LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 20/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you & their eyes were opened
Matthew 09/27-35: “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying loudly, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David!’ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly ordered them, ‘See that no one knows of this.’But they went away and spread the news about him throughout that district. After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’But the Pharisees said, ‘By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.’Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 19-20/2020
St. Joseph's Day/Elias Bejjani/March 19/20
Coronavirus Cases Rise to 149 in Lebanon, Ministry Urges Citizens to Abide by Quarantine
Who Convinced & Lured Amer Fakhoury To Go To Lebanon?/Dr.Walid Phares/Face Book/March 19/2020
Trump Thanks Lebanon after Fakhoury Returns to U.S.
U.S. Senator Says Fakhoury 'is Finally Coming Home'
American accused of human rights violations freed in Lebanon
Cabinet decides to distribute social assistance to citizens whose work was disrupted
Kubis relays to Hitti Guterres' message of solidarity with Lebanon
'Strong Lebanon' holds online meeting amid coronavirus outbreak
'Loyalty to Resistance' backs government's anti-coronavirus measures, condemns Fakhoury's release
Lebanese Govt. to Distribute Aid to Citizens Out of Work Due to Virus Lockdown
UN Conveys Support for Lebanon
Hasan Asks for Isolating Jbeil, Keserwan, Warns over Virus Cases Surge
Hout Says MEA Will Recover after Coronavirus Lockdown
Abide by the Decisions of Specialists to Fight Coronavirus, Hariri Says
'Better than Switzerland': Why Lebanon's drastic coronavirus response is succeeding in flattening the epidemic curve/The New Arab/March 19/2020
Lebanon should not be used as a pawn any longer/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
'Impunity is a pattern': The lawyers taking on torture in Lebanon's prisons/Alicia Medina/The New Arab/March 19/2020
As Lebanon suffers equipment shortages, these hero women are making coronavirus protective gear from scratch/The New Arab/March 19/2020
The viruses of Lebanon/More debilitating than COVID-19 are the terrorists beholden to Iran’s rulers/Clifford D. May/FDD Founder & President/March 19/2020
Lebanese NGOs supporting the elderly forced to adapt to coronavirus pandemic/Emily Lewis/ Al Arabiya English/March 19/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 19-20/2020
U.S. Approves Anti-Malarial Drug to Treat Coronavirus
Turkey says two soldiers killed by ‘radical groups’ in Syria's Idlib
Iranian Mahan Air pilot dies from coronavirus: Report
UK puts military on standby as coronavirus shuts down swathes of London
Italian virus death toll passes China’s as Wuhan records no new cases
US Navy veteran released from Iran prison amid coronavirus concerns: State Dept
In Iran, there's now one coronavirus-related death every 'ten minutes'
Israel's Netanyahu Accused of Exploiting Virus Crisis

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 19-20/2020
Iran frees 7 Christians from coronavirus-struck prisons, many more at risk/Emily Judd,/Al Arabiya English/March 19/2020
How Iran is cracking down on the truth on coronavirus/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
Global collaboration key to flattening the curve/Michael Hage/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
The day the world changed/Hassan bin Youssef Yassin/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
COVID-19 recovery could make or break the EU/Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
A silver lining to the coronavirus cloud may shine on the GCC/Oliver Schutzmann/Al Arabiya/March 19/2020
Giving Iraq’s Next Prime Minister Space to Succeed/Michael Knights/The Washington Institute/March 19/ 2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 19-20/2020
St. Joseph's Dayعيد ما يوسف البتول
Elias Bejjani/March 19/20
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/63277/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d9%88%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%aa%d8%a3%d9%85%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d9%88%d9%88%d8%ac/
The feast day of St. Joseph is celebrated annually on March 19/Our Bejjani family has proudly carried this name generation after generation for centuries and still do. May God and His angles safeguard our caring and loving son Youssef, and our grandson Joseph, who both carry this blessed name. It is worth mentioning that St. Joseph's Day is a Maronite and Roman Catholic feast day that commemorates the life of St. Joseph, the step-father of Jesus and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. People with very strong religious convictions among which are the Lebanese Maronites celebrate St. Joseph's Day on March 19 and believe that this day is St. Joseph's birthday too. Back home, in Lebanon St. Joseph is considered the Family Saint and looked upon as a family and hardworking father role model because of the great role that Almighty God had assigned him to carry. His duty was to raise Jesus Christ and take care of Virgin Mary. God has chose him to look after His begotten son and Virgin Marry. He fulfilled his Godly assignment with love, passion and devotion. May Al Mighty God bless all those that carry this name.

Coronavirus Cases Rise to 149 in Lebanon, Ministry Urges Citizens to Abide by Quarantine
Naharnet/March 19/2020
Lebanon’s Health Ministry on Thursday released its daily report on the COVID-19 saying the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases has reached 149. It added that the tally includes those diagnosed at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital and those reported by other university hospitals accredited by the Ministry. The report said the Ministry continues to run tests on samples taken from people suspected to have contracted the virus, while identifying and monitoring their contacts, and carefully watching all arrivals from countries experiencing a spread of the virus.
The Ministry is also conducting epidemiological tracking to pinpoint the source of infection for some of the newly diagnosed cases. The Ministry urged all citizens to adhere to the strict measures issued by the official authorities, especially the mandatory home quarantine, and to refrain from going outdoors unless it is absolutely necessary.

Who Convinced & Lured Amer Fakhoury To Go To Lebanon?
Dr.Walid Phares/Face Book/March 19/2020
According to sources with professional knowledge, it is expected that the US Government will learn about how Mr Fakhoury, a US citizen who was arrested in Lebanon last September and repatriated today, was "lured" into traveling to Lebanon, and by whom. Members of Congressional committees will most likely want to investigate how a US citizen was convinced by Lebanese individuals to go to Lebanon, before he was arrested.

Trump Thanks Lebanon after Fakhoury Returns to U.S.
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 19/2020
U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed that former Khiyam Prison warden Amer Fakhoury was released Thursday to the United States, where he is a naturalized citizen. Trump said that Fakhoury, a former member of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia who was detained on his return to Beirut in September, was suffering late-stage cancer. He added that Fakhoury “will now be able to receive the much needed care and treatment in the United States." "We've been working very hard to get him freed. He's finally able to have his entire family at his side," Trump told reporters at the start of a daily news conference on the coronavirus pandemic. "The United States has no higher priority than the safety and well-being of our citizens," he said. "I'm very grateful to the Lebanese government. They worked with us," Trump added.
After his arrest, a Lebanese security source said Fakhoury had already been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for collaborating with Israel. He served as a senior warden in the notorious Khiyam prison, which was opened in 1984 by the SLA after Israel occupied southern Lebanon in what it called a security zone. Former inmates accuse Fakhoury of ordering the torture of thousands of detainees held there before Israeli forces withdrew from the area in 2000, ending their 22-year occupation of south Lebanon.
"Not a single person held in Khiyam was spared physical and psychological torture," Abbas Qabalan, who was detained there from 1987 to 1988, said as he took part in a demonstration last year in Beirut. He accused Fakhoury both of ordering and personally taking part in beatings of inmates.
But a senior U.S. official cast doubt on Fakhoury's involvement and suggested the allegations were put forward for political reasons. "There have been many dozens of Lebanese affiliated with Khiam Prison who have been convicted of torture and other crimes. Fakhoury's name has never been mentioned in any of those allegations and he was never charged for that," David Schenker, the assistant secretary of state for the Near East, told reporters. He said that the State Department spoke to Fakhoury's lawyers, who challenged the credibility of five witnesses, saying three had been in Israeli rather than SLA custody. "This was a political football from day one and has been manipulated, I think, for political purposes in Lebanon, even trying to leverage it for some sort of prisoner exchange," Schenker said.
Hilal Salman, another former inmate, blamed Fakhoury for his brother's death. "My brother was killed there in 1989 because of a gas bomb thrown at inmates on the orders of two prison heads, including Amer al-Fakhoury," he said. Schenker said that the U.S. government was bringing back Fakhoury on a medivac and that he would undergo hospital care on his return for lymphoma. He said the situation had become increasingly urgent due to coronavirus. The United States has a complicated relationship with Lebanon, where 241 U.S. troops were killed in a 1983 truck bombing during the country's sectarian civil war and Israel's occupation of Lebanon. Last year, the Trump administration held up $100 million in military assistance to Lebanon for months as it sought to curb the influence of Hizbullah, the Iranian-allied armed group and political party.

U.S. Senator Says Fakhoury 'is Finally Coming Home'
Associated Press/Naharnet/March 19/2020
A Lebanese-American citizen who had faced decades-old murder and torture charges in Lebanon has been freed, a U.S. senator who had pushed for his release announced Thursday.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement that she had spoken with Amer Fakhoury on the phone soon after his release. Lebanese officials alleged that Fakhoury, 57, of Dover, New Hampshire, who had been jailed since September, was responsible for the killings and abuse of prisoners in Lebanon as part of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia two decades ago. His case had put a significant strain on already troubled ties between the U.S. and Lebanon. Lawmakers in Washington had threatened to withhold critical aid to the country and impose sanctions on the Lebanese military, which is seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against Iranian-backed Hizbullah. "Anytime a U.S citizen is wrongfully detained by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to free them," Shaheen said in her statement. "I'm very glad that Amer is finally coming home and will be reunited with his family. No family should have to go through what the Fakhoury family has gone through,” she added. Hours before Shaheen announced Fakhoury's release a U.S. Marine Osprey was seen landing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
Fakhoury was ordered released on Monday because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the South Lebanon Army militia. But he was not immediately allowed to leave the country after a Lebanese military judge on Tuesday appealed the decision, asking the Military Court of Appeals strike down the decision to free Fakhoury. A judge of urgent matters in the southern town of Nabatiyeh issued a ruling preventing Fakhoury from leaving Lebanon for two months. Judge Ahmad Mezher's decision came after a request filed by former inmates. Fakhoury is a former SLA member who became a U.S. citizen last year. His case has been closely followed in New Hampshire, where Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him. Fakhoury was jailed last year after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanon's intelligence services said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. Human rights groups have described the prison as a center for torture.
Fakhoury's family and lawyer, however, said he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture. Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel's creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis. Fakhoury's lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other SLA members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000. Fakhoury was formally charged in February by a military judge with the murder and torture of inmates at Khiam Prison.

American accused of human rights violations freed in Lebanon
The Associated Press/Washington/Thursday 19 March 2020
A US citizen who had faced decades-old murder and torture charges in Lebanon has been freed, a senator who had pushed for his release announced Thursday.
New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement that she had spoken with Amer Fakhoury on the phone soon after his release.
Lebanese officials alleged that Fakhoury, 57, of Dover, New Hampshire, who had been jailed since September, was responsible for the killings and abuse of prisoners in Lebanon as part of an Israeli-backed militia two decades ago.
His case had put a significant strain on already troubled ties between the US and Lebanon. Lawmakers in Washington had threatened to withhold critical aid to the country and impose sanctions on the Lebanese military, which is seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement. “Anytime a US citizen is wrongfully detained by a foreign government, we must use every tool at our disposal to free them,” Shaheen said in her statement. “I’m very glad that Amer is finally coming home and will be reunited with his family. No family should have to go through what the Fakhoury family has gone through. Hours before Shaheen announced Fakhoury's release a US Marine Osprey was seen landing at the US Embassy in Beirut. Fakhoury was ordered released on Monday because more than 10 years had passed since he allegedly tortured prisoners at a jail run by the South Lebanon Army militia. But he was not immediately allowed to leave the country after a Lebanese military judge on Tuesday appealed the decision, asking the Military Court of Appeals to strike down the decision to free Fakhoury. A judge of urgent matters in the southern town of Nabatiyeh issued a ruling preventing Fakhoury from leaving Lebanon for two months. Judge Ahmad Mezher’s decision came after a request filed by former inmates. Fakhoury is a former SLA member who became a US citizen last year. His case has been closely followed in New Hampshire, where Shaheen and other officials have called for imposing sanctions on Lebanon to pressure Beirut to release him. Fakhoury was jailed last year after returning to Lebanon on vacation to visit family. Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by the SLA during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. Human rights groups have described the prison as a center for torture. Fakhoury’s family and lawyer, however, said he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture.Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. Lebanon bans its citizens  from traveling to Israel or having contact with Israelis. Fakhoury’s lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States because of death threats he and many other SLA members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000. Fakhoury was formally charged in February by a military judge with the murder and torture of inmates at Khiam Prison.

