English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 28/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

The Third Lent Sunday/The Miracle Of Healing The haemorrhagic Woman
Luke08/40-56: 40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.”.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 27- 28/2021

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/

The Bleeding Women’s Miracle: Faith & Hope/Elias Bejjani/February 28/2021
Health Ministry: 3,100 new Corona cases, 42 deaths
Thousands rally to support Lebanon’s Patriarch call for an international conference
Rahi: International Conference Calls Meant to Face Coup Situation
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi: Neutrality is the core essence of an independent Lebanese entity,"
Mgr Rahi : « Lorsque certaines personnes se rangent du côté d'un axe régional, les guerres éclatent, l’Etat se divise alors que l’essence de l’entité libanaise indépendante est la neutralité
Lebanese clear tar pollution from turtle beach in southern city of Tyre
Tenenti: UNIFIL provided equipment for local authorities to clean up coastline in South Lebanon
Report: ‘Timid’ Efforts Underway to Solve Govt Stalemate
FPM Tells Hariri ‘Govt Must be Formed in Lebanon’
BBC, British Council to Collaborate on 'Deep Listening' Project in Lebanon
Geagea accuses Syrian-Lebanese security apparatus of 'Our Lady of Deliverance" Church bombing
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 27- 28/2021

Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, not Argentina in final days: New book
Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missile targeting Riyadh, 6 drones in other cities
Iran says US airstrikes in Syria encourage terrorism in the region
Uncertainties surround US-Saudi relations after release of declassified Khashoggi report
Saudi Says 'Completely Rejects' U.S. Assessment on Khashoggi Murder
Russia looking for Eli Cohen's remains as part of prisoner swap - report
Armenia’s President Sarkisian rejects army chief’s dismissal
UAE, Kuwait Support Saudi Arabia’s Response to US Khashoggi Report
Deterring Iran, Securing Region Are Joint Goals for Saudi Arabia, US
US-Israeli Committee Formed to Face Iranian Nuclear Program Issue
GCC Slams US Report on Khashoggi, Says Not Based on Evidence
Once Ravaged by ISIS, Iraq's Sinjar Caught in New Tug-of-War

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 27- 28/2021

The Danger of Appeasing the Mullahs/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/February 27/2021
What does Biden’s performative rap on Riyadh mean for Israel? - analysis/Lahav Harkov/Jerusalem Post/February 27/2021
55 years after execution in Syria, Israeli spy Eli Cohen makes headlines/Daniel Sonnenfeld/Media On Line/February 27/2021
Beyond Khashoggi: How the US and Saudi Arabia fell out and might ‘reset’/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/February 27/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 27- 28/2021

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/

The Bleeding Women’s Miracle: Faith & Hope
Elias Bejjani/February 28/2021
(John 6:68): “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life”

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/36973/elias-bejjani-the-bleeding-women-faith-hope/

Whenever we are in real trouble encountering devastating and harsh conditions either physically or materially, we unconsciously react with sadness, anger, confusion, helplessness and feel abandoned. When in a big mess, we expect our family members and friends to automatically run to our rescue. But in the majority of such difficult situations, we discover with great disappointment that in reality our heartfelt expectations do not unfold as we wish.
What is frustrating and shocking is that very few of our family members and friends would stand beside us during hardships and endeavour to genuinely offer the needed help. Those who have already walked through these rocky life paths and adversities definitely know very well the bitter taste of disappointment. They know exactly the real meaning of the well-know saying, “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.
Sadly our weak human nature is driven by inborn instincts that often make us side with the rich, powerful, healthy and strong over the poor, weak, needy and sick. Those who have no faith in Almighty God find it very difficult to cope in a real mess.
Meanwhile, those whose faith is solid stand up with courage, refuse to give up hope, and call on their Almighty Father for help through praying and worshiping. They know for sure that our Great Father is loving and passionate. He will not abandon any one of us when calling on Him for mercy and help because He said and promised so. Matthew 11/28-30: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
One might ask, ‘Why should I pray?’ And, ‘Do I have to ask God for help, can’t He help me without praying to Him?’ The answer is ‘no’. We need to pray and when we do so with faith and confidence God listens and responds (Mark 11/:24): “Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them”
Yes, we have to make the effort and be adamant and persistent. We have to ask and knock in a bid to show our mere submission to Him and He with no doubt shall provide. (Matthew 7/7 & 8): “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened”.
On this second Sunday of Lent in our Catholic Church’s Eastern Maronite rite, we cite and recall the miraculous cure of the bleeding woman in Matthew 9/20-22, Mark 5/25-34, and Luke 8/43-48. As we learn from the Holy Gospel, the bleeding woman’s great faith made her believe without a shred of doubt that her twelve years of chronic bleeding would stop immediately if she touched Jesus’ garment. She knew deeply in her heart that Jesus would cure her even without asking him. Her faith cured the bleeding and made her well. Her prayers were heard and responded to.
Luke 8/:43-49: “A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any, came behind him (Jesus), and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped. Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 8:46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me.” When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. He said to her, “Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
The woman’s faith cured her chronic bleeding and put her back in the society as a normal and acceptable citizen. During that era women with uterus bleeding were looked upon as sinners, defiled and totally banned from entering synagogues for praying. Meanwhile, because of her sickness she was physically unable to be a mother and bear children. Sadly she was socially and religiously abandoned, humiliated and alienated. But her faith and hope empowered her with the needed strength and perseverance and enabled her to cope successfully against all odds.
Hallelujah! Faith can do miracles. Yes indeed. (Luke17/5 & 6): ” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you”. How badly do we today need to have a faith like that of this women?
Let us all on this second Lent Sunday pray with solid faith.
Let us ask Almighty God who cured the bleeding women, and who was crucified on the cross to absolve our original sin, that He would endow His Holy graces of peace, tranquility, and love all over the world. And that He would strengthen the faith, patience and hope of all those persecuted, imprisoned, and deprived for courageously witnessing the Gospel’s message and truth.
N.B: The Above Piece Is From The writer’s Faith Achieves

Health Ministry: 3,100 new Corona cases, 42 deaths
NNA/February 27/2021
The Public Health Ministry announced on Saturday the registration of 3,100 new Corona infections, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 371,775.
Additionally, it indicated that 42 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Thousands rally to support Lebanon’s Patriarch call for an international conference
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/February 27/2021
Thousands of Lebanese rallied in support of Lebanon’s top Christian cleric Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai's call for an international conference to take measures that will implement international acts to save Lebanon and allow the state to extend its authority over its entire territory.
Al-Rai has been calling for the conference for months without a direct position on Iran-backed Hezbollah. Last week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah attacked al-Rai for his proposition adding that the conference will open the floor to foreign interference. During the rally Al-Rai added that the proposed conference must provide support to the Lebanese army for it to be the only defender of the state.
Lebanon has been facing an unprecedented political and economic crisis resulting from decades of governmental corruption and mismanagement along with the growing power that Iran-backed Hezbollah has in the country which resulted in an isolation of the small nation from its Arab and international historical allies. The Maronite church has always played a fundamental role in Lebanon’s history. Patriarch Elias Hoayek headed a Lebanese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 which called for the establishment of the state of Lebanon. Lebanon’s former Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir had a major role in shaping Lebanon’s current political system after the Taif agreement which ended the civil war. He is also considered the leading religious figure which resulted in Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon. Al-Rai called on the Lebanese to not be silent about the multiplicity of loyalties to foreign nations, the stealing of their money, the loose solutions, the breach of Lebanese airspace. “Also do not remain silent about the failure of the political class, nor about the chaos of the investigation into the port crime, nor about the politicization of the judiciary, nor about illegal and non-Lebanese weapons, nor about the coup against the state and the regime,” he added. Al- Rai added that if the constitutional flaws had been addressed, he would not have called for an international conference to find a solution to the problems that paralyze the work of the constitution.“We want the international conference to renew support for the democratic system that expresses the Lebanese’s adherence to freedom, justice and equality, and we want it to declare “Lebanon’s neutrality” so that it will no longer be a victim of conflicts and wars and a land of divisions,” al-Rai added. Al-Rahi added that any development of the political system may not be at the expense of what the Lebanese have agreed upon since the establishment of the state of Lebanon. “We liberated the land, so let us liberate the state from everything that hinders its authority and performance. There are no two states or multiple states on one land, no multiple armies in one country, and no multiple people in one homeland,” al-Rahi added. “Development does not mean veto, but improvement, and it does not mean canceling the constitutional charters, but rather clarifying the ambiguities in them in order to consolidate the authorities and our right to live a decent life in our homeland,” al-Rahi added.
Al-Rai added that the aim of establishing the state of Lebanon was to create a neutral entity in this east that will form a link and a bridge between East and West. “Lebanon’s departure from the policy of neutrality was the main reason for its fall through trials and wars, and whenever some sided with a regional and international axis, the people were divided and the constitution suspended,” al-Rai added. Al-Rai concluded his statement saying that the Lebanese were born to live in the meadows of permanent peace, and they refuse to live in permanent battlefields.
“We are children of peace, and we are a people who want all of their history to be a history of friendships, not hostilities, and Lebanon’s geographical advantage is that it lives through communication, not hatred,” he added.

