undermined the chances of peace and stability in the region, AFP reported.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who began a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday, declared his opposition to unilateral steps, and said that his government wanted to see Israelis and Palestinians living together in peace and security. He cautioned that the annexation could lead to regional gains for Turkey, hostile to both Israel and Greece. Mitsotakis said that upon his return to his country, he would speak with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to examine the possibility of progressing in a peaceful dialogue that would prevail over unilateral actions.
Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz had announced that he would press ahead with the implementation of Israeli sovereignty in some areas of the West Bank. In a speech before the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Gantz said: “This is an important plan that provides a realistic approach to the way in which to build a stable future in the region, and I intend to push it forward as much as possible and with great responsibility, but in coordination with regional partners and of course with local partners, with consensus within the Israeli society, in full coordination and acceptance of American support.”
Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman, who is the head of the Russian Jewish Party, doubted the implementation of a real annexation, and that if the process of imposing Israeli sovereignty was launched, it would be only partial. He said that in his opinion, Netanyahu “eliminated all chances of imposing real sovereignty.” Nearly 50 independent human rights experts at the United Nations issued a joint statement on Tuesday, in which they expressed dissatisfaction with the US support for Netanyahu’s plan, and stressed that it was “illegal”. “The annexation of occupied territory is a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions, and contrary to the fundamental rule affirmed many times by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly that the acquisition of territory by war or force is inadmissible”, they said. “The international community has prohibited annexation precisely because it incites wars, economic devastation, political instability, systematic human rights abuses, and widespread human suffering,” the experts added.

Egypt Adheres to Agreement Preserving Its ‘Water Rights’
Cairo, Khartoum- Mohammed Abdo Hassanein and Mohammed Amin Yassine/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan resumed negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) for the sixth day on Tuesday, in which “legal matters” were discussed. Egypt adheres to signing “a comprehensive agreement to fill and operate the dam, legally binding Ethiopia to protect its water rights before starting the filling process of its reservoir early July, an official source told Asharq Al-Awsat. The source stressed the importance of completing “all technical and legal aspects of the agreement, including the dispute settlement mechanism, before announcing any positive outcomes of the negotiations.”
Talks have been held via videoconference, in the presence of observers from the United States, the European Union, and South Africa (President of the African Union). Egypt pre-empted Tuesday’s meeting by brandishing “other options” in case parties fail to reach an agreement.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said his country will have to discuss other options like resorting to the UN Security Council, affirming that Ethiopia’s position “doesn’t indicate positive results.”
Sudanese Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Yasser Abbas has earlier revealed differences in the legal aspects on the agreement’s obligations and means of amendment. Yet, he later announced that talks have so far made “significant progress in the technical matters.”He said great progress has been made in the technical matters related to the dam's safety, the first filling and long-term operation, the exchange of data and environmental studies, and the Technical Committee for Cooperation. The amount of flowing water throughout the year determines the number of years the dam will be filled, Abbas stressed, noting that future studies and environmental impacts are included in the negotiation documents. Sudan had proposed raising the negotiations to the level of premiers in case a consensus is not reached, but Ethiopia and Egypt preferred to continue the negotiations at the current level, the Minister said.
A statement by Sudan’s Ministry of Irrigation on Monday pointed to the agreement among the three delegations to assign the legal teams to continue deliberations, in the observers’ presence. According to Ethiopia's official news agency, parties reached an understanding during the meeting on Monday on the “first stage of filling, the volume of environmental flow, guidelines for the first stage of filling, approach to drought management rules, dam safety rules, the environmental and social impact of the assessment studies, and the entry of guidelines and rules into effect.”Ethiopia stressed “the necessity of adopting an approach that guarantees the joint responsibility of the three countries in case of drought, while preserving the optimal operation of the dam."

Retired General Urges US to Act in Libya Before it’s Too Late
Washington, Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Libya is escalating into a destabilizing proxy war worsened by America’s often confusing and consistently hands-off approach. The United States can no longer afford such an attitude, which escalates the fighting and offers Turkey and Russia strategic footholds in the Eastern Mediterranean, warned retired US Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Trask in an op-ed published by The National Interest on Monday. Trask said that Washington is “proud” to partner with the UN-backed, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) “despite it being an Islamist-dominated regime with little hope of uniting the country.” “American diplomats have led no charge to address the fighting. Instead, they mostly echo European initiatives for a ceasefire or, most recently, have begun coordinating policy with Turkey. Turkey and Russia are pouring into this vacuum,” he noted.
