English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 23/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Metthew 07/01-12: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 22- 23/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

Bizri Says Pfizer Covid Vaccine ‘Safe and Effective’
Rahi Discusses Int’l Conference for Lebanon with UN Deputy Special Coordinator
Families of Students Studying Abroad Protest against Banks
Families of Port Victims Say Bitar Told Them 'All Immunities Will Fall'
Bassil behaves as de facto president, tells Hariri to form a government ‘without us’
LF MPs Hand U.N. Petition Urging Int'l Probe in Port Case
Protesters Rally at Military Court after Tripoli Detainees Charged with 'Terror'
Currency crisis leaves Lebanese cupboards bare
Wazni, Alwi Discuss Egyptian Assistance for Lebanon
Lebanon Acts after Mediterranean Oil Spill Reaches South
Franjieh Says No Need to ‘Waste Time’ Listening to Bassil’s Speech
Israeli enemy ship’ responsible for oil leak in Eastern Mediterranean: Lebanon’s PM
Lebanese associate of Carlos the jackal dies of coronavirus in Damascus hospital
Lebanese podcasters offer escape from nation’s woes while trying to make sense of them/Tarek Ali Ahmad/Arab News/February 22/2021
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 22- 23/2021

Rockets target US Embassy in Iraq, no casualties reported: Security sources
Attacks targeting US personnel in Iraq increase as Biden, Europe wait for Iran
‘Temporary solution’ announced between Iran, UN atomic agency
US seeks to ‘lengthen,’ ‘strengthen’ nuclear deal with Iran: Blinken
US will not bow down to Iran’s conditions for dialogue, EU waiting on response
UAE, Qatar officials meet in Kuwait to follow up on AlUla Declaration
Iran’s Khamenei issues fatwa saying women in cartoons must wear hijab
US’s Blinken says a two-state solution is best for future of Israel
Supreme Court sides against Trump, former US president must release tax returns
U.S. Says Will Hold Iran 'Responsible' in Iraq but Won't 'Lash Out'
Family of Americans held in Iran want any deal to free them
Israel Court Sets Next Netanyahu Hearing for April 5
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 22- 23/2021

Turkey’s president tries to mend fences with US/The Arab Weekly Editorial/February 22/2021
Biden team colluded with Iran to foil Trump diplomacy
Ben Wolfgang and Guy Taylor/The Washington Times/February 22/2021
Ending the forever war in Afghanistan/Carl Bildt/Arab News/February 22/2021
Alarming abuse of Syrian aid leaves civilians vulnerable/Chris Doyle/Arab News/February 22/2021
From Lockerbie to the downing of Flight PS752/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/February 22/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 22- 23/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

Bizri Says Pfizer Covid Vaccine ‘Safe and Effective’
Naharnet/February/2021
Head of the National Committee for the Administration of Corona Vaccine and infectious disease specialist, Dr. Abdul Rahman Bizri assured on Monday that Pfizer-BioTech corona vaccine was safe and effective, noting minor side effects reported among people who got the vaccine, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Monday. “Pfizer is safe and effective with no major symptoms reported among individuals receiving the vaccine. We did not witness severe cases that required urgent hospitalization,” said Bizri in remarks to the daily. He said less than ten individuals who got the vaccine chose to enter the hospital for observation and that they left shortly after. Bizri emphasized that symptoms remain “regular” after getting inoculated. “February is when we started the vaccination campaign, March will be the flare-up of vaccines with the arrival of more flexible vaccines to all Lebanese regions, while April is a month to reassure people of our ability to reach different segments of society,” he concluded.
 

Rahi Discusses Int’l Conference for Lebanon with UN Deputy Special Coordinator
Naharnet/February/2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi met Monday in Bkirki with UN Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Najat Rushdi, where discussions focused on the general situation in Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Monday. Rushdi indicated that her visit came in the context of the Patriarch's call for an international conference for Lebanon. She also renewed UN permanent support for Lebanon. Rahi has often criticized Lebanon’s “incompent” ruling authority and called for organizing a “U.N.-sponsored international conference on Lebanon to prevent attacks on it and prevent harm to its legitimacy and to put an end to the multiplicity of arms.”Lebanese leaders have been unable to form a much-needed government to pull Lebanon out of multiple crises gripping the country, including an unprecedented economic crisis and the impact of one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions that devastated its capital's port.

Families of Students Studying Abroad Protest against Banks
Naharnet/February/2021
Families of students studying abroad protested on Monday against “procrastination” by Lebanese banks in implementing the so-called Student Dollar law that enables them to transfer funds to their children studying abroad. In Beirut’s area of Hamra, the families blocked traffic with burning tyres at the Roma intersection. Police later succeeded in unblocking the road. In the northern city of Tripoli, the families of students blocked access to some banks and prevented employees from entering. In 2020, Lebanon’s parliament approved the Student Dollar law that obliges Lebanese banks to dispense $10,000 according to the official exchange rate (LBP 1,515 to the dollar) to every Lebanese student who enrolled in a foreign university or technical institute prior to the 2020-2021 academic year. Earlier in February, the Association of Banks in Lebanon called, in a circular, all banks for a total commitment to continuing the implementation of transfers to Lebanese students abroad who were registered in universities in 2019, according to the relevant circular of the Bank of Lebanon. In order to preserve the few available resources, it also called to make sure that students are actually enrolled in the university as well as tuition installments owed. But Lebanese banks have so far ignored application. The Lebanese currency has dropped by 80% compared to the end of 2019 amid a severe financial and economic crisis -- the worst in Lebanon's modern history.

Families of Port Victims Say Bitar Told Them 'All Immunities Will Fall'
Naharnet/February 22/2021
Relatives of Beirut port blast victims on Monday met with Judge Tarek al-Bitar, the newly-appointed lead judicial investigator into the thorny case. “Judge Bitar is focused on the issue of the investigation and he will spare no effort in this regard, even in weekends,” a spokesman for the families said.
“He reassured us that all immunities will fall in the face of the transparent investigation,” the spokesman added. Noting that “some of the victims’ families prefer to seek an international probe,” the spokesman said “these families have the right to reach the soothing truth in the issue of their sons’ martyrdom in the way they find appropriate, whether through a local or an international investigation.”Bitar was named as the new lead judge on Friday, a day after his predecessor was removed from the case. He has become the second judge to look into the explosion of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on August 4 that killed 211 people, injured more than 6,000 and ravaged swathes of the capital. Bitar steps into the position after a court on Thursday removed Judge Fadi Sawwan from the case, following a complaint from two former ministers charged with negligence over the explosion. Lawyer and activist Nizar Saghieh tentatively welcomed Bitar's appointment, and said he had a good reputation as being competent. But after Sawan's removal, he wondered whether the new judge would be able to conduct his work "without interference or pressure." "Will he be able to cross the red lines?" he asked. The probe into Lebanon's worst peace-time disaster has led to the detention of 25 people, from maintenance workers to the port's customs director, but not a single politician.
 