Rahi: International Conference Calls Meant to Face Coup Situation
Naharnet/February 27/2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara el-Rahi said Saturday that his calls for a UN-sponsored international conference for Lebanon are meant to face a "coup situation" in the country.
"Our calls for a UN-sponsored international conference are to face a coup situation. Leaving the situation as it is while the state collapses and people get devastated is completely unacceptable for us," said Rahi addressing crowds of Lebanese who came to Bkirki to support his calls.
"No two can disagree that failure to abide by neutrality involves us in problems. The independent Lebanese entity is based on neutrality," he added. On the outcome required from an international conference, Rahi said: "What do we want from an international conference? We want it to stabilize the Lebanese entity which is seriously endangered. We want it to support the democratic system, freedom and justice. We want it to announce Lebanon's neutralization. We want it to take all measures needed to implement all international decisions for Lebanon to save Lebanon's sovereignty and allow the Lebanese state to spread its authority on all Lebanese regions. We want it to support the Lebanese army to make it capable of solely defending the country." The Patriarch also voiced rejection of any attempt to naturalize Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, pushing for the return of Syrian refugees back home.
"We want the international conference to set a clear plan preventing the naturalization of Palestinians, and to return the Syrian refugees back home," he said. With enthusiasm, the crowds cheered as Rahi's word echoed.
He urged the Lebanese to seek their rightful rights to live in dignity. "No right shall be wasted. I understand your pain and anger well. I understand your revolt. Do not stay silent about politicizing the judiciary. Do not stay silent about illegal arms. Do not stay silent about innocents kept in prisons, or the naturalization of Palestinians. Do not stay silent about the coup against the state and system. Do not stay silent about the delayed government formation, or about reforms or our martyrs. Do not stay silent about illegal arms.""We liberated the land, so let us liberate the state from everything that hinders its authority and its performance. The greatness of the liberation and resistance movements in the world fall in the interest of the state and its legitimacy," he concluded.

Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi: Neutrality is the core essence of an independent Lebanese entity,"
NNA/February 27/2021
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, addressed the popular crowds that flocked to Bkirki this afternoon to show solidarity with the positions of the Patriarch, emphasizing that "'the essence of the independent Lebanese entity is neutrality."
In his delivered speech, al-Rahi said: "Long live a united, neutral, active, positive, sovereign, independent, and loving Lebanon...You came from all across Lebanon despite the dangers of Corona to support two things: the proposal of neutrality and the launch of an international conference for Lebanon under the patronage of the United Nations. You came to demand the rescue of Lebanon, and together we shall save Lebanon!"
The Patriarch also hailed all Lebanese watching through TV channels, and gave a special salute to the Muslim clerics who were present in Bkirki today.
"The state's veering away from the policy of neutrality is the reason for our current sufferings, and experience has proven that whenever some align themselves with a regional axis, wars break out and the state is divided," he underscored.
"We are with you in the call for an international conference, for all other solutions have reached a dead end, and we have not been able to agree together on the fate of our country," he went on.
"The concerned politicians did not have the courage to sit at the same table to solve the nation's affairs, and have let the state collapse and the people to go hungry and be devastated, and this we will not accept in any way," emphasized the Patriarch.
He added, "Lebanon was established to be a bridge of communication between East and West, and choosing neutrality is to preserve the state of Lebanon in its current existence, its cultural and religious pluralism, its openness to all countries and its non-alignment."
Rahi reminded that "neutrality" was mentioned when the state of Lebanon was established, and in the addresses of the presidents of the republic and the government of independence, far-reaching the Baabda declaration.
"We called for an international conference because all our proposals have been refused, so that the state would fall and power would be seized...We are facing a coup situation in every sense of the word against the Lebanese society and everything that our country represents in terms of civilization in this East; first and foremost being a coup against the Taif Accord," the Patriarch asserted.
"We want the international conference to consecrate the Lebanese entity that is seriously at risk, to set its international borders, and to support Lebanon's democratic system and neutrality declaration, so that it will no longer be a victim of conflicts, and no longer a land of wars and divisions," al-Rahi underlined.
He continued to emphasize that the call for the international conference is aimed at taking all measures to implement the international decisions concerning Lebanon that have not been implemented or that were partially implemented, in order to establish its independence and sovereignty so that the state can extend its authority over all Lebanese territories, without any partnership or competition.
"We want the conference to provide support for the Lebanese army to be the sole defender of Lebanon. We want the conference to put in place a rapid implementation plan to prevent the resettlement of Palestinians and to secure the safe return of displaced Syrians," the Patriarch underscored.
He continued to stress on the right of the Lebanese to live a decent life in their homeland, saying: "We were born to live in the meadows of permanent peace, not in the arenas of permanent war, and man's destiny is to create friends, not enemies!"
He called on the Lebanese not to be silent about the corruption in their country, nor about the chaos in the Beirut Port crime investigation, nor about the illegitimate and non-Lebanese weapons, nor about the imprisonment of the innocent, nor about the Palestinian settlement and integration of the displaced within Lebanon's society, nor about the confiscation of the national decision, nor about the coup against the state and the system, nor about the failure to form a government and the failure to carry out reforms...
"What we are proposing today is to renew our free, sovereign, independent and stable existence, and the revival of the scattered, idle and seized state...We have liberated the land, let us free it from all that hinders its authority and performance," the Patriarch affirmed.

Mgr Rahi : « Lorsque certaines personnes se rangent du côté d'un axe régional, les guerres éclatent, l’Etat se divise alors que l’essence de l’entité libanaise indépendante est la neutralité
ANI/Samedi 27 Fevrier 2021
Le patriarche maronite le cardinal Bécharra Boutros Rahi a salué la foule qui s’est agglomérée au siège du patriarcat à Bkerké malgré la pandémie du corona et particulièrement les religieux musulmans qui se sont déplacés. « Vous êtes là en signe de soutien à la neutralité et à la proposition de la tenue d’un congrès international pour le Liban sous les auspices des Nations Unies. Vous êtes venus là pour réclamer le sauvetage du Liban. Et nous tous ensemble nous allons sauver le Liban. La non-conformité de l’Etat à la politique de neutralité est la cause de nos souffrances. Les expériences précédentes ont montré que plus certaines personnes se rangent du côté d'un axe régional, les guerres éclatent, l’Etat se divise alors que l’essence de l’entité libanaise indépendante est la neutralité. »
Mgr Rahi a appelé de ses voeux les présents à ne pas se taire face à la corruption et au chaos qui caractérise le processus de l’enquête sur l’explosion du port de Beyrouth. Il a de même appelé la foule à ne pas se taire face aux armes illégaux non libanais, aux prisonniers innocents, à l’implantation des palestiniens et à l’intégration des réfugiés ainsi que face à la confiscation de la décision nationale et au coup d’Etat contre l’Etat, à la non formation d’un gouvernement et l’implantation des réformes. »

Lebanese clear tar pollution from turtle beach in southern city of Tyre
AFP/ 27 February /2021
Lebanese on Saturday raked balls of tar away from a turtle beach in the south of the country, as a massive slick washed ashore after hitting neighboring Israel. A storm more than a week ago threw tons of the sticky, black substance onto the beaches of Israel, apparently after leaking from a ship. Within days the spill had spread to southern Lebanon, where clumps of tar contaminated beaches stretching from the border town of Naqura to the southern city of Tyre. The swathe of coastline, which includes some of the country’s best preserved beaches, is a nesting site for turtles which usually appear later in the year. On Saturday morning, mask-clad volunteers and members of the civil defense sifted blobs of tar out of sand on the beach of the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve, an AFP journalist said. “The Tyre reserve has been hit by about two tons of tar, 90 percent of which is now hidden in the sand,” said Mouin Hamze, the head of the National Council for Scientific Research. The clean-up of the reserve could last up to two more weeks, he told AFP. The protected zone covers 3.8 square kilometers (almost 1.5 square miles) of beach as well as adjacent sea waters, according to its website. As well as endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles, the beach provides shelter for the Arabian spiny mouse. Hamze had said previously that the pollution could continue washing up on Lebanese shores for up to three months. A survey of the area using drones is not yet complete, but he said the damage was extensive in the south while tar had even landed on the beach further north in the capital Beirut.