“Backers on both sides could simply keep flooding reinforcements into the country, producing an ever-bloodier stalemate. By worsening the security vacuum and physical destruction inside Libya, this would enable ISIS to regrow and worsen the spread of coronavirus countrywide —either or both of which could drive renewed refugee flows toward Europe,” he wrote. Trask added that “Turkey and Russia could tacitly divide Libya between themselves, and could mimic the Astana process they initiated to determine Syria’s fate without US input. The two already are in close contact, including discussing plans for a settlement.”“Such an agreement would logically appeal to both Ankara and Moscow, in no small part, because it would create so many problems for the United States and allies,” he continued. “A sphere of influence in Libya would represent Erdogan’s first success in propping up the Muslim Brotherhood around the region – a policy which has threatened most every US Middle East ally. Equally important, it would encourage further gunboat diplomacy by bolstering Ankara’s claims, however illegitimate, to the energy-rich waters between Turkey and Libya. This would directly threaten energy development by Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, all of whom Washington sees as helping reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas,” according to Trask. Moreover, he said the “de facto partition of Libya could appeal to Moscow for the same reason. As with Syria, Libya also provides a valuable beachhead ringing NATO’s southern flank, especially if Russia installs advanced air defenses or other weaponry.”Trask stressed that the United States must appoint a special envoy for the Eastern Mediterranean to devise a negotiated solution to the Libya conflict. Among his or her top priorities would be limiting Ankara’s support for the GNA, including leveraging the option to redeploy US military assets out of Turkey.

Turkey, Russia Conduct Longest Patrol Along M4
Ankara- Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Turkish and Russian troops carried out their longest joint patrol along the key M4 highway in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, since the two sides signed a protocol last March urging parties to cease all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area.
On Tuesday, Turkey's National Defense Ministry said, “To maintain the Turkish-Russian ceasefire agreement in Syria, the 17th Combined Land Patrol was conducted in Idlib province Tuesday.”The ministry said on Twitter that due to the detonation of an unidentified explosive, a patrol vehicle was lightly damaged and taken to a safe location, adding that no personnel had been harmed in the incident. The patrol has toured an area of more than 40 km along the M4 highway for the first time since the start of joint patrols between the two sides. It set off from the Tarnabeh village in eastern Idlib towards the eastern outskirts of Jisr Al-Shughur city. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a Russian jet executed two raids in the early hours of Tuesday morning, targeting the vicinity of Al-Mawzarah village in southern Idlib. No casualties have been reported.
It said regime forces renewed their rocket attacks on places in Kafr Oweid, Al-Rwayha, Bayanin, Sfuhen, Al-Fterah, and the vicinity of Kansafrah in the southern countryside of Idlib. Separately, the Observatory said dozens of residents in the villages of Ras al-Ain in the governorate of Hasaka, held a demonstration against the practices of Turkish-backed factions, such as attacking citizens and stealing agricultural crops and burning them. It said members of the factions opened fire on demonstrators to disperse them, injuring two people.
“Turkish-backed factions continue their violations against the people in the Peace Spring areas. The factions are collecting zakat from farmers and confiscating the crop from those who do not have official proof of land ownership,” the Observatory explained.

UN Documents Thousands of Children’s Rights Violations around the World

New York, Jeddah – Ali Barada and Asma al-Ghabri/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres revealed that the international organization had documented more than 25,000 grave violations against children throughout the world in 2019. Boys and girls used and abused in armed conflict have had their childhoods replaced by “pain, brutality and fear while the world watches,” UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba said on Monday. Launching the Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, Gamba maintained that parties to conflict often “neglect to protect children in the conduct of hostilities and deny them the vital aid they desperately need”.The tragedy children face continued unabated throughout 2019, the report highlighted, disclosing that the UN had verified over 25,000 grave violations against children.
The overall number of grave violations, which remains similar to 2018, translates into some 70 recorded abuses per day. “By violating the rules of war, parties endanger their own children,” she added. Citing 4,400 verified incidents, the report revealed a shocking 400 percent jump in the denial of humanitarian access to children last year, which Gamba called “by far most worrisome trend in 2019”. It also painted a picture of frequent violence against humanitarian workers, along with aggressions to impede their work in providing basic assistance to children, such as looting supplies and restricting movements, among many other disruptions. The document spotlighted Yemen, Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR), Syria, Israel and Palestine as the most worrying situations. Disrespect shown to fundamental rights within schools and hospitals is also extremely concerning, particularly in in Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine and Syria where some 927 verified incidents of attacks were reported. As a direct result of attacks, or closures for military use, millions of children during 2019 were deprived of both an education and effective healthcare.“I call on all parties to conflict to immediately prioritize humanitarian access to children and vulnerable populations in situations of armed conflict, and to allow child protection experts and humanitarians to do their work,” Gamba pleaded.
