LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 07/2019

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own
Matthew 06/25-34/Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life/“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on March 06-07/2019
Bifani Hits Back at Saniora, Says He Defied Attempt to Prevent Auditing
Aoun to Meet Putin Later in March, Refugee Return Tops Talks
Hariri Vows Electricity Plan in 3 Months as Parliament Allows Govt. to Borrow
German, British, French Diplomats Visit Lebanon
Hariri Throws Dinner Banquet in Honor of Hollande
Nader Hariri Says Yacoubian Seeking 'Fake Stardom' after Corruption Claims
Road Opened, Blocks Removed Outside Berri's Residence
German Deputy Foreign Minister Meets Aoun and Bassil
Parliament Elects Supreme Council Members to Try Presidents, Ministers
Sayegh: Satterfield's Statement at Kataeb Headquarter Encloses Acknowledgment of Its Opposition
U.S. Support Germany's Request for Lebanon to Extradite Syrian General
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Proposes Formation of Probe Committee to Investigate Illegal Hires
Dagher: Fight Against Corruption Cannot Be Selective
Kataeb Objects to Parliament's Extra-Budgetary Spending Approval
Technical Delegation Prepares Meeting of Higher Saudi-Lebanese Committee

Litles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 06-07/2019
Pope Francis Prepares to Visit Morocco Under Motto ‘Servant of Hope’
NATO Welcomes US, Turkish Cooperation on Political Solution in Syria
Russia Urges Syrian Opposition to Prioritize Relief, Refugees
US Deploys THAAD Anti-Missile System in Israel
Netanyahu Aims to Win 40 Knesset Seats
Salih: Iraq Expected to Reunite the Region
Egypt Seeks to Consolidate the Truce, Move to the Second Phase
Millions of Iraqi Carp Killed by Herpes- UN
Tunisia Sets Dates for Presidential, Parliamentary Elections
Cracks Emerge in Regime as Algeria Veterans Call for Protests against Bouteflika
Libya’s Neighbors Say Political Solution Only Way to End its Crisis
Saudi, UAE, Yemen Ask UNSC to Pressure Houthis into Compliance
EU unanimously vetoes plan to add Saudi Arabia to money laundering blacklist
Lavrov: Russia seeks to strengthen relations with Gulf
Iran lawyer convicted after defending women protesters
Saudi Arabia plays ‘pivotal role’ in fight against global terrorism: General Abizaid'
Caracas Expels German Envoy for Guaido Backing as U.S. Tightens Sanctions
Civilians Pour Out of Last IS Redoubt in Syria
Israel Brands Hamas TV Channel Terrorist Organization

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 06-07/2019
Opinion/Will Israel Be Worse Off Without Netanyahu at the Helm/David Rosenberg/Haaretz/March 06/19
Algeria, Sudan and the next wave of change in the Arab world/Dr. Theodore Karasik/Arab News/March 06/19
Will Macron’s op-ed subdue or empower Europe’s populists/Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/March 06/19
How Islamic "Aid" Organizations in Turkey Feed Jihadists in Syria/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/March 06/19
North Korea: How the Discussion Was Changed/Peter Huessy/Gatestone Institute/March 06/19
Algeria’s Future Must Come First/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,06/19
Legislative Efforts To Expel U.S. Troops From Iraq, Alongside Shi'ite Militias' Threats To Force Them Out/MEME/March 06/19

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on March 05-06/2019
Bifani Hits Back at Saniora, Says He Defied Attempt to Prevent Auditing
Naharnet/March 06/19/Finance Ministry Director General Alain Bifani on Wednesday accused ex-PM Fouad Saniora, without naming him, of seeking to prevent the auditing of the state's financial transactions during his term as finance minister. “I faced huge political insistence against the financial auditing,” Bifani said at a press conference. “I ask the person who has dared to question my professionalism: as my direct boss, did you ask me to finalize the auditing or did you order me not to tackle this file and to leave it to your people?” the official added, apparently addressing Saniora.
“I'm the one who rejected intimidation and carried out all my duties,” a defiant Bifani went on to say. And accusing the ex-PM and former minister of “seeking to sideline the director general in order to control the ministry through his advisers,” Bifani said he exposed one of the advisers who was “transferring the money of pensioners to his personal account.”“We referring every violation to the inspection and judicial authorities,” the official added. Referring to a report detailing the state's 1993-2018 financial transactions, Bifani said “those who hate the state do not want us to present this achievement as it is.”“There is a lot of documented evidence that proves that I maintained my insistence, resisted attempts to frustrate me and managed to form a remarkable team, which showed high neutrality and transparency and carried out what some had considered an impossible or forbidden mission,” the official added.
“We corrected all the accounts and documents,” he said. “We put an end to the failure to expose the waste of public money, after grants used to be spent without any accountability and after the orders of presidents used to violate laws and decrees,” Bifani boasted. He added: “We have detected manipulated financial transactions and we demand accountability.”

Aoun to Meet Putin Later in March, Refugee Return Tops Talks
Naharnet/March 06/19/Lebanon and Moscow pursue the preparations for President Michel Aoun’s visit to Moscow on March 25 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday. Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin has met on Monday with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and on Tuesday with President Michel Aoun to discuss the agenda of the visit, said the daily. “Zasypkin was keen to record what Aoun wants to discuss with Putin, which is divided into two parts: First, activate the work of the Lebanese-Russian Joint Committee to address the issue of displaced Syrians in terms of their safe return to Syria,” unnamed sources following on the preparations told the daily. “Second, another issue which will be the main focus of the meeting is cooperation in the field of energy. A Russian company will explore oil in an agreement that is the first of its kind in the history of the relations between the two countries. Aoun will affirm Lebanon’s right to protect its natural gas field in Block 9,” added the sources. Aoun will arrive on March 25 in Russia and will meet Putin on the 26th.

Hariri Vows Electricity Plan in 3 Months as Parliament Allows Govt. to Borrow
Naharnet/March 06/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday promised that his government will devise an electricity plan within three months, as Parliament approved a law authorizing the government to borrow funds in foreign currencies. LBCI television said Hariri demanded slashing a loan requested for power generation to “LBP 794 billion over three months” pending the finalization of the electricity plan. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meanwhile stressed the need to “appoint members for the electricity board of directors and a regulatory commission” and to “hold a session to grill the government every month.”Parliament also approved a draft law authorizing Government to borrow in foreign currencies after appeals from Hariri and Tripoli MP and ex-PM Najib Miqati. “These are official payments and if the state does not pay, we will enter a dangerous phase regarding the possibility of the state's bankruptcy,” Miqati warned, calling for “an emergency financial session in order to study the financial situation from all its aspects.”A debate between lawmakers preceded the vote on the draft law amid the rejection of Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel. According to media reports, the law authorizes the government to borrow around $4.8 billion to pay debts and debt interests.

German, British, French Diplomats Visit Lebanon
Naharnet/March 06/19/Since the government formation Lebanon witnesses international mobility the latest is German Deputy Foreign Minister Niels Annen who arrived in Beirut late on Tuesday on a two-day official visit, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. Annen is set to hold meetings with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil. According to diplomatic sources, the German diplomat intends to “explore the situation in Lebanon on the eve of the Brussels conference on refugees that will be held next week,” said the daily. In an official statement before arriving in Lebanon Annen said: “Lebanon is a model of pluralism and coexistence in the Arab world, and this co-existence has imposed itself despite the conflicts in the region, especially in neighboring Syria. “Through our unwavering commitment, we stand with Lebanon and support it in its path of economic reform and its commitment to the policy of dissociation from regional conflicts,” he said. Moreover, British Minister of State for the Middle East Alistair Burt is expected in Beirut in the coming hours for meeting with Aoun, Hariri and Bassil. Also, former French President Francois Hollande will visit Lebanon today to attend a seminar organized by the Department of History and International Relations at the Jesuit University this evening under the title: "24 hours of President Hollande's life." Hollande will also attend an honoring event organized by Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat in his honor in Mukhtarah.

Hariri Throws Dinner Banquet in Honor of Hollande
Naharnet/March 06/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Wednesday evening at the Center House with former French president Francois Hollande, the premier's office said. The meeting was held in the presence of French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher, MP Nazih Najm and ex-minister Ghattas Khoury. Talks then continued over a dinner banquet that Hariri threw in honor of his guest.“Discussions tackled the general situations in Lebanon the region,” Hariri's office said.

Nader Hariri Says Yacoubian Seeking 'Fake Stardom' after Corruption Claims
Naharnet/March 06/19/Nader Hariri, the former aide of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, hit back Wednesday at TV host-turned-MP Paula Yacoubian after she claimed that he was “sacked” by the premier for being involved in suspicious deals. “It has become clear that in her quest for fake stardom, MP Paula Yacoubian is insisting on targeting Mr. Nader Hariri and tarnishing his reputation through launching wrong accusations in an arbitrary way without offering any details or specific information,” said a statement issued by Nader Hariri's lawyer, Nabil Maad. “Mr. Nader Hariri has challenged MP Yacoubian to put any claims of this kind at the disposal of the judiciary, but MP Yacoubian has preferred to carry on with the same demagogic approach in launching random accusations for the sake of cheap populism, instead of resorting to the judiciary,” the statement added. It also said that Hariri will take all the possible legal measures against the lawmaker to “put an end to her continued attacks on him and on his reputation.”

Road Opened, Blocks Removed Outside Berri's Residence
Naharnet/March 06/19/Security concrete blocks have been removed and a key road has been reopened outside Speaker Nabih Berri's residence in Beirut's Ain el-Tineh area. The move will facilitate the flow of traffic towards the Ramlet el-Bayda area and comes at Berri's instructions according to LBCI TV. Parliament Police chief Brig. Gen. Youssef Dimashq oversaw the process. Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan lauded Berri's move and thanked him in a tweet. Concrete blocks protecting the houses of some politicians and the offices of some political parties have been removed in several Beirut and Mount Lebanon areas in recent days. Al-Hassan's first step as an interior minister was the removal of similar blocks that had impeded traffic around the ministry's building in Sanayeh. The concrete blocks had been placed around several sensitive buildings during a period of unrest that the country witnessed in the wake of the Syrian conflict.

German Deputy Foreign Minister Meets Aoun and Bassil
Naharnet/March 06/19/German Deputy Foreign Minister Niels Annen held separate talks Wednesday with President Michel Aoun and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil during a visit to Lebanon. Aoun told the visiting official that Lebanon has kickstarted reforms and that it is committed to the CEDRE Conference recommendations.The President also stressed during the meeting that the economy, the anti-corruption battle and the repatriation of Syrian refugees are the government's top priorities. Annen for his part said that his country will continue to support Lebanon and take part in UNIFIL's maritime force. Earlier in the day, Annen met with Bassil in the presence of German Ambassador to Lebanon Georg Birgelen, the National News Agency reported. Talks touched on Lebanon’s government program and the economic challenges it is facing, in addition to the political situation and the file of refugees.
Speaking to reporters following the talks, Annen said the meeting with Bassil was "cordial" and "fruitful," and that it focused on projects that could be executed in Lebanon in connection with the CEDRE conference. "As an international community, we hope to contribute to Lebanon's prosperity," he said. Bassil later met with Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon, Abdul Al al-Qinai, who congratulated his host on the government formation. They also discussed the current situation on the local and regional scenes.

Parliament Elects Supreme Council Members to Try Presidents, Ministers
Naharnet/March 06/19/Lebanon’s parliament convened on Wednesday and elected seven members of the Supreme Council to try presidents and ministers, the National News Agency reported. The MPs elected are: George Oqais, Ali Ammar, Faysal al-Sayegh, George Atallah, Samir al-Jisr, Agop Pakradonian and Elias Hankash. Members of Parliament, Salim Aoun, Rola al-Tabesh and Ali Osseiran have won by acclamation as reserve members. The Supreme Council to try Presidents and Ministers, consists of seven deputies elected by the Chamber of Deputies and of eight of the highest Lebanese judges, according to their rank in the judicial hierarchy, or, in case of equal ranks, in the order of seniority. They meet under the presidency of the judge of the highest rank. The Decisions of condemnation by the Supreme Council shall be rendered by a majority of ten votes.

Parliament Holds First Legislative Session after Government Formation
Naharnet/March 06/19/Lebanon’s parliament will hold three legislative sessions this week the first is to be held on Thursday and dedicated to electing members of the Supreme council to try presidents and ministers, media reports said. Al-Liwaa daily said that a number of draft laws will be discussed, including a draft law on lifting bank secrecy signed by ten deputies of the Strong Lebanon bloc.Lawmakers will likely touch on a number of other controversial issues including corruption, Syrian refugees , the ailing economic and financial situation, and the problematic files of electricity and garbage management, al-Joumhouria daily said.