Tenenti: UNIFIL provided equipment for local authorities to clean up coastline in South Lebanon
NNA/27 February /2021
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said today that in relation to the oil spill and tar deposited in parts of the coastline in south Lebanon, UNIFIL has been in touch with local authorities to see what help can be provided within our available capabilities and equipment. In order to provide immediate assistance UNIFIL has provided equipment and tools together with additional PPEs donated by UNIFIL ITALBATT. Today, UNIFIL staff members are assisting the local communities in cleaning the shores.
Tenenti added that UNIFIL troops are also cleaning in the area outside Naqoura.
 

Report: ‘Timid’ Efforts Underway to Solve Govt Stalemate
Naharnet/27 February /2021
Some recent political contacts to solve the government formation stalemate were described as “serious” and likely to make a little progress on the government file, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.
The daily said it learned from “reliable” sources that recent “modest” contacts were made, mainly by General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, with efforts that it described as “serious” pushing for a near solution. However, the sources did not specify other parties carrying out these efforts.
But they raised hopes that a slight progress could emerge soon.

FPM Tells Hariri ‘Govt Must be Formed in Lebanon’
Naharnet/27 February /2021
The Free Patriotic Movement political bureau held its periodic meeting on Saturday chaired by its head MP Jebran Bassil, and criticized PM-designate Saad Hariri. "The Lebanese government must be born in Beirut through a joint effort between PM-designate Saad Hariri and the President (Michel Aoun) as equal partners in the formation process and in consultation with the parliamentary blocs,” the FPM said in a statement. “Ignoring the constitutional, legislative and political reality is a deliberate prolongation of the crisis, while waiting for foreign countries to intervene in Lebanese sovereign affairs without being able to find solutions to it instead of internal balances and equations,” it added. On the relations between Bkirki and the FPM, the statement said that "the relationship with Maronite Patriarchate (Beshara el-Rahi) is based on respect," stressing the party's refusal to involve Lebanon in the politics of foreign axes. It expressed its keenness on the principle of international cooperation and on preserving Lebanon's relations with the Arab countries and its openness to every foreign support that comes to Lebanon in the framework of respecting its sovereignty and the independence of its decision.

BBC, British Council to Collaborate on 'Deep Listening' Project in Lebanon
Naharnet/27 February /2021
The BBC World Service and the British Council are coming together to run a program in Lebanon in which Lebanese citizens will be virtually trained in "Deep Listening". "This is an established technique for finding common ground with opponents and an approach to difficult conversations that ensures both parties feel fully heard," the British Council said in a statement. "Lebanon is a country with deep-seated divisions and challenges; after the participants are trained they will be matched together to have conversations with those who hold opposing views to their own. The programme isn’t about finding agreement, but about individuals and communities beginning a journey of understanding," the Council explained. "Research has evidenced the enormous power of being heard. When we feel recognised and understood, we can lower our defences, reduce extreme views and be open to other perspectives. When we recognise the humanity across the table, we can start to have a vested interest in the health and welfare of those who are different and recognise what we have in common," the statement said. The project will build upon the British Council’s Young Mediterranean Voices and Active Citizens programs as well as the BBC’s Crossing Divides work. The British Council will source a set of Lebanese citizens from diverse backgrounds and/or with different beliefs about Lebanon and how to solve its challenges. This will include graduates from the British Council’s programs, as well as BBC News Arabic audiences. Over a period of two weeks, participants will be trained in the practice of deep listening. The course content will be delivered by BBC Crossing Divides’ Emily Kasriel and will be run in collaboration with British Council expertise and facilitation. Prior to the training, participants will have completed a brief questionnaire asking for their views on a range of global, regional and Lebanese-specific topics. "During the training, there will be opportunities for small groups of 3 or 4 participants to go into breakout rooms. Each participant in their groups will take up the role of ‘speaker, ‘listener’ or ‘observer’ on a rotating cycle basis, allowing them to practice their listening skills from different perspectives," the statememt said.

Geagea accuses Syrian-Lebanese security apparatus of 'Our Lady of Deliverance" Church bombing
NNA/27 February ,2021
"Lebanese Forces" Party Leader, Samir Geagea, accused the Syrian-Lebanese security apparatus of blowing-up "Our Lady of Deliverance" Church, in a press conference this morning marking 27 years since the tragic incident. "The Syrian-Lebanese security system blew-up the Church for a simple reason, in order to dissolve the LF Party and arrest its leaders, because they know that the Party is a sovereign party that wants Lebanon's freedom and the establishment of a state, par excellence," Geagea said. "This authority does not want freedom, sovereignty, or independence. Based on that, they bombed the Church" LF Chief added. He considered that "if Lebanon asks for the help of its friends in the international and Arab community, this does not mean compromising its sovereignty."Finally, Geagea pledged that the Lebanese Forces would always try to reach an international investigation committee to investigate the Beirut Port explosion.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 27- 28/2021

Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, not Argentina in final days: New book
AFP/28 February /2021
Pope Francis expects to die in Rome, still the Catholic pontiff, without returning to spend his final days in his native Argentina, according to a new book titled “The Health of Popes.” In an interview granted to Argentine journalist and physician Nelson Castro at the Vatican in February 2019, the pope said he thinks about death, but does not fear it. Extracts from the book were published Saturday in Argentine daily La Nacion. Asked how he sees his final days, Francis, who is 84, responded: “I will be pope, either active or emeritus, and in Rome. I will not return to Argentina.” Francis has had to cancel some events in recent months due to a painful problem with sciatica, but is not known to suffer any other major ailments. The Vatican has always been reticent about a pope’s health. According to the new book, “This is the first time that a pope has discussed his health with the transparency afforded by Francis.” The pontiff, formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires, says he does not miss his native Argentina, where he was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the son of Italian immigrants. “No, I do not miss it. I lived there for 76 years. What pains me are its problems” -- an allusion to the economic crisis shaking the South American country. The pope has been vaccinated against Covid-19. Beyond his age, the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics is considered to be high-risk: in 1957, aged 21, he suffered from acute pleurisy and had part of his right lung removed.

Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missile targeting Riyadh, 6 drones in other cities
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/27 February ,2021
The Arab Coalition has confirmed it has intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia targeting Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, and destroyed six explosive-laden drones targeting southern Saudi cities overnight. The latest attack on Riyadh comes just hours after the Arab Coalition said on Saturday it intercepted and downed an explosive-laden drone launched by the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait. Follwing the attempted attack on Riyadh, the Arab Coalition also confirmed that it was monitoring the launching of a number of explosive drones by the Houthis in Yemen on Saturday night and that it had intercepted and destroyed one targeting Jazan and at least 4 others targeting the Kingdom's southern cities.The coalition had announced on Friday night that a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis was targeting civilian areas in the southern regions of Saudi Arabia. The terrorist Houthi militia group has been ramping up its efforts to strike Saudi Arabia and several areas in Yemen outside its control. The Houthi attacks on Saturday came as Saudi Arabia was hosting the Formula E championship on the outskirts of Riyadh in the Diriyah district which was attended by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
 

Iran says US airstrikes in Syria encourage terrorism in the region
Reuters/27 February /2021
Friday’s US airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria encourage terrorism in the region, Iran’s top security official, Ali Shamkhani, said on Saturday. Washington said the strikes on positions of the Kataib Hezbollah (KH) paramilitary group along the Iraq border were in response to rocket attacks against US targets in Iraq. “America’s recent action strengthens and expands the activities of the terrorist Daesh (ISIS) in the region,” Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security council, said in remarks to visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein. “The attack on anti-terrorist resistance forces is the beginning of a new round of organized terrorism,” the semi-official Nour News quoted him as saying. Hussein, on his second visit to Iran in a month, later met with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. Hussein is in Iran “to discuss regional developments, including ways to balance relations and avoid tension and escalation” with Iranian officials, according to an Iraqi foreign ministry statement. An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four. US officials said they were limited in scope to show President Joe Biden’s administration will act firmly while trying to avoid a big regional escalation. Shamkhani said “we will confront the US plan to revive terrorism in the region”, but did not elaborate. The airstrikes targeted militia sites on the Syrian side of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier, where groups backed by Iran control an important crossing for weapons, personnel and goods.
Western officials and some Iraqi officials accuse Iranian-backed groups of involvement in deadly rocket attacks on US sites and personnel in Iraq over the last month. Washington and Tehran are seeking maximum leverage in attempts to save Iran’s nuclear deal reached with world powers in 2015 but abandoned in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, after which regional tensions soared.

