LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 06/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant: You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you
Matthew 18/23-35/ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 05-06/2020
Aoun tackles monetary situation with Sfeir
Ministry of Health advises citizens to avoid unessential travel and crowds over corona outbreak concerns
Financial Prosecutor Says Assets Freeze a Warning to Banks
Prosecutor Freezes Assets of Twenty Lebanese Banks
Dollar Exchange Rate Spirals Again
Lebanese Woman Coming from UK Tests Positive for Coronavirus
First UK Coronavirus Death Recorded as Cases Jump to 115
Govt. Approves Bank Secrecy Bill, to Meet on Eurobonds Saturday
Politicians Slam Financial Prosecutor's Banks Ruling, Berri Distances Himself
Report: PM to Announce ‘Rescue’ Plan Besides Decision on Eurobonds
STL to Issue Verdicts in Hariri Case in Mid-May
Nehme, Najm Affirm ‘Practical’ Steps on Consumer Protection
U.S. Contractor Charged with Giving Up Military Secrets to Hizbullah-Linked Lebanese
Airplane from Rome lands in Beirut, no coronavirus symptoms among passengers
Protest march sets out from Antelias Square towards Jal El Dib
Loyalty to Resistance' bloc: For political and popular support for government's Eurobond decision
Geagea: Hezbollah most capable of assisting government
Msharrafieh tackles cooperation with international organizations
Lebanon prosecutor orders assets frozen at 20 local banks/Timour Azhari/AlJazeera/March 05/2020
U.S contractor accused of leaking classified information to Lebanon's Hezbollah/Georgi Azar/Annahar/March 05/2020
Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital Suffers from Neglect in the Midst of Crises/Youssef Diab/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Hezbollah may pay the price of any Russian-Turkish deal/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/March 05/2020
Since You Cannot Protect Us, Resign/Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 05/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 05-06/2020
Israeli Airstrikes on Central Syria Kill, Injure Regime Soldiers
Israel Demolishes Homes of 2 Alleged Palestinian Attackers With Bulldozers, Jackhammers
Putin, Erdogan Agree Ceasefire Deal for Syria's Idlib
Turkey Deploys Police to Stop Greece Pushing Back Migrants
US Syria Envoy Calls for European Support to Turkey
Palestinian Authority Announces West Bank Tourism Ban Over
Arab FMs Approve Postponing Algeria Summit to June
Pompeo: Iran Must be Held Accountable on Nuclear Commitments
Iran Calls for Limited Use of Paper Money over Virus, Toll Rises
Dubai ruler threatened wife, orchestrated daughters' abduction, UK court rules
Millions Out of School as WHO Calls for Stronger Virus Response

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 05-06/2020
Awareness and Responsibility in the Face of Covid-19/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 05/2020
The Reasons Behind Putin’s Strength and Erdogan’s Weakness/Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 05/2020
Iran Uses the JCPOA as Pretext to Block Access to UN Nuclear Inspectors/Andrea Stricker/FDD/March 05/2020
Erdogan's Attempts to Blackmail Europe are Doomed to Fail/by Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/March 05/2020
The Problem with Released Jihadists/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/March 05/2020
Unsung heroes: Syria's female White Helmets step into the spotlight/Anna Fleischer/The New Arab/March 05/2020
No, Qatar is not behind the coronavirus/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/March 05/2020
Coronavirus cover-up reveals Iran regime’s disregard for life/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh /Arab News/March 05/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 04-05/2020
Aoun tackles monetary situation with Sfeir
NNA/March 05/2020
President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, received this Thursday at Baabda Palace, the Chairman of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, Salim Sfeir, accompanied by his adviser, Antoine Habib. Discussions reportedly touched on the current financial and monetary situation and the work of banks, as well as the measures to be adopted to deal with Eurobonds.

Ministry of Health advises citizens to avoid unessential travel and crowds over corona outbreak concerns
NN/March 05/2020
Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, on Thursday issued a memorandum related to avoiding travelling and crowds as much as possible to reduce the outbreak of the corona epidemic: "In light of the World Health Organization's announcement on 30/1/2020 that the corona virus is a global threat, and since this epidemic continues to spread rapidly in most countries of the world, and in preservation of the health of citizens and public safety, the Ministry of Public Health advises all citizens to limit travelling abroad, especially to countries in which the epidemic is witnessing local spread, unless it is absolutely necessary." Memorandum added: "The Ministry also calls on all concerned sides to postpone, whenever possible, the religious, sports, cultural, tourism and other sort of activities engaging crowds, in order to preserve the health of citizens and to limit the local spread of infection with this virus."

Financial Prosecutor Says Assets Freeze a Warning to Banks
Naharnet/March 05/2020
Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim on Thursday said his decision to freeze the assets of 20 Lebanese banks is “not only aimed at protecting depositors but also at rattling the banks and telling them that none of them is above accountability.”In a phone interview with the National News Agency, Ibrahim voiced surprise about the “exaggerated uproar” over his decision, noting that “this decision is like the other judicial files that we are handling.”“Preventing the disposal of assets simply means that it will be prohibited to dispose of shares, real estates, cars, properties and buildings,” Ibrahim added. As for the next step, the prosecutor said that he will pursue the investigations and request further papers and documents. Ibrahim had earlier on Thursday ordered an asset freeze for 20 banks and their board directors, in the latest move targeting the crisis-hit country's under-fire banks. Lebanon has been gripped since October 17 by mass protests against the political class and banking sector, even as it faces its worst economic crisis in decades. Banks have since September imposed increasingly tight limits on dollar withdrawals and transfers abroad to tackle a severe liquidity crisis, sparking frustration among ordinary depositors. Ibrahim's move comes after the prosecutor separately called in 15 banks on Monday over more than 2 billion dollars in capital flight despite the restrictions in the two months after the start of the protests. Lebanon is currently facing its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. The value of the Lebanese pound has plummeted on the black market, prices have risen, and many businesses have been forced to slash salaries, dismiss staff or close. Lebanon is one of the most indebted countries in the world, with a public debt equivalent to 150 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The country is now under pressure to pay a $1.2 billion Eurobond maturing on March 9, with a decision expected on Saturday on whether or not to default.

Prosecutor Freezes Assets of Twenty Lebanese Banks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/2020
Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim put a “prevention of disposal” signal on the assets of twenty Lebanese banks, the National News Agency reported on Thursday. He also imposed a freeze on the assets of the heads and members of boards of directors of these banks, said NNA. Assets to be frozen in an apparent move to bring the banks under pressure included "real estate, cars and companies," a judicial source told AFP. A second source said it was "a preliminary measure that will be followed by others according to the response of the banks and their treatment of small depositors." Both sources said the decision still needed to be approved by central bank head Riad Salameh, but that he was likely to agree to avoid a collapse of the banking sector. LBCI obtained the names of these banks listing them as follows: Bank Audi, BLOM, Fransbank, Byblos, Societe Generale, Bank of Beirut, BankMed, Banque Libano-Française, Credit Libanais, Al-Mawarid Bank, Intercontinental Bank of Lebanon, FNB, Lebanon and Gulf Bank, BBAC, MEAB, Federal Bank of Lebanon, BSL Bank, Lebanese Swiss Bank, BML, Saradar Bank and Cedrus Bank. The decision came after Monday’s hearing when Lebanese banking association head Salim Sfeir, as well as representatives from 14 banks appeared before Ibrahim over more than 2 billion dollars in capital flight in past months despite strict banking restrictions in the crisis-hit country. Banks have since September imposed increasingly tight limits on dollar withdrawals and transfers abroad as part of measures to tackle a severe liquidity crisis. But bankers stand accused of having sent millions of dollars abroad despite those limitations since mass anti-government protests erupted on October 17.

Dollar Exchange Rate Spirals Again
Naharnet/March 05/2020
The price of U.S. dollar to the Lebanese pound recorded a new increase on Thursday at the parallel market reaching LBP 2,680 for buying and LBP 2,600 for selling. According to owners of money exchange houses, the price of the dollar is closely affected by an unstable economic situation in the country, and “uncertainty” on whether Lebanon will pay or default on $1.2 billion Eurobonds maturing on March 9. On Wednesday, anti-government protesters blocked roads across Lebanon to denounce the financial and economic deterioration and the rise in the dollar exchange rate. Money changers were on Wednesday selling the dollar for more than LBP 2,550 and buying it for around 2,540. Money changers in protests-hit Lebanon did not abide by a decision they agreed on in January to cap the dollar exchange rate at 2,000 pounds as part of efforts to curb the local currency's devaluation on the parallel market.The Lebanese pound is officially pegged to the greenback at a rate of 1,500 to the dollar but the country's sharp economic downturn has sent the currency into a tailspin in foreign exchange offices.

Lebanese Woman Coming from UK Tests Positive for Coronavirus
Naharnet/March 05/2020
Lebanon's coronavirus cases rose to 16 on Thursday after a Lebanese woman coming from Britain tested positive for the virus, the Health Ministry said. The woman had been admitted into the American University of Beirut Medical Center on Wednesday. In a statement, AUBMC said the woman was suspected to be infected with the virus after she showed high fever and other symptoms. “She was transferred to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital for diagnosis and further isolation and treatment measures,” AUBMC added. There are now 90 confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK after Scotland announced Thursday that three more patients had contracted the disease.

First UK Coronavirus Death Recorded as Cases Jump to 115
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/2020
Britain on Thursday announced its first death from coronavirus within the country, as the total number of confirmed cases jumped to 115. "I am very sorry to report a patient in England who tested positive for COVID-19 has sadly died," England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said in a statement. The patient, being treated in the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, west of London, was elderly and had "underlying health conditions", he said. The patient is believed to have contracted the virus in Britain. One British man had previously died from coronavirus, after being infected while quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship near Tokyo. Health authorities meanwhile updated their travel advice for people returning from Italy, which has badly hit by the outbreak that has infected more than 97,000 people and killed over 3,300 around the world. It urges anyone returning from the country in the past fortnight who develops symptoms to self-isolate. Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his sympathy for the family of the victim who died, but said the nationwide situation had not changed significantly. Britain is still trying to contain the outbreak, but is moving towards implementing an action plan to delay its spread until the warmer months. The state-run health service is currently under strain as it deals with winter outbreaks of flu and norovirus. "The situation is pretty much as it has been in the sense that we are still in the contain phase, though now our scientists and medical advisers are making preparations for the delay phase," Johnson said. "What they are looking at in the next few days, in the near future, is what kind of measures might be necessary to retard the spread of the disease. "As soon as they've decided that the moment is right to announce those, we will be absolutely clear with the public about what needs to be done. "But for the moment things are as they have been." Measures to be introduced when the virus spreads could include asking people to work from home, reducing large gatherings such as football matches and shutting schools. On Thursday, rugby union officials announced the postponement of England's Six Nations match on March 14 in Rome against Italy where 11 towns are under quarantine.

Govt. Approves Bank Secrecy Bill, to Meet on Eurobonds Saturday
Naharnet/March 05/2020
The Cabinet on Thursday approved a draft law on lifting bank secrecy, Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad said, describing it as “an important achievement for the government, which will not hesitate to hold accountable any corrupt person.”Speaking after a Cabinet session at the Baabda Palace, Abdul Samad added that the Cabinet will convene Saturday to discuss the financial situations and mull the issue of whether or not to pay a $1.2 billion Eurobond debt which matures on March 9. “We have chosen to carry the ball of fire because the country is in great danger and we cannot stand idly by in the face of all that is happening. We will do the impossible to address the accumulations, and unfortunately there are individuals who are doing the impossible to strangle the country,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said during the session, according to Abdul Samad. “We will carry on with our national mission of rescuing the country and we won’t be affected by the intimidation they are practicing and the truth won’t change despite falsification,” Diab added. “The government’s value lies in its solidarity and unity in fighting the battle for Lebanon and I’m confident that each of the ministers is at the level of the challenges,” the PM went on to say. Economists have warned that paying the March 9 Eurobend debt on time would eat away at Lebanon’s plummeting foreign currency reserves, while bankers say a default would damage the country’s reputation with lenders. Bank of America Merill Lynch in a November report estimated that around 50 percent of Eurobonds were held by local banks, while the central bank had around 11 percent. Foreign investors owned the remainder, or around 39 percent, it said. But these figures may have changed, with local media reporting that local banks have recently sold a chunk of their Eurobonds to foreign lenders.