Sayegh: Satterfield's Statement at Kataeb Headquarter Encloses Acknowledgment of Its Opposition
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 06th March 2019/Kataeb's Vice President Salim Sayegh on Wednesday said that the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield had chosen to visit the party's headquarter given that it is the opposition center in Lebanon, stressing that the fact that the U.S. official's only media statement was made there is a clear acknowledgment of the vital role of the country's opposition force. “It is normal that any senior official who visits the country would listen to two points of view: the one of the opposition and that of the ruling authority," Sayegh said in an interview on LBCI channel. The Kataeb party has repeatedly explained to the Americans that stability in Lebanon is submissiveness in disguise. A stability that is dashing civil and social peace due to the refugee crisis on one side, as well as corruption and illegal arms on the other. Therefore, we are losing stability and dignity,” he noted. Sayegh called for establishing a genuine and dynamic opposition in Lebanon, saying that the current government is marred by a flagrant imbalance.“The new government's approach is similar to the one adopted by the previous Cabinets."“As a political party, it is our duty to launch a real change-seeking dynamism in this country. Any party that does not want to change the status quo is hence actually seeking power,” he pointed out.

U.S. Support Germany's Request for Lebanon to Extradite Syrian General
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 06th March 2019/The U.S. State Department on Tuesday said that it welcomes any decision by the government of Lebanon that would facilitate the lawful extradition of Syrian General Jamil Hassan to Germany which has request its extradition. Last month, Germany asked Lebanon to hand over former head of Syria’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate, Jamil Hassan, after Public Prosecutor Peter Frank had issued an arrest warrant against him in June 2018 for committing crimes against humanity, systematic torture and the killing of prisoners. Moreover, the European Union and the United States have previously sanctioned Hassan due to his support to the Assad regime per Executive Order 13573. It is believed that Hassan is undergoing medical treatment in Lebanon. "The United States continuously seeks to shed light on abuses committed by the Assad regime, including its use of torture, and calls for the regime to allow for unhindered access of independent monitoring organizations to detention centers," read a statement issued by the State Department. "Moreover, the United States supports effective mechanisms for holding those responsible for atrocities in Syria accountable," it added.

Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel Proposes Formation of Probe Committee to Investigate Illegal Hires
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 06th March 2019/Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Wednesday submitted a proposal suggesting the formation of a parliamentary probe committee that would be tasked with investigating the illegal hires that have been uncovered lately in the public sector. The Parliament's Finance and Budget committee has been examining the hiring of about 5000 people during a job freeze that came into effect in August 2017, noting that the illegal employment was mostly done ahead of the parliamentary elections in May 2018.In his proposal, Gemayel pointed out that a hiring freeze was put in place following the ratification of the Salary Scale Law, which granted a salary hike to public sector employees, in order to ease the burden on the state's finances. The lawmaker stressed that the Article 21 of Law 46 clearly stipulates halting employment in all public administrations and institutions for two years, unless approved by the government based on an assessment report carried out by the relevant authorities. In his proposal, Gemayel argued that a parliamentary probe committee was needed to address the executive authority's failure to ensure the full and flawless implementation of the provisions of the Law 46 when it comes to the hiring freeze, adding that ordinary parliamentary committees do not have enough prerogatives to follow up on this issue until the end. "We request the formation of a parliamentary committee that would investigate suspicions and the violations that were committed against the Constitution and the Lebanese laws in terms of the hires that were made following August 2017," Gemayel said in the proposal. "We also request that this committee would be granted the powers bestowed on investigative judges in order to enable it to conduct the necessary investigations." Gemayel noted that the probe committee's mission would consist in identifying the people employed after August 2017, examining their profiles in accordance with the job descriptions and requirements, assessing if their employment was initially needed, determining the cost entailed by each hire, and checking its compliance with the legal framework of the public sector's finances. The lawmaker stressed that, in addition to all the before-mentioned tasks, the committee would look into the motives behind those illegal hires (whether nepotism or electoral bribery), and identify those responsible for them. When its work is finalized, the committee would submit a final report to the Parliament so that it would take the necessary measures and hold whoever is found responsible to account.

Dagher: Fight Against Corruption Cannot Be Selective
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 06th March 2019/Kataeb politburo member Serge Dagher on Wednesday stressed that corruption fight cannot be selective, saying that real reform requires equality as everyone should be subject to accountability. “The political life in Lebanon has become abnormal. Political forces are preaching about reform and questioning the failure to apply laws while they are the ones in charge of implementing them,” Dagher told Voice of Lebanon radio station. "Who violated the hiring freeze that was put in place in 2017? Who made all the illegal hires that have been uncovered recently? Isn't it the same ruling authority that is today demanding a probe to investigate all those superfluous hires? Is this a riddle or a joke?"Dagher said that the Kataeb party was accused of lying and populism when it spoke up against corruption, economic problems and shady deals, whereas the ruling authority is extensively talking about these same issues. The Kataeb official cast doubt on the real motives behind Hezbollah's anti-corruption campaign which has only targeted former PM Fouad Siniora while looking the other way when it comes to its allies. "The fight against corruption cannot be selective. Everybody should be subject to accountability." Dagher stressed that the Kataeb party didn't back down one iota on its constants and values, while many of the other political forces have relinquished theirs. "Everyone took a step back while we chose not to move one inch when it comes to defending our country's sovereignty.""The price that we are paying today is only about one less or more parliamentary seat. In the past, we didn't hesitate to sacrifice the lives of 6000 martyrs; a price that is much more higher than the one we are incurring today," Dagher said.

Kataeb Objects to Parliament's Extra-Budgetary Spending Approval
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 06th March 2019/The Parliament on Wednesday allowed the government to maintain its extra-bugetary spending until May 31st, amid the ongoing absence of a State budget for the year 2019. The legislature reminded the government of the need to drop its spending by at least 1% per annum of the GDP, as stated in its policy statement. Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel voiced objection to the ratified draft law which would lead to massive, unaccounted spending. The Parliament on Wednesday allowed the government to maintain its extra-bugetary spending until May 31st, amid the ongoing absence of a State budget for the year 2019. Lawmakers, therefore, have extended the so-called "12th rule" which allows the allocation of the same amount of money to the same expenses as specified in the most recent budget whenever no new one is endorsed. But this rule applies only to the month of January. The legislature, however, reminded the government of the need to drop its spending by at least 1% per annum of the GDP, as stated in its policy statement. Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel voiced objection to the ratified draft law which would lead to massive, unaccounted spending. He also objected to a draft law allowing the government to borrow money by issuing Eurobonds worth $4.8 billion in order to cover the cost of Lebanon's debt servicing.

Technical Delegation Prepares Meeting of Higher Saudi-Lebanese Committee
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri chaired on Tuesday part of a coordination meeting of the technical delegation comprising directors general and representatives of all concerned ministries, who will visit Saudi Arabia on March 10 and 11 to prepare for the meeting of the Lebanese-Saudi High Joint Committee. The delegation will discuss in Riyadh cooperation issues between the two countries and the finalization of draft agreements and memoranda of understanding proposed by the two sides, in preparation for holding the Joint Higher Committee and the visit of Hariri to the Kingdom to sponsor the signing of the agreements. “We attach great hopes on your efforts and we hope that you will prepare the draft agreements needed to develop and strengthen the relations between Lebanon and the Kingdom, for the interest of Lebanon,” Hariri said during the meeting.
“You see the attacks against the state and its administrations. I want you to show people how you work efficiently and the efforts you exert silently through your positions to support the course of the country as a whole, despite being exposed to words that hurt you and me as well,” he told the attendees. The Lebanese premier went on to say: “I know that there is squander and corruption in some places, and we are working with you to combat this scourge and eliminate it. You proved your ability in this regard and worked for the benefit of the country. I stand by you and we must work hand in hand, day and night, to make our work succeed because it will support the national economy.”

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on March 06-07/2019
Pope Francis Prepares to Visit Morocco Under Motto ‘Servant of Hope’
Casablanca - Lahssen Moqana/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/The challenges of migration will be high on the agenda of Pope Francis during his two-day visit to Morocco on March 30, bishops in the African country said Tuesday. The Pope’s visit comes in response to the invitation of King Mohammed VI and the country’s Bishops.Archbishop of Tangier Santiago Agrelo Martinez, Archbishop of Rabat Cristobal Lopez Romero and Archbishop of Casablanca Daniel Nourissat announced on Tuesday the visit’s program under the slogan “Servant of Hope.”This visit “comes as part of a theme of solidarity with migrants in a country that has bravely chosen a policy to welcome” migrants, said Nourissat during a press conference at Casablanca's Notre Dame church. He added that this is an opportunity for Pope Francis to reaffirm and support the UN-led Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), which took place in Marrakesh last December to urge the international community to be responsible towards migrants. Nourissat pointed out that Christianity in Morocco is experiencing a new breakthrough as African migrants, mainly students and youths, making up about 60 percent of worshipers in Moroccan churches. Regarding Catholic education in Morocco, Nourrisat explained that about 12,000 students are enrolled in Catholic schools. He pointed out that teachers are Moroccan Muslims and that the curricula in these schools fall in line with the country’s educational system set by the Moroccan Ministry of Education.The Archbishop noted that these schools are expanding due to increasing demands.Among the highlights of the Pope’s visit, which will start on March 30, is his reception by King Mohammed VI at the airport and private talks at the Royal Palace in Rabat. The King will again receive the Pope in the capital’s Hassan II Mosque in the presence of members of the diplomatic corps and Moroccan and foreign dignitaries. They will both deliver speeches before heading to the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. Then, they will visit the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates (male and female preachers). On the second day of his visit, the Pope will celebrate mass for about 10,000 people from different Moroccan cities at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium. He will also visit the Rural Center for Social Services at Temara, south of the capital, and hold meetings with priests, religious men and women and the ecumenical Council of Churches in the Rabat cathedral.
Later, he will recite the Angelus prayer before his departure to Rome.

NATO Welcomes US, Turkish Cooperation on Political Solution in Syria
Ankara - Saeed Abdelrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the level of coordination between the United States and Turkey on Syria, as well as efforts to finding a peaceful solution to the country’s war. “We welcome initiatives to try to find a peaceful solution [in northern Syria],” the Sec-Gen told a round table meeting with a group of female journalists to mark International Women’s Day at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Regarding the US announcement on the formation of an international observation force in northern Syria after its pullout, Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s role in the global coalition to defeat ISIS, according to Anadolu Agency. “We have provided support as we have a training mission in Iraq and we have provided support with our AWACS [airborne warning and control system] planes to the air operations.”Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country is exerting efforts to finding a political solution in Syria along with the ceasefire. US envoy to Syria James Jeffrey met in Ankara with Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister for Middle East Affairs Sedat Onal and Turkish military officials to discuss the upcoming US withdrawal from Syria and the implementation of the roadmap in Manbij and the safe zone. Jeffrey's talks followed meetings of the Combined Joint Task Force, formed as part of bilateral talks to coordinate the withdrawal of US troops, in Ankara from February 28 to March 1. The meetings discussed plans to pull out US forces from areas East of the Euphrates, and Manbij as well as details of the safe zone. In other news, Turkish authorities reopened the Oncupinar border gate in the southeastern province of Kilis, near the Syrian border, after an eight-year hiatus. Turkish trucks are now able to cross directly into Syrian territory after showing relevant travel documents to custom officials. The border crossing was closed when Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, compelling Turkish trucks to stop at the gate and transfer their goods to Syrian lorries. Serdar Tohumcu, a truck driver, said the gate’s reopening cut travel time. In related news, Trade Mnister Ruhsar Pekcan indicated that the “Olive Branch” border gate will become operational next week. Pekcan announced that an additional crossing will be opened in the southeastern province of Hatay. "Olive Branch" is named after Turkey's military operation launched last year. Turkey’s "Euphrates Shield" and "Olive Branch" operations in northern Syria have cleared several regions from the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Russia Urges Syrian Opposition to Prioritize Relief, Refugees
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Moscow is keen to continue coordination with concerned parties to speed up the formation of the constitutional committee in Syria, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, while giving priority to the return of displaced people and relief work. His remarks were made following a series of meetings held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Lavrov concluded his visit on Tuesday by holding talks with head of the opposition Syrian High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Naser al-Hariri. “We expect responsible opposition members to speak in favor of assistance by the international community to the Syrians not only in the form of humanitarian help but also by creating basic conditions - water supply, electric power supply and educational and medical services,” Lavrov said.
“This would make it possible for the refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes,” he stressed. The opposition delegation with Hariri included deputy head of the HNC Jamal Suleiman, head of Foreign Relations’ Office Badr Jamous, Secretary Safwan Akash, representative of the Kurdish National Council Ibrahim Berro and member of the “Moscow platform” political grouping Alaa Arafat. “Lavrov affirmed his country's support for the political process and the implementation of resolution 2254 under the UN auspices,” HNC member Dr. Yahya Aridi told Asharq Al-Awsat in a phone call. Lavrov also invited the HNC to visit Moscow to discuss all matters and carry out consultations on all unsolved issues, he added. He pointed out that the meeting tackled the political process, the constitutional committee, the safe and neutral environment that contributes to achieving political transition and paving the way for a safe and dignified return of refugees, as well as efforts to combat terrorism. According to Aridi, Hariri spoke with Lavrov about violations in Idlib, stressing the importance of protecting citizens while maintaining the Sochi deal on the city. Lavrov then traveled to Kuwait to hold talks with officials on bilateral relations, the Syrian crisis and the fight against terrorism. Before his departure, he described his country's relations with the Gulf country as “genuinely friendly” and based on equality, mutual respect and constructive cooperation. In an interview to the Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, Lavrov said his meetings will include detailed discussion on the situation in Syria, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the situation in war-torn areas in the region. He stressed that they will focus on prospects of resolving these disputes through political and diplomatic means, based on international law and through comprehensive national dialogue.