Bassil behaves as de facto president, tells Hariri to form a government ‘without us’
The Arab Weekly/February 22/2021
BEIRUT - Lebanese president’s son-in-law, Gebran Bassil hardly tried in his Sunday speech to facilitate the task of Saad Hariri in forming a cabinet, Lebanese analysts said. The analysts pointed out that despite trying to give the impression that the Free Patriotic Movement is taking a positive stance on the matter by not objecting to the formation of the new government, Bassil wanted above anything else to present himself as the de facto president of the republic. The analysts expressed their belief the campaign waged by Bassil against Saad Hariri is personal in nature and is aimed at obstructing the formation of the government. They said they could not miss Bassil’s mention that Hariri could form a government “but without us.” Bassil added, “We believed that the October 17, 2019 crisis would push then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri to assume his responsibility (in coordination) with his constitutional partner, the president of the republic, not to turn against the latter and stab him in the back, then resign without telling him.”
He exclaimed, “They want us to participate in the government against our will and under unacceptable conditions and without a blocking provision. We are not interested in participating”. Bassil went on to say, “We want a government headed by Hariri, despite our conviction that he is not able to be an icon for reform.” He stressed, “There are those who want to make sure more time is wasted during the presidential term without a government being formed, even if the country collapses”. Bu did not blame any party specifically.
Michel Aoun’s presidential term will finish at the end of 2022, as he was elected in October 2016 for a six-year term. The head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) summed up the reasons for the delay in the formation of the government, as being “the violation of the agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron as well as the breaches of principles, rules, the constitution and the charter,” without elaborating. After the Beirut port blast of August 4, which resulted in scores of casualties, Macron announced a French initiative to form a government of specialists and carry out administrative and banking reforms. On October 22, President Aoun tasked Prime Minister-designate Hariri with forming a government, after his predecessor, Mustafa Adeeb, failed to do so in the wake of Hassan Diab’s resignation.After the expiration of a period of two months after his appointment, Hariri announced that he presented Aoun with a “cabinet consisting of 18 ministers who are non-partisan specialists”.
But Aoun later announced his objection to what he called at the time “Hariri’s monopoly of the task of naming ministers, especially Christians, without the agreement of the presidency.”. Bassil seems to be seeking to confirm that he is exercising the role of a de facto president by endevouring these days to transfer a working team from the FPM to the Baabda palace in a clear attempt to leave no political margin for the president. In his speech, he was keen to praise Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as “the protector of Christians” in Lebanon and to laud Hezbollah and its practices in Lebanon. Bassil has toed the line drawn by Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, who called in his last speech for the number of cabinet members to exceed 18, in order to secure a blocking third for him within the government. Future Movement MP Mohammad al-Hajjar said, “There is a party that seeks to obtain the blocking third, and this party is unable to understand that this government is made up of specialists only.” The “obstructing third” means that a political faction obtains a third of the number of ministerial portfolios, which allows it to control government decisions and block its meetings. Political writer Tony Paul said that the problem appears from the outside to be a struggle about quotas, but the essence of the matter is Hezbollah. He added, “Hezbollah is in no hurry to form a government, especially if it is unable to secure a government as it wishes.” A source close to President Aoun confirmed that “the way things are heading, the formation of the government will be put on hold for now.”
 

LF MPs Hand U.N. Petition Urging Int'l Probe in Port Case
Naharnet/February 22/2021
A Lebanese Forces parliamentary delegation on Monday handed U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi a petition demanding an international fact-finding mission into the disastrous Aug. 4 blast at Beirut port. The petition is signed by the LF’s 15 lawmakers and addressed to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The moves comes due to “people’s lack of trust in the local investigation and in its ability to unveil the truth,” the LF said in a statement, citing “the current obstacles” that the probe is facing. “Truth, justice and compensations are three objectives that the entire Lebanese people will not rest before achieving them,” MP George Okais said at a press conference that followed the meeting with the U.N. official. Noting that Lebanese state institutions are nearing “a state of complete disintegration,” seeing as “the government is yet to be formed, the judiciary is not independent and parliament is missing several members,” Okais said the LF could not “stand idly by towards the plight of the victims’ families.” He added that should it be formed, the U.N. panel of inquiry would “collect facts and evidence and put them at the disposal of both the U.N. general secretariat and the Lebanese judiciary.”“We sensed from the U.N. representative full appreciation for (the petition’s) content… and she repeated to us the U.N.’s demand of a neutral, independent, transparent and quick probe that would lead the families of the victims to the truth,” Okais added.

Protesters Rally at Military Court after Tripoli Detainees Charged with 'Terror'
Naharnet/February 22/2021
Anti-government protesters on Monday rallied outside the Military Court in Beirut and blocked the road in both directions, demanding the release of detainees held over the recent violent protests in Tripoli. In a speech at the site, the protesters rejected military trials for “those who rebelled against authorities’ corruption, the difficult living situations and the current collapse,” demanding the immediate release of the detainees. Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile reported that State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki has charged 35 Tripoli suspects with “terror.”“Some of them are detained and some had been released,” it added. The recent demos in Tripoli erupted over dire economic conditions aggravated by a strict Covid-19 lockdown. The protests quickly turned violent and involved the torching of the city’s municipal building and attacks on the main government building, known as the Serail, which according to security forces involved the use of several military-grade hand grenades.

Currency crisis leaves Lebanese cupboards bare

FT/February 22/2021
Hunger threatens to reignite unrest as dollar peg slips and inflation soars in heavily import-dependent country
The street café in Lebanon’s impoverished second city Tripoli was never going to make Sameer Himaydan and his family millionaires. But today, with his sales netting daily profits of not much more than $2, it barely keeps them alive. 
“I have to sell 70-80 cups of coffee to make 20,000 Lebanese pounds,” said the 55-year-old. That would have been worth roughly $13 two years ago, but today it amounts to $2.20 at black market rates. The sum “isn’t enough to cover my kids’ and my breakfast”, he said, adding that as well as his two sons, he also needed to support his parents and sister. 
Lebanon’s financial crisis of more than a year, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, has left the economy ravaged by hyperinflation, job losses and soaring poverty. A quarter of full-time private-sector jobs were lost between 2019 and 2020 and gross domestic product fell by nearly a fifth in 2020.
Meanwhile, a banking crisis has led to savers being locked out of accounts held in US dollars, and the catastrophic blast at Beirut’s port last August worsened the economic problems and led to the resignation of the government.
But in the country’s poorest neighbourhoods, the issue hurting the most is the so-called “dollar crisis” — the rapid disintegration of the Lebanese currency’s 24-year peg to the greenback.
Sameer Himaydan, who runs a café in Lebanon’s second city Tripoli. The Lebanese currency’s steep decline has left him with profits of not much more than $2 a day to support his family © Chloe Cornish/FT
The pound has been pegged at roughly 1,500 to the dollar since 1997. The central bank fiercely defended the peg to preserve Lebanese purchasing power and keep the price of imports down in a country that depends heavily on goods brought in from abroad, including 80 per cent of its food. But as banks’ dollar liquidity started to dry up in mid-2019, the peg began to slip. While the official rate remains, nobody but a few essential importers can get it, and last week, dollars were being sold on the black market for up to L£9,500.
Inflation is now rocketing: between December 2019 and the same month in 2020, average prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 402 per cent, according to the Central Administration of Statistics. 
The country’s leaders failed to agree the terms of a much-needed IMF bailout before the government resigned in August, and with only a caretaker administration in place, talks are on hold. The World Bank estimates that more than a fifth of the population now lives in extreme poverty.
Many worry hunger will reignite unrest in the country, where last year’s mass anti-government protests were extinguished by the pandemic.
In Tripoli, “this marginalisation that has been nurtured for decades, it’s going to boom very soon”, said Sarah Al Charif, a Tripoli social activist. Tensions have already begun to re-emerge: rioters torched Tripoli’s town hall during protests against Covid-19 restrictions last month. 
In the face of the de facto currency devaluation, the central bank has protected the price of basic foods.
But imported products must be paid for with black market dollars. Meat prices have risen roughly threefold since 2019, said Muhammad Ali, a butcher in Beirut’s underprivileged Tariq el-Jedideh neighbourhood. “All meat is imported,” he said, gesturing to a chunk of beef hanging from a hook: “This is from Brazil.” “The government should figure out the dollar issue because it’s the main reason behind the crisis,” said Ali. “Before it cost L£50,000 to support a family, now you need at least L£150,000 on a daily basis.” With profits evaporating, Ali said, he has let four employees go and now works alone.
Beirut butcher Muhammad Ali with a sign in his shop reading ‘debt forbidden’. Meat prices have risen roughly threefold since 2019, he says © Chloe Cornish/FT
Central bank governor Riad Salame has repeatedly warned that hard currency reserves are low and that the bank will have to end subsidies. Prices have already started to rise — the government this month increased the cost of a standard pack of flatbread by 40 per cent to L£1,750.
Flatbread is the most substantial offering in Himaydan’s bare fridge in the one-room home he shares with his sons. Otherwise it contains only a few Lebanese products — potatoes, eggs, olives and half a plate of yoghurt — and some imported lentils. Coastal Tripoli is famed for seafood but Himaydan has not tasted fish since last spring during Ramadan. Even so, he is in debt to a grocery store.
“I'm worried about my young one,” said Himaydan of his 10-year-old son Yehia. Himaydan, who dropped out of school before he was Yehia’s age, said he could not afford the boy’s schoolbooks. His other son Ihab, 19, is unemployed.
Lack of work has already cost Himaydan one son. Rebels opposing the Syrian regime promised the 21-year-old $500 a month if he fought with them. Himaydan opened his phone to show the young man’s photo. He “died in Syria because there are no jobs here”, Himaydan said, kissing the phone’s screen.
From his home on the roof of a rundown 10-storey building, he gazes at a nearby hill. It is topped with what looks like a castle — a local politician’s sprawling property.
“He built a mansion for himself on the top of the hill, while here we don't have money for a piece of bread,” he said. “Lebanon should be a heaven. But because of how many politicians and deputies we have . . . our people are poor.”
*Additional reporting by Asmaa al-Omar in Istanbul