Yemen
In Yemen, the report verified 4,042 grave violations against 2,159 children (1,708 boys, 451 girls). The Iran-backed Houthi militias were blamed for the recruitment and use of 686 children (643 boys, 43 girls). The UN verified the deprivation of liberty and/or detention of 97 boys between the ages of 12 and 16, by the Houthis. They were also held responsible for the killing of 395 and maiming of 1,052 children. The Houthis were blamed for 15 attacks on schools and accused of using 35 for military uses. The report documented 1,553 incidents of the denial of humanitarian access by the Houthis. Gamba welcomed the continued commitment of the Government of Yemen to protect conflict-affected children. She also expressed her grave concern about “the rise in the overall number of grave violations, including the continued recruitment of children by parties to conflict, and in particular by the Houthis and the shrinking space for humanitarians in Yemen.”Yemen’s Minister for Human Rights Mohammed Askar hailed the report, saying it acknowledged facts and the truth away from politicization. It helped rectify the UN’s path in Yemen, he told Asharq Al-Awsat. He stressed that the government and Saudi-led Arab coalition’s efforts were clear in protecting the children of Yemen, adding that they have improved their precautions during any military operation in order to spare their lives. In contrast, the Houthis have been bent on destroying childhood in Yemen, he remarked. He accused them of jeopardizing their lives through the arbitrary planting of landmines, brainwashing them with extremist and sectarian ideology, extorting their families in return for their recruitment and deploying them to the frontlines of the battles. In a statement, the coalition said it welcomed Guterres’ decision to remove it from a UN blacklist after it was first accused of killing and injuring children in Yemen. Guterres said in his annual report to the Security Council on Monday that the coalition would “be delisted for the violation of killing and maiming, following a sustained significant decrease in killing and maiming due to airstrikes” and the implementation of measures aimed at protecting children. “The coalition takes any allegations of violations of civilians and children’s rights very seriously,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. “In order to investigate the allegations attributed to it in the report, the coalition invites the UN to share with the coalition the relevant information.”

Rival Kurdish Groups in Syria Reach Breakthrough Agreement
Agence France Presse
Rival Kurdish groups in Syria have reached a breakthrough agreement on a joint political vision following a series of U.S.-backed talks that aim to achieve Kurdish unity, a statement said Wednesday. The Kurdish National Council (KNC) -- a member of the Turkey-backed Syrian opposition National Coalition -- is a main rival of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which dominates a Kurdish-majority region in Syria's northeast. On Tuesday, representatives of the KNC and a PYD-led coalition of Kurdish parties "concluded the first stage of Kurdish unity negotiations and reached a binding and unified political vision," said a statement signed by both sides. They pledged to continue talks "with the aim of signing a comprehensive agreement in the near future", the statement added.  The PYD's political and military dominance had led to accusations from the KNC that it was consolidating power and marginalizing other Kurdish groups.
In 2017, the PYD-led Kurdish administration shuttered the offices of opposition parties, including the KNC, which called the move a political purge. Their offices were reopened three months ago, and with the support of the US -- which backed Kurdish-led forces in the fight against the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria -- they entered into reconciliation negotiations with the PYD in recent months. Senior KNC official Mohammad Ismail said the latest negotiations in part aim to "form a joint administration that manages political and military affairs" as well as establish a unified stance on various issues, including diplomacy. The negotiations come ahead of an upcoming round of UN talks in Geneva on the Syrian war set for late August. Turkey -- a key player in the conflict -- deems the PYD a terror organisation and its animosity towards it and other Kurdish groups has played a role in their exclusion from the Geneva talks and the parallel Russian-backed Astana process. The KNC enjoys warmer ties with Turkey and has attended UN talks in the past. "For the PYD, achieving a unity deal with the KNC is the ticket to the Geneva talks," said Nicholas Heras of the Institute for the Study of War. A thaw in frosty intra-Kurdish ties is a goal for the US as well, Heras added, because Washington "needs Syrian Kurdish unity... to maintain stability in northeast Syria that supports an indefinite US presence in the country."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 16-17/2020
Danger: Iran's Arms Embargo About to Expire
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 17/2020
Who will benefit from lifting the arms embargo? Russia and China. They would most likely be the preferred weapons exporters to Iran. With prospects for multi-billion dollar deals, Moscow and Beijing would doubtless be delighted to sell weapons to Iran.
Tehran will likely utilize the sophisticated weaponry to advance its hegemonic ambitions in the region, increase its military adventurism in the Middle East, and ship arms to its proxies and militia groups to destabilize the region and trigger an arms race across the Middle East.
Who will benefit from lifting the arms embargo from Iran? Russia and China. With prospects for multi-billion dollar deals, Moscow and Beijing would doubtless be delighted to sell weapons to Iran. Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on June 14, 2019.
Among the many concessions that the Obama-Biden administration gave to the ruling mullahs of Iran, was one setting a date when Iran's arms embargo would be lifted. The Obama administration agreed to add a provision in the nuclear deal -- which, by the way, Iran never got around to signing -- allowing the lifting of an arms embargo.
Now, again thanks to the Obama-Biden administration, the arms embargo is set to expire in October 2020.
It is important to point out that the Obama administration erased years of efforts and significant political capital that the international community had invested to impose the arms embargo in the first place.
From December 2006 to 2010, the five members of the United Nations Security Council finally agreed to pass series of resolutions (Resolution 1737, Resolution 1747, and Resolution 1929) imposing significant restrictions on Iran's arms activities.
The UN Security Council resolution 1929 stated:
"Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology, and that States shall take all necessary measures to prevent the transfer of technology or technical assistance to Iran related to such activities".
The ban encompassed a wide range of weapons, including large-caliber artillery, combat aircraft, battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, attack helicopters, some missiles and missile launchers, and warships.