US Deploys THAAD Anti-Missile System in Israel
Tel Aviv- Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/The Israeli army regarded the deployment of US THAAD missile defense system for the first time in Israel as an indication of boosting bilateral historical relations and a strategic alliance. However, political opposition figures in Tel Aviv said that the timing was not coincidental, as it reflected obvious efforts by US President Donald Trump to see his friend and ally, Benjamin Netanyahu, as prime minister of the Israeli government once again after the upcoming elections. The Israeli army has earlier revealed that as part of a drill conducted by the United States European Command (EUCOM), the US military will deploy for the first time the THAAD missile defense system in Israel. It said the drill was conducted few days after the two countries completed a more routine joint exercise, Juniper Falcon, as part of the joint operation of the system to practice rapid deployment across the globe of complex systems. The drill “emphasizes the US’ commitment to the defense and security of Israel.”“The Israeli army is working in cooperation with US forces in order to enhance coordination between the two militaries and to strengthen the ability to defend Israeli airspace,” the army added. It is also considered a chance to enhance cooperation with the Israeli army’s air defense systems. The army also said it “stands ready to protect Israel’s airspace and civilians against a variety of threats from near and far,” noting that “this is a defensive deployment that is not related to any specific current event.”Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is considered one of the world’s most advanced defense systems that intercepts short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Its capabilities are determined by factors such as location, range, and threat characteristics. The system has capabilities within and beyond the air layer, using kinetic energy to intercept missiles. According to the Israeli army, this system constitutes a “qualitative addition to the Israeli air defense capabilities specialized against long-range ballistic missiles”.

Netanyahu Aims to Win 40 Knesset Seats
Tel Aviv- Nazir Majli//Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally launched his election campaign Monday, seeking to stay in power and rally supporters around him because victory was no longer guaranteed amid his mounting legal woes.“We have to win,” he told hundreds of members of his Likud party in a hotel just outside Tel Aviv. "We need to get 40 Knesset seats in order to reach that," said the PM, knowing that he now has 30 seats. The audience interrupted him chanting "Fifty... Fifty" then others shouted "Sixty... Sixty."“I have to tell you — it’s not guaranteed, it’s not in our pocket, it will not be simple. It will be a hard battle,” Netanyahu told the crowd of some 1600 people in a hall that doesn’t fit more than 800. Education Minister Naftali Bennett demanded Netanyahu be firm in dealing with Hamas instead of transferring funds to it and reopening the Gate of Mercy, which was forcibly opened by Muslims.Naftali also urged the PM to implement the court’s decision to evict Khan al-Ahmar, south Jerusalem. In a related matter, Netanyahu's rivals chose to roam in the Golan Heights in their first electoral tour. On the tour, there were General Benny Gantz, former finance minister Yair Lapid, former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. “We will never return the Golan Heights,” they said. Speaking in the Golan, Gantz said: "We are now encountering here a terror network, an Iranian front that is sitting on the border with Israel. We know how to handle any threat, in any one of the arenas, for as long as necessary. We will build a responsible and assertive cabinet. We will be unforgiving of any form of aggression against Israel in any of the arenas. "There are three chiefs of staff and a former minister who was in the Cabinet. [One-hundred and seventeen] years of military experience… We will not be taught how to protect the country and how to fight terror.”

Salih: Iraq Expected to Reunite the Region
Baghdad- Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/The Iraqi President, Barham Salih, said Wednesday that his country has tried to stay away from power games in the region. In his statements to a number of Iraqi channels, he said that Iraq should be used to serve as a lead peacemaker in a troubled region. “We don’t want to be part of these conflicts. Iraq is still not a very stable country, and putting an extra political burden on it is unacceptable,” he said. “I want Iraqis to be confident that our speech in the Gulf, Tehran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, Italy, and the Americans is the same speech and logic,” he added, hoping Iraq to become a central meeting point in a new regional system. Speaking about the consultative meeting held last week in the Salam Presidential Palace under his patronage and in the presence of Iraq leaders, Salih said that the meeting was significant because it has been long since partners from various backgrounds met. Ihsan al-Shammari, Head of the Center for Political Thought, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Salih's speech promotes previous messages since the government of Haider al-Abadi, knowing that Iraq has been attempting to accentuate disengagement and neutrality. Shammari added that the president realizes that the Iran-US conflict has started to escalate, which explains the Iraqi choice to stand at equal distance from both sides to spare the country any siding-induced costly price.

Egypt Seeks to Consolidate the Truce, Move to the Second Phase
Ramallah - Kifah Ziboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Well-informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Egypt was holding intensive talks with Israel and Hamas in order to consolidate the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and move to the next phase of the agreement. “Egypt wants a comprehensive cessation of all forms of escalation, so as to ensure the start of the implementation of the second phase of the previous cease-fire,” the sources said. An Egyptian security delegation arrived on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing from Israel and began an immediate meeting with Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, who returned from Egypt this week after a 24-day visit. The Egyptian delegation was headed by Major General Ahmed Abdel-Khaliq, head of the Palestinian file in the Egyptian intelligence service, and included Major General Omar Hanafi, Egyptian intelligence agent, Major General Ayman Badih, and Brigadier General Ahmed Farouk. According to the sources, “Israel requires Hamas to stop all forms of violence, including incendiary balloons and multiple demonstrations, while Hamas requires the resumption of transfer of funds after it was halted because of differences over the mechanism of transfer.”Egypt’s efforts came after previous disagreements over the transfer of funds to Hamas, which threatened the fate of the truce. Palestinian officials and Israeli sources said Hamas had recently issued warnings to Israel demanding a monthly sum of $20 million to cover the salaries of employees, or it would adopt escalatory measures.

Millions of Iraqi Carp Killed by Herpes- UN
Baghdad/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/The sudden death last year of millions of Iraqi carp, used in the country's signature dish, was caused by a strain of herpes harmless to humans, the United Nations said Wednesday.Iraqi fish farmers south of Baghdad were left reeling in late 2018 after piles of dead carp were found washed up on the banks of the Euphrates River or floating in their cages. Rumors swirled over whether the fish were sick or the river had been poisoned, and Iraqi politicians put the issue at the top of their agenda. On Wednesday, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said a months-long international investigation had pinned down the slippery source: the Koi Herpes Virus. "KHV is a very serious and lethal disease that is known to cause almost 100 percent mortality rates in carps," said Dr. Thomas Wahli, who heads the Swiss Reference Laboratory for Notifiable Diseases. Flame-grilled carp seasoned with sauces made from onions and tomato and known as masgoof, is Iraq's national delicacy. The mass deaths in the fish farms of Saddat al-Hindiyah in Babylon province, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, had panicked carp farmers, who said they had lost thousands of dollars overnight. Samples of the dead fish, water, sediment, and feed were sent to Wahli's lab as well as facilities in Jordan and Italy. They confirmed the carp were killed by the viral outbreak, which does not pose a threat to humans, the UN said. Temperatures in the Euphrates dropped to around 24 degrees in November, a prime environment for KHV. The overstocking of fish farms and low-quality river water may have also spread the disease further, it said. Iraq produces 29,000 tonnes of fish each year, according to 2016 statistics gathered by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation. "This is the first case of Koi Herpes Virus disease in Iraq, and it is a significant case report which will need to be notified to the World Organisation for Animal Health," Iraq's Environment Minister Ala Alwan said. "We are pleased to have been able to get to the bottom of this difficult case," Alwan added.

Tunisia Sets Dates for Presidential, Parliamentary Elections
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Tunisia will hold parliamentary election on October 6 and a presidential election starting on November 10, announced the electoral commission Wednesday. If a presidential candidate does not win outright in the first round, a second round will follow within two weeks, the commission said. Under its 2014 constitution, Tunisia must hold legislative elections within two months of parliament's mandate expiring -- between October and early December. The parliamentary race is expected to be fought closely by the Ennahda party, the Tahya Tounes party of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, and the Nidaa Tounes party led by Hafedh Caid Essebsi, the president’s son. They rule the North African country together but their coalition has been hit by infighting that has hampered decision-making and slowed economic reforms demanded by foreign donors. No-one has yet declared their candidacy for presidency. Tunisia has won widespread praise for its democratic transition since 2011, but nine cabinets have failed to resolve economic problems that include high inflation and unemployment. The slow progress on reforms has been criticized by lenders such as the International Monetary Fund which have helped keep the country afloat. The powerful UGTT trade union confederation has staged a series of crippling strikes since late last year over social and economic reforms, while youth employment remains high and inflation is at 7.5 percent. The Constitutional Court, which would be crucial if election results were challenged, has not yet been formed, to the anger of civil society. Previous polls held in 2014 saw Beji Caid Essebsi elected president.

Cracks Emerge in Regime as Algeria Veterans Call for Protests against Bouteflika
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Algerian independence war veterans voiced their support for protests that have called for the resignation of President Abdulaziz Bouteflika, a sign of growing cracks in the ruling regime. “It is the duty of Algerian society in all its segments to take to the streets,” the influential National Organization of Mujahideen - veterans like Bouteflika of the 1954-1962 war of independence against France - said late on Tuesday. The protesters have expressed their opposition to Bouteflika’s run for reelection in next month’s presidential elections. The veteran president has been in power since 1999. Two branches of powerful Algerian labor union UGTA, representing tens of thousands of workers, also opposed the re-election plan. “The members do not want a system that is linked to oligarchs,” the branches of Rouiba and Reghaia, two large industrial suburbs of Algiers, said in a statement, referring to close relationships between Bouteflika and business tycoons. UGTA national Chairman Abdelmadjid Sidi Said is close to Bouteflika and had warned against instability after the first protests erupted two weeks ago. In another sign of dissent, the national association of lawyers associations demanded that the authorities postpone the elections and set up a transitional government, a statement said. Lawyers have called for a protest on Thursday. Tens of thousands of people have rallied in cities around Algeria in the largest protests since the 2011 “Arab Spring”, calling on Bouteflika, 82, not to stand in an election scheduled for April 18. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gaed Salah, who is known for his loyalty to Bouteflika, reiterated that the military would not allow a breakdown in security. “We are committed to providing safe conditions that ensure that Algerians fulfill their electoral duties,” the private Ennahar television statement quoted him as saying. Police deployed Wednesday in the Algerian capital with water cannons, a day after thousands of students demonstrated against Bouteflika's reelection bid. Although the city remained calm, security forces were bracing for further protests on Friday as demonstrators have vowed to take to the streets until president resigns. Half a dozen police vans and a water cannon were deployed near Algiers' iconic main post office. There was a similar deployment at the nearby Place Audin which has also drawn thousands of demonstrators since the protest movement first erupted on February 22. Bouteflika, who suffered a stroke in 2013 and is rarely been seen in public, has been in Switzerland since February 24 for what the presidency has described as "routine medical tests". Bouteflika's bid to stand in the election was submitted on his behalf Sunday to the Constitutional Council by his campaign manager. Bouteflika promised Sunday that if he wins the April poll, he will organize a "national conference" to set a date for further elections which he would not contest. But Algerians weary of his two-decade rule angrily dismissed his promise as an insult. In Paris, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday that France was watching the situation in its former colony closely but it was for Algerians to decide their future.

