English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 09/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.may09.20.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Bible Quotations For today
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed meto bring good news to the poor
Luke 04/14-21: “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed meto bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 08-09/2020
May 07th/2008 Hezbollah’s Bloody Invasion Of Beirut & Mount Lebanon/Elias Bejjani/May 07/2020
Lebanon Records 12 New Coronavirus Cases and 1 More Death
Lebanese dies of Covid-19 in Dubai
Minister of Health: Daycares to open back up in June
President Aoun in memory of International Red Cross founder: "It is our duty to show solidarity, lend hand and support without hesitation"
Diab meets UNIFIL’s Del Col
Berri meets Justice Minister, Aridi
Protesters stage sit-in outsideTripoli Palace of Justice
Report: IMF’s Main Conditions to Finance Lebanon’s Rescue Plan
Head of Money Changers Arrested over 'Dollar Manipulation'
Lebanon Announces Gradual Resumption of Classes Starting May 28
UN, partners in Lebanon launch “Emergency Appeal” requesting $350 million to respond to immediate impact of COVID-19
IHRC: Lebanon Should Sign UNCAC to Combat Corruption
Turkey Charges Pilots, Others, over Ex-Nissan Chief's Escape
Fadlallah: Anti-Corruption War Harder than War against Israel
Prominent Beirut university hit by coronavirus cash crisis
Italy reaffirms support for Lebanon
Lebanon's head of money changers arrested for selling dollars in ‘illegal manner’
Lebanese Government Decides to Face Price Hikes
Repatriated Lebanese Expats Pose New Challenge in Virus Fight
Ex-Lebanese president Émile Lahoud decries capital controls, can only withdraw $1,000
Lebanese women with foreign spouses denied coronavirus aid
Lebanese Zugzwang and Harlequin’s Choice/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
Lebanon’s Reaching out to the IMF/Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
A bad week for Hezbollah/Hanin Ghaddar/Al Arabiya/May 08/2020
Time For 'Le Petit Liban'/Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/May 08/2020
Hezbollah doesn’t want another war with Israel, yet/Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/May 08/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 08-09/2020
Pompeo to visit Israel for annexation talks
Israel’s Netanyahu set for a new term in office with regional implications
Iraqis Voice Cautious Optimism, Demand Radical Change from New PM
US Secretary Pompeo welcomes Iraq govt, extends Iran sanctions waiver
Iranian Human Rights Activist Mysteriously Drowned In Houston Park Lake
Iranians Urged to Take Virus 'Seriously' as Cases Rise
Iran used US servers in cyberattack on Israeli water facilities - report
U.S. says Russia is working with Syria's Assad to move militia to Libya
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs to mark 75th anniversary of victory in Europe at UN Security Council
UN: ISIS, Other Factions Upping Attacks on Syrians during Pandemic
WHO Fears Up to 190,000 Could Die in Africa If Virus Containment Fails
Spanish Police Detain Suspected ISIS Follower
UNRWA Launches Emergency Coronavirus Appeal to Help Palestinians
Social Distancing Signs around the World Show the New Normal

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 08-09/2020
Is Iran really leaving Syria?/Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/May 08/2020
Misinformation and leaks: The love-hate Russia-Iran relationship in Syria//FDD/May 08/2020
Extend the Arms Embargo on Iran/Richard Goldberg & Mark Dubowitz/FDD/May 08/2020
Two Years On, the Trump Administration’s Iran Policy Continues to Make Sense/Mark Dubowitz & Behnam Ben Taleblu/FDD/May 08/2020
Touting Missile Launch, Khamenei Urges Surge In Production In A Failing Economy/Radio Farda/May 08/2020
The IRGC’s Smuggling Conglomerate/Jason Brodsky/United Against Nuclear Iran/May 08/2020
Flynn Was Innocent All Along: He Was Pressured to Plead Guilty/Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/May 08/2020
Damascus Caught Between Two Cousins/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
Russia's Media Campaign Against Assad/Charles Lister/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
Isn’t It The Time for A New 'Non-Alignment?/Amr Moussa/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
Apartheid and Coronavirus in the Middle East/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 8, 2020
Question: "Why does God allow us to go through trials and tribulations?/GotQuestions.org/May 08/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 08-09/2020
May 07th/2008 Hezbollah’s Bloody Invasion Of Beirut & Mount Lebanon
Elias Bejjani/May 07/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/74558/elias-bejjani-may-07th-2008-hezbollahs-bloody-invasion-of-beirut-mount-lebanon/
On May 07th, 2008 Hezbollah Armed Terrorist Iranian militia proxy invaded the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and some regions in Mount Lebanon at the backdrop of a government resolution regarding its illegal telecommunication network .
The Terrorist Hezbollah, backed by its pro Syrian and pro Iranian March 08 armed terrorists, broke in some Lebanese deputies’ houses, assassinated innocent citizens on the streets, burned and looted some media institutions belonging to Future Movement, and stopped by force the Future TV News Channel from broadcasting after spreading its armed men inside its studios.
Dozens of innocent civilians were killed and injured on the streets and in their houses during this criminal Iranian invasion.
The Invasion also targeted some areas of mount Lebanon few days after that of Beirut…But failed to achieve its aims.
Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah appointed Iranian leader shamelessly called the invasion a day of glory.
Sadly the Lebanese army watched the Hezbollah criminal invasion without taking any deterrent procedure while totally abandoned its obligations and national duties.
The Army’s Chief at the time of the invasion, Michael Suleiman was rewarded for his pro Hezbollah role and afterwards by the help and full support of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah was elected illegally as Lebanon’s president.
It remains that Hezbollah is not Lebanese by any means, or under any constitutional or patriotic criteria. Hezbollah is a mere Iranian Occupation tool.
This Shiite Iranian armed Militia is an Iranian Army and has been occupying Lebanon since 2005 after the Syrian Army was forced to withdraw as a result of a huge public demonstration known as the 14th Of March Demo and Revolution.
While remembering the bloody and criminal invasion, the Lebanese in both Lebanon and Diaspora, citizens, officials and politicians are all ought to never ever succumb to Hezbollah’s occupation and at the same time are urgently required to call for the implementation of the two UN resolutions 1559 and 1701.
On this day, our prayers go to the souls of the innocent Lebanese victims that were brutally killed by Hezbollah on the May, 2008 invasion in both Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

Lebanon Records 12 New Coronavirus Cases and 1 More Death
Naharnet/May 08/2020
Lebanon recorded twelve more COVID-19 coronavirus cases and one more virus-related death over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Friday.
Six of those infected are evacuated Lebanese expats and the rest are residents, the Ministry said in a statement. It said the infected expats came from Liberia, Sierra Leone, France and Saudi Arabia, adding that the sources of the six local cases have been traced. The cases raise the country's tally to 796 as the fatality raises the death toll to 26.The Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, 1,651 lab tests were carried out for residents and 345 for repatriated expats.

Lebanese dies of Covid-19 in Dubai
NNA/Friday/May 08/2020
A 55-year-old Lebanese man has died of Covid-19 in the UAE city of Dubai, our correspondent reported on Friday. The deceased, named Ibrahim Hassan Hassoun, was a father of three.

Minister of Health: Daycares to open back up in June
NNA/Friday/May 08/2020
Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, on Friday issued a decree organizing the process of reopening daycares across Lebanon as of May 11, 2020. The decree dictates a number of logistical preparations that should be implemented by daycares before receiving children in the month of June.
The minister stressed the paramount importance of having daycares of meticulously observe and apply the instructions that have been listed on the Ministry of Public Health’s website. The decree also pointed out that daycares would be subjected to supervision through random inspection visits in a bid to ensure that all the ministry’s conditions and guidelines are being met.

President Aoun in memory of International Red Cross founder: "It is our duty to show solidarity, lend hand and support without hesitation"
NNA/Friday/May 08/2020
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, congratulated the Lebanese Red Cross, President, elements and volunteers, on the memory of the International Red Cross founder, Henry Dunant, praising their efforts in all periods that have passed in Lebanon, especially in the recent period in which they made double efforts to confront the Corona virus, and to provide aid and support to the sick, with all the dangers and sacrifices they took with courage and impulsion.

Diab meets UNIFIL’s Del Col
NNA/Friday/May 08/2020
Prime Minister Dr. Hassan Diab on Friday received the Head of Mission of the UNIFIL, Major-General Stefano Del Col, with Deputy Head of Mission and Chief Department of Policy and Civil Affairs Jack Christofides, Military Assistant Lt. Col. Andrea Fraticelli, Assistant Lt. Col. Pietro Mezzapesa, Special Assistant Nitisha Pandey, and Associate Abass Awala, in the presence of PM advisors Brigadier General Hassib Abdo and Ambassador Gebran Soufan.
Talks touched on the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate and the Israeli breaches along the border.--PM Press office

Berri meets Justice Minister, Aridi
NNA/Friday/May 08/2020
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Friday received at his Ain El-Tineh residence Minister of Justice Marie-Claude Najm, who said on emerging that talks touched on means of cooperation between the legislative and executive powers. Speaking after the visit, Minister Najm said that she discussed with the Speaker means of cooperation between the legislative and executive powers, adding that this is a common concern, especially in terms of approving all reform laws related to the fight against corruption and the independence of judiciary.
Speaker Berri also met with former Minister Ghazi Al Aridi, with whom he discussed the general situation and the latest political developments.
On the other hand, Berri cabled his Irish counterpart congratulating him on his election as Speaker of Parliament.

Protesters stage sit-in outsideTripoli Palace of Justice
NNA/Friday/May 08/2020
A number of protesters staged a sit-in outside the Tripoli Palace of Justice, to protest the arrest of activists against the backdrop of the recent protests in the city. This took place amid deployment of ISF and army members in the vicinity of the Palace of Justice. Protesters then rallied outside the “Fransabank” Branch in Tripoli, to protest against the banking policy. They chanted slogans against the hiking price of the US dollar’s exchange rate and the fast-rising living costs.

Report: IMF’s Main Conditions to Finance Lebanon’s Rescue Plan
Naharnet/May 08/2020
Gharbis Eradian, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa MENA, at the Institute of International Finance IIF, said the IMF may request some “conditions” in order to approve the financing of Lebanon’s rescue plan, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.
According to the daily, Eradian said the international lender may request Lebanese authorities to implement some of the terms as follows:
1- Unify the official and parallel exchange rate (of Lebanese pound to the dollar); move to a flexible exchange rate, as is the case in Egypt.
2- Approve some of the decrees and laws presented to the Parliament including the judicial independence law, appointment of EDL’s regulatory authority and the board of directors; and the public procurement law.
3- Close all illegal crossings and combating smuggling.
4 - Impose fines on illegal maritime property.
5- In addition to other technical measures related to quantitative performance standards, which include total cash and credit, international reserves and financial behavior.
Last week, Lebanon signed a request for financial help from the International Monetary Fund, initiating a long process the government hopes will ease the country’s worst post-war economic crisis.
Lebanon is in the thick of its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. In tandem, the government will seek more than $10 billion dollars in financial support on top of $11 billion in grants and loans already pledged by international donors in 2018.
It is unclear how much would come from the IMF.

Head of Money Changers Arrested over 'Dollar Manipulation'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 08/2020
Lebanon has arrested the head of the money changers' union as it battles to stabilize the value of the country's nose-diving currency on the black market, a security official said Friday. "The head of the money changers' syndicate, Mahmoud Mrad, was arrested (Thursday) at the request of Lebanon's financial prosecutor" on charges of "tampering" with the value of the Lebanese pound, the official said. "Money exchange houses have been buying dollars at a very high price," driving up the exchange rate, the source told AFP.
Mrad is currently under investigation.
The pound had been pegged to the dollar at 1,500 since 1997 but Lebanon's worst economic crisis in decades has seen its value plunge by more than half on the black market.
To stem a further devaluation, the central bank ordered exchange offices late last month to cap the rate at 3,200 to the dollar.
But the pound has since fetched more than 4,000 to the greenback, prompting a government crackdown on incompliant offices.
To escape prosecution, many money exchange offices have closed their doors.
But some have continued to operate secretly, sometimes delivering money to their clients' homes.
"Over the past two weeks, around 50 money changers were arrested," the security source said.
"Those who have a license signed a pledge to abstain from tampering with the value of the dollar and were later released," he added.
"Those without a license were transferred to the judiciary for investigation."
The money changers' union called Mrad's arrest a "regrettable incident" and expressed its commitment to central bank orders.
But it would be "difficult to commit to any pre-determined rate in a fluctuating market controlled by supply and demand," the union said.
Media reports said late on Thursday that Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim had ordered Mrad's arrest on charges of “dollar manipulation.”
Al-Akhbar daily, which is close to Hizbullah, reported Friday that police in Dahieh arrested the money changer Mohammed M. seeing as he was buying big amounts of dollars at a high and unofficial rate of LBP 4,200. Police found audio conversations with Mrad on his mobile, the newspaper added.
During investigations with Mrad after his detention, police said the latter had commissioned a group of money changers to buy dollars to his advantage from the market.
They found audio conversations on his WhatsApp app with the money changers for that purpose.
Mrad was selling dollars at LBP 4,500 to food importers who needed dollars in cash to import the goods they sell into the market.
Investigators also arrested a bank manager in the mountainous region of Aley over suspicions he was providing dollars to money changers for sale at a high price. Lebanon is in the thick of its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war, compounded by the coronavirus epidemic.
Forty-five percent of Lebanon's population now lives below the poverty line, and tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs or seen salaries slashed because of the downturn.
A liquidity crunch has seen banks halt dollar transfers and withdrawals, forcing depositors to deal in the free-falling Lebanese pound.
To ease demand for the greenback, commercial banks in April started to allow pound withdrawals from dollar savings at double the official rate.
But the value of the dollar on the black market has continued to climb.
"We are forced to buy dollars on the black market to supply dollars to businessmen, especially those who trade in food," one money changer told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The central bank and commercial banks are not giving out dollars, so the only way to find them is on the black market."
The government last week adopted an economic reform plan and signed a request for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
The roadmap is based on an exchange rate of 3,500 to the dollar. It advocates a floating currency that will gradually lose value against the dollar.

Lebanon Announces Gradual Resumption of Classes Starting May 28
Naharnet/May 08/2020
Education Minister Tarek Majzoub announced a gradual resumption of classes on Friday, explaining a phased resumption of activities in schools and universities starting May 28 until the end of July. He said the health ministry and the World Health Organization will collaborate to monitor the return after the outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. “We have managed to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but we closed all educational institutions when we felt the danger was imminent,” said Majzoub. He said the suspension of schools and educational activities will be lifted step by step. Universities, Bacc and Brevet classes, technical and vocational education will resume teaching starting May 28. Online learning will continue for Grades 1 to 9 until the end of May. Classes will resume after the end of the summer vacation. The rest of the grades will resume partially starting June 11. On intermediate education, awarded diplomas will be given to students whose names are listed in Grade 9 and who complete the academic year from May 28 to the end of July. Free applicants have to sit for official exams that will be held after the mid of August. Regarding the secondary education in their respective tracks, Majzoub said: "The subjects are divided into two groups, the first is compulsory and the second is optional.” Detailed memos will be issued next week setting the dates for official exams.

UN, partners in Lebanon launch “Emergency Appeal” requesting $350 million to respond to immediate impact of COVID-19
NNA/May 08/2020
Today, following consultations with the government and international partners, the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim and humanitarian partners are launching the Lebanon Emergency Appeal. The Appeal, requesting for US$350 million, is to address critical areas of humanitarian intervention to protect the lives of people in Lebanon who are most acutely at risk due to the COVID-19 outbreak and its immediate socio-economic impact.
“Through this appeal, the UN and partners are refocusing their work to best support the government and the people in Lebanon in the current circumstances”, said the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim, Mr. Claudio Cordone. “It is crucial to secure the requested funds so that those most in need can receive urgent humanitarian assistance”.
The onset of the COVID-19 in Lebanon has come at an extraordinarily difficult time compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities. The outbreak has added pressure to an already overburdened and under-resourced national health system.
The Appeal is premised on the principle of a single health response for all those residing in Lebanon, without distinction based on gender, nationality or status, under the leadership of the Government of Lebanon.
“So far, Lebanon was able to ensure a strong and well-coordinated preparedness and response to COVID-19. Now, we need to remain vigilant and continue providing the necessary support as the outbreak is far from being over”, said the WHO representative in Lebanon, Dr. Iman Shankiti.
The non-health consequences will also be deeper, longer lasting and require a collective approach. Children have been deprived of ordinary education, learning opportunities and nutrition support. Food insecurity is now exacerbated by movement restrictions, loss of income, and no access to school food support. Protection concerns are increasing, particularly for women and girls, refugees and migrants, people with disabilities, older people and other vulnerable groups.
In line with the national COVID-19 Response Plan, the UN and its partners have identified four key priority workstreams to respond to current humanitarian needs:
1. Supporting the preparedness and response capacity of the Lebanese health system in coping with the COVID-19 emergency;
2. Strengthening the engagement of and communication with communities, supporting good hygiene practices and ensuring COVID-19 specific support services;
3. Ensuring uninterrupted delivery of critical assistance and services to the refugees and host communities, as foreseen in the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP); and,
4. Expanding support to vulnerable population groups not included in the LCRP, in need of humanitarian assistance due to the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and previous financial crisis.—UN

IHRC: Lebanon Should Sign UNCAC to Combat Corruption
Naharnet/May 08/2020
Commissioner of the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) in the Middle East Haitham Abu Saeed said that Lebanon should sign the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in order to combat corruption as “sought by Lebanon’s President and PM,” the National News Agency reported on Friday. Saeed said in a statement that he received a report from a member of the Executive Council of the Committee in the Middle East, Adib Asaad on the outbreak of corruption in the Mediterranean country. “The blatant outbreak of corruption in Lebanon and the dangerous reality that resulted from it brought the Lebanese state to the brink of the abyss. It led to a great financial failure which reflected negatively on the state and citizens alike,” Abu Saeed said quoting Asaad’s report. Abu Saeed said that “the Lebanese state should sign the UN agreement on combating corruption for its significance being the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty, criminalizing some actions, and strengthening law enforcement and international judicial cooperation, in addition to providing effective legal mechanisms to recover the assets, funds and looted assets as sought by President Michel Aoun and PM Hassan Diab.”