Uncertainties surround US-Saudi relations after release of declassified Khashoggi report
The Arab Weekly/February 27/2021
Saudi Arabia completely rejected “the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report” while Blinken said Washington wants to “recalibrate” but not “rupture” relations.

WAHINGTON--Saudi Arabia said Friday it “completely rejects” the declassified US report about Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 murder while Washington seemed to be engaged in a balancing act in trying to “recalibrate” its relations with Riyadh after the release of the report.
“The government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.
In the partially redacted report released Friday by President Joe Biden’s administration, US intelligence said that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill” Khashoggi. “The kingdom rejects any measure that infringes upon its leadership, sovereignty, and the independence of its judicial system,” stressed the Saudi ministry. Following the release of the report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington wants to “recalibrate” but not “rupture” its relations with Riyadh, a longstanding security partner and a regional powerhouse in the Middle East.
He also announced a ban on entry into the United States of foreigners who “threaten dissidents or harass reporters and their families” and immediately placed 76 Saudis on the blacklist. The intelligence report surmised that given Prince Mohammed’s influence, it was “highly unlikely” that the 2018 murder could have taken place without his “green light”. The public blaming of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (or MbS as he is widely known) was likely to set the tone for the new administration’s relationship with a country President Joe Biden has criticised but which the White House also regards in many contexts as a strategic partner.Saudi Arabia has previously described the murder as a rogue operation and has vehemently denied the crown prince was involved.
“It is truly unfortunate that this report, with its unjustified and inaccurate conclusions, is issued while the kingdom had clearly denounced this heinous crime, and the kingdom’s leadership took the necessary steps to ensure that such a tragedy never takes place again,” the Saudi foreign ministry said.
Saudi Arabia has tried the murder suspects and, convicted eight people over the case. Despite its anger over the report, Saudi Arabia also stressed that it is keen to maintain the relationship. “The partnership between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America is a robust and enduring partnership,” the foreign ministry said. “We look forward to maintaining the enduring foundations that have shaped the framework of the resilient strategic partnership between the kingdom and the United States.”Commentators in Saudi Arabia took to social media to assail the US intelliegence report.
Ali Shihabi, former head of the Arabia Foundation in Washington which regularly supports Saudi policy, said there was nothing in the report that had not been said before and “absolutely no smoking gun.”
“Extraordinary that all this hype is made about this document… This thin ‘report’ is actually evidence that no hard proof exists against MBS,” Shihabi said on Twitter.
— Choreographed move —
Amid the storm unleashed by the report, Biden is treading a fine line in an attempt to preserve ties with the kingdom for US economic and geostrategic interests. Washington is seen as having choreographed its move to soften the blow, with Biden on Thursday speaking with the crown prince’s 85-year-old father, King Salman, in a call in which both sides said they reaffirmed their decades-old alliance and pledged cooperation.
Anti-Saudi lobbies within the US political establishment are likely, however, to push for more hostile measures at the risk of a breakdown in relations. Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, urged the Biden administration to make sure the report leads to “serious repercussions against all of the responsible parties it has identified, and also reassess our relationship with Saudi Arabia.” And Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and Intelligence Committee member, called for consequences for the prince — such as sanctions — as well as for the Saudi kingdom as a whole.
But the US administration is drawing the line of where it does not intend to go. Antony Blinken explained that Biden was trying “not to rupture the relationship, but to recalibrate it to be more in line with our interests and our values.”
As choreographed as it might be, US-Saudi reset remains clouded with uncertainty. Some wonder what the new normal in the relationship between Riyadh and the Saudi leadership would look like in future months and what kind of trade-offs it would mean. Despite speculations to the contrary, many doubt the US would go as far as press for the exit of MbS from Saudi leadership. US officials have confirmed no sanctions will be taken against the crown prince, in any case.
Analysts point out that Saudi Arabia may accept discussion of the Khashoggi murder case and improvements in its human rights record, including moves on issues of detained activists and the promotion of equal rights for women but will not accept any suggestions for the crown prince to step down.
Reaching a breaking point with Riyadh over any particularly sensitive issue, such as the status of MbS, could endanger US-Saudi cooperation as the two countries have similar views about Iran’s aggressive behaviour, the fight against religious extremism and the need to protect advances in Arab-Israeli normalisation that have the backing of the crown prince.
Nowhere is the balancing more obvious than in the issue of US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and its connection to the war in Yemen.
President Joe Biden’s administration is considering the cancellation of arms deals with Saudi Arabia that pose humanitarian concerns while limiting future military sales to “defensive” weapons that the kingdom to shield itself against threats by Iran and its Houthi proxies.
A US State Department spokesperson said, “Our focus is on ending the conflict in Yemen even as we ensure Saudi Arabia has everything it needs to defend its territory and its people,” adding Biden has pledged to end US military support for the military campaign against the Houthis.
“They’re trying to figure out where do you draw the lines between offensive weapons and defensive stuff,” said one congressional aide familiar with the issue, describing the process.
Sales of military equipment deemed defensive – like Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile defense systems made by Lockheed Martin or Patriot missile defense systems made by Lockheed and Raytheon – would still be allowed under such a new policy.
But it would end big-ticket deals — for products such as precision-guided munitions (PGM) and small-diameter bombs — like those brokered under former President Donald Trump in the face of strong objections from members of Congress.
Already on Friday, US officials acknowledged they would also have to deal with the crown prince, who has increasingly been seen as running the show in Saudi Arabia.
“Just because you want this, and you don’t like dealing with MbS, it doesn’t mean to say it’s going to happen that way,” said Simon Henderson, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“Frankly, I think MbS is too powerful in the kingdom for his position to be jeopardised.”

Saudi Says 'Completely Rejects' U.S. Assessment on Khashoggi Murder
Agence France Presse/February 27/2021
Saudi Arabia on Friday said it "completely rejects" a declassified US report that found that de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved journalist Jamal Khashoggi's 2018 murder. "The government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the kingdom's leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions," the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement. In the partially redacted report released Friday by President Joe Biden's administration, US intelligence concluded that the prince "approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill" Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia has previously described the murder as a rogue operation and has vehemently denied the crown prince was involved. "It is truly unfortunate that this report, with its unjustified and inaccurate conclusions, is issued while the kingdom had clearly denounced this heinous crime, and the kingdom's leadership took the necessary steps to ensure that such a tragedy never takes place again," the foreign ministry said. "The kingdom rejects any measure that infringes upon its leadership, sovereignty, and the independence of its judicial system," the ministry added. Khashoggi, a staunch critic of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 and murdered by a Saudi squad. The US report said that given Prince Mohammed's influence, it was "highly unlikely" that the murder could have taken place without his green light. Following the release of the report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington wants to "recalibrate" but not "rupture" its relations with Riyadh, a longstanding security partner in the Middle East. Despite its anger over the report, Saudi Arabia also stressed that it was keen to maintain the relationship. "The partnership between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America is a robust and enduring partnership," the foreign ministry said. "We look forward to maintaining the enduring foundations that have shaped the framework of the resilient strategic partnership between the kingdom and the United States."