Libya’s Neighbors Say Political Solution Only Way to End its Crisis
Cairo - Jamal Jawhar/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/The foreign ministers of Libya’s neighbors stressed on Tuesday that the political solution remains the only way to resolve the country’s crisis. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry hosted in Cairo Algeria's Abdelkader Messahel and Tunisia's Khemais Jhinaoui to discuss the developments in Libya. They voiced their support for UN envoy Ghassan Salame’s mission to achieve rapprochement between rival Libyan powers in order to be able to hold a national conference as soon as possible. They also rejected foreign meddling in Libyan affairs.
They noted that militias in the capital Tripoli were impeding efforts to resolve the crisis, while accusing sides, which they did not name, of constantly funding these groups. Shoukri called on the Libyans to “save their country,” adding that its neighbors are keen on having Tripoli regain its standing in the Arab world.
Egypt supports the unification of military and security forces, he stated. Jhinaoui said that the solution lies in the hands of the Libyans themselves, calling on them to save their country. “We wanted a united Libya,” he declared. A national conference, he continued, would help end the transitional phase and pave the way for elections in the country, a demand that has been repeatedly made by the UN mission. “The Libyans must overcome their differences and reach and inter-Libyan solution,” he urged. Messahel underlined the importance of the political solution, rejecting foreign interference in Libyan affairs. He added that Libya’s security would also ensure the security of its neighbors.

Saudi, UAE, Yemen Ask UNSC to Pressure Houthis into Compliance
New York- Ali Barada/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 6 March, 2019/Saudi Arabia, the United Araab Emirates, and the internationally-recognized Yemeni government urged the United Nations Security Council to pressure Houthis to uphold their commitments to the UN-brokered Stockholm peace agreement and UNSC resolution 2451. The three also condemned the Iran-backed Houthi militias’ continued violations of the ceasefire deal and the lack of compliance with the UN monitor team sent to organize the implementation of redeployment in the key port city of Hodeidah—withdrawing armed forces from the Red Sea ports in Hodeidah was among the list of stipulations mandated by the Stockholm agreement signed last December. In a joint letter by permanent representatives to the UN--Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah bin Yahya Almualimi, UAE’s Lana Nusseibeh, and Yemen’s Abdullah al-Sa'adi—delivered to SC President François Delattre, each of the three countries condemned Houthis for continued intransigence and lack of cooperation on peace efforts. “Last week’s sudden and unexplained refusal by the Houthis to withdraw from the ports of Saleef and Ras Eisa comes as no surprise after months of stalling tactics from their side,” said the letter signed by the three UN ambassadors. According to the letter, Saudi-led Arab coalition countries accused the Houthis of refusing to withdraw from two smaller ports of Salif and Ras Issa as stipulated in the agreement, and of reinforcing their military positions in civilian areas of Hodeida, including by constructing trenches and barriers. They said their discipline and restraint “has not been reciprocated by the Houthis.”Welcoming the “progress” made by UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths on "negotiating the redeployment in Hodeidah, the exchange of prisoners, and the Joint Council of Taiz,” the ambassadors stressed that the Arab Coalition was steadfast in its support of the Stockholm Agreement, noting that progress achieved on redeployment since the cease-fire in Hodeidah went into effect on December 18 was “the result of the political leadership of the Yemeni government and the strict implementation of the rules of engagement of military leaders of the coalition.” When asked over the willingness of UN Chief António Guterres’s willingness to point out the reasons behind the delay in implementation of the Stockholm Agreements in his upcoming report, UN Secretary-General Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Griffiths has been saving no effort in trying to persuade warring parties to fully implement the agreement.

EU unanimously vetoes plan to add Saudi Arabia to money laundering blacklist
Arab News/March 06/19/LONDON: Envoys from the 28 EU member states on Wednesday unanimously rejected a proposal to add Saudi Arabia and other nations and territories to the bloc’s money-laundering blacklist, sources told AFP. The ill-fated plan, which was drawn up by the EU’s executive arm, was dismissed by Saudi Arabia as well as the US and several European capitals. Under the European Commission proposal, the new countries — which also included Panama, and the US territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands — would have joined 16 others seen as doing too little to stop the financing of terrorism and organized crime. Those blacklisted already include Iran, Ethiopia and North Korea. The EU’s 28 interior ministers will formalize the rejection at talks in Brussels on Thursday, a European source told AFP. The EU governments “cannot support the current proposal,” said a strongly worded draft statement that will be approved by the ministers, it was reported. Diplomats complained that the way the commission had drawn up the list was unclear and potentially vulnerable to legal challenges. The list “was not established in a transparent and resilient process that actively incentivises affected countries to take decisive action while also respecting their right to be heard,” the draft said. Salman Al-Ansari, founder of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee, told Arab News earlier this month that the list would have harmed the EU’s reputation and made its lists politicized rather than authentic and legitimate. Dr. Hamdan Al-Shehri, a Saudi political analyst and international relations scholar in Riyadh, said the Kingdom “should never have been put there in the first place.”

Lavrov: Russia seeks to strengthen relations with Gulf
Arab News/March 06/2019/DUBAI: Russia aims to strengthen relations with Gulf countries, the country’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Kuwait on Wednesday. “Russia and Saudi Arabia seek to fight terrorism in Syria,” Lavrov said during a joint press conference with Kuwaiti FM Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, adding that, “Saudi Arabia sees need in creating a constitutional committee in Syria.”“The international community ties aid to Syria with a political solution to the crisis,” he said. Kuwait FM Al-Sabah said the return of Syria to the Arab community “makes us happy and we seek a speedy political solution.”Lavrov added that Russia is eager to hear more details about the US plan for peace in the region and is in communication with US to ease any further escalation in Syria. The Russian foreign minister is currently on a tour of Gulf states.

Iran lawyer convicted after defending women protesters
AP/March 06/19/DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: A prominent human rights lawyer in Iran who defended protesters against the Islamic Republic’s mandatory headscarves for women has been convicted and faces years in prison, an activist group said Wednesday. The conviction of Nasrin Sotoudeh, who previously served three years in prison for her work, underlines the limits of challenging Iran’s theocracy as it faces economic pressure exacerbated by the US pulling out of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. It also highlights the limits of Iran’s civilian government as well, as the administration of President Hassan Rouhani and others have signaled an easing of their concern over the mandatory hijab. It shows “the insecurity the regime has to any peaceful challenge,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, which reported Sotoudeh’s conviction. “It knows a large segment of the country . are fed up with the hijab laws.”Sotoudeh, 55, was convicted in absentia after she refused to attend the trial before Tehran’s Revolutionary Court as she was unable to select her own counsel, Ghaemi said. The Revolutionary Court conducts closed-door hearings over alleged threats to Iran’s government. The charges range from her membership to a human rights group to “encouraging corruption and prostitution.” That suggests her detention in part relates to her defense of women who protested the mandatory hijab. Sotoudeh’s conviction was not immediately reported by Iranian state-run media. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The Center for Human Rights in Iran relied on information about Sotoudeh’s case provided by her husband Reza Khandan, who separately faces a six-year prison sentence over providing updates on her case on Facebook, Ghaemi said. Sotoudeh received the awarded the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Union in 2012. Her previous clients also include Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. One of Sotoudeh’s clients in the hijab protests received a 20-year prison sentence, showing the sensitivity authorities felt about the case. Ghaemi said he believes Iran’s theocracy connects the hijab protests to the nationwide economic protests that happened around the same time at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. “It is part of the same pattern of wanting to put an end to any peaceful protest on the street,” he said. The hijab and chador — the flowing, all-encompassing robe for women — have long been parts of Persian culture. They became political symbols in 1936, when Iran’s pro-Western ruler Reza Shah Pahlavi banned the garments amid his efforts to rapidly modernize Iran. The ban became a source of humiliation for some pious Muslim women in the country. As the 1979 Islamic Revolution took hold, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered female civil servants to wear the chador. At first, thousands of women protested the decision in Tehran and Khomeini later said officials should not insult women who chose not to wear it — though he also called the chador “the flag of the revolution.” The hijab and loose-fitting clothing later became mandatory for all women in Iran. In Tehran today, some fashionable young women wear tighter clothes with a scarf loosely covering their head, technically meeting the requirements of the law while drawing the ire of conservatives. In December 2017, Tehran’s police said they would no longer arrest women for not observing the Islamic dress code as video clips of women choosing not to wear hijabs and walking the streets with their heads uncovered spread across social media. Protests followed, including a much-circulated image of a woman atop a junction box at an intersection of Tehran’s famed Enghelab, or “Revolution,” Street, waving her white hijab as if it was a flag.

Saudi Arabia plays ‘pivotal role’ in fight against global terrorism: General Abizaid'
Arab News/March 06/19/WASHINGTON: Retired four-star Army General John Abizaid, President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia plays a “pivotal role” in the fight against global terrorism. General Abizaid, speaking on Wednesday at his Senate confirmation hearing, said it would be a “great honor” to work on strengthening the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia. “In the long run, we need a strong and mature partnership with Saudi Arabia,” Abizaid said. “It is in our interests to make sure that the relationship is sound,” he said.
He added that Saudi Arabia's contribution to tackling extremism had effectively cut off funding networks for Daesh — which he said has been “nearly vanquished on the ground,” but remains a “potent threat” to the US and its allies — and that any “reduction of relations between America and Saudi Arabia” would undermine regional security. Abizaid also blamed the Iranian regime for destabilizing the region. Military cooperation with Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen was essential for the “self-defense capabilities of our partners and reduces the risk of harm to civilians,” he added.

Caracas Expels German Envoy for Guaido Backing as U.S. Tightens Sanctions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 06/19/Venezuela expelled Germany's ambassador Wednesday, hitting out at international support for opposition leader Juan Guaido as the U.S. stepped up sanctions in a bid to force out his rival, President Nicolas Maduro, despite U.N. criticism. The foreign ministry said Martin Kriener had 48 hours to leave for "interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs. He had greeted Guaido at Caracas airport on his return to the country on Monday. Guaido said in a speech to opposition lawmakers that Kriener's expulsion "must be taken as a threat to the free world."Kriener was among more than a dozen foreign representatives to welcome the National Assembly leader -- recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries -- but so far the only one to be deemed "persona non grata."Kriener had helped to try and bring humanitarian aid to the country, he said, adding: "It seems that the Maduro regime does not forgive anyone who wants to help Venezuela."Meanwhile, Washington tightened the screws on its campaign of sanctions to force Maduro from power, revoking visas of 77 people linked to the regime, including officials and their families. "We will continue to hold all of the Maduro regime accountable until democracy and libertad (liberty) are fully restored," U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said in a speech. Last week, Washington revoked 49 visas from Venezuelan figures. National Security Advisory John Bolton said the U.S. also is putting foreign financial institutions on notice that they will face sanctions if they facilitate "illegitimate transactions that benefit Nicolas Maduro and his corrupt network."The U.S. is already trying to cripple Maduro's access to finances via sanctions on state oil company PDVSA and handing control to Guaido of Venezuelan bank accounts in the United States.
However, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said sanctions have worsened Venezuela's crippling economic and political crisis, which has forced 2.7 million people to flee since 2015. "Venezuela clearly illustrates the way violations of civil and political rights –- including failure to uphold fundamental freedoms, and the independence of key institutions –- can accentuate a decline of economic and social rights," said former Chile president Bachelet. "This situation has been exacerbated by sanctions," Bachelet said in her annual report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Maduro has repeatedly said his socialist government is the victim of an "economic war" driven by U.S. "imperialism" -- with sanctions the weapon of choice to try to topple him.
Hero's welcome
Guaido, 35, returned home to a hero's welcome on Monday, having defied a ban on leaving the country to embark on a 10-day tour of South American allies. He remains free despite the threat of arrest by the government. "They thought the pressure had reached its zenith, but it's only just beginning," Guaido told reporters. On Tuesday, a national holiday, he met public sector union leaders. "Public sector workers have lost practically all their rights, we have no other option but to call for a civic strike," said Guaido, without giving further details. Maduro, meanwhile, pressed his supporters to hold "anti-imperialist" marches Saturday to counter fresh protests planned by Guaido."Today more than ever, we are victorious against the conspiracy, against blackmail, while a crazy minority continues with their hatred," he said in his first public comments since Guaido's return. When he returned to Caracas -- his latest challenge to Maduro's authority -- Guaido announced to tens of thousands of supporters his plans for new protests on Saturday.He has vowed to set up a transitional government and hold new elections.
'Paralyzed public administration'
As part of his challenge to Maduro, Guaido is attempting to take control of the state bureaucracy, which he considers to have been "kidnapped" through blackmail and persecution. Unions from the oil industry, basic services, government banks and local government took part in Tuesday's meeting, union leader Ana Yanez told AFP. "The public administration is practically paralyzed. In the town halls, people only go to work three days a week and even then barely half the day," said Yanez. Maduro made his comments as he paid tribute to his predecessor Hugo Chavez on the sixth anniversary of the socialist firebrand's death. Standing in front of Chavez's mausoleum, Maduro called on his supporters to take to the streets on Saturday, to mark "four years since" then-U.S. president Barack Obama first announced sanctions against the socialist government. Maduro has done this before, calling his own counter-demonstration every time Guaido announces a protest. Both attract thousands of supporters, but the opposition gatherings usually have the edge in numbers. During his travels, Guaido met Pence and the leaders of Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador.