Cabinet decides to distribute social assistance to citizens whose work was disrupted
NNA/March 19/2020
The Cabine convened, today at the Presidential Palace, in session chaired by President Michel Aoun and attended by Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, and Ministers. The Council of Ministers stressed the importance of continuing strictness in adopting health measures to confront Corona, and Ministers put 100 Million Lebanese Pounds into the special Central Bank account to fight the epidemic.
The Cabinet also decided to complete the research on in the draft law aimed at organizing and setting temporary exceptional controls on some operations and banking services in a session to be held next Tuesday, provided that the draft is presented to Ministers in next Thursday’s session.
The Council of Ministers asked the Energy Ministry to initiate discussions with the major manufacturers working for the electricity production units to study the possibility of securing the necessary financing, setting up production plants for electricity and securing temporary solutions through direct negotiations and agreements concluded between state and state, and sponsored by the text of Article 52 of the Constitution.
The session was preceded by a meeting between the President and Prime Minister, in which the topics on the agenda were discussed.
Statement of the Information Minister: “The Council of Ministers convened its weekly session, chaired by His Excellency, the President of the Republic, and attended by the Prime Minister and Ministers.
At the beginning of the session, Prime Minister Diab stressed the Cabinet’s adherence to the continuation of the substantive debate adopted, and pointed out that the Government takes responsibility in the most difficult stage in Lebanese history, and faces exceptional crises, which requires the highest levels of mobilization and effort to secure resilience elements.
Then, Prime Minister Diab clarified that speed, and not haste, is required in the draft law regulating the establishment of exceptional controls on some of the proposed banking operations and services, indicating that it is impossible to develop a project that satisfies everyone, and there will be losses, but we must do our best to mitigate losses and addressed drilling operations in Block 4 for gas exploration, noting the rapid progress, and hoped for positive results. Afterwards, the Prime Minister spoke about the file of establishment of electricity plants, and considered that it is the cornerstone for addressing the Lebanese electricity crisis, and to launch the basic workshop to secure electricity 24 hours a day, and to stop the bleeding in the state treasury from this sector. Then, PM Diab addressed the followed procedures to counter Corona, and pointed to the opening of an account in the Central Bank, dedicated to contributions in this issue, in addition to assistance that can be obtained. Finally, the Prime Minister spoke about the necessity of opening a donation account related to social assistance to citizens whose work was disrupted, and in this context he announced the preparation for distribution of food aid in various regions through the High Relief Commission, or municipalities, or local donors.
PM Diab concluded that it is a difficult stage which requires national and humanitarian stances, so that we can overcome this difficult ordeal”.
Then, the Health Minister presented the development of the fight against Corona in Lebanon and the measures taken by his ministry in cooperation with public and private hospitals.
Cabinet Decisions:
-Completing the research on the draft law aimed at organizing and setting exceptional temporary controls for some operations and banking services at the Cabinet’s meeting next Tuesday, provided that it is presented to the Council next Thursday’s session.
-Energy Minister reviewed the progress of the first exploration well, in Block 4, and it was found that drilling operations reached 1991 meters after exceeding 1516 meters, provided that drilling will take place in a layer of salt whose thickness is 1750 meters to reach where it is supposed to be in the layer in which it is believed that gas is present.
-The Energy Minister presented the issue of fluctuating fuel prices, and it was decided to form a committee comprising the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Energy and Finance in coordination with the Central Bank, the Electricity Authority of Lebanon and the General Directorate of Oil and authorizing them to purchase future contracts through the Central Bank in US dollars.
-Requesting the Energy Ministry to initiate discussions with senior manufacturers working for the electricity production units to study the possibility of securing the necessary financing, establishing production plants for electricity, and securing temporary solutions through direct negotiations and agreements concluded between state and state.
-Opening an account in the Central Bank to receive donations and cash assistance, and its use will be devoted to Corona issue.
-Opening an account at the Rafic Hariri Governmental Hospital to receive donations and gifts for the hospital, and mandating the High Relief Commission to accept donations in kind.
-Requesting the Central Bank to open an account to receive donations, and use it for social assistance.
-Ministers provided 100 million Lebanese Pounds of their own compensation in favor of fighting Corona.
-It was decided to distribute social assistance to citizens whose businesses were disrupted and lost their livelihood, and food aid will be distributed in various regions, whether through the High Relief Commission or across municipalities or with the help of local donors.
-The Education Minister stated that, within the framework of rationalizing tunnels, rented school buildings were evacuated to avoid need for them, providing more than $ 150,000, and other buildings will be evacuated, which will soon achieve greater financial savings”.
Questions & Answers:
Question: Which two regions did the Minister of Health request to isolate for recording high rates of corona infection?
Answer: “From the beginning, injuries were confined to some areas, including Jbeil, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and others, but today it is not possible to speak on this matter after we are in the scope of the outbreak, and there is great fear due to the 14 cases recorded yesterday, but the greatest fear is the type of cases that are unknown. Therefore, we are keen to be strict and non-complacent about the issue of home commitment and the necessary preventive measures”.
Question: After we are close to the end of the two-week period, is there an intention to extend the health measures taken?
Answer: “This matter is decided in the light of the developments and prevention that we adopt, as the measures were good and the response of the citizens also helped us in controlling the numbers, but in the light of the developments, measures will be taken, and citizens should help in the matter of caution and prevention”.
Question: In what concerns Electricity production. Are the factories part of the electricity plan? Why not be presented to the tender department after the Government raised the slogan of transparency?
Answer: “We have not yet reached this stage of contradictions and others, and it was decided to discuss with companies that have the intention and are preparing for cooperation, and we are still in the survey stage”.
Question: How will the decision to grant aid be implemented to those who need it?
Answer: “We have passed in much more difficult circumstances, and we, as Lebanese, are used to facing crises, and what we are living in today is a global crisis that has affected everyone, and we must all have sufficient awareness to face it. We hope that this stage will pass”.
Question: What are the notes on Capital Control, and why did PM Diab talk about losses?
Answer: “We are still within discussions, and it cannot be said that every idea raised is final. He asked the ministers to prepare written proposals and send them to the Finance Minister, to be discussed on Tuesday, and in the hope that we will come up with a final draft law next Thursday”.Presidency Press Office

Kubis relays to Hitti Guterres' message of solidarity with Lebanon
NNA/March 19/2020
The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis, conveyed to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, a message of solidarity with Lebanon expressed by United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, during a televised group call with the representatives of UNIFIL and ESCWA and the Special Coordinator, whereby they underscored "UN support for Lebanon's government and people amid these difficult times overshadowing the region and the world."

'Strong Lebanon' holds online meeting amid coronavirus outbreak
NNA/March 19/2020
The "Strong Lebanon" parliamentary bloc on Thursday held its first online meeting to follow up on the healthcare and social situation in the country amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Conferees discussed the means to develop and activate the Free Patriotic Movement's campaign in prevention against the spread of coronavirus, highlighted the necessity of social solidarity. Touching on the economic and financial situation, the bloc maintained that any measure must serve the rights of depositors.

'Loyalty to Resistance' backs government's anti-coronavirus measures, condemns Fakhoury's release
NNA/March 19/2020
The "Loyalty to the Resistance" parliamentary bloc on Thursday voiced support for all measures undertaken by the Lebanese government in prevention against the spread of the novel coronavirus, highlighting the importance of cooperation in the service of the nation's best interest.
"The time now is for positive cooperation and not for getting carried away with contemptible outbids," the bloc said in a statement following its weekly meeting at its Haret Hreik-based office. On a different note, the bloc condemned the military court's fresh decision to release Amer Fakhoury, former head of the Israeli enemy-linked prison of Khiam, where thousands of Lebanese had been tortured under his watch. "It is a shame that judges (...) respond to the pressures of a foreign state that sponsors the enemy and backs its terror," the bloc considered.
Accordingly, conferees said the competent authorities must hold accountable those who ruled Fakhoury's release.

Lebanese Govt. to Distribute Aid to Citizens Out of Work Due to Virus Lockdown
Naharnet/March 19/2020
The Lebanese government will distribute aid to citizens who have become out of work due to the lockdown over the coronavirus crisis, Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad announced on Thursday after a Cabinet session. “PM (Hassan) Diab spoke of the need to open a bank account for social aid donations aimed at helping citizens who have become out of work, and in this regard he announced that there are preparations to distribute food aid in the various regions, through the High Relief Council, municipalities or local donators,” Abdul Samad said. “He said an account will be opened at the central bank for donations related to the confrontation (against coronavirus), in addition to the material aid that can be obtained,” the minister added. As for the capital control law, the conferees will continue their discussions on Tuesday and a final decision might be taken next Thursday. “PM Diab said speed, not hastiness, is required in approving the law, noting that there can’t be a law that satisfied everyone and that there will be parties affected by it as well as losses,” Abdul Samad added, pointing out that Diab called for “exerting efforts to limit the losses.”Lebanon has so far confirmed 149 COVID-19 coronavirus cases among them four deaths. On Sunday, the government declared a two-week state of “general mobilization,” closing the country’s air, land and sea ports of entry and ordering the closure of all non-essential public and private institutions. Citizens and residents were meanwhile asked to stay home unless it is extremely necessary to go out.

UN Conveys Support for Lebanon
Naharnet/March 19/2020
UN chief Antonio Guterres conveyed solidarity with Lebanon during the “difficult” circumstances the world and the Midetteranean country are going through, the National News Agency reported on Thursday. UN Special coordinator Jan Kubis relayed Guterres’ message to Foreign Minister Nasif Hitti, said NNA. The UN chief expressed the agency’s solidarity with Lebanon during a televised group communication with the representatives of UNIFIL, ESCWA and the UN Special Coordinator. The UN emphasizes “support and full commitment for Lebanon, its government and people in this difficult time Lebanon and the world are witnessing,” he said.

Hasan Asks for Isolating Jbeil, Keserwan, Warns over Virus Cases Surge
Naharnet/March 19/2020
Health Minister Hamad Hasan on Thursday asked Cabinet to isolate the Jbeil and Keserwan regions over a rise in coronavirus cases there and said his request may later include Baabda and Northern Metn should the need arise, TV networks said. Hasan himself confirmed to reporters that he called for isolating “two regions” but noted that the government did not agree to his request. “That’s why the Interior Ministry will take stricter measures there,” he added. “I’m wearing a mask because the danger level has increased,” Hasan said, lamenting that “the level of optimism has dropped.”
“There are six cases of an unknown origin and the reason is community infections,” the minister warned. “I have asked security forces to be stricter, to the extent of barring people from leaving their homes,” he said. Lebanon has so far confirmed 149 COVID-19 coronavirus cases among them four deaths. On Sunday, the government declared a two-week state of “general mobilization,” closing the country’s air, land and sea ports of entry and ordering the closure of all non-essential public and private institutions. Citizens and residents were meanwhile asked to stay home unless it is extremely necessary to go out.

Hout Says MEA Will Recover after Coronavirus Lockdown
Naharnet/March 19/2020
Chairman of Lebanon’s national carrier Mohammed Hout said on Thursday that MEA airlines is capable of overcoming the crisis after Lebanon’s airport was ordered closed for two weeks over coronavirus fears. “We will fly high again, despite all the challenges MEA is going to receive new planes,” to beef up its fleet, said Hout in remarks he made coinciding with the landing of the last MEA plane late on Wednesday. Lebanon on Wednesday closed its main airport and urged people to stay home for two weeks to stem a novel coronavirus outbreak that has killed four people in the country. The COVID-19 virus has officially infected 133 people in the Mediterranean nation. Pictures of an empty Rafik Hariri International Airport circulated on social media, a first since the July 2006 war in which Beirut airport witnessed paralysis. “It is not the first time that the company has experienced difficulties,” said the chairman, noting that MEA planes have stopped for long days earlier but recovered and flew again. “We have the capabilities,” he said.

Abide by the Decisions of Specialists to Fight Coronavirus, Hariri Says
Naharnet/March 19/2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that WHO Director General has described coronavirus as an “enemy against humanity,” which makes it crucial that we all join efforts to stop its spread. “It is sufficient that the World Health Organization Director General (Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus) describes the coronavirus as “an enemy against humanity” so that all efforts and capabilities are combined to stop its spread and adhere to the health conditions of the confrontation, first of which is domestic quarantine,” said Hariri in a tweet late on Wednesday. He added: “People in politics, power, security, parties, media, economics, education and all other sectors are soldiers in the battle. Leadership is for those with knowledge and specialization, doctors, scientists, researchers, nurses, they command and decide, and the others have to abide.”

