LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 13/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child
First Letter of John 05/01-12/:”Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on October 12-13/2019
Mossad Chief Says Soleimani Not Yet on List of Assassination Targets
“Hassan: The State Alone Guarantees Security of Lebanon
Lebanese Cabinet to Meet Monday
Wazni Says Lebanon Going Through 'Liquidity Crisis'
Oil Importers Say Crisis Resolved after Gas Station Owners Declare Open-Ended Strike
UN Political and Peacebuilding Chief Visits UNIFIL
UK Minister of State for Middle East Ends Two-Day Visit to Lebanon
Sami Gemayel, Calls for Help to End Iran’s Interference
Widow of Iranian-Canadian who died in Tehran prison, back in Canada

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 12-13/2019
Almost 200,000 people have been displaced by Turkish offensive in Syria
Pakistan Supports Turkey's Syria Offensive
Turkey Says it Has Taken Syrian Town of Ras al-Ain, Kurds Deny
Kurdish-led SDF says Turkish invasion has revived ISIS, urges no-fly zone
Turkish shelling kills 10 Syrian civilians: Monitor
Pro-Turkey forces ‘execute’ nine civilians in Syria: Monitor
Turkey Denies Targeting US Troops in Syria
Parisians protest against Turkish offensive in Syria
Turkish authorities arrest Al Arabiya reporter for covering Turkey's offensive
Trump: We don’t want Turkey killing a lot of people in Syria
Putin: Syria Must be Freed from Foreign Military Presence
Car Bomb Goes Off Near ISIS Prison in Northeastern Syria
Pakistan Denies Saudi Arabia Requested Mediation with Iran
Mysterious’ Blast Targets Iranian Tanker in Red Sea
Iran Vows Response to Attack on Tanker off Saudi Coast
Iran says ready for talks with Saudi, with or without mediation

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 12-13/2019
Mossad Chief Says Soleimani Not Yet on List of Assassination Targets/Asharq Al-Awsat/October 12/2019
France's Homegrown Terrorism/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/October 12/2019
ISIS's Turkish Homecoming/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/October 12/2019
Analysis/Why Netanyahu Has to Stay Silent About Trump’s Abandonment of the Kurds/Allison Kaplan Sommer/Haaretz/October 12/2019
Analysis/The Mideast Trump Leaves Behind: A Resurgent ISIS, an Arab Spring Comeback/Amos Harel/Haaretz/October 12/2019
Opinion/Five Ways Trump’s Unnerving Decision on Syria Has Seriously Harmed Israel/Daniel B. Shapiro/Haaretz/October 12/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on October 12-13/2019
Mossad Chief Says Soleimani Not Yet on List of Assassination Targets
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 12 October, 2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/79426/%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%af-%d9%8a%d9%86%d8%b2%d8%b9-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%b3%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%ab%d9%88%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b7%d9%84-%d9%84%d9%85-%d9%8a%d8%af/
Mossad chief Yossi Cohen rejected Iranian claims about thwarting an assassination attempt targeting Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander Qassim Soleimani, but said that it was not impossible. “With all due respect to his bluster, he (Soleimani) hasn’t necessarily committed the mistake yet that would place him on the prestigious list of Mossad’s assassination targets,” Cohen said. Cohen’s remarks were made during an interview with the Mishpacha newspaper. There have been reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu views Cohen as a potential political successor. Cohen, who ends his term in 2020, said he had not yet decided whether to enter politics, but added: “I definitely see myself in the leadership of Israel in the future.”Cohen, 57, a former national security adviser under Netanyahu, became Mossad chief in 2016, succeeding Tamir Pardo. Boasting about the policy of assassinations, Cohen denied that it had retreated recently. When asked about whether the assassination of the Palestinian scientist, Fadi al-Batsh, in Malaysia last April was carried out by Mossad, Cohen said: “Don't expect us to publish the list of assassinations.”He added that his agency could also assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, but that this was "not the right question." Nasrallah, Cohen remarked, "knows we have the option of eliminating him."The official revealed that there was “one target that we eliminate without hesitation,” and that was officials from the Palestinian Hamas movement operating abroad.
“From local agents to those who manage acquisitions of weapons pointed toward Israel,” Cohen explained. "There are more than a few assassinations," he noted, but added that “Israel's enemy had changed tactics” and was no longer "quick to attribute assassination to us, for its own reasons."
Commenting on the regional tensions, Cohen said that Israel is not interested in a conflict with Tehran, but rather in preventing it from developing a nuclear strike capacity. “Israel is not interested in conflict with Iran… Israel has but one interest: to prevent any option of Iran achieving military nuclear capability. We don’t want the regime to collapse, we don’t want revenge against nuclear scientists or to bomb bases in Tehran. In the end Israel wants to bring Iran to the table and then bring about a deal that locks away any option of military nuclear capability,” he stressed.

“Hassan: The State Alone Guarantees Security of Lebanon
Naharnet/October 12/2019
Interior Minister Raya Hassan stressed on Saturday that the Lebanese "state is the only entity eligible to protect and preserve Lebanon from external greeds," the National News Agency reported. Hassan’s remarks came at the opening ceremony of the Internal Security Forces premises in the city of Sidon south of Beirut. "The opening of a new building in Sidon for the Internal Security Forces falls within our strategic ambition to enhance the presence of the state and its security services in all areas of Lebanon," Hassan said. She stressed that "security forces and security apparatuses are solely responsible for protecting the borders and ensuring security and safety of all Lebanese."

Lebanese Cabinet to Meet Monday
Naharnet/October 12/2019
A ministerial committee tasked with following up on economic and structural reforms met at the Grand Serail on Saturday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The meeting concluded by announcing an agreement on a set of decisions to be taken by the Cabinet, along with a series of measures to be referred to the Parliament. Al-Joumhouria daily said the Cabinet will meet on Monday to vote on whether it will include the tax measures in the new budget, or pass them later separately as draft laws. The Cabinet is currently examining the budget, and is scheduled to send it to Parliament before the constitutional deadline on October 15.

Wazni Says Lebanon Going Through 'Liquidity Crisis'
Naharnet/October 12/2019
Economist Ghazi Wazi warned that Lebanon is going through a liquidity crisis, noting that the latest government measures to contain it were only “temporary,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.“Lebanon is going through a liquidity crisis. That’s why Banque du Liban has put in place measures to secure dollars to import commodities of the three vital sectors (wheat, medicine and gasoline),” he told the daily in an interview. He said oil station owners and fuel distributors do not want to relinquish any of their profits, “knowing the Central Bank’s procedures trim these profits and also increase tight control over the import process by opening credits separately,” said Wazni.On Friday, oil importing companies announced an open-ended strike - suspended after a meeting with the Premier- protesting that suppliers were only selling them fuel in dollars because of a shortage in reserves. Consumers were seen standing in long queues waiting to fill their car tanks. “The problem has been tackled,” said Wazni and that oil sector companies “must not go or even threaten to go on strike.”He said the government is only giving “temporary” solutions for the crises until it finds a radical one. “The pressure is mounting as major entitlements approach starting with the approval of the 2020 draft budget, the CEDRE Committee convention in November, and the oil exploration launch in December. The pressure on the Lebanese state is increasing significantly without justification.” he said.
Wazni concluded asking: “Is there anyone who does not want Lebanon to reach the stage of oil exploration next December?”