Turkey Charges Pilots, Others, over Ex-Nissan Chief's Escape
Associated PressNaharnet/May 08/2020
Turkish prosecutors have charged four pilots, an airline company official and two flight attendants for their alleged roles in former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan to Turkey and from there to Beirut, Turkey's state-run news agency reported Thursday.
Anadolu Agency said prosecutors in Istanbul have completed an indictment against the seven, formally charging the four pilots and the official of illegally smuggling a migrant. The two flight attendants are accused of failing to report a crime, the agency said. A trial date will be set after a court in Istanbul's Bakirkoy district formally accepts the indictment. Details of the indictment were not immediately available. Ghosn, who was arrested over financial misconduct allegations in Tokyo in 2018, skipped bail while awaiting trial in Japan late last year. He flew to Istanbul and was then transferred onto another plane bound for Beirut, where he arrived Dec. 30. The Turkish airline company MNG Jet said in January that two of its planes were used illegally in Ghosn's escape, first flying him from Osaka, Japan, to Istanbul, and then on to Beirut. The company said its employee had admitted to falsifying flight records so that Ghosn's name did not appear on them. The company employee and four pilots remain in custody while the flight attendants were released after questioning. The suspects have been identified by their initials only. Prosecutors in Japan have separately issued arrest warrants for Ghosn and three Americans who they say helped and planned his escape. Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon and the former Nissan chief is unlikely to be arrested. Lebanon has indicated it will not hand over Ghosn.
Ghosn, who led Nissan for nearly 20 years, says he is innocent and that he fled Japan in the belief he could not get a fair trial there.

Fadlallah: Anti-Corruption War Harder than War against Israel
Naharnet/May 08/2020
MP Hasan Fadlallah of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc on Friday said the fight against corruption in Lebanon is more difficult than the war with Israel.
“We had been aware of the difficulty of the war against corruption from the very beginning, seeing as it is harder than the war against the Israeli enemy,” Fadlallah said at a press conference aimed at explaining Hizbullah's “efforts to fight corruption.”“We are confident that we will find brave judges who honor their oath and are willing to fight the war against corruption. We were before two choices – leaving the country under the mercy of corruption or shouldering the responsibility and engaging in the war through the available legal means. We decided to fight this war through the law and state institutions, because this is the only available path,” the MP explained. “We started a legislative workshop prior to the government's formation and we presented draft laws some of which were passed in parliament,” he added.
Calling for “a real uprising against corrupts in the judicial body and against any political interference,” Fadlallah called for “improving the judiciary and its independence.”He noted that had a draft law for lifting immunities been approved in the latest legislative session, “former ministers would have been appearing before examining magistrates today.”And urging the Higher Judicial Council to look into all the submitted corruption files, the lawmaker said he is committed to “refraining from defaming anyone” against whom he has taken action before the judiciary.
“Their names are now with the judiciary and it is up to it to issue verdicts against the corrupts,” he added. Moreover, Fadlallah said the government must “set a timeframe for its financial inspection that is related to the central bank,” while calling on the judiciary to “play its complete role in the electricity file.”
He added that his party played a role in the lawsuits that have been filed against 10 oil companies over alleged embezzlement, in putting an end to $300 million in annual losses from illegal internet services and in halting $100 million in annual losses from the waste of public funds at the country's two mobile network operators. “The parties responsible for the corruption in the telecommunications sector are the ministry, the two mobile network operators and private internet companies,” he said.

Prominent Beirut university hit by coronavirus cash crisis
Reuters/May 08/2020
AUB cuts staff amid perfect storm of Lebanese currency crash, COVID-19 pandemic and unpaid government debts
BEIRUT: One of the Arab world’s oldest universities faces its worst crisis since its foundation, with huge losses, staff cuts and an uphill battle to stay afloat as Lebanon’s economic meltdown and the coronavirus pandemic hit revenues.
The American University of Beirut (AUB) has graduated leading figures in medicine, law, science and art as well as political leaders and scholars over the decades. It has weathered many crises, including Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, when a number of staff, including two presidents, were killed or abducted, and a bomb destroyed one of its main halls. But Lebanon’s problems now may be the biggest threat yet to the institution founded in 1866 by Protestant missionaries. It ranks among the world’s top 200 universities and its collapse would deprive future generations in Lebanon and the wider region of internationally recognized higher education. “This is one of the biggest challenges in AUB’s history. The country is crashing catastrophically,” AUB President Fadlo Khuri told Reuters in an interview. With inflation, unemployment and poverty high, many families have little means to cover food and rent, let alone tens of thousands of dollars in tuition fees. The heavily indebted state, which defaulted on its foreign currency debt in March, owes AUB’s medical center — which attracts patients from across the Middle East and Central Asia — more than $150 million in arrears.
Government officials have ruled out a haircut on the bank deposits of non-profit universities such as AUB, but Khuri still fears his institution may take a hit if a state rescue plan puts part of the burden on large depositors and includes colleges.
Along with other universities, his school has lobbied the state and, he said, received assurances from the president and finance minister that any such measures would not impact them.
But he remains worried, with plans for plugging vast holes in the national finances not yet finalized. “We have all this money they (the state) still owe us for the hospital so it’s very hard to rely on well-intentioned people who may or may not have the ability (to deliver),” he said. Government officials could not be reached for comment.
The university and hospital expect real losses of $30 million this year after bleeding revenues. For 2020-2021 alone, it projects a 60 percent revenue reduction from this year, down to $249 million. The stark revenue forecasts rely on an “optimistic assumption” that the Lebanese pound will stabilize at 3,000 to the dollar, but Khuri has said they do not take into account a possible haircut imposed on AUB’s bank deposits in Lebanon. Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni has said there will be a shift to a flexible exchange rate in the “coming period.” Khuri said AUB would have to set its own rate in the meantime, taking into account people who say they can pay in dollars to help cushion the impact of the pound’s collapse on poorer students. AUB has already lost donations and scholarships it was expecting before the pandemic. On top of benefit and wage cuts, it is studying options such as closing whole departments and halting spending.
In an email to students and families, Khuri promised to work to protect their livelihoods and to raise money via an emergency fund. “But there is no question that sacrifices must and will take place at every level,” Khuri wrote. “We must fundamentally change in order to survive ... Saving AUB must be our only priority. And save it we will.”  

Italy reaffirms support for Lebanon
Annahar Staff /May 08/2020
Di Maio expressed appreciation to the recently adopted economic rescue plan by the Lebanese Government.
BEIRUT: In a phone conversation held Thursday between the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio, and the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Nassif Hitti, Italy reaffirmed its ongoing support to Lebanese institutions in the challenging period the country is going through. Di Maio welcomed the recently adopted economic rescue plan by the Lebanese Government, which included an IMF assistance request, noting that it marks an important step towards a serious and not deferrable reform process.
The Italian official also reaffirmed Italy’s commitment to the stability and security of Lebanon through its participation in UNIFIL and the support it provides for the Lebanese army and security forces.

Lebanon's head of money changers arrested for selling dollars in ‘illegal manner’
Abby Sewell, Al Arabiya English/Friday 08 May 2020
In the fight against a steadily increasing Lebanese lira-US dollar exchange rate, Lebanese authorities went after their highest-profile target to date with the arrest of the head of the syndicate representing exchange houses.
Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim told Al Arabiya English that Mahmoud Mrad, head of the Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon had been arrested Thursday, along with several others, “as the result of an investigation into money changers selling in an illegal manner.”
The local currency has seen sharp devaluation over the past months, and though the official exchange rate remains set at 1,507 lira to the dollar, the unofficial rate has risen to above 4,000 lira to the dollar, due to a shortage of dollars in the country. Ibrahim said that Mrad had been “playing with the market” by not adhering to the price the central bank set for dollars. In an attempt to tamp down inflation, the central bank last month issued a circular setting a maximum price of 3,200 lira for the dollar; in response, the syndicate of exchange houses declared a strike, arguing that it was impossible for them to do business at that rate.Mrad has been referred to the First Investigative Judge in the Mount Lebanon district, Ibrahim said, and the investigation is continuing.
Asked about the strike, Ibrahim said, “Let them do their work, and we’ll do our work.”While many exchange shops have remained closed, some money changers have continued to do business with customers who contact them privately to arrange transactions, at rates higher than the mandated 3,200.
The money changers’ syndicate issued a statement in response to the arrest of Mrad saying that he and the syndicate members have “always been striving to abide by the regulatory circulars and the exchange rate set by the regulatory authorities, despite the great challenges and difficulties that accompany the implementation.”The statement added that sticking to “any pre-determined price” in a market determined by supply and demand is difficult. The syndicate noted that under the law, violations of the Central Bank circulars are not a criminal act.
In their statement, the syndicate expressed confidence in the Lebanese judiciary and court system. The local newspaper Al Akhbar reported that Mrad’s arrest had resulted from an investigation by the Judicial Police in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as part of which, an unregistered money changer told them he had worked with Mrad to buy dollars and sell them at an inflated rate to wholesale traders, who need dollars to do business. The newspaper reported that a bank branch manager had also been arrested for taking part in the scheme.
On Thursday, the Internal Security Forces announced that six people – four Lebanese and two Iranian – had been arrested by the Judicial Police in the southern suburbs for carrying out illegal exchange activities. The ISF statement did not identify the suspects by their full names, but they included one with the initials M.M. ISF said four exchange shops had been shut down and sealed with red wax, of which two had a legal license from the central bank, but were not adhering to the mandated prices. Two clothing shops that were operating illegal money exchange businesses were also closed.
This was the latest in a series of enforcement efforts that have so far proved largely futile in clamping down on the black market trade in dollars. Authorities have also attempted to block mobile apps that provided information on the black-market exchange rate, claiming that they were spreading false information.

Lebanese Government Decides to Face Price Hikes
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
With the crash of Lebanon's national currency that sent food prices soaring, the Lebanese government placed a plan to fight inflation. “We were facing an enormous and dangerous challenge, as inflation, mainly food prices, have become unreasonable,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said at a cabinet session held Thursday to follow-up on the living conditions in the country. “We cannot stay idle … It is totally unacceptable for us not to act quickly, because things will further get out of control. Pricing has become random and ill-conceived, and prices have nothing to do with the dollar exchange rate,” Diab said. During the cabinet session, Industry Minister Imad Hoballah said measures would be taken to fight soaring food prices, while Justice Minister Marie Claude Najem said that her ministry was following-up on complaints made by the Economy Ministry on price hikes. Economy Minister Raoul Nehme informed the government of a decision to set a maximum profit margin for basic commodities. Nehme had launched a training course for volunteers to support consumer protection by monitoring the markets. We are ready to train personnel from all municipalities to help us protect consumers," he said. Protests erupted across the country late last month against the soaring unemployment and poverty. Last week, the government formally requested the assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to save Lebanon from the deep financial crisis.The move came one day after the announcement of the long-awaited economic plan. On Thursday, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said his party is willing to look into all of the proposed economic plans, but that actual reforms must be carried out first. "The government must embark on reform measures, and then we are ready to consider any plan," Geagea told France 24 channel. He said there are many economic plans in the country. “The problem does not lie within these plans but within their implementation," he explained. Commenting on Hezbollah, Geagea said the party was a key part of the problem and not the solution. But he indicated that Hezbollah could help mitigate the current crisis if it ceased protecting its "corrupt allies."

Repatriated Lebanese Expats Pose New Challenge in Virus Fight
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
The Lebanese government has launched a new phase of repatriating expatriates, creating greater challenges in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. The Ministry of Health registered 33 new cases of COVID-19 among repatriated nationals in the past 48 hours, and only one local infection, raising the total number to 784 since the first reported case in February. “We have started a new stage in the return of expatriates,” Health Minister Hamad Hassan said, noting that this step “constitutes a challenge and requires us to take measures back from scratch.”He stressed, however, that the flights would not be stopped. He explained that the ministry counted on the “expatriates’ conscience to protect their communities, and to adhere to the measures taken by the ministry and the relevant authorities.”The arrivals increased the numbers of infections significantly. Twenty-five persons coming from Nigeria tested positive for the virus and were transferred upon arrival to Rafik Hariri Hospital. Out of this number, the Disaster Management Unit in Tyre, in South Lebanon, recorded 12 confirmed cases, raising the number of infections in the city to 15, four of whom have recovered.
A number of Lebanese nationals have also arrived from Syria, where they were stranded due to the lockdown and the closure of land borders. The National News Agency (NNA) reported that strict measures were taken at al-Abboudieh border crossing, where several buses were brought in to secure the transportation of the returning Lebanese to the dedicated quarantine centers, pending the results of their PCR tests. The Ministry of Health later announced, in a statement, that all the tests conducted for expats arriving through al-Masnaa and al-Abboudieh crossings came negative.

Ex-Lebanese president Émile Lahoud decries capital controls, can only withdraw $1,000
Ismaeel Naar and Lauren Holtmeier, Al Arabiya EnglishFriday 08 May 2020
Former Lebanese leader Émile Lahoud decried the informal capital controls in the country, saying that he was joining the ongoing popular protests as he is only allowed to withdraw $1,000 per month despite his status as a former president, according to a recent interview.
“Is it fair that these people are hungry and then you accuse them of being foreign agents? No, they’re not foreign agents! There are people who are hungry. You have been preventing me from withdrawing … I’m using myself as an example as I am a former president of the Republic, and I’m only allowed $1,000,” Lahoud told pro-Hezbollah and pro-Syrian al-Mayadeen news channel.
Last week, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the government had the names of the people who were burning state institutions, and the top UN diplomat in Lebanon previously suggested that some responsible for the burnings were “hired” and belonged to “politically manipulated suspicious groups.”
Protests have picked up in the country as the economic situation becomes direr, and more find themselves out of work due to coronavirus lockdowns, which recently began to lift. More have found themselves out of work, and hunger is on the rise.
Meanwhile, Lebanese remain unable to access funds in their bank accounts, and banks have therefore burned across the country as they have become a symbol of protesters’ frustration.
“How can you guarantee that my income … those who I’m responsible to who also maintain the lives of a few, etc … Where am I going to bring them [money]. It’s a good thing my son told me to maintain a few [dollars] on the side … right now after two months they’re gone. What should I do as a [former] president of the Republic, I’m going to head down to the streets with them,” Lahoud, who was president of Lebanon from 1998 until 2007, told Beirut-based al-Mayadeen.
During the interview last Friday, Lahoud accused the political elite of attempting to sabotage current Diab’s economic plan, urging him to “return the stolen money” and “not to be afraid.”
Many Lebanese on social media took aim at Lahoud’s comments and suggestion that he would join the popular protest movement.
“Who wants to join in and start a donation for Emile Lahoud, please he made me cry,” twitter user @tonymsawma wrote.
“$1,000 is the weekly cost of cleaning and filling his pool. It's personal for this guy. They’re not letting him swim,” another user wrote, referencing the claims critics have made that Lahoud spent much of his presidency swimming and tanning at the Yarzeh Country Club in Beirut.
For months, informal capital controls have made life harder for citizens who struggle to access funds in their accounts and are subject to arbitrarily and illegally imposed daily withdrawal limits, sometimes as low as a couple hundred dollars a day. A dollar shortage in Lebanon has set off the implementation of a series of illegally imposed and ad hoc capital controls imposed by banks as they struggle to keep dollars in the country.
The country needs dollars to pay for imports, and since the last half of 2019, greenbacks have been drying up. Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said that US dollar reserves at the central bank stand at $22 billion, and that accumulated losses at the bank are around $63 billion. In mid-September 2019, reserves stood around $38.7 billion.
Dollars are used commonly alongside the local Lebanese lira to buy goods in the country, and officially the lira is pegged to the US dollar at 1,507 to $1. However, rapid inflation has seen the local currency lose more than half its value in recent weeks.
Lebanese abroad have had problems as well using their Lebanese bank cards. One Lebanese person vacationing in Dubai in March, who asked to remain anonymous, was told by her bank that she could only make 15 transactions on her card per week for international spending, and they must fall below $1,000 per month. The monthly limit has since been reduced to $100 per month.