Wazni, Alwi Discuss Egyptian Assistance for Lebanon
Naharnet/February 22/2021
Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni met with Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Yasser Alwi on Monday, where discussions focused on the relations between the two countries and the Egyptian assistance for Lebanon , media reports said. The two men discussed the means to bolster ties between Lebanon and Egypt, said media reports. They also discussed Egypt's medical support for Lebanon to counter the threat of coronavirus, and the aid sent to Lebanon in the aftermath of the August 4, Beirut port explosion. In January, Egypt sent 31 tons of medical aid to the health sector in Lebanon amid pandemic crisis.
 

Lebanon Acts after Mediterranean Oil Spill Reaches South
Associated Press/February 22/2021
A disastrous oil spill that has blackened most of Israel's shoreline has apparently affected Lebanon and deposits of tar have started washing up in the Lebanese south. The management of the city of Tyre's coastal nature reserve, one of Lebanon's last remaining sandy beaches and an important nesting site for endangered Loggerhead and Green sea turtles, said the spill could endanger marine life and biodiversity in the area. The reserve is one of two marine protected areas in Lebanon and contains a wide diversity of ecosystems and is located on a major bird migration route. Hassan Hamza, engineer at the Tyre reserve, said teams were evaluating how much tar washed up to organize quick clean ups. He said it appeared that "most Lebanese beaches have been affected by this pollution."Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab has meanwhile asked the defense and environment ministers to follow up and said the government was "acting accordingly to repair the damage caused by the leakage." In Israel, thousands of volunteers, soldiers and park rangers have taken up the task of extracting millions of tiny globs of sticky black tar that have coated the Israeli shoreline in recent days after an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea. The cleanup is expected to take months. Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry is investigating the cause of the oil spill, believed to have taken place between Feb. 6-10. On Monday, the ministry released a court-issued gag order on all details of the investigation into the party responsible. The Nature and Parks Authority has called it one of Israel's "worst ecological disasters" to date. The ministry said it received no prior warning from any international organizations about the spill. On Sunday, the ministry urged Israelis to stay away from the beaches, citing serious health hazards posed by the tar. It has caused extensive damage to wildlife.

Franjieh Says No Need to ‘Waste Time’ Listening to Bassil’s Speech
Naharnet /February 22/2021
Head of the Marada Movement ex-MP Sleiman Franjieh reportedly said he did not want to “waste his time” listening to a televised speech made by his Christian rival head of the Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil. “I did not hear him, nor do I wish to...no need to waste my time,” said Franjieh in remarks to al-Mustaqbal Web during a press conference on Sunday. Bassil made a lengthy televised speech on Sunday where he lashed out anew at PM-designate Saad Hariri and accused him of following double standards in the cabinet formation process. Bassil denied that the FPM and President Michel Aoun are seeking a one-third-plus-one share in the new government. Earlier, Marada Movement sources told MTV television that “Bassil's speech is definitely obstructing the government formation.”
 

Israeli enemy ship’ responsible for oil leak in Eastern Mediterranean: Lebanon’s PM
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/February ,2021
Lebanon and Israel face the strongest marine ecological disaster since the 2006 war oil spill after a recent oil leak that officials in Lebanon said has originated from “a ship of the Israeli enemy” and has now reached the southern shores of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s office said he has been following up on the oil spill issue. Diab has assigned the Ministers of Defense and Environment in the caretaker government, along with the National Council for Scientific Research, to follow up on the matter in terms of informing the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces for them to conduct an official report, as well as in dealing with the leakage and its damages. The Director of Programs at Lebanon-based Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa Julian Jreissati commented on the issue of the oil spill, with a statement calling on the Ministry of Environment to “take immediate measures to assess the magnitude of the risk of this spill by setting up an urgent survey and monitoring program.” “The authorities must develop a quick plan to reduce the impacts on the environment and public health, and based on the results of the assessment, the authorities should provide safety instructions to the Lebanese people, especially concerning fishing and swimming activities,” Jreissati added. Jreissati added that this incident adds to a long list of oil spills that threaten the rich marine biodiversity and affect the eastern Mediterranean region’s inhabitants. “It is a manifestation of the destruction of nature resulting from the addiction of the global systems to fossil fuels,” he added. The last oil spill in the region of such a scope happened during the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel after the Jiyeh Power Station in Lebanon was bombed by Israel. The bombing resulted in the largest oil spill in the Mediterranean, caused by the release of heavy fuel oil into the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. The plant’s damaged tanks leaked up to 30,000 tons of oil, a 10-kilometer-wide oil slick covered 170 kilometer of coastline in Lebanon and has reached both Turkey and Cyprus. That incident threatened the habitat of endangered green sea turtles.
In 2014, The UN General Assembly approved a resolution requesting Israel to pay Lebanon over $850 million in damages for the oil. The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the nonbinding resolution, with three abstentions. Israel, the US, Canada, Australia, Micronesia, and Marshall Islands were the only countries to vote with a “No”.

Lebanese associate of Carlos the jackal dies of coronavirus in Damascus hospital
AFP/22 February/2021
Lebanese militant Anis Naccache, an accomplice of the notorious Carlos the Jackal, died Monday of coronavirus in a Damascus hospital at the age of 70, Syrian state media said. Naccache took part in the 1975 OPEC conference hostage-taking in Vienna. Hailing him as a “thinker and freedom fighter,” the official SANA news agency said he was “admitted into intensive care two days ago... because his health deteriorated as a result of COVID-19.” Authorities will repatriate his remains for burial in Lebanon, said the pro-Damascus Al-Mayadeen television channel. Naccache was jailed in France for leading an attempted assassination of Iran’s former prime minister Shahpur Bakhtiar in Paris in 1980. A five-man hit squad led by Naccache killed two people in the attack on Bakhtiar’s home in the western suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. They were all jailed for life, but former president Francois Mitterrand pardoned them in 1990.
Naccache is known as the Lebanese accomplice of Carlos the Jackal, born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, a Venezuelan who is serving a life sentence in France. Carlos the Jackal shot to the front pages in 1975 when he headed the six-person commando team that held captive 70 representatives of OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), including 11 government ministers, after a shoot-out that left three people dead.  Naccache was the second in command. In recent years, Naccache, a vocal supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, regularly appeared as a commentator on pro-Iranian media platforms such as Al-Mayadeen and Al-Manar, a Lebanese television channel operated by the Shia Hezbollah movement. He also “played until the mid-1990s an important coordination role between the leadership of the Palestinian resistance and that of the Islamic revolution in Iran,” SANA said.