Russia looking for Eli Cohen's remains as part of prisoner swap - report

Jerusalem Post/Maarive On Line/February 27/2021
Russian forces have been digging for more than three weeks in the cemetery at the Yarmouk refugee camp.
Russia is actively searching in Syria for the remains of the late Israeli spy Eli Cohen who was executed in 1965, the Arabic digital news site Rai al-Youm reported on Saturday.
The report claims that this effort is part of the recent prison-swap deal between Syria and Israel. At the time of this writing the claim has not been verified by Israeli sources. Moreover, shortly the prisoner swap, claims were made in Arab media that Israel would fund a batch of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines as part of the deal, but the claims were quickly denied by Israel and Syria. During the swap, Israel returned to Syrian hands two shepherds who crossed the border, in exchange for a young woman who crossed the border from Israel to Syria, the details of which are still largely under gag order.
The search for Cohen's remains is reportedly being conducted at the Yarmouk refugee camp cemetery in south Damascus. Recently, Russian news giant RT recently released a video it says shows Eli Cohen, walking in a Damascus street. The video, unclear and no more than a few seconds in length, has generated headlines throughout the region, both in Arabic and in Hebrew. Experts attribute the interest to Cohen’s legendary status and recent Russian efforts to try and facilitate a normalization agreement between the two enemy countries.
Oraib al-Rantawi, founder and director general of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, points to current events as a major contributor to the great interest in the video. The video was released while in the background there are “serious actions by the Russians and by the Syrian government” to find the remains of Cohen and Israeli soldiers killed in Syria long ago, he told The Media Line. “I hear news from my colleagues in Damascus,” he said. “Russian experts, everyday almost, digging in the Yarmouk cemetery, where it is expected his body may be buried.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday that Russian forces have been digging for more than three weeks in the cemetery at the Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus in search of the remains of the Israeli agent as well as Israeli soldiers. Earlier this month, the Russian military launched excavations in a Syrian cemetery at the Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus in search of the remains of IDF soldiers who went missing during the First Lebanon War in 1982, Israeli news reported, citing Syrian media. The reports indicated that Russian troops began excavating the site on February 4, presumably searching for DNA samples from grave plots on the site suspected of belonging to Israeli soldiers who have been missing for nearly 40 years. It is unknown where the remains of Eli Cohen currently are, as the location of the grave was changed several times, with the last one done in total secrecy under the orders of then Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, the Arab media report claimed.  A man who claimed to be the son of the late Syrian president, Khaled al-Assad, contacted Israeli security services in 2019 from his current home in New Zealand and offered to provide Israel with the details of where the remains are for $1m., KAN News reported.
The claims were checked and judged to be fraudulent. The Mossad was able to retrieve Eli Cohen's wristwatch to Israel in 2018.
*Daniel Sonnenfeld/TheMediaLine and Tobias Siegal contributed to this report.

Armenia’s President Sarkisian rejects army chief’s dismissal
AFP/27 February /2021
Armenian President Armen Sarkisian said Saturday he had refused to sign a prime ministerial order to dismiss the army’s chief of staff, deepening a national political crisis. The ex-Soviet nation has faced turmoil since Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a Moscow-brokered peace accord in November, sealing a humiliating defeat to Azerbaijan after six weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Divisions widened Thursday when Pashinyan defied a call by the military to resign, accused the army of an attempted coup, and ordered the chief of the general staff Onik Gasparyan to be fired. On Saturday, Armenian President Sarkisian said in a statement that he would not back the sacking. “The president of the republic, within the framework of his constitutional powers, returned the draft decree with objections,” the presidency said. It added that the political crisis “cannot be resolved through frequent personnel changes.” Earlier in the day, 5,000 opposition protesters waving Armenian flags and calling for Pashinyan’s resignation gathered for the third day running outside the parliament in Yerevan.Some protesters have now set up camp there. “Today Pashinyan has no support. I call on the security services and the police to join the army, to support the army,” said former premier Vazgen Manukyan, who has been named by the opposition to replace Pashinyan. “I am sure that the situation will be resolved within two to three days,” he told the crowd. Pashinyan has faced fierce criticism since he signed a peace deal over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region that broke from Azerbaijan’s control during a war in the early 1990s. The agreement was seen as a national humiliation for many in Armenia, but Pashinyan has said he had no choice but to agree or see his country’s forces suffer even bigger losses.
 

UAE, Kuwait Support Saudi Arabia’s Response to US Khashoggi Report
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 27 February, 2021
The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait expressed their support for Saudi Arabia’s rejection of a United States intelligence report about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The UAE’s foreign ministry “expressed its confidence in and support for the Saudi judiciary rulings, which affirm the kingdom’s commitment to implementing the law in a transparent and impartial manner, and holding all those involved in this case accountable,” the UAE’s state news agency WAM reported on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying: "Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, plays an important role regionally and internationally in its rejection of violence and extremism." Kuwait also rejects any remark that might affect Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty, it said. The Saudi Arabian government in a statement on Friday said it completely rejects the negative, false, and unacceptable assessment made by the US. “The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said in a statement. “The Ministry reiterates what was previously announced by the relevant authorities in the Kingdom, that this was an abhorrent crime and a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s laws and values. This crime was committed by a group of individuals that have transgressed all pertinent regulations and authorities of the agencies where they were employed,” the statement added.

Deterring Iran, Securing Region Are Joint Goals for Saudi Arabia, US
Riyadh – Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 27 February, 2021
The ties between Saudi Arabia and the United States were underscored during a telephone call between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and US President Joe Biden on Thursday. Their talks highlighted Saudi emphasis on the need to preserve the security of the region and deter all acts that may destabilize it. The telephone call underlines that importance of the joint strategic alliance between the Kingdom and Washington that dates back 80 years. King Salman and Biden stressed the importance of these relations and their impact on the Arab world. Biden expressed to the monarch Washington’s keenness on strengthening the bonds of friendship and bolstering relations between their countries. The leaders discussed diplomatic efforts to safeguard regional security, as well as international efforts to end the war in Yemen. Biden assured King Salman that the US was committed to helping the Kingdom defend itself against threats at a time when it is confronting repeated attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen. Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Center, said the telephone call between King Salman and Biden reflects the strategic importance of the Kingdom and its pivotal role in preserving the region’s security and stability. The US is a main player in the security and stability of the region, whereby the alliance between Riyadh and Washington underscores the common goals they share, such as economic development and prosperity, oil policy and the war on terrorism, he told Asharq Al-Awsat. Moreover, he said that Saudi Arabia saw that it was necessary to intervene militarily in Yemen to safeguard regional security. He noted that the US is helping the Kingdom defend its territories.He said that the international community has let down Yemen by failing to pursue the implementation of United Nations Security Council 2216 that bars the delivery of weapons to the war-torn country.

US-Israeli Committee Formed to Face Iranian Nuclear Program Issue
Tel Aviv- Nazir Magally/Saturday, 27 February, 2021
An Israeli-US committee to confront the Iranian nuclear program has been formed and is expected to begin its work soon at the highest national security levels, political and security sources in Tel Aviv revealed on Friday. Sources pointed to a basic disagreement between US President Joe Biden’s administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Iranian nuclear issue and the US return to the nuclear deal, noting that it requires urgent dialogue and coordination. Yet, no direct talks have yet taken place between both sides, despite reports about meetings between Israeli and US security officials.
According to Alex Fishman, the military affairs correspondent of Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, a joint committee has already been formed since former President Donald Trump’s administration and is led by heads of both countries’ National Security Councils. But it has not met recently, and it is expected to resume its work soon to re-coordinate positions on the Iranian nuclear threat, he noted. Fishman pointed out that “the Americans asked Israel to resume the committee’s meetings. However, unlike during Trump’s term, the Israeli side is now weak and less capable of influencing US decisions, he said.
Although the new administration focuses on two major issues, namely the economic crisis and the health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, it is aware of the Iranian nuclear program threat, said a senior military official in Tel Aviv. The administration wants to get rid of this threat and is aware of the importance of relieving its allies in the Middle East who are gravely concerned, he added. Fishman quoted some officials as saying that there is a serious disagreement between Netanyahu and Biden’s team over dealing with Iran. Netanyahu wants to resolve the Iranian nuclear complex based on the principle of “everything or nothing,” which means that Tehran be stripped of its nuclear resources that may lead to a military project. He also links the nuclear issue with two other threats: dismantling the ballistic missile project and halting the positioning scheme in Syria. “Until achieving both goals, an absolute boycott shall be imposed on it, and the current sanctions against it shall not be eased,” they stressed. The officials indicated that Netanyahu is very concerned about signals given by Biden’s administration to encourage the regime in Tehran. They mentioned meetings between US officials and Iranian representatives following an invitation by the European Union, as well as the announcement by Iranian Central Bank of South Korea’s unfreezing of Iranian funds and Iran’s ability to obtain loans from international funds.These steps would not occur without prior US approval, they stressed. Meanwhile, officials said that Biden’s administration sees Netanyahu’s stance as “unrealistic” and insists on resuming negotiations to reach a better agreement.