Oil Importers Say Crisis Resolved after Gas Station Owners Declare Open-Ended Strike
Naharnet/October 12/2019
Lebanon’s oil importing companies announced Friday evening that they will resume delivering fuel to stations and distributors as of Saturday morning and that they will get paid in Lebanese pound, hours after distributors and the owners of stations declared an open-ended strike. The agreement was reached in a meeting between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and a delegation from the importing companies. “An agreement was reached on a certain mechanism that will quickly resolve this crisis, and as of tomorrow morning, fuel will be delivered to the stations, which in turn will resume selling gasoline in a normal manner,” Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah announced. “I declare, in the name of the importing companies, that the stations will receive the gasoline as of tomorrow, and things will return to 100% normalcy,” Jarrah said, adding that “there is no need to panic.”A spokesman for the companies said the payment mechanism set by Banque du Liban had witnessed “some problems, which were resolved today.”Gas station owners and fuel distributors had announced an open-ended strike starting Friday, which prompted consumers to scramble to stations where long queues were formed. The Syndicate of Gas Station Owners announced the strike in a televised TV statement protesting that suppliers were only selling them fuel in dollars. The strike will prolong they said “until the competent authorities issue a written order on the mandatory supply of fuel to gas stations.”The group said that banks were not supplying them with the dollars they need to pay importers and suppliers because of a shortage in reserves. Lebanese media for the past two weeks reported that banks and money exchange houses were rationing their dollar sales over a feared shortage in reserves. The syndicate had said that petrol station owners were having to purchase dollars on the black market or from money exchange offices at higher rates. Lebanese officials, including President Michel Aoun and Central Bank governor Riad Salameh, have tried to play down the risk of an economic collapse. Economic growth in Lebanon has plummeted in the wake of repeated political deadlocks in recent years, compounded by the impact of eight years of war in neighboring Syria. Lebanon's public debt stands at around $86 billion -- higher than 150 percent of GDP -- according to the finance ministry. Eighty percent of that figure is owed to Lebanon's central bank and local banks.

UN Political and Peacebuilding Chief Visits UNIFIL
Naharnet/October 12/2019
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, paid a visit Friday to the UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, south Lebanon, and toured the Mission’s area of operations in order to see first-hand the work of UNIFIL in maintaining the cessation of hostilities and calm along the Blue Line, a UN press release said Saturday. In Naqoura, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col briefed the UN’s political and peacebuilding chief on the work of the Mission and the security situation in the area of operation. He emphasized the critical role played by the Mission – especially through its liaison and coordination channels – in containing recent tensions and incidents along the Blue Line, which otherwise could have developed into a dangerous escalation. Maj. Gen. Del Col also emphasized the engagement with and continued cooperation of the parties in the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which forms the core of UNIFIL’s mandate. During the meeting, they also discussed the work carried out by the Mission with the local population, municipalities as well as the numerous initiatives aimed at enhancing cooperation in women’s and youth empowerment in south Lebanon. Since 2006, UNIFIL has undertaken several thousand CIMIC (Civil-Military Co-operation) and Quick Impact Projects to improve the living conditions of the people of south Lebanon and has provided free medical, dental, veterinary assistance in large numbers.While in south Lebanon – her last stop in the weeklong tour of the wider Middle East region – Ms. DiCarlo also conducted an aerial tour of the Blue Line, which lies at the centre of gravity of UNIFIL’s overall mandate implementation.

UK Minister of State for Middle East Ends Two-Day Visit to Lebanon
Naharnet/October 12/2019
British Minister of State for the Middle East and International Development Andrew Murrison ended a two-day visit to Lebanon on Friday, reiterating the UK’s “long-term commitment to supporting a strong and prosperous Lebanon” and announcing “over $41 million towards Lebanese host communities and refugees alike,” the British embassy said. During his visit, Murrison met with President Michel Aoun, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, MPs and senior business leaders. He also visited UK aid funded projects up and down the country supporting Lebanese host communities, with a focus on economy, education, demining, refugees and the Lebanese Armed Forces. In the Bekaa, Minister Murrison visited an Informal Tented Settlement and saw how tech solutions (iris scanning) are used to ensure UK aid “only goes to those who need it the most to meet their most basic survival needs,” the embassy statement said. He also met Syrian refugee families and heard from them about their living conditions and challenges they face in Lebanon, including how they view the prospect of returning to Syria.
In Tripoli, Murrison met with host communities to see “the positive impact UK aid is having on people’s lives through the Lebanese Host Communities Support Program (LHSP) in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs and UNDP. He announced a new $39 million to LHSP in support of delivering better public services, economic opportunities and promoting social stability to the most vulnerable Lebanese and refugees. He also met with MARCH NGO’s youth group in Tripoli who have overcome barriers, transforming from two feuding neighborhoods into partners working for a better future for their communities.
At the non-formal education center run by UNICEF, Minister Murrison announced over $2.5 million of UK aid funding to UNICEF’s non-formal education program. He saw how non formal schooling is delivered to out of school refugee and Lebanese children, and how the UK is working with the international community to “ensure a generation of children do not miss out on education.”
Continuing his northern visit, Minister Murrison visited the First Land Border Regiment along the Lebanese-Syrian border, which demonstrates “the UK’s strong support to the Lebanese Armed Forces, Lebanon’s sole defenders, to train, mentor and equip the LAF’s Land Border Regiments. And securing Lebanon,” the embassy said. Heading south to the village of Toul, he saw how UK aid support to the Global Mine Action program is making safe over 1.1 million m2 of land, with over 6,500 men, women and children benefitting from mine risk education. Minister Murrison also met with Syrian analysts to discuss the latest situation of refugees in Lebanon and Syria. Speaking at the end of his visit, Murrison said: “I am delighted to be on my first official visit to Lebanon as Minister for the Middle East, especially at a time when the UK and Lebanon’s bilateral trade relations are growing stronger. The UK remains a steadfast partner of the Government of Lebanon, and supports the need for economic reforms so that Lebanon can fulfill its potential, including through increased trade and investment.”“I reiterated the UK’s recognition of Lebanon’s generosity hosting people fleeing Syria, and got to see how UK aid is supporting both the host communities and refugees,” he said. “We have been clear: we want Syrians to return home safely, consistent with international law. The Syrian regime must immediately return to peace talks to end this senseless suffering,” Murrison added.

Sami Gemayel, Calls for Help to End Iran’s Interference
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 12 October, 2019
Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel has urged the international community to help Lebanon regain its decision-making by ending Iran’s interference in its internal affairs. Iran-backed “Hezbollah controls the decision of war and peace in Lebanon,” said Gemayel during a meeting held by the Centrist Democrat International's executive committee in Rome on Friday. He called for ending the Iranian meddling and for steering Lebanon clear of regional tension by implementing UN Security Council decisions, mainly Resolutions 1701 and 1559. Gemayel, who is IDC-CDI executive committee’s vice president, stressed the importance of the international community shedding light on damages to Lebanon’s national sovereignty as well as on the increased clampdown on freedom of expression and speech. Lebanon is loosing its status as the beacon of democracy and freedoms in the Middle East as a result of a crackdown by the authorities on the press and citizens who are expressing their viewpoints in different ways, he said. The Kataeb chief slammed the Lebanese government over its mismanagement of economic affairs and its failure to adopt the required reforms to resolve deteriorating fiscal and monetary conditions. He also warned that Lebanon would face further international isolation if more sanctions are imposed on several banks, institutions and individuals.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 12-13/2019
Almost 200,000 people have been displaced by Turkish offensive in Syria
Reuters, Beirut/Saturday, 12 October 2019
The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria said on Saturday that 191,069 people have been displaced as a result of Turkish military operations. In a statement, the Kurdish-led authority said the attack had caused successive waves of displacement from Dayrik also known as al-Malikiya at the Iraqi border to Kobani some 400 km to the west. The United Nations on Friday estimated some 100,000 people had left their homes in northern Syria since the offensive began on Wednesday.

