English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese
Related, Global News & Editorials
For
May 11/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.may11.20.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Peter, you will deny me three times
before the cocks crows today
Luke 22/28-34:” You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on
you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and
drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel. ‘Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you
like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you,
when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’ And he said to him,
‘Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!’ Jesus said, ‘I tell
you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times
that you know me.’
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 10-11/2020
Mother’s Day in Canada: All people have hearts, but Mothers’ Hearts brings all
hearts together/Elias Bejjani/May 10/2020
Hariri Hospital: New case of Corona infection, one critical condition in
intensive care
Significant rise in Covid 19 cases in Lebanon, and new curfew regulations
Health Ministry Says 13 Coronavirus Cases on 7 Expat Flights
Army Says 13 Coronavirus Cases at Military Court
Fahmi Increases Curfew Hours, Warns of Renewed Lockdown
Lebanon mulls 48-hour lockdown if coronavirus cases keep rising
Hariri Shows Understanding towards Aoun, Jumblatt Meeting
Lebanon Records Significant Surge in Coronavirus Cases
STL Delays Verdicts in Hariri Case Due to Coronavirus
Rahi calls on political counterparts to help government implement reforms
Abdullah: Adherence to procedures is a moral and humanitarian responsibility
Baalbek-Hermel Deputies meet with General Amnesty Committee: We seek to pass law
in Parliament
Army Command denies social media circulated news, calls for accuracy in
reporting news related to the military institution
Najm, Hassan agree on conducting PCR examinations for judicial judges at
Military Court on Tuesday
Hariri Holds Talks with Saudi Ambassador
Lebanon Rooftops Bustle as Virus Shifts Life Upstairs
Jumblatt warns of forged medical certificates: For equipped medical teams to
screen returnees
Corona with us for a long period, so prepare for difficult days,’ says Hoballah
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
May 10-11/2020
Iran ready to swap prisoners over 'coronavirus concerns,' waiting for US
response: reports
Iraqi PM: Iraq Will Not Be Ground for Settling Accounts
New Iraq PM Orders Release of Anti-government Protesters
Iraqi demonstrators unconvinced despite release of protesters
Monitor: Clashes Break Out in Northwestern Syria
Syrian Officials Try to Contain Russian Critics of the Syrian Regime
Diplomatic Sources: Griffiths Awaits Houthi Response to Peace Initiative
Opposition Parties Reject Any Turkish Activity in Tunisia
Israel Calls on Europeans to Cut Aid for Palestinian Authority
Fatah Threatens to Halt All Agreements with Israel
Tripoli's intelligence chief dies in suspicious circumstances
Russia's Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Top 200,000
France, Spain Move toward Reopening as Global Virus Cases Top 4 Million
Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on May 10-11/2020
Coronavirus: More Abuse of Christians/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/May
10/2020
ISIS … Painkillers Do Not Pull out the Roots/Zuhair Al-Harthi/Asharq Al Awsat/May
10/2020
The Best Reason to Protect Workers from COVID-19/Noah Smith/Bloomberg/May 1/2020
France's No-Go Zones: The Riots Return/by Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/May
10/2020
Italy: China's Trojan Horse into Europe/Giulio Meotti/Giulio Meotti/May 10/2020
The Israeli Consensus on Annexation Can Break the Peace Deadlock/Gregg Roman/The
Hill/May 10/2020
Israel's Strategy in Syria Is Less Coherent than It Seems."/Jonathan Spyer/The
Jerusalem Post/May 10/2020
Should the US bail out shale producers?/John Defterios/Arab News/May 11/2020
Iran eyes prisoner swap amid virus crisis/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May
11/2020
Putin turns against Assad and Iran/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/May 11/2020
Road ahead for new Iraqi PM strewn with obstacles/Talmiz Ahmad/Arab News/May
11/2020
World has chance to put peace on the region’s agenda/Yasar Yakis/Arab News/May
11/2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on May 10-11/2020
Mother’s Day in Canada: All people have hearts, but
Mothers’ Hearts brings all hearts together
Elias Bejjani/May 10/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/86018/86018/
Canada celebrates today, on the tenth of May 2020, “The Mother’s
Day” and honors with love and gratitude all her sacrifices, devotion, and
commitments.
This blessed ritual of genuine honoring is certainly a faith obligation and a
human, moral, ethical, religious and ecclesiastical duty for each and every
believer who fears God and the day of his last reckoning, and at the same
adheres in his/her pattern of lifestyle, and practices to the Ten Biblical
Commandments in which its fifth one verbatim reads: “Honor your father and your
mother that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is
giving you”.
Honor means to give high regard, respect and esteem to; to bring respect or
credit to; an outward token, sign or act that manifests high regard.
Respect means to have deferential regard for, to treat with propriety and
consideration; to regard as inviolable.
Meanwhile, this honor and respect, though primarily intended by God to be given
to parents, are not limited to them. In spirit it includes civil, religious and
educational authorities as well.
God want us to honor our parents because the family is the basic building block
or unit of society, thus the stability of the community depends on the stability
of the families that comprise it.
“In God’s eyes—and in a small child’s—a parent stands in the place of God
Himself. In the physical sense, parents are the child’s creator, provider,
lawgiver, teacher, and protector—and sometimes even savior. A child’s response
to this relationship will greatly determine his later response to larger
relationships in society. And it is ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to affect his
relationship with God. Thus, since parents represent God, it becomes their
obligation to live lives worthy of that honor. Ultimately, the responsibility
for keeping this commandment falls on the child, but it begins with the parents
through child training and example. If parents neither provide the correct
example nor teach the correct way, they can hardly expect their children to
honor them” (John W. Ritenbaugh).
Mothers and fathers, through the bond of sacred marriage, secure the continuity
of humanity. This holy and blessed institution, the institution of the family
“Marriage” is the cornerstone of every society. Without it, societies
disintegrate, lose values and morals after which destructive chaos and all
forms of loss of faith and immorality prevail.
In one of our proverbs back home in Lebanon we say: The Good mother is like a
magnet that pulls together her family members and holds them under her wings.
Practically this means that with her love, warm and big heart, devotion,
passionate, role model, hard work and sacrifices she brings her family members
together, embraces them, nurtures them, and always works to cultivate in them
all values of love, forgiveness, giving, humility, tolerance, and faith.
We congratulate the mothers on their annual day, and pray for the eternal rest
of the souls of the mothers who have passed away.
We ask our mothers who are in heaven dwelling in God’s mentions to pray for us
and for peace in the world, especially during this time of world wide state of
loss, confusion, despair and fear, while facing the deadly threats of Corona
Virus plague.
A Special Prayer For The Mothers
Dear God,
Thank you for your endless provisions of grace and mercy. We come to you today
to lift up every woman who answers to the name of “mom.” We ask that you supply
each one with the strength they need for those difficult days. Give them wisdom
to know when to encourage and when to correct their children. Supply them with
an extra dose of patience. Remind them that children are a heritage and a reward
from You (Psalm 127:3 CSB), and shower them with special moments they can
cherish. Lord, we also ask that you draw them close to you daily. Remind them of
their worth in Your eyes – that they, too, are cherished children of a loving
Father. We pray for contentment in this very special calling. May every mom
realize that this is a mission from You, one that brings truly great rewards in
the end. quoted from the Batchelor Brothers page)
Amen
Hariri Hospital: New case of Corona infection, one
critical condition in intensive care
NNA/May 10/2020
In its daily report on the latest developments of the novel Coronavirus, the
Rafic Hariri University Hospital announced on Sunday that out of 160 laboratory
tests conducted today, one new Covid-19 case has been recorded, while the
remaining tests came out negative. It added that the total number of
laboratory-confirmed cases infected with the virus that are currently present in
the Hospital's isolation area has reached 25 cases, noting that it has admitted
21 cases suspected to be infected with the virus who were transferred from other
hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospital report also indicated that no new recoveries
have been registered today, whereby the total number of full recoveries to-date
remains at 160. “All those infected with the virus are receiving the necessary
care in the isolation unit and their condition is stable, except for one
critical condition in intensive care," the hospital report adde.Sh.d. In
conclusion, the Hariri Hospital indicated that more information on the number of
infected cases on all Lebanese territories can be found in the daily report
issued by the Ministry of Public Health.
Significant rise in Covid 19 cases in Lebanon, and new
curfew regulations
Annahar Staff/May 10/2020
Fahmy stressed in a statement that if cases continue to rise due to the lack of
people's commitment to the public safety instructions, new measures will take
place
BEIRUT: As directed by Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Interior Minister Mohamed
Fahmy announced a new curfew from seven p.m. until five a.m. of the next
morning. This came as a response to people's lack of adherence to the measures
of prevention and public safety, issued by the Minister of Public Health and
WHO. Fahmy stressed in a statement that if cases continue to rise due to the
lack of people's commitment to the public safety instructions, new measures will
take place including a complete closure of all departments, public and private
institutions, excluding the medical sector and the military devices. The
Ministry of Public Health reported on Sunday 36 new virus cases, 23 of which
were among residents and the remaining 13 were recorded among the returning
expats. The total number of tests performed during the past 24 hours reached
1,112.
Health Ministry Says 13 Coronavirus Cases on 7 Expat
Flights
Naharnet/May 10/2020
The Health Ministry on Sunday announced the results of coronavirus tests for
Lebanese expats repatriated from several nations. It said the Moscow flight
carried ten virus cases, Dwala's carried two as the Minsk and Kuwait flights
carried one each. Expats evacuated from Bahrain, Dubai, London and Ukraine have
meanwhile all tested negative, the Ministry added. “The infected cases will be
transferred to hospital while those who tested negative will observe strict home
quarantine, knowing that they will be followed up on daily basis by the Ministry
and those who show any symptoms will be referred to hospital to repeat the
test,” it said. Lebanon has so far recorded more than 800 coronavirus cases and
26 deaths. The cases tally includes those evacuated from abroad following the
closure of Beirut's airport.
Army Says 13 Coronavirus Cases at Military Court
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 10/2020
The army said Sunday 13 soldiers at the Military Court had contracted the novel
coronavirus, as the National News Agency said judges would be tested for the
illness. Lebanon has so far announced 845 cases of COVID-19, including 26
deaths. The country started to lift confinement measures this week, although the
number of cases has increased in recent days, including among Lebanese
repatriated from abroad. The army said it has recorded "13 cases among members
at the military court," and that it had taken "all necessary preventive and
medical measures."Some 40 lawyers who had been to the court in the past week
were tested, with results expected on Monday, the state-run National News Agency
said. Judges and other soldiers would be tested from Monday too, it said. The
lawyers syndicate said all its buildings would be closed Monday to disinfect
them. Lebanon started on Monday the gradual lifting of confinement measures in
place since mid-March, re-opening restaurants and hairdressers.
But with the number of virus cases rising, Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi
warned that failure to comply with social distancing measures would result in
the re-imposition of stricter lockdown measures. He said on Sunday a nighttime
curfew would start two hours earlier. Lebanese authorities fear that health
services will not be able to handle any large outbreak. The coronavirus lockdown
has compounded a serious economic crisis in the country, which has sent prices
soaring and driven poverty up to 45 percent of the population.
Fahmi Increases Curfew Hours, Warns of Renewed Lockdown
Naharnet/May 10/2020
Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Sunday revised the night curfew hours to
begin at 7pm instead of 9pm and warned that all non-essential private and public
institutions will be re-closed should some citizens continue to breach the
coronavirus precautionary measures. The minister's warning comes amid Lebanon's
biggest spike in weeks in the numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases with 36
recorded on Sunday and 13 on Saturday. “To secure continued control over the
spread of the coronavirus pandemic and prevent deterioration as has happened in
a number of advanced countries, and at the directions of the prime minister, it
has been decided to prohibit access to streets and roads from 7pm until 5am
every day,” Fahmi said in a statement. “Should some citizens continue not to
abide by the instructions related to the prevention and public safety measures,
the avoidance of gatherings, the use of masks to cover mouths and noses and
respect for safe distances between individuals, all public and private
institutions, companies and shops will be closed,” the minister warned. He said
such a lockdown would only exclude the health sector and the armed forces.
“Citizens will be completely barred from accessing streets under penalty of the
implementation of the applicable laws, especially those related to infectious
diseases,” Fahmi cautioned. Lebanon has so far confirmed 845 coronavirus cases
including 26 deaths and 234 recoveries. The government had recently announced a
five-phase plan to reopen the country following a broad lockdown.
The second phase which began on May 4 involves the reopening of factories,
restaurants (30% capacity, no shisha), children parks, outdoors sports courts,
barber and hairdressing shops and car repair shops. The third phase, which
begins Monday, will see the reopening of nurseries (below 3 years), institutions
for people with special needs, Casino du Liban (70% capacity for gambling, 30%
for restaurants) and car agencies. Places of worship have also been allowed to
reopen with 30% capacity.
Lebanon mulls 48-hour lockdown if coronavirus cases keep
rising
Sunniva Rose/The National/May 10/2020
The country began opening up last week but cases have since risen
Lebanon could go back to a full lockdown for 48 hours after a spike in
coronavirus cases following an easing of movement restrictions last week, the
health minister said. The country began easing rules around opening workplaces
and allowing people out of their homes as cases dropped, but a spate of positive
Covid-19 patients in recent days showed the country was far from stopping the
virus for good. “If the number of cases and results remain high, I will ask the
prime minister and the government to take the decision to close the country for
48 hours in order to complete or to re-conduct tests in several Lebanese
regions,” said Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Saturday during a field visit at
the Syrian border, where he inspected a donation of thermometers from the
Chinese embassy to test travellers. Mr Hassan said that the number of new
Covid-19 cases in Lebanon “jumped” to 11 on Saturday, a figure that while well
below the caseloads in other countries was notably higher than in the past
weeks. In total, the virus has infected 809 and killed 26 in Lebanon. At least
two Lebanese soldiers have been infected in the past days, a security source
told The National. Local media reported that the number could be closer to
13.“People are not respecting confinement measures as well as in the past,” said
the source. Another reason for the increase in Covid-19 cases in Lebanon last
week was the continued return of Lebanese living abroad via a repatriation
programme – the airport has been closed to regular flights since March 18.
A video shared on social media on Friday showing flight attendants on a Middle
East Airlines (MEA) flight refusing to leave one seat empty between worried
passengers caused outrage in Lebanon. In the past, returnees have told The
National that one seat was left empty between passengers to comply with social
distancing measures. MEA said this justified the high price they are charging
for tickets. Lebanon slowly started lifting confinement measures last week, with
restaurants and hairdressers now allowed to operate at reduced capacity. The
pandemic has been relatively contained up to now, but local authorities worried
that they would have difficulty tackling a major outbreak. Lebanon was reeling
from its worst economic crisis long before it was hit by the pandemic. Hospitals
struggle to import the usual amount of medical equipment because of a liquidity
crisis.
Hariri Shows Understanding towards Aoun, Jumblatt Meeting
Beirut – Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
Lebanon’s former prime minister and leader of the Future Movement Saad Hariri
showed understanding towards the meeting held by Lebanese President Michel Aoun
and the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblatt, a
political source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Hariri, according to the source speaking under the conditions of anonymity,
informed Lebanese lawmaker Wael Abou Faour that the main reason behind the
meeting was to ease tensions in Mount Lebanon and prevent a lurking clash
between Christian and Druze communities.