Civilians Pour Out of Last IS Redoubt in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 06/19/Hundreds of civilians streamed out of the Islamic State group's last Syrian stronghold Tuesday into territory held by US-backed forces battling to finish off the jihadists' dying "caliphate". A total of 3,500 people exited the riverside village of Baghouz, including 500 jihadists who had surrendered, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said. Five SDF fighters were also freed, their spokesman Mustefa Bali said on Twitter. IS seized large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" there, but has since lost all but a patch on the banks of the Euphrates River near the Iraqi border. At a screening point for new arrivals outside Baghouz, an AFP reporter saw hundreds of men, women and children. Men sat on the ground, surrounded by members of the Kurdish-led SDF, while women clad from head to toe in black waited to be searched.
Among them was the widow of French jihadist Jean-Michel Clain, 38, who said her husband had been killed last month after his brother Fabien. "The drone killed my brother-in-law and then the mortar killed my husband," Dorothee Maquere told AFP. Fabien Clain, 41, had voiced an IS audio recording claiming responsibility for the November 2015 attacks in Paris, when IS jihadists slaughtered 129 people in coordinated operations. Backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition, the SDF smashed their way into the jihadists' last remaining sliver at the weekend. But they slowed down the offensive on Sunday over concerns for civilians trapped inside. Bali on Monday night said 3,000 more people had been evacuated since Sunday.An SDF official told AFP "hundreds" of IS fighters were among them.
'War injuries'
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, earlier said 280 IS fighters were among those who quit the pocket since Sunday. Diehard jihadists are fiercely defending their last patch after the SDF and the US-led coalition resumed their offensive late Friday, following a two-week pause to allow for civilian evacuations. The Kurdish-led force pushed into Baghouz on Saturday. On Monday night, an AFP correspondent near the front line saw black smoke billowing over the besieged pocket after an air strike. The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said artillery fire and air strikes continued into the night. The mass outpouring of people from the dying "caliphate" has sparked a major humanitarian emergency, with an aid group saying 600 people arrived early Tuesday in one camp for non-combatants in northeast Syria.
Among those who arrived at the camp in Al-Hol, 10 people "needed urgent medical treatment because of shrapnel or war injuries", the International Relief Committee said. Six were sent to hospital. Around 15,000 people reached Al-Hol from Baghouz between February 22 and March 1, the UN's humanitarian coordination office OCHA said on Monday.
Dying days of 'caliphate'
The new arrivals have pushed the camp's population to over 56,000, exacerbating already dire conditions at the crammed facility, it said. After months under heavy bombardment and sometimes with very little to eat, many of those emerging from Baghouz are in poor physical and psychological health. Around 90 people, mostly children under the age of five, have died en route or shortly after arriving at Al-Hol, OCHA said. Syria's Kurds hold hundreds of foreign jihadists and IS sympathisers, whose governments have been reluctant to take them back. A US judge on Monday rejected a request for expedited treatment of the case of an Alabama woman who joined IS in Syria but has asked to return home. The government has declared that Hoda Muthana, 24, is not an American citizen, and has barred her from entry. The jihadists are massively outnumbered in Baghouz and the SDF say they expect a victory within days. The Kurdish-led forces launched their broad offensive on remaining IS strongholds in the Euphrates Valley six months ago. The capture of Baghouz would mark the end of IS territorial control in the region and deal a death blow to the "caliphate". At its peak more than four years ago, the IS proto-state was the size of the United Kingdom and ruled millions of people. Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Israel Brands Hamas TV Channel Terrorist Organization
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 06/19/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu designated Al-Aqsa television channel of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas a "terrorist organization" on Wednesday. Netanyahu, who is also defense minister, "signed an order declaring the Hamas Al-Aqsa television channel to be a terrorist organization," the premier's office said. It said the decision was made on the advice of Israeli security services, which were said to have discovered Hamas's "use of the Al-Aqsa satellite channel to recruit militants to its ranks."Israel, along with the United States, European Union and other powers, brands Hamas a terrorist organization. Hamas, which does not recognize Israel, took power in 2007 in the Gaza Strip, and the territory has been subjected to a rigorous Israeli blockade for more than a decade. Israel has fought three wars with Hamas and its allies since 2008, with a tense ceasefire currently in place. During a flare-up in November, Israel destroyed the offices of Al-Aqsa in Gaza City, though the channel has continued to broadcast. Ibrahim Daher, general manager of Al-Aqsa TV, condemned what he called a "dangerous decision" that could endanger his staff. "We will work to bring cases in local and international courts and call on international organisations to highlight this new crime against media freedom," he told AFP. In mid-February, Israel's Shin Bet security service accused Hamas of using agents inside the channel to recruit militants in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, including using the channel to communicate with potential recruits. It gave the example of an Al-Aqsa presenter who put a mug on his desk at the start of a show, allegedly confirming to a recruit that he was actually in contact with Hamas agents.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 06-07/2019
Opinion/Will Israel Be Worse Off Without Netanyahu at the Helm?
ديفيد روزنبرج/هآرتس: هل ستكون إسرائيل أسوأ من دون نيتنياهو في سدة القيادة؟
David Rosenberg/Haaretz/March 06/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/72785/david-rosenberg-haaretz-will-israel-be-worse-off-without-netanyahu-at-the-helm%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b2%d9%86%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%ac-%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1%d8%aa%d8%b3-%d9%87%d9%84/
The premier himself hints that we'd be worse off without him, but Israel owes its recent success to factors beyond his control.
When Netanyahu supporters aren't insisting that he's being persecuted, then they're arguing that the justice system has no right to force out of office an official chosen by the voters. And if that doesn't convince you, then they warn about the dire fate awaiting Israel without its leader.
Netanyahu himself has been relaying that last claim, too, and I’m sure he really believes it. “We need to win because of the great achievements that have brought Israel to its best situation in its history,” the prime minister said this week formally launching the Likud campaign.
The witch-hunt claim has no basis, especially regarding the so-called "Case 4000": there is overwhelming evidence that the prime minister made an illicit deal to get fawning coverage of himself and his family, in exchange for financial benefits for telecoms tycoon Shaul Elovitch. It was a patently dumb and dangerous quid pro quo that risked his political career for a few crumbs of PR, but Bibi made it, and must live with the consequences.
The "can't dismiss the voters' choice" claim essentially says that any politician who can convince a majority of voters to return him or her to office should receive a get-out-of- jail-free card. Those who attack the justice system for undermining democracy by moving to indict Netanyahu during an election are in effect saying the system should time its decisions to the needs of a particular candidate.
However, the third defense for keeping Netanyahu in office – Israel needs him – is a more subtle argument.
Israel, the island of calm
Israel has racked up remarkable achievements over the last decade. The economy has registered non-stop growth and Israel has become a global center of high-tech and innovation. The fears of Israel becoming isolated, whether by the BDS movement or governments angry over the absence of a peace process, have proven entirely unfounded. Quite to the contrary, it seems Israel is winning new friends in China, India, Brazil and Africa. In the meantime, Israel has remained (relative to an admittedly low benchmark) an island of calm as wars rage around it.
Israel’s success can be summed up in its No. 8 ranking this week among world powers, a feat that Bibi himself didn’t fail to mention in his speech this week. It’s a remarkable achievement when you consider that it is the only one of the top ten with a population of less than 10 million people.
Give Bibi credit where credit is due. The accusations levelled by Attorney -General Avichai Mendelblit portray a vain man panting for gifts of cigars and champagne and obsessed by media coverage. But there’s another side to Netanyahu: He is a strategic thinker who plays the diplomatic game with finesse and has judged the country’s interests on the world scene correctly.
However, that’s far and away from saying that Israel is at risk without Bibi as boss.
The real story of Israel’s achievements over the last decade are about changes that Netanyahu had nothing to do with and will continue whether he or not he remains prime minister. The best you can credit him for is that he recognized them earlier and better than most others, and acted on them.
The first, of course, is the Startup Nation phenomenon. Israel’s high-tech industry has earned it a place in the global economy that textiles, weapons and Jaffa oranges never did. It’s brought tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment and caused the world’s biggest companies to establish footholds here.
Israel’s tech prowess has even served as the foundation for close ties with emerging powers in Asia. Without a doubt, Netanyahu expertly leveraged Israel’s tech assets in his diplomacy, but he had no hand in creating it.
The discovery of major reserves of natural gas in 2009 (coincidentally came the same year Bibi took office) has become another major asset for Israel. As the launch of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum shows, the gas is winning Israel partners, if not exactly close friends, for Israel in the Arab world in a way no peace agreement has. For this, Netanyahu can take some credit:. By insisting on the controversial gas framework deal, he cleared the way for further development of Israeli gas reserves, ensuring that we will be pumping enough of energy to export while serving the domestic market. But the gas was there by grace of God, not the beneficence of Bibi. There are non-economic developments that have helped Israel, too, like the chaos wrought by the Arab Spring and by Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Combined with Israel’s powerful intelligence assets, we have become the go-to country in the region, not just for the United States and Russia but for the Gulf Arab states as well. All of these processes are much bigger than Bibi or anyone else who may occupy the prime minister’s office after the April 9 election. If it seems no one in Israel can fill his shoes, that is in large part due to Netanyahu himself, who made sure to send anyone deemed a possible rival into political exile.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Indeed, we had better hope that they do, because even if Netanyahu does form the next government and somehow survives an indictment, at best he has maybe another year or two of political life.

Algeria, Sudan and the next wave of change in the Arab world
Dr. Theodore Karasik/Arab News/March 06/19
Within the geopolitical framework of North Africa, Algeria and Sudan are undergoing profound and irreversible change. The images of hundreds of thousands of people walking the streets of major cities and being met with limited violence is making possible the environment in which the next chapter in these countries’ respective stories is one of moving forward. This is not Arab Spring II because the drivers of change in each country are different. The timing of the upheavals is only due to temporal issues related to each country’s immediate history and the surrounding geopolitical environment, which is moving quickly from one moment to another.Algeria is preparing for a presidential election in which the main candidate is the incumbent, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. There is nobody posing a real challenge to his position. Bouteflika and Algerian politics are declining and thus this stagnant era will likely pass soon. The key question is how Algeria’s business elites will react and be part of the transition of power to Algeria’s next leader.
In turn, Sudan has been witnessing ongoing protests across the country for the past several weeks, and these protests show no sign of abating. President Omar Al-Bashir’s decision to transition the leadership to a new format while he tries to contain the crisis and stop the protests is now paramount. Al-Bashir’s announcement that he would be stepping down as the ruling party’s leader, while simultaneously declaring a state of emergency, signals the country’s different path. It is important from a cultural point of view to understand key differences between Algeria and Sudan. Algeria’s popular discontent is in the collective subconscious based on history and the time has not yet come for it to explode into the public domain, while Sudan’s issues are on the surface of society. Modern Algeria is, however, officially an Islamic state and its national language is Arabic: Both legacies of the Arab conquest that began in 647. The Algerian War or Algerian Revolution began with an insurrection in the Aures Mountains in the east of the country in November 1954. Algerians were systematically cut off from their family networks and their larger clans or tribal connections because the French forced them into internment camps or they fled to slums on the edges of the northern cities. Under former President Houari Boumediene, the influence of the military only increased to where we are today in terms of security surrounding the state.
The political and economic structures of the two countries are different enough to consume more resources in Algeria, thereby taxing state coffers. Sudan, meanwhile, suffers from economic decline and social disintegration, plus corruption. The legacy of the Ottoman Empire in Sudan is only a recently rediscovered history. Al-Bashir has been playing his Arab and Turkic card wisely between various Arab parties, specifically on either side of the Qatar crisis.
Algeria’s popular discontent is in the collective subconscious based on history and the time has not yet come for it to explode into the public domain, while Sudan’s issues are on the surface of society.
It is perhaps for that reason that Algeria was not affected by the 2011/12 wave of so-called Arab Spring revolutions. The Algerians were neither enthusiastic about protests nor all that keen on attempts to change the government, especially after sparsely attended marches were met with violence by the security forces. After the opposition failed to present an alternative candidate or even object to Bouteflika’s continued rule, a new youth movement has called for massive protests against the president’s candidacy in the election. This may lead to other candidates being proposed to compete against him.
In Sudan, Al-Bashir is relying on the state institutions and their hard power to guarantee his continued control. He is facing the escalating protests by imposing more security measures, declaring a state of emergency and changing the government by appointing the defense minister as the country’s first vice president. The Sudanese president has also postponed constitutional amendments that would have allowed him to rule for many more years.
Meanwhile, Russia is looking on with interest, as both Algeria and Sudan are heavily influenced by Moscow. Russia’s relationship with both countries is rooted in history and now it is increasing its presence in these two countries as a means of influencing the outcomes. To be clear, changes in Algerian and Sudanese leadership may hurt the Kremlin more than help it, and would possibly be a major reversal of Russia’s policy in North Africa. It is important to recognize that what is happening in Algeria and Sudan is not the tired and overused concept of the rise of the “Arab street,” but instead a mix of local grievances unique to each country. This needs to be recognized by observers and pundits. Those still using an orientalist lens will see Algeria and Sudan as taking part in an Arab Spring, but the reality of the situation is local and those drivers will decide the outcomes.
• Dr. Theodore Karasik is a non-resident senior fellow at the Lexington Institute and a national security expert, specializing in Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East. He worked for the RAND Corporation and publishes widely in the US and international media. Twitter: @tkarasik