'Better than Switzerland': Why Lebanon's drastic coronavirus response is succeeding in flattening the epidemic curve
The New Arab/March 19/2020
Lebanon has taken drastic measures to battle to coronavirus outbreak
Lebanon's novel coronavirus outbreak is the latest crisis to hit a country reeling from a severe economic crunch and mass anti-government protests, but the small country's response, so far, appears to be working. While the number of coronavirus cases remains relatively low, the government since early March has taken drastic lockdown measures, ordering schools, universities, bars and restaurants closed, and imposing virtual curfews at public spaces in recent days. The country's only international airport shut down on Wednesday, while borders are effectively shuttered for most travellers. This follows weeks of restricted air traffic to areas hit by large-scale virus outbreaks, including the UK. According to data from the American University of Beirut, these measures are working in flattening the epidemic's curve. "Lebanon has done much better than other countries in containing #COVID19 till now," the Global Health initiative at the American University of Beirut tweeted on Tuesday. An accompanying graph shows Lebanon's situation in comparison to several other states, including wealthier European nations such as Switzerland. "Still, social & health systems vigilance is much needed in this critical phase of the disease progression. Track the trend of new cases after index identification," the tweet added.Data from the American University of Beirut [AUB]. At the time of writing, 120 people in the Mediterranean nation have been infected with COVID-19, while three have succumbed to the virus. Medical efforts to assist patients, however, have come under threat as the healthcare sector grappled with the fallout from decades of corruption, while the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) - which acts the country's national ambulance service - is fast running out of funds. The not-for-profit LRC has supplemented Lebanon's government health system, with ambulance services and regular updates on the country's coronavirus situation. The group has reported that each coronavirus callout costs them as much as $850. With resources now running low, the LRC has appealed for donations from the public to continue its work. To date, the non-profit has readied 300 trained emergency medical technicians and 520 volunteers trained in COVID-19 awareness.
*With input from news agencies

Lebanon should not be used as a pawn any longer
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah has changed his stance on a possible International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid package for Lebanon, stating last week that: “Any assistance within logical conditions is possible. There is no problem with this.” This came after Iran — Hezbollah’s master — requested aid from the IMF in the form of a $5 billion emergency loan to fight the tragic situation caused by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It also followed an indication from the entire political and business community in Lebanon that there is an emergency need for direct funds to avoid total bankruptcy.
It was an uneasy situation for the so-called party of resistance to vehemently oppose any IMF aid, only to hear its bosses in Tehran asking for the same. Last week got even worse, as Hezbollah was also reportedly accused of allowing a military tribunal in Beirut to release Amer Fakhoury, an American citizen accused of running a southern Lebanese prison during Israel’s occupation of the region. This apparent concession by Nasrallah is said to have been made to ward off the threat of US sanctions against some of his political allies, and to show good faith ahead of any potential IMF negotiations.
This once again shows that Hezbollah is willing to shift its positions in order to preserve its interests and those of its masters in Tehran. Lebanese public opinion or state laws do not matter — they didn’t matter when they sent their fighters to Syria and they don’t matter now. Yet, today, Hezbollah’s global image, which is also part of Iran’s strategy, has been shattered and it is under pressure like never before.
When it comes to the IMF, as well as pleasing the US, Hezbollah is also counting on France to support it in the negotiations. The simple reason for this is that, since the previous government headed by Saad Hariri, President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to bridge the differences between the US and Iran concerning the nuclear deal, and Lebanon is an important part of his strategy. France has a good understanding of what Hezbollah represents for Iran and, by supporting stability in Lebanon, the French administration knows very well it is appeasing Iran and showing goodwill.
Hezbollah’s global image, which is also part of Iran’s strategy, has been shattered and it is under pressure like never before
Nasrallah wants the IMF money without “conditions that breach Lebanese sovereignty.” But, for Hezbollah, sovereignty has a different meaning — it means being allowed to retain control of all contraband; keeping control of Lebanon’s borders; keeping control of the airport and ports; continuing its oversight on illegal activities; continuing the bribing mechanisms; continuing to threaten the judiciary; controlling the country’s pharmaceuticals and health care; being allowed to trespass on private and state property; being unaccountable for its actions and those of its allies; keeping parallel communications; and using the electricity network for its own interests. And, most of all, it means keeping its military arsenal and its status of being a state above the state.
This military arsenal is not one of resistance but one of oppression — an oppression first of its own and then of the entire country. The Shiite Lebanese who dream the same dreams as all others have been isolated from the rest of the population. And, after isolating its own community, Hezbollah has isolated Lebanon from the rest of the world. The country of commerce, trade and tourism has become the enemy of all countries in the region and blacklisted by a big part of the world. Is this the stability France wants to preserve? If Macron is indeed a friend of Lebanon, then he should stand with the free people of Lebanon and the protesters, not Hezbollah. It is also time for Hariri, who has good relations with Macron, to publicly clarify this and ask the French president to stand with the protesters and the opposition.
However, the real question we should ask is until when will the Lebanese Army accept this situation? When will the army listen to the people in the streets who risk their lives and scream from their heart, “One country, one army,” and the call for true sovereignty? Until when will the army continue accepting successive humiliations and Hezbollah’s corruption of the true meaning of sovereignty? The army is the sole protector of the borders. It is the unique sovereign institution all citizens respect. It is high time for the army to move with the people, no matter the cost.
We cannot let the country be a pawn in the middle of regional negotiations any longer. We know we will all be sacrificed sooner or later. It is time to provoke change. But Lebanon needs to act fast — it will not be able to overcome the financial crisis as well as the COVID-19 pandemic without outside financial and political support. We are on the verge of a disastrous situation. We need to act fast.
• Khaled Abou Zahr is CEO of Eurabia, a media and tech company. He is also the editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.

'Impunity is a pattern': The lawyers taking on torture in Lebanon's prisons
Alicia Medina/The New Arab/March 19/2020
A myriad of smartphones have captured how security forces have beaten protesters on the Lebanese streets since 17 October. But what followed after they were detained is less known. The Committee of Lawyers to Defend Protesters filed complaints last December on behalf of 17 protesters for the crime of torture against members of the security and military apparatus.
"Many of the assaults were aimed to extract information and punish the protesters," said lawyer Ghida Frangieh, a member of the committee and The Legal Agenda, a Beirut-based NGO. Contravening the law, the Military Prosecutor referred these complaints to the security and military agencies that are being accused of torture and then closed the investigations.
"Until today, we've not seen any transparent investigation or any member of the security police being held accountable," Frangieh told The New Arab.
In Lebanon this impunity is a pattern.
On paper, Lebanon has beefed up its legal arsenal against torture. In 2008 it became the first Middle Eastern nation to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (CAT) and in 2017 passed the Anti-Torture Law (Law 65/2017).
But the moves of lawmakers seem de-synchronised with the reality of detention cells and courtrooms.
Last October, in a conference room of a luxurious hotel in Beirut, a nervous man with a pile of papers listened to experts discussing the results of the Anti-Torture Law. The representative of the Ministry of Justice, judge Angela Dagher, took to the stage to remark on Lebanon's fight against torture. Then the nervous man took the microphone. "My name is Toufic al-Dika, father of Hassan al-Dika". The room fell deadly silent. Toufic saw his son enter prison accused of drug-related charges in November 2018. Seven months later he was handed his dead body. The pile of documents in front of him attests to the fight of Toufic, who acted as his son's lawyer, to seek accountability: copies of complaints, medical reports and 16 letters sent by Hassan describing the beatings and electric shocks he was subjected to.
Stress positions, beatings, electric shocks and food deprivation are common practice in detention centres
Toufic read out loud the letter sent by Hassan the day he died: "I have fell down many times, I am not even able to stand".
"The judiciary and the intelligence branch are responsible of the death of my son," said Toufic. Dagher acknowledged "some problems in the judiciary" but added that "we can not put all the evils of our country in the judicial alone".
Sitting next to Toufic, Ghassan Mukheiber, an ex-lawmaker who contributed to the draft of Law 65, addressed Dagher: "Is there a single veridic by Lebanese judges to criminalise torture?"
After a moment of silence, Mukheiber answered. None.
The architecture of impunity
Stress positions, beatings, electric shocks or food deprivation are common practice in detention centres according to a report by the Lebanese Centre for Human Rights (CLDH).
In CLDH's visits to prisons in 2019, 42 out of the 92 inmates interviewed stated they had been physically tortured. Out of 26 complaints to the judiciary only two judges took action.
Torture is "considered as a valid method of investigation and punishment" and is "accepted by the Lebanese Justice system", CLDH concluded.
Detainees accused of terrorism, drugs or theft; Syrians and Palestinian refugees, migrant workers, lower-income detainees, sex workers or LGBT individuals are the most vulnerable groups to be tortured by the Army Intelligence, General Security and the Internal Security Forces, say multiple NGOs.
The portfolio of two lawyers offers a glimpse of the spread of torture. Mohamad Sablouh, representative of the Lawyers Syndicate of Tripoli, has documented 35 cases of torture but no accountability has been achieved. "The problem is that the judges are not cooperating in order to implement the UNCAT," he denounced.
Lawyer Diala Shehade has worked in 202 cases where detainees told the judge they had been tortured. She represented the families of three Syrians that died under army custody in 2017.
The forensic examination documented evidence of violence in their bodies but "the conclusion was worded in a very tricky way because the doctors were under threat," Shehade explained. No one has been held accountable yet. "We need at least one case to become a precedent, to be a lesson," urged Shehade. One of Shehade's clients claims he was tortured first by Hezbollah and then by the Lebanese security forces. He is a Syrian national that in 2014 fled to Lebanon after the militia he led in Syria was defeated by Assad's forces.
Syrian and Palestinian refugees, migrant workers, lower-income detainees, sex workers or LGBT individuals are the most vulnerable groups to be tortured.
This man, who will be identified as Ahmed, says he was kidnapped by Hezbollah and spent over a year in an underground unknown location suffering daily beatings the first four months. During this time his wife and children did not know his whereabouts.
After Hezbollah released him, Ahmed was detained by the Army Intelligence and accused by General Security of dealing with a member of the Al-Nusra Front (a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda). Ahmed denied the charges saying his militia whose name he declined to give - fought Al-Nusra in Syria.
He spent 21 days in an isolation cell while being interrogated. He says he was severely beaten and electrocuted every day.
To push him to sign a confession, Ahmed's wife was detained for nine days. His wife says she was beaten once because the interrogator "was pissed off" with her.
Ahmed signed a confession, without being allowed to read it and served a nine-month sentence on terrorism charges.
During that investigative phase he could not communicate with his lawyer. Shehade pointed out that military tribunals forbid lawyers to meet with their clients during that period, which is against the Lebanese procedural code.
Ahmed says the judge ignored him when he tried to show him evidence of torture on his hands and legs. Legislation states that if there is an allegation of torture an investigation should follow in 48 hours, including a medical examination. But that's rarely the case.
Judges normally assign prison doctors to check on the detainees. "A doctor who gets his salary from the same security authorities that has tortured my client," said lawyer Sablouh. One of his clients was subjected to electric shocks on his genitals and the judge assigned a juris doctor, but six months after the incident.
The key to stopping torture would be for the judges to accept a confession only if it was signed with a lawyer present in the interrogation, said lawyers Shehade and Sablouh. "If the judicial authorities support us in combating torture, the security authorities will not dare to continue the torture practices," said Sablouh.
In-depth: As Lebanon grapples with economic collapse and a coronavirus outbreak, refugees appeal for international help
Ex-lawmaker Mukheiber argued that the main problem are the violations of the penal procedural code: period of arrest, access to a lawyer, interpreter, doctor or the right to make a phone call.
Law 65 also has shortcomings. Amnesty International's researcher Sahar Mandour criticised the statute of limitations of 3 to 10 years after the release of the victim. In her view crimes of torture should not apply. The preamble of Law 65 establishes that regular judicial courts, not military ones, will hear torture cases, but due to a loophole in the law, torture cases keep being referred to military courts.
Sablouh urged the international community to "put pressure on Lebanon" to abide by the Convention Against Torture, which in Lebanon exists "only in writing".
*Alicia Medina is a freelance journalist based in Lebanon.