Lebanese podcasters offer escape from nation’s woes while trying to make sense of them
Tarek Ali Ahmad/Arab News/February 22/2021
*The ‘Sarde After Dinner’ podcast has built a following by tackling important, but often taboo, topics with the help of experts and international guests
*Notable interviewees include blogger-activist Gino Riady, economist Karim Daher, Emirati talk-show host Anas Bukhash and Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef
LONDON: The black-market exchange rate of the Lebanese lira against the dollar shot up to an unprecedented 9,500 this week as the country slowly began to re-open after a month and a half of a strict national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has yet to form a government after four months of trying, and the Lebanese people are still reeling from the devastating explosion at Beirut Port more than six months ago, the investigation into which has been marred by corruption allegations and delays.
It is no surprise, then, that Lebanese citizens around the world welcome any respite, however brief, from the current grim state of affairs in their home country. This is where Mouin Jaber and Medea Azouri come in, with their “Sarde After Dinner” podcast.
Born from a mix of common interests and passions forged during the protests that began in Lebanon in October 2019, the podcast aims to tackle the important, but often taboo, topics that are on the minds of many Lebanese people, and offer deeper insights from experts into issues that have long plagued the country.“We decided to do the podcast because there were a lot of things Medea and I were thinking of and talking about, and we noticed no one was talking about them,” Jaber told Arab News. “We noticed that we all have the same outlook but not many speak openly about these topics, such as suicide, sex, prisons and so on.
“There was a big void that wasn’t being filled because of this cognitive dissonance that the media feeds off of, which is hyperbolic statements and big, loud people to hold viewers. There were a lot of things that were left unsaid and we felt that it could all start with a conversation.”
Recorded in the dining room of Azouri’s apartment in Beirut, the weekly podcast, which releases new episodes every Sunday night, quickly started to build a following in part thanks to its notable local and international guests, including blogger-activist Gino Riady, renowned economist Karim Daher, Emirati talk-show host Anas Bukhash and Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef.
The show takes its name from a Lebanese slang term which perhaps best translates in English as “hanging out.” This is reflected by the informal mood of the conversation as well as the welcoming atmosphere, something both hosts said is crucial to the flow of the discussion.
“It’s the time when you finish dinner and you stay at the table and you start talking with people about subjects, and sometimes you don’t speak because you want to listen to the other person,” said Azouri, who is also a columnist for French-language Lebanese daily newspaper L’Orient Le Jour.
Jaber added: “Conversations are more free flowing; you let your guard down after dinner. When you break bread with someone you are at your most vulnerable, so the flow of the conversation isn’t obstructed by this kind of posturing … you let go and the conversation is very honest.”
Azouri said it is often the case that guests come onto the show and are allowed to speak without interruption or input from the hosts because of the significance and weight of what they are saying. She compared it to a “masterclass.”
“Besides politics and Lebanon and the situation right now, we decided to break some taboos,” Azouri said. “We talk about sexuality, but we’re the only media in the Arab world that hosted (former adult-movie star) Mia Khalifa at the time where she was helping Lebanon.
“Also (when political activist and social-justice advocate) Ali Baroudy (appeared, the episode) was not about the political situation but his experience (as a prisoner) in Roumieh prison for five years.”
Guests such as these reflect an important aspect of the show which is, the hosts explain, that they want to talk to people that can help them to learn and understand.
“The only people that we get on ‘Sarde’ are people we are actually interested in, who we want to ask questions and pick their brains,” said Jaber. “And it’s not a dry question-and-answer dynamic because we feel also that we have a say, and we ask the questions and don’t pretend that we know (the answers).”
“When we discover things, the viewers discover them with us,” Medea added. Given the media landscape in Lebanon, where TV networks and newspapers are aligned with political parties, “Sarde After Dinner” is one of a number of alternative news sources that many people turned to after the protests in the country began. “We want to reconcile the differences that many people have that were unspoken by many people, and show that it is easy,” said Jaber, who is studying international business law online at the Sorbonne-Assas International Law School.
“And to just make the point that traditional media outlets are never going to give us the full story — it’s always subject to extremely politicized narratives or subject to the highest bidder.”
In addition to fans in Lebanon, Lebanese expatriates in 115 countries listen to the podcast, the majority of whom are in the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia. “The majority of the messages that we receive from abroad are very touching,” Azouri said. “They are from expats who tell us that we are their link with Lebanon, because there are a lot of people who don’t have (access to) LBC and MTV abroad. We are available free on the internet and social media.”
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 22- 23/2021

 Rockets target US Embassy in Iraq, no casualties reported: Security sources
AFP/February 22/2021
A volley of rockets on Monday targeted the high-security zone in the Iraqi capital that is home to the US embassy, the military and security sources said. The attack is the third in a week to target Western diplomatic, military or commercial installations across Iraq after months of relative calm.
At least two rockets hit within the perimeter of the Green Zone, where the American and other foreign embassies are based, according to a statement by Iraq’s security services. A security source told AFP at least one rocket hit the headquarters of Iraq’s National Security Service near the US diplomatic mission. Others crashed into nearby residential districts, including a multi-story parking complex in the neighborhood of Harithiya, a witness told AFP. The Iraqi security services later announced that they found the rockets' launchpads, which were fired from Baghdad’s Al Salam street.

Attacks targeting US personnel in Iraq increase as Biden, Europe wait for Iran
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/22 February/2021
Rocket attacks on Baghdad’s Green Zone are not an unusual development with the highly-secured compound housing the US Embassy and other Western embassies. The Green Zone is a prime target for Iran-backed militias and other terrorist groups. But over the last seven days, three separate rocket attacks have struck in and around bases and compounds that have US troops or contractors stationed inside.
Erbil attack
On Feb. 15, at least 14 rockets struck near Iraq’s Erbil Airport in the country's Kurdistan region. A civilian contractor, who was not a US citizen, was killed, and several others were injured. It was one of the most significant strikes on US-led coalition forces in the last year, and the worst strike since US President Joe Biden took office. A pro-Iran Shia group claimed the attack, while Tehran denied any links to the strike.
Al Balad Airbase
Five days later, Iraq’s military reported that four rockets hit the country’s Al Balad Airbase. US companies operate inside the airbase, but there were conflicting reports over injuries. At least one civilian contractor was reported to have been injured.
US Embassy targeted
On Monday, a barrage of rockets was fired at Baghdad’s Green Zone with AFP saying that the US Embassy was targeted. It was not hit, and US officials referred journalists to the Iraqi military statement. The embassy was not hit, Iraq’s security services said.
No casualties or injuries have been reported.
At least three rockets target the #US Embassy in #Iraq, with one falling within the perimeter of the Green Zone and others landing in surrounding residential neighborhoods, security sources say. Although Iran has not and does not usually claim responsibility for attacks, US officials have voiced their belief that pro-Tehran groups were behind them. But the attacks have not stopped the US president from softening Washington’s stances on Iran. Since becoming president, Biden has revoked the terrorist designation of Iran-backed groups and halted arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Additionally, the Biden administration revoked snapback sanctions claimed by the Trump administration against Iran and revoked travel restrictions on senior Iranian diplomats at the United Nations. Furthermore, the Biden administration voiced its readiness to sit down with Iran to discuss the now-defunct nuclear treaty that was engineered and signed in 2015 when Biden was vice president to Barack Obama. On Monday, the State Department did not respond to whether Iran’s response to what some have dubbed as US concessions was productive. State Department Ned Price tiptoed around the topic while reiterating and repeatedly stating the US willingness to sit down with Iran “in the context of the P5+1 (Permanent UN Security Council members).” As for the recent attacks in Iraq, Price said the US was “outraged” and would respond at a “time and place of our choosing.”He added that weapons were Iranian-made and provided by Iran “in the attack I referred to.” When asked about which attack, Price backtracked and said he was implying attacks in general.