Pakistan Supports Turkey's Syria Offensive
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 12/2019
Pakistan has offered rare backing to Turkey in its offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expected to visit Islamabad later this month. Turkey on Wednesday launched an offensive in northern Syria targeting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a key US ally in the five-year battle to crush the Islamic State group. The SDF lost 11,000 fighters in the US-led campaign. It is Turkey's third such operation since the start of the war in Syria and has been met with international condemnation. Prime Minister Imran Khan, however, called Erdogan on Friday to "convey Pakistan's support and solidarity," his office said. "The prime minister told him that Pakistan fully understands Turkey's concerns relating to terrorism," it said, adding "Pakistan is fully cognizant of the threats and challenges being faced by Turkey having lost 40,000 of its people to terrorism". Khan told Erdogan that "Pakistan stands in full support and solidarity with Turkey," it said. "We pray that Turkey's efforts for enhanced security, regional stability and peaceful resolution of the Syrian situation are fully successful," Khan was quoted as saying. Khan's office said Erdogan would visit Pakistan later this month. President Donald Trump has faced a firestorm of criticism for appearing to greenlight Turkey's offensive into northeastern Syria, which began after Trump ordered US troops to pull back from the border. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday Trump had authorised -- but not yet activated -- "very significant new sanctions" to dissuade Turkey from further offensive military action.

Turkey Says it Has Taken Syrian Town of Ras al-Ain, Kurds Deny
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 12/2019
Turkish forces have taken control of the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain, which has been a focus of its operation against Kurdish militants, the defence ministry said Saturday. "As a result of successful operations within the scope of Operation Peace Spring, the town of Ras al-Ain to the east of the Euphrates has been brought under control," it wrote on Twitter. Kurdish authorities denied the town had fallen to the Turks. "Ras al-Ain is still resisting and clashes are ongoing," said an official of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. An AFP correspondent in the area said Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels had entered the town but had yet to capture it. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that the town, a major target of the Turkish offensive, had yet to be completely taken. Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported that the town was taken by Syrian proxy forces under Turkey's command. Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad have been the primary focus of Turkey's offensive launched on Wednesday against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkey has heavily bombarded the towns and made steady advances, prompting tens of thousands of civilians to flee.

Kurdish-led SDF says Turkish invasion has revived ISIS, urges no-fly zone
Reuters, Beirut/Saturday, 12 October 2019
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said a Turkish attack in northern Syria had revived ISIS and called on allied states that helped fight the extremist group to close off air space to Turkish war planes. In a televised statement, senior SDF official Redur Xelil said the SDF was continuing to cooperate with the US-led coalition against ISIS even as it must now also confront the Turkish attack on northern Syria. “The Turkish invasion is no longer threatening the revival of Daesh (ISIS), rather it has revived it and activated its cells in Qamishli and Hasaka and all the other areas,” Xelil said, noting car bomb attacks in each of the two cities. “We are still cooperating until now with the international coalition to fight Daesh. We are now fighting on two fronts: one front against the Turkish invasion and a front against Daesh,” he said. The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria said on Saturday that 191,069 people have been displaced as a result of Turkish military operations.

Turkish shelling kills 10 Syrian civilians: Monitor
AFP, Beirut/Saturday, 12 October 2019
Shelling from Turkish forces killed 10 civilians in northeastern Syria on Saturday, increasing the civilian death toll from the Turkish offensive to 28, a monitor said. At least seven people have been killed in air strikes and shelling around the border towns of Ras al-Ain and Tel Abyad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Another three were killed by artillery fire on the mainly Kurdish city of Qamishli further east, the Britain-based war monitor said.On the Turkish side of the border, 17 civilians have been killed, according to Turkish reports.

Pro-Turkey forces ‘execute’ nine civilians in Syria: Monitor
AFP, Beirut/Saturday, 12 October 2019
Pro-Ankara fighters taking part in a Turkish offensive on Kurdish-held border towns in northeastern Syria “executed” at least nine civilians on Saturday, a monitor said. “The nine civilians were executed at different moments south of the town of Tal Abyad,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Kurds said a female Kurdish party official and her driver were among those killed. Hevrin Khalaf was “taken out of her car during a Turkish-backed attack and executed by Turkish-backed mercenary factions,” the political arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement. “This is a clear evidence that the Turkish state is continuing its criminal policy towards unarmed civilians,” it added. Turkey and its allied fighters began the offensive on Wednesday to push back the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, from its border. The allied fighters are Syrian former militants who once fought against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. As the conflict morphed since erupting in 2011, these factions now receive training and funding from Ankara. Kurdish activists circulated two videos on social media of the killings. The first, posted on the Twitter account of the Ahrar al-Sharqiya rebel group, shows two people in civilian clothes kneeling on the ground as a fighter next to them announces they have been captured by the faction. In the second, an unidentified fighter opens fire at a man on the ground wearing civilian attire. The Observatory confirmed the authenticity of the videos but AFP could not independently verify them. The deaths brought to at least 38 the number of civilians killed on the Syrian side since start of the assault, according to the Observatory. It says 81 Kurdish fighters have been killed in the clashes. Ankara says the YPG is a “terrorist” group with links to Kurdish rebels in Turkey who have been waging an insurgency for three decades.

Turkey Denies Targeting US Troops in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 12/2019
Turkey denied on Saturday targeting a US base in northern Syria after the Pentagon said its troops had come under artillery fire. "There was no shot fired whatsoever on the US observation post," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement to state news agency Anadolu. He said Turkey had returned fire on Friday after Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) shelled a Turkish border police station from hills located one kilometre (1,100 yards) away from the US observation post in Syria. The Pentagon said an explosion occurred "within a few hundred meters" of a US position near the Syrian town of Kobani, and warned that the US was prepared to meet aggression with "immediate defensive action". Akar said: "All necessary precautions were taken so as not to damage the US post."He said the Turkish forces had stopped firing "as a precaution" after the Americans contacted them. "Anyway, the necessary coordinations are being conducted between our command centers and the Americans," Akar added. US troops pulled back from positions along the Turkey-Syria border last week ahead of a Turkish operation against Kurdish militants in Syria. The YPG was a close ally of the US in its fight against the Islamic State group but is seen by Ankara as a "terrorist" off-shoot of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.

Parisians protest against Turkish offensive in Syria
The Associated Press, Paris/Saturday, 12 October 2019
Thousands of people have demonstrated in Paris in support of Kurds being targeted by Turkish forces in Syria. Protesters warned that the offensive could allow ISIS extremists to resurge. Kurdish forces being targeted by Turkey this week were crucial to the international campaign against ISIS fighters, who orchestrated several deadly attacks against France. Demonstrators from various activist groups slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with one carrying a sign reading “Erdogan=ISIS.”They also criticized US President Donald Trump for his decision to withdraw US forces from Syria, which helped pave the way for the Turkish offensive.The rally Saturday at Republique plaza in eastern Paris ended peacefully. Turkey’s military, which calls the Kurdish forces a security threat, said it captured a key Syrian border town Saturday. French President Emmanuel Macron urged an end to the fighting, as international criticism of the offensive mounted.

Turkish authorities arrest Al Arabiya reporter for covering Turkey's offensive
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 12 October 2019
Turkish authorities arrested on Saturday an Al Arabiya correspondent for covering Turkey's offensive in northeastern Syria.Zidan Zanklo was picked up in an armored vehicle by Turkish authorities in an area on the Syrian-Turkish border. Zanklo, who is Syrian, was told he has until Monday to leave to Istanbul.His visa was also cancelled, and his work permit has been confiscated.Since it began on Tuesday, the Turkish incursion has opened a new front in the eight-year Syrian civil war and drawn international criticism. A war monitor gave a death toll of more than 100 so far and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that almost 200,000 people had fled their homes.

Trump: We don’t want Turkey killing a lot of people in Syria
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Saturday, 12 October 2019
US President Donald Trump says that Washington does not want Turkey killing a lot of people in Syria and his administration will use sanctions if it has to. The US ramped up efforts on Friday to persuade Turkey to halt an escalating offensive in northern Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, saying Ankara was causing “great harm” to ties and could face potentially devastating sanctions. Trump’s decision to pull back troops from Syria’s border with Turkey has been widely criticized in Washington as a tacit “green light” for a Turkish incursion that experts say could cause a humanitarian catastrophe.
Since it began on Tuesday, the Turkish incursion has opened a new front in the eight-year Syrian civil war and drawn international criticism. A war monitor gave a death toll of more than 100 so far and the United Nations said 100,000 people had fled their homes.