Lebanese women with foreign spouses denied coronavirus aid
Abby Sewell, Al Arabiya EnglishظFriday 08 May 2020
Like many Lebanese families these days, Layal el Hallak’s family is having a tough time.
During the nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus, her husband continued to work at a supermarket, but his salary was cut in half as a result of the ongoing economic and currency crises. Meanwhile, the prices of many goods have doubled or tripled.
Last month, they were relieved to learn the government would be distributing cash assistance payments of 400,000 Lebanese lira (about $267 at the official exchange rate, and $100 at the current street exchange rate). They learned about the program through the public school their two eldest children attend in the southern city of Saida, and they filled out the required form and were put on the list to receive the assistance.
But when they tried to claim it, they ran into a familiar roadblock – while Hallak is Lebanese, her husband is Palestinian.
Under Lebanese law, children of Lebanese women married to foreign men do not have Lebanese citizenship, as citizenship is derived only from the father.
In this case, it also meant that the family was deemed ineligible to receive the aid.
Aid denied
“I said to them, ‘I am Lebanese, and I live in Lebanon, and all of my family are Lebanese people’ and they said, ‘No, your kids are Palestinian because their father is Palestinian, so you’re not going to get any help,’” Hallak told Al Arabiya English. She noted that the family has also not received any aid from UNRWA, the UN agency overseeing Palestinian refugees, during the COVID-19 crisis.
Lebanon’s nationality law allows Lebanese men to pass their citizenship to their children, as well as to their foreign-born wives, but does not grant women the same right. The law has been the subject of multiple attempts at legal reform over the years, but none of the attempted amendments have succeeded.
A regional debate
The debate is not unique to Lebanon. According to the Global Campaign for Equality rights, Algeria is the only country in the Middle East and North Africa region that grants men and women equal nationality rights. However, a number of countries in the region – including Egypt, Iraq, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen – have passed legal reforms in recent years, in most cases allowing women to pass their nationality to their children but not to their spouses.
Lebanon remains a holdout largely because of sectarian concerns. Opponents of reform efforts have expressed concerns that if the children of women married to Palestinian and Syrian refugees, who are primarily Sunni Muslims, were given the nationality, it would skew the demographics of the country, disadvantaging Christians and Shia Muslims.
“In every field, Lebanese women who are married to foreign people are really suffering,” said Hallak, who is an activist with a group called Jinsiyati Karamati (My Nationality My Dignity) that is pushing for legal reforms.
Her children, for instance, do not have the right to own property in Lebanon. “We are Lebanese women; we’ve lived here and [have] been raised here, and our families are all Lebanese and we are the ones who are raising the kids.”
The 400,000 lira payments were announced by the Minister of Social Affairs, Ramzi Moucharafieh, in early April, and the Lebanese Armed Forced were designated to handle the distribution.
A source in the Ministry of Social Affairs said the decision to bar Lebanese women married to foreigners from receiving the assistance had been made by the Army, not by the ministry.
From the ministry’s perspective, the source said, “It’s not an official policy not to give to the women married to foreigner, to prevent this right from them. They are all eligible.”An Army spokesman said that the list of names for aid distribution had come from the municipalities, and the Army's role was limited to checking each recipient's identification to make sure he was on the list. “We cannot change the names, we cannot do anything about the names – the names come directly from the municipality of each region.”
Complaints raised, little progress
After activists raised the issue of Lebanese mothers married to foreigners being denied payments, some officials intervened.
Member of Parliament Rola Tabsh posted on Twitter on April 22, that the problem had been solved.
“Good news for Lebanese mothers married to non-Lebanese men: Today the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Social Affairs assured me that the children of a Lebanese mother and a foreign father will not be excluded from the assistance of the Ministry of (Social) Affairs, nor from repatriation trips of Lebanese from abroad.”
But women said in reality, the problems had persisted.
Zeina Chatila, a mother in Beirut who is also active with My Nationality My Dignity campaign, said she was denied the aid despite the fact that she is divorced, and is now the sole provider for her 13-year-old daughter. Like Hallak, Chatila initially heard about the aid payments via the public school her daughter attends, which asked the parents to fill out a form to apply for the assistance. Chatila said all the families she knew with Lebanese fathers had received the payment.
“I know that the principal is innocent and has nothing to do with it, but she is in the front,” Chatila said. So, upon hearing that her family was not eligible, she said, “I told her, ‘Please send my message that the Lebanese women, [and] their children are Lebanese, and what you did, it’s unfair, and it’s nonsense.’”
Another group pushing for reforms, the My Nationality is a Right for Me and My Family Campaign, provided Al Arabiya English with copies of a number of complaints they had received from women in similar situations, who had also been denied the aid payment.
“Today the school called us and told us we won’t get anything because my husband is Syrian,” one woman wrote. “Ok, in this situation, neither me nor my husband are working. We are selling our things from our house to be able to feed the children.”
The campaign’s coordinator, Karima Chebbo, said a number of officials had promised to ensure that there would be no “exceptions or discrimination” against Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese men in distributing the aid. But in the end, she said, “There is still discrimination and they are still not giving them… They’re not solving anything.”

Lebanese Zugzwang and Harlequin’s Choice
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
As Lebanese protests continue, albeit with varying degrees of intensity, speculation over what has caused the current crisis is also rife.
The list of woes that afflict Lebanon is long.
There is a banking crisis caused by a Ponzi-like scheme introduced by the Central Bank three years ago to attract foreign money. Recent falls in oil prices have led to a sharp drop on remittances by Lebanese working in oil-rich countries but building their egg-nests back home. A bloated civil service, created by politicians trying to buy votes or curry favor with their respective sects by inventing unnecessary jobs is becoming too costly for an ailing economy. Corruption, the bane of many developing nations, has gone beyond the limits of an aberration to become almost a way of life.
Add to all that a prolonged political crisis caused by the way the sectarian system distributes power and one would have a perfect storm.
All in all, it is certain that a majority of Lebanese are unhappy about their current situation and worried about the future, the two key ingredients of a cocktail of grievances that incites a nation to revolt.
However, what if the real cause of the current zugzwang is somewhere else, somewhere beyond shabby economic management and Third World-style corruption?
What Lebanon is facing may be a redefinition of its existence as a nation-state. All nation-states are constructed in accordance with a paradigm that reflects the content of their essence, the shape of their existence and the vision of their future.
Lebanon is one of those states destined to reflect internal diversity and build a place in the international arena as a haven for peace, creativity, dialogue, exchange and compromise by rival outside powers.
It may be a cliché to suggest that Lebanon is meant to be a Middle Eastern Switzerland just as Uruguay is a haven of peace in South America, Singapore in Asia and Austria in Central Europe. Whenever Lebanon played that role it thrived. Whenever it diverged from that role, or was pushed out of it by foreign powers, it suffered.
In 1958, barely a decade after independence, Lebanon was classed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the richest country in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of gross domestic product per head of population. In IMF’s first report on the region, Libya was classed as the poorest nation while Turkey came second after Lebanon and Iran was fifth after Egypt. More importantly, Lebanon played a leading cultural role in what was to be marketed as “the Arab World” from the 1960s onwards.
Despite bumps on the road, including sectarian clashes often plotted by rival foreign powers, Lebanon managed to develop a sense of Lebanese-ness, Libanité in French, which everyone knows is hard to achieve.
In that Libanité, Lebanon is a Mediterranean nation with a seafaring tradition going back 5,000 years. At the same time, it is one of the oldest chunks of the two Roman Empires, west and east, and one of the first regions to welcome Christianity. Last but not least, it added a layer of Islam and Arab-ness to its rich identity as part of the Umayyad, Mameluke and ultimately Ottoman empires. A brief stint under French mandate added yet another shade.
Call it an attempt at paradigm shift if you like but what we witness is an attempt at effacing that Libanité to replace it with a new identity in which Lebanon is a forward bunker for a pan-Shiite Revolution led by the mullahs from Tehran.
“Lebanon is the most advanced base of the Resistance Front,” says Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, head of the Office for Convergence of Islamic Communities in Tehran.
To Ayatollah Ali Yunesi, an adviser to President Hassan Rouhani, Beirut is one of four Arab capitals that “we now control.”
In his one and only press interview the late General, Qassem Soleimani, relates how he traveled to Lebanon whenever he and his armed companions liked without any visa and never felt a need to contact or inform anyone from the Lebanese government.
Lebanon was just part of the “emerging” empire that he was trying to build for Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei.
Today, Tehran believes it has succeeded to impose a paradigm shift on the way to creating a monochrome Lebanon to replace the rainbow of Libanité.
This was reflected in an interview granted to Tehran press by Haji Sadeqi, Khamenei’s Special Representative in the Revolutionary Guards.
In it, Sadeqi relates a trip he made to Beirut where he spent “a whole night” with Hassan Nasrallah during which the Hezbollah leader offered a detailed report on his plan to “wipe Israel off the map” or “terminate the Israeli banquet.”
Sadeqi was assured that the installation of a government fully backed by Hezbollah and answerable to it would mean “full readiness by Lebanon” to assume its responsibilities in the Resistance Front.
To be sure, it is possible that Nasrallah, a wily politician, may have thickened the sauce of his subservience to Tehran to make sure Iranian cash continues to flow into his pockets.
Yet, there is no doubt that Tehran feels it has achieved its objective for full control in Lebanon by installing Hassane Diab’s “consensus” Cabinet in which Hezbollah has the final word on key issues.
Khamenei’s belief that he is now the master of Lebanon’s destiny may be premature to say the least. Empire building isn’t that easy, especially when the would-be emperor appears naked in his own turf.
The new Lebanese government may repeat the experience of Harlequin in Goldoni’s “Servant of Two Masters”, trying to satisfy both and failing with both. Diab must solve Lebanon’s problems while serving the ayatollahs’ weird schemes for empire building.
Lebanon’s interests today do not coincide with those of Iran. Lebanon needs stability and peace to revive its economy by attracting foreign investment, reviving tourism and developing itself as a service-based hub for international trade and high-tech industries. In contrast, Iran, as a revisionist power seeking to reshape the Middle East if not the whole world, thrives on tension and conflict.
One master wants Lebanon to be a beach, the other sees it as a bunker. In real life, as opposed to theater, at some point Harlequin must choose.

Lebanon’s Reaching out to the IMF
Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
The Lebanese cannot be blamed if they feel that they have been receiving blows and disasters from all over the place. They did not need this coronavirus mess to be certain of that. The relatively few cases of coronavirus that they've had are perhaps a less substantial problem than the major hits that struck the Lebanese social structure and economy, causing the major disruption to the country’s political functioning.
The least one can say is that this country has bad luck, but luck cannot be held responsible here despite the role it has played in other disasters. The situation in Lebanon has become tragic on every level, and only minimal political sense and economic understanding were needed to predict this outcome. It is a country that splurges as if money fell from the sky. The English saying goes: Money does not grow on trees. However, Lebanon has never heard this saying; perhaps they have even heard the opposite and acted accordingly, and when there was no money left on the trees they found themselves in total collapse, at the doorstep of poverty, the threat of which looms over more than two thirds the population.
This is a country that plans for nothing, neither in politics, expenditure, or running public institutions. Wherever there is a public employee you can be sure there is bribery and corruption, as stealing public funds is permitted. A public servant who does not leave his job, however humble, loaded with money, becomes the laughing stock of the neighborhood. The Lebanese have finally awakened to the "Retrieved looted money" mantra, even though everybody knows how this money was looted and where it has gone. An accumulation of mistakes and mismanagement inevitably culminated in this situation, and it would have continued to operate in the same way had the lenders not knocked on its doors. The Lebanese realized that their money was not theirs and that the money that they had borrowed was to be returned to its lenders at some point. Just like anyone who cannot pay their debt, they started begging for a rescue plan to take them out of this crisis, or more so, this unprecedented scandal.
As need leads to disputes, everybody started to make accusations: politicians, bankers, and financial experts, everybody throws the blame on the other in a country where devastated citizens find it difficult to find any truth. The Lebanese media is a mouthpiece for parties and politicians and frame their rhetoric to please their supporters. As a result, the truth is lost in a debate that leads nowhere, sustains the crisis, and prevents the formulation of a solution.
There is no solution within the borders. For the treasury is bankrupt and banks are no longer capable of funding it after the debts due on the state and banks have reached 93 billion US dollars while the depositors' money is nowhere to be found. There is no certainty as to whether or not they will be lucky enough to get it back, with most of it being the fruit of a lifetime of labor.
It was, therefore, necessary to look for salvation outside the borders. The government has looked for solutions and could not find but the worst choice possible: The International Monetary Fund (IMF). The decision was not easy but it was the only one available to Prime Minister Hassan Diab. A government that has political cover from Hezbollah and can, therefore, overcome the reservations that the latter would have had if the request had come from another government, headed by someone like Saad Hariri. In that case, it would have been said that the government is leaving the country “hostage to American whims”, a mantra constantly repeated by Hezbollah and its media.
Although President Michel Aoun and the government believe the country is now on the “right track”, to the point that Aoun described the day the economic plan was set as a “historic day”, the plan proposed by the government to ask for aid from the IMF will face many obstacles from the inside and outside.
First, on the inside, the Bankers Association raised its voice very loudly, claiming that the government had ignored it during the discussions that preceded the plan, considering that it is one of the main parties that will be involved in adequately implementing it, especially since the plan involves restructuring the banking sector. Bankers said that the government’s plan is ambiguous and lacks an accurate timetable for the reforms that it stipulates.
Before the Bankers Association criticized the plan, there was an extraordinary confrontation between the Prime Minister and the Governor of the Central Bank Riad Salameh. After the former accused the latter of “suspicious ambiguity” over his role in the devaluation of the Lebanese pound and the implications that this had on purchasing power, Salameh responded with numbers and facts that he used to defend his monetary policies and asked those in power to reveal what happened to the money that the Central Bank had lent to the government, tens of billions of US dollars.
On top of that, the political controversy that Diab started around responsibility for the economic collapse and the rise in public debt led to angry reactions from Saad Hariri and his party. All of this is happening while the country needs the highest possible levels of national solidarity to overcome this exceptional crisis.
In this climate, Lebanon reaches out to the IMF for help.
The internal political disintegration was not ameliorated by the planned talks that President Michel Aoun called for and named “The National Meeting”, a meeting that was boycotted by most of the opposition with only the President of the Lebanese Forces attending, albeit only to criticize the government’s rescue plan.
Also, a dispute between the government and the Central Bank and other financial institutions will affect the IMF’s decision to provide aid, considering that cooperation by the banks is fundamental to a financial reform process. Also, local and international trust in this sector is fundamental for economic advancement.
There are also international doubts over the government’s ability to make the necessary reforms, especially given the massively inflated size of the unproductive Lebanese public sector, over the government’s ability to impose widespread privatization of many public institutions, particularly Electricité du Liban.
There is also an Arab and international concern around providing aid to a government that is known for being close to Hezbollah in an international climate that is hostile to all of Hezbollah’s foreign operations.
Most importantly, the IMF also has conditions for providing aid. This is the case with every country that the IMF provides aid to, most prominently Mexico and Greece. The IMF deals with bankrupt countries like they had been running their affairs incompetently; since, otherwise, they would not have reached the position they found themselves in. Consequently, monitoring internal expenditure is at the core of the IMF’s role in providing stimuli to the economy.
The sweetest of these choices is bitter, but Lebanon has no other choice.

A bad week for Hezbollah
Hanin Ghaddar/Al Arabiya/May 08/2020
Last week was not a good week for Hezbollah. Despite its numerous attempts to avoid an international bailout for Lebanon, the Lebanese government has finally announced that it will seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after signing off on a rescue plan to begin fixing its deteriorating economy. In addition, Germany announced Thursday it has designated the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah a terror organization, banning all of its activities in the country and ordering raids on sites that are linked to the group.
The IMF Conundrum
Of course, Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government wouldn’t have requested the IMF’s assistance without Hezbollah’s greenlight and approval, but it also means that Hezbollah might have reached a point where facing the Lebanese people without an actual plan to avoid a complete financial meltdown was no longer feasible. No matter Hezbollah’s attempts to hide behind Lebanon’s political elite or shift the rhetoric toward the banking sector, it is no longer a secret that Hezbollah dictates the decisions of the Lebanese government, including the financial and economic decisions.
Hezbollah, and by extension the Hezbollah-backed government, came up with a rescue plan last week, and subsequently formally asked the IMF for assistance. Even Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah did not oppose the IMF request during his Monday speech, but stressed conditions of any IMF help should be dealt with “great responsibility and strict caution.”
However, a closer look at the plan shows that the basic reforms requested by the international community, such as reforms to the electricity sector, and the size of the public sector, were not mentioned. Significant issues for the international community such as monitoring border crossings and ceasing smuggling operations, mostly run by Hezbollah, were also not mentioned. Without serious reforms, clearly stipulated by the IMF and CEDRE, Lebanon will not be able to receive a bailout program. The economy will further deteriorate, and Hezbollah will be blamed for the shortcomings. If Hezbollah and its government want to avoid such scenarios, they will have to implement these reforms, which will eventually diminish their power and control of assets.
This a conundrum that will not solve itself, and Hezbollah is in the middle of it.
Germany’s Ban
As the IMF request was being signed by Diab, Germany was officially declaring Hezbollah – both the military and the political wing – as a terrorist organization. Although this was not surprising, and Germany has already hinted at making this designation before, it was still considered as a major hit for Hezbollah.
Germany has acted as a mediator between Hezbollah and actors in the international community a number of times, primarily during hostage negotiations between Hezbollah and Israel after the 2006 July war. But now, diplomatically, Hezbollah has lost Germany, and in its next conflict with Israel, Hezbollah will not find a helping hand in Germany. But this recent move by Germany also sheds light on other European countries that haven’t entirely boycotted Hezbollah, such as France. While France prefers to maintain the status quo in Lebanon due to the presence of French troops within UNIFIL forces, it will be more difficult for France to avoid deepening international pressure.
Financially, Hezbollah has lost a major financial hub in Europe. Hezbollah’s finances were hit by US sanctions against the group’s patron Iran, and they have been forced to rely on a number of alternative forces for funding. In addition to the drug smuggling operations across from Lebanon into Syria and from there to the Arab world, Hezbollah increased its financial operations in Europe, through its social and charity organizations.
Germany’s ban included the operations of major social and charity organizations affiliated with Hezbollah. On April 30, the German police raided five sites linked to Hezbollah – mainly mosques and community centers in Berlin, Bremen, Muenster, Recklinghausen, and Dortmund.
Last week was not a good week for Hezbollah, but the group’s problems are not going to be resolved anytime soon. Even if some European states still prefer to maintain relations with the group’s political wing, this preference might soon change, when they realize that domestic issues will prevail over international and foreign policy. In addition, the IMF will probably ask the Lebanese government to amend its reform plan to include the essential reforms to the electricity sector – where most of the corruption takes place – and the illegal border operations. The government, and Hezbollah, will have to make a choice: Save Lebanon and lose some, or refuse reforms and lose everything.
*Hanin Ghaddar is the inaugural Friedmann Visiting Fellow at The Washington Institute's Geduld Program on Arab Politics, where she focuses on Shia politics throughout the Levant. She tweets @haningdr.