‘Temporary solution’ announced between Iran, UN atomic agency
The Arab Weekly Editorial/February 22/2021
VIENNA--The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Sunday that a three-month “temporary solution” had been found to allow the agency’s monitoring in Iran to continue, although its level of access will be limited from Tuesday. “What we agreed is something that is viable — it is useful to bridge this gap that we are having now, it salvages the situation now,” Rafael Grossi, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters after flying back from talks in Tehran. Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament passed a law in December demanding the country suspend some inspections if the US failed to lift sanctions. The law is due to go into effect on Tuesday. “This law exists, this law is going to be applied, which means that the Additional Protocol, much to my regret, is going to be suspended,” Grossi said, referring to one of the agreements between Iran and the IAEA under which inspections take place. “There is less access, let’s face it. But still we were able to retain the necessary degree of monitoring and verification work,” he said, describing the new arrangement as “a temporary technical understanding”.
Scant details
Grossi did not give details of precisely which activities the IAEA would no longer be able to do but confirmed that the number of inspectors in Iran would not be reduced and that snap inspections could continue under the temporary arrangement. He said the number of inspectors on the ground would remain the same but that “what changes is the type of activity” the agency was able to carry out, without elaborating further. He stressed monitoring would continue “in a satisfactory manner.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who under President Hassan Rouhani helped reach the atomic accord, said the IAEA would be prevented from accessing footage from their cameras at nuclear sites. That came during a state TV interview Sunday even before his meeting with Grossi. The new “understanding” will be kept under constant review and can be suspended at any time. Grossi’s visit to Tehran came amid stepped-up efforts between US President Joe Biden’s administration, European powers and Iran to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal that has been on the brink of collapse since Donald Trump withdrew from it. Grossi described Sunday’s agreement as “a good result… a reasonable result” following “very, very intensive consultations” with Iranian officials. He was speaking after two days of meetings in the Iranian capital during which he met Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi.
Grossi said his hope in going to Tehran was “to stabilise a situation which was very unstable”. “I think this technical understanding does it so that other political discussions at other levels can take place, and most importantly we can avoid a situation in which we would have been, in practical terms, flying blind,” he added.
Ongoing talks?
From Washington, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden remained willing to negotiate with Iran over a return to the nuclear deal, an offer earlier dismissed by Zarif. “He is prepared to go to the table to talk to the Iranians about how we get strict constraints back on their nuclear program,” Sullivan told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “That offer still stands, because we believe diplomacy is the best way to do it.” On US citizens being held by Iran, Sullivan added: “We have begun to communicate with the Iranians on this issue.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state TV late Sunday night responding to Sullivan that “there are no direct talks between Iran and the US in any field.” However, Khatibzadeh said the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which has looked out for American interests in the decades since the 1979 hostage crisis, has passed messages between the countries on prisoner issues since Biden took office.
 

US seeks to ‘lengthen,’ ‘strengthen’ nuclear deal with Iran: Blinken
Reuters, Geneva/ 22 February/2021
The United States will seek to strengthen and extend the agreement between world powers and Iran aimed at curbing its nuclear program, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. The UN nuclear watchdog said on Sunday it had struck a deal with Iran to cushion the blow of steps Tehran plans to take this week that include ending snap inspections, with both sides agreeing to keep “necessary” monitoring for up to three months. The announcement by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi, made at Vienna airport after a weekend trip to Iran, confirmed that Tehran would go ahead with its plan to slash cooperation with the agency on Tuesday. Blinken, addressing the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, said in a pre-recorded speech: “The United States remains committed to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy is the best path to achieve that goal.” President Joe Biden has said that if Iran comes back into “strict compliance” with the 2015 pact, his administration will do the same, Blinken said. “Working with allies and partners, we will also seek to lengthen and strengthen the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and address other areas of concern, including Iran’s destabilizing regional behavior and ballistic missile development and proliferation,” Blinken said. “Iran must comply with its safeguards agreements with the IAEA and its international obligations,” he added.

US will not bow down to Iran’s conditions for dialogue, EU waiting on response
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/22 February/2021
The White House said Monday that the United States would not bow down to Iran’s conditions for dialogue on a new nuclear treaty. US President Joe Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that the US had clarified before and it was unyielding in its stance the sanctions would not be lifted before dialogue with Tehran. “We will discuss with Congress future steps on Iran,” Psaki told reporters. But Psaki was quick to play down Monday’s comments by Iran’s supreme leader that it was capable of enriching uranium to 60 percent. As for the European Union’s offer to host US-Iran talks, Psaki said the EU was still waiting for a response. “What we're willing to do is sit at a table and have a diplomatic conversation, because we are looking to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and we believe diplomacy is the best way to do that,” Psaki said. Since becoming US president, Joe Biden has said that Iran must first come back into full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The US would then do the same, Biden has said. However, on Monday, Iran announced that it would no longer comply with additional protocol with the UN nuclear watchdog. Iran’s supreme leader also claimed that Iran could reach 60 percent uranium enrichment if it wanted. In response, State Department Spokesman Ned Price played down Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments and urged Iran to return to compliance with the JCPOA.
While Price expressed Washington’s concern over Iran’s decision to stop the additional protocol, he reiterated calls for Iran to talk to the US. “There is now a proposition on the table,” Price said. “We certainly hope the Iranians will be willing to be there.”

UAE, Qatar officials meet in Kuwait to follow up on AlUla Declaration
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/22 February 2021
Official delegations from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar held a meeting in Kuwait on Monday to follow up on the developments of the AlUla Declaration, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported. The officials discussed joint mechanisms and procedures to implement the AlUla Declaration and stressed the importance of preserving Gulf unity, according to WAM. They also discussed developing joint action in the interest of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and their citizens, and achieving stability and prosperity in the region. The AlUla Declaration signed at the conclusion of the GCC Summit marked a definitive end to the Gulf dispute with Qatar and restored full ties with Doha. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade links with Doha in 2017.

Iran’s Khamenei issues fatwa saying women in cartoons must wear hijab
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/22 February/2021
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently issued a new fatwa declaring that women in cartoons and animated films must wear the hijab, according to a recent report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “Is observing hijab necessary for characters in animated films (three-dimensional paintings that come from the artist’s mind)?” Khamenei was asked by an enquirer on a Telegram channel, according to a translation of the question by the IranWire news website. “Although wearing hijab in such a hypothetical situation is not required per se, observing hijab in animation is required due to the consequences of not wearing hijab,” IranWire quoted Khamenei as saying in his reply. Wearing a headscarf and covering all parts of the body was made mandatory for women in Iran soon after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Women who leave part of their hair uncovered in public are regularly targeted by Iran’s morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad. Hijab in Iran: A cultural product or ideological coercion? In recent years, women in Iran have been harassed both by the police and men on the street for “improperly” wearing the hijab. Last October, a young woman was arrested in central Iran for “insulting the Islamic hijab” after a video appeared to show her cycling without a veil, according to the official IRNA news agency. In March of last year, a video showing a man attacking a woman in Iran went viral and sparked outrage on social media. The woman was attacked for being a “bad hijab,” according to some social media users.