Will Macron’s op-ed subdue or empower Europe’s populists?
Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/March 06/19
Just as Britain is getting ready to leave the EU at the end of March, Brussels is preparing for elections to its Parliament in May. French President Emmanuel Macron took this opportunity to write an op-ed delineating his vision on Europe in 28 newspapers across the EU — one paper per country. In the UK, he chose the Guardian.
He made an impassioned plea that these elections would be pivotal: “Never has Europe been as essential. Yet never has Europe been in so much danger.” He lists Brexit and populist movements as the key dangers. “The trap lies not in being part of the European Union; the trap is in the lie and the irresponsibility that can destroy it,” he wrote. He went on to question whether Britons understood the economic ramifications of Brexit.
Macron listed three core pillars that are, in his view, essential to the future of the EU. Defending freedom (advocating a pan-European cyber-agency to defend against foreign powers meddling in elections and against hatred and violence on the internet); protecting the continent (which involves revamping Schengen, stronger external border protection with a common border force and closer cooperation on defense in collaboration with NATO); and lastly the spirit of progress (including becoming zero carbon by 2050, halving the use of pesticides by 2025, and the protection of workers).
This vision reflects Macron’s speech in front of I.M. Pei’s Louvre Pyramid when he ascended to the presidency. It is also in line with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s vision of ever closer integration.
When the newly elected French president shared his vision in 2017, he was riding high. Since then, his popularity has declined and he has faced harsh criticism from the “gilets jaunes” for being out of touch with the economic needs of everyday French people. When Macron swept to power, his La Republique En Marche party had obliterated all the traditional parties, which probably reinforced the yellow vests because they no longer had a meaningful opposition in Parliament to turn to.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, quite beleaguered at the time, paid lip service to Macron’s vision, but no more than that. Merkel’s days are numbered and it is unclear whether Macron can take the mantle of leadership in the EU from her.
Macron has a point in naming freedom, protection and progress as the three pillars of renewal. The problem is that, in many European countries, populist forces are going strong
Macron has a point in naming freedom, protection and progress as the three pillars of renewal. The problem is that, in many European countries, populist forces are going strong. That goes well beyond the hard-line Brexiteers in the UK. In his native France it is the Front National, in Holland it is the Freedom Party, in Italy it is Matteo Salvini’s Lega — not to speak of Denmark, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic or Austria. All of these movements and their protagonists fear immigration, don’t like Schengen, and generally do not want to see greater European integration.
While Macron is right that the European project has been very successful overall — especially when it comes to creating a unified common market and integrating many countries of the former Eastern Bloc without conflict — many don’t see it that way.
The populists in particular tend to be fiercely nationalistic and may not really appreciate the president of a foreign country giving them advice on how to run their affairs. Macron’s op-ed certainly made the blood of many members of the Conservative Party’s European Research Group (the UK’s “uber-Brexiteers”) run cold. Old enmities die hard: To this day, many British disrespectfully call the French “frogs,” and the French reciprocate by calling the British “perfidious Albions.”
In other words, Macron raised many excellent points. The message was great; alas, the messenger may have been wrong in the eyes of many. It is always tricky when the leader of one nation tries to address the citizens of another over the head of that country’s leaders. As Macron correctly pointed out, a lot is riding on the outcome of May’s European Parliament elections. Let us hope his penmanship did not awaken too many contrarian and populist protagonists and their voters.
• Cornelia Meyer is a business consultant, macro-economist and energy expert. Twitter: @MeyerResources
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

How Islamic "Aid" Organizations in Turkey Feed Jihadists in Syria
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/March 06/19
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13838/aid-organizations-jihadists-syria
It appears that many radicals in Turkey have established an international network to sustain the jihadist terrorists in Syria.
Because this network operates under the guise of "charity," European governments are having difficulty monitoring its activities -- particularly in jihadist-controlled territory -- and holding the perpetrators to account.
"We get most of our donations from abroad through the bank accounts we share on social media," Fukara-Der's president Hasan Süslü said in a 2014 interview. "And most of the donations are from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium."
It appears that many radicala in Turkey have established an international network to sustain the jihadist terrorists in Syria. Pictured: A village in Syria, as seen from behind Turkey's security wall on the Turkey-Syria border.
Turkish police recently raided the homes of, and detained, more than a dozen nationals suspected of "joining conflicts in Syria, providing logistics and money, and recruiting for [terrorist] organizations."
Four days after the raids, which were carried out on January 13, all thirteen detainees were released -- eleven of them pending trial and the other two on judicial control. The Turkish government-run Anadolu Agency, which reported on the detentions, later removed the story from its website and social media pages.
Among the detainees was Hasan Süslü, president of the NGO Fukara-Der (Aid and Solidarity Association for the Poor), suspected of aiding Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) -- a coalition of al Qaeda-affiliated groups, formerly known as the al Nusra Front, and currently the dominant jihadist force in Idlib in northern Syria. Ankara says it wants to establish a "buffer zone" around Idlib to prevent a Syrian government attack on the country's last major jihadi-held area. The raids and brief detentions of HTS suspects in Turkey came three days after HTS reportedly "sealed its grip on northern Idlib. HTS signed a ceasefire with what was left of a rival alliance that sees it confirm its supremacy and unites the region under a jihadist-led administration."
According to analyst Sam Heller from the International Crisis Group, now HTS "can present itself to Turkey and others as an indispensable interlocutor in any non-military solution to Idlib."
The police raids and brief detentions of HTS suspects in Turkey, then, could be a warning to the jihadists "not to bite the hand that feeds them" -- the "hand" being those organizations in Turkey, including Fukara-Der, that have been providing aid to northern Syria for years.
Fukara-Der was established in 2013 in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border. The NGO claims to provide "humanitarian aid" to Syrians, but there are strong suspicions that it is also providing logistical support, goods and services to terrorist groups.
"We get most of our donations from abroad through the bank accounts we share on social media," Fukara-Der's president Süslü said in a 2014 interview. "And most of the donations are from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium."
These donations and Fukara-Der's other activities in Europe -- such as its cooperation with "Care For Others" of Denmark, BabyCare, the Rotterdam "All for Life" foundation and Ibaadu Ar-Rahmaan of the Netherlands -- have come under increased scrutiny.
According to a recent article in the Dutch newspaper,
"[Süslü's] aid convoys often go to Syrian areas that have been conquered by terrorist groups. For example, according to [Fukara-Der's] own posts on social media, S. distributed Dutch aid packages in October 2017 in the Syrian city of Saraqib, [which] is currently under the control of HTS. Earlier that year, he distributed relief goods in the city of Maarrat al-Numan, where at that time HTS was also in power."
Rodger Shanahan, a Middle East expert at Australia's Lowy Institute, told NRC Handelsblad that nobody can enter the above areas without being involved with terrorist groups, which "demand money to help them."
The NRC Handelsblad article also cited a 2014 interview with the Turkish newspaper Haksöz, in which Süslü said that he provides help to families of "martyrs" and jihadist "mudjahedeen." In addition, according to NRC Handelsblad, Süslü headlined a Facebook photo of praying jihadist fighters with the comment: "You are doing a great service to Islam," a quote from a fallen commander saying, "If America invades Syria, we will stop the fight against Assad and we will fight against the Americans."
"The fact that [Süslü] claims to provide help to families of combatants amounts to supporting the fight itself...." Shanahan told NRC Handelsblad "It is hard to believe that [Fukara-Der's] help only goes to small babies and not to buying weapons and food for fighters.'"
Meanwhile, according to NRC Handelsblad,
"Various Dutch organizations continue to cooperate with [Süslü],.. including Ibaadu Ar-Rahmaan,.. a foundation... co-founded by 29-year-old Jeroen van D., a man from Almere who converted to Islam. With Ibaadu Ar-Rahmaan ("Worshipers of the Merciful") he collects money in mosques for projects all over the world, including in Syria. The initiators bring the money themselves.
"They had brought thousands of euros collected, says a former volunteer of Ibaadu Ar-Rahmaan, who was traveling with Jeroen van D. Arriving in Turkey, they gave the money to [Süslü]... After the visit to [Süslü], the volunteer team left for the Netherlands. But Jeroen van D. returned quickly on his own: not to provide [humanitarian aid], but to join Jabhat al-Nusra as a warrior."
Another Dutch organization that the NRC Handelsblad article claims works with Süslü and was allowed to cross the Turkish border into Syria with him is BabyCare; its volunteers appear in a 2014 photo "posing with ISIS fighters on a square in Raqqa, the headquarters of the caliphate that had just been proclaimed."Süslü's organization, Fukara-Der, was among 39 Islamic organization that in 2016 issued a public statement endorsing jihad in Syria. The statement read, in part:
"[T]oday, on the fertile lands of Damascus, the kafirs [infidels] are warring with full effort to annihilate Islam and so many valiant people from Baghdad, Saudi Arabia, Turkistan, Chechnya, Antep [southeast Turkey], and Anatolian territories go there and shield their bodies in the face of this merciless war.
"Through this insurgency, we are witnessing the blessings of struggling on the path of Allah by believing in and submitting to him. And we do believe that Allah's help is near.
"It is undeniable that we as Muslims from Turkey have been doing our best to embrace the Syrian Muslims and aid the downtrodden and the heroes in Syria by sending them food and clothes... To this end, we have come together with a group of young people that have been girded with the faith of the heroes in Syria and their submission to Allah."
It appears that many radicals in Turkey have established an international network to sustain the jihadist terrorists in Syria. Because this network operates under the guise of "charity," European governments are having difficulty monitoring its activities -- particularly in jihadist-controlled territory -- and holding the perpetrators to account. This difficulty is undoubtedly compounded by the leniency with which the Turkish jihadists and their NGO facilitators have been treated by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute. She is currently based in Washington D.C.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