Even though relations between the PSP and the Future Movement remain unstable,
Hariri and Jumblatt insist on coordinating efforts. The political source said
that it is wrong to conclude from the participation of Lebanese Forces leader
Samir Geagea in the national meeting sponsored by Aoun and attended by PSP
leader Jumblatt that Geagea and Jumblatt represent a united front alongside
Hariri. Jumblatt and Geagea’s move, according to the source, will not change the
current political standing and that the government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab
is not going anywhere so long Aoun’s presidential mandate is still running. As
for Aoun and Jumblatt’s meeting, sources said that MP Farid Boustani, a member
of Aoun’s parliamentary bloc, sought to mediate between the two sides, “in order
to prevent a further political escalation” between Christians and Druze in the
region.
Lebanon Records Significant Surge in Coronavirus Cases
Naharnet/May 10/2020
Lebanon on Sunday recorded its biggest spike in weeks in the numbers of daily
coronavirus cases, according to official figures.
The Health Ministry said 23 residents and 13 evacuated Lebanese expats tested
positive for the virus over the past 24 hours, raising the country's tally to
845.
The Ministry added that the 23 infected residents had come in contact with
identified carriers of the virus. It said the 13 infected expats had arrived
from Russia, Belarus and Cameroon. It also said that 707 tests were carried out
for residents and 485 for repatriated expats over the past 24 hours. The tests
were conducted at 20 laboratories. Health Minister Hamad Hasan had warned
Saturday that he will seek a 48-hour lockdown of the country should the cases
continue to surge. On Sunday, Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi revised the night
curfew to start at 7 instead of 9pm and warned that all non-essential private
and public institutions will be ordered to shut down should the violation of
safety measures continue.
STL Delays Verdicts in Hariri Case Due to Coronavirus
Naharnet/May 10/2020
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has postponed its verdicts in the
Rafik Hariri case due to the coronavirus crisis. “Given the prevailing
circumstances regarding COVID-19, the STL Trial Chamber will specify the date of
the public pronouncement of the Judgment in the Ayyash et al. case (STL-11-01)
as soon as possible,” it said in a statement published on its website. “On 22
April, the Legal Representatives of Victims (LRV) sought clarification from the
Trial Chamber regarding the date and manner of the public pronouncement of the
Judgment,” the court noted.
The Trial Chamber had on March 5 noted that it would deliver its verdicts in a
public session in mid-May 2020. In remarks to Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper
published Sunday, STL spokeswoman Wajed Ramadan confirmed that “amid the current
circumstances, the Trial Chamber will not be able to issue the Judgment in the
Ayyash et al. case in mid-May.”The STL has tried Ayyash and several Hizbullah
operatives in absentia over the 2005 bomb attack that killed ex-PM Rafik Hariri
and 21 other people and injured dozens others. Hizbullah has denied involvement
in the murder, describing the tribunal as a U.S.-Israeli scheme and vowing that
the accused will never be found. The alleged mastermind of the murder, Hizbullah
top military commander Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in Syria in 2016.
Hizbullah said he was killed by shelling at Damascus airport and that the attack
was launched by hardline Islamist groups, an announcement which did not convince
some observers, while some rivals of the group, including Israel, have suggested
that Badreddine was killed by Hizbullah operatives.
Rahi calls on political counterparts to help government
implement reforms
NNA/May 10/2020
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, presided over Sunday Mass in
Bkerke this morning. During the ceremony, Rahi pointed out that "a courageous
political decision is required of all political classes in Lebanon to help the
government implement the required reforms." Rahi indicated that the government
has two obligations, internal and external. At the local scene, he deemed that
the government should work on citizens' affairs and take swift measures to solve
their problems. At the external level, he made it clear that the government
should accelerate the reform plan and approve it in Parliament, with the
necessary laws, in the process of conducting negotiations with foreign
countries, especially with the International Monetary Fund.
Abdullah: Adherence to procedures is a moral and
humanitarian responsibility
NNA/May 10/2020
Member of the "Democratic Gathering", MP Bilal Abdullah, appealed in a statement
on Sunday, to the people of Iqlim al-Kharoub region to adhere to the procedures
adopted in the face of the Corona virus, stressing that this is a moral and
humanitarian responsibility. "It is an ethical, moral and human responsibility
that requires us all, regardless of pressing social circumstances, to be aware
of the magnitude of the imminent danger and difficulty of confrontation,”
Abdullah said, in wake of the registration of new cases of Corona infection in
Lebanon.
He stressed on "the use of facial masks, gloves when necessary, respecting
distance spacing, preventing gatherings, regulating entry to institutions,
banks, places of sale, and other obvious measures that have proven effective in
all countries of the world."“Together, with our solidarity, commitment and
steadfastness, we will cross the stage with the least possible losses…It is the
responsibility of each one of us, and we will not spare any effort in the battle
to win this epidemic," Abdullah concluded.
Baalbek-Hermel Deputies meet with General Amnesty
Committee: We seek to pass law in Parliament
NNA/May 10/2020
The Baalbek-Hermel Parliamentary Bloc held an extended meeting on Sunday with
the members of the “General Amnesty Committee” at the Imam Khomeini Cultural
Center in Baalbek, where they discussed the amnesty law and the need to approach
this dossier in a humane manner and to pass the law at the House of Parliament.
The meeting was attended by the Bloc’s Head, MP Hussein Hajj Hassan, and
Deputies Ghazi Zeaiter, Jamil al-Sayed, Ali al-Mokdad, Ibrahim Moussawi and
Walid Sukkarieh, as well as former Minister Hassan Lakkis, Mayor of Baalbek
Fouad al-Balouq, Hezbollah Official’s Aid in the Beqaa Region Hani Fakhreddine,
and Amal Movement representative in the Bekaa region Mustafa Siblani. “The aim
of the meeting is to discuss developments on the proposed general amnesty law,
to clarify and coordinate positions clearly and to review the prevailing status
with all its facts, as a one team,” Hajj Hassan stated. “Our position is clear
at Amal Movement, Hezbollah, and the Baalbek-Hermel Bloc, as well as the Loyalty
to Resistance & Development and Liberation Blocs. We support the approval of a
general amnesty law in Parliament, but its approval is related to the
parliamentary blocs and their stances,” he added.
Army Command denies social media circulated news, calls for
accuracy in reporting news related to the military institution
NNA/May 10/2020
The Lebanese Army Command – Orientation Directorate categorically denied in an
issued statement on Sunday, the recent circulated news via social media alleging
the spread of the Corona virus within the military institution, and that 1,200
military personnel have been placed under domestic quarantine.
The statement deemed this news as totally groundless, adding that the total
number of infections among the military ranks is 13, including members of the
Military Court, stressing that all necessary preventive and medical measures
have been taken. The Army Command, thus, renewed its call for practicing utmost
accuracy in the circulation of news related to the military institution, and
relying on the official news issued by the Army Orientation Directorate.
Najm, Hassan agree on conducting PCR examinations for
judicial judges at Military Court on Tuesday
NNA/May 10/2020
Minister of Justice, Marie-Claude Najm, contacted Sunday Public Health Minister,
Hamad Hassan, where they both agreed to conduct PCR examinations for judicial
judges in the Military Court upcoming Tuesday, after receiving news that a
number of Military Court members have been infected with the novel Coronavirus,
and after coordinating with the Head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge
Suhail Abboud. sters agreed to dispatch a medical team from the Ministry of
Public Health to the Military Court on Tuesday morning, May 12, to conduct
Corona field tests.
Hariri Holds Talks with Saudi Ambassador
Naharnet/May 10/2020
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri held talks Sunday at the Center
House with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari. A terse statement
issued by Hariri's office said the discussions tackled “the latest political
developments and general situations and the bilateral relations between the two
countries.”Hariri returned to Lebanon from a lengthy vacation abroad on April
17.
Lebanon Rooftops Bustle as Virus Shifts Life Upstairs
Naharnet/May 10/2020
Usually the kingdom of water tanks and satellite dishes, Lebanon's rooftops have
recently been graced by unlikely scenes of locked-down residents fleeing their
flats. Deprived of rehearsal rooms or workshops by restrictions imposed to stem
the spread of the novel coronavirus, or just needing some extra breathing space,
many people have found solace without leaving their buildings. Several have
ventured onto their roofs to escape the lockdown after taking to the streets in
recent months as part of nationwide protests against rulers deemed corrupt and
inept. AFP photographer Joseph Eid spent weeks scaling staircases to see how
people have taken over underused rooftops, whose only visitors used to be
caretakers, plumbers and electricians. "When confinement started, I soon
couldn't take it anymore, and that's when I thought of checking out the roof,"
said Sherazade Mami, a Tunisian dancer who has been living in Beirut since
2016.Every day, she walks up to the ninth floor of her building with her water,
her mat and her music to stretch and practice. Like others discovering their
rooftops during the lockdown, Mami said her outlook on the city had changed.
"Once you're up there, you realize -- I have an amazing view on the whole of
Beirut. It's beautiful, the city is so quiet," she said of the sprawling
metropolis usually known for its noise and chaotic traffic. "You can hear the
birds singing, you're under the sun, it's heaven ... It's better than rehearsing
in the theater in some ways," she added.
A place to 'feel free
A bird's eye view of Beirut around sunset since mid-March would show largely
empty streets and shuttered shops at ground level, but unusual activity above.
On a hedgehopping flight over the city, maybe yoga instructors Rabih al-Medawar
and his wife Alona Aleksandrova could be spotted trying out new acrobatic moves
on their roof. Traveling north towards the seaside town of Jbeil, Lebanese
gymnast Karen Dib might appear, tumbling down the red mat she had laid out on
the top of her building. And in Tripoli, Lebanon's main northern city, artist
and activist Hayat Nazer might be glimpsed working on her latest canvas. Others
too have been heading upstairs to sunbathe, read or smoke a shisha water pipe.
Nazer said she hoped the weeks of lockdown would leave a positive mark on the
way residents thought of their city. "I really hope people will start planting
and greening their roofs to help the environment," she said.
"They have been underused. You can do sports there, organize barbecues, have
parties."Mami, the dancer, said she would not forsake her roof when the lockdown
ended and her theater reopened its doors.
"I have found a place where I feel free and I will continue to use it," she
said.
Jumblatt warns of
forged medical certificates: For equipped medical teams to screen returnees
NNA/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
Progressive Socialist Party Chief, Walid Jumblatt, said Sunday via Twitter: “It
seems that all the efforts exerted by the Ministry of Public Health to combat
the epidemic are threatened, if matters remain centrally disorganized in
relation to the Lebanese returning from abroad. Medical teams are required to
screen the returnees, since there seems to be false certificates issued in
certain countries…Enough interventions at the expense of the country’s health
security!"
Corona with us for a long period, so prepare for difficult
days,’ says Hoballah
NNA/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
“Believe me; Corona will be with us for a long time. Prepare for difficult days.
Save money. Cancel unnecessary purchases and imports. Invest in agriculture and
our industry. Many professions will depend on the internet. Learn and be trained
in new professions. Help your elderly, your brothers, your neighbors, and the
needy," tweeted Industry Minister Imad Hoballah on Sunday.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
May 10-11/2020
Iran ready to swap prisoners over 'coronavirus
concerns,' waiting for US response: reports
The New Arab//Sunday, 10 May, 2020
Iran is ready to go forward with a prisoner exchange deal with the United States
but is yet to hear back from Washington, reports by Iranian outlets said on
Sunday. Iranian journalists and media outlets quoted Iranian government
spokesperson, Ali Rabiei citing coronavirus health concerns as the main driver
for the deal. "Iranian citizens in US prisons are not in good condition and we
hold the American government responsible for the safety of all Iranian citizens
[it holds captive]," Rabiei was quoted as saying. Iran has not received a formal
response from the US on the proposed exchange, Rabiei said. "It seems that the
US has now more readiness than the past to terminate this condition ... Tehran,
with no preconditions, is ready to talk on prisoner exchange." According to
reports, Rabiei said the deal would not require a mediator between the two
countries, which have grown increasingly hostile after US President Donald Trump
withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
Reuters reported last week that the prisoner swap would likely include the
return of Michael White – a US navy veteran who was detained in Iran in 2018 and
later released from prison on medical furlough, remaining in Iran. In return,
the US is set to deport Iranian professor Sirous Asgari, who was acquitted of
stealing trade secrets, the news agency said. Abolfaz Mehrabadi, a senior
Iranian official, has told the New York Times that negotiations aim to exchange
White with an Iranian-American doctor, whom he would not identify. The United
States and Iran swapped prisoners last year. The 2019 US-Iran prisoner deal
exchanged an American graduate student, Xiyue Wang, detained over spying
allegations for imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani,
accused of violating sanctions.
Iran reportedly holds at least four Americans, at least three of whom are of
Iranian descent, while Tehran says over 20 Iranians are held by the US. The US
has confirmed over 1.3 million coronavirus infections as of Sunday, resulting in
over 79,000 deaths. While numbers in Iran are substantially lower, the country
has become the regional epicentre of the outbreak with over 106,000 coronavirus
cases and 6,500 deaths resulting from infection.
Iraqi PM: Iraq Will Not Be Ground for Settling Accounts
Baghdad – Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
Iraq’s newly appointed prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi met with US Ambassador
Matthew H. Tueller and Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi. Kadhimi discussed
bilateral relations, including cooperation and coordination, with Tueller. He
also ruled out Iraq as the ground for "settling accounts" by the US and its
rival Iran. During his meeting with Tueller, Kadhimi underscored the need for
bilateral cooperation in the economic and security fields, as well as for
preparing for the strategic dialogue between the two countries, the prime
minister's media office said in a statement. Kadhimi’s meeting with Tuller comes
at a time Baghdad and Washington are preparing for a strategic dialogue, slotted
for mid-June, about the future of US presence in Iraq. Iraqi parties close to
Iran have been demanding the US withdraws its forces from Iraq. Kadhimi also
asserted the need to maintain security and stability in the region, while
reiterating that Iraq will not be a ground for settling accounts and launching
attacks on any neighboring or friendly country, the statement said. Tueller
congratulated Kadhimi for taking office after gaining the confidence of the
Iraqi parliament, confirming the US readiness to support Iraq in all aspects,
particularly in the economic field and in containing the COVID-19 spread, the
statement added. During his meeting with Masjedi, Kadhimi confirmed Iraq's
keenness to maintain the best relations with all neighboring countries to serve
regional security and stability, Kadhimi's media office said in a separate
statement. “Kadhimi stressed that Iraq will not be a passage or hotbed for
terrorism against any country or a ground for settling accounts,” the statement
said. Kadhimi's comments came amid the rising tensions between Iran and the U.S.
on the Iraqi soil, since the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, commander of
the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,
deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces, in a drone attack near
Iraqi capital Baghdad in January. The Iranian-backed militias have frequently
attacked Iraqi military bases housing US troops across Iraq as well as the US
embassy inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.