Time For 'Le Petit Liban'
Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/May 08/2020
البرتو فرنندس/ ميمري/ حان الوقت للعودة إلى لبنان الصغير
We are almost at the century mark of the creation of what was called Le Grand Liban, the Greater Lebanon cobbled together by French authorities at the behest of Lebanese Christian intellectuals and politicians in 1920. This expanded Lebanon added Muslim majority regions (but also the city of Beirut) to what had been an overwhelmingly Christian-Druze statelet in the Ottoman Empire, the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon from 1861 to 1915. Lebanese had just endured a cruel famine during World War I that killed a third of the population and the expanded Lebanon made good economic, if dubious political, sense.
The political risk was that the newly incorporated territories were less committed to an independent Lebanon and more swayed in coming decades by the siren songs of Arabism and Islamism. Certainly both of those ideologies played a role in subsequent events, in the Lebanese Civil War and in the emergence of Hizbullah, a commitment to Iranian Wilayat al-Faqih being a type of Islamism. Today Lebanon's problems are not so much its borders or even its sectarian system but something else.
Lebanon faces one of its greatest crises ever; economic collapse and hunger stalk the land. Decades of living beyond its means, endemic corruption, and government incompetence are taking its deadly toll. Crooked politicians and lousy governance are not unique to Lebanon, but for the past few decades, this deplorable leadership has been joined to first Assad regime hegemony and now Hizbullah regime hegemony. Hard to "throw the bums out" when there is a heavily armed and ruthless outside player ensuring that they stay in.
The damage being done to Lebanon's future, to its historic role as a refuge for religious minorities, including the Christians of the Levant, to the idea of Lebanon as a unique place of convergence and relative openness and tolerance, is nothing new. The decline has been going on for decades, but it is accelerating at warp speed in the coming months with terrifying power. Lebanon will need billions of dollars, which can only come from the West and from international financial institutions, to bail it out. Moreover, it will need that money when other, larger and more strategic countries also need massive help. For many in Washington, Lebanon has little strategic value. Right now the current political-military configuration regnant in Lebanon is "strategic" only for Iran, through its local franchise, Hizbullah.
And this is the irony. The more Lebanon seems to become like the rest of the Arab world, the less diverse it becomes, the more intolerant it becomes, the more bureaucratic it becomes, the less space there is for criticism of the powerful and the elite, the less motivation there will be for Western support. If it continues along the path its rulers are setting for it, Lebanon's future is to become a somewhat larger version of Gaza, but with mountains and a few more token Christians. Better to support Sudan or Tunisia, larger countries that are leaning more towards the West than the Lebanese Republic. Or Iraq – equally infected by Iranian hegemony, but much larger than Lebanon and potentially richer.
Lebanon's real future lies precisely in the opposite direction of where it is going today. A Lebanon that is diverse and tolerant would be sharply different than other countries in the "Arab world," would be something unique and precious, worthy of attention. Such a "Little Lebanon" would eschew Middle Eastern wars and regional conflicts, akin to nearby Cyprus, and hew its own path rather than recklessly serving as Iran's forward rocket base for the next war with Israel. It would not be any smaller in size than it is today, but "small" because it looks exclusively to its own interests in nurturing its own distinctiveness and separateness. It would flee from any hint of the ideologies of Arabism or Islamism for the suffocating dead ends that they are. Such a Lebanon would allow a level of personal freedom and unrestrained level of expression unheard of in other Arabic-speaking countries. That was once the case, but today, increasingly, you see the state use its coercive power to silence its critics. They cannot pick up the garbage, but they are able to muzzle and abuse critics. Rule in Lebanon becomes more like Syria and less like Switzerland every day. What a bitter irony that this happens under the presidency of Michel Aoun, who rose to prominence opposing the Syrian regime!
The likeliest scenario is that the Lebanese will continue to suffer, the best and the brightest will continue to emigrate (Aoun told anti-corruption demonstrators that if they didn't like it, they can leave), repression and poverty will increase hand in hand. Eventually some money from the international community will be forthcoming, secured by promises of reform and transparency that the ruling elite, working hand in glove with Hizbullah, will assiduously work to subvert. More garbage, less rights. More "state" power over individuals too poor or too old to leave.
A far less likely scenario would have the international community (in Lebanon that really means the U.S. and France) play a more aggressive and pointed ground game, playing cat and mouse, against Hizbullah/Iranian hegemony and its willing stooges in government. Such an approach requires a clear vision and a single-minded focus on our desired outcome. Continued funding of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has pluses and minuses but should probably continue. Aside from the LAF, the institution building in Lebanon that should be done is not in the government but outside of it. Assistance should prioritize a "Little Lebanon" agenda. This means support for civil society strongly opposed to the pro-Hizbullah status quo, for private groups, including churches and mosques, helping the poor and underprivileged, for salvaging key aspects of Lebanese society – private schools and universities, independent media, entrepreneurs, religious freedom, ethnic and religious diversity – that can make it more distinctive and less like just another Arab League kleptocracy.
Such a scenario should include coercive but targeted measures against Hizbullah enablers. Iran and Hizbullah have worked hard for years in places like Lebanon and Iraq to expand their base and proxies beyond those Shia Muslims who are faithful to Iran's Islamic Revolution. In Lebanon, this means sanctioning Christian and Sunni politicians and businessmen who cover for and facilitate the Nasrallah satrapy. It is time for them to pay a higher price for their treachery.
"Le Petit Liban" is probably as likely to emerge as is the restoration of the Habsburgs or the return of the Shah. Hizbullah most likely will fall when its masters in Tehran collapse and until then Lebanon will suffer. Hizbullah will certainly seek to decrease Western, particularly American, influence in the country, as Iran seeks to do the same regionally. But this is not a battle we should give up without a fight. If the status quo is unacceptable to us – and it should be – we must plot towards a different future. In Lebanon, it may be too late to resuscitate a dying patient, but it is not too soon to work towards resurrection.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is President of Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN). The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of MBN or the U.S. government.

Hezbollah doesn’t want another war with Israel, yet
جيروسالم بوست: حتى الآن حزب الله لا يريد الحرب مع أسرائيل
Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/May 08/2020
Hezbollah went from a guerrilla group to a terror superpower
Twenty years after the last IDF soldier left southern Lebanon, the hostility between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has only intensified.
The former guerilla group has morphed into a “terror superpower,” while Israel has strengthened its military might over concerns of a future war with its archnemesis.
Though Hezbollah once spread its wings across the globe in an attempt to inflict as much damage as it could on Jews and Americans, their focus has shifted. The group turned to its neighbor, Syria, and built up local allied groups to open a new front in the south to counter Israel.
Israel has always been willing to take calculated risks when it comes to defending its security and has recently taken the approach of warning Hezbollah fighters of incoming strikes in order to avoid deteriorating into a full-scale war.
And while Israel has overall refrained from attacking the organization in Lebanon, it has carried out hundreds of strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in neighboring Syria in an attempt to prevent it from obtaining precision missiles and other game-changing weaponry.
On Monday night, an airstrike targeted a Syrian military research complex outside the city of Aleppo. According to reports, Iranian and Syrian scientists and engineers at the facility are working on bioweapons to use against rebel groups, as well as long-range missiles able to deliver large payloads for Hezbollah deep into Israeli territory.
Senior IDF officers, as well as politicians, say that Israel’s military has the ability to end any future conflict with Hezbollah quickly and will completely destroy the group’s capabilities and infrastructure, even if that means incurring civilian casualties.
But, while Israeli jets can wreak havoc on the group far from Israel’s borders, the defense establishment knows that no war can be won without boots on the ground. The IDF hasn’t conducted a proper ground manoeuvre in enemy territory since troops entered Gaza in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead.
The Hezbollah of 2020 is not the Hezbollah of 2000, or even 2006.
On the eve of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, when the two foes fought a deadly 34-day war in which both sides lost hundreds of fighters and hundreds of civilians were killed, Hezbollah had some 15,000 rockets and missiles and fired 4,000 of them at Israel.
Over a decade later, the group has expanded its arsenal with over 130,000 rockets and missiles of all sorts of ranges and payloads. With the help of its patron Iran, the group also continues to work on its precision missile project. But despite the effort and years invested, the organization has only several dozen such missiles.
Nevertheless, security officials believe that in the next war, the terrorist group will aim to fire some 1,500-2,000 rockets per day until the last day of the conflict. With more than 40,000 fighters organized in battalions and brigades, Hezbollah fighters have gained immeasurable battlefield experience fighting in Syria.
The cross-border terror tunnels discovered and destroyed by the IDF last year are another part of the group’s attack plans. The tunnels, the largest of which the author visited, were significantly more advanced than tunnels built by terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah’s flagship tunnel began in the southern Lebanese village of Ramiya and stretched one kilometer before it infiltrated several dozen meters into northern Israel, close to the communities of Zarit and Shetula.
The Ramiyah tunnel, which Hezbollah had been in the process of completing, had been dug at a depth of 80 meters and had 20 stories of stairs. The tunnel, which took Hezbollah several years to dig, also contained railroads to transport equipment, garbage, and was equipped with lighting equipment, ventilation and ladders.
It was astounding and only one of six. And while the IDF says it has destroyed all cross-border tunnels, there are others which have been dug but have not yet crossed into Israeli territory.
Yet. And with the civil war winding down, Iran and Hezbollah have been able to focus more of their energy on other targets, with Israel topping the list.
But neither side wants war. At least right now.
Indeed, Hezbollah’s leader Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah had to apologize after the end of the 2006 war for the ambush which set everything off. He has since promised the Lebanese people that he is doing all he can to prevent another war with the IDF.
Senior defense sources have said that Nasrallah is a patient, calculating and smart commander willing to take the long route.
“It’s a fact that we are harming his group. It might be under the radar and not published by the media, but he’s heard about it. But he’s done nothing to us in return,” one source told The Jerusalem Post.
Of course, Hezbollah has not been waiting around and has responded to Israeli operations which have targeted its operatives. In mid-April the group sent Israel a message by cutting several holes in the border fence after the IDF reportedly carried out a drone strike against a Jeep carrying Hezbollah operatives.
But nobody was killed in the drone strike on the Jeep, and no Hezbollah operative crossed into Israeli territory.
The message from both sides was clear.
In September, after the IDF carried out a deadly strike against Hezbollah operatives planning a drone attack against targets in northern Israel from Syria, the group fired an anti-tank missile towards an IDF ambulance driving close to the border community of Avivim.
That time Hezbollah aimed to kill IDF troops. None were killed in the attack, but it led to a spike in tensions not seen in years.
The IDF, which has focused much of its covert operations in preventing Hezbollah from acquiring game-changing weaponry, has nevertheless been deterred from striking the group on its home turf.
Israel doesn’t want a similar situation in Syria where it currently has air and intelligence superiority over its enemies. It’s better to deal with Hezbollah when it’s still small rather than when it’s strong and ready to strike.
Israel’s war-between-wars campaign against Iran and its proxies, namely Hezbollah, began close to a decade ago and has seen action on a weekly basis in recent years, with thousands of airstrikes taking out infrastructure and equipment.
And while senior Israeli defense sources recently said that Iran has reduced its forces significantly in Syria, according to a Western diplomat who visits Syria regularly and quoted by Foreign Policy, Hezbollah fighters are doubling down in the Golan Heights and plan to embed themselves as part of the Syrian Arab Army in the south of the country.
Hezbollah has always had a presence in Syria but has recently grown its influence in areas it wasn’t active in before, so that Israel will be deterred from striking these areas like it is deterred from striking the group in Lebanon. In July 2019 the IDF said that the group has begun an attempt to establish and entrench a covert force in the Syrian Golan Heights, designed to act against Israel when given the order.
Called “The Golan Project”, Israel has been blamed for several strikes targeting operatives belonging to the project.
“If no one bothers Hezbollah in the Golan then it will continue to grow and bring in more capabilities to threaten the homefront,” a senior IDF source told the Post. “It doesn’t matter if Iran is hundreds of kilometers away from Israel, if Hezbollah has local operatives on the Golan who can act against Israel.”
But “Nasrallah is walking a tightrope,” said another defense source, explaining that the group is not only feeling a squeeze on its finances due to the economic crisis in Iran, but thousands of Hezbollah fighters have been killed fighting in Syria for the Assad regime.
“What does Hezbollah want? How much power do they really have and how much face can they save in another war with Israel?” he asked.
While the Gaza Strip has for years preoccupied the IDF, with several military operations and dozens of rounds of deadly violence in the last two years alone, Israel’s northern front has once again grabbed the top spot in its list of priorities.
Because over 20 years after the last IDF officer – Benny Gantz – locked the gates with Lebanon, Hezbollah has turned into the military’s greatest foe.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 08-09/2020
Pompeo to visit Israel for annexation talks
The National/May 08/2020
The US Secretary of State is due to make a flying visit next week amid the coronavirus pandemic
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Israel next week for a brief visit amid the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, a trip that’s expected to focus on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to annex portions of the West Bank, the State Department said on Friday. Mr Pompeo will make the lightning trip to Jerusalem to see Mr Netanyahu and his new coalition partner Benny Gantz on Wednesday as the Trump administration tries to return to business as normal by resuming governmental travel and reopening an economy devastated by the coronavirus outbreak.
The State Department formally announced the trip more than a week after plans for it first surfaced and a day after some Israeli media outlets reported it. Mr Pompeo will “discuss US and Israeli efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as regional security issues related to Iran’s malign influence,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. “The US commitment to Israel has never been stronger than under President Trump’s leadership. The United States and Israel will face threats to the security and prosperity of our peoples together. In challenging times, we stand by our friends, and our friends stand by us.” Alone among most governments, the Trump administration has said it will support the annexation of West Bank territory claimed by the Palestinians for an eventual state as long as Israel agrees to enter peace talks with the Palestinians.
Mr Pompeo and his small traveling party will need exemptions from Israel’s own virus restrictions that bar foreign visitors from entering and require returning Israelis to self-quarantine for 14 days. The US secretary of state will be on the ground in Israel for only a few hours on Wednesday before returning to Washington from his first overseas trip since making an unannounced visit to Afghanistan in March. His arrival will coincide with the swearing-in of Israel’s new government, which is planned for May 13.
After battling to a stalemate in three inconclusive elections over the past year, Mr Netanyahu and his chief rival, former military chief Mr Gantz, last month agreed to form a joint government. Under the deal, Mr Netanyahu will serve as prime minister while Mr Gantz will hold the new position of ‘alternate prime minister,’ giving each side effective veto power over the other. The pair agreed to trade positions after 18 months. Their ‘emergency’ government is meant to focus on the coronavirus crisis over its first six months. But their coalition agreement also permits Mr Netanyahu to introduce an annexation proposal to the government after July 1, even if Mr Gantz objects. Annexation advocates believe they have a narrow window to redraw the map of the Middle East before November’s US presidential election. They also believe it would give Mr Trump a boost with pro-Israel voters, particularly the politically influential evangelical Christian community. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, has said he opposed unilateral moves by Israel in keeping with what had been decades of US policy prior to President Trump. The annexation agreement says that any step must be coordinated with the US while also keeping regional stability and peace agreements in consideration.Mr Netanyahu’s plan to annex portions of the West Bank has been met with harsh criticism from nearly the entire international community, including Washington’s European allies and key Arab partners, with the prominent exception of the United States. President Donald Trump’s much-vaunted Middle East peace plan allows for the possibility of US recognition of such annexations provided Israel agrees to negotiate under the framework of the proposal that was unveiled in January. That plan calls for the creation of a Palestinian state but gives it limited autonomy on a fraction of the land it has sought. The Palestinians have rejected the proposal outright.

Israel’s Netanyahu set for a new term in office with regional implications
The Arab Weekly with Agencies/May 08/2020
LONDON--Officially tasked Thursday by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to form the next government, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not relinquishing the reins of power any time soon. His government’s policies are expected to carry ripple effects throughout the Middle East. Netanyahu will serve as prime minister for 18 months based on a deal he struck last month with his centrist partner Benny Gantz, who will serve as alternate prime minister for now before assuming the office of prime minister himself for the following 18 months. Israel’s Knesset passed legislation Thursday approving the Netanyahu-Gantz deal, after the Supreme Court refused to block Netanyahu’s return to power.
Israel’s new government, which is expected to be sworn in on May 13, will have first have to focus on the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought over 16,000 confirmed cases and 240 deaths to the country. But the new cabinet’s political moves, particularly on annexation, are expected to have broad regional implications.US President Donald Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan, announced last January, would allow for the annexation of 30% of the West Bank and grant Israel full control of Jerusalem. The Israeli government could be setting in motion the process of approval for the annexation move in early July.
The US administration, which previously put the brakes on calls by Israeli pro-settlement figures to go ahead with the annexation provisions, is now unlikely to oppose Israeli moves towards that end.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is expected to visit Israel next week, has already made his views on the subject known.
He said April 22 that it was up to Israel to decide whether to annex parts of the West Bank or not.
“As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions,” Pompeo told reporters. “That’s an Israeli decision. And we will work closely with them to share with them our views of this in (a) private setting.”Some analysts believe the US and Israeli governments likely share the view that it now has a convenient time-frame to annex West Bank land. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, believes that, considering US Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden’s potential opposition to annexation if elected, the Israeli government will have a “short window of opportunity (for annexation) between July and the US elections in November.” Starting July, the US will be in the last stretch of its presidential election campaign and support to Israeli annexation policies will very much appeal to traditional Trump voters. But annexation would also deal a serious blow to the two-state-solution and Palestinians will find themselves with few options left for self-rule in a viable state. The move would also trigger international condemnation. Most of the international community considers West Bank settlements illegal and will denounce any annexation move. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, recently said that annexation would be a “serious violation” of international law and the European Union will “act accordingly.” According to Israeli political experts, it remains to be seen whether Netanyahu will see annexation as worth the regional and international trouble. In dealing with Iran, Israel’s new government’s position is clear, however. The Netanyahu-Gantz cabinet is unlikely to retreat from its hard-line stance against Iran’s activities in the region, as illustrated by its intensified military actions in recent weeks against Iranian targets in Syria. Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that “Iran has nothing to do in Syria… (and) we won’t stop before they leave Syria.”“They have to leave Syria,” he added. He made sure during his interview to imply that Israel was doing Syria a favour by trying to rid it of Iranian presence. “It used to be an asset for the Syrians, it helped Assad deal with Daesh, but now it’s a burden,” said Bennett. (With news agencies).