Putin: Syria Must be Freed from Foreign Military Presence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 12 October, 2019
Syria must be freed from foreign military presence, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday. "Everyone who is illegitimately on the territory of any state, in this case Syria, must leave this territory. This applies to all states," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. Putin also said Russian forces in Syria were ready to leave the country as soon as new legitimate Syrian government tells Moscow it no longer needs its help. Russia has pledged to use its air power to help Bashar Assad retake all the territory he has lost in Syria’s eight-year-old war and has repeatedly stressed the importance of the country’s territorial integrity. It is also working with Turkey and Iran to push for a peaceful settlement it hopes will eventually reshape Syria’s constitution and show that Russia can make peace as well as war. Success would cap a 2015 intervention in Syria that gave Russia new clout in the Middle East and that it is keen to build on, particularly at a time when Washington appears to be distancing itself from the region.

Car Bomb Goes Off Near ISIS Prison in Northeastern Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 12 October, 2019
A car bomb went off Saturday near a prison holding ISIS extremists in northeastern Syria, where Turkey is pursuing an offensive, a war monitor and a Kurdish official reported, according to the German news agency (dpa). The bombing took place outside the central prison in the district of Ghuwaran, in the northeastern city of al-Hasakeh, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) rushed military reinforcements to the prison to prevent ISIS detainees from escaping, the watchdog added. No casualties were reported. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali blamed ISIS for the attack.The reported bombing comes a day after at least three civilians were killed in a car bombing claimed by ISIS in the city of Qamishli, in northeastern Syria. On Wednesday, Turkey started an incursion into northeastern Syria, saying it is targeting ISIS extremists and Kurdish militias, whom Ankara considers to be linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) waging an insurgency within the country. Syrian Kurdish authorities are already struggling to guard ISIS fighters captured during the long US-backed campaign against the extremists and to keep a lid on ISIS supporters and family members thronging displacement camps. Their hold will suffer even more as they fight Turkey. The White House has said Turkey will take over responsibility for the thousands of imprisoned fighters. But it is not clear how that will happen. Kurdish authorities run more than two dozen detention facilities, scattered around northeastern Syria, holding about 10,000 ISIS fighters. Among the detainees are some 2,000 foreigners, including about 800 Europeans. Most of the facilities are unidentified and unmarked, some of them set up in abandoned or re-purposed buildings; others are mobile "pop-up prisons." Some are reportedly close to the border, which may make them vulnerable to being hit in clashes or bombardment. Guarding those facilities has long been a strain on the SDF as it juggles multiple tasks in the volatile area. Despite its territorial defeat, ISIS has maintained an insurgency in Iraq and Syria, carrying out suicide bombings, assassinations and ambushes. Some reports suggest 14,000 to 18,000 ISIS members remain in Syria and Iraq, including 3,000 foreigners, but a recent report by the inspector general of the Department of Defense said figures from experts greatly vary. ISIS militants have carried out 80 to 90 attacks in Kurdish-held areas of Syria. In August alone, ISIS militants claimed 78 attacks, according to the Rojava Information Center, including the assassination of Kurdish fighters and explosive devices planted near patrols. The group has also been reviving financial networks through extortion, "taxing" the local population or collecting ransoms from kidnapping.

Pakistan Denies Saudi Arabia Requested Mediation with Iran
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 12 October, 2019
Pakistan denied on Friday various media reports that said Prime Minister Imran Khan was seeking to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran. “There are reports in certain foreign media that the Saudi authorities and some even stated that the Crown Prince had conveyed a letter or a message to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to be further delivered to the Iranian leadership for dialogue between Iran and the Kingdom,” it said in a statement. “These reports are without any basis as no such letter or message was conveyed, nor has Saudi Arabia asked Pakistan to play any mediatory role with Iran” it added. The initiative for possibility of dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran is an effort by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for ensuring peace in the region, it noted.

Mysterious’ Blast Targets Iranian Tanker in Red Sea
London, Tehran – Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 12 October, 2019
Iran fueled massive speculation on Friday when its media reported that one of its oil tankers was targeted by suspected missiles while sailing in the Red Sea. Oil prices surged more than 2 percent on the news, which raised fresh concerns about Middle East supply with tensions still high after last month's attacks on Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities. The Kingdom, United States and Europe blamed Tehran for those attacks. The National Iranian Tanker Company said the hull of the Sabiti was hit by two separate explosions about 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the Saudi coast, which damaged two of its tanks on the starboard side. It said the blasts were "probably caused by missile strikes". "All the ship's crew are safe and the ship is stable too," NITC said, adding those on board were trying to repair the damage. "This clearly puts fuel on the Mideast fire," SEB commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop told AFP. Nordea Markets analyst Thina Margrethe Saltvedt said it was not the particulars of the latest incident that were worrying traders but the fear of worse to come. “The risk premium is rising... not because the tanker per se contains enough oil to squeeze the market, but the risk that this incident will be retaliated or more attacks would come.” Iran's foreign ministry said the tanker was attacked "from a location close to the corridor it was passing, east of the Red Sea."Oil was leaking from the tanker into the waters of the Red Sea, it added.
"The responsibility of this incident, including the serious environmental pollution, falls on the perpetrators of this reckless act," said ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi, adding that investigations are continuing. The ship is slowly moving back towards the Gulf. According to ship tracking service TankerTrackers, the Sabiti is fully laden with one million barrels and has declared the Gulf as its destination.
Pictures published by Iranian state television showed the ship's deck without any outward signs of damage, said AFP. Oil prices climbed as much as 2 percent after the reports, with benchmark Brent and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures both rising more than $1 a barrel. Brent was trading around $60 a barrel on Friday. Crude prices had eased after spiking above $70 in response to the September 14 attacks on the Saudi oil sites, which shut down 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of production, about half of Saudi output and roughly 5% of global supply. Output has since been restored. Friday’s incident comes after a spate of still unexplained attacks on shipping in and around the vital seaway to the Gulf involving Iran and Western powers. Washington accused Tehran of attacking the vessels with mines, something it denied. There have also been seizures of both Iranian and Western-flagged vessels. The United States has formed a naval coalition to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic chokepoint at the mouth the Gulf. It has been joined by Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Friday's incident is the first involving an Iranian ship since the "Happiness 1" broke down at about the same location in early May. That ship was repaired in Saudi Arabia and held in the Kingdom until July 21 when it was released. In the first response to Friday’s development, China called on all parties to "exercise restraint" in the "highly complex and sensitive" situation. Iran has been locked in a standoff with the United States since US President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal that gave it relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program. The British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero arrived in Dubai late last month, after being detained with its crew in Iran for more than two months. The seizure was widely seen as a tit-for-tat move after authorities in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar detained an Iranian tanker, since released over US objections. Tehran repeatedly denied the cases were related. At the height of the crisis, Trump ordered retaliatory strikes against Iran after Tehran downed a US drone but called them off at the last minute.