New Iraq PM Orders Release of Anti-government Protesters
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
Iraq's judiciary ordered courts on Sunday to release anti-government protesters,
carrying out one of the first decisions of the recently appointed Prime Minister
Mustafa al-Kadhimi. The Supreme Judiciary Council said in a statement that it
had ordered the release of protesters detained since those demonstrations
erupted, in line with the new prime minister's call. The council released
detainees based on Article 38 of the constitution which guarantees the right to
protest, “provided that it is not accompanied by an act contrary to the law,"
the statement said. This came as dozens of demonstrators burned tires in renewed
protests against the new leadership. Kadhimi also promoted a well-respected
Iraqi general, who played a key role in the military campaign against ISIS, to
lead counter-terrorism operations. In a press briefing Saturday night following
his first Cabinet meeting as premier, al-Kadhimi said demonstrators should be
protected and that all protesters should be released, except those involved in
violence. Protests erupted in Baghdad and across the country's south on Oct. 1,
when frustrated Iraqis took to the streets to decry rampant government
corruption, unemployment and poor services, the Associated Press reported.
Human rights groups say at least 600 people died in the following three months
at the hands of Iraqi security forces who used live fire and tear gas to
disperse the crowds. Meanwhile, AFP reported that shy anti-government rallies
resumed in some Iraqi cities Sunday, clashing with security forces and ending
months of relative calm. The protests first erupted in Baghdad demanding an end
to corruption and unemployment and an overhaul of the ruling class.
Iraqi demonstrators unconvinced despite release of
protesters
Agencies/The Arab Weekly/May 10/2020
BAGHDAD--Iraq’s judiciary ordered courts on Sunday to release anti-government
protesters, carrying out one of the first decisions of the recently inaugurated
prime minister just as dozens of demonstrators burned tires in renewed protests
against the new leadership. In a press briefing Saturday night following his
first Cabinet meeting as premier, Mustafa al-Kadhimi said demonstrators should
be protected and that all protesters should be released, except those involved
in violence. The Supreme Judiciary Council said in a statement that it had
ordered the release of protesters detained since those demonstrations erupted,
in line with the new prime minister’s call. The council released detainees based
on Article 38 of the constitution which guarantees the right to protest,
“provided that it is not accompanied by an act contrary to the law,” the
statement said. Freeing protesters was among the first pledges by the new prime
minister after he was sworn in last week. Protests had continued in Baghdad and
across the country’s south since October 1 over rampant government corruption,
unemployment and poor services. Human rights groups say at least 600 people were
killed in the following three months at the hands of Iraqi security forces who
used live fire and tear gas to disperse the crowds. Pro-Iranian Shia militias
were suspected of involvement in the killings especially after protesters began
calling for an end to Iran's interference in Iraqi affairs.Although the protest
movement ebbed with the rise of the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of protesters
are still camped out in Baghdad’s Tahrir square determined not to let the
movement die. The prime minister also promoted an Iraqi general, who played a
key role in the military campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS), to lead
counter-terrorism operations. Former leader Adel Abdul-Mahdi had previously
mysteriously demoted the general, prompting outrage and sparking popular
protests in northern Iraq and Baghdad in October. Kadhimi also said he was
promoting Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi to become head of Iraq’s elite
Counter-Terrorism Service, just as the country was experiencing an uptick in
attacks by the ISIS in the north. Previously he was a force commander in the
service before former premier Abdul-Mahdi demoted him in September to a post in
the Defence Ministry. The Iraqi public considered his sudden demotion a sign of
corrupt government practices and took to the streets in outrage. Al-Saadi, 56,
was one of the leading commanders in the fight against ISIS and the battle to
retake Mosul, taking the lead in many operations. In a recent briefing with
reporters, American Lt. Gen. Pat White, head of the Combined Joint Task Force
responsible for fighting ISIS, said the group was failing “miserably” in a
renewed campaign to launch more attacks. Plumes of acrid smoke choked the air
Sunday in Baghdad as protesters, unpersuaded by al-Kadhimi’s decisions, returned
to the streets and burned tires on a key bridge leading to the heavily fortified
Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government. Protesters said they rejected Kadhimi
and any candidate chosen by the political establishment and gathered by the
dozens near Jumhuriya bridge, closed off since late last year in a standoff with
riot police.
Monitor: Clashes Break Out in Northwestern Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes in northwest Syria killed
22 regime fighters and militants on Sunday. A truce since March 6 had largely
stemmed fighting in Idlib after a months-long regime assault that killed
hundreds of civilians and forced almost a million to flee. The clashes in the
Sahl al-Ghab area killed 15 regime fighters as well as seven militants including
from Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Deen group, the Britain-based monitor said.
"It's the highest death toll for fighters since the truce came into force," said
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman, who relies on sources inside Syria.
"There had been intermittent clashes and mutual bombardment between both sides
before, but this is the most violent attack yet," he added. According to AFP,
the Idlib region of some three million people is dominated by the Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham group led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, but other militants such
as Hurras al-Deen and rebel groups are also present. The truce brokered by
regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey has kept Syrian and Russian warplanes
out of the region's skies, and largely held despite sporadic clashes or rocket
fire. Tens of thousands have returned to their hometowns, while hundreds of
thousands of others remain in crowded displacement camps or in temporary
shelters near the Turkish border.
Syrian Officials Try to Contain Russian Critics of the Syrian Regime
Moscow - Raed Jabr/Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 10 May, 2020
Russian and Syrian media outlets are exchanging accusations following social
posts of former members of the Syrian parliament and officials attacking Moscow
and President Vladimir Putin. The repercussions of the media exchange were seen
in both countries. Russia had not issued any official comment on the matter, and
military and diplomatic officials only commented on the field situation in Idlib
and surrounding regions. However, Russian circles familiar with matters of the
Middle East, namely Syria, are closely following the comments, a source told
Asharq Al-Awsat. Notably, Russian state-owned channel RT removed an interview of
Syrian dissident Firas Tlass with Salam Mosafir. During the interview, Tlass
revealed details on corruption in Syria and accused the leadership of covering
it. The channel issued a statement on its official page saying the deleted
material violated its standards and included information without supporting
evidence. However, RT and other Russian channels conducted dozens of similar
interviews in the past with dissidents or several Syrian figures who expressed
similar positions. A source estimated that the decision to remove the interview
was related to the recent media campaigns and came in response to a Syrian
government request. The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Russian authorities
asked some of media organizations to prevent the publication of op-eds
criticizing the Syrian regime. A Russian diplomat responded to this earlier by
saying that Russia cannot prevent the press from expressing all points of view
and that it is a free country and respects freedom of the press. In Syria, a
number of journalists and MPs criticized MP Khaled al-Abboud, who launched a
campaign against Putin in a post on his Facebook page, entitled: "What if Assad
gets angry with Putin?"
The post included sharp criticism that focused on the fact that Assad's main
ally is Iran - Hezbollah, and wondering what the scenario would be if he pulled
the rug from underneath Putin. Abboud warned that Syria can be deadly for Putin
and saying that the Russian troops are an occupying force in Syria.
The long post also carried many references threatening the Russians, and
concluded that if Assad wanted, he can defeat Putin and the latter's his name
will be removed from Russian history forever. Many authors and former officials
in Damascus sought to undermine the importance of Abboud's speech, and consider
it personal comment that does not reflect the official position. Separately,
Russian Defense Ministry said in a daily briefing that it was satisfied with the
cease-fire established in the Idlib region, and announced there were only two
violations. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the
Russian and Turkish military continue working to implement the Additional
Protocol of March 5 in Idlib. “We mark Ankara's efforts to counter the
provocations of radicals in their attempts to destabilize the situation in the
de-escalation zone," she said. Zakharova stressed that sustainable security in
Idlib can only be achieved by separating the so-called moderate opposition from
the terrorists. She pointed out that the situation is difficult in southern
Syria, noting that they received information on the deteriorating health and
epidemiological situation, especially after Jordan closed its borders as part of
measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Diplomatic Sources: Griffiths Awaits Houthi Response to Peace Initiative
Jeddah, Taiz – Abdulhadi Habtor, Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 10 May, 2020 -
The UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths is waiting for a Houthi response
to the peace initiative he sent to the country’s warring parties a few days ago.
The internationally recognized government of Yemen has already responded
positively to the initiative. In the event that Houthis give a positive response
to the initiative, a crisis meeting will be held between the conflicting
parties. The meeting will be followed by consecutive meetings to stabilize the
comprehensive ceasefire, and move forward with comprehensive political peace
negotiations for the Yemeni issue, sources revealed. On April 8, the Arab
Coalition backing the Yemeni government had announced a two-week ceasefire that
was extended to a month based on Griffiths’ demand. Houthis, on the other hand,
did not commit to any truce and continued the group’s military operations on
multiple fronts. The Arab Coalition announced that 121 Houthi violations of the
ceasefire had been recorded in Yemen during the past 24 hours, noting that the
number of violations reached 2797 violations since the ceasefire was announced.
“The UN Envoy presented a plan to Yemen’s warring sides, and has received a
positive response from the government. He is waiting on the Houthi response,”
British Ambassador to Yemen Micheal Aron told Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that his
office has pressed Houthis into showing leniency towards the offer. Aron
revealed that Houthis said they were drafting up a response to the initiative
and that it is expected to be a positive one. The UK diplomat gave no further
details. The crisis and ceasefire meetings, should Houthis accept the
initiative, will be held virtually given the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
As for field developments, military sources reported that fierce clashes had
erupted on Saturday in the northeastern Sirwah district, nestled west of Marib
Governorate. Fighting broke out after Yemeni Army units foiled an attack plotted
by Houthis against Army positions in the district. A prominent Houthi rebel
commander was already killed Thursday amid fierce clashes, according to local
sources. Mohamed Abdel Karim al-Hamran, who commanded special forces in Marib
and Bayda provinces, was buried in the capital Sana’a, according to the SANA
news agency. Al-Hamran was killed during a clash with government forces in
Sirwah district of Marib province, Mohammed Jumeh, ambassador and permanent
delegate of the Republic of Yemen to UNESCO, said on Twitter. Jumeh added that
it was a painful blow to the Houthi militia.
Opposition Parties Reject Any Turkish Activity in Tunisia
Tunis - Mongi Saidani/Sunday, 10 May, 2020 - 09:45
Six opposition parties announced their absolute rejection of any Turkish
activity on Tunisian soil, urging authorities to avoid their vague approach
towards Turkish actions in Tunisia that are aimed at supporting militias and
terrorists. The parties also demanded on authorities to take “a clear stance
that rejects foreign military presence in the region.”The leftist Workers’
Party, the Popular Front, the Socialist Party, Baath Movement, as well as the
Tunisia Forward and al-Qutb party denounced any attempt “to involve Tunisia in
the regional hubs' game at the expense of its national security as well as the
Libyan people’s security and stability.”Head of the Workers’ Party Hamma Hammami
called on the President, Kais Saied, to take a clear stance on Turkey's military
efforts in the region that pose major threat to regional peace and security. He
stressed that: “Turkey is indirectly participating by sending mercenaries from
Syria to Libya and directly by providing aid to one of the parties to the
conflict.” Head of the opposition Project of Tunisia Movement Mohsen Marzouk,
for his part, considered the presidency’s approval on the landing of a Turkish
plane at one of Tunis's airports “a deviation in Tunisia’s position, which was
supposed to be neutral in the Libyan conflict.”He noted that the plane was
loaded with medical equipment destined for a specific party in the Libyan
internal conflict. Marzouk said the presidency’s decision may raise doubts that
Tunisia is involved in a specific international hub led by Turkey, which has
been militarily involved in the Libyan conflict, “without any noticeable
humanitarian action there.”Turkey has been using Libyan sea and airports for a
while now to transport weapons and terrorist elements to fight in Libya.
Israel Calls on Europeans to Cut Aid for Palestinian
Authority
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/unday, 10 May, 2020
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has pressured the European Union (EU) to halt
financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, claiming it encourages terrorism. In
a statement on Friday, the Ministry said it summoned the EU’s ambassador to
Israel, Emanuele Giaufret, to seek clarifications on a letter sent by the EU to
Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The Ministry’s Deputy
Director-General for Europe, Anna Azari, said her government “utterly condemns
and categorically objects to the Union’s policy on the funding of terrorist
organizations.”The policy essentially grants permission for incitement, support,
and involvement with terrorism,” she told Giaufret. “We demand that the EU
immediately end all support, financial or otherwise, for any entities that
support terrorism whether directly or indirectly,” she quoted Foreign Minister
Israel Katz as saying. Giaufret, however, said “there is no legal impediment for
people to participate in EU-funded activities unless they are explicitly listed
on the EU’s terrorism blacklist or formally represent one of the listed
organizations.” He stressed that the EU has “strict rules to screen and vet the
beneficiaries of EU funds.”In other news, Israel’s government announced plans to
transfer 800 million shekels ($228 million) to the PA on Sunday, to help
cash-strapped Ramallah's efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The funds
will be transferred as an advanced payment on taxes Israel collects on behalf of
the Palestinians. According to Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, the
payment will be made in installments over the coming months. He said it comes in
response to a request made by Palestinian Finance Minister Shukri Bishara who
has indicated a sharp decline in the revenues of the Palestinian government over
the coronavirus outbreak. Bishara noted the government needs support to pay
salaries to employees by Eid al-Fitr.
Fatah Threatens to Halt All Agreements with Israel
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/unday, 10 May, 2020
Fatah movement's spokesman and member of its Revolutionary Council Osama al-Qawasmi
threatened that if the US administration moves forward with its plan and
continues to support the Israeli annexation then the result will be halting all
agreements - without exceptions - and escalating the popular resistance.
This was Qawasmi’s response to US ambassador to Israel David Friedman who said
that the Palestinian state will be established "when the Palestinians become
Canadians.”In a press statement on Friday, the spokesman said that Fatah won’t
consider the deal of shame as a reference for negotiations with the Israeli
entity. He stressed that the Palestinian demands and rights are crystal clear:
implementing the international law and legitimacy. Qawasmi asserted that Fatah’s
choice is "resistance, strife, and rejecting suspicious plots" as long as the
Israeli occupation exists on the Palestinian lands.
For his part, Friedman rejected Palestinians’ accusations that the US
president's plan kills peace, saying: "We don't agree with that at all. We've
created a geographic footprint for the Palestinians, which is double [areas] A
and B right now. We've created the prospect for contiguity between Gaza and the
West Bank which Israel has no obligation to do – I mean it's over Israeli
sovereign territory. That's a significant accomplishment to the extent that
there is ever going to be a unified Palestinian people." He highlighted that
"this is an enormous opportunity that they shouldn't give up and I think most
countries in the world recognize that. The ones that are clinging to the old way
are doing so, to my view, for matters of perhaps pride or maybe they own the old
process … but the old process failed." Friedman tried to convince the Israeli
right to accept the plan, saying: “First is that nobody wants to establish the
sovereignty of the entirety of Judea and Samaria and provide citizenship to the
millions of Palestinians that are there. Second, there is no way in the modern
world that a country, especially a country as great as Israel, could have a
country with two classes of citizens, where one votes and the other doesn't. It
can't be done.”