US’s Blinken says a two-state solution is best for future of Israel
Reuters/23 February/2021
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Israeli counterpart on Monday that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was best for the future of Israel, the US State Department said. Blinken, in a call with Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, “emphasized the Biden administration’s belief that the two-state solution is the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace alongside a viable and democratic Palestinian state,” the State Department said.

Supreme Court sides against Trump, former US president must release tax returns
Reuters/February 22/2021
Donald Trump suffered a major setback on Monday in his long quest to conceal details of his finances as the US Supreme Court paved the way for a New York City prosecutor to obtain the former president’s tax returns and other financial records as part of a criminal investigation.
The justices without comment rebuffed Trump’s request to put on hold an Oct. 7 lower court ruling directing the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, to comply with a subpoena to turn over the materials to a grand jury convened by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a Democrat. “The work continues,” Vance said in a statement issued after the court’s action. Vance had previously said in a letter to Trump’s lawyers that his office would be free to immediately enforce the subpoena if the justices rejected Trump’s request. A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority included three Trump appointees, had already ruled once in the dispute, last July rejecting Trump’s broad argument that he was immune from criminal probes as a sitting president. Unlike all other recent US presidents, Trump refused during his four years in office to make his tax returns public. The data could provide details on his wealth and the activities of his family real-estate company, the Trump Organization. Trump, who left office on Jan. 20 after being defeated in his Nov. 3 re-election bid by Democrat Joe Biden, continues to face an array of legal issues concerning his personal and business conduct. Vance issued a subpoena to Mazars in August 2019 seeking Trump’s corporate and personal tax returns from 2011 to 2018. Trump’s lawyers sued to block the subpoena, arguing that as a sitting president, Trump had absolute immunity from state criminal investigations. The Supreme Court in its July ruling rejected those arguments but said Trump could raise other objections to the subpoena. Trump’s lawyers then argued before lower courts that the subpoena was overly broad and amounted to political harassment, but US District Judge Victor Marrero in August and the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in October rejected those claims. Vance’s investigation, which began more than two years ago, had focused on hush money payments that the then-president’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made before the 2016 election to two women - adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal - who said they had sexual encounters with Trump. “The Supreme Court has now proclaimed that no one is above the law. Trump will, for the first time, have to take responsibility for his own dirty deeds,” Cohen said in a statement issued after the Supreme Court announced its action. The court on Monday separately turned away Daniels’ bid to revive her own defamation lawsuit against Trump. In recent court filings, Vance has suggested that the probe is now broader and could focus on potential bank, tax and insurance fraud, as well as falsification of business records. In separate litigation, the Democratic-led US House of Representatives was seeking to enforce subpoenas on similar records. The Supreme Court in July sent that matter back to lower courts for further review.

U.S. Says Will Hold Iran 'Responsible' in Iraq but Won't 'Lash Out'
Agence France Presse/February 22/2021
The United States said Monday it would hold Iran to account for its Iraqi allies after rocket fire hit the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, but insisted it would not be drawn into an escalation. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was "outraged" by recent attacks in Iraq and said, "We will hold Iran responsible for the actions of its proxies that attack Americans.""What we will not do is lash out and risk an escalation that plays into the hands of Iran and contributes to their attempts to further destabilize Iraq," Price told reporters.

Family of Americans held in Iran want any deal to free them
The Associated Press/23 February
The family of a father and son detained for years in Iran appealed Monday to President Joe Biden to make the freeing of Iranian American detainees a condition of any deals or concessions with that country. “It is beyond outrageous for Iran to continue playing with my father’s life,” said Babak Namazi, whose 84-year-old father, Baquer Namazi, is marking his fifth year under Iranian control. The Biden administration and Iranian officials have signaled to each other in recent months that they want to reenter a 2015 nuclear pact, in which Iran accepts limits on its nuclear program in exchange for easing of international sanctions. The Obama administration entered the deal, only to have the Trump administration pull out in favor of what the US called a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran instead. Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF representative, was detained in 2016 when he traveled to Tehran to try to win the release of his son Siamak Namazi, a businessman detained in Iran a year earlier. The two Namazi men were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran on what the US and United Nations says were trumped-up spying charges. Foreign governments and rights groups say Iran routinely detains foreign citizens to put pressure on foreign governments for various concessions. The Obama administration closed the nuclear deal without making the freeing of American citizens in Iran a prerequisite. The Trump administration then failed to push for the release of the Namazi father and son as hard as it did other Americans held by Iran, Babak Namazi said. Family members and supporters of the two men said they welcomed statements by the Biden administration so far, including a telephone call that Secretary of State Antony Blinken made to families of detained American citizens. Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, called Iran’s continued detention of American citizens a “humanitarian catastrophe” on a news show this Sunday. “We will not accept a long-term proposition where they continue to hold Americans in an unjust and unlawful manner,” Sullivan told CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”At least four dual-citizenship Americans are believed held by Iran. “My family expects that President Biden and his administration will not make concessions or deals with Iran” absent a requirement that Iran free the father and son, Babak Namazi told reporters. The State Department had no immediate comment on the family’s request.
The family also disclosed that Iran had commuted the sentence of the elder Namazi last year and said officials indicated then that he was free to leave the country. The 84-year-old found that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had unexpectedly placed a new block on his travel out of Iran, however, Babak Namazi said. Baquer Namazi has urgent medical conditions that need treatment, including a vein to his brain that is almost entirely blocked and requires a stent, his son said.

Israel Court Sets Next Netanyahu Hearing for April 5
Agence France Presse/February 22/2021
An Israeli court said Monday it would start hearing witnesses in the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 5. Netanyahu, the first Israeli premier to be indicted in office, was formally charged last year over allegations of accepting improper gifts and seeking to trade regulatory favor with media moguls in exchange for positive coverage. Israel will hold a general election, its fourth in less than two years, on March 23.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 22- 23/2021
Turkey’s president tries to mend fences with US
The Arab Weekly Editorial/February 22/2021
ISTANBUL--After accusing Washington of supporting Kurdish militants, Turkey’s president is trying to mend fences with President Joe Biden’s new US administration. In a video message late Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that Turkish-American relations were “seriously tested” but stressed that their strategic partnership has “overcome all kinds of difficulties.”Erdogan’s conciliatory tone follows his strongly worded accusations that the US supported Kurdish militants, days after Turkish troops found the bodies of 13 Turkish hostages held by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK in a cave complex in northern Iraq after a failed Turkish rescue operation. Ankara has been infuriated by American support for a Syrian Kurdish fighters in combatting the Islamic State group, saying they are linked to the decades-long Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey that the US also lists as terrorists. Erdogan said Saturday the US did not give Turkey the “desired support and solidarity” in fighting the PKK and linked groups, demanding a “clear stance” from Turkey’s allies. He also repeated the frustration over the continued US residency of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric accused of orchestrating the bloody 2016 coup attempt. Turkey wants Gulen’s extradition. He denies the allegations of links to the attempted coup.“We believe our common interests with America far outweigh our differing opinions,” Erdogan said, adding that he wanted to strengthen relations through a “long-term perspective based on win-win.”
Lingering suspicions
Turkey had greeted the election of US President Joe Biden with suspicion, fearing a hardening of the American stance towards Turkey on several issues. Suspicions continue to linger on both sides. Indeed the new US administration swiftly rebuked Turkey, urging the release of prominent civil society leader Osman Kavala and criticising homophobic rhetoric in a crackdown on student demonstrators. Those statements were in line with Biden’s vow to put a new priority on the promotion of democracy, but the United States and Turkey have plenty of other disputes likely to exacerbate tensions. Erdogan defiantly bought Russia’s advanced S-400 missile system, brushing aside warnings that it was jeopardising its role in the NATO alliance, leading the then US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on the Turkish defence industry. And a New York court will in May start a trial of Turkey’s state-run Halkbank over allegedly evading sanctions on Iran, potentially inflicting a heavy economic blow on Turkey.On Monday, Turkey accused the United States of supporting “terrorists” and summoned its ambassador after Washington declined to immediately back Ankara’s claim that Kurdish militants had executed 13 Turkish nationals in Iraq. Erdogan’s video message was aired during the launch of a Turkish television channel in the US.
 