Politicians Slam Financial Prosecutor's Banks Ruling, Berri Distances Himself
Naharnet/March 05/2020
A number of politicians on Thursday blasted a decision by Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim to freeze the assets of 20 Lebanese banks, as Speaker Nabih Berri denied influencing the prosecutor’s ruling.
“Some suspicious TV networks aired news claiming that the parliament speaker was behind the decision taken by Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim towards the banks. The press office of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stresses that Mr. Speaker has not and will never interfere in the work of the judiciary,” the office said in a statement, noting that the reports are “totally baseless.”Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri meanwhile slammed Ibrahim’s ruling as “an uncalculated, populist political message that does not preserve the rights of small and big depositors nor the confidence of friends and brothers in Lebanon.”“Putting the hand on banks in the declared manner is a coup against the economic system and a step that takes Lebanon back to the era of totalitarian regimes,” Hariri warned. Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat had earlier described Ibrahim’s move as “the beginning of a plan to nationalize banks and other institutions in a country characterized by conflicting authorities.” “It seems that they want to bury Greater Lebanon on its centenary,” Jumblat added in a tweet. MP Michel Mouawad of the Strong Lebanon bloc for his part said Ibrahim’s “very dangerous” decision “plunges Lebanon into the unknown, follows the Venezuela-like model, changes Lebanon’s face, impoverishes the Lebanese and eliminates any chance to regain confidence and draw foreign investments.”“What’s more dangerous is that this decision aims to present a scapegoat in order to protect the political class, instead of beginning the implementation of the serious financial, economic and administrative reforms,” Mouawad added, alleging that the decision was taken “in the offices of political leaders” and not by the judiciary. TV networks meanwhile said that State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat was expected to suspend Ibrahim's decision later on Thursday, following talks between President Michel Aoun and Banks Association chief Salim Sfeir.
Ibrahim had earlier on Thursday ordered an asset freeze for 20 banks and their board directors, in the latest move targeting the crisis-hit country's under-fire banks. Lebanon has been gripped since October 17 by mass protests against the political class and banking sector, even as it faces its worst economic crisis in decades. Banks have since September imposed increasingly tight limits on dollar withdrawals and transfers abroad to tackle a severe liquidity crisis, sparking frustration among ordinary depositors. Ibrahim's move comes after the prosecutor separately called in 15 banks on Monday over more than 2 billion dollars in capital flight despite the restrictions in the two months after the start of the protests. Lebanon is currently facing its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. The value of the Lebanese pound has plummeted on the black market, prices have risen, and many businesses have been forced to slash salaries, dismiss staff or close. Lebanon is one of the most indebted countries in the world, with a public debt equivalent to 150 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The country is now under pressure to pay a $1.2 billion Eurobond maturing on March 9, with a decision expected on Saturday on whether or not to default.

Report: PM to Announce ‘Rescue’ Plan Besides Decision on Eurobonds
Naharnet/March 05/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab is expected to announce Lebanon’s decision whether to pay or default on a $1.2 billion Eurobond maturity on March 9, along with a “rescue” plan that the government shall adopt in that regard, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday. The decision will be announced later this week from Baabda after a senior meeting between President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Diab. Minister of Finance Ghazi Wazni, Minister of Economy Raoul Nehmeh, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and banking association head Salim Sfeir will “likely” attend the meeting, said the daily. In parallel with the announcement, Diab shall declare a government “rescue plan” while specifying the positive reasons that prompted the government to take its decision not to pay, according to al-Joumhouria. The matter will be discussed during the cabinet session that will be held today, added the daily. Intense consultations have been made in the past few hours at the presidency level, premiership and banking senior officials, which according to the daily have all revolved around “defaulting” Lebanon’s debt.

STL to Issue Verdicts in Hariri Case in Mid-May
Naharnet/March 05/2020
The Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced Thursday that it will deliver its verdicts in the case of the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and his companions in a public session in mid-May 2020. In a filing issued Thursday, the Judges stated that they would specify the precise date of the public pronouncement of the Judgment as soon as possible. The U.N.-backed STL has tried several Hizbullah operatives in absentia over the crime. Hizbullah has denied involvement in the murder, describing the tribunal as a U.S.-Israeli scheme and vowing that the accused will never be found.

Nehme, Najm Affirm ‘Practical’ Steps on Consumer Protection
Naharnet/March 05/2020
Ministers of Economy and Justice held a joint press conference on Thursday assuring that measures were underway to control the prices of goods and services and vowing “empirical” steps and "heavy" fines on violators. Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm said: “The ministry received a letter about manipulation in prices of goods. Based on the principle of cooperation between ministries, I forwarded a copy of it to the head of the Judicial Inspection Authority and to the discriminatory Attorney General to activate prosecutions and expedite issuance of decisions.” Asserting practical steps in that regard, she said that people always complain that penalties are never taken against violators, but assured that heavy fines will be applied on violators. For his part, Economy Minister Raoul Nehme stressed the necessity to coordinate efforts with the justice ministry because "consumer protection measures are often established by law," he said and assured that penalties will be painful. “Penalties will grow and the names of violators will be publicized this time,” emphasized Nehme. To help citizens report violators, the ministry established a consumer protection hotline and a mobile application for the purpose, he noted. Nehme said the ministry is understaffed and needs members to help it report the violations. "We have opened the door for volunteers,” he said.

U.S. Contractor Charged with Giving Up Military Secrets to Hizbullah-Linked Lebanese
Associated Press/Naharnet/March 05/2020
A U.S. Defense Department contract linguist has been charged with giving classified information, including the names of American intelligence assets, to a Lebanese national with ties to Hizbullah, the U.S. Justice Department annonced Wednesday. Federal prosecutors accused Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, of turning over information that placed in danger those intelligence assets and American military personnel. Thompson was due in court later Wednesday for an initial appearance. She was arrested last week on the espionage-related allegation. Prosecutors said that during a six-week period starting in late December, when U.S. airstrikes targeted Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, Thompson repeatedly accessed dozens of files that she had no need to review. Those files included the names of human assets, their photographs and cables detailing the information that the sources provided to the U.S. government. Prosecutors said that when officials searched her living quarters, they found a handwritten note in Arabic concealed under her mattress with information about Defense Department computer systems and warning of a Defense Department target. They said she had given the information in the note to a co-conspirator, in whom she had a romantic interest. The co-conspirator, who was not identified, worked for the Lebanese government and "has apparent connections" to Hizbullah, according to prosecutors. They said Thompson, who had a top secret government security clearance, was arrested last Thursday at an overseas U.S. military facility. It was not identified.

Airplane from Rome lands in Beirut, no coronavirus symptoms among passengers
NNA/March 05/2020
A Middle East Airlines plane with 73 passengers onboard has landed in Beirut airport coming from Rome, National News Agency correspondent reported on Thursday. Thermal screening conducted by medics assigned to the airport by the Ministry of Public Heath showed no symptoms of coronavirus among the arriving travelers.

Protest march sets out from Antelias Square towards Jal El Dib
NNA/March 05/2020
A march under the slogan of "No Confidence" set out this evening from Antelias Square towards Jal El Dib, in protest against the simmering current situation, NNA correspondent reported. Protesters are also demanding early parliamentary elections.

Loyalty to Resistance' bloc: For political and popular support for government's Eurobond decision
NNA/March 05/2020
The "Loyalty to the Resistance" parliamentary bloc on Thursday highlighted the importance of political and popular support for the government's decision on Eurobonds, stressing that this is a national issue and just a monetary one. In a statement issued following its weekly meeting, the bloc renewed rejection of any conditions that would be imposed by international sides and that would tamper with the rights of the Lebanese people or with the situation in the country. Touching on the novel coronavirus, the bloc heaped praise on the efforts made by the concerned ministries and the health workers at Rafik Hariri International Hospital.

Geagea: Hezbollah most capable of assisting government
NNA/March 05/2020
Lebanese Forces party leader, Samir Geagea, emphasized that "some were surprised by the return of the [popular] movement (...) when the latter did not stop for a single moment, even if its pace subsided and its street activities recently receded.”
Geagea stressed that the movement will not cease to exist as long as the circumstances of its objective formation persist, "especially in light of the insistence of the ruling trio to continue to grab hold of power and follow the same practices that generated the same disastrous outcomes, hence leading towards more poverty, misfortune and slide to the bottom of the abyss."Awaiting “the rescue plan that the government will announce later this week,” Geagea believed that "the party most capable of helping the government is Hezbollah, through a series of steps that start by closing all illegal crossings and locking the doors to waste and corruption at the port and airport, and by lifting the entire cover off of its corrupt allies who wreak havoc [in the country]. The party should also withdraw from the crises in the region, for Lebanon to start coming out of its Arab and international isolation. It should finally hand over its weapons to the State so that the latter can become an actual State and the international and Arab communities can start treating it on this basis."

Msharrafieh tackles cooperation with international organizations
NNA/March 05/2020
Minister of Social Affairs and Tourism, Ramzi Msharrafieh, held this Thursday a series of meetings with representatives of international organizations, meeting first with the Director of the United Nations Development Program, Celine Muiru, where it was agreed to strengthen the program to support Lebanese host communities and carry out developmental projects with a sustainable dimension, in addition to boosting computerization in the Ministry of Social Affairs. Msharrafieh then discussed with the director of the WFP in Lebanon, Abdullah Al-Wardat, means of cooperating with the organization to meet pressing needs, especially for the Lebanese society that is beset by the economic and social crisis. IOM Office Director Fawzi Zayoud also visited the minister and discussed with him the prospects of cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs, especially in the field of combating human trafficking. It was also agreed to activate coordinate with the Organization in Lebanon and Syria to secure a decent and safe return of the displaced Syrians to their countries.