Iraqis Voice Cautious Optimism, Demand Radical Change from New PM
Baghdad- Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
Iraqis have expressed their hope that the new Iraqi government headed by Mustafa Al-kadhemi will correct the political path in the Levantine country, answer to the demands of protestors, and fight corruption that has drained national resources. Many said they were cautiously optimistic towards the government winning the confidence vote and its ability to face the great challenges that beset Iraq. Some of the challenges faced by Iraq are the outbreak of the coronavirus, the collapse of oil prices in global markets, as well as a long list of public demands that were made during demonstrations months ago. Iraqis said that kadhemi has no choice but to work at a surgical level to succeed in helping the country recover from its challenges without resorting to Band-Aid solutions after 17 years since the US invasion. Iraqi public worker Wissam Sabri, 37, said he believes that kadhemi has a clear picture set before him and that his security background helps him understand the concerns of citizens. “We are convinced that the files in front of the prime minister are large and thorny, but he must use his ministerial team to work in the spirit of one team and benefit from Iraqi expertise to address the imbalances and prepare for early parliamentary elections,” Sabri said. Shop owner Sabri Salem, 32, asserted that the new prime minister has a historic opportunity to correct the path of politics in the country and win over the people through answering the demands put out by protestors. Salem called for real economic openness with international companies according to well-thought plans designed to eliminate unemployment, rebuild the country, address the crisis of the displaced people, and manage public funds. Iraqi teacher Sana al-Gherawi, 52, said that in order for kadhemi to be successful, he needs to distance himself from handling government issues behind closed doors and in luxury offices. He, according to Gherawi, needs to go to the streets and listen to the people directly.

US Secretary Pompeo welcomes Iraq govt, extends Iran sanctions waiver
AFP, Washington Thursday 07 May 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday welcomed Iraq’s formation of a government after months of instability and extended a waiver on Iran sanctions to ease pressure on the new leader. In a phone call with Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi, Pompeo congratulated him on taking office and discussed “working together to provide the Iraqi people the prosperity and security they deserve,” the State Department said. Pompeo said that United States would not enforce sanctions on Iraq buying electricity from Iran for 120 days “as a display of our desire to help provide the right conditions for success,” a statement said. Also read: Iraq lawmakers approve government of new PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Kadhemi took over Thursday Baghdad time after winning parliamentary approval for his cabinet line-up – the third attempt to replace Adil Abdel Mahdi, who resigned last year in the face of nationwide demonstrations against corruption. Iraqi politicians have the delicate task of balancing relations with Washington and neighboring Iran, which has deep economic and religious ties with Iraq but is under sweeping sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump. Recognizing Iraq’s fragility, the Trump administration has given Iraq a series of waivers on US sanctions to let it keep buying gas from Iran. The latest had been announced last week and was to run for only 30 days.

Iranian Human Rights Activist Mysteriously Drowned In Houston Park Lake
Radio Farda/May 08/2020
The body of Ali Ajami, an Iranian human rights activist, was discovered in McGovern Lake at Hermann Park, Houston, Texas, on Wednesday. The cause of death remains unknown. Houston Police on Wednesday started an investigation into the death of a deceased male found in a pond at Hermann Park but said no other information was available yet. Iranian social media users have reported that the body belonged to thirty-seven-year-old Iranian human rights activist Ali Ajami. According to local media, Houston police are waiting for an autopsy of the body of the well-dressed male that was discovered by a member of public in the pond. The man may have been in the water for some time, police who are treating the case as a homicide said. Ali Ajami who was a student of law at Tehran University was arrested in 2009 in his home village in Sabzever in eastern Iran in the aftermath of a disputed election that reinstated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's president. A Revolutionary Court sentenced Mr. Ajami to two years in prison on charges of collusion and propaganda against the Islamic Republic and acting against national security. Mr. Ajami was the editor of a left-leaning student publication before his arrest and imprisonment and was consequently expelled from the university only months before his graduation. Sometime after being freed from prison Mr. Ajami left the country for Turkey and from there, to the United States where he remained and worked as a journalist and human rights activist until his death.
Mr. Ajami was an editor of the Iranian Human Rights News Agency (HRANA) which monitors human rights in Iran.

Iranians Urged to Take Virus 'Seriously' as Cases Rise
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
Iran’s Health Ministry spokesman urged Iranians to take social distancing "more seriously" on Friday as he announced more than 1,500 new coronavirus cases in the country. Kianoush Jahanpour said 55 new virus fatalities in the past 24 hours took the overall death toll in the health crisis to 6,541.
He said another 1,556 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus over the same period of time, taking the country's caseload to 104,691. "We (Iranians) are urged to continue to follow health advice, especially social distancing, more seriously than on previous days and weeks," Jahanpour said in televised remarks. Since reporting its first cases in mid-February, Iran has struggled to contain the spread of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. On Saturday, the government's official tally of daily infections hit 802 -- its lowest level since the start of March. Iran's count stayed below 1,000 for a second day, however its caseload rebounded on Monday and has stayed above that mark on each day since then. Since April 11, Iran has allowed a gradual reopening of shops and, since Monday, mosques in about 30 percent of the counties where the risk of renewed outbreaks is considered low.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Friday prayers are resuming in mosques in 146 cities with minimal risk conditions for spreading the coronavirus. The report said prayer gatherings will continue to be banned in major cities, including all provincial capitals, for now. In order to contain the spread of the disease, Iran has taken various restrictive measures, without ever imposing a lockdown or quarantine.

Iran used US servers in cyberattack on Israeli water facilities - report
Jerusalem Post/May 08/2020
The attack took place at the end of April and attacked several Israeli Water Authority facilities.
Iran was responsible for a widespread cyberattack on Israeli water and sewage facilities last month, Fox News reported on Thursday. According to the report, Iran used American servers to hack into the facilities.Foreign correspondent for Fox News Trey Yingst wrote on Twitter that, “A senior official at the US Department of Energy declined to comment on any specifics related to an ‘ongoing investigation.’ The official reiterated that the DOE routinely gathers and shares info with private sector partners to protect the US and it’s allies from cyberattacks.” The attack took place at the end of April and affected several Israeli Water Authority facilities. The head of the Water Authority’s security department, Daniel Lacker, told head of the cyber department Avi Azar that, “We have received a number of reports regarding a cyberattack on the... systems. No damage was reported during the incident,” Ynet reported.Iran is often accused of attempting cyberattacks against Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the issue at last year’s CyberTech conference in Tel Aviv, saying that “Iran is attacking Israel on a daily basis. We monitor it and prevent it every day.” He added: “They are threatening in other ways. What is important is that every country can be attacked and each country needs the combination of defense and attack capabilities – and Israel has such ability.”

U.S. says Russia is working with Syria's Assad to move militia to Libya
Humeyra Pamuk/Reuters/May 08/2020
The United States does not support the offensive of Libya’s eastern-based military leader Khalifa Haftar against Tripoli and believes Russia is working with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to transfer militia fighters and equipment to Libya, senior U.S. officials said on Thursday. “The United States does not support LNA military action against Tripoli. ... The attack on the capital diverts resources from what is a priority for us, which is counterterrorism,” Henry Wooster, deputy assistant secretary at State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said on a conference call, referring to Haftar’s Libyan National Army. Haftar launched a war a year ago to grab the capital Tripoli and other parts of northwestern Libya. Since 2014, Libya has been split between areas controlled by the internationally recognized Government of National Accord in Tripoli and the northwest, and territory held by Haftar’s eastern-based forces in Benghazi. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey. The U.N. Security Council had imposed an arms embargo on Libya in 2011 amid an uprising that ousted longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Libya is a messy battlefield with heavy involvement by foreign fighters. The United States and the United Nations have warned against the deepening footprint of Russian private contractor forces while Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have also deployed drones, according to diplomats. Jim Jeffrey, U.S. special envoy for Syria, speaking to reporters on the same call, said the battlefield could even get more complicated. “We know that, certainly the Russians are working with Assad to transfer militia fighters, possibly third country, possibly Syrian, to Libya, as well as equipment.”
He did not elaborate. Russian private military contractor Wagner Group has up to 1,200 people deployed in Libya, strengthening Haftar’s forces, a confidential United Nations report seen by Reuters said on Wednesday. [nL1N2CO16W]
HAFTAR-ASSAD TIES
President Donald Trump called Haftar last year, in the first weeks of the offensive, in a move that some diplomats took as a sign Washington might be backing the former Gaddafi officer. Since then the United States has urged all sides to de-escalate, a call that fell on deaf ears. When asked if Haftar’s foreign backers could persuade him to end the offensive given recent setbacks on the field, Wooster said: “I don’t think that in the near-term offing, at least in the foreseeable future, there’s any likely prospect whatsoever that that would happen. “For as long as there is an objective they can meet through Haftar as an instrument, we don’t see them backing down,” Wooster said. U.S. officials also expressed discomfort about ties between Haftar and Assad. “There is a very troubling other element here and that is ... Haftar’s establishment of so-called diplomatic relations with the Assad regime, which is very much a part of the piece of the question of Syrian mercenaries, at least on his side of the equation,” Wooster said. Haftar opened an embassy in Syria in March and called on Damascus to unite in their common fight against Turkey-backed militant groups. Turkey has long called for the departure of Assad and has backed Syrian rebels against Assad’s forces. Assad has looked to shed his country’s pariah status and regain Arab support. The United Arab Emirates reopened its Damascus embassy in December 2018 and has forged closer ties after once supporting rebels fighting against Assad. [nL8N2AW3E2]
*Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs to mark 75th anniversary of victory in Europe at UN Security Council
May 8, 2020 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will mark the 75th anniversary of victory in Europe by highlighting Canada’s ongoing commitment to multilateralism, during a virtual United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Arria-formula meeting on May 8, 2020.
The meeting, entitled 75 Years from the End of the Second World War on European Soil: Lessons Learned for Preventing Future Atrocities, Responsibility of the Security Council, will be an opportunity to discuss international security and conflict resolution, including in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.
A video of the meeting will be available following the event at https://un.mfa.ee
Quotes
“This forum presents an opportunity to reinforce Canada’s commitment to a multilateral system for conflict prevention and international security, particularly as we look for collective solutions to mitigate the global repercussions of COVID-19.”
- François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Quick facts
Arria-formula meetings are high-level, informal gatherings that enable UNSC members to hold frank discussions with influential invited guests to address matters of global security.
The process is named after former Ambassador Diego Arria of Venezuela, who, as the representative of Venezuela on the Council, initiated the practice in 1992.
The meeting is being held in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of victory in Europe on May 8.

UN: ISIS, Other Factions Upping Attacks on Syrians during Pandemic
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
The UN human rights chief on Friday accused ISIS and other factions in Syria of taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to step up violence on civilians. Various parties to the conflict in Syria, including ISIS, “appear to view the global focus on the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to regroup and inflict violence on the population," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. "The deteriorating situation is a ticking time-bomb that must not be ignored." A US envoy voiced guarded optimism Thursday at renewing cooperation with Russia to seek an end to Syria's brutal civil war, assessing that Moscow is getting frustrated with President Bashar al-Assad. "Russia may be more willing now -- we've seen some indications in the Russian media and in certain Russian actions -- to be more flexible on the constitutional committee," said James Jeffrey, the US pointman on Syria. "They may once again be willing to talk with us about a way to resolve this short of a military victory," he told reporters. "Because it's very clear at this point to Russia that they're not going to get a military victory -- certainly no time soon."

WHO Fears Up to 190,000 Could Die in Africa If Virus Containment Fails
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
Up to 190,000 people in Africa could die of coronavirus in the first year of the pandemic if containment measures fail, the World Health Organisation warned on Thursday. The UN health agency cited a new study by its regional office in Brazzaville which found that between 83,000 and 190,000 could die and 29 to 44 million be infected during the period. The research is based on prediction modeling and covers 47 countries with a total population of one billion, the WHO said in a statement. Experts have consistently warned that Africa is particularly vulnerable to an outbreak, due to weak health infrastructure, high rates of poverty, numerous roiling conflicts, and a proven susceptibility to previous epidemics. But the virus has been slow to spread across the continent, which has yet not recorded the soaring number of infections or deaths seen in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. "The model predicts the observed slower rate of transmission, lower age of people with severe disease, and lower mortality rates compared to what is seen in the most affected countries in the rest of the world," the statement said. "The lower rate of transmission, however, suggests a more prolonged outbreak over a few years."WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said that "while COVID-19 likely won't spread as exponentially in Africa as it has elsewhere in the world, it likely will smolder in transmission hotspots"."COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region," he added. "We need to test, trace, isolate, and treat." Smaller countries as well as Algeria, South Africa, and Cameroon were at particularly high risk unless effective containment measures were in force, the WHO said. Africa has so far recorded 53,334 cases and 2,065 fatalities -- out of a global death toll of nearly 267,000 -- according to an AFP tally. Several countries have put confinement measures or lockdowns in place, but others have not and some are considering lifting restrictions.Nigeria lifted the lockdown in Africa's most populous city Lagos earlier this week, while South Africa started to ease its measures last week.

Spanish Police Detain Suspected ISIS Follower
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan man in Barcelona with suspected links to ISIS who they believe was planning a militant attack. The Guardia Civil force said it had arrested the man, described as deeply radicalized, after a joint investigation with security forces in Morocco and the United States. "The suspect intended to carry out a terrorist act, the details of which are unknown," police said in a statement on Friday. His links to ISIS date back at least four years, police said, though he had not displayed any outward signs of radicalization until recently. After Spain imposed a coronavirus lockdown on March 14, his interest in the extremist movement increased, Reuters quoted police as saying. Since then, the suspect made public pledges of allegiance to ISIS and declared his hatred of the West on social media, police said. He also made several furtive trips around the city, during which police believe he was scouting out potential targets for an attack. Police said he was likely to have been responding to calls from ISIS for followers in the West to carry out attacks in the countries where they live. In April, security forces in the southern city of Almeria arrested a British rapper who was on the run after fighting for the militant movement in Iraq and Syria.

UNRWA Launches Emergency Coronavirus Appeal to Help Palestinians
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) launched an emergency coronavirus appeal Friday, saying Palestinians across the Middle East were suffering a devastating socio-economic impact. The number of Palestinian refugees infected with COVID-19 has so far been relatively low, but they often work in informal sectors and are facing devastating economic repercussions from the crisis, UNRWA said. The agency appealed for $93.4 million for the next three months to provide food and cash assistance to the vulnerable. UNRWA provides support for millions of Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, but primarily in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. This includes schooling and medical services, with the organisation often operating as a de facto state in refugee camps, AFP reported. In the Gaza Strip, where the majority of the two million population are refugees, unemployment could jump from 50 to 70 percent due to the crisis, said Matthias Schmale, UNRWA's head in the Palestinian territory. UNRWA officials warned that without funds schools for millions may not be able to open. The United States, traditionally the largest individual donor to the organisation with around $300 million annually, cut all funding to the body in 2018 as relations with the Palestinian government broke down. For its part, UNRWA is not affiliated with the government and accused Trump of politicizing humanitarian aid.In March, 59 US Congress members wrote to Trump's administration urging him to reinstate the funding in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elizabeth Campbell, the agency's Washington director, told an online press conference they were launching the appeal "amidst the biggest financial crisis in our history".

Social Distancing Signs around the World Show the New Normal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 8 May, 2020
They range from simple spray-painted circles on the ground in a Mogadishu market to bright and breezy floor stickers in a Dubai mall, which blow a kiss and urge: "Hey there beautiful, don't forget to keep a safe distance."The markings that will oblige us to keep apart in busy social settings, in order to prevent transmission of the new coronavirus, are appearing on shop floors, city pavements and train or tram platforms the world over. As people emerge from weeks of lockdown, they face an array of new measures to try and keep the virus in check and protect society's most vulnerable.
The signs mounted so far went up at speed - but look likely to become commonplace and could be in use for years. Dots on the ground, lines, squares within squares, love hearts and smiley faces are being used around the world. The markings need to be impactful enough to be adhered to, but also, ideally, to reassure people without making them feel cattle-driven. "Anywhere where there are graphics at the moment, it is because people have had to react super quick and put something in place - speed has been of the essence. We are now at the point where there is a bit of breathing space," said Chris Girling, Head of Wayfinding at CCD Design & Ergonomics in London. “We have a hotchpotch of styles, colors, terminology, scale and placement strategies,” he notes, according to Reuters. "This means every single time a member of the public enters a different space they are having to relearn the rules."There is a balance to be found, he said. "People want to feel safe, reassured and at ease. If you can do that, they are in turn going to be more likely to shop, feel relaxed and return. The message needs to be clear and consistent ... and absorbed."
Please
Levels of politeness vary in the places where retailers, city and transport authorities have been able to afford to print special signs. "For your safety please stand 2 meters from other people," reads a floor sign in a Shell petrol garage in Britain."Please practice social distancing," reads another alongside footprints in Santa Monica, California."Stand here" is written in English on a red circle floor sign in a grocery shop in Beirut. "If we are using words like 'stop' and 'go' and more abrupt language, then that is more associated with hazard and prohibitive signage. This (COVID-19) is a very different type of situation and one that people have never experienced before, so it warrants a different tone of voice," said Girling. "It is definitely worth trying a more friendly and inventive touch with how you talk to your customers or the general public as they are likely to be more receptive... there is even a bit of space for humor."
Footprints have proved popular so far, in signs from Bury in Britain to Abidjan in Ivory Coast, but as Girling points out, the best sign systems would also encourage linear movement and give a visual understanding of direction.
Asked how he would design a social distancing system, he suggested a line of tape to show a pathway, which changes color every two meters."The instinct to follow a line from childhood naturally stays the same as we become adults, and you subconsciously pick up on these visual cues as you walk around environments."Signs related to COVID-19 should also ideally have their own distinctive color, which will become instantly recognizable.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 08-09/2020
Is Iran really leaving Syria?
Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/May 08/2020
جيروسالم بوست:: هل حقيقة إيران بدأت بمغادرة سوريا؟
Is it really because of Israeli airstrikes or is it more complicated?
Earlier this week senior defense officials in Israel announced that after years of Israel’s war-between-war campaign to drive Iran out of Syria, the Islamic Republic was finally withdrawing from the war-torn country.
The news came just hours after an airstrike blamed on Israel targeted a research facility in Aleppo in Syria’s north.
But the announcement also came as Iran is still regrouping from the targeted killing of Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani in January and as it continues to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a disastrous economic crisis hitting the country,
Israel’s war-between-war campaign, known in Hebrew as MABAM, has been going for close to 10 years but has increased its pace over the past three years with thousands of strikes targeting Iranian and militia infrastructure in Syria.
Almost on a weekly occurrence foreign publications are reporting airstrikes- from the Golan Heights on Israel’s northern border to deep inside Syrian territory like Al Bukamal on the Iraqi border to Aleppo in the country’s north on Monday night.
The increase of tempo of strikes as well as the distance of the location of the strikes, deep inside Syria, a senior defense official said, are what is pushing Iran to withdraw its forces and close bases across the country.
Independently, Iranian-backed Shiite militias have also begun to withdraw from Syria as the civil war continues to wind down.
Iranian troops are leaving the country, both in caskets and by air, but the reasons behind that withdrawal may be a bit more complicated than just an increase in airstrikes.
At the height of the civil war, Iran, one of the main backers of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, sent thousands of troops and ferried countless weapons into the war-torn country. Not only was it propping up the regime which was at risk of collapse, under the watchful eye of Soleimani, Iran’s aspirations of regional hegemony almost came to pass.
The death of Solemani, viewed by even Israeli defense officials as an incredible frontline commander and mastermind, was a major strike to Iran’s plans.
And while he was replaced by Ismail Ghaani, it’s hard to replace an individual as charismatic and cunning as Soleimani. Not only did he bump elbows in the halls of high ranking political officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he also got down in the dirt with the soldiers on the frontlines.
Ghaani is not the same and knows that he can’t fill his predecessor’s shoes. And while he is an active commander, the men of the Quds force on the ground in Syria understand that he’s no Soleimani.
Inside Iran, the situation is going from bad to worse and the public are fed up with billions of dollars being spent on Hezbollah, Assad, and even the Houthis in Yemen. They want food on their table, they want to work.
With dozens of strikes targeting airbases used by Iran to ferry in fighters and weapons, there are reports that Iran has began to use Russia’s Hmeimin airbase close to the port city of Latakia, but how long will that last? Russia, which along with Iran, has been instrumental in keeping Assad in power has also begun to run out of patience with Tehran.
The senior defense official who told reporters that Iran was withdrawing from Syria also stressed that Israel would "step up pressure on Iran until it leaves Syria." Israel knows that if it leaves Iran alone, it risks allowing a monster to grow on its northern front.
But even if Iran and the militias leave, they have been laying down local infrastructure so that Iranian blood doesn’t need to be lost. The locals who align with them can fight against Israel and will pay the price.
Hezbollah has also been investing significant amounts of manpower and time into Syria and has been reported to be embedding itself into the Syrian Arab Army in order to guarantee its survival in the country.
So while the Iranians may be leaving, the reason behind their withdrawal may be more complicated than just Israeli airstrikes.