Iran Vows Response to Attack on Tanker off Saudi Coast
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 12/2019
Iran vowed on Saturday not to let an attack on one of its oil tankers off the coast of Saudi Arabia to go unanswered, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said clues had been uncovered as to who was behind what he called a "missile attack" on the Sabiti tanker. "Maritime piracy and wickedness in international waterways... will not be left unanswered," he said, quoted by ISNA. "By reviewing the available video and gathered intelligence evidence, the primary clues to the dangerous adventure of attacking the Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea have been uncovered," he added. Shamkhani warned of "disturbing risks" for the global economy as a result of insecurity in international waterways. The National Iranian Tanker Company, which owns the Sabiti, said its hull was hit by two separate explosions on Friday off the Saudi port of Jeddah, But the state-owned company denied reports the attack had originated from Saudi soil. The attack caused oil to spill from the tanker into the Red Sea, the NITC said, before it was eventually controlled and the vessel began slowly moving back towards Gulf waters. According to the latest data from shipping monitors Marine Traffic, the Sabiti was still in the Red Sea about 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Jeddah. The incident comes after a spate of still unexplained attacks on shipping in and around the vital seaway to the Gulf involving Iran and Western powers, as well as drone attacks on Saudi oil installations. Washington accused Tehran of attacking the vessels with mines and to be behind the drone assault, something it strongly denied. In a statement, Iran's government spokesman Ali Rabiei called Friday's attack "cowardly" and said Tehran would give a "proportionate response" following investigations. "The question now is, those who accused Iran of disrupting free maritime transport in the Persian Gulf and the attack on Aramco installations with no proof, are they ready to once again defend the principles of free maritime transportation in international waters and condemn such an attack on an Iranian ship?" he said.

Iran says ready for talks with Saudi, with or without mediation
Reuters, Dubai/Saturday, 12 October 2019
Iran is prepared to hold talks with Saudi Arabia, with or without the help of a mediator, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, ahead of a visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Asked about reports that Khan, due to arrive in Iran at the weekend, may try to mediate between Tehran and Riyadh, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said: “I am not aware of any mediation,” according to state broadcaster IRIB. “Iran has announced that, with or without a mediator, it is always ready to hold talk with its neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, to get rid of any misunderstandings,” Mousavi added. Iran’s foreign minister signaled this week that his country would be willing to discuss regional issues with Saudi Arabia. Last Monday, France, Britain and Germany said it is clear Iran was responsible for an attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14 and called on Tehran to agree to negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs as well as regional security issues.

Widow of Iranian-Canadian who died in Tehran prison, back in Canada
AFP/Saturday, 12 October 2019
The widow of an Iranian-Canadian academic and environmentalist who died in prison in Tehran has returned to Canada after being held for 18 months, officials said Friday. Maryam Mombeini is the widow of Kavous Seyed Emami, who died in prison in February 2018 less than a month after his arrest.
Seyed Emami was accused of spying for Israel and the United States. Iranian authorities said he committed suicide in his cell, but this has been disputed by the family. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted that she was relieved that Mombeini was back home. “You have all shown tremendous bravery in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. I am thinking of you today!” she wrote. Mombeini, who had been prevented from leaving Iran since March 2018, joined family in Vancouver on Thursday, her son Ramin said on Twitter. Seyed Emami was the second Iranian-Canadian to die in an Iranian jail, following the 2003 death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who was arrested while taking pictures in front of Evin prison in Tehran. Canada cut diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012. Several foreigners, mostly dual nationals, are being held in Iran. Their arrests for a range of reasons have increased since the United States unilaterally left the Iranian nuclear agreement in May 2018. Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, does not generally grant consular access to binational detainees.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 12-13/2019
France's Homegrown Terrorism
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/October 12/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14980/france-homegrown-terrorism
French police investigating a woman for suspected ties to ISIS discovered a USB drive that contained personal details, including home addresses, of thousands of French police officials. Who provided that information?
"In the street, veiled women and men wearing jellabas are de facto propaganda, an Islamization of the street, just as the uniforms of an occupying army remind the defeated of their submission." – French journalist Eric Zemmour, September 28, 2019.
Le Monde, France's most prestigious newspaper, ran an op-ed after the recent attack, charging the country with "Islamophobic McCarthyism." Harpon, the terrorist who murdered his colleagues at police headquarters, would have agreed.
The problem is that France has, for years, been in a state of denial about the proliferation of radical Islam.
This time, the terrorist did not use firearms; his victims were not unarmed children, cartoonists or Jews but policemen.
The site of the October 3 attack was also striking: "The interior of the Paris police headquarters is supposed to be a stronghold; it is the symbol of public order in France and of the anti-jihadist struggle that has been shaken," the French scholar Gilles Kepel told Le Figaro.
"We have entered a... terrorism made in France... with a mixture of Friday preaching by extremist imams, social networks and the instrumentalization of fragile individuals. It is about creating a new panic in society by targeting iconic ... places... The attack is a major turning point in Islamist terrorism."
The assailant, Mickaël Harpon, born in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, was shot and killed after stabbing four people to death with a ceramic kitchen knife during the lunchtime assault at the Paris police headquarters. Harpon, a civilian IT specialist in the intelligence division holding high-level security clearance, had worked for the police for 16 years. First he killed three men in the intelligence division, then he stabbed two female police employees in a stairwell (one died from her wounds) before he finally was shot and killed in the building's courtyard.
Harpon was a longtime convert to Islam and a conscientious attendee of his local mosque, where he attended morning and evening prayers. A radical imam who was nearly expelled from France officiated there.
According to the Wall Street Journal: "Authorities discovered several USB flash drives at his desk, one containing the personal information of agents and violent Islamist propaganda, authorities said.
"A key question is whether Harpon downloaded that data onto the flash drive for his job... or to send it to his extremist contacts that could use it to target the police."
In 2016, Patrick Calvar, France's director general of domestic intelligence -- pointing to the number of Salafists active in France (15,000 at the time) -- declared that "the confrontation is inevitable". Now one of them struck "the system" from within. "The attack at the police headquarters can be regarded as the most serious on our soil since November 13, 2015," says Thibault de Montbrial, president of the Center for Internal Security, a French think tank.
"For four years, France has undergone several attacks. Some had a very high human cost, as in Nice in 2016. But that of the Prefecture is of a different nature: it is the first 'blue on blue' attack, where a member of the police force targets his comrades."
At the heart of the extremist agenda, it seems, lies separation. "How has a multitude of Islamist networks managed to create ideological enclaves inside popular neighborhoods?", asks the author Bernard Rougier in Les territoires conquis de l'islamisme ("The conquered Territories of Islamism"). The forthcoming book documents the functioning of Islamist networks in several municipalities, such as Aubervilliers, Argenteuil, Tremblay-en-France, and Mantes-la-Jolie.
According to the French journalist Eric Zemmour: "In the street, veiled women and men wearing jellabas are de facto propaganda, an Islamization of the street, just as the uniforms of an occupying army remind the defeated of their submission. For the bygone triptych of 'immigration, integration, assimilation' has been substituted 'invasion, colonization, occupation.'"
In 2016, an internal police memorandum revealed that between 2012 and 2015, there were many instances in Paris of police officers engaging in radical behavior or acts that concerned their superiors. In one instance, in 2016, a jihadist stabbed a police commander and his partner at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris; and French police investigating a woman for suspected ties to ISIS discovered a USB drive containing the personal details, including the home addresses, of thousands of French police officials. Who provided that information?
The general impression is that France is now overwhelmed with a proliferation of radicalized inhabitants. The terrorist who opened fire on a Christmas market in Strasbourg in 2018 had been on the terrorism watchlist; so were the terrorists who struck the Trébes supermarket and the man who murdered Jewish children at a school in Toulouse. Although the French authorities knew of them, they were unable to stop them.
There seems to be a terrible security breach. The problem in France, however, lies deeper than that. According to a report by the Pew Center, by 2050, 12% to 18% of France's population will be Muslim. Conversions to Islam are rising. Extremism is becoming such an integral part of the country that, according to the historian Pierre-André Taguieff, for many French citizens, jihadism has become an "attraction". There are now several villages in the French countryside where converts and fundamentalists retreat to practice a "pure" form of Islam.
Paying homage to the victims of the terror attack at Paris police headquarters, President Emmanuel Macron declared that France must fight the "hydra" of Islamist militancy.
The problem is that France has, for years, been in a state of denial about the proliferation of radical Islam. "In some districts," said the Algerian author Boualem Sansal, "France is an aspiring Islamic republic."
Le Monde, France's most prestigious newspaper, ran an op-ed after the recent attack, charging the country with "Islamophobic McCarthyism." Harpon, the terrorist who murdered his colleagues at police headquarters, would have agreed: he shared articles calling France "one of the most Islamophobic country in Europe" -- so Islamophobic, in fact, that even Ahmed Hilali, the radical imam in touch with the Harpon, had received an order of deportation from France for his extremist ideas, but the order was never implemented.
Alexis Brézet, editor of Le Figaro, coined the term "dénislamisme" ("denial of Islamism"):
"How is this possible? How could an Islamist terrorist be so wrapped up in the state apparatus, at the very heart of the police structure that is precisely supposed to fight the Islamist practices, perpetrate the massacre? Dénislamisme endangers the French. It blurs the perception of the threat and disarms the spirits. At a time when mobilization should be maximum, it paralyzes the fight against Islamist infiltration in our democracies. Dénislamisme kills. We will not win the war that radical Islam has declared on us by continuing to walk with our eyes shut".
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