GCC Slams US Report on Khashoggi, Says Not Based on Evidence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 27 February, 2021
The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation (GCC) Council Nayef al-Hajraf expressed his support for the statements made by Saudi Arabia on the United States’ intel report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership regarding the murder of the late Jamal Khashoggi, the council said in a statement on Saturday. The assessment on the Saudi Arabian leadership’s involvement in the murder of Khashoggi is not based on conclusive evidence, Hajraf said. Hajraf affirmed his appreciation for the great and pivotal role that the Kingdom plays in enhancing regional and international peace and security, and for its great role in combating terrorism and supporting the efforts of the international community to do the same. The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that it completely rejected the negative, false, and unacceptable assessment made by the US.
“The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the statement said.

Once Ravaged by ISIS, Iraq's Sinjar Caught in New Tug-of-War
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 27 February, 2021
The ISIS group overran Sinjar in 2014 and pursued a brutal, months-long campaign of massacres, enslavement, and rape against Yazidis | AFP
Nearly six years since Iraq's Sinjar region was recaptured from militants, a tangled web of geopolitical tensions risks sparking a new conflict that could prolong the dire situation of minority Yazidis. The ISIS group overran Sinjar in 2014 and pursued a brutal, months-long campaign of massacres, enslavement, and rape against Yazidis in what the UN has said could amount to genocide. Sinjar is wedged between Turkey to the north and Syria to the west, making it a highly strategic zone long coveted by both the central government in Baghdad and autonomous Kurdish authorities of the north. The tensions have terrified the few Yazidis who returned to their ruined towns, only to face the specter of a new displacement. "We're living in the middle of so many different threats," said one of them, 46-year-old Faisal Saleh. "Sinjar's people are terrified that clashes will break out," he told AFP as he drove from his hometown in Sinjar into the adjacent Kurdish region to rent an apartment in case he needed to flee an escalation. Sinjar was retaken from ISIS in 2015 by fighters from the autonomous Kurdistan region's Peshmerga and from Syrian Kurdish units, backed by the US-led coalition. Iran-backed units from within the Iraqi Hashed al-Shaabi network of militias also took surrounding territory. This fractious patchwork of forces delayed Sinjar's revival: the federal government had barely any presence there and international aid groups were wary of investing. In an effort to kick-start reconstruction and get displaced Yazidis home, the Sinjar Agreement reached in October stipulated that the only arms in the area should be those of the federal government. But it has yet to be implemented.
- 'Explosion at any time' -
"The reality on the ground is stronger than these agreements. No one in Sinjar wants to let go of the influence they've earned there," said Yassin Tah, an analyst based in the region. "Sinjar today is a zone that brings together all the conflicting agendas and rival parties of the region. "It's in a very complicated and tense situation -- and that could lead to an explosion at any time," he told AFP. On the one hand, the autonomous Kurdish regional government (KRG) claims Sinjar is within its zone of control. The KRG is irked by the presence of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a rival faction operating in north Iraq for decades and whose Syrian branch helped fight ISIS in Sinjar.
The PKK's role also infuriates Ankara, which calls it a "terrorist" group for its decades-long insurgency in Turkey and has crossed into Iraq to bomb the PKK. "Turkey is watching Sinjar -- and it's seeing the PKK grow more powerful there," said Tah, the analyst. In January, Ankara upped the ante, bombing a mountainous region close to Sinjar and hinting it could invade. "We may come there overnight, all of a sudden," warned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan's veiled threat, in turn, gave an excuse to pro-Iran Hashed factions to insist on staying in Sinjar. The Hashed swiftly announced sending new fighters to Sinjar while one of its hardline members, Asaib Ahl al-Haq said it would "block any aggressive behavior" by Turkey.
- 'Sinjar is suffering' -
Tah said the quick mobilization was an effort to defend the Hashed's crucial smuggling route between Iraq and Syria, which crosses through Sinjar. A top Iraqi military official in Nineveh province, where Sinjar is located, even admitted the rivalries, saying Turkey, armed groups, and rival Kurds were all trying to "secure their interests via Sinjar". Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi has rushed to defuse the tensions, with a top official in his office telling AFP there was ongoing contact with Turkey to try to hold off an incursion. If conflict does erupt in Sinjar, Kadhemi would have a lot to lose, wrote Nussaibah Younis, a visiting fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations. "It would undermine the political victory that the Sinjar Agreement afforded to Kadhemi (and) burnish the image of the (Hashed) and other militia groups as defenders of Iraq at the central government's expense," Younis said. It would also "hamper the return of vulnerable displaced Yazidis to Sinjar," she wrote. Ali Abbas, spokesman for Iraq's migration ministry, told AFP there are 90,000 families from Sinjar who remain displaced, most of them in the KRG-run region. Among them is Mahma Khalil, the mayor of Sinjar. "Sinjar is suffering. We need extraordinary efforts to help stabilize it," he told AFP by phone from Duhok, an adjacent area where most of Sinjar's displaced now live. "You have to find a solution to the stability of Sinjar. You have to learn the lesson of the past."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 27- 28/2021

The Danger of Appeasing the Mullahs
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/February 27/2021
د.مجيد رافيزادا/معهد كايتستون: اخطار استرضاء الملالي والتملق لهم
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/96439/dr-majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-institute-the-danger-of-appeasing-the-mullahs-%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a7-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%83%d8%a7/