The mullahs, in addition, scored a major political victory when the US administration in 2015 added a section to the nuclear deal permitting the lifting of the arms embargo through two sunset clauses.
It was mind-boggling that the Obama-Biden administration decided to include such an appeasing and dangerous provision in the nuclear deal. Both Democrats and Republicans were, in fact, stunned by the move. At the time, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the leading Republican in Congress, John Boehner, pointed out : "It blows my mind that the administration would agree to lift the arms and missile bans."
Senator Ben Cardin, the former leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, agreed. "It's hard for us to accept it, so we just want to take a look at it," he said.
If the arms embargo on the theocratic establishment of Iran were lifted, the Iranian regime would be allowed legally to export and import advanced weapons, which would subsequently strengthen the military apparatuses of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite branch, the Quds Force.
Who will benefit from lifting the arms embargo? Russia and China. They would most likely be the preferred arms exporters to Iran. With prospects for multi-billion dollar deals, Moscow and Beijing would doubtless be delighted to sell weapons to Iran. That is probably why the Russian Foreign Ministry last month pointed out:
"It has been said in Congress that the United States would try to convince Russia and China not to veto the draft UN Security Council resolution on extending the arms embargo on Iran. But it is no use raising this matter in the Security Council. There are no grounds for this. The timeframe and conditions coordinated in 2015 are not subject to revision."
Tehran will likely utilize the sophisticated weaponry to advance its hegemonic ambitions in the region, increase its military adventurism in the Middle East, and ship arms to its proxies and militia groups to destabilize the region and trigger an arms race across the Middle East.
Notably, the arms embargo is to be lifted against a regime that is the world's top state sponsor of terrorism. Iran has already been caught several times smuggling weapons to its militia and terror groups in violation of the UN Resolution 2231, which ostensibly prevents Iran from transferring arms directly or indirectly out of its territories without the approval of the UN Security Council. For example, it was revealed that Iran has been shipping weapons and military advisers to the Houthis either directly to Yemen or via Somalia.
If the arms embargo on the Iranian regime is removed, imagine how much more the "top state sponsor of terrorism" will ratchet up its delivery of weapons and ammunition to militia and terror groups.
In short, thanks to the Obama-Biden administration, Iran's arms embargo, set to expire in few months, would further assist the mullahs' predatory regime even more powerfully to pursue its destabilizing, militaristic and aggressive policies across the world.
*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
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Military Institutions and the Course of Politics
James Stavridis/Bloomberg/June 17/2020
The demonstrations set off by the death of George Floyd are creating remarkable crosscurrents in American society, from new ideas about police reform to an increased focus on the disparate health and economic damage African-Americans have suffered from Covid-19. There is increasing turmoil in terms of the use of the military as well. A number of retired generals and admirals have spoken out with alarm over the last week about adding active-duty military to law enforcement, and using the Insurrection Act to do so. The appearance of National Guard troops to make the area around the White House safe for a presidential photo-op was very troubling as well. The consistency of the commentary across the four-star retired community was remarkable. I’ve never seen such unanimity on any issue, particularly on what is essentially a domestic situation. Many recently retired officers who have been reticent to speak publicly were suddenly very vocal. This group included retired Marine Corps Generals Jim Mattis and John Kelly, who served, respectively, as secretary of defense and White House chief of staff under President Donald Trump.
On Sunday, Colin Powell, the former Joint Chiefs chairman and secretary of state, called out Republican lawmakers for having “nothing to say” about Trump’s militarization of protest security.
Some retired officers who have been consistently critical of Trump also spoke up, including Air Force General Michael Hayden and Navy Admiral William McRaven, who commented that “every man and woman in uniform recognizes that we are all Americans and that the last thing they want to do as military men and women is to stand in the way of a peaceful protest.”
Other voices included Army Generals Wesley Clark and Barry McCaffrey (the most highly decorated four-star officer in recent military history), and another former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen. I know all of these men well and count several as mentors. (After much consideration, I spoke out as well about what I see as a threat to the soul of the military.)
Every member of the military swears a simple oath each time he or she is promoted: “To support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
But the word “domestic” does not mean that military personnel are an arm of law enforcement. The generals and admirals I cited are concerned about damage to the Constitution if active-duty troops are used to suppress protests protected by the First Amendment. None of us wants to see them pulled into an increasingly vitriolic political season in the run-up to the November election.
The active-duty military should be used domestically only when state governors request its assistance specifically if they feel unable to handle challenges with local law enforcement and the National Guard. The founders dreaded the idea of a large standing army that could be employed within the nation’s borders. This was in part a result of their experiences with British troops in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, leading specifically to the Third Amendment of the Constitution, forbidding the forced quartering of troops in private homes.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 further limited the use of the military inside the country, and ought to be respected in all but the most extreme of circumstances — certainly not to squelch unarmed and largely peaceful protests such as those at Lafayette Square outside the White House.
As Admiral Mullen put it: “We have a military to fight our enemies, not our own people.”