"I understand them, but [we are saying] you don't have to live with that
Palestinian state, you have to live with the Palestinian state when the
Palestinians become Canadians. And when the Palestinians become Canadians all
your issues should go away,” he aqdded. As for the Israeli right rejection of
the "Deal of the Century", he said a few things have to be done. "The government
has to agree to the freeze on half of Area C, and most importantly, the
government of Israel has to declare sovereignty. We are not declaring
sovereignty – the government of Israel has to declare sovereignty.”
During Thursday’s meeting, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation
Organization delivered a message from President Mahmoud Abbas declaring that, as
soon as Israel announces adopting the annexation plan, "we will take the proper
measures, which will not be against Israel alone, but also against
America.”Abbas added that this would mean going back on all signed agreements
and determined references between the two.
Tripoli's intelligence chief dies in suspicious
circumstances
Agencies/The Arab Weekly/May 10/2020
TRIPOLI--Official sources in Tripoli confirmed the death of Abdul Qader al-Tuhami,
intelligence chief of the Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Prime
Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. But despite the announcement by the GNA's presidential
council that he has died of a heart attack, circumstances of his death remain
unclear. In a statement Sunday, the GNA's presidential council said al-Tuhami
died Saturday of a heart attack and offered condolences to his family. Libyan TV
channel "Libya 24" also said the brigadier general died of the same cause. But
other Libyan sources said he was killed by members of al-Nawasi militia
affiliated with the ministry of the interior, two days after the militia
abducted him. Tripoli is known to be rife with turf wars between the government,
militant groups and a vast array of armed militias. Among recent incidents was
the the kidnapping May 4 of a senior official of the Libyan Audit Authority,
working under the authority of the GNA, by an armed militia affiliated with the
Tripoli-based ministry of interior. The Ministry condoned the abduction saying
the official was obstructing the disbursement of funds needed to combat the
coronavirus pandemic.Political analysts point to rising frictions between Fayez
al-Sarraj and the GNA's minister of interior Fathi Bashagha who has already once
warned the Nawasi militia against "arresting anyone as this is the prerogative
of the ministry of interior". Major General Al-Tuhami was appointed in May 2017
deputy chief of Libyan Intelligence Agency and then as acting chief of the
agency. He served prior to that as director of the Libyan National Center for
Combating Illegal Immigration.He worked also as an officer in the foreign
security apparatus of the regime of Muammar Gadhafi before it was toppled in
2011.
Russia's Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Top 200,000
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 10/2020
The number of people confirmed to have the coronavirus in Russia has exceeded
200,000, data posted on an official website set up by health authorities showed
on Sunday. The total number of cases increased to 209,688 after another 11,012
tests came back positive in the last 24 hours, it showed.
The official number of people dying of coronavirus-related complications has
been comparatively low in Russia at 1,915, though an opposition-allied doctors
union has accused authorities of underreporting deaths of medics. Russia's
national figure does not include everyone who died after testing positive, but
only those patients whose deaths were confirmed to be caused by viral
pneumonia.Officials have said the daily rate -- which has been over 10,000 for
the past seven days -- has much to do with aggressively testing even those
showing no symptoms. The trend will likely make the number of Russia's confirmed
cases the biggest in Europe in a matter of days. Russia has performed 5.4
million tests, compared to Britain's fewer than two million. Most of the cases
are in or around Moscow, and some regions have already begun to lift lockdown
restrictions. The Moscow mayor announced last week that industries and
construction sites will begin work on May 12, but that masks and gloves will now
be mandatory in public areas and shops. The Russian capital has made special
passes required for moving around outside, but many people can be seen in the
streets, especially in good weather.
France, Spain Move toward Reopening as Global Virus Cases
Top 4 Million
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 10/2020
The number of coronavirus cases worldwide topped four million as some of the
hardest-hit countries readied Sunday to lift lockdown restrictions, despite
concerns about a second wave of infections. Governments around the world are
trying to stop the spread of the disease while scrambling for ways to relieve
pressure on their economies, which are facing a historic downturn with millions
pushed into unemployment. But with the death toll already past 277,000, nations
are keen to avoid second waves of infections that could overwhelm their
healthcare systems, with a new cluster of cases in South Korea raising fears
about the virus hitting back rapidly. Amid the barrage of deaths, some European
countries have cited signs of progress that they said justified cautious steps
towards a sense of normality. Officials in France on Saturday said the day's
death toll of 80 was the lowest since early April, while nursing home fatalities
also fell sharply as the nation prepared to relax curbs on public movement
imposed eight weeks ago.
The easing, to begin Monday, has brought mixed reactions.
"I've been scared to death" about the reopening, said Maya Flandin, a bookshop
manager from Lyon. "It's a big responsibility to have to protect my staff and my
customers." French health officials have warned that "the epidemic remains
active and is evolving", and that social distancing must be kept up even as
restrictions are eased. In Spain, about half the population will be allowed out
on Monday for limited socialization, and restaurants will be able to offer some
outdoor service as the country begins a phased transition set to last through
June. Fears lingered, however, of a resurgence, and authorities excluded Madrid
and Barcelona -- two COVID-19 hotspots -- from the first phase. Belgium is also
easing some restrictions on Monday, and in some parts of Germany, bars and
restaurants reopened on Saturday with further easing set for Monday. Overall,
the situation in Europe was still far from normal.
Britain is reportedly planning to announce on Sunday that all overseas visitors
will face a mandatory two-week quarantine, and the European Union warned against
opening borders to travelers from outside the bloc. Across Europe,
commemorations marking 75 years since Nazi Germany's surrender were cancelled or
scaled down. And Poland's election on Sunday will be one for the history books
as polling stations remain closed and turnout will clock in at zero due to a
political crisis set off by the pandemic -- the presidential ballot is formally
neither postponed nor cancelled because the government and opposition were
unable to agree on a constitutional and safe solution.
'Phenomenal' recovery?
South Korea's capital Seoul shut all bars and clubs on Saturday after a burst of
cases were tracked to one of the city's busiest nightlife districts. Even as the
country eased virus restrictions, officials warned against carelessness after
the new cluster of infections, highlighting the challenge of containing the
spread of the deadly disease while pursuing an economic revival. Global economic
figures are pointing to the most acute downturn in nearly a century with
businesses forced to shut and supply lines badly disrupted, and pressure is
growing on leaders around the world to find a way out. In the United States, the
country with the world's highest death toll, President Donald Trump faced sharp
criticism from his predecessor Barack Obama, who said on a leaked tape that
Trump's handling of the crisis was an "absolute chaotic disaster". Facing
re-election in November, Trump has insisted that next year would be "phenomenal"
for the US economy, urging reopening in a country where the virus continues to
claim well over 1,000 lives daily.The United States lost an unprecedented 20.5
million jobs in April, driving the unemployment rate to 14.7 percent -- the
highest level since the Great Depression.
'Life costs money'
Health experts have cautioned that while the growth of cases may be slowing in
some European and Asian countries, other nations -- many of them impoverished --
are only in the first phases of their outbreaks. In Iran, the Middle East's
virus epicenter, many were taking advantage of loosened restrictions despite
worries about a spike in infections. "Life costs money," said Hamed, a
22-year-old out on the streets of the capital Tehran without a mask. "People
have to go to work since this virus has been with us for about three months
now." And in neighboring Pakistan, the world's fifth most-populous country, the
government ended the lockdown on Saturday and locals streamed into markets and
shops, despite still-high infection rates. Tehmina Sattar, shopping with her
sister and sons in Rawalpindi, said: "We are happy with this decision, but at
the same time I have a fear in my heart that if this disease spreads it could be
devastating."
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on May 10-11/2020
Coronavirus: More Abuse of Christians
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/May 10/2020
"The Christian man said he begged for food to no avail. Farooq Masih, a
54-year-old Christian in Korangi, said that last Saturday, Abid Qadri, a member
of Saylani Welfare, with other NGO members, handed out food cards in his area.
But, when they got to Christian homes, they just moved on." — Shafique Khokhar,
AsiaNews.it, March 30, 2020
Millions of Christians living in northern Nigeria's Kaduna State, "report they
get six times smaller rations from the state than Muslim families. Believers we
talked to shared that a Christian family of four receives a grossly inadequate
ration of a single packet of noodles and one small plate of uncooked rice." —
Open Doors, April 17, 2020.
The situation for sub-Saharan Christians is further exacerbated by "[s]pecific
targeting by Islamic radical groups like Boko Haram, ISIS, Fulani militants and
the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) across the region has displaced many
thousands of Christians." Such Christians are now living in crowded and hard to
reach refugee camps where they are "suffer[ing] intensely without water,
sanitation and hygiene," making them extra susceptible to contracting the deadly
virus.
At a time when COVID-19 is showing the best of people -- countless doctors,
nurses, health care providers, truckers, philanthropic institutions and churches
in America have stepped up beyond the call of duty, and certainly without
consideration for things like race or religion -- in much of the world, COVID-19
has merely occasioned more of the usual: hate for and persecution of supposedly
contemptible "infidels," particularly Christians.
According to a March 30 report, the Saylani Welfare International Trust in
Karachi, Pakistan refused to give food aid to poor Hindus and Christians, saying
that only Muslims are entitled to receive their food packages. Pictured: Food
aid distribution by Saylani, on March 30, 2020.
Reports have appeared in recent weeks indicating that the coronavirus is
furnishing a new pretext in the Islamic word to discriminate against, and even
persecute, religious minorities, chiefly Christians.
According to an April 29 report, "in countries such as Ethiopia Christians are
denied the resources of the community, which is mainly composed of Muslims.
These minorities are excluded from society, making it difficult to provide them
with help or support." A separate report notes that in Muslim-majority
Uzbekistan, Christians "have been denied aid because of their religion."
Pakistan, as usual, offers several examples. According to a March 30 report:
"A Karachi NGO has denied food aid to poor Hindus and Christians, who like
Muslims are suffering from coronavirus....
"The Saylani Welfare International Trust has been operating in the Korangi area
since 1999, handing out aid and meals to homeless people and seasonal workers.
"Two days ago, the welfare organisation refused to give ration cards to
non-Muslims, saying that only Muslims are entitled to them.
"The reason for this is that Zakat, Islamic alms giving (one of Islam's five
pillars), is reserved for Muslims. The Christian man said he begged for food to
no avail.
"Farooq Masih, a 54-year-old Christian in Korangi, said that last Saturday, Abid
Qadri, a member of Saylani Welfare, with other NGO members, handed out food
cards in his area. But, when they got to Christian homes, they just moved on."
"A few days back there was an announcement made through a mosque's loud speaker
in the Sher-Shah neighborhood of Lahore inviting citizens to collect the
government's announced foodstuffs," a pastor explained concerning another
similar incident in Pakistan.
"When Christians reached the distribution point and presented their national
identity cards, they were asked by staffers to get out of the line claiming the
foodstuff was only for Muslim citizens."
This same pastor received numerous phone calls from his flock, all of whom
experienced the same denial. "Christians often face religious hatred and
discrimination," a Christian woman, aged 50, said of her experience. "However,
we never thought of this biased behavior by the majority people at this critical
time of COVID-19."
Others are using this pandemic to win converts to Islam. According to a May 8
report, "an Islamic cleric claims his organization is using COVID-19 food aid to
convert non-Muslims to Islam." Speaking on Pakistani television, the cleric
boasted of how when a destitute Christian man came for aid, the "staff of the
organization offered him conversion against food which he accepted." The man was
subsequently renamed Muhammad Ramadan, signifying his conversion had occurred
during the holy month. According to the cleric, Muhammad is now fasting (which
is ironic considering hunger is what prompted him to convert in the first
place).
The issue in Pakistan is apparently so bad that on April 13, the U.S. Commission
on International Religious Freedom (USIRF) denounced its discriminatory and
abusive measures as "simply reprehensible," adding:
"As COVID-19 continues to spread, vulnerable communities within Pakistan are
fighting hunger and to keep their families safe and healthy. Food aid must not
be denied because of one's faith. We urge the Pakistani government to ensure
that food aid from distributing organizations is shared equally with Hindus,
Christians, and other religions minorities."
While "reprehensible," Pakistan's conduct towards its non-Muslim minorities is
certainly consistent. The USCIRF's own 2019 Annual Report notes that Christians
and Hindus in Pakistan "face continued threats to their security and are subject
to various forms of harassment and social exclusion."
Among other "uncharitable" acts connected to COVID-19 in Pakistan, a Christian
man was tortured to death for "defiling" (washing himself at) a Muslim well;
and, when another Christian man asked his employer if he could leave early to
attend church, he was told to "clean our toilets [first] and take our germs to
your church so that they can suffer" -- and then given a beating.
At the other end of the Muslim world, in "Shariah-governed areas" of Nigeria,
"the government is discriminating against Christians," also in the context of
COVID-19, said an April 17 report. Millions of Christians living in northern
Nigeria's Kaduna State, "report they get six times smaller rations from the
state than Muslim families."
"Believers we talked to shared that a Christian family of four receives a
grossly inadequate ration of a single packet of noodles and one small plate of
uncooked rice."
The same report highlighted how "hundreds of thousands of believers all
throughout sub-Saharan Africa ... are not only persecuted for their decision to
follow Jesus but are now doubly vulnerable to the impact of a global pandemic":
"Specifically, four of the five most virus-vulnerable countries — the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sudan and Cameroon — also count among the places
in sub-Saharan Africa where life is hardest for Christians... For Christians who
are already persecuted, the pandemic gives way to even more ways believers can
be discriminated against, exploited and attacked for their faith."
"We are facing persecution because of our faith and we are also facing a global
pandemic," Rev. John Joseph Hayab, a pastor in Nigeria explained. "We run away
from our persecution ... or we run away from the global sickness that we are
facing. We have a double problem."
"We lie down at night, not knowing if we'll wake," another pastor said
concerning the ongoing terror attacks, particularly by Fulani Muslim herdsmen,
who, if anything, have only increased their deadly raids on Christian villages,
thereby compromising their immune system with more stress and trauma. "In the
midst of this coronavirus challenges and situation, the attacks on Christians
have not stopped," he said.
The situation for sub-Saharan Christians is further exacerbated by the fact that
"[s]pecific targeting by Islamic radical groups like Boko Haram, ISIS, Fulani
militants and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) across the region has displaced
many thousands of Christians." Such Christians are now living in crowded and
hard to reach refugee camps where they are "suffer[ing] intensely without water,
sanitation and hygiene," making them extra susceptible to contracting the deadly
virus.
"We are only at the dawn of the unfolding of this pandemic in this part of
Africa," a human rights observer said in words that apply to Christians,
especially throughout the Muslim world:
"There are many causes for concern for Christian minorities, like the economic
impact of continued violence against Christians amid lockdowns, marginalization
of Christians, especially [converts], and Christians being blamed to have caused
the virus."
In short, at a time when COVID-19 is showing the best of people -- countless
doctors, nurses, health care providers, truckers, philanthropic institutions and
churches in America have stepped up beyond the call of duty, and certainly
without consideration for things like race or religion -- in much of the world,
COVID-19 has merely occasioned more of the usual: hate for and persecution of
supposedly contemptible "infidels," particularly Christians.
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of the recent book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen
Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at
the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center,
and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 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.