North Korea: How the Discussion Was Changed
Peter Huessy/Gatestone Institute/March 06/19
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13840/north-korea-discussion
It may be the North Korean leadership wants only to survive, keep its nuclear weapons, and work to secure sufficient funds to take care of its ruling elite -- and wait for the day that US forces leave the peninsula.
What if North Korea regarded its nuclear program as the very leverage necessary to bargain concessions from the US and South Korea? What if the goal were to secure an extremely important concession -- the removal of US military forces from the Korean peninsula, a goal long-sought, put on the table before North Korea even acquired nuclear weapons?
The Trump administration took office after eight years of "strategic patience," which led only to more North Korean missiles, nuclear bombs and weapons shipments to terror states. The proponents of these policies -- having failed miserably -- now lecture the Trump administration about what America's North Korean policy should be. They seem, however, unwilling to see that the very nature of the discussion has now been changed -- to a necessary focus on North Korea's nuclear capability and not on the US military presence or ostensible US "hostile policy" in the region.
With the meetings between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong-Un, the US administration is seeking to change the "accepted" narrative about the Korean peninsula and Western Pacific, just as it has with respect to the Middle East. Pictured: President Trump and Chairman Kim meet in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27, 2019. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
The rationale for the summits between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong-Un may well be misunderstood by the critics of the American administration. By meeting with the North Korean leader, the administration is seeking to change the "accepted" narrative about the Korean peninsula and Western Pacific, just as it has with respect to the Middle East.
Whether the administration can be successful is an open question, but changes already secured in the Middle East give support to the administration's strategy and goals.
In the Middle East, for instance, the "Peace Process" tail has, for decades, wagged the Middle East dog -- with the Palestinian Authority (PA), previously the PLO, having near veto power over US policy in the region. So central was this to America's thinking that former US President William Jefferson Clinton said in 2010, if Israel simply provided the Palestinians with a state, most terrorism would go away -- as if the grievance of Muslim terrorists about not yet having a Palestinian state explains their wholesale murder of fellow Muslims, to say nothing of Christians, Israeli civilians and Americans, murdered in literally countless Islamic terror attacks .
President Trump has rejected this Middle East framework or narrative. He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, moved the US Embassy there, ordered the closure of the PLO office in Washington, quickly decimated ISIS, and cut significantly the funding for United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA).
This UN agency, founded shortly after World War II, has still some 75 years later not settled "Palestinian refugees." Now decades later, the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these refugees, as well as Arabs drawn from throughout the Middle East, are kept in slums and barrios from which a ready pool of terrorists can be drawn.
President Trump then also put together an informal alliance of Gulf states, particularly the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to be joined by Israel and the United States, to challenge Iran, which, as the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism, was finally the primary focus of United States concern.
The administration withdrew from the Iran "nuclear deal" (JCPOA); Iran was not living up to its obligations under the agreement, anyway. Contrary to promises of changed Iranian behavior, Iran, since the 2015 JCPOA, has aggressively increased its funding for terror, including to Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, increased its funding and arms shipments to the Islamic jihadis in Yemen, and has accelerated its ballistic missile programs while making significant strides in nuclear weapons technology capability, as just recently outlined in a February 25 report by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The administration has similarly sought to change foreign policy conventional wisdom about the nuclear threat from North Korea. To do this, the administration first had to cement the US relationship with its ally, the Republic of (South) Korea, and underscore (not hide) the central role of China in the ongoing hostile policy of North Korea in the region.
Second, President Trump had to assert that the US was in the business of deterring North Korea, not the other way around. Trump's comment about having a really big "nuclear button" was not just macho bragging, but a statement of fact: no longer would the US tolerate North Korean attacks near or on the US, Japan or South Korea -- whether bombings, cross-border commando raids, sinking Navy vessels, shelling villages or grabbing American ships. such as the USS Pueblo.
The Trump administration was sending a very strong message that the US would no longer be silent in the face of North Korean threats to turn Seoul or Los Angeles into a sea of fire. As former CIA Director Mike Morell told Gatestone at the 2018 Reagan Defense Forum, since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the US, had not once used military action in response to a North Korean attack on the US, its interests or allies, so how could that behavior by the US be characterized by North Korea as a "hostile policy"?
Third, the administration needed to seek an immediate end to North Korea's practice of testing ballistic missiles over South Korea and Japan, as well as testing nuclear weapons, and threatening Hawaii, Guam or the US mainland with "merciless" strikes.
Fourth, the US secured the deployment in South Korea of a THAAD missile defense battery while also increasing by $60 million annually South Korea's support for American troops. The administration now can point to the additional South Korean support when going to the American people and asking, for its own military forces, greater defense spending, which over the past two years has been significant. That quid pro quo underscores the commitment the administration has made to the US-South Korean alliance.
Fifth, having cemented the US-South Korean alliance, a message was sent to North Korea that nothing is going to undermine that relationship and American soldiers are going to remain on the peninsula, contrary to the recurring demands of North Korea and China that all US troops leave.
Sixth, the administration has suggested an alternative economic vision for North Korea, which, situated between three economic powerhouses -- China, South Korea and Japan -- could become (certainly in relative terms) economically far better off than it is today. Critics may be right that such a deal is not possible. It may be that the North Korean leadership wants only to survive, keep its nuclear weapons, and work to secure sufficient funds to take care of its ruling elite -- and wait for the day that US forces leave the peninsula.
The security implications of a permanently nuclear-armed North Korea, however, are sufficiently serious to support the administration's initiative to denuclearize the peninsula. In January 2019, the special US envoy of the United States to North Korea, Stephen Biegun, announced in a speech at Stanford University that the North Korea had indeed pledged to give a full inventory of its nuclear enrichment facilities at the upcoming summit. Apparently, North Korea changed its mind.
Indeed, why would North Korea bargain away its nuclear weapons capability if they believe that precisely that capability is what guarantees the survival of its regime? It only makes sense for North Korea to give up its nuclear capability if they are, in fact, not to protect the North's sovereignty or guarantee its survival, but for some other purpose. What if instead, for example, North Korea regarded its nuclear program as the very leverage necessary to bargain concessions from the US and South Korea? What if the goal were to secure an extremely important concession -- the removal of US military forces from the Korean peninsula, a goal long-sought, put on the table before North Korea even acquired nuclear weapons?
So far, however, with the exception of a "halt" in military exercises, the Trump administration has correctly resisted making any such "concessions." This self-restraint comes despite concessions demanded regularly by angry North Korean officials at meetings with American officials, especially apparently at the most recent meeting with the United States Secretary of State.
As China expert Michael Pillsbury explains, the Chinese and North Koreans are flummoxed by President Trump. These two nations had regularly expected minor and reversible "concessions" by the North would be reciprocated by the US and allies with massive food and energy assistance, as well as sanctions relief, as has occurred in the past.
Now, it is true that for all the past efforts going back to the Agreed Framework of 1994 between the US and North Korea, the North has previously rejected a trade of ongoing sanctions relief and economic assistance in return for "giving up" its nuclear capability.
At the recent summit in Hanoi, however, that changed. North Korea, for the first time, did explicitly agree to dismantle its nuclear enrichment facility at Yongbyon, but in return for all sanctions that are "harmful" to the people of North Korea (mainly those imposed by the United Nations) being eliminated. This has been described as a "small deal" proposal, but nonetheless it was an actual trade heretofore never put on the table.
What the North seems not to have counted on was the US countering with a requirement that ALL North Korean nuclear facilities and weapons be dismantled -- "a very big deal" -- implying the American intelligence community knows that the North has considerably more nuclear facilities than those put on the table at Hanoi.
Why is that significant? If the question is trading an end to sanctions for denuclearization, then the definition of what exactly constitutes the North Korean nuclear capability is what is up for discussion, not that the nuclear weapons must be retained by the North to secure its survival.
It should now be clear to North Korea (and China) that the US troops in South Korea and Japan, and the US military presence in the Western Pacific, are not on the table for discussion.
The Trump administration took office after eight years of "strategic patience," which led only to more North Korean missiles, nuclear bombs and weapons shipments to terror states. The proponents of these policies -- having failed miserably -- now lecture the Trump administration about what America's North Korean policy should be. They seem, however, unwilling to see that the very nature of the discussion has now been changed -- to a necessary focus on North Korea's nuclear capability and not on the US military presence or ostensible US "hostile policy" in the region.
*Dr. Peter Huessy is President of GeoStrategic Analysis, a defense consulting firm he founded in 1981, as well as Director of Strategic Deterrent Studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He was also for 20 years, the senior defense consultant at the National Defense University Foundation.
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Algeria’s Future Must Come First
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/March,06/19
Praise be to God I still remember the milestones of Algeria’s Revolution in the second half of the 1950s.
I was a young schoolboy then; but used to follow with my father, grandfather, and uncles the unfolding events on the radio, and in the following morning I would join my fellow pupils in demonstrations organized in our elementary school playground. We used to shout and sing; then, collect aid for the Revolution … and dream!
I still recall when French military aircraft intercepted and hijacked, in the fall of 1956, the plane carrying the revolutionaries’ negotiating team consisting of Ahmed Ben Bella, Mohamed Bou Diaf, Rabeh Bitat, Hocine Ait Ahmed, and Mohamed Khider, who were later imprisoned until 1962.
We grew older, amid ever-increasing admiration for the Algerian Revolution’s heroes, and the sacrifices that gave the Revolution the sobriquet ‘The One Million Martyrs Revolution’, and memorized by heart Moufdi Zakaria’s words: “We swear by the devastating calamities and the pure sublime blood…” which, combined with the impressive music of Egypt’s Mohammed Fawzi, became the national anthem of independent Algeria.
The Revolution eventually emerged victorious, and like all revolutions, had had its successes as well as its failures; however, the mere fact that it succeeded gave the ‘Arab Dream’ an exceptional aura. Despite many problems, it proved to be a promising landmark and an unprecedented revolutionary ‘legitimacy’ in both an Arab world and an Africa living the last years of the classic ‘Old Colonialism’.
Then, years passed, and former comrades fell out. Contradictions and disagreements began to appear now that the ‘common enemy’ disappeared. Fault lines, long papered over, by martyrs’ blood, soon reached the top with the 1965 coup in which army chief Houari Boumedienne overthrew the first post-Independence president Ahmed Ben Bella, ushering Algeria’s transition from revolutionary idealism to ‘realpolitik’.
Within Boumedienne’s team those days was a highly intelligent, short-statured young politician called Abdelaziz Bouteflika; whose name I heard for the first time when he was appointed Minister of Youth and Sport in 1962 during Ben Bella’s presidency.
Indeed, Bouteflika, who hailed from the Moroccan-Algerian border region and was a member of the revolutionary ‘Oujda Group’, soon became the face of Algerian diplomacy, on both Arab and international stages. Since taking over as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1965, Bouteflika became an indefatigable ‘dynamo’ presenting Algeria, not only as a mediator and conflict solver, but also as the conscience of revolutions and revolutionaries all over the world, in a time when romanticism associated with them was diminishing following the murder of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara in Bolivia, in 1967.
However, 13 years after Boumedienne’s success in ‘civilianizing’ the military, his death in 1978 ushered the beginning of the period of ‘militarizing’ the state despite the intermittent emergence of highly qualified civilian politicians and technocrats.
Since General Chadli Benjedid succeeded Boumedienne as president, Algeria’s revolutionary historical legitimacy began to wane gradually. Challenges were accumulating, and religious, ethnic and regional tendencies began to appear. Economic development was running parallel to corruption and political dead-ends, and the country was escaping forward and seeking the protection of the ‘legitimacy’ of a revolution that failed to mature into a proper fully-fledged state.
Westernizers, secessionists, secularists, and proponents of ‘civil society’ found their voices, as expected in any normal society, and so did their opponents the ‘Islamists’. However, the Algerian society was not absolutely normal a quarter of a century after independence. Everything was moving towards radicalism. Westernizers, secessionists, secularists, and proponents of ‘civil society’ were becoming more radical, as were the ‘Islamists’; thus, in such a state of polarization the regime, whether its military core or civilian figures, failed to find the much-needed safety net.
Even as things descended into bloody instability and wanton terror, the regime responded with obstinacy and denial, and resorted to what has become an obsolete ‘revolutionary legitimacy’ due to its failure of renewing itself.
To be fair, Algeria’s current situation is not an exceptional case in the Arab world.
Actually, what we have been witnessing in Syria, for example, carries many of the ingredients of the Algerian debacle, which has brought one of the richest Arab and Afro-Asian countries to the political brink.
The stubborn denial of internal problems and obstinacy in refusing the need to reform and learn from past mistakes, self-delusion about size and influence, and systematic destruction of state institutions - turning them instead into security apparatuses whose role was to protect an immature and helpless society - are all common ills in Syria and Algeria.
In Syria, due to regional circumstances, peaceful popular demonstrations were turned by the Al-Assad regime into a civil war, because it always knew that civil war and foreign protection were its last refuge. Such circumstances do not exist in Algeria at the moment; which means that there still is a chance to avoid descending into the ‘Syrian scenario’.
The Syrian regime and its backers have won the first round, thanks to two kinds of support:
1- The direct support of a regional power, Iran, that is implementing a theocratic and geopolitical project for hegemony, and a global power, Russia, which is hell-bent on avenging its defeat in the ‘Cold War’ and reclaiming what it can from the old sphere of influence of the former USSR.
2- The indirect support of Israel, which has co-existed and enjoyed safe borders with the Syrian regime, and subsequently, a former US administration whose obsession was to strike a deal of cooperation with Iran at any price.
The above-mentioned conditions do not apply to Algeria, where internal threats loom larger than regional worries, despite the fact that ISIS, which has helped in tragically re-drawing the demographic maps of Iraq and Syria during the last few years, has now reached the Sahel and Sahara region. Furthermore, some ISIS elements managed to move to Libya and were active there until they were recently hit. And it is worth mentioning that Algeria has long borders with Libya to the east, and even longer borders with Niger, Mali and Mauritania to the south.
The coming hours and days may prove to be decisive for the future of Algeria.
In short, it is high time the old habit of obstinacy and denial ends, because otherwise, the country will be venturing into the unknown!