Lebanon prosecutor orders assets frozen at 20 local banks
Timour Azhari/AlJazeera/March 05/2020
Assets of banks' executives and boards of directors have also been ordered to be frozen as part of an investigation.
Beirut, Lebanon - A Lebanese financial prosecutor on Thursday ordered the assets of 20 local banks, their executives and boards of directors be frozen as part of an investigation into billions of dollars transferred out of the cash-strapped nation. The decision by Judge Ali Ibrahim comes amid a worsening economic and financial spiral that has Lebanon staring down the barrel of defaulting on a Eurobond repayment due next week. An acute foreign currency shortage has seen the Lebanese pound devalue on parallel markets to lows unprecedented since it was pegged to the US dollar in 1993.
Lebanon's economy is dependent on inflows of foreign currency from its large diaspora, but they have dried up as the country descends deeper into a crisis rooted in corruption, government mismanagement, a dilapidated power sector that bleeds billions and the civil war next door in Syria.
The dollar shortage has made the scenario of a default on the country's enormous $87bn public debt - the third highest in the world compared with its gross domestic product (GDP) - increasingly likely. The cabinet will meet on Saturday to decide whether to make good on a much-anticipated $1.2bn Eurobond repayment due on March 9. "Given the negotiations on the Eurobonds with the banks, [Ibrahim's] decision can be seen as a pressure tool on them to accept government conditions," Jad Chaaban, an associate professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera.
A senior banking source told Al Jazeera that they view the decision as a further attempt by politicians to shift blame for the country's dire situation onto banks and away from a political class that has ruled Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war.
"There is political pressure on the judge to do this. It's as if we are the ones who stole money and hired thousands of people, and wrecked the electricity sector and wasted money on deals. It's a scapegoat," the source said.
The source said Ibrahim's decision may mean the banks will not be able to open. "If all our assets are frozen it means we can't access our accounts, which means we can't open."
Chaaban said such a decision should be seen as the latest escalation in a tug-of-war between banks and politicians. "I am sure the banks will retaliate with some form to put pressure back [like close down]," he said. Ibrahim's decision is officially tied to severe, informal capital controls that banks have put in place since November, following a two-week closure as anti-establishment protests swept the nation. Despite controls that have limited transfers of money abroad to "urgent matters" and withdrawals of foreign currency to between $100 and $1,000 every two weeks, billions of dollars have been transferred out of the country. Allegations have swirled that the lion's share of those transfers was made by politicians, those with connections, and bank executives themselves.
Ibrahim's decision includes top-tier Lebanese banks such as Bank Audi, BLOM Bank, Bank Med and Byblos Bank.
He had called in the heads of 14 banks on Monday for questioning over the transfers of money out of Lebanon, in addition to a mass sell-off of Eurobonds by local banks, as the prospect of default looms. Ibrahim is set to hear testimony from a number of other top bank executives in the coming days.
Salim Sfeir, the head of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, said they had sold off Eurobonds to gain much-needed liquidity. However, the added liquidity has not translated into depositors being allowed greater access to their foreign currency-denominated accounts. "Why have people not felt any difference?" Lebanese journalist Hussein Noureddine tweeted on Thursday. "Is this liquidity for the family?" Popular anger continues to grow as people are forced to queue for hours simply to retrieve just a few hundred dollars in a country where the local currency and the greenback were formerly used interchangeably.
On Thursday, the glass facade of CreditBank north of Beirut was destroyed, reportedly by a depositor who was barred access to his cash. The government has promised to uphold the rights of depositors and hold corrupt officials accountable.
On Thursday, the Lebanese cabinet also approved a law to lift the "bank secrecy" of public sector officials. It is unclear exactly how the law would do this, and it will still require the approval of parliament.

U.S contractor accused of leaking classified information to Lebanon's Hezbollah
Georgi Azar/Annahar/March 05/2020
U.S Federal prosecutors accuse Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, of leaking the names of U.S. intelligence sources and compromising their identities while on active duty.
BEIRUT: A U.S Defense Department linguist was charged with espionage Wednesday for allegedly supplying classified information to a Lebanese national with links to the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
U.S Federal prosecutors accuse Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, of leaking the names of U.S. intelligence sources and compromising their identities while on active duty. "If true, this conduct is a disgrace, especially for someone serving as a contractor with the United States military," Assistant Attorney General John Demers said. "This betrayal of country and colleagues will be punished," he added. Thompson was arrested by FBI agents at a U.S. military facility in Erbil, Iraq, where she held a top-secret government security clearance.
“While in a war zone, the defendant allegedly gave sensitive national defense information, including the names of individuals helping the United States, to a Lebanese national located overseas," he said.
On the day protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in Iraq in response to U.S. airstrikes against Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, Thompson allegedly sought access to classified information that was unconnected to her duties. This raised suspicion which then led to a court-authorized search of Thompson's living quarters on February 19, 2020 and the discovery of a handwritten note in Arabic concealed under her mattress.  "Specifically, during a six-week period...Thompson accessed dozens of files concerning human intelligence sources, including true names, personal identification data, background information and the photographs of the human assets," prosecutors claimed.
The U.S accuse Thompson of transmitting the classified information in a handwritten note to her Lebanese co-conspirator, with whom she had "a romantic interest.""The FBI’s investigation revealed that Thompson knew the co-conspirator was a foreign national whose relative worked for the Lebanese government," Demers said. "The investigation also revealed that the co-conspirator has apparent connections to Hezballah. Further investigation revealed that, in a separate communication, Thompson also provided information to her co-conspirator identifying another human asset and the information the asset had provided to the United States, as well as providing information regarding the techniques the human assets were using to gather information on behalf of the United States."
Thompson was charged with "Delivering Defense Information to Aid a Foreign Government in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(a) and conspiring to do so in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(c)." If convicted, Thompson faces a maximum punishment of life in prison. Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by both the U.S and U.K.

Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital Suffers from Neglect in the Midst of Crises
Youssef Diab/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
All eyes turn to Rafik Hariri University Hospital whenever there is a public health crisis caused by an epidemic. It is also where many of those injured in wars or security incidents are taken for treatment. However, it has been neglected by the Lebanese state, especially the ministry of health, which has taken it out of the list of Lebanon’s most modern hospitals. With the spread of the coronavirus, however, it has come under the limelight since it is the only health center that is able to treat patients who have caught the virus. The Rafik Hariri University Hospital building is located on a spacious property in Beirut's Bir Hassan area, and consists of three stories with 400 beds, making it one of the largest hospitals in Lebanon. The health ministry has equipped a hospital ward, which includes 137 beds, so that it can receive those infected or suspected of being infected with the virus, and it is ready to turn all its departments into a health center for infected people in the event of an increase in the number of patients. Despite the responsibilities assigned to the hospital, it suffers from two major issues. The first revolves around the need to improve its equipment. The other is the mistreatment of its employees - whether in administrative or medical positions - who suffer from delays in the payment of their salaries compared to other public sector staff. Hospital personnel protested near its headquarters on Wednesday to remind officials of their demands, and they made their voices heard to Minister of Health Hamad al-Hassan in conjunction with the press conference that was held to update the public on the status of coronavirus patients in Lebanon. Hospital employees demanded their right to benefit from the pay raises to public sector employees that they are entitled to. There are many reasons behind the state’s neglect of this hospital, a source from inside the Rafik Hariri University Hospital told Asharq Al-Awsat, the first being that private hospitals in its vicinity are owned by political figures that have no interest in developing the institution. The second is that health ministers have been dealing with the hospital in accordance with their political background and interests. They link any initiative to developing the facility or its medical and nursing staff to political services. A ministry source denied these claims. “Attending to the needs of Rafik Hariri University Hospital is a top priority for the ministry,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat. The official also denied that political considerations interfered with its management. “Most of spending on hospitalization goes to this hospital, taking into consideration the share received by private and public universities for treating patients at the ministry's expense”. He considers that “the employees' objections are shared by public sector staff in general; it is not a problem unique to the ministry of health.”

Hezbollah may pay the price of any Russian-Turkish deal
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/March 05/2020
The battle for Idlib province seems set to be the final chapter in the Syrian revolution-turned-regional conflict and, therefore, the stakes are high. Last week, for the first time, Turkish forces initiated a drone and airstrike on Syrian and Iranian positions, in retaliation for the killing of more than 33 Turkish soldiers. The Turkish response resulted in the deaths of at least eight Hezbollah fighters and 21 Afghan and Pakistani Shiite fighters from brigade forces also guided by the Iranian regime. The presence of Hezbollah in this battle was a reminder, if needed, of the key strategic role given by Iran to the Lebanese group on a regional level. This is aimed at pursuing, covertly and militarily, the interests of the Iranian regime, which seeks to expand and impose its influence. This strike was also a reminder of the presence in Syria of armed Shiite brigades that Hezbollah essentially helped create and train, and today it commands under the tight supervision and logistical support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force.
Even though Lebanon is in crisis, Hezbollah is still fighting in Syria in support of the Assad regime in order to safeguard Iranian interests. In these conditions, how can analysts still refer to it as a Lebanese political party? This is simply a fighting unit of the IRGC that uses Lebanon as cover. This situation again reminds us that Hezbollah has no respect for state sovereignty or borders; its assigned mission is what matters. Hezbollah has no respect for state sovereignty or borders; its assigned mission is what matters
Yet Hezbollah has suffered severe losses in recent months, which some analysts have linked to the death of Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and a weakened power structure on the battlefield. Losses in Syria have also been putting more pressure on the proxy in Lebanon from its own militants, as they keep questioning the reason for their presence in Syria while they face financial difficulties in light of US sanctions, as well as the general situation of the country. Despite these conditions, Hezbollah will find ways to survive, whatever the outcome in Lebanon, and keep its community’s loyalty. This is mainly because it can count on Iranian financial support, which has allowed it to build parallel institutions to the state. It also has a few scapegoats in the shape of corrupt allies it can sacrifice to ease the pressure if needed. Yet, in the case of total chaos endangering its control and any of its networks, as a last resort Hezbollah might decide to directly take over the entire government and impose a new regime in Lebanon that is in direct alignment with Iran. Analysts recently pointed out that Iranian illegal trade is increasing, and alternative financial instruments can be activated.
It is in Syria that Hezbollah is at risk of paying the price of any deal between Russia and Turkey under US approval, especially as Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan are looking for ways to de-escalate. Despite their different positions on the future of the Assad regime, Moscow and Ankara agree on having a smaller Iranian presence and influence in Syria. Turkey does not want to have the IRGC and Hezbollah at its border, while Russia would welcome not having to share too much influence with Iran in key Syrian power centers. This is also in alignment with Israel’s objectives.
When it comes to Lebanon, the final decision center for Hezbollah is ultimately in Iran. Its actions, whether appeasement or escalation, will always be following Iranian goals and strategy. The Iranian regime is certainly not willing to sacrifice its main proxy force in the region by letting it go. The Lebanese should understand this and act accordingly.
• Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