Biden team colluded with Iran to foil Trump diplomacy
Ben Wolfgang and Guy Taylor - The Washington Times - Sunday, February 21, 2021
President Trump in 2019 sought to open a back channel of communication with top Iranian officials and saw the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September as a potential opportunity to defuse escalating tension with Tehran, but the effort failed.
Two months earlier, however, a different back channel was thriving in New York. Iran’s smooth, English-speaking foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, met with Robert Malley, who was President Obama’s Middle East adviser, in an apparent bid to undermine the Trump team and lay the groundwork for post-Trump relations.The attempt at counterdiplomacy offers a window into the deep relationships Mr. Zarif forged with influential U.S. liberals over the past decade. These relationships blossomed into what high-level national security and intelligence sources say allowed the Iranian regime to bypass Mr. Trump and work directly with Obama administration veterans that Tehran hoped would soon return to power in Washington. One of those was former Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who met with Mr. Zarif during the Trump years. So did Obama-era Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. They, along with Mr. Malley, were top U.S. negotiators of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). As part of the deal, Tehran promised to limit its nuclear enrichment activities in exchange for economic sanctions relief and access to tens of billions of dollars in frozen bank accounts.
Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the pact in 2018. He cited the need for a much tougher agreement that also addressed Iran’s support for terrorist groups and its destabilizing behavior in the Middle East.
Mr. Kerry and Mr. Malley are now in the Biden administration, Mr. Kerry as a climate adviser and Mr. Malley poised to play a major role in U.S.-Iranian relations from his perch as special envoy for Iran policy at the State Department.
But Mr. Zarif’s power extends far beyond the negotiating table. Numerous sources have told The Washington Times that he wields tremendous influence over a tightly knit group inside the U.S. that has long advocated for Washington to take a more accommodating tack toward Iran.

Ending the forever war in Afghanistan
Carl Bildt/Arab News/February 22/2021
Speaking in Kabul on this month’s 32nd anniversary of the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, made an important distinction. The civil war that devastated Afghanistan after the withdrawal was caused not by the departure of Soviet troops, but by the failure to formulate a viable plan for Afghanistan’s future. As the US considers its own exit from the country, it should heed this lesson.
After withdrawing its troops in 1989, the Soviet Union continued to provide financial support to the communist-nationalist regime led by Mohammed Najibullah. However, lacking domestic legitimacy, Najibullah’s regime quickly collapsed when Russia withdrew its financial support in 1992, triggering the civil war. Then, in 1996, the Taliban gained control of Kabul and, ultimately, the country.
The Taliban remained in power until 2001, when a US-led invasion — spurred by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — ended its rule. Last February, then-US President Donald Trump’s administration reached a deal with the Taliban intended to end the nearly 20-year-long war: The US and its NATO allies would withdraw all troops by May 2021 if the Taliban fulfilled certain commitments, including cutting ties with terrorist groups and reducing violence.
The Taliban would also have to engage in meaningful negotiations with the Afghan government, which was not involved in the deal. The Trump administration apparently hoped that an intra-Afghan peace agreement would materialize by the designated withdrawal date, ending the fighting and minimizing the risk that Afghanistan would become a haven for terrorists.
That has not happened. While US force levels are down to near 2,000 troops, fighting in Afghanistan has not decreased. On the contrary, a US watchdog agency reports that the Taliban carried out more attacks in the last quarter of 2020 than during the same period of 2019. Moreover, the latest intra-Afghan talks, which began in Doha in September, have produced virtually no results.
It seems that the Taliban’s plan was to keep fighting until US troops left, at which point they might be able to secure a victory in the long war. Now, however, they face the possibility that US troops will not leave nearly as soon as expected. President Joe Biden’s administration has announced that it is reviewing the deal to determine whether the Taliban is “living up to its commitments.”
The Biden administration must also decide what to do about America’s NATO allies, which together have substantially more forces in Afghanistan than the US does. And — as the post-Soviet experience indicates — it must devise a plan for influencing the situation in the country and region after the withdrawal.
The US must devise a plan for influencing the situation in the country and region after its withdrawal.
The challenge is formidable. Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries. Today, the Afghan state’s income amounts to little more than a third of what the US pays only to sustain its various security forces, to say nothing of US aid to the civilian sector (which, to be sure, amounts to less than half Europe’s contributions). In fact, Afghanistan has depended on outside support to sustain its statehood since Russia and Britain played their “Great Game” in the 19th century.
As it stands, the US seems to be leaning toward maintaining some sort of security presence, focused on fighting the terrorists of Al-Qaeda and Daesh, beyond the May deadline. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has advocated this approach.
But there are risks. The Taliban could reject this solution, leading to an intensification of fighting and renewed attacks on international forces. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is most likely already working to assess this risk.
The Taliban’s acceptance of a continued security presence may depend on progress in the intra-Afghan talks, though no one seems to have a clear vision for a power-sharing agreement. The gap between today’s Islamic Republic and the Taliban’s desired Islamic Emirate is wide, and narrowing it will require a recalibration of the diplomatic process concerning Afghanistan.
To that end, regional powers — including Iran, Russia and China — should be engaged in all talks about the country’s future, with one or two also taking a more active role in facilitating the intra-Afghan political dialogue. In this process, managing the dynamics between India and Pakistan, for which developments in Afghanistan hold profound national security implications, will undoubtedly emerge as a key challenge. Indeed, Russia is currently taking the initiative in this regard.
The pressure in the US and elsewhere to end the “forever war” in Afghanistan is understandable. But, as Ghani wisely warned, simply withdrawing international forces is unlikely to yield that result. To avoid a new spiral of violence, we must first determine what will come after.
*Carl Bildt was Sweden’s foreign minister from 2006 to 2014 and Prime Minister from 1991 to 1994, when he negotiated Sweden’s EU accession. Copyright: Project Syndicate