As Lebanon suffers equipment shortages, these hero women are making coronavirus protective gear from scratch
The New Arab/March 19/2020
A group of women in Lebanon are working hard to make sterile disposable coveralls for medical teams, nurses and rescuers in a bid to help in the coronavirus effort. In the city of Saida, some twenty women, decked out in disposable masks and with hands protected by gloves, are using sewing machines to make the disposable medical equipment. The women are part of a social enterprise charity that makes clothing in Lebanon called Machghal el-Oum, located in in the southern Governate of Saida. Instead of making clothes, the women have switched to making coveralls that could be worn by medical professionals.
They have been working tirelessly since 22 February, when the first case of coronavirus appeared in Lebanon. Currently, there are 149 cases in Lebanon and there have been four coronavirus-related deaths. The disposable suits are insulating, water-repelling and anti-virus, and with concerns that medical supplies, including masks, are dwindling, such measures are particularly welcome, the L'Orient Le Jour reports.
The charity, in partnership with engineer Ahmad Ayoub, came up with the idea in response to the health crisis and the rising prices of disinfectant products. These protective suits, he says, will be the perfect way for people to save money and stay protected. The fabric is treated with several protective products including titanium, making them water-resistant and anti-viral, before they are given to a seamstress to sew. The workshop has strict hygiene rules to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and temperatures of the workers are checked daily to ensure they do not have a fever – one of the indications of coronavirus.
Usually, 40 women work there daily but due to the coronavirus risk, the number has decreased. "Because of the risks from coronavirus and the instructions from the Ministry of Health, their number has dropped to 25," said Wafa Wehbe, the director of the social enterprise.
The workshop produces between 150 to 200 suits per day and charges just $7 – just enough to cover the maintenance costs of the workshop.
The women have made over 1,000 overalls so far. The price of such suits on the market is much higher, Ayoub says.
"This is not a commercial project, but a service that we are rendering to Lebanon as part of the war it is waging against this virus," said Wafa Wehbé. Wehbé said the suits have already been given to NGO's, including the Lebanese Red Cross and Civil Defence.
Orders have been placed by hospitals in Saida, which wish to distribute them to their medical and nursing staff, as well as to their staff, should the epidemic worsen. "We are trying to help as much as possible during this difficult time," she added.

فيروسات لبنان المتمثلة بالإرهاب الإيراني وبحكامه الملالي هي أخطر بكثير من فيروس الكورونا
The viruses of Lebanon/More debilitating than COVID-19 are the terrorists beholden to Iran’s rulers
Clifford D. May/FDD Founder & President/March 19/2020
الياس بجاني/لبنان مبتلي بفيروسات وسرطانيات أخطر بكثير من فيروس الكورونا. وطن الأرز مبتلي ومنذ سنوات باحتلال إيراني فاجر ومجرم وإرهابي..هذا الإحتلال هو حزب الله الإيراني الذي يحتل ويحكم لبنان وهو حوله إلى معسكر وقاعدة إيرانية وبؤرة ارهاب وإرهابيين ومخزن اسلحة. وبسبب هذا الوباء الإحتلالي المذهبي والإرهابي الملالوي. فقد تم تدمير كل شيء في لبنان.. حجر وبشر على حد سواء الخراب المتعمد طاول كل ما هو دولة وخدمات وصحة وبيئة وعلاقات خارجية وقانون وحدود وقضاء وأخيراً وقع البلد في حالة من الإفلاس المالي. الكاتب كليفورد ماي يسلط في مقالته الذي في أسفل على وضعية لبنان الكارثية هذه في ظل وتحت حكم وسيطرة حزب الله الإرهابي والإيراني.
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/84289/%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%aa%d9%85%d8%ab%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b1%d9%87%d8%a7%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%8a/
COVID-19, the virus from Communist China, has not yet hit Lebanon harder than other nations but no one will be surprised if it does. A small country sandwiched between shattered Syria and dynamic Israel, Lebanon is in failing economic health. Among the symptoms: rising debt, spiraling inflation, soaring unemployment, falling foreign currency reserves, and an eroding Lebanese pound.
Electricity and water do not flow reliably. The country’s hospitals are short on funds for salaries and medical supplies.
This month, for the first time, Lebanon failed to repay a $1.2 billion Eurobond. “How can we pay the creditors while there are people in the streets without the money to buy a loaf of bread?” asked Prime Minister Hassan Diab. About 40 percent of Lebanese are now poor. That could soon rise to 50 percent, according to the World Bank.
Lebanon might not be in such terrible shape today were it not infected by Hezbollah, the disease-causing agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In the early 1980s, Iran’s rulers created Hezbollah, providing funding and 1,500 Revolutionary Guards to train fighters for the “Party of God.” Hezbollah’s power has been growing ever since. It’s appetite for blood-letting has remained constant. I’ll mention just a few instances.
In 1983, on orders from Tehran, Hezbollah bombed the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 258 Americans.
In the 1990s, Hezbollah, again instructed by Tehran, bombed Jewish targets in Argentina. Hezbollah operatives have boasted about it.
In 2005, Hezbollah used 2,200 tons of TNT to assassinate former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri along with 21 others traveling in his motorcade in Beirut. A U.N. Special Tribunal confirmed that conclusion.
In 2006, Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into a 34-day war with Israel. More than a thousand Lebanese were killed, as were 165 Israelis. The U.N. Security Council resolution that halted the conflict called for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Needless to say, that was not even attempted.
In 2008, Hezbollah forced the Lebanese government to sign a “power-sharing” agreement that has effectively given it a veto over all decisions. Since then, fewer and fewer decisions of significance are made independent of Hezbollah.
It’s true that the river of funds from Tehran to Beirut has slowed since the Trump administration began its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran’s theocrats. But Hezbollah remains flush nevertheless. The reason: Its extensive partnerships with South American drug cartels and other international criminal organizations.
These lucrative relationships have been extensively researched and documented by Emanuele Ottolenghi, my colleague at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). A law enforcement effort to break up the narco-terrorist alliances, Operation Cassandra, was dismantled by President Obama to facilitate the nuclear weapons deal he cut with Iran’s rulers.
What could make Lebanon much sicker? Another war with Israel would do the trick.
Hezbollah now has up to 150,000 missile aimed at Israel. It’s worth noting that many of these missiles have been emplaced in schools, hospitals, mosques and homes to make sure that Israelis, to defend themselves, will have to kill a large number of Lebanese civilians. That will provide Hezbollah with talking points for media outlets and transnational organizations eager to scapegoat Israelis while ignoring the fact that using “human shields” clearly violates international law.
Israel has so far tolerated this missile buildup, confident that its Iron Dome defense system is capable of preventing most rockets from reaching population centers.
However, Hezbollah lately has been replacing dumb missiles that are relatively easy to intercept with Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) whose trajectories can be altered in flight, making them both more evasive and more accurate. In sufficient numbers they also could overwhelm Iron Dome.
Should Hezbollah’s Iranian-supplied PGMs inflict mass casualties, a full-blown war between Israel and Lebanon would be inevitable.
PGMs are built in factories in Lebanon and Syria which the Israelis bombs when they can. But dumb missiles also are being converted into smart missiles by Iranian-trained technicians equipped with Iranian-supplied kits that cost only about $15,000 per projectile. Hezbollah is estimated to have between three dozen and 300 PGMs at this point, with a new one being added perhaps every day and a half.
Sooner or later, Israel may decide it needs to go beyond killing crocodiles and begin draining the swamp. Last month, Israel announced that it was setting up a new military command devoted to planning kinetic responses targeting – if you’ll forgive my switching metaphors — not the puppets in Lebanon but those pulling the strings in Tehran.
A treatment to help Lebanon recover is not difficult to prescribe. In association with the International Monetary Fund, the Lebanese government could initiate structural economic reforms and become eligible for billions of dollars in loans and grants. Lebanese banks handling Hezbollah’s illicit finances could be sanctioned and/or shut down. Endemic corruption could be tackled.
The Lebanese Armed Forces could reassert Lebanese sovereignty, remove the missiles threatening Israel, and disarm Hezbollah, insisting it transform into a political party competing with other political parties, rather than a militia that menaces other political parties and is beholden to a foreign regime.
None of this is remotely likely. The Hezbollah virus has debilitated Lebanon beyond the point where it can heal itself. The U.N. and the “international community” are, as usual, doing nothing useful.
We should expect the disease to spread. Actually, it already has. Terrorists, criminals, and their neo-imperialist patrons in Tehran have been bringing death and destruction to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza – whomever and whatever they touch. There are means by which these vectors could be eliminated. Easy and painless they are not.
*Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.

Lebanese NGOs supporting the elderly forced to adapt to coronavirus pandemic
Emily Lewis/ Al Arabiya English/March 19/2020
In Lebanon, where the old-age pensions are extremely limited, many vulnerable elderly people rely on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian initiatives for support.
However, with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, many of these NGOs have been forced to adapt to reduce the chance of spreading the disease to the elderly, who are at high risk of experiencing severe or life-threatening symptoms from the virus, technically known as COVID-19.
According to data collected in China, around 15 percent of people over 80 years old and 8 percent of people in their seventies who contracted the virus died. When the novel coronavirus reached Lebanon at the end of February, NGO Beit El Baraka, which aims to alleviate poverty for more than 1,000 vulnerable older people, had to set up the logistics of a home delivery service in just two days. The free supermarket in Beirut’s Karm el-Zeitoun neighborhood has now closed its doors to the public to undergo thorough sanitization and has begun delivering food bags to older people in their homes across the country.
The drivers, who wear gloves, masks and shoes that are changed after each visit, have no contact with the elderly recipients, instead dropping the bags outside their doors.
Each bag is filled with long-life food according to each person’s specific dietary requirements, Maya Chams Ibrahimchah, Beit El Baraka’s founder, told Al Arabiya English. Those with diabetes receive bags without sugar, and those with cardiovascular conditions are given less oil and salt, for example.
“Right at the beginning, many of the people we support were quite worried about the virus,” Chams Ibrahimchah said. “But you can’t imagine how at peace they felt when they knew they would have food on the table.”
NGO Ajialouna provides health insurance and medical care for more than 100 elderly people across the country, who in normal circumstances visit the center every 15 days for check-ups. With the arrival of the coronavirus, this has become impossible.
“Now, we are telling them not to leave the house, this is a critical time,” said Zeina Seif, Ajialouna’s Marketing and Sponsorship Manager.
A team of trained nurses and volunteers, clad in full protective gear, visits each elderly person on a regular basis to conduct medical tests and bring food supplies. Following the government’s announcement of a state of health emergency on Sunday, all residents of Lebanon are required to stay at home unless totally necessary.
“For these older people, being at home all day is not their biggest concern - they’re used to that - but they are really worrying about the situation,” Seif said. “They ask us ‘are we going to make it through this?’”
Kibarouna, a social club for elderly people located in the small town of Bikfaya, have been forced to suspend their daytime activities to limit the spread of the virus.
Henriette Haddad, Kibarouna’s founder, said she was extremely concerned about an increase in loneliness among the older people due to the lack of social interaction.
In the few weeks since the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Lebanon on Feb. 21, the mental health hotline (1564) run by NGO Embrace has seen more frequent calls from elderly people, Embrace’s co-founder Mia Atoui told Al Arabiya English.
“We know that elderly people in general are at risk of loneliness or isolation if they don’t have a supportive family environment,” she explained.
Concerns over access to medical care and the lack of a social safety net are compounded by damaging reactions to the spread of the coronavirus on social media, Atoui said.
Dismissing the disease as something that “only affects the elderly” has “taken a huge toll on mental health.”
Tony Mezher, 69, lives alone in Beirut. While he said he is worried about the effect of the coronavirus “economically, mentally and health-wise,” he is determined to maintain as great a sense of normalcy as possible.
“I’m taking all the preventative measures, but I still walk for 1.5 hours a day, I just don’t get near anyone on the way.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 19-20/2020
U.S. Approves Anti-Malarial Drug to Treat Coronavirus
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 19/2020
The U.S. has approved the anti-malarial drug chloroquine for use as a treatment against the new coronavirus, President Donald Trump said Thursday. "We're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that's where the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has been so great," Trump told reporters. "They've gone through the approval process -- it's been approved. They took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we're going to be able to make that drug available by prescription."