Since You Cannot Protect Us, Resign
Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 05/2020
The demonstration did not come late. Hours after the Serail-resident finished his speech in front of the consuls, protesters blocked several bridges and main roads in Beirut and other areas, raising slogans such as, “No confidence... Resign” and “No confidence, leave”!
The Prime Minister explicitly said, “Honestly, the state in its current condition is no longer capable of protecting the Lebanese and providing them with a dignified life”. He then added: “In all transparency, the state has lost the confidence of the Lebanese”. Consequently, on March 2, he confessed failure and incapacity, after 41 days of the birth of his government on 21 January, and 74 days after he was assigned Prime Minister on December 19, a sufficient duration for any serious governor to provide a vision to rescue the country. Sound reason would entail that whoever says those words would continue and say. “I hereby announce the resignation of my government. Let someone else come and lead to protect the people. At least, because behavior and performance did not allow citizens to find out what was really happening in the country”!
Instead, he declared failure and inability to effect any change, and despite that, he chose to remain under the guise that “the other alternatives are more dangerous”. This was the bombshell because it reveals that the real team pulling the strings behind this government of masks is proceeding in a path to impose its solutions on the expense of those who are in need. That is, because of the government, both head and members, settled on the path of not holding whoever caused the crisis accountable, a mafia of deals, brokers, foreign dependency, bankers cartels and money tycoons who have accumulated wealth by looting public funds and the fruit of citizens whose deposits were stolen!
It is a dangerous matter for a Prime Minister to speak like a victim among citizens, while between his hands as the head of the executive authority are the capacities of the entire country and its institutions, and is consequently the one who is responsible for preventing the country’s collapse and inability to protect people. This announcement was like a decision for the state to escape its responsibilities and duties to protect and guarantee rights. It seemed as if he was telling people to go solve their own problems, announce anarchy, and take back what's theirs with their own hands! In short, the premier’s speech in front of the consuls set a precedence in the history of Lebanese governments in resigning from its responsibilities and then staying in power!
Since October 17 when people took to the streets rejecting decades of violations and humiliations, the majority of Lebanese people chose the alternative to the chaos of brokers and protected deals by the mini-state within the state and naturally revealed in their behavior and practices their ability to build bridges between each other. This returned the smile to their faces despite the frustration and revived hope in their unity that was built on shared interests, a true course towards a rescue that will come with a political change that would allow the Lebanese to retrieve their abducted republic. In all Lebanese squares, there is clarity, and they have declared it since the very beginning that there would be no chance for this formation and no confidence. They considered overthrowing the government to be the pathway towards forcing the cabinet and its head, Diab, to retreat from an alliance that would inevitably lead to trouble, while the latter knows that the Lebanese know who really is in control! The Lebanese are convinced that there are no solutions under this government.
After October 17, citizens found that they were being cheated to an unprecedented degree by those responsible for the loot of an era and who impoverished and starved the country. They began to point their fingers towards the perpetrators one by one, which put the entire sectarian alliance under the accusation of committing all of these crimes, and the people were united under the revolution’s slogan: All of them means all of them. This led to them preventing the political class from accessing public spaces. Subsequently, the street was subjected to all sorts of pressures and violations to weaken and penetrate it in order to diverge it from its course and onto demands that took advantage of people’s suffering of humiliation by banks, but that remained secondary despite their importance. With difficulty, it then corrected its course. This is what the protests on consecutive Saturdays represent, the ability to aim for the corrupt confessional sectarian system that Hezbollah now fiercely defends, as the defender of a formulation that is based on inequality between the Lebanese.
This discourse of bankruptcy, arrogance, and insistence on inequality and blackmailing people's hunger, and the street’s response demanding the government's resignation, then Diab rushing to describe his critics as an orchestra that has cherry-picked facts and has resorted to lies and incitement, a familiar matter among politicians who try to cover up one issue with another, thinking that this kind of noise will cover up the process of pushing the country towards bleak choices so that the approach that led the country to collapse continues. These choices are embodied in three flaws that have characterized the regime: Violations of public freedoms, blindly favoring money tycoons over the public, and conspiring against people’s lives!
The most prominent “achievement” started with building walls of hatred around public institutions, parliament, and the government and putting up cement barriers between people and the regime that has lost its public legitimacy. What is meant by this is ignoring the suffering of people and their demands, and this has culminated in calling in hundreds of rebels for investigations and pressuring them with their only crime being standing steadfast against corruption and the corrupt who have yet to be touched. This approach seems clear: going towards some form of a security state and refusing to work to secure people’s rights.
The second “achievement” is more pressure on the judiciary to prevent it from issuing sentences against bankers’ cartels that have legitimized laws to plunder deposits, opening the door for unprecedented looting of the fruits of people’s labor.
The third and catastrophic “achievement” on top of this collapse has been conspiring against people’s lives. It is in Hezbollah’s interest, the real governor of the country, to maintain the aerial bridge between Beirut and Tehran, and now it has become like they’re actually importing Coronavirus. The regime has tricked and misled people, and is falling short of the minimal precautionary measures such as mandatory quarantines to protect people, taking people’s health for granted and satisfying themselves by merely shutting down schools while opening the borders.
The anger of citizens is not manufactured, as they have been patient enough, and the only obvious task is to take back power so that the country and its citizens are liberated from division, arrogance, and violations of rights. The revolution that has gained the confidence of people is their only hope for finding a path that would reformulate the real history of the country.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 05-06/2020
Israeli Airstrikes on Central Syria Kill, Injure Regime Soldiers
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Syrian regime soldiers were killed and injured on Thursday morning following Israeli airstrikes on regime positions in central Syria and near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The German Press Agency DPA quoted a source close to the Syrian regime as saying, "one soldier was killed and three others wounded in Israeli bombing of Shayrat airport in southeastern Homs province." The state-run Syrian news agency (SANA) reported that Israeli military planes fired in the early hours several missiles from over Lebanese airspace towards the central area of Syria. "Enemy missiles were immediately dealt with, preventing any of them from reaching their targets," the source said, according to SANA. The source did not specify which area was targeted in the central sector of Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the airstrikes targeted the Shayrat and Dabaa air bases in the central province of Homs. It said the strikes were also aimed at targets in the southern region of Quneitra on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It had no word on damage or casualties. Shayrat is a military airport which was also bombed in April 2017 by the United States after the regime launched a chemical weapons attack from there, killing 80 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which was held by anti-Assad rebels at the time. Another Israeli attack hit a regime position in Quneitra province in southwestern Syria, near the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, killing one regime soldier. Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting regime troops as well as allied Iranian forces and fighters from Hezbollah. It is rare for Israel to claim such strikes directly. In mid-February, Israeli strikes on Damascus airport killed seven Syrian and Iranian fighters.

Israel Demolishes Homes of 2 Alleged Palestinian Attackers With Bulldozers, Jackhammers
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
The Israeli military on Thursday said its forces demolished the homes of two Palestinians accused of being behind a deadly blast in the West Bank last year. Israel says Walid Hanatsheh and Yazan Mughamis were part of a cell that carried out the attack in August, which killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb and injured her father and brother as they hiked down to a spring in the occupied West Bank. Hanatsheh and Mughamis, along with other alleged members of the cell, are currently facing trial in an Israeli court. Bulldozers tore down one home in the West Bank city of Bir Zeit. At the second home in the city of Ramallah, soldiers used jackhammers to destroy the interior walls of the apartment. During the operation early Thursday, the military said dozens of Palestinians burned tires and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the Israeli forces. It said its forces responded with "riot dispersal means," which usually means tear gas and stun grenades. Israel says demolishing the family homes of alleged militants deters violence. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.

Putin, Erdogan Agree Ceasefire Deal for Syria's Idlib
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Turkey and Russia agreed a ceasefire deal on Thursday in northwestern Syria's Idlib region, their two leaders said after lengthy talks in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin, standing next to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said he hoped their agreement would lead to a halt of military action in Syria's last opposition stronghold in the far northwest of the country. "I express hope that these agreements will serve as a good basis for a cessation of military activity in the Idlib de-escalation zone (and) stop the suffering of the peaceful population and the growing humanitarian crisis," Putin said.
Erdogan told reporters the truce would come into effect at midnight on Thursday. "We will work together to supply aid for the Syrians in need," he said, adding that Turkey retained the right "to respond to all (Syrian) regime attacks in the field." The Kremlin said the two leaders had spoken for three hours on their own before being joined by their officials. The two leaders also agreed to establish a secure corridor near the M4 highway, which runs east to west through Idlib, and hold joint patrols along the road from March 15. In a joint statement read out by the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers, the two sides said the corridor would stretch 6 km to the north and 6 km to the south of the M4 – effectively advancing Russia's presence further north into Idlib. They said their defense ministers would agree on the parameters of the corridor within seven days. A Russia-backed Syrian offensive to regain control over Idlib — the last opposition-controlled region in the country — has resulted in Turkey sending thousands of troops into Idlib to repel the Syrian army. Clashes on the ground and in the air have left dozens dead on both sides.

Turkey Deploys Police to Stop Greece Pushing Back Migrants
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/2020
Turkey deployed 1,000 police officers on Thursday to prevent Greece pushing migrants back, its interior minister said, as thousands of refugees massed at the Greek border."A thousand special force police officers are deployed from this morning to the Meric river on the border, fully equipped, to prevent people being pushed back," Suleyman Soylu told reporters during a visit to the northwestern province of Edirne.

US Syria Envoy Calls for European Support to Turkey
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/2020
A senior US official on Thursday called on Europe to support Turkey's military operation in Syria, where it has lost more than 50 soldiers trying to hold back a Russian-backed offensive on the last rebel stronghold. "One of the principles that the president (Donald Trump) and the US Congress share is that there should be a collective effort, not just of Turkey and the US but of our NATO allies, essentially the Europeans," said the US special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, at a conference in Istanbul. "We are pressing the Europeans to contribute a great deal," he added. The Syrian government, backed by Russian air power, has steadily retaken swathes of Idlib since launching its offensive in December, forcing close to a million people from their homes in the biggest displacement of the nine-year conflict. Turkey fears another major influx of refugees, adding to the 3.6 million Syrians it already hosts.
It announced a full operation against Syrian forces following an air strike that killed 34 of its soldiers on February 27. Turkey has requested greater military support from its NATO partners, and has sought to pressure Europe by removing restrictions on migrants trying to leave its territory for the EU. NATO has offered its solidarity to Turkey, but has yet to take concrete action. "There's a Spanish Patriot (missile defence) unit right now deployed in Turkey at the Incirlik airbase, that's an example of things that NATO is actually doing and we want to see more actions like that," said Jeffrey. He acknowledged the situation had been complicated by Turkey's decision to buy a Russian missile defence system, the S-400, which was strongly opposed by NATO. "We are looking for ways to work around it but for the moment that is an issue," Jeffrey said of the S-400.

Palestinian Authority Announces West Bank Tourism Ban Over
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
The Palestinians announced a two-week ban on tourists visiting cities and sites in the occupied West Bank Thursday, after the first suspected cases of coronavirus in the territory. The two-week restriction, announced by the Palestinian Tourism Ministry, goes into effect on Friday. The church of the nativity, built on the Bethlehem location revered as the birthplace of Jesus, is among the sites expected to be closed off until March 20. "We have decided to prevent the entry of tourists for a period of 14 days and to prevent hotels in all cities from receiving foreigners," tourism minister Rula Maayah told AFP. A church official confirmed the planned closure. "We respect the authorities' decision because safety comes first," the official said on condition of anonymity. The decision followed the first suspected cases in the West Bank of the disease, which has spread rapidly across the globe since emanating from China. The Palestinian health ministry announced a number of suspected cases had been detected at a hotel in the Bethlehem area.
The head of the local health directorate, Imad Shahadeh, told AFP that a group of Greek tourists had visited the hotel in late February, with two later discovered to have the virus. Four suspected cases have been identified among hotel workers, with full confirmation expected later Thursday, he said. Palestinian health officials said they were examining whether four hotel workers in Bethlehem had contracted the disease from tourists who stayed there. Police surrounded the hotel, as authorities awaited the results of laboratory tests. Israel controls all entrances to the West Bank from the Jewish state but the Palestinian government has limited autonomy in cities.

Arab FMs Approve Postponing Algeria Summit to June
Cairo- Sawsan Abu Hussein/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Arab foreign ministers have approved Algeria’s proposal to postpone the “Arab Summit’ to June. They stressed “the importance of resolving the crises in Syria, Yemen and Libya and supporting the Arab League system.” The decision was issued during the regular meeting of Arab foreign ministers, headed by the Sultanate of Oman. The meeting was held in the Arab League (AL) headquarters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday. AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, during the opening session, underscored the importance of the Arab League and its effectiveness amidst the crisis suffered by many Arab countries nowadays. He slammed the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrians in camps that don’t protect them from the winter’s cold, as well as attempts to seek refuge in foreign countries. Abul Gheit also pointed to the humanitarian tragedy many Syrians are going through, stressing that military solutions “will not resolve these conflicts” and that no party will come out victorious in any civil war. “The first step towards political solutions is a comprehensive and immediate ceasefire on all Arab fronts,” the official said. On the Yemeni issue, Aboul Gheit pointed out that “a political solution based on Security Council Resolution 2216 is the mean to achieve an internal settlement that ensures power for all parties.” Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi, for his part, expressed his country’s keenness to maintain its support for the AL. Chairman of the AL’s 153rd session at the ministerial level also accentuated Oman’s cooperation with all Arab countries to achieve the League’s goals and attain Arab economic integration that serves Arab people’s interests. Alawi also stressed that without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, no regional stability will be achieved. He called for providing the environment necessary for peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis.