Turkey and the European Union are on the same page when it comes to pursuing appeasement policies with the Iranian regime. How do the ruling mullahs of Iran repay the favor? Through assassinations and terror plots.
After the EU began pursuing ways of appeasing Iran, and after sanctions were lifted in 2015 due to the nuclear deal (which Iran never signed), Iran's assassins and terror operatives ratcheted up their activities on the European soil.
Governments around the world need hold the Iranian regime accountable for its foreign adventurism and its reprehensible repression of dissent and peaceful protests at home. They must adopt a firm policy of expelling Iranian "diplomats" and intelligence agents like Assadi, who may be plotting further terrorist attacks. They also need to consider closing down Iranian embassies until Tehran halts its terror activities.
This month, the Turkish authorities detained an Iranian diplomat, Mohammad Reza Naderzadeh, 43, for his role in killing an Iranian dissident, Massoud Molavi Vardanjani, in November 2019. Reportedly, the Iranian diplomat was a staff member in the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul (pictured) and had forged travel documents for Ali Esfandiari, who orchestrated the assassination.
Turkey and the European Union are on the same page when it comes to pursuing appeasement policies with the Iranian regime. How do the ruling mullahs of Iran repay the favor? Through assassinations and terror plots.
This month, the Turkish authorities detained an Iranian diplomat, Mohammad Reza Naderzadeh, 43, for his role in killing an Iranian dissident, Massoud Molavi Vardanjani, in November 2019. Reportedly, the Iranian diplomat was a staff member in the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul and had forged travel documents for Ali Esfandiari, who orchestrated the assassination of Molavi Vardanjani.
The Iranian regime, it seems, targeted Molavi Vardanjani because of his social media campaign to expose corruption in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its elite Quds Force branch, and the theocrats' military establishment. After serving as an intelligence officer for the Iranian government, he defected. "I will root out the corrupt mafia commanders...," he wrote on social media. "Pray that they don't kill me before I do this."
It is not the first time that the Iranian regime has used Turkish soil to assassinate its opponents. In 2017, Saeed Karimian, a British television executive and founder of GEM TV, which runs 17 Persian-language TV channels, was shot dead in Istanbul. Before his murder, he was convicted in absentia in Iran's revolutionary court for spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. His killers, traveling on fake passports, were arrested in Serbia while travelling to Iran. An opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, stated that Karimian was assassinated by the IRGC on the direct orders of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In Iran, orders to carry out assassination on a foreign soil likely come from top. As a senior US official, who requested anonymity, in the Trump administration previously told Reuters:
"Given Iran's history of targeted assassinations of Iranian dissidents and the methods used in Turkey, the United States government believes that Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security was directly involved in Vardanjani's killing."
To appease Iran, Turkey has lax visa requirements for Iran which likely make Iran's assassination attempts in Turkey easier: it allows Iranian agents to commute more easily between Ankara and Tehran. Iranian citizens are exempt from obtaining a visa for visits to Turkey for up to 90 days.
The policy is the same for the EU. After the EU began pursuing ways of appeasing Iran, and after sanctions were lifted in 2015 due to the nuclear deal (which Iran never signed), Iran's assassins and terror operatives ratcheted up their activities on the European soil. An Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi, was put on trial in a breathtaking case that saw him accused of direct involvement in a terrorist plot in France. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors pointed out that, in June 2018, Assadi delivered 500 grams of the powerful explosive triacetone triperoxide to his accomplices with the aim of bombing a significant Iranian opposition rally in Paris. Had the plot not been discovered at the last minute, the terrorist act could have left hundreds dead, including international dignitaries and many European parliamentarians.
Another individual linked to the Iranian regime, Mohammad Davoudzadeh Loloei, 40, was sentenced to prison in June 2020 in a European court -- this time, in Denmark -- for being an accessory to the attempted murder of one or more individuals who are opponents of Iran's current regime. According to Denmark's Roskilde District Court, Loloei had collected information on a dissident, so far unnamed, and given it to Iran's intelligence service, who planned to murder the man. The information included photos of the target's house, street and surroundings. "The court found that the information was collected and passed on to a person working for an Iranian intelligence service, for use by the intelligence service's plans to kill the exile," the court's statement read.
Governments around the world need hold the Iranian regime accountable for its foreign adventurism and its reprehensible repression of dissent and peaceful protests at home. They must adopt a firm policy of expelling Iranian "diplomats" and intelligence agents like Assadi, who may be plotting further terrorist attacks. They also need to consider closing down Iranian embassies until Tehran halts its terror activities.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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What does Biden’s performative rap on Riyadh mean for Israel? - analysis
Lahav Harkov/Jerusalem Post/February 27/2021
Israeli officials are concerned that increased pressure on the Saudis, will weaken the regional alliance against Iran.
The Biden administration’s report on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, released on Friday, is as notable for what is not in it as it is for what is.
“We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the four-page report begins.
Aside from a list of names of people involved, on whom the US imposed sanctions, the contents of the report can be easily summarized in two sentences.
The people known to be involved in killing Khashoggi all belong to organizations with close ties to MBS, as the Saudi prince is known, and are unlikely to have taken such extreme action without his imprimatur. In addition, the prince has clamped down on dissidents since taking control of Saudi’s security and intelligence apparatuses in 2017, and viewed Khashoggi as a threat.
This is information that has been easily available to the public for the past two years, and anyone who has been paying attention didn’t need a report from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to know it. Which begs the question: Why was this sparse report declassified now?
US President Joe Biden already made his intentions toward the Saudis clear during his election campaign. Focusing on the Khashoggi killing in particular, as well as their part in the civil war in Yemen, he highlighted the kingdom’s human rights violations – which are myriad and reprehensible, it must be said.
Of course, sadly, there are unconscionable violations of human rights by regimes across the Middle East and around the world, but Saudi Arabia seemed to be the target of great opprobrium from Biden.
This could very well be because of how close the Trump administration was with the Saudis, and MBS in particular, even when it became apparent that the prince was personally responsible for many of those abuses.
THE FOCUS on Saudi abuses, as opposed to those of the violent theocratic regime on the other side of the Gulf – the Islamic Republic of Iran – is a symptom of another reversal from Trump administration policy: that Biden seeks to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have, of course, long been rivals seeking hegemony, or at least leadership, in the region. Saudi and Iranian proxies have faced off in Yemen, and Iran has been behind attacks on Saudi oil fields, among others.
The Biden administration is apparently still on the side of the Saudis, but it’s taking a very large, public step back. “The aim is a recalibration [ties] – not a rupture,” a senior official told Reuters on Friday. “That’s because of the important interests that we do share.”
The light-on-details DNI report released this weekend is a bit of performative justification of that recalibration, the details of which the US is expected to announce in the coming days. They’ve already started with the sanctions on officials, which stopped short of imposing them on MBS.
Israel is watching warily. Saudi-Israel ties have grown closer in recent years, so much so that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly met with MBS in Saudi Arabia in November.
Those relations, like Israel’s now-official ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, deepened despite the regional taboo against associations with the Jewish state, because of the countries’ shared concerns about the Iranian threat – nuclear and otherwise – and Jerusalem’s willingness to take a stand against Tehran.
Yet the relations never came to fruition because, even though both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have a crown prince looking towards modernization and greater openness, the kingdom still has King Salman above MBS, and the king retains the more traditional Arab view toward Israel.
Still, KAN reported this week that Israeli and Saudi officials have spoken on the phone several times in recent weeks to discuss the Biden administration’s moves towards returning to the Iran deal and its increased focus on human rights violations by Saudi Arabia.
ISRAELI OFFICIALS are concerned that increased pressure on the Saudis, as well as Egypt, will weaken the regional alliance against Iran at a time when the US is showing less willingness to confront the regime of the ayatollahs. Another concern is that Riyadh will be discouraged from strengthening or even maintaining their ties with Jerusalem if they don’t help them in Washington.
There is, however, another possibility. It was during the Obama administration, which was truly soft on Iran, that Israel’s ties with Gulf states intensified, bringing them together to protect themselves against a Tehran whose malign behavior was not constrained and whose nuclear project was only postponed by the 2015 agreement, not prevented.
To be fair, the Biden administration says it won’t lift sanctions until Iran returns to compliance with the nuclear deal’s enrichment limitations, and that it wants to push for a stricter deal that will address the problems with the old one, which Israel pointed out back then and have come true in the ensuing years.
Time will tell if that comes to be – though the lifting of restrictions on Iranian diplomats to the UN and the possible release of Iranian funds from South Korean banks don’t send a particularly encouraging message to US allies in the Middle East.
As such, the Saudis and Israelis may continue to be thrown together by a common enemy in Iran – though that would be a small comfort compared to the letdown if Israel’s greatest ally, the US, chooses to appease the ayatollahs who seek the Jewish state’s destruction.