Former high-ranking officers are also concerned about the mix of the military and politics. This includes General Mark Milley, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs, accompanying the president in Lafayette Square. And the troublesome refusal by Milley and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to testify before the House Armed Services Committee. Going back, there was Trump’s intervention in the cases of accused war criminals, and the covering of the name of the destroyer John S. McCain during what was essentially a campaign rally in Yokosuka, Japan.
Yes, other administrations have tried to wrap themselves in the prestige of the military — remember George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished”? But it is far more worrisome with the country now so deeply divided under a president with no shame.
Our 1.2 million men and women in uniform have a solemn duty not to any one individual, but to the Constitution. In the coming months, they should not be seen wearing MAGA hats, or for that matter “No Malarkey” buttons in support of Democrat Joe Biden. Retired officers should continue to speak out — not for or against any candidate or party, but about the immense danger of pulling the military ever further into politics.

Assad’s Atrocities, Not Sanctions, Have Destroyed Syria
James F. Jeffrey/Wednesday, 17 June, 2020
Exclusive for Asharq Al-Awsat
Today as the United States announces new sanctions under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, it is important to focus on the reasoning behind this legislation.  Passed overwhelmingly six months ago by both Houses of Congress, and signed into effect by President Trump, the Act is named in honor of a brave Syrian photographer with the codename “Caesar” who documented with his camera tens of thousands of incidents of abuse and violation of Syrian citizens by Syrian President Assad’s henchmen.  There is continued, legitimate interest from Congress on the implementation of this legislation.  A joint statement by the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on June 8, documented Congress’s priority: “vigorous, sustained enforcement of the Caesar Act in order to send a message to the regime and its enablers that Assad remains a pariah.”
Two recently issued United Nations reports support the views of these Congressional leaders and highlight the Assad regime's atrocities which have destroyed Syria, its economy, and its ability to respond to COVID-19.  On April 6th, the United Nations Board of Inquiry issued a report outlining how the evidence indicated [what we all suspected:] that the Assad regime and its allies launched attacks that devastated hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure, even when the sites’ locations were on the UN deconfliction list created to identify and protect these key pillars of civilian life. That same week, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Investigation and Identification Team released its first report and attributed to the Assad regime responsibility for using sarin or chlorine in three separate attacks in 2017.  These are but two examples of the war that the Assad regime, often with help from its Iranian and Russian enablers, has waged devastating Syria’s citizens, leaving an estimated 500,000 dead.    
Caesar Act mandatory sanctions target those that facilitate the Assad regime's production of oil, as well as those that facilitate the regime's acquisition of aviation related goods, services, or technologies that are used for military purposes. We aim to stop these acquisitions that further the regime's ability to carry out its terrible crimes.  The Act also targets those that support mercenaries and foreign actors who are perpetuating the conflict on behalf of the regime and its allies.  Finally, it targets those involved in war profiteering who provide significant construction or engineering services to the Syrian regime. Individuals and businesses worldwide that engage in reconstruction activities with the Assad regime now face deepening sanctions risk. The Caesar Act's significant impact is long-term: it aims to foreclose any potential economic benefit from a military victory by the regime and its enablers.   
The goal of the United States in pursuing these additional targeted sanctions -- using existing authorities and those contained in the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 -- against the regime and its enablers is thus to promote accountability and deny them access to the international financial system until a political solution to the Syria conflict can be reached.  Such a solution must be in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, the internationally accepted road-map for a political settlement to the Syrian War. Before the Assad regime is allowed to rejoin the global community and take part in the global economy, it must also hold accountable those responsible for war crimes (and other atrocities/human rights abuses), no longer sponsor terrorism, and create the conditions for the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of refugees. The regime must also verifiably and permanently dismantle its chemical weapons program and sever its ties with Iran's military forces and Iranian-supported groups.  
This road-map forward is not only vital for the long-suffering Syrian people, but also for regional stability.  Instability, including terrorism exploiting the security vacuum created by the Syrian conflict, has drawn in conventional forces from the U.S. and four other states, with state-on-state conflict an ever-present risk until the Syrian conflict can be brought under control. 
Recent calls by the Assad regime and its Russian allies to relax sanctions in response to COVID-19 should be seen for what they are -- a cynical ploy to give the Syrian regime both a military victory and cover to enrich Assad and his enablers. Contrary to regime propaganda, Assad's choice of war over peace, not U.S. sanctions, has destroyed the country and its economy. Bashar al-Assad chooses to use rapidly dwindling cash reserves to pursue a vicious war against millions of Syrians that has devastated Syria economically at a time when COVID-19 is spreading among Syria's already vulnerable citizens. United States' sanctions target Assad and his regime's illegitimate wealth, not these citizens. The United States has provided more than $10.6 billion dollars in humanitarian aid for Syria -- more than any other single donor -- and we are working to facilitate access for all to have COVID-19 testing kits and associated materials. Tragically, this is the same assistance that the Assad regime has historically stolen and sold back to the Syrian people at exorbitant prices. To make matters worse, this past January, as COVID-19 gained speed, Syria's Russian patrons in the United Nation's Security Council blocked two of four border crossings for the facilitation of UN humanitarian assistance.  