Pompeo: Iran Must be Held Accountable on Nuclear Commitments
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday called on all nations to hold Iran accountable for its nuclear commitments and said Tehran's failure to report nuclear material was a clear violation of safeguard agreements. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is policing Iran's troubled nuclear deal with major powers, sounded an alarm on Tuesday over a lack of Iranian cooperation in clearing up what the IAEA suspects are undeclared activities and materials dating back to the early 2000s. Iran on Thursday stood by its decision to deny UN nuclear inspectors access to sites where they have questions about past activities, arguing that the agency's case is based on "fabricated" Israeli intelligence. Pompeo told a State Department news conference that all nations must hold Iran accountable under the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which has been the foundation of global nuclear arms control since the Cold War. “Iran's intentional failure to declare such nuclear material, as reported by the IAEA this week, would constitute a clear violation of its safeguards agreements required by the NPT," Reuters quoted Pompeo as saying. "The regime must immediately cooperate with the IAEA and fully comply with its IAEA safeguards obligations. All nations must hold Iran accountable to its commitments, otherwise, the NPT isn't worth the paper that is written on."Iran warned in January it would withdraw from the NPT if European nations referred Iran to the UN Security Council over its alleged violations of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Under that deal, Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of most international sanctions, but the United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran.

Iran Calls for Limited Use of Paper Money over Virus, Toll Rises
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Iran’s health minister on Thursday encouraged the public to reduce its use of paper money as it is aiding the spread of the new coronavirus, and said authorities will begin manning checkpoints to limit travel between the country’s major cities. Saeed Namaki said schools and universities will remain closed until early April. In the announcement he made during a televised news conference, the minister said people should stay in their vehicles at gas stations and allow attendants to fill their gas tanks to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 virus. "People should not consider this as an opportunity to go traveling. They should stay home and take our warnings seriously," Namaki told the conference. He said the virus has killed 107 people amid 3,513 confirmed cases. Iran and Italy have the world’s highest death tolls outside of China, where the virus first appeared in December.

Dubai ruler threatened wife, orchestrated daughters' abduction, UK court rules
The New Arab/Thursday, 5 March, 2020
Princess Haya and her husband both have close links to the UK .
A UK court ruled on Thursday that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, organised the kidnapping of two of his children and subjected his wife - who fled the Gulf kingdom for Britain last year - to a campaign of harassment, the Guardian has reported.
The judge ruled that 70-year-old Sheikh Mohammed's actions, which include torture of his daughter Princess Latifa, potentially amount to breaking UK and international law, and could therefore impact relations between Britain and its close Gulf ally.
The High Court ruling comes after eight months of closed-door hearings and extensive witness statements have been published in a Fact Finding Judgement (FFJ). The FFJ confirms allegations of the billionaire ruler’s abuse put forward by his estranged wife Princess Haya, who fled Dubai last April with her two children allegedly fearing for her life. The ruling also confirms that the notorious disappearances of two of Sheikh Mohammed’s daughters from a previous marriage, Shamsa and Latifa, in 2000 and 2018 respectively, were "ordered and orchestrated" by their father. The two women were forcibly returned back to Dubai and remain “deprived of liberty”, the court said. The judge made the ruling in January but the sheikh, who was found to have "not been open and honest with the court" fought to prevent it from being made public. The UK Supreme Court quashed that attempt on Thursday, ruling that the findings were in the public interest. According to the FFJ, Shamsa fled her family's UK estate in Surrey in 2000 aged 19, but was subsequently abducted on the streets of Cambridge by agents working for her father. Shamsa was allegedly injected with a sedative and forced back to Dubai where she has been held captive until today.
Cambridgeshire Police investigating her disappearance requested to visit Dubai, but were refused.
Latifa made two attempts to escape her father's family, in 2002 and 2018. Following the first attempt she was held captive by her father in Dubai for more than three years. In the later attempt made when she was 32, Latifa was helped by friends to escape Dubai by boat.
However she was recaptured off the Indian coast and forcibly returned home, where she continues to be under house arrest. The judge ruled that allegations of serious physical abuse amounted to torture. Latifa published a video on social media before her 2018 escape attempt, where she documented her situation and the abuse she had suffered for decades at the hands of her father. The court also found Princess Haya, the daughter of Jordan's late King Hussain, to have undergone a serious campaign of harassment and abuse by Sheikh Mohammed and his staff before and after she escaped including having guns left on her pillow and an attempt to abduct her by helicopter. After marrying in 2004, Haya said she initially believed her husband’s explanation that he had "rescued" his daughters, but grew suspicious as the years went by and voiced her concerns to Sheikh Mohammed. Princess Haya moved to London last year and applied to the court for protective orders, using British laws intended to safeguard victims of forced marriage and domestic abuse. The forced marriage protection was requested for her daughter, who she alleges her ex-husband was attempting to marry off to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The judge ruled the allegation unproven. Agencies contributed to this report.

Millions Out of School as WHO Calls for Stronger Virus Response
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 05/2020
Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home with Italy and India the latest to shut schools over the deadly new coronavirus, as health officials warned many countries were not doing enough to fight the outbreak. More than 97,000 people have been infected and over 3,300 have died worldwide from the virus, which by Thursday had reached more than 80 countries and territories. The U.S. state of California declared an emergency following its first coronavirus fatality -- raising the US death toll to 11 -- and a cruise ship was kept offshore after passengers and crew members developed symptoms.
Britain and Switzerland also reported their first deaths from the outbreak on Thursday, while Bosnia and South Africa confirmed their first cases. Most deaths and infections are still in China, where the virus first emerged late last year, prompting the country to quarantine entire cities, temporarily shut factories and close schools indefinitely. But infections are now rising faster abroad than inside China, with South Korea, with Iran and Italy emerging as hotspots. The number of confirmed virus cases in Greece surged after 21 travelers recently returned from a bus trip to Israel and Egypt tested positive for the virus. France also reported a stiff jump in cases, bringing its total to 377, and two additional deaths that edged the country total to six. Several countries have implemented extraordinary measures, with UNESCO saying on Wednesday that school closures in more than a dozen countries have affected 290.5 million children. India later announced it was closing all primary schools in the capital New Delhi until the end of March to prevent the virus from spreading. The orders came as an India-EU summit scheduled for March 13 was also postponed.
While temporary school closures during crises are not new, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said "the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education".
Italy has ordered schools and universities shut until March 15, and on Thursday reported a sharp rise in coronavirus deaths, bringing the total to 148. South Korea -- second only to China in terms of infections with cases jumping past 6,000 on Thursday -- has postponed the start of the next term until March 23, while in Japan nearly all schools are closed until early April. Schools have also shut in Iran, where 107 people have died from the disease.
Not enough
The World Health Organization warned Thursday that several countries were not showing "the level of political commitment" needed to "match the level of the threat we all face." "This is not a drill," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. "This epidemic is a threat for every country, rich and poor." The comments come as the impact of the virus rapidly ripples across sectors. The airline industry could lose up to $113 billion (101 billion euros) in revenue this year due to the impact of the new coronavirus, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned, as governments issue travel restrictions or ban visitors from virus hotspots. Israel this week barred entry to almost all non-resident arrivals from five European nations, prompting Lufthansa to cancel all its flights to the country on Thursday. Beijing is now concerned about importing cases, with 20 infections brought in from abroad so far -- prompting several cities to require people arriving from hard-hit countries to self-quarantine. The outbreak's rapid spread has prompted fears of a global economic downturn and rumbled global stock markets, with Europe's major exchanges sinking again Thursday.
The IMF said earlier it was making $50 billion in aid available for low-income and emerging-market countries to fight the epidemic, which it sees as a "serious threat" that it said would slow global growth to below last year's 2.9 percent. "At a time of uncertainty... it is better to do more than to do not enough," IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said. Italy on Thursday unveiled a 7.5-billion-euro ($8.4-billion) economic rescue plan to deal with the impact of the virus, and in the United States, lawmakers reached a deal to provide more than $8 billion to fight the outbreak.
No kissing Thousands of people remained stranded on the Grand Princess cruise ship off the California coast Wednesday as officials carried out tests on people on board. A 71-year-old man who had been aboard the same ship during its previous voyage to Mexico died after contracting COVID-19. The vessel belongs to Princess Cruises, the same company which operated a coronavirus-stricken ship held off Japan last month on which more than 700 people on board tested positive, with six dying from the disease. The US federal government said it was going to buy 500 million respirators to stockpile for use by healthcare professionals as California declared its state of emergency over the virus. Elsewhere, governments ramped up their own responses. Japan said it will quarantine all arrivals from China and South Korea for two weeks, while the United Arab Emirates warned its citizens to "avoid travelling".
Saudi Arabia has suspended the year-round Islamic "umrah" pilgrimage, an unprecedented move that raises fresh uncertainty over the annual hajj. New measures in Italy -- where 50,000 are under quarantine in several northern towns -- include a month-long nationwide ban on fan attendance at sports events, and advising people to avoid greetings like kissing on the cheek or shaking hands. Italy's final match against England in the Six Nations Championship on March 14 was also postponed, officials said Thursday.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 05-06/2020
Awareness and Responsibility in the Face of Covid-19
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 05/2020
It is interesting that the World Health Organization (WHO) is still hesitant about labeling Covid-19 as a ‘pandemic’.
The reasons make sense, and for many, they are more than justifiable; given the state of global panic reverberating against a background of questions far exceeding answers from medical and public health authorities.
So, between reports and press conferences here, and hastily decisions taken by governments there, share prices tumble, markets fall, scheduled conferences and events get disrupted or canceled, air travel is suspended, and cities and neighborhoods are isolated all over the world.
‘Man is the enemy of what he knows not’, as we often say; and scientific research capabilities – which we hail almost every day – are in a continuous race with new developments and challenges some of which are expected, while others are not.
Indeed, we have to admit that in many cases we have become victims of our own achievements; a very simple example being that with any medicine we take there is a health warning from the manufacturer of possible side effects.
Furthermore, in advanced countries, every medicine or treatment developed has to undergo long trials before being certified and made available to patients. Every scientific innovation in responsible countries that boast independent, sophisticated, and respectable judicial systems, has to wait a long process of scientific, ethical, and legal review, before being approved, developed, and marketed.
This is the case in the west, namely, North America and Western Europe, despite the issues of competition and market penetration. Suing physicians, surgeons, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies is a common practice; which is why insurance against malpractice and other related issues is a fact of life.
This background must be kept in mind when looking at the spread of the Covid-19 virus; as safety and wellness are the main obsessions of people. Moreover, despite what is being published that the mortality rate of Covid-19 is between %1 and %5 – meaning it is lower than the rates of SARS and Ebola – Covid-19 is worrying because of its rapid spread, unknown incubation period, and ways of infections.
Add to the above, we are told that certain groups, such as older people and those who suffer ill health are the most vulnerable. Even medically advanced countries, like the UK, there is a clear concern; as some estimates expect that one out of 10 individuals would require hospital treatment in spite of all precautionary measures.
Infection figures are being updated regularly all over the world, especially by the WHO, which is engaged in a very unenviable balancing act between its duty of educating, warning, and monitoring on one side, and avoiding a damaging worldwide panic on the other.
Here, besides prevention and treatment, political and economic aspects come into the picture.
In late January, before the virus spread out of China and took its current dimensions, the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, made some hardly tactful comments, which many felt that they reflected certain attitudes espoused by certain world leaderships. Replying to a question on Fox Business News about whether the outbreak is a risk to the US economy, Mr. Ross said: "I don't want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease … the fact is, it does give business yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain... So I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America."
Sure enough, these comments were criticized not only by Democratic opponents of President Donald Trump, but also treated with reservations and surprise by people not connected to US politics and its spiteful arguments. A Singapore-based economist told the BBC that the comments struck him as "weird", and went on to say that "companies are not going to make serious and long-term investment decisions on the basis of an outbreak of a disease that might last three to six months.” He then argued that the virus is more likely to have a negative impact on America rather than a positive one: "In fact, the US is going to be a net loser because despite everything, China is still a big market for the US, so if the Chinese economy slows significantly that's going to have a blowback effect on the US as well."
Regarding the very rapid spread, the virus has now truly gone far beyond its original hotspot in central China. China has also ‘absorbed’ its initial ‘shock’ and is now effectively containing the virus as well as developing treatments. On the other hand, many countries are starting their fight against it from scratch; and more importantly, many new cases seem to be totally unrelated to the Chinese source.
In the Arab world, Iran seems to be playing a central role in the viral spread in the eastern Arab countries; while Italy, and to a lesser extent, other west European countries – home to sizeable North African expatriates - has been the main source for the spread in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.
So far, the response in most Arab countries has been fairly responsible. They have dealt wisely with religious, social, and economic considerations, putting the safety of people on top of their priorities, which is vital.
No doubt there will be losses. Many events are going to be canceled, schools shut, transport and exchange limited; all of which is going to be costly. Still, public safety and welfare require awareness as to what is happening and what may happen until the dark cloud passes.