ISIS … Painkillers Do Not Pull out the Roots
Zuhair Al-Harthi/Asharq Al Awsat/May 10/2020
Is ISIS breathing again, or is that an exaggeration? The truth is bitter, but it
seems that things are moving in that direction. The group is resituating itself
in a suspiciously calm manner with the support of the axis of evil that the
region has long suffered from. Of course, there must be a favorable environment
in order for it to reinvigorate and activate its tools.
Nothing seems more tempting than the scene in Iraq, which is hemorrhaging and
suffering as a result of the Iran’s destructive interventions. It was not
surprising that an Iraqi official in the Ministry of Defense said that “the
(Iranian al-Quds Forces), the Lebanese militia (Hezbollah) and the Iraqi
(Popular Mobilization Forces) cooperated to coordinate the transfer of hundreds
of (ISIS) fighters from Syria to Iraq and provided them with arms.”
Iran could not find a better solution for breaking its isolation, alleviating
its misery and loosening the pressure being exerted on it than preoccupying the
world and the region with the revival of the terrorist entity, ISIS, so that it
bullies and attacks.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that in "Mosul city, and particularly in the center of
Nineveh province, some traders have complained that ISIS members have once again
started imposing levies on them, and they are complying out of fear of
reprisals.” Some have estimated ISIS's revenues from these "levies to now be
around 100,000 US dollars a day".
The painful blow that Iran suffered after Qassem Soleimani's death has pushed it
to fill the gap that he left. It has thus ordered Hassan Nasrallah to move
militants from Syria to the Iraqi border so that its presence and the spread of
its forces are enhanced, and its dominion over Damascus, Beirut and Baghdad is
strengthened.
Radical movements reassemble and cells are born in loose and unstable
environments, especially when there is a financial incentive, like that provided
by a terrorist state like Iran, which always exploits such circumstances to
facilitate the spread of terrorism.
One cannot forget the transcontinental ISIS horror show that showcased new ways
of killing and terrorizing, handing the radical right¸ which is always keen to
exploit such political events, this spectacle on a golden plate.
On the one side, it aims to destroy and sabotage, disrupt security, and stir
fear and chaos in those countries and to create tension between societies and
put them in conflict, using any means necessary. On the other, it does so as a
reaction to its collapse and the collapse of its state project, to prove that it
is still present on the ground.
ISIS fell as an entity but did not disappear. What is meant by this is that the
ideology is still there, even after it collapsed, as “painkillers are not the
same as cauterizing”, and a temporary solution is different from one that
tackles the roots of the issue. This also applies to terrorism. The struggle is
first and foremost an ideological one, which means that ISIS may fall ill and
become weak without dying out. It may disappear for a while, but so long as we
have not eliminated the roots of its ideology and exposed it, we cannot prevent
it from resurrecting, as it is now doing. Ideology cannot be confronted with
anything but an opposing ideology, and we must therefore, eliminate everything
that incentivizes its growth and reproduction.
ISIS members’ actions reflect a desire, conviction and ideology, the
implications and dimensions of which they are aware of. These ideas and desires
are based on a comprehensive vision found in their literature, which starts with
spite and attrition, passes through monstrosity and reaches their empowerment.
Saudi Arabia realized the severity of the situation early on, announced the
formation of an alliance of more than 40 Islamic countries to confront terrorism
and established a center for joint operations in Riyadh. Terrorism cannot be
beaten from the angle of security alone.
It must be confronted with a holistic vision that is based on thought and
includes other aspects, such as the media, security, politics, finance and
military, within certain mechanisms, with timetables set and results
meticulously monitored and constantly re-evaluated. Crown Prince Mohammad bin
Salman, the godfather of this project, mentioned that the new alliance will
confront terrorism through military and intellectual means and through the
media. This means that we will see a comprehensive strategy and an unprecedented
qualitative leap in how we deal with this complicated issue. The sensitivity of
the circumstances, the delicacy of this phase and the size of the risks today
require that this alliance becomes worldwide, as fighting terrorism is the joint
responsibility of all nations.
An international alliance against ISIS must be military, ideological and
popular, which requires international mobilization, cooperation, and security
and intelligence coordination.
No group or movement has ever seen an alliance formed to confront it like that
which ISIS faces. Nevertheless, this alliance remains fragmented, which means
that it needs to be renewed, reactivated and revitalized. Responsibilities need
to be shared, and every party needs to be committed. The results will be shaped
by the degree to which parties commit to this vision and implement it.
This is an urgent step for the good of humanity and may take years to bear
fruit. It is a difficult task but not an impossible one if there is a will.
The Best Reason to Protect Workers from COVID-19
Noah Smith/Bloomberg/May 1/2020
Harvard economist Melissa Dell recently won the 2020 John Bates Clark medal,
which is given to outstanding economists younger than 40. Dell’s most famous
research concerns the importance of institutions in a country's long-term
political and economic development. It carries a dire warning for the US as well
as other nations.
What is an institution? To most people it means well-established organizations,
such as big businesses or the civil service. Economists use the word more
generally to mean the rules of the game that govern human society. These can be
official rules such as laws, electoral systems and property rights, or informal
ones such as social customs, corruption or selective enforcement of laws. That’s
an incredibly broad definition. But the key idea is that institutions of both
the formal and informal kind last for a long time and govern human behavior in
ways that can’t easily be explained by rational individual action.
For many years, economists such as Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson have
advanced the theory that differences in institutions cause big differences in
national long-term growth and prosperity. According to Acemoglu and Robinson,
places with a tradition of inclusion -- democracy, property rights, free labor
and so on -- become richer in the long run, while places that abuse workers and
citizens to extract maximum short-term value from them become poorer.
It’s a sweeping and interesting theory of the wealth and poverty of nations, but
it’s very hard to prove with historical evidence. That’s where Dell’s research
comes in. In a 2010 paper, she analyzed the long-run impact of a forced labor
system called mita that was used in Peru and Bolivia from the 1500s through the
1800s. Today, regions that had the mita system are poorer and less connected to
road networks.
The implication is that the extractive culture created by forced labor systems
led to reduced public investment over time. Some of Dell's other papers have
found similar long-term results of labor exploitation in Indonesia, Mexico and
elsewhere. Though no argument in economic history will ever be a slam dunk --
the past is too complicated and poorly measured to ever offer definitive answers
-- it’s telling that the institutional theory of development keeps finding
empirical support.
This has important implications for the US. The US is a big and diverse country,
with many different examples of both good and bad institutions. Slavery, for
example, was probably the most extractive institution ever devised.
Sharecropping -- a form of tenant farming -- was only marginally less
exploitative. In industrial regions, violent attacks on labor unions were common
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Exploitation of immigrant farm labor
in the Southwest was also common.
These systems, designed to extract the maximum possible value from laborers,
continue to haunt the political economy of the US. They probably contribute to a
general unwillingness on the political right to implement education and
infrastructure programs that benefit racial minorities and low-income workers,
leaving certain groups and regions poorer than they could be.
The current pandemic and economic crisis have put those negative impulses on
full display. Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa, for example has stated that workers
who refuse to work after business reopenings -- even if the coronavirus has not
been suppressed and continues to rampage through workplaces -- will be
ineligible for unemployment benefits. A desire to stop paying benefits appears
to be a big part of the motivation behind other states like Georgia that want to
defy federal advice and reopen early.
Forcing people back to work will spread the coronavirus and lead to increased
deaths. It’s also unlikely to save state economies because the lack of customers
is being driven much more by fear of getting sick than by shelter-in-place
orders. Chances are high that the workers who get forced back to work will soon
find themselves jobless again, and the economy will suffer more long-term damage
from both the virus and the start-and-stop nature of business closures. It will
be one more example of the harm that can result from a long-standing disdain for
workers and the poor.
Fortunately, the US has other, more inclusive institutional traditions that it
can draw upon. The free labor system that prevailed in the North before the
Civil War, and the strong labor protections implemented in the New Deal, can
serve as examples for how to rebuild a society that’s effective from top to
bottom. In the decades to come, the US needs to burnish its most inclusive
institutions -- rebuild its unions, make voting rights universal and crack down
on various ways that employers exploit their workers. Besides benefiting
beleaguered American workers and voters in the short term, this inclusive
approach will allow the US to remain in the top rank of developed nations in the
coming decades.
France's No-Go Zones: The Riots Return
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/May 10/2020
A few months ago, a police officer, Noam Anouar, who infiltrated Islamist
circles... stated that no-go zones in France are now foreign enclaves on French
territory. "The gangs operating there," he wrote, "have formed a parallel
economy based on drug trafficking. They consider themselves at war with France
and with Western civilization. They act in cooperation with Islamist
organizations, and define acts of predation and rampage as raids against
infidels". He noted that reclaiming these areas today would be complicated,
costly, and involve calling in the army.
For years, successive French governments have chosen a policy of "willful
blindness": they simply behave as if they do not see what is going on. They do
not even try to find solutions.
While France's general population remains under strict lockdown due to the
coronavirus pandemic and police have been ordered to enforce the rules
ruthlessly, people living in no-go zones are treated differently. Police
officers have been told by the government not to stop them at all and to avoid
going near where they live. Pictured: A garbage dumpster burns in the street
during a riot in Villeneuve-la-Garenne, in the northern suburbs of Paris, on
April 21, 2020. (Photo by Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images)
Saturday, April 18, 11 pm. Villeneuve-la-Garenne, a small town in the northern
suburbs of Paris. A young man rides a motorcycle at high speed and hits the door
of a police car. He breaks his leg. He is sent to the hospital. He does not have
a driver's license but does have a long criminal history. He was sentenced
several times by the courts for drug trafficking, robbery with violence and
sexual assault.
As soon as news of the accident is released, hostile messages about the police
circulate on social media; and in a dozen cities in France, riots break out. The
riots are continue for five days in a row. A police station in Strasbourg is
attacked and set on fire. A school is nearly destroyed a few miles from
Villeneuve-la-Garenne.
Rather than responding with firm language, the French government is saying that
an investigation into the behavior of the police has been opened and that the
officers will most likely be punished.
The coronavirus pandemic, which struck France hard, has been aggravating the
serious problems already plaguing the country.
France's general population remains under extremely strict lockdown; the police
have been ordered to enforce the rules ruthlessly. Permits to leave one's home
were limited to 60 minutes, once a day, and no farther than half a mile. On Aril
23, Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner said, "Since the start of the
lockdown, more than 915,000 citations have been handed out; 15.5 million persons
have been stopped and checked". The citations, according to newspapers, were
given to people who stayed outside for more than an hour, or who went beyond the
authorized limits.
People living in no-go zones [zones-urbaines-sensibles "sensitive urban zones"]
are treated differently. Police officers have been told by the government not to
stop them at all and to avoid as much as possible going near where they live.
Yves Lefebvre, president of a police union, remarked:
"The government knows that a large-scale uprising could happen, and that a minor
incident might be enough to set the powder keg ablaze. Therefore, police
officers have unwritten instructions: they must avoid incidents at all costs. If
an incident occurs, they know that the government will blame the police, and no
one else"."The choice of the government is easy to explain," he said. "The
police would not have the materiel or the manpower to calm a large uprising". He
compared the current condition to riots in October 2005, and added that the
situation in France today is quite different.
The situation in France today is quite different. It is worse.
In 2005, no-go zones existed, but they were not numerous -- fewer than a hundred
-- and were located in the suburbs of the largest cities in the country. The
police could still enter them; gangs and radical Islamist imams did not yet
control them. Today, there are more than 750 no-go zones in France, and police
enter them only by carefully preparing commando-like operations beforehand.
Gangs and radical imams seem totally in control.
In 2005, the riots had begun with the death of two young men. They had been
trying to escape from the police and taken refuge in an electric-power
substation where unfortunately they were electrocuted. Today, a simple traffic
accident involving the police can lead to nights of destruction and looting.
In 2005, the police tried to quell the riots, unsuccessfully. For three weeks,
the country seemed on the verge of a civil war. Today, because members of the
government seem to believe that if riots occur, a civil war really could happen,
the police are asked not to intervene and to stand aside until the destruction
stops. In July 2018, riots lasting almost a week broke out in Nantes. While the
public library and other buildings burned down, the police remained invisible.
Eight months later, in March 2019, when riots lasting three days broke out in
Grenoble and hundreds of shops and cars were totally destroyed, the police again
remained invisible.
In 2005, the people living in no-go zones were hostile to France. Today, their
hostility has increased. A few months ago, a police officer, Noam Anouar, who
infiltrated Islamist circles, published a book, France Must Know. No-go zones in
France, he wrote, are now foreign enclaves on French territory. "The gangs
operating there," he noted, "have formed a parallel economy based on drug
trafficking.""They consider themselves at war with France and with Western
civilization. They act in cooperation with Islamist organizations, and define
acts of predation and rampage as raids against infidels".
Anouar concluded that reclaiming these areas today would be complicated, costly,
and involve calling in the army.
For years, successive French governments have chosen a policy of "willful
blindness": they simply behave as if they do not see what is going on. They do
not even try to find solutions.
The jihadist attacks of 2015 seemed to be a wake-up call, indicating that maybe
an emergency response could be required. A massacre at the headquarters of the
satiric magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015 was a huge shock. The incident
led to a demonstration of more than a million people in Paris. Ten months later,
on November 13, a mass shooting at the Bataclan Theater , where 89 people were
murdered and dozens injured -- and 86 people murdered by a truck-ramming in Nice
on July 14, 2016 -- were equally huge shocks, but did not lead to any responses.
Soldiers were simply dispatched to patrol the streets and stand guard in front
of public buildings, churches and synagogues.
Since then, there seems to have been a choice by the government to define
terrorist attacks as "inexplicable" and committed by people who were
"depressed". The no-go zones were treated as time bombs that would eventually
explode, but with the explosion delayed a few years.
Currently, exempting the no-go zones from a lockdown appears to be one way the
government implicitly admits that they are no longer a part of French territory,
but tries to maintain a precarious coexistence with them.
The riots of April 18 were not supposed to happen. They happened anyhow.
The government seems to hope that calm will return, but appears afraid of any
more riots. When Ramadan began April 24, the police were ordered, despite the
lockdown, to let Muslims gather to celebrate every evening wherever they wished.
Linda Kebbab, a Muslim police officer, strongly expressed her disagreement. This
decision, she said, "causes a feeling of discrimination towards Christians and
Jews who celebrated Lent and then Easter or Passover according to the rules of
lockdown".
"In addition to dangerously encouraging breaking the French pact of equality
before the law, this decision asks the police to bow down to those for whom
Ramadan is an excuse to disturb public tranquility. It is a very bad service to
law-abiding Muslims"
On April 13, French President Emmanuel Macron promised that the country's
lockdown would at least partially end on May 11, even though he is aware that
the end of the lockdown means going back to problems. A public transport strike,
for instance, had lasted until the pandemic broke out. Unions have been calling
for strikes as soon as possible. The polls already in January had indicated that
the French were furious with the government. The lockdown, however, had to end
at some point. The risk of riots is simply one more problem.
The fear of death from the Wuhan coronavirus had prompted the general population
to accept the lockdown, the inspections and the citations.