Turkey says two soldiers killed by ‘radical groups’ in Syria's Idlib
Reuters, Istanbul/Friday 20 March 2020
Turkey's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that two of its soldiers were killed in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib in a rocket attack by "some radical groups".One other soldier was wounded in the attack, the ministry said, adding that its forces had opened fire on targets in the area.
Turkey, which backs rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, agreed a ceasefire with Russia two weeks ago after months of fighting displaced nearly 1 million people in Idlib. Moscow supports Syrian government forces.

Iranian Mahan Air pilot dies from coronavirus: Report
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Thursday 19 March 2020
Iranian airline pilot Asghar Loran has died from coronavirus, state media reported on Wednesday. Loran flew for Mahan Air, a Tehran-based airline believed to operate under the direct control of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Mahan Air has been accused of smuggling weapons to Iran’s proxies in the region on behalf of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the IRGC. Mahan Air has also been accused of being behind the coronavirus crisis in Iran, as it continued its flights to several Chinese cities throughout February despite an official ban on flights to China on January 31.
Iran's government has reported 1,135 people in the country have died from coronavirus, and 17,361 confirmed cases.

UK puts military on standby as coronavirus shuts down swathes of London
Reuters/March 19/2020
LONDON: The United Kingdom put 20,000 military personnel on standby, closed dozens of underground train stations across London and Queen Elizabeth left the city for Windsor Castle as the coronavirus crisis shut down whole swathes of the economy. As the coronavirus outbreak sweeps across the world, governments, companies and investors are grappling with the biggest public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic, panicked populations and imploding financial markets. Against a background of panic buying in supermarkets and the biggest fall in sterling for decades, the British government moved to quash rumors that travel in and out of London would be restricted. “There is zero prospect of any restriction being placed on traveling in or out of London,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters. He said police were responsible for maintaining law and order and there were no plans to use the military for this purpose, though the government put military reservists on formal notification. But dozens of underground train stations across the capital were due to be closed and an industry source said supermarkets were expecting police support amid the fears that London was facing a virtual shutdown. After ordering the closure of schools across a country that casts itself as a pillar of Western stability, Johnson on Wednesday said the government was ruling nothing out when asked whether he would bring in measures to lock down London. Johnson has asked the government to come up with plans for a so-called lockdown which would see businesses closed, transport services reduced, gatherings limited and more stringent controls imposed on the city.
Queen Elizabeth on Thursday left the capital for her ancient castle at Windsor. The monarch has also agreed to postpone the planned state visit by Japanese Emperor Naruhito in June.
LONDON CLOSING?
London’s transport authority said it would close up to 40 underground train stations until further notice and reduce other services including buses and trains. The line between Waterloo station and the City of London financial district would be closed.
“People should not be traveling, by any means, unless they really, really have to,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said. Britain has so far reported 104 deaths from coronavirus and 2,626 confirmed cases, but UK scientific advisers say more than 50,000 people might have already been infected.
Britain faces a “massive shortage” of ventilators that will be needed to treat critically ill patients suffering from coronavirus, after it failed to invest enough in intensive care equipment, a leading ventilator manufacturer said. With the world’s fifth largest economy coming to a standstill, the pound on Wednesday plunged to its lowest since March 1985, barring a freak “flash crash” in October 2016. On Thursday the pound was down 0.5% at $1.1570. British shoppers were queuing around the block early on Thursday morning to buy basic supplies such as bottled water and tinned goods ahead of an expected toughening of measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Supermarkets have been forced to limit purchases after frantic shoppers stripped shelves. Outside one Sainsbury’s supermarket in central London on Thursday, a huge queue had formed ahead of opening, with people standing calmly in the rain.

Italian virus death toll passes China’s as Wuhan records no new cases
AP/March 19, 2020
The worldwide death toll crept toward 10,000 as the total number of infections topped 220,00
Thursday marked the first time the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged late last year, showed no new numbers since Jan. 20
The death toll in Italy from the coronavirus overtook China’s on Thursday, and infections in the United States climbed past 10,000, in a stark illustration of how the crisis has pivoted toward the West.
Italy, with a population of 60 million, recorded at least 3,405 deaths, or roughly 150 more than in China — a country with a population over 20 times larger. Italy reached the bleak milestone the same day that Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged three months ago, recorded no new infections, a sign that the communist country's draconian lockdowns were a powerful method to stop the virus' spread.
On Thursday, a visiting Chinese Red Cross team criticized Italians' failure to properly quarantine themselves and take the national lockdown seriously.
Meanwhile, the virus appeared to be opening an alarming new front in Africa and also reached at least one European head of state: 62-year-old Prince Albert II of the tiny principality of Monaco. The palace announced that he tested positive but was continuing to work from his office and was being treated by doctors from Princess Grace Hospital, named after his American actress mother.
The damage to the world's largest economy kept piling up, with unemployment claims surging in the United States, as Congress rushed to pass a $1 trillion emergency package to shore up industry and help households pull through the crisis. The first of two possible rounds of relief checks will consist of payments of $1,000 per adult and $500 for each child.
The American death toll rose to 160, primarily elderly people. Johns Hopkins University, which has been tallying the virus' spread around the world, said the U.S. had more than 10,700 cases.
The worldwide death toll crept toward 10,000 as the total number of infections topped 220,000, including nearly 85,000 people who have recovered.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe pleaded with people to keep their distance from one another to avoid spreading the virus, even as the crisis pushed them to seek comfort.
“When you love someone, you should avoid taking them in your arms,” he said in Parliament. “It's counterintuitive, and it's painful. The psychological consequences, the way we are living, are very disturbing — but it's what we must do.”
Health authorities have cited a variety of reasons for Italy’s high toll, key among them its large population of elderly people, who are particularly susceptible to serious complications from the virus, though severe cases have also been seen in younger patients. Italy has the world’s second-oldest population, and the vast majority of its dead — 87% — were over 70.
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, a virologist at Germany's Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, said Italy's high death rate could be explained in part by the almost total breakdown of the health system in some areas.
“That's what happens when the health system collapses,” he said.
On a visit to the northern city of Milan, the head of a Chinese Red Cross delegation helping advise Italy said he was shocked to see so many people walking around, using public transportation and eating out and partying in hotels.
Sun Shuopeng said Wuhan saw infections peak only after a month of a strictly enforced lockdown.
“Right now we need to stop all economic activity and we need to stop the mobility of people,” he said. “All people should be staying at home in quarantine.”
Aside from the elderly and the sick, most people have mild or moderate symptoms, like a fever or cough, and most recover in a matter of weeks.
Spain has been the hardest-hit European country after Italy, and in Madrid a four-star hotel began operating as a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients.
The director of the group that runs the Ayre GH Colon hotel tweeted: “365 rooms more to help win the war.” The Madrid Hotel Business Association said it has placed 40 hotels with room for 9,000 people at the service of the Madrid region, which has near half of Spain's 17,000 or so cases.
In London, home to almost 9 million, the government urged people to stay off public transportation as authorities considered imposing tougher travel restrictions.
The British supermarket chain Sainsbury's reserved the first hour of shopping for vulnerable customers, one of many such efforts around the world.
Jim Gibson, 72, of London, said he found most of his groceries there in a “relatively trauma-free” experience. But he fretted that he hadn't been able to get the medicine he needed for his wife and himself, and expressed concerns that Britain's government had been too slow in ramping up testing.
“You can't go on ignoring World Health Organization guidelines — if they're wrong, who the hell is right?” he said. “Let's have no shilly-shallying.”
The British government, which was slow to react to the virus, has shifted gears and is now drawing up legislation giving itself new powers to detain people and restrict gatherings. The bill is expected to be approved by Parliament next week.
Thursday marked the first time since Jan. 20 that Wuhan showed no new locally transmitted cases, a rare glimmer of hope and perhaps a lesson in the strict measures needed to contain the virus.
Wuhan, which has been under a strict lockdown since January, once was the place where thousands lay sick or dying in hurriedly constructed hospitals. But Chinese authorities said all 34 new cases recorded over the previous day had come from abroad.
“Today, we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort,” said Jiao Yahui, a senior inspector at the National Health Commission.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warned that the virus is spreading quickly in Africa — an especially alarming development, given the poor state of health care in many of its countries.
“About 10 days ago we had about five countries” with the virus, said WHO’s Africa chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti. Now 35 of Africa’s 54 countries have cases, with the total close to 650. It is an “extremely rapid evolution," she said. The first sub-Saharan Africa case was announced Feb. 28.
European stock markets were up only slightly after losses in Asia despite a massive 750 billion-euro stimulus package announced overnight by the European Central Bank.
Wall Street was calm in early trading by the standards of the past few days, when traders — weighing the increasing likelihood of a recession against the huge economic support pledged by global authorities — have caused wild swings.
With wide swaths of the U.S. economy grinding to a halt, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surged by 70,000 last week, more than economists expected.
The U.S. Federal Reserve unveiled measures to support money-market funds and borrowing as investors worldwide rush to build up dollars and cash.
Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with Honda and Toyota, announced on Wednesday that they would close all of their factories in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The shutdown of Detroit's Big Three alone will idle about 150,000 workers.
More borders closed, leaving tens of thousands of tourists wondering how they would get home. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand shut out tourists.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei planned to pardon 10,000 more prisoners — including an unknown number of political detainees— to combat the virus. The country, where more than 1,100 people have already died, previously freed 85,000 prisoners on temporary leave.
In Austria, the province of Tyrol put 279 municipalities under quarantine because of a large number of infections, barring people from leaving towns or villages except to go to work.

US Navy veteran released from Iran prison amid coronavirus concerns: State Dept
Emily Judd/ Al Arabiya English/Thursday 19 March 2020
US Navy veteran Michael White has been freed from prison in Iran on medical furlough amid coronavirus concerns, according to the US State Department. White was detained by the Iranian regime while in the city of Mashhad in July 2018, while he was visiting a girlfriend he reportely met online. He was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison on charges of insulting Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and posting anti-regime remarks on social media under a pseudonym. His release is temporary and with the condition he remain in Iran. “His release on humanitarian grounds was conditioned upon him staying in Iran. Michael is now in the custody of the Swiss embassy and will undergo medical testing and evaluation,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. The State Department called on the Iranian government to “immediately” release three other American prisoners on humanitarian grounds, and to “honor the commitment it made to work with the United States for the return of Robert Levinson,” a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007. Iran announced on Tuesday it had freed about 85,000 prisoners since the coronavirus epidemic erupted in the country in late February. “So far, some 85,000 prisoners have been released ... about 50 percent of them were security-related prisoners,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said during a briefing aired on state television. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran Javaid Rehman asked Tehran to free all political prisoners temporarily from the country’s overcrowded and disease-ridden jails to help contain the spread of the virus. Rehman said the prisoners freed in Iran all had sentences of less than five years, while prisoners charged with longer sentences remained in jail.
Iran reported its death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 1,135 on Wednesday, with 17,361 cases in the country.

In Iran, there's now one coronavirus-related death every 'ten minutes'
1046 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours
The New Arab/March 19/2020
At least one person is dying every ten minutes in Iran as a result of health complications arising from the novel coronavirus, the country's health ministry spokesman tweeted on Thursday.
Death tolls continue to climb in the Islamic Republic, the hardest-hit nation in the Middle East, which has so far recorded 18,407 cases and 1284 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins University.
Of those numbers, 1046 were cases recorded in the past 24 hours, while 149 of the recorded deaths occurred within that period. Tehran, the country's capital, had the highest number of new cases, with 137 reported, followed by the central province of Isfahan, with 108 and Gilan in the north with 73.
''According to the latest facts, every hour 50 people in Iran are infected with Covid-19 and every ten minutes, one person dies from complication arising from a Covid-19 infection." Kianuch Jahanpur, a spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, tweeted. "Make a careful decision when it comes to Nowruz trips and travel plans, as well as gatherings and sightseeing,'' Jahanpur added.
In a separate event, nearly 10,000 prisoners, including political ones, are set to be pardoned in honour of Nowruz, the Iranian new year, state media have reported. "A large number of prisoners who have been temporarily freed do not need to return to jail after the leader's pardon," said Gholamhossein Esmaili, a judiciary spokesman. There is no indication whether the pardon, granted by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, extends to the British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, who was released on Tuesday for two weeks along with 85,000 others as a preventative measure to combat the coronavirus epidemic. There was also no word on the plight of British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was not known to be among those released on Tuesday. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) has arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners over recent years, including citizens of numerous Western countries. Tehran denies these are spurred by political motive, accusing those held of "foreign espionage". Iran currently has 189,5000 people in prison, according to a January report by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman.
Tuesday's move came in response to widespread calls from the UN and the US government to release prisoners from the country's overcrowded jails, in which conditions are ripe for the uncontrolled transmission of the deadly virus. For his part, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani has defended his countries measures against the outbreak. While stopping short of imposing a full lockdown, the government has ordered the closure of schools and university and banned sports, cultural and religious gatherings. Iran has also closed four holy Shia Shrines.
*Agencies contributed to this report.

Israel's Netanyahu Accused of Exploiting Virus Crisis
Associated Press//March 19/2020
With the Israeli government enacting a series of emergency measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing accusations that he is exploiting the crisis to entrench himself in power and undermining the country's democratic foundations.
Amid a wave of sweeping restrictions that have put Israel in near shutdown mode, Netanyahu has managed to postpone his own pending criminal trial, authorize unprecedented electronic surveillance of Israeli citizens and block parliament from pressing ahead with legislation aimed at pushing him from office. The moves, on the heels of the country's third inconclusive election in less than a year and under the shadow of Netanyahu's corruption indictment, sparked leading opposition figure Yair Lapid to tell Israeli citizens that they "no longer live in a democracy."
"There is no judicial branch in Israel. There is no legislative branch in Israel. There is only an unelected government that is headed by a person who lost the election. You can call that by a lot of names, it isn't a democracy," he said in a recorded video. The new coronavirus has spread to more than 100 countries, infected more than 217,000 people worldwide and killed more than 8,700. For most people, it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.
Israeli health officials have diagnosed over 400 coronavirus cases, roughly a quarter of them detected in the last 24 hours.
With the numbers quickly rising, authorities have issued a series of tough guidelines that have brought the country to a standstill. People have been instructed to stay home, tens of thousands are in home quarantine and foreigners have been banned from entering the country.
Most controversially, the Israeli government instructed the shadowy Shin Bet internal security service to start deploying the agency's phone surveillance technology to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Israel by tracking the moves of the infected.
Israel uses phone surveillance in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying it's an important tool to prevent attacks on Israelis, but critics say it's also aimed at maintaining tight control.
The surveillance in Israel has sparked widespread criticism from lawmakers and civil rights groups. Opponents planned to file a Supreme Court challenge on Thursday. Many of the measures are not unique to Israel. In neighboring Jordan, King Abdullah II has shut the country's court system and parliament, as part of an effort to stem the outbreak. Abdullah, who is not elected, appears to have won wide public support for his handling of the crisis.
The British government plans to introduce a bill in Parliament on Thursday that will give authorities stronger powers to respond to the pandemic. Many of these are relatively uncontroversial — like allowing retired doctors to return to work without taking a hit on their pensions. But critics have raised questions about some proposals, including a move to give police and immigration officers "powers to detain people and put them in appropriate isolation facilities if necessary to protect public health."
The emergency legislation is due to have a two-year time limit, but opposition lawmakers want a shorter cut-off date.
In Israel, Netanyahu has thrived in the crisis, delivering stern televised addresses to the nation each evening.
Presenting himself as the responsible adult steering the country through an unprecedented crisis, he has defended the tough steps, including the electronic surveillance, as measures that he has reluctantly been forced to impose to save lives while his opponents are focused on petty politics.
In a televised interview Wednesday, Netanyahu said that during his 11 years as prime minister, he had previously always refused to use surveillance on Israeli citizens. He said there would be "maximum oversight" to protect privacy concerns. "The last thing I will do is harm democracy," he said.
The liberal Haaretz daily responded Wednesday with a lead editorial titled "An Epidemic of Surveillance."
"Under the cover of the battle against the spread of the coronavirus, Interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concentrating more and more power in his hands, with neither balances nor supervision," it wrote. "At this time of emergency, and in order to keep from sliding down the slippery slope, it is critical to maintain proportionality and oversight."
Following the March 2 election, Netanyahu has the support of only 58 lawmakers, leaving him three short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Sixty-one lawmakers have come out in support of his opponent, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, while one refuses to endorse either side.
Backed by a narrow majority, Gantz, a former military chief, was tasked by Israel's president this week to try to form a new government.
In the meantime, Netanyahu has used a series of executive orders and other tactics to push forward his agenda while preventing parliament from convening. The phone-surveillance plan was approved by the Cabinet in the middle of the night, without the traditional parliamentary oversight that is customary for such decisions. Blue and White politician Gabi Ashkenazi, another former military chief who was supposed to oversee the committee, called Netanyahu's move a "heist in the dead of night." Blue and White has also taken aim at Netanyahu and his Likud party for preventing the newly elected parliament from convening under the guise of virus-related restrictions on public gatherings.
On Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Yuli Edelstein, a member of Likud, abruptly adjourned the Knesset, freezing Blue and White's plans to appoint new committees and advance legislation that could limit Netanyahu's time in office. President Reuven Rivlin warned the country's democratic system was being threatened. Netanyahu and Gantz held an emergency meeting this week to discuss the possibility of establishing a unity government to end the prolonged political paralysis. But progress appeared unlikely as they continued to bicker. Earlier this week, Netanyahu's hand-picked justice minister, in the middle of the night, declared a state of emergency in the court system a day before Netanyahu's trial was to begin. The decree, citing the coronavirus crisis, postponed Netanyahu's trial until May.
In his TV interview, Netanyahu lashed back at his critics.
"While I manage the war against the coronavirus and the fight for saving the lives of citizens of Israel," he said, "they are only planning how to depose a prime minister." Netanyahu critics have suggested that the crisis landed on the prime minister's lap at just the right time.
"The coronavirus will pass at some point or another," commentator Ben Caspit wrote in Maariv. "After we bury our dead, we are also going to have to administer last rites to our democracy."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 19-20/2020
Iran frees 7 Christians from coronavirus-struck prisons, many more at risk
Emily Judd,/Al Arabiya English/March 19/2020
At least seven Christians have been freed from prison in Iran, according to nonprofit Christian watchdog Article 18 as the government released tens of thousands of prisoners in response to the coronavirus epidemic.
Some Christian prisoners have been released for a temporary period, while other prisoners have been released ahead of schedule like 35-year-old Ramiel Bet-Tamraz, whose sister Dabrina Bet-Tamraz confirmed his release to Al Arabiya English. “We are very happy and excited that Ramiel is safe and back home. This was a big surprise and a miracle for our family,” said Dabrina Bet-Tamraz in an interview with Al Arabiya English.
“We still pray for those who are in prison, for God's protection over their health,” she added.
Christians in prison - and at risk for coronavirus
Iran’s overcrowded prisons have reportedly become a breeding ground for the novel coronavirus, technically known as COVID-19, including the notorious Evin prison where Ramiel Bet-Tamraz was incarcerated.
Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday it had received reports that prisoners had tested positive for coronavirus in Evin prison, the primary detention center for political prisoners in Iran, and said the closed institution is at heightened risk for the virus.
Charged with organizing and conducting house churches, Bet-Tamraz started serving a four-month-sentence in Evin prison on January 7. He was released early, on February 26, the day the Iranian government announced the number of coronavirus cases in the country surpassed 100. Bet-Tamraz’s family’s church, the Assyrian Pentecostal Church in Tehran, was shut down in 2009 for offering services in the national language of Farsi –prohibited for churches in Iran. Since then, he and his immediate family members have all been arrested.
Bet-Tamraz was taken into custody in August 2016 during a picnic gathering of Christian families in Firuzkuh, north of the capital city Tehran. His father - a Pentecostal pastor - and his mother have been sentenced to 10 and five years in Iranian prison respectively, while his sister Dabrina was arrested countless times before escaping to Europe nine years ago and becoming an advocate for Christians in Iran.
While Iran is home to an estimated 300,000 Christians, the regime does not allow them to worship, practice, or teach their faith fully and freely. The government considers evangelism - the spreading of the Christian faith - a criminal act.
Iran sentences Christians to prison terms for organizing and conducting house churches and constructing and renovating houses of worship, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2019 report. The report, which mentions the persecution of the Bet-Tamraz family, found there has been a recent dramatic uptick in arrests of Christians in Iran.
Some Christian prisoners in Evin were not as lucky as Ramiel Bet-Tamraz. Article 18 reports that at least four Christian prisoners were denied temporary release, including a 58-year-old man suffering from several health issues.
Iran: Coronavirus epicenter of the Middle East
Iran announced on Tuesday it had freed about 85,000 prisoners since the coronavirus epidemic erupted in the country in late February. “So far, some 85,000 prisoners have been released ... about 50 percent of them were security-related prisoners,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said during a briefing aired on state television. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran Javaid Rehman asked Tehran to free all political prisoners temporarily from the country’s overcrowded and disease-ridden jails to help contain the spread of the virus. Rehman said the prisoners freed in Iran all had sentences of less than five years, while prisoners charged with longer sentences remained in jail.
Iran reported its death toll from the coronavirus climbed to 1,135 on Wednesday, with 17,361 cases in the country. However, both experts and some Iranian public officials have consistently cast doubt on the official government figures. It is likely Iranian officials don’t know the actual number of infected people, according to Dr. Kaveh Khoshnood, a professor of epidemiology at Yale University’s School of Public Health, who said Iran’s coronavirus outbreak is at a critical point.
“Iran is at a crossroads - if they take serious control measures now, they have an opportunity to hopefully contain the outbreak. But if they don’t, it’s just going to escalate,” said Dr. Khoshnood in an interview with Al Arabiya English. He recommended the government immediately implement a lockdown and ban all flights. Besides releasing prisoners, Iran’s other preventative measures to halt the spread of the virus have included closing schools and universities, halting Friday prayers, and setting up checkpoints between cities.