The Reasons Behind Putin’s Strength and Erdogan’s Weakness
Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy/Asharq Al-Awsat/March 05/2020
All sights are set on the Putin-Erdogan meetings on Thursday. The issue is who will come out on top. It is a safe bet that it will be Putin. Not only because Putin has the stronger hand, but also because Erdogan has few allies or friends that are willing to lend him support beyond rhetoric and some intelligence cooperation that are designed to complicate matters for both Damascus and Moscow, but will not alter in any significant manner the dynamics in Idlib.
Moreover domestically, President Erdogan’s vision for a neo-Ottoman Turkey no longer seems to capture the imagination of the majority of Turks, if it ever had.
President Erdogan seems to have exhausted all his maneuvers at playing Russia against the US, leaving him no option but to escalate his military intervention in Syria to strengthen his negotiating hand. But he has been careful not to overly antagonize the Russians. He has also tried to bring in other parties for political support. He has tried to draw in NATO which in all certitude will not deliver on his expectations. He has also tried to involve President Macron of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany, which significantly Moscow refused, insisting instead that he accept it’s “invitation” to Moscow.
Meanwhile, Russia has delivered a series of messages to Turkey that it’s patience in indulging it is about to expire.
Among them is continuing to support Damascus, both politically and militarily and, allowing the re-appearance of Iran’s proxies on the border between Aleppo and Idlib provinces, setting up a possible confrontation between Turkey and Iran.
Concurrently, it has also continued in its balancing act between Damascus and Ankara. Demonstrating to both, that neither can obtain their full objectives, while providing its services to work out interim arrangements such as the de-escalation zones that both would grudgingly accept. This policy has served Russia well since a rather messy arrangement was worked out enabling the Syrian government to enter the eastern part of the city of Aleppo in 2016.
Moscow has been insistent that the 1998 Adana agreement is the best way to secure the interests of both Damascus and Ankara. I believe that ultimately there may well be an updated Adana agreement, but meanwhile an interim arrangement is required that meets the short-term objectives of both Damascus and Ankara and, feeds into Moscow’s strategic goals.
To envisage what an interim arrangement could look like, one needs to consider both the short-term and long-term objectives of Moscow, Damascus and Ankara. Iran the other player in this game is not a principal actor in this regard.
For Turkey the strategic goal has now been reduced to protecting its long border with Syria from what it considers is a Kurdish threat and, to ensure that it has a say in any political settlement in Syria.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s short-term objectives are to stop the Syrian army from reaching the border in order to prevent an uncontrollable influx of additional refugees and, not to appear that it is abandoning it’s allies among the Syrian armed groups which it will need to ensure security in the border region. This explains why Ankara wants a long-term and not a temporary arrangement that will allow it to intervene at will.
While Syria may not have the means at this point of time to exercise full sovereignty over it’s entire territory, this is it’s unwavering long-term objective. A long-term arrangement, as requested by Ankara that legalizes Turkish presence in Syria, is not acceptable. Damascus may however grudgingly entertain an interim arrangement in Idlib, as it implicitly does in the northeast. Damascus’s pressing objectives are to control the strategically important highways M4 and M5 and their immediate vicinity to help in reviving the devastated economy and protect the population centers it controls such as Aleppo and Latakia.
While Russia needs to thread the needle between these two positions, it will always work towards securing its strategic objectives which are ensuring that is the most influential outside player in Syria and in so doing enhance its stature as the main power broker in the region, maintain its military presence in the Hmeimin airbase and the naval base in Tartous and consolidate its relationship with Turkey.
Towards securing its strategic goals, Russia has pursued it’s short-term objectives in preserving the Syrian state, working towards an internationally sanctioned political solution and at the same time protecting its airbase in Hmeimin, which remains vulnerable to drone attacks originating from Idlib, and finally eliminating fighters from Russia and the former Soviet Union operating in Idlib.
One can envisage such an interim arrangement in Idlib along the following lines: the Syrian government controls M4 and M5, but does not enter Idlib city, the creation of a safe zone to protect refugees in a defined zone along the Syrian-Turkish border with an arrangement that would enable continued operations against terrorists and, finally an understanding to update the Adana agreement.
Moscow’s strategic interests may well be served by an arrangement for the entire Syrian- Turkish border: an Adana plus agreement. This time however, unlike the original agreement, it will need to be balanced taking into account the security interests of both Ankara And Damascus. It will also perforce have a Kurdish dimension. This would certainly feed into Russia’s strategic goal of being the major power-broker in the region.

Iran Uses the JCPOA as Pretext to Block Access to UN Nuclear Inspectors
Andrea Stricker/FDD/March 05/2020
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a report on Tuesday rebuking Iran for withholding access to two sites of concern and for failing to answer questions about those two sites and one other. Iran’s refusal to cooperate sets up a potential clash with the IAEA Board of Governors that could escalate toward action by the UN Security Council.
According to the IAEA’s report, the sites the agency seeks to access relate to “possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities in Iran,” which the IAEA is obligated to investigate according to Iran’s legally binding Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA), and predates the nuclear deal. Concealing undeclared nuclear material and denying inspection access to the IAEA could also constitute a breach of Iran’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), whose authority the regime continues to acknowledge.
To justify its refusal to cooperate with inspectors, Iran presented a tendentious interpretation of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal required Tehran to implement a roadmap aimed at resolving unanswered questions regarding the possible military dimensions (PMD) of its nuclear activities. Although Iran proceeded to stonewall the PMD investigation, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution in December 2015 that removed the PMD investigation from the agency’s agenda. Iran now claims this December 2015 decision exempts its pre-JCPOA conduct from further scrutiny. Thus Iran told the IAEA it “will not recognize any allegation on past activities and does not consider itself obliged to respond to such allegations.”
Subsequent revelations have made clear just how ill-advised the Board of Governors’ decision was in December 2015. In early 2018, the Israeli government shared information with the IAEA indicating that a warehouse in Tehran’s Turquzabad district contained nuclear-related equipment and material relevant to past and possibly ongoing nuclear weapons efforts. But during the summer of 2018, Iran emptied the site of its contents and carried out concealment and sanitization activities. After substantial delay, the IAEA finally visited the site in the spring of 2019 and managed to collect uranium samples.
Also in 2018, Israeli intelligence seized a half-ton of documents from a separate storage facility in Tehran detailing a well-coordinated nuclear weapons program called the Amad Plan. The archive, whose contents date mostly to the pre-2004 period, contained evidence of previously unknown sites aimed at producing weapons-grade uranium for an initial set of five nuclear weapons. The files also disclosed an effort by Tehran to disguise, hide, and continue sensitive activities after 2004. The IAEA has been analyzing the archive’s materials and likely pinpointing sites of concern that it wants to visit, leading to Iran’s denials of access to the two sites mentioned in Tuesday’s report. The materials in the archive point to a connection between the uranium particles collected by the IAEA at Turquzabad and undeclared uranium conversion efforts from the time period prior to 2004 that is discussed in the archive.
Under new Director-General Rafael Grossi, the IAEA has returned to investigating pre-JCPOA matters of concern and highlighting Iran’s basic safeguards obligations. This shift is also reflected in the Board of Governors’ agenda for its meeting during the week of March 9, which includes a separate agenda item for the implementation of NPT safeguards in Iran, in addition to the item dedicated to the JCPOA. The IAEA is effectively reasserting its authority to investigate any issue covered by the CSA and Iran’s other verification agreement, the Additional Protocol.
The IAEA Board of Governors should support the IAEA’s continued investigation and calls for immediate access to any site in Iran that it needs to visit. If Iran does not cooperate, the Board should refer the matter to the UN Security Council for countermeasures. Time is of the essence for the Security Council to consider reinstituting UN sanctions and restrictions lifted by the nuclear deal.
*Andrea Stricker is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where she also contributes to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more analysis from Andrea and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Andrea on Twitter @StrickerNonpro. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Erdogan's Attempts to Blackmail Europe are Doomed to Fail
by Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/March 05/2020
If the current crisis facing Turkey is entirely of Mr Erdogan's own making, that has not prevented the Turkish president from trying to deflect attention away from his own mishandling of the conflict by seeking to provoke a new migrant crisis in Europe.
When Turkey took the controversial decision last year to purchase Russia's state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, Mr Erdogan calculated that it would herald new era of friendly cooperation with Ankara's long-standing rival in Moscow even if, by pressing ahead with the deal, the Turks risked jeopardising their relationship with NATO, which bitterly opposed the deal.
Russians now find themselves in a direct confrontation with Turkish forces in Idlib province, where the Turks are trying to protect a number of Islamist militias committed to overthrowing the Assad regime... [A]s the recent escalation in fighting has demonstrated, the Russians' main priority is to support the Assad regime.
Mr Erdogan is also about to discover that there has been a hardening of attitudes among European leaders about dealing with unwanted migrants since the Turkish leader last used his blackmail tactics five years ago.... These days, senior politicians in Mrs Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats take a more hard-nosed approach to the migrant issue, with one senior party member warning the migrants this week, "There is no point coming to Germany. We cannot take you in.".
Ankara's announcement that it is once again opening the floodgates to allow millions of refugees from Syria's brutal civil war to travel to south-eastern Europe in search of refuge has been taken to persuade European leaders to back Turkey's increasingly desperate situation in Syria.
Having launched an ill-considered military offensive against the Assad regime in northern Syria, Mr Erdogan now finds himself facing the consequences of his action, with regime forces, backed by Russia and Iran, waging a highly effective campaign against the Turks, which has so far resulted in the deaths of scores of Turkish troops.
In addition, Turkey's decision to deploy thousands of troops to Idlib province in northern Syria has resulted in a fresh wave of refugees fleeing across the border into southern Turkey, where Turkish officials are already struggling to cope with the estimated four million Syrian refugees that have already sought sanctuary in the sprawling refugee camps.
One of the main reasons that Mr Erdogan now finds himself facing this difficult predicament is that he has badly underestimated the nature of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When Turkey took the controversial decision last year to purchase Russia's state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, Mr Erdogan calculated that it would herald new era of friendly cooperation with Ankara's long-standing rival in Moscow even if, by pressing ahead with the deal, the Turks risked jeopardising their relationship with NATO, which bitterly opposed the deal.
There was certainly an expectation in Ankara that improved relations with Moscow would result in better cooperation between the two countries on the post-conflict settlement in Syria, especially regarding Turkey's desire to establish a safe zone in northern Syria.
Yet, as the recent escalation in fighting has demonstrated, the Russians' main priority is to support the Assad regime in its attempts to regain control of the last remaining rebel stronghold in northern Syria. Thus the Russians now find themselves in a direct confrontation with Turkish forces in Idlib province, where the Turks are trying to protect a number of Islamist militias committed to overthrowing the Assad regime.
If the current crisis facing Turkey is entirely of Mr Erdogan's own making, that has not prevented the Turkish president from trying to deflect attention away from his own mishandling of the conflict by seeking to provoke a new migrant crisis in Europe.
Mr Erdogan used this tactic to great effect five years ago when, in response to Turkey's decision to allow more than a million Syrian refugees to travel to Europe, he succeeded in persuading the European Union to pledge six billion euros to Ankara in return for allowing the refugees to remain on Syrian soil.
Yet, to judge by the initial response from European leaders to Mr Erdogan's latest attempt to blackmail them, it seems that, this time around, the Turkish leader's ploy is unlikely to deliver the desired result.
For a start, a meeting of NATO ambassadors called last week to discuss the increasingly vulnerable position of Turkish forces in Syria ended with expressions of sympathy for the Turks, but little else. Other NATO member states are simply not interested in getting involved in a conflict that might result in them being involved in a direct military confrontation with Moscow.
Mr Erdogan is also about to discover that there has been a hardening of attitudes among European leaders about dealing with unwanted migrants since the Turkish leader last used his blackmail tactics five years ago.
At a meeting of EU ambassadors this week to discuss the migrant crisis, officials expressed their outrage at Ankara's behaviour.
Nor can Mr Erdogan expect any support from Germany, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel responded to the last migrant crisis by opening Germany's doors to an estimated one million refugees, a decision that seriously undermined her political popularity.
These days, senior politicians in Mrs Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats take a more hard-nosed approach to the migrant issue, with one senior party member warning the migrants this week, "There is no point coming to Germany. We cannot take you in."
Europe might have fallen for Mr Erdogan's bully-boy tactics in the past. But all the evidence from the latest migrant crisis suggests they are not about to do so again.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