55 years after execution in Syria, Israeli spy Eli Cohen makes headlines
Daniel Sonnenfeld/Media On Line/February 27/2021
A new video released by a Russian news network purports to show Cohen walking in Damascus; his legendary status and recent talk of Israeli-Syrian normalization behind the headlines, experts say.
Russian news giant RT recently released a video it says shows Eli Cohen, the famous Israeli spy, walking in a Damascus street. The video, unclear and no more than a few seconds in length, has generated headlines throughout the region, both in Arabic and in Hebrew. Experts attribute the interest to Cohen’s legendary status and recent Russian efforts to try and facilitate a normalization agreement between the two enemy countries.
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This story is one that could easily have found its way to the pages of a thriller novel. An Israeli agent, born and raised in Egypt, infiltrates the highest strata of Syrian political and military leadership at the height of animosity between the countries. Using his connections, he visits military bases and outposts, gathering information that former Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol later said “saved Israel many brigades” during the 1967 war, and brought victory to the small country.
While it may seem beyond the limits of imagination, this is exactly the story of Eli Cohen, an Israeli intelligence agent who was later caught, tried and hanged in a Damascus square. And despite the decades that have passed, his memory continues to be strongly present in the region.
RT recently released a documentary, titled “Spyfall,” about Cohen that includes the video clip, shot by a former Soviet military official, that purports to show the Israeli agent. And while the video is just seconds long, and one cannot even be sure that it is, indeed, Cohen who saunters through the frame, Arab and Israeli media have generated dozens of articles about those few seconds.
Oraib al-Rantawi, founder and director general of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, points to current events as a major contributor to the great interest in the video. The video was released while in the background there are “serious actions by the Russians and by the Syrian government” to find the remains of Cohen and Israeli soldiers killed in Syria long ago, he told The Media Line.
“I hear news from my colleagues in Damascus,” he said. “Russian experts, everyday almost, digging in the Yarmouk cemetery, where it is expected his body may be buried.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday that Russian forces have been digging for more than three weeks in the cemetery at the Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus in search of the remains of the Israeli agent as well as Israeli soldiers.
Al-Rantawi says recent talk of possible normalization between Israel and Syria is also generating interest in the video. People are watching the video "carefully," trying to understand who's behind it and why it has been released now – and what message it is trying to convey, he said,
“In a time in which we are fully aware of the Russian attempt to enter the Middle East peace process through the Syrian gate” by trying to bring the Syrians and Israelis to the negotiating table, the video is attracting attention as people try “to understand if there is a message behind it, from Russia, from Damascus, and what it may mean for the upcoming scenarios when it comes to the Syrian-Israeli relationship.”
Dr. Marwa Maziad, a scholar in the Washington DC-based Middle East Institute and an expert on civil military relations, also connects the video and the interest it generated to Russia’s recent activity in the region. The video “is almost a Russia-Israel conversation,” she told The Media Line, with Russa “telling Israel that we’re in Syria, Syria is our ally, we’re present here.”
The interest the video generated in Israel, she believes, has to do with the Russian message reiterating their alliance with the Syrians on one hand, but also signaling the Russian ability to help Israel. The Arab world, in turn, is following what it correctly identifies as a conversation between Israel and Russia, wondering where it will lead. Maziad estimates that a Russian-brokered, Israeli-Syrian relationship would be welcomed by many Arab countries, as this would distance Assad from his Iranian ally, and lower the chances of an Islamist uprising ousting a strengthened Syrian regime.
Brig. Gen. Ephraim Lapid, a retired senior intelligence officer in the IDF and author of the book “The Israeli Intelligence Community: An Insider’s View,” grounded Israeli attention to the video in more distant events. “He was the only one in our history, in all 70 years of the country that as an [intelligence] combat operative in a target country was caught, tried, executed – and his body was never recovered,” Lapid told The Media Line.
Lapid also emphasized Cohen’s significant contribution to Israel’s security. “It really was a long time ago, we are talking about more than 50 years, but on the other hand, we are talking about a combat operative whose intelligence contribution is very significant,” he said.
The information supplied by Cohen proved very valuable in Israel’s conflict with Syria over the water from the Jordan River, during a period when the issue was central to the small country and Syria intended to divert the river’s flow, Lapid said. To this day, Cohen is recognized throughout Israel as “our man in Damascus,” a moniker Lapid says was coined by journalists many years ago, and later became a part of Israeli folklore.
Lapid believes that the prominence of Cohen’s character in the Arab world has to do with the sense of triumph that accompanied his capture. The Arab countries knew that he was the only Israeli spy they had managed to capture, “and for them it was a big accomplishment.”
Al-Rantawi said Cohen’s successful escapades, rather than his hanging, have captured the public’s imagination. “He became a legendary spy and all the stories around him are attractive to the public,” he said. The masterful infiltration into Syria’s elite circles, he said, had generated stories – not all of them true – that circulated in the Arab world. “Since I was a kid, I still remember what my father told me about Eli Cohen, and I was very young,” he said.

Beyond Khashoggi: How the US and Saudi Arabia fell out and might ‘reset’
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/February 27/2021
Saudi Arabia only received a bit of credit for its reforms that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced.
The US decision to release a declassified intelligence report on the murder of former Saudi Arabia insider Jamal Khashoggi could either represent part of the long-term shift in US-Saudi relations or a nadir before a reset.
Ostensibly, the release embarrasses the kingdom. However, like many things relating to how markets and foreign relations perform, this should have been factored in. What this means is that the ire and wrath that was already poured out on Riyadh has been growing for years.
What is actually happening here? It was widely known, or at least suspected to the degree that it becomes a fact, that Riyadh was to blame for the killing of Khashoggi. He disappeared after entering the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul in 2018. When people go into a consulate and don’t come out, that generally means the country disappeared them.
Turkey also used the incident, which it may have had real-time knowledge of or even forewarning about, to push a crisis with Saudi Arabia.
This is because when it comes to the Khashoggi affair, there were many things taking place at the same time. He was killed for being a dissident and for embarrassing the kingdom. As a former insider with deep ties to the country, the fact that he went to Qatar, at the time a kind of arch enemy, and was slamming Saudi Arabia in Western and Turkish media, was a problem for Riyadh.
Khashoggi also had deep ties with the foreign policy and think-tank establishment in the US. There doesn’t seem to have been an influential person he didn’t know. For a Saudi government always sensitive to its image in the West – which has worked hard for decades to make sure that high level former regime insiders don’t turn up as critics abroad – silencing him became a priority.
SAUDI ARABIA’S actions are not historically unusual. The Soviet Union and Russia have hunted down former insider dissidents abroad; so has Turkey.
But Saudi Arabia’s decision to hunt down Khashoggi in Turkey, a NATO member – and to seemingly attack a writer for key Western media – was seen as different than former KGB agents being poisoned in the UK, or Kurdish or Iranian activists being murdered in Austria or Paris.
That is how the region ended up here. The Khashoggi killing was front page news in Turkish and Qatari state media for months, primarily because they wanted to hurt the kingdom’s image in the West, harm its relations with Washington and personally weaken the rising power of Mohammed Bin Salman.
Western media often doesn’t understand how state media works in Ankara or Doha, and also often doesn’t understand how stories are fed to media from those countries, or how Western lobbyists are employed to tar the images of Qatar’s or Turkey’s enemies.
Saudi Arabia in this case walked right into this by killing its dissident and not realizing that this would have a major impact on the West. Turkey, the largest jailer of journalists, was suddenly talking about a murdered journalist.
Khashoggi’s murder was unusual in Turkey because it is usually Ankara crushing journalists or sending groups it backs in Syria to kill critics and activists, like Hevrin Khalaf. Qatar, which has no press freedom, was suddenly talking press freedom.
Khashoggi has become a symbol and martyr in the West. This is particularly true among his many friends and contacts in the US, many of whom had relied on him for details about Saudi Arabia prior to his leaving the country and becoming a dissident. He was one of the chief explainers of the largely opaque kingdom for some Westerners who were interested in Saudi Arabia between the early 1990s and 2018.
THE LARGER picture then of what happened with Saudi Arabia, and some of what may have driven those who ordered the killing of Khashoggi, is that the kingdom felt threatened by rapidly changing landscapes in the Middle East. It’s not hard to understand this. A rising Iran and a US policy that appears to be set on withdrawal from the region are part of this change.
Remember that the US had gone into the region heavily in 1990 to stop Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, and that US bases in Saudi Arabia served as the excuse for Bin Laden’s declaration of war on the US.
The US and Saudi Arabia are still key partners. The Trump administration once boasted of securing a $110 billion arms deal with Riyadh in 2018 that could see $450 billion in investments in the US. That was classic Trump-doctrine transactional diplomacy. Washington even sought to have Riyadh invest in eastern Syria, according to some reports.
The billions Trump promised also didn’t materialize, at least not by 2020. Some billions did, but the US may block offensive weapons sales now under the Biden administration.
It’s not clear if Riyadh gambled on Trump in 2017, but what is clear is that any fallout from the Khashoggi killing in 2018 should have been factored in by now. Qatar and Saudi Arabia appeared to patch things up as a kind of new page for the new US administration.
Talk of Saudi Arabia and Israel moving forward on certain issues has been in the air for years as well. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia in November 2020 and Riyadh opened airspace for Israeli flights to Dubai. Riyadh also supported the new Abraham Accords. Even back in 2018, reports in media claimed, with no evidence, that Saudi Arabia was interested in acquiring Israeli air defense systems.
THE US rupture in relations with Riyadh is part of a larger process. It is also part of a larger regional context. America has problems with Turkey as well, as Ankara becomes more anti-Western, closer to Russia and more extreme and authoritarian.
Biden and his administration have promised that “America is back” and that they will root US policies in human rights. This puts them potentially at odds with all US friends, partners and allies in the Middle East, because when it comes to human rights issues, the US has a lot of complaints against Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt Jordan and the Kurdistan region in Iraq.
America doesn’t always voice these concerns. Since it can’t be left without any friends in the region – and isn’t doing Cold War style diplomacy anymore, preferring dictators to democrats, and is trying to get beyond the 1990s and 2000s era of policies – it may find that it needs a reset with Saudi Arabia sooner rather than later.
For that to happen, the administration appears to have now wanted to lay out on the table what it knows and to show it will punish some of those involved. Will it go beyond this? That’s the question being asked now in the Gulf, Israel and elsewhere.