How Iran is cracking down on the truth on coronavirus
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
Two important organizations in Iran have been mainly responsible for the regime’s crackdown on any individual or institution that attempts to reveal accurate information about the current coronavirus situation in the country, how the virus spread there, and how the Islamic Republic has become a major center of infection. These two organizations are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ettela’at, aka the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
It seems rational that the Ministry of Health should be in charge of providing information about the coronavirus outbreak, but the IRGC and its intelligence agents have taken over the coronavirus file. They are reportedly present at hospitals, attending meetings among medical staff, and informing them what they are allowed to reveal and what they are banned from disclosing to the public, the media and the international community.
Not only are IRGC and MOIS members controlling the health authorities, they are also cracking down on journalists and even lawmakers who dare to defy the rules. For example, Nahid Khodakarami, the head of the Health Commission of Tehran City Council, recently disclosed how she was approached by Iran’s spy unit: “Yesterday, I said that in Tehran it is possible that 10,000 people have been infected with coronavirus. The IRGC intelligence unit called me and complained. They asked, ‘Why did you provide this number?’ I said, ‘Sir, how long are you going to cover this up? These numbers are being talked about in society and my saying it calms the situation. Let’s be transparent with the people. We shouldn’t make this disease a security matter. You don’t need to call me and ask me why I divulge some figures. I merely provided some experts’ opinions.’ The IRGC intelligence official told me that I should refer the matter to the Health Ministry. I said, ‘OK, we should increase the pressure on the Health Ministry to be more transparent and to openly express themselves and tell people the facts; otherwise our reputation in the world will be eroded.’”
Iran’s authorities are concerned that the coronavirus outbreak there could show their weakness and provide an opportunity for millions of Iranians to pour on to the streets and seek regime change.
Even some of Iran’s newspapers pointed to the restrictions that have been imposed on them concerning the virus. The state-run daily Resalat wrote: “With regards to the number of infected nurses, we cannot release any figures. The statistics are completely security-related and cannot be revealed. Even the heads of hospitals might not know the number of coronavirus victims. Even if a victim goes to the hospital, the statistics are not given to the hospital supervisor. There is a special private channel and no one but the Health Ministry officials are aware of the numbers.”
The IRGC and MOIS are also utilizing the judiciary by imprisoning people to further prevent the leaking of information. Hassan Norouzi, the speaker of the Iranian parliament’s legal and judicial committee, said last month that those who “disseminate fake news regarding coronavirus” will be sentenced to between one and three years in prison, as well as flogging.
But why have the IRGC and MOIS taken over and been instructing hospitals, medical staff, journalists and politicians on the coronavirus? One of the main reasons is that they view the issue as a matter of national security, which could endanger the hold on power of the political establishment.
Many Iranians were already dissatisfied and disaffected with the regime’s actions. The high rate of inflation is ravaging Iran’s economy and hurting the ordinary people, who have also been frustrated with the widespread corruption, mismanagement of the economy, and expenditure on terror and militia groups across the region.
In the last few years, several major nationwide protests have shaken the theocratic establishment, with many expressing their desire for regime change through various slogans and chants, such as: “Death to the regime,” “Death to Khamenei,” and “Hard-liners and moderates, the game is over.”
As a result, the regime’s authorities are concerned that the coronavirus outbreak and its magnitude in Iran could show their weakness and provide an opportunity for millions of Iranians to pour on to the streets and seek regime change once again. Their mishandling of the crisis, lies and cover-up are further infuriating the disaffected nation. As the head of Yaftabad Hospital in Tehran stated on March 1: “Our primary problem in this crisis was that we did not transmit the right information to the people and we don’t have the right information. Treating everything as a political and security matter, we endanger people’s health. It has always been this way.”
It is obvious that the IRGC is viewing the coronavirus as a matter of national security that could endanger the mullahs’ rule. That is why the regime has been cracking down on those who leak facts about the virus.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Global collaboration key to flattening the curve
Michael Hage/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
Serious measures to counter the threat of COVID-19 have been taken, including the declaration of a national emergency in the US, restricting travel internationally, and instituting social distancing domestically. National health authorities have given the green light to fast-tracking the development of test kits, a vaccine and of retroviral medication that is effective against COVID-19.
The public-private partnerships that have been struck, as well as federal and local collaboration, are reassuring. The Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates to near zero and the federal government is mobilizing $1 trillion to shore up major industries, small businesses and to fund tax breaks to individuals. The military is shoring up floating hospitals off major coastal cities in New York and California, where higher rates of confirmed cases already exist. These are all great steps.
Producing sufficient hospital-grade respirators and protective gear for medical personnel to meet the predicted demand remains a challenge. Enacting war-time measures to dedicate manufacturing sites for the production of the equipment needed to fight this war against COVID-19 cannot come too soon.
While the US administration and the private sector are soldering on, citizen awareness and responsibility is equally important if we are to curb the spread of this highly contagious virus. Self-discipline is required of all, and adhering to advisories and directives by local or national health authorities is a must.
It is imperative to bridge communication gaps, drop stiff language from all quarters and harness the relevant knowledge of all that may have acquired it, irrespective of which country they live in.
A week ago, COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic and every country on the planet found itself obliged to marshal its resources and begin taking herculean measures to raise its preparedness level to face the ominous threat created by COVID-19. Some countries that were hit earlier by the coronavirus have been striving to mitigate the storm for much longer.
Achieving the goal of “flattening the curve” — the product of limiting and delaying the spread of COVID-19 with a view to allowing existing medical facilities and personnel to attend to those infected with the virus and to buy much-needed time to develop the long-awaited vaccine and drugs — remains a daunting task.
Despite the relaxed regulations and the abundance of funds now being made available to specialized medical labs and research facilities in the US, the shortest way to ensure that the curve is flattened might be through stronger collaboration between these entities and their counterparts in other countries. The latter’s medical professionals have been — some for several months — tackling this virus and they may possess useful information on patient reactions and other critical data from experiments they have attempted in developing a vaccine and other medications to treat COVID-19 cases.
Now is not the time to reinvent the wheel. If time is of the essence, and it is, then it is imperative to bridge communication gaps, drop stiff language from all quarters and harness the relevant knowledge of all that may have acquired it, irrespective of which country they live in, to contribute to the effort of quickly developing a vaccine and retroviral medication to rid humanity of this pandemic. As we have been rudely reminded by the eruption of COVID-19, no nation is an island.
*Michael Hage is President and CEO of American Innovation for International Development, Inc.

The day the world changed
Hassan bin Youssef Yassin/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
On Dec. 31, 2019, China reported a concerning number of cases of pneumonia to the World Health Organization. One week later, on Jan. 7, the new coronavirus was identified.
We do not know precisely how or when the virus infected its first human host, but for the purpose of this article let us posit that our world changed on Jan. 7. In the early 1950s, in my university days, I took a course on the Soviet Union and one of our assigned readings was the book “Ten Days That Shook the World,” by American journalist John Reed, who witnessed the Bolshevik Revolution first-hand. His idea was that those 10 days transformed the world in ways we would only come to realize far later. I believe that the identification of the coronavirus causing COVID-19 will have similarly broad implications.
This time, the world will be transformed not by an ideology, a global war or the spread of a mass religious phenomenon.
There are no battles taking place on our streets, there is no self-declared prophet or novel revolutionary idea circulating. What we have is a small virus that does not even withstand soap, invisibly infecting hundreds of thousands of people across the entire globe and forcing us all to drastically change our ways; shutting down countries, societies and large sectors of the economy. Many people are terrified: By the virus itself, but also by the unprecedented effect it has had on our societies — a global lockdown the likes of which the world has never seen before, even in wartime.
While medical experts try to reassure us by saying that most bearers of the virus will only experience very mild symptoms, the invisible virus has nonetheless brought us and multiple world-class health systems to their knees.
As we face this unprecedented situation, we are understandably looking for some answers and explanations. Sadly, they fall into the same category as the answer to why we have seen an unprecedented number of high-intensity hurricanes, wildfires, flooding and heatwaves over the past year and decade. The reason, to put it simply, is us. Epidemiologists have long warned of increasing numbers of deadly viruses crossing over from animals to humans, infecting and killing large numbers of people. To name only the best-known virus outbreaks of past decades, there is Marburg, Ebola, bird flu, West Nile, SARS and MERS. Part of the explanation is that, as we destroy more natural habitats, more animals — particularly animals like rats and bats, which are known to regularly transmit viruses to humans — are brought into close contact with humans, just as increasing numbers of hungry city-dwellers get their food from so-called wet markets like the one in Wuhan, enabling similar contact. Following rising awareness of the climate catastrophe, this latest coronavirus must also serve as a wake-up call.
With a few Asian exceptions, such as Taiwan or Singapore, governments around the world were largely unprepared for this virus, yet epidemiologists have warned us of far more deadly new viruses that could infect millions equally as fast. The coronavirus spread across the globe before we could put our pants, let alone our facemasks, on. We did not have time to convene meaningful meetings of the UN Security Council to address the global crisis.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, whose country currently holds the G20 chair, is calling on the group to rapidly address the medical and economic aspects of the coronavirus. In time, we will all have to take this virus, its consequences, and its implications for our societies and our future as seriously as we would any other threat to international peace and security. Here is a virus that touches all mankind, without regard to nationality, class or race, which exploits the weaknesses of our modern societies and our problematic relationship with the environment in order to exist and to spread. We have a great deal of cogitating to do on many aspects of this virus, on our societies, our global economy and our entire way of life. There will be a clear before and after, likely in unison with our overdue environmental awakening.
The thorough reflections to come are already being suggested by topics the virus has recently raised. A Stanford professor, for example, highlighted how the reduction in economic activity in China, and hence in pollution, over the past two months has likely saved the lives of almost 80,000 people — that is more than 20 times the number of Chinese to have died because of the virus.
We must realize that our individual fates are tied to humanity as a whole, to how we choose to structure our societies, and our relationship to the rest of the living planet.
What should we be more worried about: The virus or the far more numerous deaths related to air quality due to fossil fuels and our focus on ever-expanding growth? As we consider that question, we butt up against another one, which is that, as large sectors of our economies grind to a halt due to the confinement measures to slow the spread of the virus, at what point will our precautions do disproportionate damage to our economy? It is common knowledge that economic crises and downturns lead to deaths due to unemployment, poverty, lack of health care and deteriorating sanitation. It is estimated that there were 500,000 more cancer deaths worldwide as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, for example. At what point would deaths resulting from an economic downturn outpace virus deaths? These are just two interrogations that serve to demonstrate the complexity and the urgency of looking at our way of life and our societies more holistically to adopt lasting changes.
At the very least, we must begin by acknowledging that, despite our scientific and technological progress, we are far removed from possessing all the answers. We must admit our failures and realize that our human fates are tied to humanity as a whole, to how we choose to structure our societies, and our relationship to the rest of the living planet. Looking around the planet today, one could say it is the animals who are keeping us in cages.
As people across the planet isolate themselves in their homes, birds continue to fly and fish continue to swim with no concern whatsoever for the invisible virus; serving to remind humankind that most of the planet is better off without us. Greta Thunberg must have much food for thought at the moment and I am counting on her to help us envision the future we really want for our children.
We heard this week that the Trump administration is trying to pass up to $1 trillion in economic stimulus to stave off a coronavirus-induced recession. The cost will likely grow far beyond that figure, with estimates indicating the economy will shrink at an annual rate of 5 to 10 percent this coming quarter. The 9/11 attacks cost the US $6 trillion in wars alone, while the 2008 financial crisis gobbled up several trillion dollars in economic stimulus, rescue packages and the buy-up of government debt.
The cost of the coronavirus crisis may yet exceed that. Instead of ponying up all this money now, perhaps we should prepare better for next time by redirecting large chunks of our military budgets toward health, research, education and restructuring our economy and societies to prevent viral and economic diseases from taking such an immense toll on us. Ultimately, though, the message must be one of humanity, of universal values and common sense, of a future that we choose together rather than simply endure.
*Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked closely with Saudi petroleum ministers Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani from 1959 to 1967. He headed the Saudi Information Office in Washington from 1972 to 1981, and served with the Arab League observer delegation to the UN from 1981 to 1983.

COVID-19 recovery could make or break the EU
Cornelia Meyer/Arab News/March 19/ 2020
Europe has quickly become the new hotspot of the coronavirus outbreak, with the trajectory of the per capita infection rate and deaths exceeding those of China at the height of the crisis there. The worst-affected countries, Italy and Spain, accounted for 35,000 cases and 2,900 deaths and 14,000 cases and 638 deaths, respectively, as of Thursday.
This brings to the fore what the EU can and will do about the coronavirus. While it took some time and several stops and starts, the European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday announced a bond purchasing program of €750 billion ($813 billion) and the bank’s chief, Christine Lagarde, vowed to do whatever it takes to keep the euro zone and the euro going. She had insisted beforehand that ECB efforts needed to be supported by fiscal measures at the national level.
Central banks and finance ministers have coordinated to the greatest extent possible. Several countries have announced packages of support, especially for small and medium-sized companies like retailers. France launched a €300 billion package, Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz vowed to provide unlimited credit to all businesses impacted by the coronavirus, and the state of Bavaria pledged a relief package of €10 billion. Affluent little Switzerland has also been hard hit and the federal government declared a state of emergency. While not in the EU, the country coordinated with the ECB and provided a fund of 100 billion Swiss francs ($102 billion) to support businesses. These measures are direly needed, as even big manufacturing companies such as the automakers are shutting down one by one — except for when they can retool their factories to produce ventilators for hospitals or protective equipment such as masks or gloves.
This is all so far so good. Economic coordination works to the degree possible when it comes to coordinating monetary policy. Still, when EU finance ministers tried to decide how to deploy a €400 billion relief fund, they could not agree.
Things get worse when it comes to border crossings and health care. The latter has been left, to a large extent, in the purview of national governments up to now.
Solidarity among the EU-27 will be important once the coronavirus abates. If the affluent north is not prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the impoverished south, it may well be the end of the EU.
Earlier this week, the EU started to seal its external borders to all non-EU citizens, except for residents or vital medical staff. When non-EU citizens arrived at Frankfurt airport on Wednesday, they were turned around immediately because the ban had been decreed while they were in the air. Most national carriers are either grounded or are working at a maximum of 20 percent capacity. Smaller airlines may not survive the virus outbreak.
Border closures, in particular, are not well coordinated, as EU member countries revert to the nation state model day by day. Austria was the first when it closed its borders to Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Spain (by air travel as there is no land border between Austria and Spain). One by one, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary closed their borders, except for freight transport, which is excluded for the time being, albeit with significant delays. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed that, while borders may close to people, they would remain open for freight to ensure the supply of food and essential goods. Still, Germany did not allow exports of protective clothing, face masks and gloves until other EU health ministers intervened.
While all European countries seem to have converged on a stay at home/isolation policy and public transport has been severely limited, if not ground to a halt altogether, there was a substantial time lag along the way. A more coordinated approach could have done a lot to limit the spread of the virus — the emphasis being on earlier implementation of more stringent measures.
A pandemic like the coronavirus is global in nature and needs global response mechanisms, which have been woefully absent so far. It is a case for the UN and the World Health Organization (WHO) and for their funding. Governments should also heed their advice, which, particularly in the case of the WHO, many have too often ignored at their peril.
COVID-19 has also brought to the fore the limitations of the EU. If ever there was a case for the 27 countries to cooperate closely and engage in the same health policies, this was it. It cannot be that France isolates and the Netherlands banks on herd immunity.
When the epidemic has abated, it will be time to take stock. Solidarity among the EU-27 will be important as they try to rebuild their ravaged economies. If the affluent north is not prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the impoverished south, it may well be the end of the EU, as it will have lost its raison d’etre. In the meantime, the whole of Europe should coordinate and show solidarity when it comes to health care policy and ensuring the supply of essential goods to the entire population.
*Cornelia Meyer is a business consultant, macro-economist and energy expert. Twitter: @MeyerResources

A silver lining to the coronavirus cloud may shine on the GCC
Oliver Schutzmann/Al Arabiya/March 19/2020
If it is true that every cloud has a silver lining, investors are having to use ultra-powerful telescopes to discern any sign of one amid the current market storm.
A string of records have been broken in past weeks: Biggest daily market drops, unprecedented volatility and wild index fluctuations that have been everyday occurrences as the long bull market has come to an abrupt end. So extreme have the market gyrations been that analysts have had to go back to the Wall Street crash of 1929 to find a comparison. And that, of course, heralded the most prolonged depression of the 20th century and led, eventually, to World War II.
And yet, if history teaches us anything, it is that downturns eventually become recoveries and that rising market cycles outlast downturns. Kenneth Rogoff, the celebrated Harvard economist, sums it up neatly in the title of one of his books: This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. The folly this book refers to is that markets will never recover.
There is another factor that always happens in every downturn: Someone, somewhere makes a lot of money. Catching a falling knife is never easy; and plenty who try this trick lose their fingers. But after every downturn and market shock in history, a beneficiary has emerged. Sometimes, Hollywood makes a movie about the winners (think The Big Short). More often, these contrarians are briefly feted in the media, then the world moves on. Either way, it is more often a question of luck than good judgement that brings profit from turmoil.
The current pandemic-led correction will be no different. Some winners can already be called: Surgical equipment makers, medical ventilator manufacturers and video conferencing companies, for example. But the real prize lies at a wider, more sectoral level, and there is golden opportunity for the Arabian Gulf to emerge a winner from the current coronavirus-led market slump.
The sectors that have been hardest hit are those at which the GCC region excels: Airlines, hospitality, hotels and tourism. And the GCC has a number of factors that will insulate its sector champions from the pain being felt by their global peers: The unique private/public nature of many GCC players means they receive more forbearance from their banks and lenders. Their credit ratings take longer to be downgraded in line with global peers. And the nature of the region’s sovereign wealth funds means there is ample capital to be deployed during a perfect storm.
We have seen the region benefit from disaster before. At the nadir of the financial crisis, GCC sovereign wealth funds took part in capital-raising efforts by several western banks. Abu Dhabi famously made hundreds of millions in profit from an investment in Barclays bank; the Qatar Investment Authority holds large stakes in Barclays and Credit Suisse today. And of course Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia acquired a large part of Citigroup when that bank was in distress in the early 1990s.
The current pandemic crisis may dwarf the great financial crisis. In one sense, it already has: A public health crisis is far more harmful in human terms than a banking crisis. Nobody died as a result of the credit crunch.
Leaving the human tragedy to one side, the GCC’s companies, governments and funds may be able to seize commercial opportunities arising from the panic to acquire assets at extremely attractive valuations. The close links that the region’s governments have with the private sector means that partnerships can be formed to take stakes in strong but distressed businesses and assets around the world.
The biggest possible hindrance to this scenario is the plummeting oil price. GCC government revenues will slump – if they have not already – as oil flirts with the sub-$30 per barrel level. This will understandably lead to a retrenchment and focus on domestic priorities. But their private companies and sovereign wealth funds may be able to act with more freedom, and to pounce on opportunities around the world.
This should not be seen as a threat by overseas companies: Arabian Gulf shareholders have time and again proved to be long-term, benign and passive. No-one likes selling in a trough, but these are extraordinary times, and a lifeline provided by Gulf investors should come with outsized returns.
If Arabian Gulf investors are to seize the silver lining to the coronavirus cloud, they must move decisively and they must not fear the short term criticism that will greet any move. If they can do this, there may be a Hollywood movie to be made with a happy end.

Giving Iraq’s Next Prime Minister Space to Succeed
Michael Knights/The Washington Institute/March 19/ 2020
As the next well-qualified, Iraqi-chosen candidate navigates the delicate ratification process, Washington can avoid disrupting his efforts by temporarily ignoring militia provocations and providing quiet, symbolic support where needed.
In the early hours of March 17, Iraqi president Barham Salih nominated the country’s next candidate for prime minister, Shia politician Adnan al-Zurfi. Iran’s closest allies in the Iraqi parliament have vowed to oppose his parliamentary ratification, due by April 16, and may raise legal challenges to the nomination in the meantime. Likewise, Iran’s militia proxies reacted with their third, fourth, and fifths attacks on coalition forces in a week, targeting the U.S. embassy and the Taji and Bismayah training bases near Baghdad.
How can the United States respond to these provocations without derailing a potentially positive development? Iraq desperately needs effective leadership at a time of intertwining economic, political, security, and health crises, and Zurfi appears capable of providing it. To increase his chances of ratification, the U.S. government should temporarily adopt a defensive military posture, “banking” response strikes for the future while using diplomatic measures to deal with militia attacks for now. On the political front, it needs to be visibly helpful with Iraq’s multiple crises but invisible in all other matters. And to show faith in Zurfi, Washington should renew and lengthen its energy sanctions waiver.
THE ROAD TO NOMINATING ZURFI
Iraq’s government formation process has entered uncharted territory twice in the past four months: on December 2, when mass public protests forced Adil Abdulmahdi to resign, the first prime minister to do since the fall of Saddam; and again on March 1, when Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi became the first prime minister-designate to fall short of ratifying a government by the thirty-day constitutional deadline. Afterward, the Federal Supreme Court confirmed that the president was solely authorized to name Allawi’s replacement, and Salih appealed to all parties to come up with a consensus candidate. That failed, as did an effort by just the Shia parties to name one.
With the fifteen-day constitutional deadline for picking a candidate set to expire, Salih did something that is very rare and risky for Iraqi politicians these days: he fulfilled his oath, played by the rules, and chose the candidate he regarded as the most qualified. The international community should remember this and support Salih at a very trying time.
Zurfi is an intriguing candidate who was unlikely to garner unanimous backing from Iranian-backed Shia factions such as Hadi al-Ameri’s Fatah bloc (which holds 48 of the parliament’s 329 seats) and Faleh al-Fayyad’s Ataa bloc (8 seats). A former governor of Najaf, he has a history of push-and-shove with Shia Islamist parties and militias, yet seems to have overcome the concerns of Muqtada al-Sadr and certain other Shia leaders. A businessman and politician, he lived in the United States from 1992 to 2003 and holds citizenship there, though this has not prevented him from building effective relationships with many U.S.-skeptical Iraqi politicians.
The unlikely advent of his nomination represents potentially vital progress for Iraq, which has been hit with the perfect storm of coronavirus outbreaks, halved oil prices, popular unrest, and ongoing militia violence. Zurfi now has up to thirty days to form a cabinet and ratify it with a minimum of 165 votes in parliament. As things stand, he is quite likely to succeed because only some elements of Fatah are dead-set against him, and he has the connections needed to splinter remaining opposition. His challenge is to avoid any major defections in the coming weeks, particularly by the changeable Sadr. The United States can help reduce the likelihood of major disruptive developments by temporarily adjusting its current policies.
SELF-DEFENSE WITHOUT MAJOR ESCALATION
To compensate for their limited representation in parliament, those elements who oppose Zurfi’s nomination most vehemently will almost surely resort to armed force. Militia rocket attacks have attended almost every key milestone in the nomination process, and three new salvos landed after Salih chose him. Thus, while the United States needs to protect its personnel in Iraq, it also needs to avoid the trap that militias and their Iranian backers are setting: to bait Washington into a confrontation that undermines Zurfi’s nomination and boosts their own leverage. Policymakers should focus on the following options:
Consolidate and protect U.S. bases. The coalition is reportedly withdrawing from exposed forward bases such as al-Qayyara, al-Qaim, and Kirkuk in order to consolidate on bigger, better-protected bases like Erbil, Baghdad International Airport, and al-Asad. These moves will likely coincide with the arrival of U.S. Patriot missile and counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) batteries. The new approach is prudent and should be implemented in full, despite potentially diluting the campaign against the Islamic State for a time. Once the moves are completed, helicopter traffic and ground movements should be minimized.
Bank retaliatory responses. The United States should publicly and privately signal Iran and its proxies that even if certain rocket strikes pass without a major response for now, U.S. forces will retaliate for each of them at a time and place of their choosing. Besides potentially reducing the chance that militias will try to bait Washington at this sensitive time, this is generally a smarter way to do deterrence, since it allows for striking high-value militia leaders as they surface. Congress and the Trump administration should hold private discussions on determining the proper degree of military flexibility and response ratios.
Increase international pressure on militias. Over the past three months, Iran-backed militias have struck bases housing forces from Denmark, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal. Washington should reassure these and other international players that it will rein in retaliatory strikes, so long as they agree to tenaciously and publicly condemn militia attacks on coalition forces, as some are already doing.
NON-MILITARY STEPS
Under Abdulmahdi’s tenure, U.S.-Iraq relations deteriorated to a level unseen since 2003. Washington should therefore give the next prime minister a soft landing, since the government now seems capable of turning toward a better future for the first time in two years. Non-military measures are vital in this regard, on both the symbolic and tangible levels:
Manage the COVID-19 crisis. As the pandemic intensifies, Iraqis will look to U.S. institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for best practices and medical support. Washington should use its leverage as a major donor to the World Health Organization to ensure testing kits are rushed to Iraq, and send some symbolic humanitarian support directly (including drugs and ventilators), in the same manner that the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are sending such support to Iran.
Restore Iraqi prestige. Baghdad’s reputation has been battered by the collapse of its government and unchecked militia attacks on international military advisors. To help reverse this deterioration, U.S. officials should publicly welcome Zurfi with a warm and supportive tone even before ratification, while giving him the leeway to direct fair criticisms at America—as long as he does the same with Iran. They should also encourage him to strengthen his strategic communications with Iraqi protestors in order to reduce potential public opposition. Finally, they should begin hinting that the next prime minister will be welcomed for a White House visit once quarantine conditions are lifted by both states.
Support economic reforms. With oil prices plummeting, Iraq is in the worst economic peril of almost any Middle Eastern state—a situation that gives Washington yet another reason to push Saudi Arabia and the UAE into ending their price war with Russia. U.S. authorities could also prioritize the purchase of Iraqi oil when refreshing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a useful symbolic move. In parallel, they should begin building support for new IMF and World Bank engagement with Iraq, which may quickly become essential supports for the retrenching Iraqi economy.
Support energy independence. Existing U.S. efforts to increase gas treatment and gas-to-power projects in Iraq are now more important than ever, both to reduce Baghdad’s dependence on Iranian energy/fuel supplies and to increase the amount of Iraqi oil available for export. A bilateral strategic dialogue on these matters should be accelerated—even if virtually while international travel is restricted by the coronavirus. And as mentioned previously, Washington should bolster Zurfi by issuing a 120-day sanctions waiver as it did in the past, not at the current 45-day limit.
Gather international support for early elections. The United States should play an energetic (albeit back-seat) role on this issue, urging the UN and other international institutions to help Iraq’s parliament and next prime minister complete the elections code and reform the Independent High Electoral Commission.
These steps can help show the Iraqis that even in the midst of a global crisis, they have a friend in the United States, with one important proviso—that this friend will be even more responsive to their needs once they have an effective prime minister at the helm.
*Michael Knights is a senior fellow with The Washington Institute. Since 2003, he has conducted extensive on-the-ground research in Iraq alongside security forces and government ministries.