The Problem with Released Jihadists
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/March 05/2020
"We're playing Russian roulette with people's lives, letting convicted, known, radicalised jihadi criminals walk about our streets". — Chris Phillips, former head of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office, The Guardian, December 1, 2019.
The hate literature was distributed to inmates by... chaplains, who themselves were appointed by the Ministry of Justice.
The prison staff lacked the training to confront and deter... extremist ideology, and "were often fearful they would be accused of racism if they did". — Ian Acheson, former prison governor, Daily Mail, July 13, 2016.
It remains to be seen, whether releasing a terrorist after serving two-thirds of his sentence, rather than half, will make any difference.
"If there are people who are absolutely determined not to accept any intervention that will change that toxic mind-set, yes they should be in prison and if necessary, indefinitely." — Ian Acheson, former prison governor, BBC News, February 3, 2020.
On February 3, Sudesh Amman, who had just been released from prison in England after serving half his prison term, stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, before he was shot dead at the scene by police. Later, ISIS took responsibility for the attack. Pictured: Police officers search the site of Amman's attack on Streatham High Road in south London on February 3, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)
On February 3, 2020, Sudesh Amman, who had just been released from prison in England after serving half his prison term, stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, before he was shot dead at the scene by police. Later, ISIS took responsibility for the attack.
The attack again raised the issue of how Europe should deal with jihadist terrorism.
After Amman's terrorist attack, the government announced that emergency legislation would be introduced to end the automatic early release from prison of terror offenders. Terror offenders would only be considered for release once they had served two-thirds of their sentence and with the approval of the parole board. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said that the latest attack by Amman made the case "for immediate action".
"We cannot have the situation, as we saw tragically in yesterday's case, where an offender - a known risk to innocent members of the public - is released early by automatic process of law without any oversight by the Parole Board," he said.
It remains to be seen, whether releasing a terrorist after serving two-thirds of his sentence, rather than half, will make any difference. "There will be some people for whom their ideology is bulletproof and there is no way we can get inside that," said Ian Acheson, a former prison governor. "If there are people who are absolutely determined not to accept any intervention that will change that toxic mind-set, yes they should be in prison and if necessary, indefinitely."
The attack last week follows the November 2019 terrorist attack on London Bridge -- in which Usman Khan, a convicted terrorist, who also had been released on parole half-way into his prison term, murdered two people and wounded several others.
That attack had prompted the UK Ministry of Justice to launch an "urgent review" of the parole conditions for 74 people jailed for terror offences but released early. In 2012, Usman Khan was given a special jail term known as Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), which meant he would serve at least eight years and could not be released unless he had convinced the parole board he was no longer a threat. But in 2013, the Court of Appeal replaced the sentence with a 16-year-fixed term, of which Khan should serve half in prison.
What is worrying is that it needed a deadly terrorist attack for UK authorities to launch a review of convicted terrorists on parole; it is not the first time that convicted terrorists on parole have decided to commit new terrorism. Incidentally, one of the associates of terrorist Usman Khan jailed alongside him, along with another seven men in 2012 for a plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange, was Mohibur Rahman, who was released on parole in 2016, after his lawyer argued that he was "undertaking de-radicalization" in prison. Rahman, however, was jailed again in August 2017 for plotting a "mass casualty attack" on a police or military target with two other men. He is now serving a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years in jail.
The UK has had 15 years -- since the first large-scale incident of jihadist terror on its territory in July 2005 -- to think long and hard about how to deal with the ever-increasing problems with jihadists. These problems include how to treat them under the law, sentencing, and the ongoing radicalization in prisons, as well as potential issues related to recidivism after release.
That a convicted jihadist on parole, who had been in a "deradicalization" program, might commit a new terrorist attack should perhaps not have come as a total surprise.
The deradicalization programs in place -- such as the Healthy Identity Intervention Program, which has been piloted from 2010 and is now the main rehabilitation scheme for prisoners convicted of offences linked to extremism, and also the Desistance and Disengagement Program, in which Usman Khan participated -- have never been fully evaluated as to whether they are producing the desired results, according to a recent report by the BBC.
What the government has evaluated is that Islamist radicalization poses a significant problem in UK prisons. In August 2016, the government published a summary of an unfortunately otherwise classified review of Islamist extremism in British prisons. According to the summary, "the review found evidence that IE [Islamic extremism, ed.] is a growing problem within prisons". The review found:
"... the threat from IE can manifest itself in prison in various ways, including: Muslim gang culture and the consequent violence, drug trafficking and criminality inspired or directed by these groups... offenders advocating support for Daesh and threats against staff and other prisoners, charismatic IE prisoners acting as self-styled 'emirs' and exerting a controlling and radicalising influence on the wider Muslim prison population, aggressive encouragement of conversions to Islam... books and educational materials promoting extremist literature available in chaplaincy libraries or held by individual prisoners... exploitation of staff fear of being labelled racist".
According to leaks from the classified review, Islamic hate literature -- misogynistic and homophobic pamphlets and hate tracts endorsing the killing of apostates -- was freely available on the bookshelves of British prisons. The hate literature was distributed to inmates by Muslim chaplains, who themselves were appointed by the Ministry of Justice. The leaked review also found that chaplains at some prisons encouraged inmates to raise money for Islamic charities linked to international terrorism. Former prison governor Ian Acheson, who conducted the review, said at the time that he found that the prison staff lacked the training to confront and deter Islamist extremist ideology, and "were often fearful they would be accused of racism if they did".
Chris Phillips, a former head of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office, warned recently, "We're playing Russian roulette with people's lives, letting convicted, known, radicalised jihadi criminals walk about our streets". Already in 2015, Phillips had warned that staff shortages in prisons were making it harder to tackle Islamic radicalization: extremists were not properly monitored, therefore enabling them to recruit others.
The release of Anjem Choudary -- known as the UK's "most notorious hate-cleric" in October 2018 -- halfway through his five and a half year sentence -- is another example of such "Russian roulette". Choudary was sent to prison in 2016 for encouraging support for ISIS. He is estimated to have inspired "a generation of terrorists" with his preaching. They included Usman Khan, Michael Adebolajo – one of two murderers who hacked soldier Lee Rigby to death in Woolwich, south London, in 2013 -- and Khuram Butt, the leader of the London Bridge terror gang who murdered eight people and injured 48 in a terrorist attack in June 2017. Anjem Choudary is among the 74 released jihadists whose parole is under "urgent review".
The issues that the Sudesh Amman and Usman Khan cases raise, however, are far from exclusively British. They are a European problem. According to CNN:
"In September, the think tank Globsec examined in detail the cases of more than 300 European jihadists implicated in terrorism in a single year, 2015. Some had been killed, but 199 had been convicted of various terror offenses. Kacper Rekawek, one of the report's authors, told CNN that of that number, 45 were due for release by the end of 2019 and a total of 113 would be released from prison by the end of 2023".
Of particular concern was Globsec's conclusion that "jihadi ranks include hardened veterans who have already gone through more than one terrorism conviction and are intent on repeating their feats."
It is not just the UK that needs emergency legislation regarding imprisoned and released jihadists. Most of Europe does.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