Misinformation and leaks: The love-hate Russia-Iran relationship in Syria
جيروسالم بوست:: التسريبات والمعلومات المغلوطة: علاقة الحب والكراهية الروسية والإيرانية في سوريا
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/May 08/2020
We will never fully know what Iran and Russia actually think of Assad or each other’s historic role in Syria.
A secret Russian plan sees Syrian regime President Bashar al-Assad as a ‘’burden,” reports this week asserted. In this narrative by Asharq Al-Awsat there are hints that Russia, Turkey and Iran will remove Assad and establish a ceasefire that includes the Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkey’s TRT believes that Iran has more influence over Assad and agrees that Russia is non-plussed.
We will never fully know what Iran and Russia actually think of Assad or each other’s historic role in Syria. What we do know is that a concerted media campaign is being waged to undermine Russia’s alliance with Assad and stir the pot between Moscow and Tehran.
When Turkey’s state media says that “Bashar al-Assad does not seem to be ready to heed Russia’s advice to compromise with his enemies and lay out the country’s future as corruption levels move from bad to worse,” the message is intended for Moscow. Turkey is saying “work with us in Syria, not Assad, we will help secure the regime.” Turkey claims Iran is gaining power in Damascus to embarrass the Assad regime.
The Turkish narrative is that while Iran secures its power over Assad this could hurt Russia’s interests in Syria because Syria won’t be rebuilt if Assad doesn’t budge. But wait. This week the business tycoon and regime insider Rami Makhlouf appeared to split with the Assad regime. That may have been engineered by Russia, reports assert. But why would Russia weaken the hand of its fragile ally which is has invested so much in.
In Russia Sputnik news highlights what it says are recent Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s interests in Syria. It argues that Israel will continue operations in Syria to pressure Iran until Iran leaves. Russian sources quoted by Middle East Monitor also push the bombshell claim that Russia and Turkey and Iran would remove Assad. It quotes a former Russian ambassador as asserting that Assad was not ready to reform.
Meanwhile in Tehran the local Tasnim news highlighted a letter from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Iran’s Javad Zarif, in which Lavrov expressed solidarity with Iran against US sanctions. Iran’s narrative is that all is well with Russia. Evidence that Iran and Russia are embracing appears to come from recent evidence that Iranian flights flew from Tehran to Russia’s Khmeimim air base. This allegedly is due to the fact that when Iranian flights arrive in Tiyas, Shayrat or Mezzeh and other airports that what they unload gets hit with airstrikes. Russia’s base is the only place that is protected by serious air defense and which no other country would attack in Syria. Almasdar media claims that Russia has given Iran access to the airbase in a “rare” move.
How does that information fit in with yet other reports that Iran is reducing its presence in Syria? How can Iran be reducing its presence, also shifting flights to a Russian air base and working with Assad and plotting with Russia to remove Assad at the same time? Clearly none of that may be the full story.
For several years messaging sought to present Russia and Iran at odd over Syria. Russia wants a strong Syrian regime to survive. Iran was a weak, decentralized Syrian regime that can be hollowed out by Iranian-backed militias. Iran carves out spheres of influence in Syria, for instance from Albukamal on the border with Iraq to Deir Ezzor and in southern Syria near the Golan and on roads to Lebanon to funnel weapons to Hezbollah, and around Tiyas and Homs, as well as at the Sayyida Zaynab tomb in Damascus. On the other hand there were stories over the years that Russia would somehow help remove Iran’s forces, either by purposely not aiding Syrian air defense to stop attacks on them, or even getting groups like Hezbollah to leave.
On the other hand, Syria’s regime may be strengthened by willingness to clash with Makhlouf and reduce his role. He was a symbol of corruption. So if that is the case then isn’t it in line with Russia’s desire to reduce corruption?
“Iran’s steadfast support for Assad limits Russia’s influence over domestic politics,” writes Alexander Bick at the Wilson Center. But Russia can’t move Assad much because it has invested so much of its own Russian defense narrative in keeping him as a reliable partner. If Assad is weak, it weakens Russia’s hand. But if he is co-opted entirely by Iran and Israel’s airstrikes increase then the regime looks weak also. Assad has his own role in this, which is he prefer to balance Iran’s octopus-like grip with Russia’s hammer. Putin visited Assad in January, a clear sign of support. Iran’s foreign minister came to Syria in April. Assad went to Syria in February 2019.
Much remains uncertain in Syria. In late February and early March Syrian regime troops clashed with Turkish troops in Idlib. After initial Syrian successes Turkey claimed to deal the regime a devastating blow. Did Syria’s overreach give Russia’s its ‘headache.” Or did Russia engineer the attacks on Turkish troops to show how easily they could be killed and send a message to Ankara that it needed to sign off on a new ceasefire? On March 15 Russia and Turkey began joint patrols on the strategic M4 highway near Aleppo. They completed their 9th patrol this week.
The evidence points to a more complex triangular love affair between Moscow, Tehran and Damascus. The relationships are undermined, and complexity increased by leaks and misinformation that appears in regional media, percolating up from Russian, Turkish, Arabic or Iranian sources. The idea is to leak embarrassing details about who might be “removing Assad” or who got a headache from Assad, whose air defense doesn’t work, or who is secretly hoping Israel will harm Iran’s interests, who leaked claims to Russian media that Assad bought his wife an expensive painting, and so on.
The problem with Syria, like the Gulf conflict between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is that the stakes are very high. There at many countries that want to benefit from what happens next. Syria is the gordian knot that ties together America, Russia, Iran, Israel, Turkey; it is the crossroads for Iran’s road to the sea, the so-called “Shia crescent” and Russia’s ambitions to return to great power status and Turkey’s desire to defeat the PKK and return to Ottoman empire imperial greatness, and maybe even the Muslim Brotherhood’s desire to carve out a win that links Qatar, Turkey and Libya. It is even a lynchpin for whether Israel can avoid a larger conflict with Iran and whether the US role in the Middle East will decline. With so much at stake, the Russia-Iran relationship over Assad, or competition, is managed in media rumors.
One thing is for certain, any story that claims there will be an agreement for a post-war Syria that involved Turkey and the US-backed SDF, is nonsensical. Russia wants the US out of Syria. Turkey wants the US out of Syria, Iran wants the US out of Syria and so does Assad. On that they all agree. They just can’t agree how to get there.

Extend the Arms Embargo on Iran
Richard Goldberg & Mark Dubowitz/FDD/May 08/2020
In line with a request issued Monday by 387 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is preparing a diplomatic campaign to block one of the most damaging concessions enshrined by the Iran nuclear deal—namely, the lifting of the international arms embargo on Iran this coming October. Mr. Pompeo’s effort merits bipartisan support at home and allied support abroad—not only to counter Iran’s proxy war campaigns, but to stop Russia and China from shifting the balance of power in the Middle East.
The end of the arms embargo is one of the many key international restrictions on Iran scheduled to expire over time—the so-called “sunsets” negotiated alongside the nuclear agreement. Yet it makes little sense to lift an arms embargo on a regime that has steadily increased its violent behavior over the past year, ranging from cruise missile strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure to mine attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf and rocket attacks on American and British forces in Iraq. Meanwhile, the regime continues to train and equip proxy forces in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza, all of which add to instability and civilian suffering.
Accordingly, the first phase of Pompeo’s plan is to propose a new U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the arms embargo on Tehran indefinitely. Russia and China are expected to block the proposal, because the end of the embargo will unshackle their efforts to employ arms sales as a means of turning Iran into a client state.
This acceleration of great power competition is the larger story unfolding here. The Pentagon reports that Beijing and Moscow are planning to sell Iran fighter jets, main battle tanks, attack helicopters and modern naval capabilities. Tehran is likely to proliferate some of this advanced weaponry to the likes of Lebanese Hezbollah, Shiite militias in Iraq, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen.
Iran is already a customer for Russian nuclear power plants and air defense. China has long been the source of Iran’s most proliferation-sensitive materials and is the last paying customer for Iranian crude oil exports. They have been eagerly awaiting the end of the embargo.
Phase two of Pompeo’s plan circumvents Russian and Chinese obstruction. He intends to use the self-destruct—or “snapback”—mechanism of the nuclear deal to block the sunset of the arms embargo, removing the need for an extension.
This mechanism gave all original parties to the nuclear deal—including the U.S.—the right to snap all U.N. sanctions and embargoes back into place if the Iranian regime ever breached its nuclear commitments. Such breaches are now indisputable. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in March that Iran has tripled its production of enriched uranium since November and is denying nuclear inspectors access to suspicious sites.
Even though the Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal, it retains the right to initiate a snapback. Specifically, U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which put the U.N. imprimatur on the nuclear deal, defines the term “participant State” to include the United States. According to a State Department legal opinion, Resolution 2231 does not contemplate a change in that definition even if America ceases participating in the agreement. This was not an accident, but a rare case of foresight on the part of the nuclear deal’s negotiators. Indeed, the Obama administration heavily marketed this unconditional snapback prerogative as a key feature of the deal in 2015.
Unsurprisingly, Russia and China object to this interpretation. They are hoping Europe will persuade Washington to relent. London, Paris and Berlin readily acknowledge the flaws of the nuclear deal, especially its sunsets, but they remain wedded to the belief that engagement on any terms can empower purported moderates and divert Tehran from its decades-long quest for nuclear weapons capabilities.
With the first nuclear deal sunset now on the horizon, European leaders face an important choice. They have an opportunity to show that they understand great power competition is becoming the most important dynamic in the Middle East. By supporting snapback, they can deny strategic victories to Russia and China while blocking the Iranian regime’s access to dangerous weapons.
The Trump administration has made clear that snapback is inevitable. The only question remaining is whether supporters of the Iran nuclear deal in America and Europe can let go of an agreement nearing the end of its shelf-life in support of overriding shared strategic objectives.
*Richard Goldberg, who served in the Trump National Security Council, is a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Mark Dubowitz is chief executive officer.

Two Years On, the Trump Administration’s Iran Policy Continues to Make Sense
Mark Dubowitz & Behnam Ben Taleblu/FDD/May 08/2020
In the two years since the United States left the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Trump administration has adopted a policy of “maximum pressure” to address the full range of threats from the Islamic Republic. The administration’s objective is a better agreement that addresses the JCPOA’s fatal flaws. The way to secure such an agreement is to escalate all forms of pressure on the clerical regime until it faces a stark choice between its own survival and the abandonment of its nuclear ambitions, foreign aggression, and grave human rights violations.
From the beginning of his 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump insisted that the JCPOA was a bad deal. Rather than permanently blocking Iran’s pathway to nuclear weapons, the deal opens a patient path; if the JCPOA endures until its key provisions expire (or “sunset”), Tehran would emerge around 2025 with an industrial-scale nuclear program, a short path to a bomb, ballistic missiles to deliver that bomb, a conventional force newly equipped with foreign weapons, and its economy immunized against future sanctions.
The administration also dispensed with the fiction adopted by its predecessor that the nuclear agreement would moderate the mullahs by flooding them with cash and integrating them into the global economy. That theory of “moderation through economic seduction” failed miserably with the Chinese Communist Party and Vladimir Putin. The Islamic Republic has been at war with the United States for decades, murdering Americans and seeking to dominate the Middle East through its terrorist proxies. The JCPOA only super-charged such malign conduct by returning tens of billions of dollars for Tehran to fund its destructive activities. The Islamic Republic no longer had to make painful budgetary choices between guns for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), Lebanese Hezbollah, and pro-Iran militias in Iraq, as opposed to butter for its citizens. Cash did little to transform the Islamic Republic’s leaders into more responsible global citizens or improve their treatment of the Iranian people.
In contrast, the Trump administration has drained hundreds of billions of dollars from the Iranian treasury. U.S. sanctions did not need support from allies to work, as JCPOA defenders had long maintained. Put to the choice between the U.S. market and the U.S. dollar on the one hand and the Iranian market on the other, multinational companies cut their ties with the Islamic Republic. The key economic indicators demonstrate clearly: From GDP to inflation rates, oil exports, accessible foreign exchange reserves, the value of the Iranian rial relative to the U.S. dollar, and more, U.S. unilateral sanctions have inflicted a greater cost – and in less time – than previous multilateral penalties. Market forces, even more than political consensus, can sometimes achieve national security objectives.
The administration also broke taboos long observed by Washington’s foreign policy establishment, including an aversion to designating the IRGC in its entirety as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), blacklisting Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and sanctioning Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister. These were political “firsts” that further boxed in the regime. Trump’s decision to kill IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani intensified the operational and psychological pressure while avoiding the “World War Three” that his critics predicted. In addition, the administration’s successful campaign to get the United Kingdom and Germany to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist organization demonstrated that both pressure and diplomacy could work against Tehran’s most deadly Arab proxy.
Despite these successes, the current policy has vulnerabilities. Europe remains committed to defending the JCPOA as it hunkers down in the hope that former Vice President Joe Biden will succeed Trump as president and return America to the JCPOA. A Biden administration might prefer to employ America’s newfound leverage to negotiate a better deal, rather than rushing back to the JCPOA. We hope so. Still, Biden says he will rejoin the deal, so the administration should do more to strengthen its “sanctions wall of deterrence,” whose purpose is to deter market players from returning to business with Iran even if the United States rejoins the JCPOA. The designation of the Central Bank of Iran for funding terrorism, the designation of the IRGC as an FTO, and the re-architecting of many of the sanctions to make them based on terrorism, missile proliferation, or connections to the IRGC will pose significant risks to these companies. Few believe the risks of Tehran’s illicit conduct will diminish even if a Biden administration lifts sanctions.
More lawmakers and prospective 2024 presidential candidates can reinforce these political and market risks by supporting a Senate resolution that “rejects the reapplication of sanctions relief provided for in the JCPOA.” This would underscore how companies will be whipsawed again, as they were between 2015 and 2018, if they return to Iran without bipartisan support for a new agreement.
Washington needs to establish clear red lines to head off further Iranian escalation as the maximum pressure campaign continues. Last summer, Washington did not respond to Iranian regional and nuclear escalation, culminating in a cruise missile and drone strike on Saudi Arabia that knocked offline almost 6 million barrels of daily production. While the killing of Soleimani shocked Tehran after its militias killed an American in Iraq, Washington since has absorbed repeated rocket and mortar attacks from pro-Iran militias, even after two American soldiers and a British solider were killed. The red line against the taking of American lives must be enforced. But even this high bar for the use of force can make allies skeptical about American staying power in the region while incentivizing Iran-backed Shiite militias to continue their attacks.
The administration has adopted the right policy, but it must safeguard gains and add to its wins. First, it should not offer Tehran any premature sanctions relief. Diminishing American leverage led to the fatally flawed JCPOA in the first place and has not worked in the administration’s negotiations with North Korea, in which Trump’s summit diplomacy undermined the pressure campaign. Washington should defend its sanctions wall against a new administration by designating more Iranian entities under multiple sanctions authorities and enhancing audit and due diligence requirements for any firm auditing the books of a company that maintains ties with Tehran. This will deter companies that may not do business with the United States or in the U.S. dollar but do need audited financial statements from accounting firms, which will not be able to meet this enhanced standard. The most immediate sanctions target is to tighten the noose on Iran’s regional and non-oil trade, which is where Tehran is generating revenue while under sanctions.
Washington also needs to step-up its support for the Iranian people, whose disdain for the regime is growing with more frequent and broad-based protests, to which the regime has responded with even greater violence. There are numerous ways the United States can shows its support: more targeted designations for human rights abuses and corruption; platforms to help Iranians circumvent Internet restrictions; humanitarian relief efforts through international non-governmental organizations to bypass the regime; public messaging that supports a peaceful democratic Iran; and respect for human rights as a key condition of any comprehensive agreement. Such a policy of “maximum support” will reinforce maximum pressure.
*Mark Dubowitz is the chief executive officer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow. They both contribute to FDD’s Iran Program, Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP), and Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more analysis from Mark, Behnam, the Iran Program, CEFP, and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Mark on Twitter @mdubowitz. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CEFP and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Touting Missile Launch, Khamenei Urges Surge In Production In A Failing Economy
Radio Farda/May 08/2020
The Islamic Republic of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says a "surge in production is doable" for a nation that launches satellites into space.
He was referring to his slogan of the year, "surge in production" and the recent controversial launch of a military satellite into orbit.
"The wisdom and intelligence that can build such a satellite and set itself the goal of launching another one with an orbit at 36,000 kilometers definitely has the spirit, innovation and creativity to build automobiles with a 5 L/100 km fuel consumption efficiency and to develop other areas of production,” Khamenei argued.
Iran is known worldwide for the sub-standard cars it makes, copied from decades-old European and Asian models.
In an appearance after a few weeks of self-isolation as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, Khamenei appeared in yet another video conference on May 6 addressing seven entrepreneurs, as well as several industrial managers and exemplary workers.
It was noticeable that Kambiz Golshani, an "entrepreneur" who had sold the same "invention" to the Iranian government several times under different names, most recently as a "virus catcher", was absent in the virtual meeting on the occasion of Labor Week.
Those present included seven quasi-privatized companies plagued by financial corruption, including the National Copper Company, Iran Transfo, and Behyar Sanat Sepahan, as observed by Radio Farda's Iran analyst Reza Haqiqatnejad.
Meanwhile, without any reference to hundreds of protest demonstrations by Iranian workers during the past two years, Khamenei said that “The natural rights of the workforce should be respected – in other words, fair wages and on time payments.”
Incidentally, most of the protest demonstrations were motivated by unpaid or long delayed wages.
In the elaborately stage-managed meeting, some of the "workers" said that no one in the workforce has been suspended from work as a result of the coronavirus epidemic. This comes while government officials including cabinet spokesperson Ali Rabiei say millions had lost their jobs as a result of the outbreak.
Khamenei compared domestic production with the immune system of the human body and said; "The defense and security system of the economy is production. In other words, the thing that can repel the viruses and microbes invading the economy and keep it safe is domestic production.”
This comes while according to a recent comment by Iran's Economy Minister Farhad Dezhpasand, the losses in the Iranian economy as a result of the epidemic include 15 percent of the Gross Domestic product. There is no new statistics about GDP in Iran but based on the predictions of the International Monetary Fund, the growth in Iran's gross domestic product would have reached $463 billion in 2020 if the country was not hit by COVID-19. The forecast is likely to be reduced to $393 billion because of the outbreak.
Continuing the analogy, Khamenei said, “Our economy is, unfortunately, suffering from many natural microbes and viruses. Of course, there are man-made viruses as well. These are viruses such as sanctions and the current [drop in] oil price. These are things that harm the economy. However, if we continually have a good, appropriate, developing production in the country, we can resist such viruses.”
According to Khamenei's website, "pointing to the recent achievement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in launching the Noor Satellite into space, he stated, “Unfortunately, some people in the country constantly say that it’s impossible and that we can’t; however, we are perfectly capable. The reason for this is that when we are capable of launching a satellite into space with a speed of 7,500 m/s, can successfully put the satellite in orbit and can make great progress in the area of defense industries, we are equally capable of achieving a surge in production.”
However, he did not explain how an economy plagued by mismanagement, unemployment, and an inflation rate of over 41 percent can achieve that. Khamenei also did not explain how a surge in production can be possible with sanctions on Iran's oil export and international banking.
On this occasion, as in previous ones, Khamenei did not link the economy with the country’s foreign policy that has isolated it to the degree it cannot conduct financial transactions even its allies.
In a series of tweets on Khamenei's speech, Haqiqatnejad maintained that the remarks highlighted a lack of understanding of the required infrastructure for Iran's development as if mounting a missile engine on the sub-standard and unsafe Iranian-made car, ironically named "Pride," can push it forward.