ISIS's Turkish Homecoming
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/October 12/2019
It is, therefore, the epitome of hypocrisy for Mr Erdogan to offer to take responsibility for the ISIS fighters being held in Kurdish-run detention camps... If that really were to happen, and the ISIS captives were repatriated to Turkey, it would, for some, be more like a homecoming.
The far more worrying prospect is that the captives may be able to escape, and return to the ranks of ISIS's terrorist infrastructure....
The ISIS caliphate might no longer exist, but the terrorist organisation itself still continues to operate. Indeed, the latest intelligence assessments are that ISIS is regrouping in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, with the aim of launching a fresh wave of terror attacks against Western targets.
Mr Trump's claim that the war against ISIS is over may prove to be short-lived.
If the Kurds cannot guard the ISIS captives, then who will?
One of the more ludicrous suggestions to have been made during Turkey's military offensive against the Syrian Kurds is that, in return for Washington's approval, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would take responsibility for the estimated 90,000 ISIS fighters and their dependents, currently languishing in Kurdish-controlled detention centres.
It is one of the worst kept secrets in Western intelligence circles that, for long periods during the brutal Syrian conflict, Mr Erdogan's regime supported a number of groups that enjoyed close affiliation with ISIS, as well as other Islamist terror groups such as Al-Qaeda.
It is, therefore, the epitome of hypocrisy for Mr Erdogan to offer to take responsibility for the ISIS fighters being held in Kurdish-run detention camps such as the al-Hol complex in eastern Syria. If that really were to happen, and the ISIS captives were repatriated to Turkey, it would, for some, be more like a homecoming.
There is, fortunately, only a remote likelihood that captured ISIS fighters will be making their way to Turkey anytime soon, for most of the detention camps are located well away from the 30 km buffer zone on Syria's northern border, the main target of the Turkish offensive.
The far more worrying prospect is that the captives may be able to escape, and return to the ranks of ISIS's terrorist infrastructure because the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are currently responsible for holding them, will no longer have either the manpower or the will to continue running the numerous detention facilities in which the captives are being held.
Prior to Turkey launching its offensive, which bears the unlikely codename "Operation Peace Spring", Mazlum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, announced that some of his forces tasked with securing the ISIS prisoners would need to be redeployed to the border to do battle with the Turkish military.
If the Kurds cannot guard the ISIS captives, then who will?
That so little progress has been made in dealing with the ISIS fighters, many of whom have now been in detention for more than a year, is down to the failure of the West, and Europe in particular, to acknowledge their responsibilities.
The ISIS caliphate might no longer exist, but the terrorist organisation itself still continues to operate. Indeed, the latest intelligence assessments are that ISIS is regrouping in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, with the aim of launching a fresh wave of terror attacks against Western targets.
ISIS's ability to launch such attacks, moreover, will be greatly enhanced if experienced fighters currently being held in Kurdish-run detention camps are able to make good their escape and return to their former terrorist associates.
Of particular concern for Western intelligence officials is the fate of the estimated 2,500 foreign fighters - the majority of them from European countries such as Britain, France and Germany - who have been abandoned by their home countries.
European officials have refused to repatriate them because of the continuing threat they would pose to the security of their citizens. Europe's failure to accept responsibility for the conduct of their own nationals, however, has caused friction with the Trump administration, which has called repeatedly on Europe to act. Now Mr Trump's own precipitate actions in allowing the Kurds to launch their offensive in northern Syria could have its own disastrous implications for the fate of the ISIS fighters.
The willingness of the Kurds to continue guarding their ISIS captives will inevitably be diminished as a result of the betrayal they believe they have suffered at Washington's hands.
Consequently, serious consideration must now be given to the possibility that some of the ISIS fighters will ultimately be able to make good their escape and rejoin ISIS.
The US has already acted to make sure that some of the more notorious captives, such as the two British jihadis known as the "Beatles" who tortured and murdered Western hostages, have been taken into American custody as a precaution.
Mr Trump has made it clear, though, that the US is not prepared to accept responsibility for all the captives, especially those who originate from Europe.
So that leaves tens of thousands of ISIS fighters stranded in a diplomatic no-man's land, from whence they may well be able to make good their escape.
If this happens, then Mr Trump's claim that the war against ISIS is over may prove to be short-lived.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14992/isis-turkish-homecoming