Alarming abuse of Syrian aid leaves civilians vulnerable
Chris Doyle/Arab News/February 22/2021
When you see refugee tents in Syria and Lebanon covered in icicles, it is hard to imagine these subhuman conditions. Meanwhile, more than 25,000 tents were either destroyed or damaged during recent floods, affecting 142,000 internally displaced people across 407 sites in northwest Syria. Many Syrians are so desperate they have taken to putting their organs, including kidneys, up for sale.
So what can the outside world do? Aid to Syria is one of the most politicized humanitarian programs anywhere in the world, but where is the honest debate about what is going on? Whether aid organizations, including UN agencies, are operating in regime or non-regime-controlled areas, all the typical safeguards deployed to ensure the aid reaches those most in need are upended. The core principles of aid are just forgotten or dismissed as inconvenient nuisances. At this stage, we are barely even talking about reconstruction; instead it is just about keeping people alive, feeding them, and helping them during the pandemic.
To operate in Syrian regime areas, any agency has to submit to a coterie of conditions and impediments to their independence. For starters, no nongovernmental organization (NGO) is allowed in regime areas if they are also operating elsewhere. Access into these areas is restricted through the visa application process. The Syrian regime, by all accounts, prefers to grant visas to aid workers from specific countries, which certainly do not include the major donor states from Europe, North America and the like. If any international workers start developing any unhelpful signs of independence, the regime can quickly rescind their visas. This is just the first obstacle in the process.
The result is that very few international NGOs operate in Syria. Those that do typically work on vital projects the regime cannot carry out on its own, such as the rehabilitation of schools. They operate on the full understanding that the NGO will not get involved in any political or human rights issues and will turn a blind eye to any signs of corruption or cronyism. This is some dilemma: Syrian children need schools and an education, but who feels comfortable about enriching this corrupt mafia elite? Similarly, Syrian NGOs can receive funds from international organizations, but only after obtaining permission from the regime.
NGOs also have to work through the so-called Syria Trust for Development. This is no NGO but rather a part of the regime’s apparatus, headed by Asma Assad, the president’s wife. The regime sees the trust as being its more acceptable, softer face. It has nearly monopolized control of the civil society space, a trend intensified after it swallowed up the Al-Bustan Charity network of Bashar Assad’s cousin Rami Makhlouf, who was until recently the regime’s top businessman. Take legal support as an example. In 2018, a ministerial decree ruled that all NGO efforts in the field of legal support had to go through the Syria Trust for Development. Imagine if you are a displaced family trying to procure legal documentation and establish your property rights. You now have to share all your details with an arm of the regime.
The regime, its cronies and corrupt echelons can siphon off these vital resources with little to no fear of it being reported.
The other option for international NGOs is the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), another body that is no more than a regime front. About 60 percent of all international aid to Syria is channeled via SARC, and UN agencies have decided to accept this arrangement uncritically. Syrians all know this so, if aid is distributed via SARC or the Syria Trust for Development, guess who gets the credit.
The EU does not have a program in these areas, but it does help fund the UN agencies. Consequently, the EU has no visibility in Syria and, despite its contributions, no Syrians are aware that various aid programs going through the UN are paid for with EU taxpayers’ money. In other words, the EU pays but ultimately the regime ensures that it takes as much of the credit as possible — a great deal for Damascus.
Another obstacle, also rarely commented on, is the sheer lack of proper monitoring and evaluation. Remember that most donor countries closed their embassies in the first year of the Syrian uprising. Even international journalists, who also require visas from the regime, are turning up less and less. The result is that the regime, its cronies and corrupt echelons can siphon off the aid and divert these vital resources with little to no fear of it being reported. Of course, this is exactly what has happened.
In non-regime-controlled areas, the situation is hardly any better. Fighting has broken out again in the northwest. This means that NGOs may be operational in one area one week, but the regime takes control of it the next. This makes it tough for NGOs to plan their operations. You can add to that the challenges of operating in areas under the control of an extremist group like Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which is effectively the Al-Qaeda arm in Syria.
All efforts in non-regime areas are also hampered by cross-border aid restrictions. UN aid to these areas can only be delivered via Bab Al-Hawa, with the Bab Al-Salam crossing near Jarablus now closed. The impact is major and many in need now lie in hard-to-reach areas.
Easy answers are in short supply. Syrians need urgent aid; more than is getting in. The lack of funding, the massive Syrian economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic have hit hard, but also the operating environment, whereby the regime and non-state armed actors abuse aid for their own purposes, is alarming. Aid must not be politicized, either by donors or actors on the ground. It is time for all parties to start putting Syrian civilians first, not last.
*Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding. Twitter: @Doylech

From Lockerbie to the downing of Flight PS752
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/February 22/2021
On Jan. 8, 2020, Iran’s air defense system was on high alert after the military launched a barrage of missiles targeting Iraqi bases housing US troops. Iran feared US retaliation. A year later, there has been no proof of any foreign intrusion into its airspace at the time when two TOR rockets pierced the fuselage of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752. After initial denials, Iran admitted that the aircraft was shot down “mistakenly.”
If the downing was a mistake, then it exposes the unprofessionalism and recklessness of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). However, there are other interpretations of the incident, linking it to a deliberate and calculated Iranian act intended to pin the blame on rival powers. But thanks to the almost immediate viral photographs and videos on social media, the IRGC had no room to blame hostile foreign forces.
Some 13 months later, a leaked audio of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif talking about the downing of Flight PS752 has stirred controversy inside Iran and abroad. In it, he can be heard saying that the incident was accidental, but later he says it is possible that two or three “infiltrators” deliberately downed the plane. In addition, he says a full investigation was not carried out and the truth of what happened will never be revealed by Iran’s Armed Forces and top leadership. He does not implicate his own government for hiding the facts, but seems to be scapegoating others by blaming “infiltrators” without providing details. Either way, Iran violated certain provisions of the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and of the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation.
Iran had accused the US of doing the same in July 1988, when Iran Air Flight IR655 was shot down over the Arabian Gulf, killing all 290 people on board. Though the US agreed to pay Iran $131.8 million in compensation in February 1996, some mysteries still exist.
Five months after the tragic downing of the Iran Air flight, Pan Am flight PA103 exploded at 31,000 feet, with its debris scattering across an area of more than 2,000 sq km along the English-Scottish border. The crash over Lockerbie claimed 270 lives. Finding evidence for what caused the deadly blast that ripped the plane apart was comparable to searching for a needle in a haystack, but aviation experts termed it a terrorist act. The media then recalled Iran’s threat to retaliate for the downing of Flight IR655.
Years later, however, Libyan citizen Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed Al-Megrahi was convicted for causing PA103’s deadly end. He pleaded his innocence until his death in 2012. Owing to foreign pressure and political expediency, Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi admitted his country’s role in the bombing. Among others, the late Nelson Mandela, himself a lawyer, had cast doubt on the prosecution’s case and the resulting verdict. Three decades later, the Scottish courts admitted Al-Megrahi’s family’s plea for a third appeal, only to reject it on Jan. 15.
Iran admitted shooting down Flight PS752, but refused an international probe while whitewashing the evidence.
If, as some claim, Libya did not down the Pan Am flight, then who did? The most obvious suspect since December 1988 has been Ahmed Jibril, head of a Palestinian-Syrian terrorist group — the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command — whose ties to Iran were no secret. Jibril, said to be living in Damascus, was allegedly paid $13 million for avenging the downing of Flight IR655. At the time, the George H.W. Bush administration preferred not to blame Syria or Iran as it was preparing to attack Iraq in 1991 and needed their support. It was also seeking to free some hostages. Hence, Libya was blamed via Al-Megrahi.
Fast forward to 2020 and Iran admitted shooting down Flight PS752, but refused an international probe while whitewashing the evidence. It belatedly sent the black box to France, but the findings are still awaited. The families of the victims have been intimidated, while disputes remain in relation to the compensation package, as well as to the naming of the actual perpetrators of the crime. Tehran’s excuse that its air defense personnel acted spontaneously holds little weight. The orders to carry out such an act must have come from the top. Canada and Ukraine, along with the three other countries whose citizens were killed, have not given up. Iran has yet to face the real consequences of its targeting of US troops on the same day, while many fear nothing will happen. Libya had to pay the economic, political and strategic price for something allegedly done by Iran. Even prior to Zarif’s leaked audio, Tehran had admitted to downing the Ukrainian flight. However, this reckless act is not among the talking points of the US, the EU or the other major powers in their dealings with Iran. There cannot be a greater mockery of fair play than Iran getting away with the mass murder of innocent travelers.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is President of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). Twitter: @mohalsulami