The IRGC’s Smuggling Conglomerate
Jason Brodsky/United Against Nuclear Iran/May 08/2020
Last week, the U.S. government sanctioned and indicted associates of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF). Amir Dianat was accused of helping the IRGC-QF to “generate revenue and smuggle weapons abroad.” U.S. criminal charges also filed against him allege that he and an associate conspired to provide U.S. financial services to Iranian entities in a bid to buy a petroleum tanker, the Nautic, in September 2019—months before former IRGC-QF Commander Qassem Soleimani’s death. Given Soleimani’s role for an extended period of time in overseeing this smuggling and sanctions busting network, his death leaves a management void in one of the crown jewels of IRGC-QF operations. But four IRGC operatives have unique skill sets to fill this role moving forward—specifically Behnam Shahriyari, Iran’s former Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi, the new Commander of IRGC-QF Esmail Ghaani, and his deputy commander, Mohammad Hejazi.
In its designation, the U.S. Treasury Department highlighted the ties of Dianat to Shahriyari and Ghasemi. Behnam Shahriyari has been on the radar of U.S. officials for years. He was sanctioned in 2011 for acting on behalf of Liner Transport Kish (LTK), itself a sanctioned entity under Executive Order 13224. LTK stood accused of provision of weapons to Hezbollah. Shahriyari has been a key figure in the IRGC’s weapons smuggling schemes, specifically part of the IRGC-QF’s Unit 190, which has funneled arms to Tehran’s regional battle theaters. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly accused Unit 190 of arms transfers to the Houthis in Yemen.
Rostam Ghasemi is another core member of this network. A former commander of the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters, Ghasemi went on to serve as oil minister during the second term of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency. After his cabinet tenure, Ghasemi became Qassem Soleimani’s advisor for Syria reconstruction as well as the head of the Iranian-Syrian Economic Relations Development Committee. Ghasemi also served for a period as a special advisor on Iraq to Iran’s First Vice President. These were strategic appointments, as Ghasemi was intimately connected to illicit networks through Khatam al-Anbia and his experience working with Babak Zanjani, who helped the Ahmadinejad administration circumvent U.S. sanctions to sell oil. In September 2019, the Trump administration sanctioned a vast petroleum shipping network which featured “dozens of ship managers, vessels, and facilitators,” including Hezbollah officials and front companies, enabling the IRGC-QF to conceal its role. This designation announcement indicates that as late as last fall, Ghasemi was still identified as an overseer of this “sprawling network,” reporting to Soleimani.
As a former deputy commander of the IRGC-QF, Esmail Ghaani had a background in logistics as well as providing financial oversight of weapons shipments. The U.S. Treasury Department cited his role in managing one to The Gambia when it sanctioned him in 2012. Israeli officials later indicated the shipment’s rockets were headed to Gaza. Such experiences enable him to fill Soleimani’s shoes when it comes to intricate smuggling networks, particularly Unit 190.
Another official to watch is Mohammad Hejazi, the new deputy commander of the IRGC-QF. Hejazi briefly served as deputy commander-in-chief of the IRGC from 2008-09, and his tenure coincided with Ghasemi’s leadership of its Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters from 2007-11. As a result, Hejazi’s and Ghasemi’s preexisting relationship may also contribute to oversight of smuggling networks moving forward. That’s not to mention Hejazi’s recent experience overseeing the IRGC-QF’s efforts to supply precision-guided missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Thus, Shahriyari’s role in Unit 190, Ghasemi’s deep contacts in Iraq and Syria, Ghaani’s experience in financing weapons transfers, and Hejazi’s work in Lebanon all align as links in a chain of Iranian arms transfers moving forward, from Tehran to Beirut and with reach into Sanaa. The sanctions announced last week on IRGC-QF operatives were a reminder of the durability of Iran’s smuggling architecture.
*Jason M. Brodsky is the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).

Flynn Was Innocent All Along: He Was Pressured to Plead Guilty
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/May 08/2020
From a legal and policy point of view, encouraging the FBI to misuse its legitimate authority to investigate past crimes, solely to create future crimes is both immoral and illegal.
Let us hear now from the former civil libertarians for whom any violation of law is permissible, as long as it is directed at a Trump associate.
Anyone who knows how the system works in practice would understand why an innocent man—or a defendant in a close case—might be coerced into pleading guilty.... in this case, it is alleged that the government threatened, if Flynn did not plead guilty, to indict his son.
There must be a single standard of justice and civil liberties -- including the presumption of innocence -- that transcends partisan politics. This message has been forgotten by both parties.
The Justice Department has agreed that General Michael Flynn did not, in fact, commit any crime. Let us hear now from the former civil libertarians for whom any violation of law is permissible, as long as it is directed at a Trump associate. Pictured: Flynn, then US National Security Adviser speaks during at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 1, 2017.
More than a year ago I wrote that it was clear General Michael Flynn should never have pleaded guilty because he did not commit a crime. Even if he lied to the FBI, his lie was not "material." For a lie to be a crime under federal law, it must be material to the investigation – meaning that the lies pertain to the issues being legitimately investigated. The role of the FBI is to investigate past crimes, not to create new ones. Because the FBI investigators already knew the answer to the question they asked him—whether he had spoken to the Russian Ambassador—their purpose was not to elicit new information relevant to their investigation, but rather to spring a perjury trap on him. When they asked Flynn the question, they had a recording of his conversation with the Russian, of which he was presumably unaware. So his answer was not material to the investigation because they already had the information about which they were inquiring.
From a legal and policy point of view, encouraging the FBI to misuse its legitimate authority to investigate past crimes, solely to create future crimes is both immoral and illegal. That is why Congress added the word material to its statute.
Because Flynn's answers were not material to what the FBI said it was investigating –- a violation of a never-used law, the Logan Act, that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments -- they did not constitute a crime.
At the time, that argument was mocked by the usual suspects: fair-weather civil libertarians who would have supported the argument if it had been made on behalf of a liberal Democrat but who rejected it when made on behalf of a Trump Republican. They claimed there was no authority supporting this argument, despite the citation of several cases by eminent judges.
Now the Justice Department has agreed that General Flynn did not, in fact, commit any crime. Among the reasons given for belatedly dropping the case against General Flynn was that his answers did not satisfy the materiality requirement of the statute.
Let us hear now from the former civil libertarians for whom any violation of law is permissible, as long as it is directed at a Trump associate.
When I originally argued that Flynn had committed no crime, I was unaware of the exculpatory documents that the government had illegally withheld from his lawyers and him. He might well have considered them in deciding whether or not to plead guilty. This suppressed material might have bolstered his defense had he decided to go to trial.
Some may wonder why an innocent man would ever plead guilty. Anyone who knows how the system works in practice would understand why an innocent man—or a defendant in a close case—might be coerced into pleading guilty. The cruel reality is that if a defendant pleads not guilty and is found guilty, the sentence will be far greater than if he had pled guilty—perhaps even 10 times greater. Moreover, in this case, it is alleged that the government threatened, if Flynn did not plead guilty, to indict his son. These are the kinds of pressures routinely used by prosecutors. Civil libertarians have long been critical of these pressures, but fair-weather civil libertarians refuse to object when these improper tactics are used against Trump's associates. Partisan hypocrisy reigns.
The decision by the Justice Department to drop the Flynn case sends an important message to prosecutors that goes beyond the Flynn case. There must be a single standard of justice and civil liberties -- including the presumption of innocence -- that transcends partisan politics. This message has been forgotten by both parties. Flynn himself was among those who shouted, "Lock her up," regarding Hillary Clinton. Then when the Justice Department tried to lock him up, he got religion.
Cynics used to say that, "a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged." I would respond by saying that, "a civil-libertarian is a conservative who has been falsely accused." I would now add that an anti-civil libertarian is a former civil libertarian who is willing to ignore the law to get Trump and his associates.
The time has come, indeed it is long overdue, to de-politicize our criminal justice system and to forbid it from becoming weaponized by either side for partisan purposes. Dropping the case against General Flynn is an important first step, but it cannot be the last if we are to restore the criminal justice system to its rightful place as a non-partisan institution of justice.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of the book, Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo, Skyhorse Publishing, November 2019. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Damascus Caught Between Two Cousins
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
When we consider a relative balance of power, there is really no comparison between a president of a nation who holds a near-complete authority, and the CEO of a telecommunications company — even if he happens to be the president’s cousin. Whoever controls the army, the security forces and the nation’s budget has the upper hand.
I point this out because Syrian businessman Rami Makhlouf this week unexpectedly, and very publicly, challenged the Syrian regime. His protest, clearly directed at Bashar Assad, came in the form of two videos posted on social media. It was heard around the world.
If Syrians had to pick between the two cousins, they would not choose to do so in a month when there is already a wealth of fictional dramas to digest in the form of Ramadan TV shows. For years, thrilling Syrian series have dominated Arab viewing during the holy month. Not even the coronavirus pandemic prevented producers from completing about 10 series.
As a result, the homemade Rami Makhlouf reality show is struggling to compete with the spectacle and excitement of professionally made entertainment, and his dispute with Assad is likely to end soon unless the speculation surrounding it turns out to be true.
Determining the truth about what happens in Damascus is never easy. If the dispute between the cousins is primarily financial, they can easily resolve it between themselves. If, however, it relates to ruling the country and the authority that comes with that, the outcome is predetermined in the president’s favor.
What if the two videos that Makhlouf made, in which he talks about his suffering, were intended to stir the emotions of the Syrian people, or even the president himself? If the latter is the case, it is hard to imagine his efforts will succeed. His videos have been preceded by tens of thousands of videos filmed by Syrians since 2011 in which they shared their suffering, pleas for help and stories of the threats they face. None of those videos mattered much to Assad.
Foreign countries will not care much about the spat between Assad and Makhlouf if it is a family row or financial squabble. If, however, it turns out to be a genuine political dispute, that will be a different matter entirely for the international community, because the situation in Syria is crucial to the region.
Syria greatly contributed to the US withdrawal from Iraq, serving the interests of Iran. It also allowed Iran to take over Lebanon. For decades, Syria has undermined the Camp David and Oslo agreements. The country now represents the main battlefield in the confrontation between Russia and the US, with only the Euphrates River separating the superpowers. Syria is also key to Iraq’s future stability or failure.
The dispute between the Assad and his cousin, who is the CEO of Syriatel, is said by some to reflect the conflict between foreign interests in Syria. If this is true, the situation will be of great importance not only to the family but to the entire region and major global powers.
In simple terms for the purpose of analysis, if the dispute is rooted in the question of whether Russia or Iran, who are Syria’s allies, should leave the country, the world will be watching very carefully. After all, the civil war ended, the revolution lost all momentum, the national opposition was defeated and most extremist groups were expelled, along with Turkey. However, let us not forget that the regime has not won yet. That is why the next stage, as Makhlouf said, might be even more dangerous that the nine-year war.
It all depends on the decisions Damascus makes regarding its foreign allies. Assad chose Iran when he assumed power and built a special relationship. Tehran came to his aid during the war. However, the truth is that it was the Russians who rescued him. Had it not been for Moscow, he and his Iranian allies would have been defeated.
Regional states would prefer Russia, a historical ally since the Soviet era, to be Syria’s main ally rather than Iran. If Assad maintains his relationship with Ali Khamenei’s regime in Tehran and the Revolutionary Guard, he will provide them with the space and legitimacy they need to spread chaos and threaten the security of Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen.
*Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is the former general manager of Al-Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine Al-Majalla. He is also a senior columnist in the daily newspapers Al-Madina and Al-Bilad.