The U.S. will continue to provide and facilitate humanitarian aid to the people of Syria, while promoting accountability for those responsible for atrocities and blocking a political solution.  Assad can end this needless war only by declaring a nation-wide ceasefire, constructively participating in the Constitutional Committee talks in Geneva, and implementing a political vision that puts the Syrian people's democratic aspirations first. 
The world is watching and whoever makes deals with the regime is at risk of being sanctioned.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wants to censor discussion of links between Islamic doctrine and terrorism at Arizona's Scottsdale
Community College (SCC)./June 17/2020
A lawsuit filed June 2 in Arizona federal court seeks an injunction against the Maricopa Community College District, which SCC is part of, and Professor Nicholas Damask to block use of course materials deemed to "have the primary effect of disapproving of Islam."
MCC and Damask, the lawsuit claims, violated student Mohamed Sabra's civil rights when Damask – chairman of the school's political science department – linked Islamic doctrine and terrorism. The class was about world politics, and included a section on Islamic terrorism.
Three questions on a quiz in Damask's online class drew Sabra's ire:
· Q. Who do terrorists strive to emulate? A. Mohammed
· Q. Where is terrorism encouraged in Islamic doctrine and law? A. The Medina verses [i.e., the portion of the Qur'an traditionally understood as having been revealed later in Muhammad's prophetic career]
· Q. Terrorism is _______ in Islam. A. justified within the context of jihad.
"The only objectively reasonable construction of Damask's actions is that his primary message is the disapproval of Islam," the lawsuit reads. "Damask's module quiz forced Sabra to agree to his radical interpretation of Islam. When Sabra did not, he was penalized by getting the questions wrong and impacted his grade."
Sabra told Damask the quiz offended him and his religion. Damask responded in two emails, saying the quiz questions came from the course reading materials. Sabra then posted a screenshot of the quiz to social media, which resulted in death threats against Damask and the school.
To add insult to injury, school officials asked him to apologize, but the MCC district that oversees Scottsdale Community College – where Damask works, as well as nine other community colleges near Phoenix – defended his academic freedom and they backed down.
"This is America, not Pakistan," Damask said. "There is academic freedom here."
Kathleen Winn, a defender on the MCC board, argued that the suit is an assault on his academic freedom.
"The College has protocols if a student has a complaint," said District Governing Board member Kathleen Winn, speaking for herself, told the Arizona Independent News Network. "This student didn't file a formal complaint. Professor Damask's academic freedom is protected. I hope CAIR is not using this student to forward their agenda without regard for the student's interests, freedom of speech, and academic freedom."
CAIR is intent on dictating the content of his course and keeping the good, the bad and the ugly about Islam from being discussed in class, Damask said.
CAIR's Arizona chapter sent out a fundraising solicitation off the lawsuit last Friday. It claims that Damask's class threatens Muslim lives.
The solicitation also links to a form letter to the MCC district for supporters to sign. "We cannot sit by and allow the forces of hate to permeate our education system," it says. "As we highlighted earlier: Islamophobia kills. Anti-Semitism kills. Anti-Blackness kills. All forms of bigotry result in violence against marginalized communities."
Ironically, CAIR invokes "academic freedom" when it suits its purposes, such as defending academics who participate in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS seeks to delegitimize Israel with a regime of boycotts, financial divestments and sanctions.
"They want to make it absolutely impossible for the West to connect forms of Islam to our strategy [against terrorism]," said Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). "First of all, it's a bit rich for the Islamists to endorse and push the establishment of their religion when they're a majority, [and here they] are wrapping themselves in the very thing that's the treatment against political Islam, which is our Establishment Clause.
"It's absurd to say that these questions apply to all Muslims."
CAIR has long fought to sanitize educational texts of considers derogatory against Islam. It entered into a formal partnership in 2010 with the 57-nation global Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) to "redress the image of Islam and Muslims in textbooks." Like CAIR, the OIC condemns connecting Islamic doctrine and terrorism in the minds of Westerners as "unfair," saying it has "created an unfair misinterpretation of the Islamic message in the Western and Non Muslim worlds."
"Education and engagement are key to challenging the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia," CAIR co-founder and Executive Director Nihad Awad said at the 2010 OIC conference.
CAIR took issue with Damask's use of Walid Phares' book, Future Jihad, calling Phares an "Islamophobe" who supports anti-Islam ideologies, an accusation that Phares rejects.
"Within this mandatory reading assignment," the lawsuit says, "Phares explains that jihad is not a 'spiritual phenomenon that would be and was abused by extremist ideologies,' but rather a call for physical action. Damask failed to articulate that other more acceptable, and in fact 'mainstream' views of jihad have nothing to do with violence, but instead he improperly urged students to accept his personal opinions."
CAIR's assault is hypocritical, Phares told the Investigative Project on Terrorism, considering that several groups and individuals that it endorses promote the very ideas that it's seeking to censor at the community college.