Unsung heroes: Syria's female White Helmets step into the spotlight
Anna Fleischer/The New Arab/March 05/2020
Unsung heroes: Syria's female White Helmets step into the spotlight
After first aid training, Abir Moussa began joining her male colleagues on rescue missions.
It is often said that conflicts have unsung heroes.
In Syria, these are most certainly local humanitarian aid workers, who literally put their lives on the line to help their people.
These workers are even less visible when they are women, due to a mix of social stereotypes and limitations they face, especially in conservative communities, and because of security threats from those opposed to having women on the humanitarian frontlines.
As we celebrate International Women's Day this month, it is worth amplifying their voices and shining a light on their work. These women should no longer remain in the shadows; they deserve to have their work and dedication recognised.
The frontlines have many heroes and heroines. One of the better-known ones is the Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets who have been working inside Syria since 2013, and have reportedly rescued 114,000 lives.
One of the lesser-known facts about them however is their focus on engaging women in their programmes and their own ranks.
he work on the ground
Muzna Dreid, Liaison Officer of the White Helmets based in Canada, spoke to me via Skype at the end of February. She explained their multifaceted civilian work in Syria: "In reality, the White Helmets have a lot of programmes in addition to the heroic videos you have seen before, where bodies are being pulled from the rubble - so-called search and rescue missions.
"These include demining the soil, women's centres, as well as an app that tracks warplanes. We also work on accountability as we collect and provide soil and genetic samples from attack sites."
These women should no longer remain in the shadows; they deserve to have their work and dedication recognised
The app that tracks plane movements collects data from Assad's and Russia's air bases. It then sends warnings about anticipated bombardments. This helps to instruct residents to evacuate a certain area or look for cover at least.
Women in helmets
A recent development in the work of the White Helmets is the increasing involvement of women. In addition to the 31 centres inside Syria that primarily provide services to women and children, especially concerning maternity and reproductive health, they run awareness sessions about non-explosive ordnance and mines. More and more women are joining, and currently there are 2,800 male and 231 female White Helmets.
This is a point of pride for Muzna, who explains: "Last year, we succeeded in changing our internal rules to include a women's quota on the board, and to ensure that our women's centres are run exclusively by female directors." This development is encouraging, as these women also have access to different networks than their male colleagues, can provide medical care and raise awareness.
However, it's not all plain sailing for these women. "Female White Helmets face particular challenges, because this type of work is seen as a man's work. It is highly dangerous and stressful, so it is not seen as suitable for women," Muzna concedes.
Nonetheless, the women persist and carry out their activities. When there are emergencies they participate in search and rescue missions, but also more generally conduct awareness raising activities.
Idlib under fire
The largest part of the work is being conducted in Idlib. The last area of Syria not controlled by the Assad regime has been under constant aerial bombardment for weeks now by regime and Russian forces. Evidently, the goal is total submission, forcing anyone standing against the Assad regime to surrender and denounce their opposition.
"The crisis in Syria has significantly escalated over the past few months. According to the UN, 4.5 million people are under attack in Idlib. This is the biggest humanitarian crisis in modern history." Muzna clarifies. Nearly all medical facilities in Idlib are already destroyed; those that still operate are completely overwhelmed. At the moment, no end to this intense military campaign is in sight.
We are always ready to serve Syrians no matter where they live
- Muzna Dreid
According to Muzna, "all of Syria is important to us, but Idlib is receiving the most attention because it is under intense bombardment and there are four million civilians trapped there. But we also operate in the countryside of Hama, Latakia, Aleppo, Afrin and Manbij. So it is not only about Idlib, but the demand is very high for search and rescue missions due to the bombardment."
Sticks and stones
The battle rages on, not only on the ground, but also online. The immense media exposure of the White Helmets came with an ugly price tag. A massive smear campaign against their work has been raging for years.
"Killing the Truth", a concise and insightful report by The Syria Campaign, gives an impressive account into this disinformation effort. It involves Russian state-backed propaganda, an army of trolls, and Assad apologists doubling as bloggers.
They perpetuate the two-fold accusation that the White Helmets are connected to al-Qaeda, and stage their attacks in order to smear the Assad regime and the Russian army. Even though those accusations are completely absurd, the campaign has contributed to a feeling that many outside of Syria share: "We cannot know what is true anymore."
Such consternation is a shocking and sad outcome of the propaganda machine, because it ignores the suffering of civilians in Syria. Alongside the physical attacks, disinformation campaigns actually cost human lives on the ground. They hinder valuable humanitarian work by blocking funds or forcing organisations like the White Helmets to constantly defend themselves, instead of carrying out their work.
The battle for truth rages on, as the report from The Syria Campaign further testifies: "This negative coverage threatens to have a significant impact on the work of the White Helmets and their ability to save lives and expose ongoing war crimes. False accusations reverberate beyond Twitter threads threatening to legitimise attacks on the ground in Syria."
As over 200 volunteers have already died, many lives have been lost in this dangerous line of work. Often times, this is due to the "double tap" attacks by the Syrian and Russian forces. Such despicable tactics have been well documented and are a crime against humanity.
Never falter
On 11 November 2019, the White Helmets suffered another loss: James Le Mesurier fell from a balcony close to his home in Istanbul. A few days before, the official Twitter account of the Russian foreign ministry had denounced him for being a spy. As such, the incident takes place in the wider battle for truth in Syria.
Le Mesurier founded Mayday Rescue, which trained White Helmet volunteers to rescue victims of bomb attacks. He was a former military professional with the British army and had valuable knowledge for such rescue missions.
Looking beyond Idlib towards the whole country, Muzna has a clear message: "We are ready to work anywhere in Syria, also in regime controlled areas. They refuse for political reasons, but we are always ready to serve Syrians no matter where they live."
This statement is astonishing given that Assad considers the White Helmets terrorists that must be defeated by force. It speaks to the commitment the White Helmets have to helping civilians anywhere in the country, for example by demining soil that is contaminated with all kinds of weaponry.
We don't have time to explain ourselves all the time, we just keep on working
- Muzna Dreid
This work is ever more urgent because the Russian government has declared Syria the testing ground for their newest military acquisitions. The Russian defence minister proudly declared that over 200 weapons have been tested in Syria. It will require years of work to make the soil safe again.
Against this backdrop, the legacy of James Le Mesurier extends further than the people who knew him. It lives on in people like Muzna and the female White Helmets on the ground in Syria, who save lives and help their communities, despite all threats they face.
When a bomb falls in Syria, no fire truck or ambulance will come. The only people who will come and rescue civilians are these volunteers, men and women, and this is the simple truth in this horrible war.
In the words of Muzna: "Our work explains our position and our perspective, it speaks for itself. The situation is so desperate inside Syria, we don't have time to explain ourselves all the time, we just keep on working."
Anna Fleischer is programme coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Foundation's Beirut office. She is particularly interested in gender justice and grass-roots movements, with a special focus on Syria.
Follow her on Twitter:@annafleischer14
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.

No, Qatar is not behind the coronavirus
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/March 05/2020
Anyone who is familiar with my columns in this newspaper knows very well that I am not a fan of the Qatari leadership. Nor am I a fan of its foreign policy, of its support for terrorist groups, or even of how it deals with its own people. You may have read detailed and exhaustive reports that we have written about how Qatar stripped citizenship from nearly 6,000 members of the country’s Al-Ghufran tribe. The tribe has been forced out of the country and up to the present, they are still fighting for their natural and legal rights.
Qatar’s support of terror groups is too well documented to be undeniable. There is plenty of evidence to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the Qatari regime is guilty of harboring, supporting, and financing terrorists. The evidence is available on UN and US terror watch lists. Some of the worst terrorists are based in Qatar and are wanted by both the UN and the US.
Qatar is guilty of meddling in its neighbors’ internal affairs. There are audio recordings of its former sheikh, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, speaking to the Libyan madman, Muammar Qaddafi, and plotting against the Saudi leadership. In one recording, Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, former prime minister and foreign affairs minister, says that in 12 years Saudi Arabia will no longer exist, but will be divided into small states. “The region will be facing a volcano. Saudi Arabia will be facing a revolution,” he said. For his part, Hamad bin Khalifa, the father of the current emir, admitted that Qatar had caused a great deal of trouble to the Kingdom, and said the Saudi government would not remain the same and would certainly end. In addition, he further said the Americans had succeeded in Iraq and the second step would be in Saudi Arabia. He described Egypt and Jordan as two countries lacking dignity because they coordinated their actions with Saudi Arabia’s.
Qatar is guilty of all these things — and perhaps others as well. That said, the country is definitely not guilty of planting or spreading the coronavirus which is what a Saudi newspaper columnist — seriously or sarcastically — alleged recently on her Twitter account, adding that Doha’s plan was to plant the virus in China so that it could ultimately prevent Saudi Arabia from reaping the rewards of its reform plans and stop Dubai’s planned Expo 2020 from happening.
Understandably, her tweet has sparked controversy and criticism with some of the respondents wondering if Qatar were indeed behind this plot, it would have been much easier for the tiny Gulf country to plant the virus directly in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
But whether the Saudi newspaper columnist meant what she said or not, the fact remains that such irrational comments made by some commentators and pundits belonging to the countries of the Anti-Terror Quartet have had a negative impact on how this conflict is perceived. These baseless accusations and deviations from the origins of the rift have helped Qatar seem to be the victim when everybody familiar with the facts knows that it is absolutely the villain.
Furthermore, such absurdities are as bad as the increased racism we have seen against Asians around the world — whether in Arab countries or in Europe. The images broadcast of Japanese, Chinese, Singaporean, and Korean citizens being punched and abused in London, Lebanon or Ramallah — or anywhere else — are very disturbing. Recently, a video surfaced on social media in which a Palestinian woman in Ramallah is seen berating two Japanese relief workers. The woman took pictures of them and called them “Corona, Corona.” The Japanese Embassy has said it will investigate the case and it acknowledged at least 10 similar incidents involving Japanese citizens. This is both sad and lamentable.
These baseless accusations have helped Qatar seem to be the victim when everybody familiar with the facts knows that it is the villain.
Such incidents have obscured the fact that in such crises, we also see beautiful moments of solidarity. We see people standing together with the best coming out: Nurses dancing in joy at having helped a patient, or Saudi Arabia sending aid to China, or the UAE opening its medical city to people from friendly countries being brought back from China, and even sending aid to Iran — which still occupies three Emirati-owned islands.
Saudi Arabia was among the first countries to order the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action to aid China in its fight against the coronavirus. Riyadh’s support has been warmly acknowledged by China’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Li Huaxin, who recalled Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Beijing last year and how it signaled a new era in relations between the two countries.
During this time of great turbulence and crisis, we must stand together more than ever and ignore our differences. After all, pandemics — like terrorism — target every single human being. They make no distinctions, whether of color, religion or race.
*Faisal J. Abbas is Editor in Chief of Arab News. Twitter: @FaisalJAbbasdo not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

Coronavirus cover-up reveals Iran regime’s disregard for life
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh /Arab News/March 05/2020
People’s frustration and anger toward the Iranian regime has escalated thanks to its initial coverup of the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The Iranian authorities’ actions revealed and continue to show the regime’s total disregard for their citizens and human life in general. For example, while many countries suspended flights to China when coronavirus cases began emerging there, the Iranian regime waited too long to do the same. Even some of Iran’s state-controlled news outlets began reporting on the issue. Eghtesad Online wrote on Feb. 19, after flights from Iran to China had been officially suspended: “While the coronavirus resulted in (several) victims in Iran, Mahan Airline’s flights to China continue. A group of cleaners in the Imam Khomeini International Airport expressed their concerns over tidying and cleaning planes arriving from China.”
It is worth noting that Iran’s commercial airlines, specifically Iran Air and Mahan Air, have been utilized for the illicit transport of weapons and military staff, including members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its elite Quds Force and the Basij militia. These airlines usually fly to countries such as Syria unannounced. Several countries, including Germany and France, have banned flights by Mahan Air.
Many Iranians are also frustrated and enraged that the regime downplayed the intensity of the coronavirus. Soheila, an Iranian engineer from Tabriz, said: “The authorities tried to hide facts and did not take necessary steps in the early stages when people had the virus. They waited too long to warn the public. We received the news from foreign social media platforms and news outlets about the scope of the coronavirus in our country. We continue to rely on foreign outlets to see what is going on in the country because we do not trust the leaders here. The authorities’ actions were not just innocent negligence, but a crime against the people, like what they did with the Ukrainian plane.”
Not only have many ordinary people died from the coronavirus in Iran, but the regime’s own political elite has also been infected
The regime pursued the same tactics with respect to the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in Tehran in January. The Iranian leaders at first attempted to hide the truth, mislead the international community, and deny any involvement in the incident. The regime insisted that the civilian airliner crashed due to technical defects. Tehran also refused to cooperate with international investigators and appeared to rush to conceal evidence. That is why people began protesting against the regime and were heard chanting “death to the liars” and “death to Khamenei.” They criticized the regime for its belated admission and attempts to conceal the truth.
These two incidents reveal the regime’s total disregard for human life. Not only have many ordinary people died from the coronavirus in Iran, but the regime’s own political elite has also been infected. These include Farideddin Haddad Adel, the son of a powerful politician whose sister is the daughter-in-law of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who announced this week on Twitter that he had contracted the virus after visiting the city of Qom. Qom is the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran.
According to several reports, Mohammed Ali Ramezani, a recently elected member of the Iranian parliament from Astaneh Ashrafiyeh in northern Iran, tested positive for coronavirus and died on Feb. 29. Mohammed Ali Vakili, another member of the Majlis, tweeted that four other fellow lawmakers had been infected with the virus. Cleric Hadi Khosroshahi, who was Iran's former ambassador to the Vatican, died as a result of having coronavirus. And, a day after stating on TV that there was no problem in Iran concerning the coronavirus, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi also announced that he had tested positive.
After the truth was revealed, many countries in the region, including Kuwait, Pakistan, Armenia and Afghanistan, stopped flights to and from Iran and some closed their borders with Iran. The manager of public communication in Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education was furious, stating, according to the Etemaad newspaper: “I am too angry about (coronavirus). For 45 days, we have been saying that we haven't seen signs of it, yet some say that they have seen it but don’t announce it due to the Feb. 11 (governmental) ceremony. Later, they said that we didn't announce it due to the elections. They later said that we will not announce it because of the Nowruz celebrations.”
The Iranian regime’s mishandling of the crisis and its attempts to hide and downplay the scope of the coronavirus in the country have sparked anger and fury inside Iran and abroad. Once again, the regime’s actions show its total disregard for human lives.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh