English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 11/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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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 Proteste
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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