Every evening since March 18, France's director general of health, Jerome
Salomon, has been announcing on television in a dismal tone the number of each
day's Covid-19 deaths. He never forgets to say that "the United States is the
country most affected by the pandemic", and then gives the number of deaths in
America, while "forgetting" to add that the population of France is five times
less than that of the U.S. As of May 10, France has suffered 403 Covid-19 deaths
per million inhabitants. Only four countries have records that are sadder:
Belgium, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The French government could be expecting criticism for its appalling management
of the pandemic. As of late April, most doctors still did not have protective
face-masks, and screening tests were still virtually absent. Doctors have lost
the right to decide what medicine to prescribe and are forbidden to see patients
in person. They can only recommend using acetaminophen or aspirin to whoever
calls on the phone.
People who have the symptoms for Covid-19 are asked to remain at home without
medication; if their condition worsens, they may call an ambulance. If they are
over 70 years old, however, an ambulance will not come. A decree from March 19
asked hospitals strictly to limit access to people defined as "too old". The
number of deaths in retirement homes is horrendously high.
More than half of those working in the private sector are now unemployed.
Thousands of small businesses in multiple sectors are now bankrupt and not able
to reopen.
"The feeling of decay that permeates the minds of many French today comes from a
truth that few wanted to admit," wrote a historian, Pierre Vermeren, in Le
Figaro. "France is a fallen country..."
Laurent "Riss" Sourisseau, a survivor of the 2015 jihadist attack on Charlie
Hebdo, and now its editor-in-chief, noted:
"France is living hours of disillusionment as deep as those it had known in May
1940... Before our eyes, everything collapsed at an unimaginable speed... We
will have to ask a question: why such a disaster... how was this possible. And
the present catastrophe inevitably brings us to the same conclusions:
incompetence, disorganization, lack of long-term vision, improvisation. In
summary: the nullity of our leaders."
"Two months of lockdown," the author Éric Zemmour said on CNews TV, "will lead
to an unprecedented economic crisis and probably to a very serious explosion of
violence: it is high time to face reality: France is on the brink of chaos".
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27
books on France and Europe.
© 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.
Italy: China's Trojan Horse into Europe
Giulio Meotti/Giulio Meotti/May 10/2020
Chinese leaders "believe they have a narrow window of strategic opportunity to
strengthen their rule and revise the international order in their favor". —
Former U.S. National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster, Battlegrounds: The Fight
to Defend the Free World.
"Europe has now become the buffer zone for the confrontation between China and
the United States". — Pierre-Henri d'Argenson, Le Figaro, April 28, 2020.
Now, China is trying to dominate southern Europe's infrastructure. China was
already granted a license to run Greece's largest seaport, Athens' Piraeus
harbor, which Beijing plans to turn into Europe's biggest commercial harbor.
Then China started to project its expansion in Italy's ports, where four major
ports are also in line for Chinese investments.
The People's Bank of China... "has steadily amassed stakes above 2 percent (the
disclosure threshold in Italy) in a slew of Italy's largest shareholder-owned
companies" China has also invested in strategic Italian energy entities....
This economic penetration will also have immense security consequences... Italy,
which is being lured by the promise of a $3 billion Huawei investment in its
telecommunications system, announced that it has no plans to stop Chinese
telecom firms playing a role in the country's future 5G network. It is a project
that U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr defined a "monumental danger".
Italy will see a collapse of its GDP and the explosion of its public debt... the
highest since World War II. Beijing knows this and claims that "Italy has many
economic problems, Europe is in crisis and the Belt and Road Initiative is the
only major global investment plan".
Italy's foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, welcomed a plane-load of Chinese
medical supplies on March 12. "We will remember those who were close to us in
this difficult period", Di Maio said. It is not necessary, China will remind
them. Pictured: Di Maio shows a map of quarantined Italian municipalities as he
gives a press conference in Rome, on February 27, 2020.
A few days after China had announced it was sending medical supplies to Italy,
Chinese state media aired pictures of Italians on balconies and streets
applauding the Chinese national anthem. "In Rome, with the Chinese anthem
playing, some Italians chanted 'Grazie, Cina!' on their balconies, & their
neighbors applauded along", wrote Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for China's foreign
ministry who shamefully and wrongly suggested that the U.S. military had brought
the Covid-19 to Wuhan.
China presented itself in the role of the savior, willing to rush to the bedside
of the sick patient Italy.
Now a Financial Times investigation reveals that those videos were manipulated
as part of Beijing's coronavirus propaganda. Hashtags #ThanksChina and #GoChina&Italy
were further generated by bots. A report by the Carnegie Endowment called Italy
"a target destination for China's propaganda".
An article called, "Why the Covid-19 epidemic is so politicized" and posted on
the Chinese embassy website in Paris, said, "Some Westerners are beginning to
lose confidence in liberal democracy" and "some [Western countries] have become
psychologically weak".
Antoine Bondaz, a researcher at France's Foundation for Strategic Research, told
Politico: "China considers Europe the soft belly of the West. In their logic,
there is the West, and in it the U.S. that will oppose China for structural and
ideological reasons, and their European allies that need to be neutral in case
of conflict between China and the U.S."
According to Lt. Gen. (ret.) H.R. McMaster, President Donald Trump's former
national security adviser, in his new book Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend
the Free World, Chinese leaders "believe they have a narrow window of strategic
opportunity to strengthen their rule and revise the international order in their
favor".
There is now a huge risk that Italy is becoming "China's Trojan horse into
Europe".
A leading French official, Pierre-Henri d'Argenson, wrote in Le Figaro that
"Europe has now become the buffer zone for the confrontation between China and
the United States". Beijing chose Italy as its soft belly in Europe and is
following its script.
In April 2019, the Italian government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was the
first G7 country to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on China's "Belt and Road
Initiative" during a state visit by President Xi Jinping. According to an
analysis by The Economist, the Chinese Belt and Road plan could surpass the
Marshall Plan, by which the US revived Europe's war ravaged economies.
Italy has a government coalition led by the Five Star Movement, an extremely
pro-Chinese party, whose founder Beppe Grillo has been spotted frequently at the
Chinese embassy in Rome. As the European Council on Foreign Relations reported,
"in Italy business and political lobbies for China have been on the rise". The
former PM Matteo Renzi has visited Beijing for conferences.
Five years ago, China National Chemical Corp bought Pirelli, a 143-year-old
Italian company, and the world's fifth-largest tire maker. A study published by
KPMG before the Pirelli deal revealed Chinese acquisitions in Italy have totaled
10 billion euros in five years (in a total of 13 billion euros investments). A
third of foreign purchases in Italy are Chinese. The goal is to turn Italy into
"Europe's top destination for highly coveted investment from China".
Now, China is trying to dominate southern Europe's infrastructure. China was
already granted a license to run Greece's largest seaport, Athens' Piraeus
harbor, which Beijing plans to turn into Europe's biggest commercial harbor.
Then China started to project its expansion in Italy's ports, where four major
ports are also in line for Chinese investments. Zeno D'Agostino, the president
of Trieste's northern port, says that "China is opening because it feels
strong".
Italy's political appeasement of China was on display during the fatal early
days of the coronavirus crisis.
On January 21, Italy's culture and tourism minister hosted a Chinese delegation
for a concert at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia to inaugurate the year of
Italy-China Culture and Tourism. Michele Geraci, Italy's former undersecretary
for development, was not sure that was his place. "Are we sure we want to do
this?", Geraci said looking at his colleagues. "Should we be here today?". A few
days later, in many Italian cities, such as Florence and Prato, where there is a
Chinese manufacturing stronghold, mayors and local communities promoted the
initiative, "hug a Chinese" to fight xenophobia and racism.
In Rome, Italy's President, Sergio Mattarella, visited a school that has a high
percentage of Chinese students to counter "discrimination" and Nicola Zingaretti,
the leader of the Democratic Party, met the Chinese ambassador in Rome.
Meanwhile, Italian televisions organized live tastings of Chinese products. That
was Italy's fatal initial mistake: fighting racism instead of the virus, which
only a few days later would devastate the country.
China has been able to brainwash Italian public opinion. In a poll published
April 17, 50% of Italians consider China a "friend" (just 17% of Italians think
as much of the United States). And in the race for the global power to which
Italy should be allied China is ahead of the US, 36% to 30%.
Italy's foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, welcomed a plane-load of Chinese
medical supplies on March 12. "We will remember those who were close to us in
this difficult period", Di Maio said. It is not necessary, China will remind
them.
Walter Ricciardi, an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
Italian government, tweeted: "Thanks China!".
We know now that while the Chinese regime misled the world about the
contagiousness of Covid-19, it stockpiled medical supplies. As the editor of the
German BILD wrote in a letter to Chinese president Xi:
"I suppose you consider it a great 'friendship' when you now generously send
masks around the world. This isn't friendship, I would call it imperialism
hidden behind a smile – a Trojan Horse".
Not a single Italian minister or official blamed China for the cover up of the
epidemic or causing witnesses to "disappear".
"For the first time in many years, Western countries united behind the request
to China for clarifications on how Covid-19 was born and then spread", Paolo
Mieli wrote in a front-page editorial for Italy's largest newspaper, Il Corriere
della Sera. Mieli mentioned the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France
and Germany.
"Who is missing? Italy, the only country in the Western world to have welcomed
half a million masks sent to us (for a fee) from China with a truly excessive
blaze". The world-renowned Italian textile industry was one of the major victims
of a globalization expansion led by Chinese dishonest economic dumping. China is
now reducing Italy to a setting to help spread and implement its propaganda and
will to power. As Italian analyst Francesco Galietti wrote, Italy is going to
become "the target of a Chinese 'charm offensive', a combination of hard cash
and 'soft power', money and influence". He notes as an example the People's Bank
of China:
"It has steadily amassed stakes above 2 percent (the disclosure threshold in
Italy) in a slew of Italy's largest shareholder-owned companies, including FCA
(the Fiat Chrysler group), Telecom Italia, and Generali Group, Italy's largest
insurer".
China has also invested in strategic Italian energy entities such as Eni and
Enel and Italian oil services group Saipem.
This economic penetration will also have immense security consequences. During
the first days of the Covid-19 epidemic, Italy, which is being lured by the
promise of a $3 billion Huawei investment in its telecommunications system,
announced that it has no plans to stop Chinese telecom firms playing a role in
the country's future 5G network. It is a project that US Attorney General
William P. Barr defined a "monumental danger".
"The geopolitical effects of the pandemic could be significant," said NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. "Some allies (are) more vulnerable for
situations where critical infrastructure can be sold out" in a Chinese "buying
spree". US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has also warned that China will
exploit the virus "to further their own interests and try to sow division in the
Alliance and in Europe".
Italy is most vulnerable to this Chinese offensive. It is one of the most
indebted countries in the world and has an economic growth close to zero. It is
also one of Europe's most unstable and fragile governments and had one of
Europe's highest coronavirus death tolls -- an experience that an Italian nurse
compared to a "world war".
Italy is now Europe's sick man. Due to the Chinese coronavirus crisis, the
country will see a collapse of its GDP (-9.5%) and the explosion of its public
debt which is set to 160% of gross domestic product -- the highest since World
War II. Beijing knows this and claims that "Italy has many economic problems,
Europe is in crisis and the Belt and Road Initiative is the only major global
investment plan".
"The possibility that Europe will become a museum or a cultural amusement park
for the nouveau riche of globalization is not completely out of the question",
said the late historian Walter Laqueur. Rome's dramatic fall could mean
Beijing's equally dramatic rise. It is a huge warning for the West.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and
author.
© 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.vices.
The Israeli Consensus on Annexation Can Break the Peace
Deadlock
Gregg Roman/The Hill/May 10/2020
The West Bank territories Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) has pledged
to annex are among those the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (right) pledged
never to give up.
One month before he was murdered, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin spoke in the
Knesset on how he saw the future of the land east of the "Green Line," the
Armistice Line between Israel and Jordan, created in 1949. He spoke about the
conditions that, to his mind, were essential elements and prerequisites for any
Israeli future.
"First and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim and
Givat Ze'ev — as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty. ... The
security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in
the broadest meaning of that term ... changes which will include the addition of
Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and other communities, most of which are in the area
east of what was the Green Line, prior to the Six Day War," Rabin declared in
October 1995.
These demands almost completely mirror the details laid out in President Trump's
peace plan, which would allow Israel to annex much of this territory, including
the Jordan Valley and the settlement blocs.
Rabin's heirs on the center-left, including Blue and White leaders Benny Gantz
and Gabi Ashkenazi — like Rabin, both former Israel Defense Forces
chiefs-of-staff — have entered into an agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to bring forward plans to place sovereignty over the areas demarcated
in the former prime minister's speech.
Israeli consensus about issues of sovereignty and annexation is stronger than
ever before.
Arguably, for the first time in Israel's history, there is remarkable consensus
among Israeli political representatives about the issue of sovereignty and
annexation. Even the current leader of the Labor Party, Amir Peretz, who ran
with the Meretz Party in the recent election, is a fully willing member of a
future government that places these issues openly on its agenda.
Israelis of all backgrounds and ideologies long have believed this conflict
never was about territory. Ever since it began, more than 100 years ago, the
question that motivated Palestinian rejectionism was always about Jewish
sovereignty per se, and not about where and how much. This is what motivated
massacres of Jews in the Land of Israel in the 1920s and 1930s, among others.
This is what motivated the Arab leaders of Mandatory Palestine to reject the
Peel Plan of 1937, which would have given them around three-quarters of the
whole territory for statehood, and the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947,
which would have provided for a state on 55 percent of the territory.
Palestinian Authority leaders Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas continued this
rejectionist stance in 2001 and 2008, even though Israeli prime ministers
offered terms that included an almost full withdrawal from the territory east of
the Green Line.
The Palestinian sticking point always has been the sovereignty of Jews anywhere
in their ancestral homeland.
The sticking point always has been the issue of sovereignty of the Jewish People
over any territory in their indigenous and ancestral homeland. This is why Abbas
could walk away from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's maximalist
offer at Annapolis in 2008 because the agreement would include articles about
ending the conflict and all claims to the territories offered.
Since then, Abbas has barely allowed himself to enter into a room with an
Israeli prime minister, even after Netanyahu placed a full construction freeze
on settlements in 2009, demonstrating again that the issue of settlements and
territory is merely a "red herring" issue.
No Israeli has seen Israeli and Palestinian leaders shake hands for over 12
years.
Thus, no Israeli has seen an Israeli and Palestinian leader shake hands for over
12 years. On the contrary, many Israelis have felt the continuance of
Palestinian rejectionism, in the form of suicide attacks, deadly rockets and
attempts to charge the borders, especially emanating from territories that
Israel relinquished in the now-dashed hopes for peace and reconciliation.
Israelis are tired of waiting for a Palestinian leader, so they want to force
the issue by taking the legal step of placing sovereignty over parts of Judea
and Samaria, which are vital from a security, national and historic vantage
point.
None of these steps precludes making a deal in the future if a Palestinian
leader decides to free his people from rejectionism and instead wants to use its
resources to build up a Palestinian polity and society. Until such time, Israel
must take steps that it sees as being in its best interests, with the broad
support of multiple parties from the right to the left, government and
opposition.