Analysis/Why Netanyahu Has to Stay Silent About Trump’s Abandonment of the Kurds
أليسون كابلان سومر/هآرتس: لماذا يتعين على نتنياهو الصمت إزاء تخلي ترامب للأكراد
Allison Kaplan Sommer/Haaretz/October 12/2019
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Israeli premier has more in common than ever with Republican senators who have blindly supported Trump in the name of political self-preservation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frequently been referred to as the “Republican senator from the State of Israel.” The nickname is only partly a joke.
There has never been another Israeli leader with as clear an affinity for one particular American political party. While he may pay lip service to pro-Israel Democrats, to placate American Jews committed to their mantra of promoting bipartisan support for Israel, he has done more to tie Israel’s fortunes to one party than any of his predecessors.
At first, it was quietly: The ties linking Netanyahu to Republicans were clear mainly to those who took a close look at their donors. But there was no way to hide the events of March 2015, when Netanyahu strategized with then-House Speaker John Boehner so he could address Congress — against the White House’s express wishes — in his unsuccessful campaign to lobby against the Iran nuclear deal.
It grew exponentially during the Trump era when the divisive U.S. president made it clear that Israel would benefit from absolute loyalty, and delivered on that promise. Netanyahu indicated time and again that he would stick to the bargain. Refusing to allow Democratic congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar into Israel at Trump’s tweeted behest this summer was the most recent example of his willingness to put all of Israel’s eggs in the GOP basket.
As the prospect of Trump’s impeachment looms under the fast-moving Ukraine scandal and worries mount over his decision to green light Turkey’s invasion of Syria, these are dark and challenging days for Republicans.
In response to recent events, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick observed Tuesday, most Republican congressional leaders are either “doing their best to keep their heads down on the merits, or pretend it’s all hilarious, or resort to full Alex Jones deep state talk,” pushing out outlandish conspiracy theories. But the tide could turn at any moment.
The cracks are already showing within the party. There is growing evidence that Trump used the powers of his office and the U.S. foreign policy infrastructure in a quest to force Ukraine and China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. And now there are increasing accusations of obstruction of congressional investigation into the case.
Sen. Mitt Romney dared to tweet out that “by all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.”
Unlike Netanyahu’s transactional buddy performances with Trump, Romney has been an actual close personal friend and conservative ideological comrade with Bibi in the past. The two men worked together at the Boston Consulting Group as corporate advisers in 1976 and stayed connected as they scaled the political heights — including during Romney’s 2012 presidential election campaign, when he traveled to Jerusalem to hold a fundraiser.
Romney isn’t alone among Republicans. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman told the Columbus Dispatch, “It’s not appropriate for a president to engage a foreign government in an investigation of a political opponent.” And other senators, including Iowa’s Joni Ernst, Nebraska’s Ben Sasse and Maine’s Susan Collins have expressed displeasure. Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski, meanwhile, called Trump’s behavior “very concerning.”
Criticism is likely to build as the White House digs into a strategy of obstruction — refusing to allow key officials involved in the matter to testify in front of Congress, thus alienating Republicans who are strict on following constitutional procedure.
An even greater number of Senate Republicans, including those considered close to Trump, have been even bolder in their condemnation of his move to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria without adequate coordination with the Pentagon. That decision has been attacked by his base: Evangelicals and their advocates in Congress have distanced themselves, costing Trump Republican support when he needs it most. One of his most reliable defenders, Sen. Lindsey Graham, slammed him for “shamelessly” abandoning Kurdish forces who had been fighting ISIS alongside American forces, saying it will be “the biggest mistake of his presidency” unless he reverses course.
If Netanyahu was an actual Republican senator, he would no doubt be counted among the majority of GOP lawmakers who have remained quiet on both matters, keeping their heads down to avoid Trump’s Twitter wrath. While understandably refusing to comment on the matter of Ukraine and impeachment, which is an internal U.S. political matter, the Israeli prime minister’s silence on Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds is deafening.
For four long days last week, Netanyahu said nothing on the matter. Finally, as the week drew to a close, he finally tweeted: “Israel strongly condemns the Turkish invasion of the Kurdish areas in Syria and warns against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies,” and that “Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the gallant Kurdish people.”
Utterly absent from his declaration: Any mention that it was the American president who set these events in motion.
Netanyahu is too trapped in a Trump bear hug to do so. He centered both of this year’s election campaigns around the benefits of his close relationship with the U.S. president, and a third campaign may be looming — the old election billboards of the two leaders smiling and shaking hands continue to hover over Israeli highways. He is less capable of taking the step of openly criticizing Trump than Graham or his old friend Romney. In response, Trump has lashed out at Romney, calling him a “pompous ass” and suggesting that Romney himself should be impeached.
In Netanyahu’s current precarious political position, he can’t afford the slightest negative word from the US president, let alone an angry tweetstorm. And so he keeps his mouth shut, unable to express the strong misgivings he surely feels at seeing Trump casually abandon a Middle East ally and increase Turkish, Russian and Iranian influence in the region.
As my colleague Chemi Shalev wrote Thursday: “Even when Trump is being viewed by both allies and enemies of Israel as a paper tiger, Netanyahu has no choice but to continue riding it, because, as the original Chinese saying goes, the alternative of getting off is far more daunting. It would mean confessing to his own abysmal failure,” after Netanyahu “bet the house on Trump, lauded him as Israel’s lord and savior.”
Now one wonders whether that was a safe bet, with a Washington Post-Schar School survey released Tuesday showing that 58 percent of Americans are supportive of the House decision to open an inquiry, and with 49 percent saying it should also take the next step of recommending that Trump be removed from office.
And the next day, a Fox News poll found that 51 percent of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office — up from 42 percent in July.
Nobody has polled the Israeli public as to how it feels about Trump and impeachment, but the country clearly has the jitters as it watches what is playing out in Syria, and identifying more closely than ever with the Kurds.
Local pundits are calling it a “strategic disaster,” a “knife in the back” and a warning that Trump’s warm words at the White House may mean nothing when the chips are down for Israel. As Dan Shapiro, Obama’s former ambassador to Israel and a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, wrote Friday: “Trump’s total reversal of the U.S. position in Syria is unnerving Israelis.”
Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, no fan of former President Barack Obama, indicated to the New York Times that he had less faith in Trump’s willingness to step in if Israel were to be involved in a “serious war” than his predecessor. One can presume that if Oren were still Netanyahu’s deputy minister, he would be under orders to follow his boss’ lead and keep his feelings to himself.
Today, Netanyahu has more in common than ever with his “fellow” Republican senators who must weigh whether they can continue to stand steadfastly by Trump in the name of political self-preservation as growing numbers of their constituents are losing faith in him.

Analysis/The Mideast Trump Leaves Behind: A Resurgent ISIS, an Arab Spring Comeback
عاموس هاريل/هآرتس:قرار ترامب التخلي عن أكراد سوريا يعيد انطلاق داعش وأيضاً ربيع عربي
Amos Harel/Haaretz/October 12/2019
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Trump's abandonment of Kurds will have far-ranging regional repercussions
There’s something over the top, even artificial, about the moral outrage that has descended on politicians and journalists – in the United States, in Europe and in Israel – in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds and remove the American troops from northeast Syria, thereby enabling a Turkish invasion.
To begin with, it’s ridiculous to apply moral standards to Trump. He has never had any such considerations, and a cursory glance at his biography should have been enough to tell us that this is a person who will not hesitate to stab his allies in the back and then lie about it without batting an eye. And second, when it comes to the Middle East, Trump is following in the footsteps of his predecessor in office, Barack Obama, and shares the gut feeling of many American voters from both major parties. He wants to reduce U.S. involvement in the region and certainly to diminish the scope of its military commitment.
Some of Trump’s recent comments are appallingly dumb, possibly even breaking his own records in that department. On Wednesday, he explained in response to condemnation of his decision to abandon the Kurds to their fate, that “They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy.” But in terms of American politics, Trump is far from being dumb. With his eye on the 2020 election, now a little more than a year away, he has detected the strong isolationist sentiment among both Republicans and Democrats, and calculates that, beyond the fury in Washington, the move could well bring him more political gains than losses.
The Democrats will not be able to turn the Kurdish story into a new version of China’s fall to the Communists at the end of the 1940s (a strategic blunder of which the Republicans accused the Democratic administration of President Truman for decades). The average American voter has a hard time distinguishing between Kurds and Turks and between Sunnis and Shi’ites. For them, the Turkish offensive is being played out beyond the dark hills. It has no immediate effect on their lives, and if young Americans were pulled out to keep them out of harm’s way, so much the better.
The reports about how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan outmaneuvered his American counterpart in a phone call between them on Sunday also attest to Trump’s superficial grasp of foreign policy issues. The complete surprise with which his decision was received by the levels below him illustrates the deep disconnect between the president and the administration’s experts. Trump has no patience with intelligence experts, prefers updates from Fox News and is utterly capricious in his decision-making. Even so, it’s hard to see his blundering performance in the latest crisis having political implications in November 2020.
In contrast, the Americans’ dumping of the Kurds will likely have repercussions for the Middle East in general and for Israel in particular. Regionally, the development reflects the continued decline of American interest and, consequently, of its influence. From the moment the United States broke free of dependence on Arab oil as an energy source, it has been increasingly less willing to get involved in the Middle East. The ongoing American withdrawal, which began under Obama, is clearing the way for the rise of other forces, notably Russia and Iran. Neither country has Israel’s best interests at heart. In the background, the Sunni alliance that tried to push Washington into taking more aggressive moves against Iran is weakening.
Amid all this, a vacuum is about to be created in Syria that could enable the revival of the Islamic State. According to the Washington Post, the Kurds are holding about 11,000 ISIS militants in some 20 makeshift detention facilities in areas under their control. The departure of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-dominated coalition, is liable to allow ISIS detainees to escape. It’s doubtful the Turks have any interest in supervising either these facilities or the Al-Hawl displaced persons camp, where about 70,000 civilians, including the ISIS terrorists’ relatives, are huddling.
So far, Turkey has focused on preparatory steps for a ground invasion. On Wednesday, Turkey began shelling artillery at Kurdish positions along the Syria-Turkey border, and Syria reportedly captured two border villages on Thursday. Erdogan claimed that over 100 armed Kurds were killed. meanwhile tens of thousands of civilians have fled the area.
Because Trump is sending contradictory signals (a White House statement on Wednesday termed the Turkish invasion a “bad idea”), the Turks might decide to proceed with caution. There’s a difference between taking over positions near the border, five kilometers inside Syria, and capturing a larger strip 30 kilometers deep. A more comprehensive move will trigger a mass flight of civilians and probably intensify friction with Kurdish troops.
The regime of President Bashar Assad declared victory in his country’s civil war lst year, after completing the takeover of the country’s south with massive Russian aid. The events in Syria’s northeast, and also to the west of that area in the Idlib enclave, where tens of thousands of armed rebels are entrenched, indicates that the war has not ended, even if the winner’s identity is painfully clear. The fact is that the instability in the Arab world remains. The events of the past few months show that the shock waves released a decade ago are still reverberatomg, and that the Arab regimes cannot feel safe about their rule.
More than a hundred people have been killed in Iraq this month in demonstrations focusing on governmental corruption. In Egypt, a new wave of demonstrations against the authorities began about a month ago. And in Jordan, a lengthy teachers strike ended only after King Abdullah yielded to most of the demands put forward by the demonstrators – who, the royal court fears, are in coordination with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Arab Spring is returning, under new management.