"The Brotherhood scholars read terrorism differently than the U.S.," Phares said. "Always limit the reading of Islam to the Brotherhood reading because there are multiple readings of Islam.
"The Brotherhood and CAIR [are] trying to impose a vision of their own on all Muslims in America."
CAIR was created out of a Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Hamas-support network in the United States, internal documents seized by the FBI show. Awad was a part of that network, known as the Palestine Committee.
The OIC, meanwhile, has justified Palestinian suicide attacks and other forms of terrorism saying they are acts of resistance. OIC representatives decided in 2002 that Hamas and similar groups weren't terrorists.
Similarly, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who CAIR has referred to as a voice against terrorism, defended and upheld suicide bombings.
Qaradawi, one of the most popular Islamist preachers in the world, rejects defining jihad as purely spiritual.
"As for the first unacceptable meaning, it is to diminish Jihad in the Way of Allah, and play down its status and virtues in Islam, and its necessity in defending the being of the Ummah (Muslim nation) and its holy sites, if attacked by aggressors and affected by arrogant tyrants," Qaradawi wrote in 2016.
The lawsuit alleges that Damask "intentionally distort[ed]" the Quran and Hadiths (stories about Muhammad's sayings and actions) to "support his gross misinterpretations of 'the alleged theological mandate for jihad.'"
This alleged distortion includes Damask teaching that the Quran advocates the "establishment of Islam through violent struggle against non-Muslims."
Damask points to Surah 4:95 as a justification for terror, the lawsuit says. Classical Quranic commentaries note that this verse implies that "the person who fails to fight can only be a hypocrite, and God holds out no good promise for such a person unless there is good reason, for example, genuine disability."
"I'm informing my students that Islamic terrorist groups cite these and other similar Medina verses that permit or advocate violence to justify their actions and motivate others to join them," Damask said.
"There's a literal mountain of Islamic terror literature, manuscripts, newspaper articles, videos, social media postings, etc. that make these sorts of references," he continued. "CAIR is insisting that I hide from my students these references to Islamic law and doctrine made by the terror groups."

Germany Confronted its Past and Flourished. So Can the US
Pankaj Mishra/Bloomberg/June 17/2020
A cultural revolution is sweeping across Great Britain and the United States. Toppling statues of slave owners, protesters are demanding moral reparations — an acknowledgement that slavery and imperialism underpinned the wealth and power of two of the world’s most prominent countries, condemning millions of people with darker skins to generations of poverty and indignity.
The iconoclasts have shifted much public opinion in their favor, as can be witnessed in the truly incredible (if also slightly absurd) scene of Democratic lawmakers in Kente stoles kneeling in solidarity with victims of racist violence. A range of individuals and institutions have come out vigorously in favor of racial justice; those found in violation of it are being named and shamed.
But a deeper, longer and harder battle is only just beginning — over the new national identity the US and UK need, especially as they seek to emerge from the ruins of a devastating pandemic.
Just as the self-evident truths of slave-owners no longer persuade a large number of people in the US, a sentimental attachment to empire and to fantasies of resurrecting British glory and power won’t survive the ineptitude of a Tory government that seems to know only how to “get Brexit done” — and not even that. As they search for a post-racial, post-imperial identity, the US and Britain would be wise to take lessons from their implacable enemy in two world wars: Germany.
For while white supremacists unfurled swastika banners and chanted “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville, Virginia, and British politicians and journalists spread falsehoods about immigrants en route to Brexit, Germany hosted a “welcome culture” for more than one million refugees — what Susan Neiman in her timely book “Learning from the Germans” calls “the largest and broadest social movement in Germany since the war.”
Germany's most successful postwar far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), rose to subvert this German consensus. But it has failed repeatedly to broaden its small base and, presently afflicted by a civil war and a muddled coronavirus strategy, is being pushed back to the margins. Moreover, AfD’s attempts to deny or minimize the country’s Nazi past have served to consolidate anti-racist sentiment in the country.
This broad and consistent recoiling from ethnic-racial supremacists confirms that Germany has achieved a high, if not perfect, degree of immunity to the kind of toxic politics that have ravaged Anglo-America in recent years.
This didn’t happen overnight. Neiman, a philosopher of Jewish origin who grew up in the segregationist American South and has long lived in Berlin, writes that it “took decades of hard work before those who committed what are arguably the greatest crimes in history could acknowledge those crimes, and begin to atone for them.”
De-Nazification, demanded initially by West Germany’s American occupiers, was only partly accomplished. US intelligence operatives found many Nazi criminals useful in the cold war against Soviet communism — indeed, the student revolt of the 1960s in Germany was largely provoked by a postwar dispensation in which government officials, industrialists, bankers and professors of the Nazi era managed to retain their influence.
Many Germans saw themselves as victims, too. Still, over the decades, a strong culture of remembrance and commemoration flourished both inside and outside classrooms. Big and small monuments to the victims of Nazi crimes went up across the country, ranging from the Holocaust memorial in Berlin to “stumbling stones” in a local street that record the names and the dates of birth and deportation of the people who once lived there.