Russia's Media Campaign Against Assad
Charles Lister/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
In recent weeks, a flurry of commentary from prominent voices and publications in Russia has seen a wave of criticism thrown in the direction of Syria’s Assad regime. From RIA FAN to Pravda, Kommersant, and the Valdai Club, analyses accused the regime of corruption, warlordism, and incompetence, as well as having an obsession with achieving unrealistic military objectives at the expense of dwindling resources, reconstruction, and political and economic reforms. Public polling undertaken in regime-held areas of Syria by an organization linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin – a close friend of President Putin and owner of the infamous Wagner Group – found only a 31% approval rating for Assad. 71% of respondents saw corruption as a serious issue; 60% blamed unacceptable living costs, and 54% of people polled said they would not vote for Assad in elections scheduled for 2021.
The sudden emergence of such a stream of accurate and honest public writing on Syria from Russia was in and of itself a surprise, but so too was the abrupt deletion of many of them just days later. This was not the work of hackers as some subsequently claimed, but was it a coordinated campaign aimed at sending a pointed message from the Kremlin into the heart of Damascus? Or was this simply reflective of Russia finally waking up to the creeping quagmire it has gotten itself into?
The reality probably lies somewhere between those two scenarios. After all, the Kremlin has pursued other paths to humiliate Assad before, like during Putin’s visit to Hmeymim Airbase in December 2017 when Assad was physically held back and prevented from walking alongside the Russian President and in trips to Moscow when Syrian flags were palpably missing from joint photo appearances between Assad and Putin. Since Russia’s military intervention in September 2015 – something that undoubtedly saved the regime from implosion – the Assad regime has studiously managed to remain a troublesome and uncooperative partner for Moscow, which takes and takes and gives little, if anything, back. Notwithstanding its status as the 21st century’s most infamous war criminal regime, nobody could blame Russia for being frustrated at its Syrian partner’s refusal to play along and for coming to terms with the mess it now owns in Syria.
In the last six months, Syria’s economy has spiraled into crisis, fueled by the financial collapse next-door in Lebanon but exacerbated by the regime’s deepening corruption, mismanagement, and insistence on prioritizing expensive military campaigns. Inflation has surged and a crippling wheat crisis is challenging ordinary Syrians’ ability to purchase the nation’s key staple, bread. State subsidies on other basic items are being removed and the small business sector is dwindling. The arrival of COVID-19 into regime areas and the prospect of the Caesar Act coming into force in America in June all look set to have a dramatic effect in the coming weeks and months. Meanwhile, Syria’s oil and gas sectors are struggling, in part due to disruption caused by ISIS attacks in the central desert, but also due to the siphoning of hydrocarbons from state pipelines by warlords and elite businessmen to sell on the black market in Lebanon. High profile reconstruction projects meanwhile are all but dead in the water, relegated to occasional public relations campaigns but little meaningful construction.
Militarily, the Assad regime continues to prioritize its campaign against opposition territories in Idlib while discounting the importance of stabilizing its own territory, countering a resurgent ISIS, or even investing money in non-military directions. The regime’s long-time struggle with a severe shortage of manpower was ameliorated for a time by the ‘militiafication’ of the Syrian armed forces, but the decision to degrade the Syrian Arab Army weakened the core source of Russian influence in Syria. Since 2015, the recentralization and restructuring of the SAA has been a central component of Russia’s intervention in Syria but it continues to struggle with the challenges posed by a regime business elite determined to keep hold of their associated militias and keep them at least partially independent.
Corruption is emerging as an especially sensitive issue for Russia in Syria, given its deleterious impact on the regime’s ability to operate efficiently, transparently, and in a manner more likely to attract foreign investment. Having secured the regime’s survival and methodically weakened its most committed geopolitical adversaries, Russia’s attention has been squared fixed on ‘bringing Syria in from the cold.’ The financial requirements for meaningful reconstruction – estimated to be at least $300 billion – are far beyond the capacity of the Syrian, Russian, and Iranian economies, so foreign direct investment is desperately needed. But beyond the prospect of American secondary sanctions facilitated by the Caesar Act, the regime economy literally runs on corruption and could not be less attractive to outside investors. The increasingly public and bitter infighting between the regime’s crony elite, as illustrated by Rami Makhlouf’s unprecedented April 30 Facebook video and a string of tit-for-tat protests and editorials fueled by his business rival Samer Foz all illustrate a fragile, divided, and corrupt system virtually guaranteed to lose an investor their money.
Diplomatically, Russia’s largely successful attempts to impede the so-called Geneva process and to empower new, alternative mechanisms like Astana and the Constitutional Committee have sheltered the regime from the prospect of a serious international attempt to force political change in Damascus. The United Nations’ position in Syria has been effectively neutralized, forced now to manage the Constitutional Committee whose capacity to change anything is virtually meaningless. It does, however, enjoy a cover of genuine international legitimacy, so the regime’s refusal to seriously engage with it and repeated acts of spoiling have infuriated Russian policymakers. With Western fatigue with Syria now an inescapable reality, a genuine and constructive regime engagement with something like the Constitutional Committee could have provided a political opening for Russia’s diplomatic strategy. But compromise, of any minimal measure, goes against the very grain of the Assad regime.
Russia’s approach to the crisis in Syria has been unquestionably brutal and unforgiving. Russia has been responsible for and complicit in countless war crimes in Syria since its intervention in 2015 but despite that, it still does now seek to re-acquire a seat for Assad’s Syria on the international stage. However, the regime’s apparent indifference to regaining international legitimacy and its crippling internal failures and mistakes will continue to prevent Russia from achieving its ultimate goal.
When Russia signals its dissatisfaction so publicly, as it appears to have done in recent weeks, we are presented with a small window opportunity for pointed diplomacy. Make no mistake though: the likelihood of Russia abandoning Assad in favor of a compromise President is next to zero, but its willingness to negotiate on other second-level issues is a possibility, should we appear serious on the other side. Should we let such opportunities pass us by, the status quo remains a situation that Russia can both afford and manage, despite its chaotic and often unpredictable nature.
*Charles Lister is a senior fellow and Director of the Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute

Isn’t It The Time for A New 'Non-Alignment?
Amr Moussa/Asharq Al-Awsat/May 08/2020
The relentless talk about the coronavirus pandemic has evolved to include, in a vital part of it, the birth of the virus and the party behind it.
It seems that this topic will be at the forefront of the discussion of the post-coronavirus period, and will open the way for legal, scientific, media, and political gossip. Accusations will be exchanged over its repercussions and costs.
Three directions have emerged so far. The first is led by the US administration and accuses China of many uncontrolled research and scientific practices that released the virus from its cage.
The second points to microbial research in the medical or military field. Here the accusation targets the laboratories of major countries and their secret research centers.
As for the third direction, it implicitly blames the US administration for the outbreak of the virus, as many experts have talked about the link between climate change (which the current administration denies the existence of) and the increasing emergence of epidemics threatening humanity in its stability and prosperity, and perhaps in its existence and continuity.
Such expectations or political analyses pave the way for an intense debate and possibly policies and practices that provide fertile ground for a “new Cold War”, the two main parties of which are the United States and China; a war that differs in its structure and origin from the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union, which ended in the late 1980s.
The coming war will stem from the bases of emerging differences with China, along with scientific and technological competition with it.
Many western circles accuse China of stealing ideas and violating intellectual property rights. Existing commercial and industrial disputes and their effects on the whole world, especially in developing countries, add fuel to the fire.
In other words, the new Cold War will not aim to expand control over lands and regions, but rather over strong economic markets.
However, this will not reduce the importance of strategic competition between the two sides. The strong American strategic presence in Asia, especially in its East, West, and Waters, will aggravate backbiting between Washington and Beijing, along with military preparations such as the deployment of bases and forces, arms trade, and advanced military inventions.
To this may be added the significance of the Chinese Road and Belt project, which has consolidated the Chinese expansion in Africa and Asia, its penetration of Europe, including some Western European countries, and the preparation for expansion towards Latin America. The US, though angered with such expansion – has not put forward - until now - a competing project.
There is no doubt that the bitterness in the relations between the two big powers and their waning areas of cooperation, in addition to the relocation of a large number of industries around the world outside China, all portend a grave escalation.
China has been showing a greater interest in controversial files in the regions that fall under US political influence and in areas of economic, scientific, and technological power.
The importance of China has risen to a level that poses real concerns for the entire West… A strong competitor has emerged, able to form another aggressive reference in various fields of life, on top of which are germs, serums, epidemics, medications, as well as treatments.
The influence of the West globally began to decline a while ago. Then, the foreign policy stance of “America First” came to cause great turmoil in the ranks of the Western alliance itself.
The upcoming Cold War will take all of this into consideration, in addition to the fact that it will be a competition between two great countries and not between two blocs. This does not negate the fact that each side will have its friends or followers, but without constituting a coherent bloc.
In any case, the effects of this cold war will hit the very heart of the clash, i.e. the economy with its various elements, technology in all its manifestations, and markets and prices of commodities.
All of this will certainly affect the course of development and progress, at the global level, and will severely hit the foundations of development in developing countries.
This makes me highlight the importance that this large group of “developing” countries be on a full collective vigilance of what is to come. They must be aware that a new cold war would threaten their stability, opportunities for development, and hopes for prosperity.
This collective awareness, which must be organized in the face of upcoming international developments, remind us of the “Non-Aligned Movement” that successfully called for a general international position based on neutrality towards the two Eastern and Western blocs, but without serious attempts to bridge the gap, but rather to exploit it.
Here I propose to think about the role of the Group of 77, the coalition of developing countries, which has accompanied the “Non-Aligned Movement” and continued after it, even without making significant achievements.
I suggest to think of a new role for this group. At the top of its agenda is developing a multilateral system that redefines threats to international peace and security, to include climate change and transcontinental epidemics, in addition to reviewing the responsibilities of specialized agencies, especially the World Health Organization (WHO).
The group will also work actively to prevent the dispute between the two major countries from developing into a clash that threatens international peace and stability.
Also, it will seek to review the role of the Security Council and some of the articles of the United Nations Charter, including its introduction, goals, and subjects related to international security and development, in addition to the performance of the international economic system and its institutions.
To conclude, I would like to present two observations:
The first one pertains to the political bloc that I propose to be a revived form of the Group of 77, and which will bring all developing countries together in their next historic mission as a mediating power between the two great countries. However, the logic of the upcoming rivalry (between two countries and not two blocs) makes me suggest that the Group of 77 coordinate its actions and movement with European countries and Russia, so that all of them work together to rebuild and rationalize the multilateral system, and at the same time prevent the deterioration of the competition between America and China to a dangerous clash.
Second, the group, which will include major developed and developing countries and the largest number of states in the world, should work on reviewing the United Nations Charter, to enable it to address emerging challenges without being obstructed by the veto right, as well as updating the Bretton Woods Agreement.
All this must be based on the goal to achieve the general interests of all, and should not be targeted against a particular side or aligned with another.
*Amr Moussa is a former Arab League Secretary General and former Foreign Minister of Egypt

Apartheid and Coronavirus in the Middle East
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 8, 2020
Many Arabs and Palestinians took to social media to remind everyone that the only apartheid in the Middle East exists in an Arab country [Lebanon].
The latest Lebanese measure did not surprise those who are familiar with this Arab country's long-standing discriminatory policies of apartheid towards Palestinians.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), "Palestinians in Lebanon cannot work in as many as 39 professions and cannot own property [real estate]."
The Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Samidoun... revealed that Palestinian refugees are "barred from 72 regulated professions, including medicine, public transit, farming and fishery."
It now remains to be seen whether "pro-Palestinian" groups and individuals in the West will denounce Lebanon for its continued racism and discrimination against Palestinians. A Lebanese government directive issued on May 1 bars, until further notice, the return of "foreign maids" and Palestinian refugees, even if their families have lived in Lebanon for generations. Pictured: Soldiers stand guard at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut on April 5, 2020, ahead of the arrival of flights repatriating Lebanese nationals who live in Saudi Arabia.
Is Lebanon using the coronavirus pandemic to carry out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians?
A directive issued on May 1 by the Lebanese General Security, an agency responsible for immigration in Lebanon, bars, until further notice, the return of "foreign maids" and Palestinian refugees, even if their families have lived in Lebanon for generations. In the eyes of the Lebanese, there is apparently no difference between a "foreign maid" and a Palestinian Arab.
A Palestinian born and raised in an Arab country, in other words, is still considered by that Arab country to be a foreigner.
The May 1 directive, signed by Brigadier General Walid Oun, director of general security at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, says, "accompanying maids and people of Palestinian descent" may not board Lebanese expatriate evacuation flights. These are Palestinians from Lebanon who left the country to search for work and are now seeking to return home.
The latest Lebanese measure, denounced by Palestinians and human rights organizations as "racist and inhumane," was exposed when Tarek Abu Taha, a Palestinian with Lebanese travel documents stranded in the United Arab Emirates, said that, in accordance with the directive, he was barred from a Beirut-bound flight. In a Facebook post on May 3, the 31-year-old Abu Taha wrote:
"I would like to inform everyone of what happened with me. My name is Tarek Rafic Abu Taha. I was born in Lebanon, and so was my father. My grandfather came to Lebanon when he and 14 years old and married a Lebanese woman. I studied engineering and was never involved in politics or with any party. I traveled to Dubai to search for work and got stuck there because of the coronavirus. I submitted a request to return to Lebanon (my country) and my name appeared on the flight [to Beirut]. After passing through security and passport control, I boarded the plane with the hope of seeing my wife and children, who were waiting for me. Two Lebanese security officers came to the plane and took my passport (the Lebanese travel document issued for Palestinians). One of the officers asked me about the document. I told him I'm a Palestinian-Lebanese. He asked if my father and mother were Palestinians and I said yes. He instructed me to stand on the side and took my passport. When I asked the security officer if there was any problem, he replied: This [document] is for zu'ran (thugs)."
Abu Taha said he felt "insulted" by the Lebanese security officer's derogatory remark. "I didn't do anything wrong to anyone," he added.
Abu Taha was eventually barred from taking the flight and was forced to leave the airport. "I don't understand why Palestinians are called zu'ran (thugs)," he remarked.
"The Lebanese security personnel should have been considerate of my situation because I live in Lebanon. There should be no room for racism. I don't understand their racism. My three-year-old son is still waiting for me. What should I tell him? I have been humiliated because I was being judged on the basis of my nationality."
A Lebanese security official confirmed the existence of the directive and said that Palestinians had been barred from returning ever since the Beirut airport stopped operating commercial flights. " Until now, all people being repatriated are Lebanese," the official explained. "It's not allowed for non-Lebanese to return at the moment. We will issue further circulars if anything changes."
Several Palestinian and Arab human rights organizations strongly condemned the discriminatory, racist measure taken by the Lebanese security authorities, while many Arabs and Palestinians took to social media to remind everyone that the only apartheid in the Middle East exists in an Arab country.
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee said that the Lebanese directive targeting Palestinians "violates basic Arab and international laws and conventions dealing with Palestinian refugees and their cause."
The Lebanon-based Palestinian Association for Human Rights said it has received appeals from several Palestinians also stranded in Arab countries because of the coronavirus crisis. The organization confirmed that the Palestinians were unable to return to their homes in Lebanon because of the Lebanese ban.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that the Lebanese directive "includes flagrant racial discrimination against Palestinian refugees holding Lebanese travel documents." The organization said that Palestinians who applied to return to Lebanon faced "racist practices and degrading treatment by Lebanese security personnel." It called on the Lebanese government to respect international conventions and treaties ensuring the right of refugees to move to and from their country without any obstacles and ensure that the coronavirus pandemic crisis is not used to legitimize racism."
The latest Lebanese measure did not surprise those who are familiar with this Arab country's long-standing discriminatory and apartheid policies towards Palestinians. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), "Palestinians in Lebanon cannot work in as many as 39 professions and cannot own property [real estate]."
The Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Samidoun, however, revealed that Palestinian refugees are actually "barred from 72 regulated professions, including medicine, public transit, farming and fishery."
Last year, tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees protested the new Lebanese work restrictions imposed on them. The demonstrations erupted after Lebanese Minister of Labor Camille Abu Sleiman declared a war on "illegal foreign labor" and gave business owners one month to obtain work permits for any non-Lebanese working illegally in the country.
In recent years, reports have surfaced in the Arab media about a large number of Palestinians who have begun leaving Lebanon because of the policies of discrimination and the economic restrictions imposed on them by the Lebanese authorities.
Even worse, a Lebanese newspaper last month published a cartoon likening Palestinians to the coronavirus. The cartoon, published on the anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War, was aimed at highlighting the Palestinians' role in the war that erupted in 1975 and resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. Palestinians responded by pointing out that the cartoon was yet another example of Lebanon's racist mindset towards Palestinians.
Ironically, on the same day that the Lebanese authorities issued their directive, Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) reached an understanding to re-organize the entry of some 40,000 workers into Israel. PA Minister of Labor Nasri Abu Jeish said that the new understanding would be implemented on May 3. On that day, the first 14,000 Palestinian workers entered Israel and, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, will stay inside the country for a period of at least a month.
While the Lebanese authorities are preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes in Lebanon, Israel is opening its doors to tens of thousands of Palestinian workers -- a move that will ease economic hardship for the Palestinians, especially during the coronavirus crisis. While Lebanon is comparing Palestinians to a dangerous virus, Israel is doing its utmost to assist the Palestinians in curbing the spread of the disease.
It now remains to be seen whether "pro-Palestinian" groups and individuals in the West will denounce Lebanon for its continued racism and discrimination against Palestinians.
If Tarek Abu Taha, the Palestinian from Lebanon, had lived in Israel and had been banned by the Israeli authorities from returning to his home, the "pro-Palestinian" groups and pundits would have been falling over themselves to condemn Israel. As far as the international community is concerned, however, Palestinians can be labelled as "thugs" with impunity and be blatantly discriminated against -- as long as it is an Arab state that is committing the abuse.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Question: "Why does God allow us to go through trials and tribulations?"
GotQuestions.org?
Answer: One of the most difficult parts of the Christian life is the fact that becoming a disciple of Christ does not make us immune to life’s trials and tribulations. Why would a good and loving God allow us to go through such things as the death of a child, disease and injury to ourselves and our loved ones, financial hardships, worry and fear? Surely, if He loved us, He would take all these things away from us. After all, doesn’t loving us mean He wants our lives to be easy and comfortable? Well, no, it doesn’t. The Bible clearly teaches that God loves those who are His children, and He “works all things together for good” for us (Romans 8:28). So that must mean that the trials and tribulations He allows in our lives are part of the working together of all things for good. Therefore, for the believer, all trials and tribulations must have a divine purpose.
As in all things, God’s ultimate purpose for us is to grow more and more into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). This is the goal of the Christian, and everything in life, including the trials and tribulations, is designed to enable us to reach that goal. It is part of the process of sanctification, being set apart for God’s purposes and fitted to live for His glory. The way trials accomplish this is explained in 1 Peter 1:6-7: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." The true believer’s faith will be made sure by the trials we experience so that we can rest in the knowledge that it is real and will last forever.
Trials develop godly character, and that enables us to "rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3-5). Jesus Christ set the perfect example. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). These verses reveal aspects of His divine purpose for both Jesus Christ’s trials and tribulations and ours. Persevering proves our faith. "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).
However, we must be careful never to make excuses for our "trials and tribulations" if they are a result of our own wrongdoing. "By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler" (1 Peter 4:15). God will forgive our sins because the eternal punishment for them has been paid by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. However, we still have to suffer the natural consequences in this life for our sins and bad choices. But God uses even those sufferings to mold and shape us for His purposes and our ultimate good.
Trials and tribulations come with both a purpose and a reward. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. . . . Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:2-4,12).
Through all of life’s trials and tribulations, we have the victory. "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ." Although we are in a spiritual battle, Satan has no authority over the believer in Christ. God has given us His Word to guide us, His Holy Spirit to enable us, and the privilege of coming to Him anywhere, at any time, to pray about anything.