Opinion/Five Ways Trump’s Unnerving Decision on Syria Has Seriously Harmed Israel
دانيال ب. شابيرو/هآرتس/ قرار ترامب الضعيف بالتخلي عن الأكراد في سوريا قد أضر بشدة إسرائيل
من خمسة جوانب
Daniel B. Shapiro/Haaretz/October 12/2019
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Now facing the cold repercussions of Trump's isolationism and chaos, Israel is reeling. But it has few plausible ways left to lobby an unraveling president
It was probably inevitable. Even Donald Trump’s most ardent admirers in Israel understood that it was always a package deal.
Strong support for Israel’s position on issues with political resonance in the United States - Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Iran deal - was bestowed by a president with a well-documented history, in his long business and entertainment career and his short political rise, of a Me First-America First ethos and a total disregard for the concerns of others, even those in his own camp.
But that foreknowledge does not lessen the sting.
With Trump’s decision this week to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria and give a green light to a Turkish invasion of areas controlled by the Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Israel came face to face with the cold, hard reality of the damage caused by Trump's isolationist instincts, and chaotic, impulsive decision-making.
Still, no one can honestly claim to be surprised.
Policy differences between Israel and the United States on how best to support the Kurds of Syria and Iraq are not new. Both countries have seen value in building partnerships with members of this long-suffering stateless minority, many of whose leaders - although not all - have adopted moderate, pro-Western policies, and have struggled to defend themselves from oppressive regimes in Damascus and Baghdad, while assisting their brethren in Iran and Turkey.
In 2014, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went so far as to express public support for Kurdish independence in northern Iraq. It was easy to understand the Israeli view.
On a strategic level, Israel would welcome the emergence of a moderate, pro-Western Muslim state in the Middle East. On an emotional level, who can argue that the long-suffering Kurds, caught in a vice between regional powers, do not deserve a chance at self-determination?
But the United States understood that backing Kurdish independence, beyond the significant measure of autonomy they had achieved in Northern Iraq, would deeply strain relations with the central government in Baghdad, a key strategic partner.
It fell to me, as President Obama’s U.S. ambassador, to inform the Israeli government that U.S. policy could not support this call, and that Israeli expressions of support highlighted the gap between us. They were not repeated.
The story replayed itself in 2017 when Israel, nearly alone among the nations of the world, voiced its support for a Kurdish referendum for independence in Northern Iraq and the establishment of a State of Kurdistan.
But the United States, now under President Trump, again calculated its interests differently from Israel.
It opposed the referendum, and advised the Kurds against it. The vote, which went forward and was far short of a declaration of independence, caused much of the blowback from Baghdad the United States was concerned about, and left the Iraqi Kurds worse off.
The United States and Israel have learned to manage our different perspectives on this question, even as U.S. support for Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq and its partnership with Syrian Kurds in the fight against ISIS has deepened.
But Trump’s total reversal of the U.S. position in Syria is unnerving Israelis. As they calculate it, it harms Israel’s interests - and American interests, according to a bipartisan chorus of Trump’s critics - in at least five ways.
First, it abandons and weakens the United States’ Syrian Kurdish partners who have been the main ground troops in the fight against ISIS. These well-trained and committed fighters have sustained some 11,000 casualties in the four-year counter-ISIS campaign, contributing greatly to many of its successes.
Second, it hands a victory to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, while he leads a NATO ally, has increasingly acted in ways counter to U.S. interests, cozied up to Russia, supported Hamas and other Muslim Brotherhood movements, and generally acted as the regional nemesis to Israel.
Third, it strengthens the Assad regime’s attempts to reconsolidate control over Syrian territory it has lost in the civil war. This is also a victory for Russia, Assad’s patron, and ultimately for Iran, which seeks to operate and insert military forces to harm Israel in Syrian territory under Damascus’ control.
Fourth, it can facilitate the revival of ISIS. While ISIS no longer controls territory, active cells continue to operate, with the motivation and capability to attack regional and Western targets. Camps containing ISIS elements, now controlled by Kurdish fighters, could soon be overrun, abandoned, or left to unreliable Turkish control.
And finally, the decision sends a message throughout the Middle East that the United States will not stand with - indeed, will abandon - its partners and allies at key moments. While Iran is attacking tankers and Saudi oil facilities in the Gulf with no U.S. response, and threatening Israel on many fronts, this impression of U.S. disengagement has all of America’s partners feeling uneasy.
Some compare Trump’s decision with Obama’s reversal in 2013 on striking Syria following its documented use of chemical weapons against civilians. Indeed, that decision, too, was an abrupt shift from what the administration has forecast, and it led some in the region to question the United States’ willingness to use force anywhere.
But there were also differences. At the time, the alternative that emerged - a U.S.-Russian diplomatic agreement forcing Syria to remove and destroy 1,300 tons of its chemical weapons stocks - was cheered by Israelis. Some Israeli leaders even took credit for the idea.
And, while the change of direction did not come without downsides, it offered a plausible strategic trade-off: The elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons threat against Syria’s neighbors. In the wake of the agreement, Israel suspended the distribution of gas masks to its citizens, a program it has never resumed. No one has been able to articulate a similar benefit of Trump’s decision.
Others argue that the Iran nuclear deal itself undercut Israeli and regional confidence in the United States, and there is truth to that assertion. But that deal, the end of a methodical policy process, was transparently discussed with Israel and other regional allies for years. It was anything but a surprise. Rather, it was the predictable result of a well-defined policy - one the United States and Israel disagreed about, but could hardly fail to see coming.
Trump is an impulsive, erratic, tweet-from-the-hip president, who makes far-reaching strategic decisions without consulting or even informing allies. After a phone call with Erdogan last week, he abandoned a policy agreed upon with his advisers, failing to inform them and rolling over their objections.
When he tried something similar last December, two key officials - Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Special Envoy for the Counter-ISIS Campaign Brett McGurk - resigned over it. Other officials, led by then-National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, partially walked it back.
But today, there is no one left in Trump’s orbit with the spine to walk away or the mettle to talk him down.
The impeachment inquiry Trump now faces only deepens the concern. Trump's raging tweets and unhinged rantings give the impression of a man totally out of control, careening from crisis to crisis in a desperate bid for survival.
America’s allies everywhere - not just in the Middle East - notice and worry: Who and what else will he sell out as he goes into a tailspin?
With Trump on the edge, and having invested so heavily in the personal relationship with him, Israel has few plausible means to try to shape U.S. policy that it finds unhelpful to its interests.
Criticism of Trump or collaboration with alternative centers of power in the United States, such as bipartisan Congressional leaders who oppose his Syria decision (and which Israel has largely ignored for three years) could generate even sharper blowback.
In the end, a U.S. president needs to make decisions based on what is best for American interests, even when allies disagree. But the United States and its partnerships are stronger when allies understand the logic of the decisions, can make their voice heard, and have confidence that the U.S. policy process is working. None of that exists now.
*Daniel B. Shapiro is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. He served as U.S.