In 1970, many older Germans recoiled at the sight of German Chancellor Willy Brandt kneeling before the memorial to the Warsaw ghetto in apology to the world for Nazi crimes. But the image was extraordinarily potent. In retrospect, it announced a society and culture that was being steadily renewed by moral introspection and historical inquiry.
Contrast this with Anglo-American attitudes — for instance, the left-leaning British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declaring on a trip to East Africa in 2005 that “the days of Britain having to apologize for its colonial past are over.” (Never mind that Britain never apologized).
A German-style reckoning with the past couldn't come sooner in Anglo-America. For unrepentant racial supremacism, as represented by the rants of Trump and Fox’s Tucker Carlson, can only deepen the political and socio-economic impasse that Britain and the US find themselves in.
Those in thrall to racial, national and imperialist myths will no doubt see weakness in any admission of crimes in their society’s long past. Yet it seems irrefutable now, as Germany towers, morally as well as politically and economically, over its old Anglo-American rivals, that the willingness to confront shameful history is ultimately a source of great strength.

West Bank annexation plan will mean EU sanctions and no Arab friends left for Israel
Ksenia Svetlova/Al Arabiya/Wednesday 17 June 2020
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2020/06/17/West-Bank-annexation-plan-will-mean-EU-sanctions-and-no-Arab-friends-left-for-Israel.html
With the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, an economic crisis looming, and the summer heat, the potential annexation of settlements in the West Bank is not on the minds of most Israelis. Recent polls conducted for Israeli channel 12 show only 3.5 percent of Israelis are concerned about annexation.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chosen start date of the annexation era, July 1, is less than two weeks from today. Yet it seems people in Israel and the region are indifferent to this forthcoming development as unemployment rages, national currencies shake, and foreign currency reserves dwindle.
But neither COVID-19 or a failing economy diminishes the disastrous potential and the long-term damage of unilateral annexation for Israel and the Middle East. The sky might not fall on our heads on July 1 - especially since annexation commander-in-chief Netanyahu didn’t make up his mind yet on the details of this move – but if eventually the Israeli government makes a decision to opt for annexation and parliament supports this decision, we will enter a new, dangerous era and there will be no “undo” option.
Apart from being morally wrong (this aspect of annexation is rarely discussed these days), annexation goes against international law and basic human decency and will create a new regional reality by weakening the moderates and strengthening the radicals.
The already weakened Palestinian Authority might suffer a death blow as a result of this move, while militant group Hamas will be more than happy to take over as they first did 13 years ago in Gaza. The hope for a two-state solution will vanish, and Israel will find itself alone handling unsolvable conflict, under European sanctions, and with no friends in the Arab world.
The Arab regimes that had previously signed peace treaties with Israel and maintained the peace for many years despite all odds, will be subject to criticism and attacks by radical forces at home, who already demand the cancellation of these treaties and closing the embassies.
Jordan, with its substantial Palestinian population will be especially hurt, and might eventually opt out of peace agreements that included strong reference to Palestinian rights. The Israeli government has taken Jordan for granted for too long. Does Israel have a plan in case there will be no more security cooperation with Jordan? What about when Israel’s longest border with an Arab state, the border with Jordan, is no longer calm and safe?
Also the strategic relations between Israel and the Gulf countries that was carefully maneuvered by the two sides, with support of the US, will be jeopardized. UAE and Saudi Arabian leaders strongly object the annexation and their position is well known in Jerusalem.
However many Israeli politicians keep convincing themselves that in the Middle East the words are cheap and that in the end of the day the business will continue as usual.
Security and defense experts warn this will not be the case. The Arab Peace Initiative, that was adopted by the Arab League and the OIC, will be finally off the table and the great potential for cooperation and prosperity in the region will be lost.
Israeli border police block the road and disperse Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists during a rally protesting a newly established settlement near the West And finally, there is Iran. It continues to expand its nuclear military program, lies to the IAEA and hides critical evidence, while advancing its regional hegemony, but the Israeli government seems to be fully absorbed by annexation process, as well as with internal bickering and fighting.
Why did Iran suddenly stopped being a priority for Netanyahu? Probably, because he is not able to focus simultaneously on both fronts, and here lies the danger: Israel must keep focusing on Iran, which threatens Israel and the Arab states and creates instability in the Middle East. When all eyes are on annexation, Israel’s attention will be inevitably diffused. The possible damage for Israel’s and regional security is immense.
Although July 1 is around the corner, there is still time. It’s not too late for Israel to jump off the annexation train and to halt the dangerous move. The Arab Peace Initiative is still there. Instead of a violent and unilateral policy, Israel should reach out for Palestinians, resume the negotiations and enjoy the support of both Arab states and international community. The region certainly doesn’t need yet another upheaval now, it has enough challenges and dangers to handle.
*Ksenia Svetlova is a former member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. Today she serves as Director of the Program on Israel-Middle East relations at the Mitvim Institute and is a senior research analyst at Institute for Policy and Strategy, IDC Herzliya.