Legislative Efforts To Expel U.S. Troops From Iraq, Alongside Shi'ite Militias' Threats To Force Them Out
MEME/March 06/19
Introduction
In recent weeks, political and military pro-Iran elements in Iraq have continued to threaten to expel the U.S. forces from the country.[1] These threats increased following reports that the U.S. seeks to dismantle 67 militias that are members of Hashd Al-Sha'bi (the Popular Mobilization Units, PMU) – a report denied by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abd Al-Mahdi[2] – and come against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump's February 3, 2019 announcement that he is interested in maintaining an American military presence in Iraq because, as he put it, "I want to be able to watch Iran."[3]
Pro-Iran Iraqi elements – both those in the Iraqi parliament and those in the PMU, called on Prime Minister Al-Mahdi to divulge the deployment and location of U.S. forces in Iraq.
At the same time, pro-Iran Shi'ite members of parliament are working on legislation to expel foreign forces from Iraq, first and foremost U.S. forces – and the bill is expected to be voted on this month. [4] PMU Shi'ite militias that the U.S. has designated as Foreign Terror Organizations have threatened that, once the law is passed, they will not hesitate to act to implement it, including by force if necessary.
At the same time, it should be noted that Sunni and Kurdish political blocs support the U.S. forces remaining in Iraq, on the grounds that the security situation in the country remains unstable. One of the most prominent supporters of this position is parliamentary speaker Muhammad Al-Halbousi.[5]
Earlier, during his December 26, 2018 visit to the 'Ain Al-Assad base in Iraq, in the context of the decision to withdraw the U.S. forces from Syria, Trump said that the troops would stay in Iraq and would be able to use it as a base for operations in Syria.[6]
In addition, these militias have threatened a harsh response should U.S. troops make a move against the PMU or against Iran from Iraqi soil. To sharpen their threats, the militias' spokesmen have stressed on more than one occasion that they have precise information as to the U.S. troops' location, dispersal and activity, but, unlike in the past, clarified that they would not be the ones to initiate a confrontation. On March 2, 2019, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to the Lebanese Hizbullah, published coordinates of what it stated were two new U.S. bases in the Al-Anbar region in the Iraq-Syria-Jordan triangle border area, with accompanying aerial photographs.
It is noteworthy that, in recent weeks, the PMU forces claimed that they had responded to "provocations" by U.S. forces on patrol in the area. They reportedly stopped U.S. forces from patrolling in the Nineveh region,[7] and prevented other U.S. forces from setting up a "suspicious" observation post to monitor PMU forces on the Iraq-Syria border.[8] These reports, if true, could indicate an attempt by pro-Iran forces to test the waters of possible American reactions to their moves.
https://vid.alarabiya.net/images/2019/01/23/5c176bc5-bb54-443c-9461-01960bc1c71e/5c176bc5-bb54-443c-9461-01960bc1c71e.jpg?format=jpeg&width=960
U.S. forces in Iraq (Source: Alarabiya.net, January 23, 2019)
This report reviews statements by Iraqi elements about Iraqi legislation to expel foreign forces from the country, and threats against U.S. forces by pro-Iran Shi'ite militias in Iraq.
Shi'ite Parties: The Law Will Designate The Americans As Occupiers; PMU: We Will Implement The Law By Force
As noted, in recent weeks members of pro-Iran Shi'ite parties in Iraq have been working to draw up a bill to expel foreign forces from the country – first and foremost the U.S. forces. The bill, if passed, will define their presence as occupation and protect Iraqi sovereignty. On January 18, 2019, Mansour Al-Baiji, an MP from Iraq's Al-Bina Alliance, called the bill very important, adding: "There is a consensus [that] this law should be approved without delay, to block all those attempting to violate Iraqi sovereignty... We can defend our country with the PMU forces and the Iraqi army, and we won't allow any foreign soldier, under any name, to remain [in Iraq]."[9]
On February 1, 2019, MP Badr Al-Zaidi of Muqtada al-Sadr's Alliance Towards Reforms Party, member of the Parliament Security and Defense Committee, said that "the draft [law] to expel foreign forces, first and foremost the American forces" was complete, and that efforts were ongoing to cancel the strategic Baghdad-Washington agreement approved in 2008.[10] He also said that, "The vote on the draft [law] to expel foreign forces will be one of the items heading the agenda of the second session of parliament [which opens in March]... After it is voted on [and passed], parliament will consider the U.S. forces to be occupiers." He added that the committee has information about all U.S. troop movements in Iraq.[11]
Explaining the need for the law, MP Hassan Salam of the Al-Sadiqoun faction said: "The U.S. forces are carrying out grave provocations... They patrol some of the districts with their vehicles and troops, [flaunting their presence] "[12]
In tandem with the efforts to draw up a parliamentary bill, some PMU elements said they would not hesitate to enforce the law, even by force, once it is approved.
Sheikh Qais Al-Khaz'ali, secretary-general of the Asa'eb Ahl Al-Haq militia, said: "The Iraqi military and security forces will be able to implement the decision to expel the foreign forces, should a foreign force seek to impose its military presence against the will of the [Iraqi] people... The American presence does not serve the interests of Iraq in any way, and is aimed at utilizing Iraq as a platform for launching attacks against neighboring countries [i.e., Syria]. This is a very serious matter, since the Iraqi constitution expressly prohibits this."[13]
Similar sentiments were voiced by Muhammad Muhyi, spokesman of the Kata'eb Hizbullah Iraq militia, who said: "All foreign forces on Iraqi soil, including the American military forces, will be considered occupying forces and invaders under the Iraqi constitution, following the parliamentary vote on the proposed draft law to expel them from Iraq... [Once the law is approved,] they will be in confrontation with the Iraqi people and the factions of the Islamic resistance... Keeping U.S. forces in Iraq is not in the Americans' interest, and they will be expelled by force and in a humiliating manner, just as they were expelled and vanquished in 2011."[14]
PMU Elements: We Will Not Be Silent In The Face Of American Provocations; We Have Precise Information About The Location Of The U.S. Forces In Iraq
As stated, elements in the PMU and its member militias threatened an aggressive response if the U.S. acted against its forces in Syria and Iraq, or against Iran, while emphasizing that they have detailed and precise information about the location and deployment of the U.S. troops.
On February 3, following Trump's announcement that he would leave troops in Iraq so that he could watch Iran, Ja'far Al-Husseini, military spokesman for the Iran-backed militia Kata'eb Hizbullah Iraq, threatened that if the U.S. decided to attack Syria and Iran from positions in Iraq, his organization would "chop off its hand." He added: "The American forces are a legitimate target for the Iraqi resistance, and the [Iraqi] security apparatuses should also view them as a target." The Iraqi resistance, he said, has full information about the scope, deployment and missions of the American forces.[15]
In a February 17, 2019, interview with Al-Mayadeen TV, which is identified with the Lebanese Hizbullah, Al-Husseini summarized the information about the U.S. presence in Iraq, saying: "There are 31 American bases in Iraq; seven of them are air bases and six are intelligence centers and stations... There are 34,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, along with five defense companies and 24 companies that are cooperating [with the Americans]... The [U.S.] deployment in Iraq reflects a plan about which we have information, and we will disclose [this information] in the future... In the coming days, the Americans will move, and may carry out a military operation on the Iraq-Syria border."[16]
Al-Nujaba militia spokesman Hashem Al-Moussawi said: "We will never allow Iraq to become a center for threatening neighboring countries or for espionage against Iran and the neighboring countries. This is because Iraq is an independent country whose sovereignty was attained through blood and sacrifice of life... We have firmly said that the U.S. is beating the drums of war, but we will never fear that country, and will confront the U.S. to defend our country's sovereignty... The Islamic resistance has information and data about the [U.S.] bases, about the troops and the type of weapons [they have], and about [the Americans'] strange and suspicious activities in Iraq…"[17]
Following a report on the Russia Today (RT) television channel, according to which U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo had clarified to Iraqi Prime Minister 'Adil 'Abdul-Mahdi that the U.S. would not interfere if Israel attacked pro-Iran Shi'ite targets (i.e. PMU targets) in Iraq, Jawad Al-Talibawy, a member of the Asa'eb Ahl Al-Haq leadership, declared: "The American forces will be within range of the fire of the Islamic resistance factions, and if the PMU or the resistance factions come under attack by Israel or America, the reaction will be painful..."[18]
Several senior PMU officials responded to recent Iraqi media reports of uncertain reliability that the U.S. had arrested PMU activists, reinforced its presence in Iraq and even bombed PMU positions. For example, Qassem Musleh, PMU operations commander for the western Al-Anbar sector, said: "These provocations will not help the Americans, since they have lost everything in Iraq. They are hoping by means of this provocation to get us to launch a war against them, but we will do so only when they launch a war against us... While in the past we overlooked the American-Israeli attacks on the PMU forces, from now on we will not remain silent."[19]
Lebanese Al-Akhbar Daily Publishes Photographs And Precise Information About The Locations Of Two New American Bases In Iraq
On March 2, 2019, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to the Lebanese Hizbullah, reported that the Americans had begun construction of two new bases in the Al-Anbar region at the Iraq-Syria-Jordan border triangle. The daily provided the bases' coordinates and published a map showing their locations as well as "exclusive" aerial photographs. One of the bases is north of the Baghdad-Damascus highway, at 32°55'46"N 039°44'38"E, in a location previously known as the H3 airfield. The other, south of the Baghdad-Amman highway, is at 39°44'49"N 37̊°4'55"E. According to the report, the first is already partially operational, and at the second, preparations for operation are underway.
Al-Akhbar quoted Iraqi PMU officials as saying that their intelligence apparatuses are monitoring 13 American bases in Iraq and that they are receiving daily photo reports of American military activity there. They added that the aim of these new bases is to monitor the supply lines of the Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus-Beirut resistance axis, and to control the natural gas resources in the region. The PMU officials quoted in the article stressed that at the moment there was no significant movement on the ground, but that the PMU activity would "prevent the new bases from becoming operational."[20]
https://al-akhbar.com/Images/ArticleImages/2019322426636636870890666364851.jpg
Map of the region including the locations of the two new bases
https://al-akhbar.com/Images/ArticleImages/2019322354564636870890345648055.jpg
Aerial photographs of the bases: 1 and 2, the first base; 3 and 4, the second
It should be noted that PMU officials refused to confirm the report in Al-Akhbar, but stressed that the U.S. knows that these bases, if established, will cause it trouble.[21]
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7835, Iran-Backed Shi'ite Militias In Iraq: We Will Drive Out The Americans By Force, January 8, 2019; MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7324, Shi'ite Militias In Iraq: If The U.S. Doesn't Withdraw Its Forces From Iraq, We Will Take Military Measures Against Them, February 9, 2018.
[2] Alarabiya.net, January 16, 2019.
[3] Uk.reuters.com, February 3, 2019.
[4] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), January 9, 2019.
[5] Al-Arabi Al-Jadid (London), February 12, 2019.
[6] Washingtonpost.com, December 26, 2019.
[7] Almaalomah.com, February 2, 2019.
[8] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), January 15, 2019.
[9] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), January 18, 2019.
[10] The reference is to an Iraq-U.S. cooperation agreement signed in 2008, which deals inter alia with the U.S. military presence in the country.
[11] Almaalomah.com, February 2, 2019.
[12] Alnujaba-news.com, January 21, 2019.
[13] Almaalomah.com, February 4, 2019.
[14] Almaalomah.com, February 5, 2019.
[15] Almayadeen.net, February 3, 2019.
[16] Almayadeen.net, February 17, 2019.
[17] Tasnimnews.com, February 4, 2019.
[18] Alnujaba-news.com, January 29, 2019,
[19] Basnews.com, January 21, 2019.
[20] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), March 2, 2019.
[21] Alnujaba.com, March 2, 2019; Alnujaba-news.com, March 2, 2019.