Of course, it should be done sensibly, and not increase the numbers of Arab
citizens of Israel and disrupt the delicate demographic balance in Israel. This
also could be offset by offering the heavily Arab-populated Triangle area in
northern Israel to the Palestinians.
Annexation will show Palestinians that rejectionism has consequences.
Annexation can be seen as a step towards ending the deadlock between the
parties. It should be the pressure to place on Palestinian leaders to
acknowledge that they will not defeat Israel as the national homeland of the
Jewish People. It will show the Palestinians that rejectionism has consequences
and force them to give up longstanding violent aims.
Most of all, it will fulfill the vision of Israeli leaders — from the left,
right, and center, such as Rabin, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon — who
understood implicitly that Israel will always retain the settlements and the
Jordan Valley. It is time to take them off the table.
*Gregg Roman is director of the Middle East Forum. Follow him on Twitter and
Facebook.
Israel's Strategy in Syria Is Less Coherent than It Seems."
Jonathan Spyer/The Jerusalem Post/May 10/2020
جوناثين سباير/جيرالزم بوست/الإستراتجية الإسرائيلية في سوريا
هي أقل وضوحا وفهماً مما يظهر
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/86048/86048/
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said in February that his objective was
to remove Iran from Syria within 12 months.
A significant uptick in Israeli action against Iranian targets in Syria has
taken place in recent weeks, according to regional and international media.
In the latest moves, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 14
Iranian and Iraqi fighters were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli raid on
positions close to the town of al-Mayadin, in southeast Syria. This report
followed close behind claims in official Syrian media of an Israeli missile
attack on a research center and a military barracks in Aleppo province on
Monday. SOHR also identified Israel as responsible for explosions at an
ammunition depot controlled by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement near Homs city in
the west of the country on the same day.
The previous week, strikes took place against militia targets in Quneitra, close
to the border with the Golan, and against Iranian targets close to Damascus and
to Palmyra, in southwest Syria.
A May 1 blast at the Hezbollah warehouse east of Homs, Syria, was blamed on
Israel.
While Israeli spokesmen tend to avoid commenting on specific actions, the
overall goal of the campaign has been made crystal clear by a number of
officials. The stated Israeli intention is, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
put it back in June 2018: "Iran needs to leave Syria – all of Syria." More
recently, this objective has been reiterated by Defense Minister Naftali
Bennett. In an interview on Monday, he said that "Iran has nothing to do in
Syria... and we won't stop before they leave Syria."
The apparent increase in Israeli airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria has
happened on Bennett's watch. The defense minister seems to have identified the
expulsion of Iran from Syria as a clear and achievable goal. In February, he
told The Jerusalem Post that his objective was to remove Iran from Syria within
12 months.
Bennett has also made clear his calculus as to why he is confident that Israel
will succeed in achieving this goal – namely, that while for Israel the issue is
a cardinal security interest, for Iran, Syria is only of secondary importance.
As a result, the defense minister appears confident that Israel will, by use of
its air power, be able to raise the price for the Iranian project in Syria to a
level that the Iranians will no longer be willing to pay. Once this point is
reached, Iran will recalculate and withdraw.
Bennett: "For Iran, Syria is an adventure 1,000 miles from home, but for us it
is life."
As he expressed it this week, "We are determined, more determined, and I will
tell you why: For Iran, Syria is an adventure 1,000 miles from home, but for us
it is life."
In recent days, a variety of media outlets have quoted unnamed Israeli officials
identifying evidence that this strategy is bearing fruit, and that Iran has
begun to reduce its presence in Syria as a result of the Israeli raids. As one
unnamed source told the Walla website, '"For the first time since Iran entered
Syria, it is reducing its forces there and evacuating bases."
SO IS the strategy working? Have the Israeli raids begun to precipitate an
Iranian withdrawal from Syria?
The situation is somewhat more complicated.
Israel has prevented Iran from building in Syria the kind of missile and rocket
infrastructure with which it has equipped its Hezbollah franchise in Lebanon
(above).
Firstly, the long Israeli campaign against Iranian attempts to consolidate in
Syria has clearly been partially successful. This may be discerned by the
absence in Syria of the kind of missile and rocket infrastructure with which
Tehran has managed to equip its Hezbollah franchise in Lebanon. Israel's
superior air power, extensive intelligence coverage, and willingness to act
boldly against Iranian efforts over the last half decade have ensured this. The
Iranian desire to construct in Syria a situation analogous to that in Lebanon,
where de facto mutual deterrence exists between Israel and the Iran-aligned
forces, is clear and discernible. Israel has prevented this.
Secondly, the Iranian regional project is today in considerable difficulty. US
sanctions have sharply reduced the amount of money available for regional goals.
The assassination of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani has clearly left a
large void which has not yet been filled. All indications suggest that neither
the new Quds Force chief, Esmail Ghani, nor his deputy Mohamed Hejazi have yet
managed to return the running of Iran's complex network of allies in the region
to a similar level of effectiveness to that which pertained under Soleimani.
Iranian efforts to construct in Syria a situation analogous to that in Lebanon
have failed.
Thirdly, there is evidence to suggest that elements close to the Assad regime
are wearying of the Iranian presence. The civil war in Syria is effectively
over. There is no military threat to the Assad regime's existence. Assad's main
objectives today are the return of Syria to his exclusive authority, its
reconstruction, and its return from diplomatic isolation (he is very far from
achieving any of these).
The extensive Iranian presence in Syria stands in the way of all these goals. As
one source close to Syrian government circles expressed it to this author
recently, "They're sick and tired of the Iranians."
With all this said, however, there is reason for considerable skepticism.
Regarding the statements by officials, it is simply not accurate that "for the
first time since it entered Syria," Iran is now reducing its presence. The
Iranian conventional presence on the ground in Syria has been in a process of
reduction since 2018. This is because most major combat operations in Syria
concluded in that year. This fact is not controversial, and indeed the IDF's own
website notes it.The Iranian presence in Syria is deep and multifaceted.
But in accordance with the methodology of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps, the Iranian presence in Syria is deep and multifaceted.
It includes the creation of proxy forces within the official Syrian security
forces – such as the National Defense Forces and the Local Defense Forces. It
includes the non-Syrian proxy militias, from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and
Pakistan. There is the direct presence of IRGC and Quds Force personnel. There
are homegrown, locally recruited "Syrian Hezbollah" type formations, such as
Battalion 313, Quwat al-Ridha and others. There are also hybrid-type
arrangements, whereby IRGC/Hezbollah positions are located within official
Syrian Arab Army facilities. The facility outside al-Hadr, adjoining the Israeli
border, is an example of these. It is used mainly as an intelligence-gathering
and eavesdropping post. It is protected by a Hezbollah-associated force called
the Quneitra Hawks Brigade. It is located within a position of the Syrian Army's
90th Brigade.
All this together constitutes a local Syrian adaptation of the IRGC methodology
applied also in Lebanon and in Iraq. It has resulted in an existing contiguous
area of Iranian control stretching from the Albukamal border crossing to just
east of Quneitra, with facilities elsewhere in the country, for the most part
woven into the fabric of the Assad regime's own structures.
Iran's infrastructure in Syria constitutes a central, not a peripheral, interest
to its regime.
This infrastructure, and Syria more generally, from the Iranian point of view,
constitutes a central, not a peripheral interest. Without it, Iran would lose a
vital access route to its franchise in Lebanon, to the Mediterranean Sea and to
the borders of Israel.
The nature of this project is such that large parts of it are not vulnerable to
Israeli air power, unless Israel wants to also take on the Assad regime, which
it does not. The parts that are, and that constitute the most direct threat,
have been hit hard and well, and will no doubt continue to be so. Put these two
points together, and what you have is something resembling the situation in Gaza
writ large – namely, a reality in which Israel strikes periodically at its
enemies at little cost to itself, and in so doing disrupts and sets back their
plans, without delivering a fatal blow.
At the current price that Israel is imposing, it is difficult to see why Iran
should choose to up sticks and pull everything back to Tehran. Of course, the
defense minister is privy to information regarding Syria that this author is
not. But if an Iranian strategic withdrawal from Syria takes place before next
February, it will be visible to all. So we will know.
As of now, there appears to be a discrepancy between the stated goal and the
means being employed to achieve it. This discrepancy renders Israeli strategy
incoherent.
*Jonathan Spyer is director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis
and is a research fellow at the Middle East Forum and at the Jerusalem Institute
for Security and Strategy.
Should the US bail out shale producers?
John Defterios/Arab News/May 11/2020
It was a sight on computer trading charts not witnessed before, a $50 swing in
oil prices from top to bottom in the span of a week, after the US benchmark
crude crashed into negative territory for the first time ever. Twenty-four hours
later, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to say he wanted his team to
formulate a plan to make funds available for America’s energy patch. “We will
never let the great US oil & gas industry down,” the president declared.
Options on the table include access to liquidity to outright bans on imports
from OPEC+ nations. At this juncture, US Energy Secretary Dan Brouilette is
weighing the option of securing loans of up to $250 million per company to stave
off bankruptcies for small and mid-sized producers. The Trump administration is
eager to tap into an existing $600 billion emergency fund set up by the US
Federal Reserve to buffer the downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That policy is supported by the head of the biggest oil and gas lobbying
organization, the American Petroleum Institute. CEO Mike Sommers told CNN in an
interview that the industry group wants to ensure “our companies have access to
the liquidity that they need to survive the crisis.”The sector is on the cusp of
a massive shake out, according to Rystad Energy. In a world of $20 oil, where
prices are now, over 500 exploration and production companies will file for
bankruptcy protection by the end of next year. Cut oil prices in half to $10 and
that number would double according to the energy consultancy.
When oil prices rose above $70 barrel, Trump would take to social media to
suggest OPEC was being greedy; below $20, he demanded an end to the price war.
Which begs the question: In a country that prides itself on free market
principles, is it right to bail out those who are buried under a mountain of
debt and cannot make money under $35-$40 a barrel? During the decade-long shale
expansion, US production ballooned to nearly 13 million barrels a day, but the
wildcat exploration companies who drove this boom did so in the name of market
share not pure profit. They are now sitting on an estimated debt pile of $200
billion and need higher prices, and therefore implicit support from the OPEC+
alliance of 23 producers.
When oil prices rose above $70 barrel, Trump would take to social media to
suggest OPEC was being greedy; below $20, he demanded an end to the price war.
It’s clear that what I like to call a “Goldilocks price,” something that is not
too hot nor too cold and one that would provide price stability for investment,
was the motivation behind the creation of the OPEC+ Declaration of Cooperation
in late 2017. Many in the energy industry go as far as to suggest oil and gas
bailouts would create a moral hazard, if US taxpayer money is used to fund a
business model that is no longer viable in a lower price environment.
This is, however, where presidential election year politics come to the fore.
Nationwide studies in the US show that the oil and gas industry is responsible
for 1.5 million direct jobs and about 10 times that amount in related services
from barbecue houses to real estate groups and all businesses in between. The
energy states — Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and North Dakota — are
important to Trump in November, so he is eager to act now.
There is a fine line for the president to walk. A bailout for what is often
referred to as “big oil” would not sit well with those outside of his loyal
voting base. He still needs broader support in the swing states to secure
reelection.
Democratic lawmakers are already pushing back and are against using existing
pandemic relief funding for the energy sector. Senator Edward Markey and
Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragan have written to the Federal Reserve wanting
to block access.
Those lawmakers and others in Washington talk of a systemic change in the US
energy landscape due to the beginning of the energy transition to solar, wind
and other renewable fuels being developed.
Then there is the “nuclear option” being touted by Republican lawmakers from
energy states. Senator Kevin Cramer from North Dakota is calling on Trump to
form a blockade against imports of foreign oil. During the record collapse of
prices on April 20, Trump said since we have plenty of oil, he would “take a
look at that.”In the next couple of weeks, the focus will be on a financial
bailout. Due to the pandemic, which has knocked demand down by nearly a third,
there is a global abundance of oil, so much that it looks like US industry
should be trimmed down by market forces despite efforts to the contrary.
• John Defterios is CNN Business Emerging Markets Editor and host of The Global
Energy Challenge on CNN International.
Iran eyes prisoner swap amid virus crisis
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/May 11/2020
The Iranian regime frequently utilizes hostages as political pawns and leverage
against other governments. It has been attempting to conduct a comprehensive
swap of prisoners with the West, specifically the US, for some time. And the
ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis appears to be providing the
Islamic Republic with an opportunity to achieve this objective. Iran first made
its intention to arrange a comprehensive prisoner swap public in 2019. During an
interview at the Asia Society in New York, Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif
made a public offer to the US and other countries regarding American and
European citizens held in Iranian jails. Zarif made a bold statement, saying: “I
put this offer on the table publicly now. Exchange them. All these people that
are in prison inside the United States, on extradition request from the United
States… Let us exchange them.” He added: “I have the authority to do that. We
informed the government of the United States six months ago that we are ready.”
But Tehran did not entirely accomplish its goal, as the US refused to release
all Iranian detainees and instead only agreed to exchange one prisoner. The
Swiss government acted as a mediator, facilitating the exchange of Iranian
prisoner Masoud Soleimani for US citizen Xiyue Wang in December.
Previously, Tehran was successful in swapping seven Iranian prisoners for four
Americans in 2016. The Iranian regime also received a reported $400 million
payment from the Obama administration when the exchange was completed.
The Iranian regime now seems to be using the coronavirus crisis and concerns
about the health of its foreign detainees as leverage to push for the release of
its citizens by the US.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, in March urged
the Iranian authorities to temporarily release all political and foreign
prisoners from its overcrowded and disease-ridden prisons. He told a press
briefing in Geneva: “A number of dual and foreign nationals are at real risk if
they have not... got (coronavirus), they are really fearful of the conditions.
This is also my worrying concern and therefore I have recommended to the state
of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release all prisoners on temporary release.”
Although Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, it has systematically failed to meet its obligations.
UN human rights experts particularly emphasized the alarming situations of
detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and defenders Narges Mohammadi and
Arash Sadeghi, as well as dual nationals Morad Tahbaz (an
Iranian-British-American national), Ahmadreza Djalali (Iranian-Swedish), and
Kamran Ghaderi and Massud Mossaheb (both Iranian-Austrian). They warned: “Mr.
Tahbaz and Mr. Mossaheb are over 60 years old and could experience serious
health consequences from COVID-19 due to their age, including loss of life.
These individuals also have existing life-threatening health issues, as do Ms.
Mohammadi, Mr. Sadeghi, Mr. Ghaderi and Mr. Djalali, heightening the serious
risk to their health if infected. The immediate release by the Iranian judiciary
of these individuals and other prisoners of conscience could save their lives.”
Although Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, it has systematically failed to meet its obligations. In addition, the
country’s prisons are notorious for their lack of hygiene and access to medical
doctors. The UN experts pointed out: “Iran’s prisons have long-standing hygiene,
overcrowding and health care problems. We urge the Iranian authorities to
implement measures consistent with their obligations under the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the right of persons deprived
of their liberty to be treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent
dignity, and the right to life.”
Iran is most likely attempting to get back dozens of prisoners from the US,
including Milad Kalantari, Behzad Pourghannad, Manssor Arbabsiar, Behrooz
Behroozian, Majid Ghorbani, Amin Hasanzadeh, and Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad.
Meanwhile, there are currently at least four American citizens being held in
Iran’s prisons: Navy veteran Michael R. White and Iranian-American dual
nationals Tahbaz, an environmental activist, and father and son Siamak and
Baquer Namazi.
While foreign prisoners in Iran such as British dual citizen Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe are mainly held on trumped-up charges, Iranian prisoners
abroad have most likely committed serious crimes. For example, Arbabsiar was in
2013 sentenced in a New York City federal court to 25 years in prison after
being found guilty of participating in a plot to murder the Saudi Arabian
ambassador to the US. And Ghorbani in 2018 admitted charges of conducting
surveillance and collecting information about American citizens and members of
the Iranian dissident group Mujahedin-e Khalq.
It is incumbent on the international community to push Tehran to release foreign
prisoners and hold the Iranian authorities to account for endangering the lives
of political and foreign prisoners amid the coronavirus crisis.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading
expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the
International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
Putin turns against Assad and Iran
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/May 11/2020
A contact of mine with senior Moscow connections has spent the past nine years
vigorously reminding me that “(Bashar) Assad isn’t going anywhere.” Last week,
she phoned me to say: “Guess what? Assad is going.”
My source isn’t the only one predicting that Russia is close to engineering
Assad’s departure. Pro-Moscow media outlets have been attacking him personally.
And Syrian politicians reacted angrily to semi-official comments, such as former
diplomat Alexander Shumilin, head of the Kremlin-funded Europe-Middle East
Center, stating: “The Kremlin must rid itself of the Syrian headache. The
problem is with one person — Assad — and his entourage.”
Meanwhile, after months of internal tensions, Assad’s cousin and regime
financier Rami Makhlouf very publicly went rogue, claiming that the government
was ransacking his businesses and “attacking people’s freedoms.” Given the
tight, familial nature of the regime, this marks a serious fracturing of Assad’s
inner circle, with the Russians gleefully exacerbating these tensions.
There is particular enmity toward the influence wielded by Asma Assad, both from
Makhlouf and the Russians, who leaked a damaging (possibly untrue) report about
her alleged $30 million purchase of renowned David Hockney painting “The Splash”
to decorate her palace.
Much of this anti-Assad kompromat emerged through media outlets controlled by
the Kremlin’s master of black arts, Yevgeny Prigozhin (aka Putin’s cook). This
includes evidence that, during 2019, the Assad regime lied to citizens about
chronic power cuts because it was profiteering by selling electricity to
Lebanon. Russian news agencies like TASS simultaneously attacked Iran for having
“no interest in achieving stability in the region because it considers it a
battlefield with Washington.”
The Russia-Iran-Assad axis was previously mutually beneficial as they sought to
reconquer much of Syria. However, Assad’s rampant corruption, brutality and
incompetence have become too toxic even for Vladimir Putin, who wants to see a
stable Syria enjoying international rehabilitation. Putin resents Damascus’ 2018
deal granting Tehran exclusivity over postwar agreements — particularly because
promoting Syria as a Moscow-sponsored reconstruction success story could open
doors for lucrative mega-projects in oil-rich Libya and Iraq.
Close allies Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin have watched Iran’s intensifying
stranglehold on Damascus in horror. “We have moved from blocking Iran’s
entrenchment in Syria to forcing it out of there, and we will not stop,” Israeli
Defense Minister Naftali Bennett recently declared. Russia discreetly condones
unceasing Israeli air raids against Iran-affiliated targets (such as those that
killed 14 Iranian assets last week), which have escalated in parallel with
Russia’s campaign against Assad.
Tehran would rather burn everything to the ground than passively watch Moscow
eject its puppet from the presidential palace.
Throughout 2019, Moscow cracked down on criminal militias controlled by regime
kingpins like Mahir Assad, resulting in deadly clashes (one January 2019
incident left 70 fighters dead). Operating between Latakia on the Mediterranean
coast and Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border, these entities have collaborated with
Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies to control the foremost narcotics routes
into Europe and the Arab world. Some $660 million of amphetamines, shipped from
Latakia, was impounded in Greece in a record haul in July 2019.
Moscow fears that Iran’s acquisition of Latakia port and its construction of a
railroad straddling Syria and Iraq will cut off its principal base at Hmeimim
and facilitate the delivery of arms to Iran-backed militias, inhibiting Russia’s
ability to control Syrian affairs.
Putin could perhaps compel Assad to resign. It is less clear whether Russia
could sustainably impose a preferred replacement. My source, however, suggested
there is active consideration of presidential candidates from outside regime and
Alawite circles. But a botched coup attempt could engulf Damascus in new
paroxysms of civil conflict. Tehran would rather burn everything to the ground
than passively watch Moscow eject its puppet from the presidential palace.
Syria’s intelligence services and military operate symbiotically with Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps interlocutors, yet much of the regime is frustrated at
being shackled to an overbearing Persian agenda. Iranian largess has purchased
resentment, not loyalty.
Israeli intelligence reports state that Iran and Hezbollah have been
“dramatically reducing” their military presence in Syria (including two-thirds
of the Quds Force fighters in the country), while observers have been surprised
by Hassan Nasrallah’s recent failures to even mention Syria. Nevertheless, US
officials such as Damascus envoy James Jeffrey conclude that Iran has no
intention of loosening its clutches on Syria. And the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights has warned of increased Iranian proselytization and recruitment of
new paramilitary forces throughout southeastern Syria.
US President Donald Trump may perceive a Russian coup in Syria as a two-pronged
gift: Removing a blood-drenched anti-US dictator, while kicking thousands of
Iranian advisers and Hezbollah hoodlums out of Damascus. For Putin — in the
unlikely event that such a transition was pulled off flawlessly — it would be an
unforgettable display of Russian regional supremacy.
Hamstrung by US sanctions, Tehran is in dire financial straits and experiencing
acute regional paramilitary overstretch. Given that the November presidential
election may bring a less anti-Iran administration, Israel and Moscow may never
have a better moment to summarily cut Iran down to size. However, Assad has
survived nine years against often impossible odds, so this isn’t over until the
Assads board a plane for ignominious exile.
A Russia-Israel axis would be devastating for Iran’s regional posture;
encircling Hezbollah in Lebanon and projecting influence in Baghdad and beyond.
Nevertheless, a Kremlin-sanctioned Damascus regime would likely be as equally
autocratic and brutal as the Assads, while enjoying no domestic legitimacy and
leaving the Syrian Arab Republic even more of a fiefdom to foreign powers. For
the Arab world, a phase of Israeli-Russian hegemony would be just as
antithetical as the past decade of hostile Iranian expansionism.
Russia contextualizes its Syrian policy within the 2017 Astana process (with
Turkey and Iran), which symbolized the moment when Western and Arab parties were
ignobly ousted from the Syrian arena. We would all rejoice at the ejection of
the ayatollahs and Assads from Damascus. However, any transition must be the
starting point for an internationally brokered democratic process that restores
Syria to its place in the Arab fold, with Syrians obtaining the opportunity for
justice and the resources to return to their homes and rebuild their lives.
* Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.
Road ahead for new Iraqi PM strewn with obstacles
Talmiz Ahmad/Arab News/May 11/2020
During a late-night session last Wednesday, Iraq’s parliament finally approved
the formation of a government. It accepted a plan proposed by Prime
Minister-designate Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and most of the ministers on his list.
Thus, after five months with a caretaker administration and two failed attempts
to form a government, Iraq now has a functioning council of ministers.
Al-Kadhimi obtained parliamentary approval for his chosen ministers of interior,
defense, finance, and electricity. But there was no agreement on his nominees
for the foreign affairs and oil portfolios, and he will have to come up with
fresh candidates to lead the ministries of trade, justice, agriculture, culture,
and migration. Most of the approved ministers are technocrats.
The PM’s program prioritizes Iraq’s sovereignty. In practice, this means
ensuring the independence of decision-making in the face of external pressures
applied by the US and Iran, and attempts by domestic groups to exert influence,
particularly sectarian groups and the militias that back them.
He will also have to address the demands of the street protesters, who have
called for a new constitution enshrining a more transparent and responsible
political order. He has promised to investigate the violence that was used
against them; however, a complete revamp of the political order that made him
prime minister could be a daunting task.
Al-Kadhimi’s elevation to prime minister is a rare example of agreement between
the US and Iran. The US backed his candidature because, for a long time, he
lived in exile in the UK and US and, as head of the Iraqi National Intelligence
Service since 2016, he has worked closely with American officials.
Al-Kadhimi’s elevation to prime minister is a rare example of agreement between
the US and Iran.
There has been some speculation over the reasons for Tehran’s support.
Commentators suggest it might be due to the position adopted by Grand Ayatollah
Ali Al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiite Muslims, who believes in a
truly independent Iraq and is unhappy with the influence that Iran and its
proxies — including militias in the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — exert
outside state control.
On April 23, four Shiite militias said to be close to Al-Sistani — collectively
called the Shrine Units — formally withdrew from the PMU and placed themselves
under the direct control of the Iraqi prime minister, who is also the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces. They said they would encourage other
units to follow them. It is possible that Iran backed the new prime minister to
avoid alienating Al-Sistani and further damaging the PMU.
One important matter Al-Kadhimi will need to address in June is a strategic
dialogue with Washington that will decide the future presence and role of US
forces in Iraq. The prime minister, an independent political figure with a
liberal and non-religious persona, is expected to have positive and constructive
interactions with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The 5,500 US troops in Iraq are likely to remain there, principally to combat
Daesh fighters who, taking advantage of the lockdown imposed to slow the spread
of the coronavirus, are resurgent in a number of provinces. They inflicted heavy
casualties on PMU fighters last month.
A more complex matter before the two leaders relates to US-Iranian competition
in Iraq. Here, Washington will need to accept some constraints on its conduct to
avoid provoking Iranian retaliation, as well as the hostility of the Iraqi
people, many of whom would like to see all US forces leave their country.
However, Al-Kadhimi’s principal concerns will be domestic. He has promised “a
solutions government, not a crisis government” — but there is no dearth of
crises demanding his attention. Iraq’s economy is in shambles as a result of the
twin assaults of a global oil price collapse and a pandemic that has halted most
economic activity in the country and reduced its working-class population to
penury. Oil revenues, which were forecast based on a price of $56 per barrel in
the Iraqi budget, provide 90 percent of the nation’s income. A big chunk of this
— about $50 billion a year — pays the salaries of government employees. With oil
prices now below $30 a barrel and state financial reserves down to about $63
billion, there is no money to pay workers, meaning they will have to accept
substantial pay cuts. The silver lining is that Iraq has managed the pandemic
quite well. At the end of April, the total number of confirmed infections was
about 1,700, with only 83 deaths. Iraq has a remarkable recovery rate of 60
percent, but this has been achieved through a national lockdown that has denied
daily wage-earners all their income.
Al-Kadhimi will quickly have to decide whether to reopen the country, allowing
international flights and promoting economic activity, while being aware that
this runs the risk of causing a second wave of infections.
Linked to this is the problem of the street protests. Citizens aged 24 and under
constitute more than 60 percent of the population and, though most demonstrators
are staying at home because of the pandemic, the issues they raised relating to
political reforms and economic recovery require urgent attention.
While Al-Kadhimi might not be as harsh in dealing with the protesters as his
predecessor, he still needs to find solutions. Otherwise, having experienced
both violence and empowerment, these young people will soon be back on the
streets.
As a new government assumes charge in Baghdad, the road forward is strewn with
obstacles and challenges that will severely test the caliber of the new prime
minister.
*Talmiz Ahmad is an author and former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman
and the UAE. He holds the Ram Sathe Chair for International Studies at the
Symbiosis International University in Pune.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writer
World has chance to put peace on the region’s agenda
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/May 11/2020
A calamity may also be an opportunity for a new beginning, with the coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) ushering in a new era in the Middle East.
This article will focus on the Syrian and Libyan crises, which have become
interrelated because almost all foreign actors in the two crises are the same.
Furthermore, many of these foreign actors have convergent interests on some
stages and divergent on others.
New components have been added to the combined Syria-Libya crisis; one being the
disgruntled voices coming from Moscow over the attitude of Syrian president
Bashar Assad. Russia would be happier if the Assad regime gave up its insistence
on a military solution and showed some interest in a negotiation. It also seems
to be in agreement with the US — much to Turkey’s disappointment — over its
continued support for the Kurdish cause in Syria, while also not objecting to
the establishment of a corridor controlled one way or another by Turkey, which
would interrupt the Kurds’ bid for access to the Mediterranean.
Second is Libya’s increasing importance to Turkey. Ankara is heartened by the
results it has obtained by deploying its nationally manufactured drones and
assigning military trainers to the UN-backed Government of National Accord.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week promised good news for his
citizens, saying: “God willing, we will receive good news from Libya. Libya’s
peace and welfare are key to the stability of the entire North Africa and
Mediterranean (region). So we are resolved to turn the region into a peaceful
area.”Libya is important for Turkey because of the agreement between the two
countries over the delineation of their maritime jurisdiction areas. This
agreement renders the construction of a pipeline to transport Eastern
Mediterranean gas to Europe difficult without Ankara’s cooperation.
The situation is made more complex because of the contradictory interests of
Turkey and Russia in Syria’s northern Idlib province.
We don’t yet know how the UAE and Egypt will respond to Turkey’s challenge. The
security situation will further deteriorate if both sides remain determined to
bid higher. The third component is the dwindling price of oil and its
constraining effect on the Russian economy. If a reasonable solution cannot be
found, Moscow will face additional economic difficulties in sustaining military
activities in both Syria and Libya.
Another factor affecting the Turkey-Russia controversy in Libya is a subject
voiced by James Jeffrey, the US special representative for Syria. He said last
week: “We know that certainly the Russians are working with Assad to transfer
militia fighters… to Libya.”
Other reports have stated that a high-ranking Russian commander and his team
held a series of meetings with mercenaries fighting for the Assad regime in the
southern Syrian city of Deraa. The reports added that Russia offered $1,000 and
three-month renewable contracts to the Syrian mercenaries to fight in Libya.
The situation is made more complex because of the contradictory interests of
Turkey and Russia in Syria’s northern Idlib province. The fate of the Hayat
Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) fighters is still unclear and Turkey may prefer to see them
stay in Idlib for an extended period. This would be to use them to both harass
the Syrian government and prevent the establishment of a Kurdish corridor.
There are efforts to tempt the HTS fighters to go and fight in Libya, but we
don’t yet know whether they will be interested. As the fighters’ hopes of
achieving anything concrete with the HTS fade, they may accept mercenary jobs in
Libya. If they are hired by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, the irony
will be that both fighters from Deraa who fought for the Syrian regime and HTS
extremists who fought against it would be fighting for the same purpose against
the Tripoli regime. But there have always been such ironies in the Syrian
crisis.
Given this complex atmosphere and the new paradigms that will emerge in the
post-COVID-19 international arena, one may wonder whether the time has come for
the parties to the present conflicts to put aside their present strict positions
and negotiate a cease-fire, followed by a lasting peace in the region.
*Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the
ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar