English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 03/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/33-36/:”‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 02-03/2020

Health Ministry: 2520 new cases of Corona, 10 deaths
Lebanon has ‘lost control’ of COVID-19, says health committee
Report: Lebanon Enters ‘Critical Stage’ as COVID-19 Cases Surge
Medics Warn of Coronavirus 'Catastrophe' in Lebanon
Lebanon on Verge of ‘Difficult’ Pandemic Phase
Lebanon faces risk of ‘catastrophe’ dealing with pandemic
New Year Message from the UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander
Lebanon: Rai Blames Government Deadlock on ‘Interests’ of Political Parties
Israeli Official Predicts War with Hezbollah in Near Future
Lebanon: Stray Bullets Kill Syrian Refugee, Hit 3 Planes on New Year’s Eve
Lebanon New Year Celebratory Gunfire Kills Syrian, Damages Plane
Report: Government Deadlock Drags
October 17th activists stage a sitin outside Judge Sawan's residence in Ashrafieh: To continue investigations immediately, without delay!
Army: Three persons arrested in Hermel for causing the death of one soldier, wounding another
Three enemy breaches of Lebanon's territorial waters off Ras alNaqoura
Caretaker Defense Minister inspects First Land Border Regiment deployed along Lebanon's northern borders
Hankash: Lebanon is not a 'mailbox' and it belongs solely to the Lebanese!
Hariri's Advisor: Lebanon will not be the confrontation front line on Iran's behalf!
Adwan: Following our alerts yesterday, we reached what was expected with the Corona numbers!
Jumblatt: To adopt sterilization in villages and cities as a risk reminder
Zahle, West Bekaa Land Registry Secretariats to close for 3 days
Education Minister: To adopt distance learning, suspend class attendance throughout the upcoming week
Hajj Hassan confirms 'resistance axis stronger than ever'

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 02-03/2020

Iran FM Urges Trump to Avoid Israel ‘Trap’ to Provoke War
Israel may try to provoke war with attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq Iran's Zarif
Iran General Warns US: Military Ready to Respond to Pressure
Iran Plans 20% Uranium Enrichment 'As Soon As Possible'
Tehran escalates threats against US on Soleimani’s killing anniversary
Bitcoin Passes $30,000 for the First Time
New Year OPEC+ Meeting to Decide Production Levels
Car Bomb Kills Five in Turkish-controlled Syria
Car Bomb Explodes in Vegetable Market in Syrian Border Town
Syria Blasts U.S. for Sanctions, Following UN Expert's Remarks
Yemen's PM says airport attack aimed to 'eliminate' Cabinet
5 Women Killed as Blast Hits Yemen Wedding Hall
Palestinian Left Quadraplegic by Israeli Army Fire
Turkish Nationals among 4 Dead in Somalia Bombing
Mass Rave in France Breaks Up amid Virus Fears
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 02-03/2020

Iran and the US, Dilemmas of Security/Charles Elias Chartouni/January 02/2021
Syria 2020: Between Asma Al-Assad and Rami Makhlouf/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/January 02/2021
Is peace with the Gulf states real? Yes, it is - opinion/David M. Weinberg/The Jerusalem Post/January 02/2021
Tehran’s hope for a happy nuclear new year - opinion/Ruthie Blum/The Jerusalem Post/January 02/2021
Follow the money: Hunting terrorists and their state sponsors - opinion/Avi Jorisch/The Jerusalem Post/January 02/2021
China: Paying US Media to Publish Propaganda/'Borrowing a Boat to Go Out on the Ocean'/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 02/2021
2021 will be a brighter year — if we make it so/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/January 02/2021
How Iran is still playing Soleimani’s ‘long game’/Joseph Hammond/Arab News/January 02/2021
 

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 02-03/2020

Health Ministry: 2520 new cases of Corona, 10 deaths
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
The Ministry of Public Health announced, on Saturday, that 2520 new Corona cases have been reported, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 186,408.It also indicated that 10 death cases were also registered during the past 24 hours.
 

Lebanon has ‘lost control’ of COVID-19, says health committee
Najia Houssari/Arab News/January 02/2021
BEIRUT: Lebanon has lost control of COVID-19 due to the chaos seen in the past few weeks, the head of the parliamentary health committee MP Assem Araji said on Saturday, and a nationwide closure of up to six weeks has been recommended to contain the crisis. The committee, which met on Saturday, has been monitoring the spread of the disease. It has recommended a lockdown, excluding Beirut’s international airport, for between three and six weeks. It also recommended imposing a curfew, with the hours to be determined later. A final decision will be made on Monday. Committee members said that the number of cases may exceed 5,000 per day due to social events held during the New Year period.
“Hospital emergency departments are full of patients,” the committee said. “There are only 51 vacant intensive care units (ICUs) out of 515 rooms in all Lebanese hospitals. The remaining ICUs are filled with critical cases.”The secretary-general of the Lebanese Red Cross, Georges Kettaneh, said that hospitals in Beirut were no longer able to accommodate new cases. “We are contemplating with the concerned parties the possibility of transferring these patients to hospitals outside Beirut and Mount Lebanon.”Some hospitals were prioritizing young people and not the elderly, while others were left with no vacant beds at all to receive patients, he added. “Red Cross volunteers are transferring coronavirus patients from Beirut and Mount Lebanon to Nabatiyeh, Hermel, Akkar, and other areas. There are people who are dying in their homes.”Araji, who is a cardiologist, said that 100 patients had entered ICUs in the first two days of January.
“The death toll has reached 422 in one month, and the occupancy rate of ICUs has become 95 percent, which necessitates imposing a three-week full closure across the country as soon as possible because the health sector is also in danger and heading toward disaster. There are about 2,000 doctors and nurses in quarantine as they have contracted COVID-19.”Former health minister, Mohamed Jawad Khalifa, said that “blunder” and a lack of planning had brought Lebanon to this point. “The closure to be imposed is pointless if the state has no plans to take responsibility,” he told Arab News. “One party in the state should have taken a decision, not 50 parties that express their opinions through committees. The large number of opinions has crippled us, and now we are following in the footsteps of Italy. What was required, as London and other capitals did, was to cancel elective surgeries in all public and private hospitals and have all hospitals receive COVID-19 cases. Then, the hospitals are responsible for them. In Britain, even kidney transplants have been canceled, but our country is run by a failed state.”
He added that a number of doctors preferred to be quarantined rather than work for free – in light of the collapse of the Lebanese pound – and expose themselves to health risks.The Lebanese have been sharing videos of New Year COVID-19 violations. They also shared videos of people rushing to take PCR tests after the holidays. The Health, Labor, and Social Affairs Committee said that medical information from several sources was indicating a “catastrophic situation” in most Beirut hospitals and the rest of the governorates because the occupancy rates exceeded 95 percent, and there was an increasing demand for intensive care. The committee added that a full closure would “allow the health sector to catch its breath.” Sharaf Abou Sharaf, the head of the Lebanese Order of Physicians in Beirut, criticized the decision to prioritize the economy over health. “The economic collapse can be compensated for later, but the fear today is that Lebanon has started to enter the Italian scenario.”
Dr. Firas Al-Abyad is director of the Hariri Governmental University Hospital, which is dedicated to receiving COVID-19 cases. He said: “The healthcare system will undergo a difficult test in the coming weeks, and time does not allow for crying. An urgent response is required.” There is disagreement and recrimination between people with economic interests and healthcare officials about who is responsible for the outbreak of COVID-19 during the holidays. The owners of tourist establishments, restaurants, and cafes refused to close during the festive period, and they sought to blame people who did not comply with the preventive measures. The secretary-general of the Tourism and Trade Unions Federation, Jean Beiruti, insisted on allowing tourist establishments that complied with the measures to continue operating and supported closing businesses that violated them. But Khalifa said a fragmented approach to the pandemic was to blame. “When we leave municipalities to decide which villages to isolate and which to open, and when ministers and unions express many opinions during the meetings of the committees concerned with the outbreak of COVID-19, each of which has its agenda, and recommendations are ping-ponged between committees, it becomes too late to fix things.”

Report: Lebanon Enters ‘Critical Stage’ as COVID-19 Cases Surge
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Lebanon awaits the decision of the ministerial committee concerned with following up on the coronavirus file, with the country ending 2020 and setting a record of more than 3,000 daily cases for the first time since the outbreak of the virus in February 21, media reports said Saturday. The Prime Minister’s Public Health Adviser, Petra Khoury, said the number of coronavirus cases will “surpass all expectations,” necessitating “quick and drastic” decisions in 2021 to control the spread and face the challenges. Khoury said Lebanon is on the verge of a difficult phase in January and February, pointing to a significant shortage of ICU hospital beds for coronavirus patients. She said the “problem is very complex and Lebanon needs a change in the behavior of citizens,” explaining “the cruelty of the stage during the onset of winter season where people gather in indoor spaces, in addition to the start of the flu season.”
Authorities are expected to impose a new total lockdown in Lebanon after registering a record high of coronavirus cases after the Christmas and New Year Eve festivities. Lebanon recorded 2,385 new cases on Friday and 11 deaths. Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab had earlier said that Lebanon tends to go for a lockdown after the holidays if the cases continue to rise. The total number of coronavirus cases in Lebanon reached 181,500, and 1400 deaths since the first cases was detected in February.

Medics Warn of Coronavirus 'Catastrophe' in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Lebanon's hospitals are being overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, medics warned Saturday, as infection rates surge in the wake of end of year holidays. The national Covid-19 task force was to meet later the same day and expected to advise a three-week lockdown, said Petra Khoury, its head. Lebanon, with a population of around six million, has recorded 183,888 coronavirus cases, including 1,466 deaths, since February. On Thursday, it hit a daily record of more than 3,500 new cases. In what he termed a "catastrophic" situation, Sleiman Haroun, head of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, said "the 50 private hospitals in the country receiving patients with Covid-19 are now almost full". They have a total of 850 beds, including 300 in intensive care units, Haroun said. "Patients are now waiting in line... waiting for a bed to be free," he told AFP. After imposing tight restrictions in November to combat the spread of the pandemic, the government relaxed rules. Ahead of the December holidays, the government pushed back a nighttime curfew to 3:00 am and allowed nightclubs and bars to reopen. This prompted criticism from health professionals who warned bed occupancy in intensive care units was running critically low. "The problem is that once a patient is admitted to intensive care, they stay there for three weeks," said Khoury. The "gatherings and private parties" of the December holiday season have fed a dramatic rise in cases, Khoury said. "Over the past three weeks, the occupancy rate of intensive care units has increased by 10 percent," pushing the occupancy of hospital beds in Beirut to over 90 percent of capacity. Lebanon has been grappling with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The Lebanese pound has lost more than two thirds of its value against the dollar on the black market, leading prices to skyrocket. More than half of the population is trapped in poverty, according to the United Nations. Beirut was also hit by an August 4 explosion at its port that killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of the capital. "We have been asked by several hospitals not to transfer patients to them," Lebanese Red Cross president Georges Kettaneh told AFP. Instead, the Red Cross was taking patients to the Bekaa in the east or Nabatiyeh in the south. Lebanon is expecting to receive its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines in February from Pfizer-BioNTech.

Lebanon on Verge of ‘Difficult’ Pandemic Phase
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Lebanon is awaiting the decision the Coronavirus Follow-up Committee on Monday on whether to impose a new lockdown in the country amid a record spike in new infections as people flouted health precautions to celebrate the holidays.
Lebanon registered over 3,000 cases in a single day on Thursday for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak. The number of cases will be unprecedented, the prime minister’s health affairs adviser Dr. Petra Khoury warned on Friday, urging the need to take swift decisions in 2021 and introduce “radical changes in how we deal with challenges.”She predicted that Lebanon was in store for a “difficult” period, especially in January and February, adding that decisive measures should be taken to protect citizens and healthcare workers in order to slow the spread of the virus. “The number of infections is expected to rise in the coming two months of winter and the start of the flu season while people are expected to stay in closed areas,” she said. The people should change the way they approach the pandemic and take health precautions more seriously, Khoury urged. The Health Ministry on Thursday confirmed 3,507 new cases and 12 deaths. Since the outbreak, Lebanon has registered 181,500 infections and over 1,400 fatalities.

Lebanon faces risk of ‘catastrophe’ dealing with pandemic
The Arab Weekly/January 02/2021
With a population of around six million, the country has recorded 183,888 coronavirus cases, including 1,466 deaths, since February.
BEIRUT--Lebanon’s hospitals are being overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, medics warned Saturday, as infection rates surge in the wake of end of year holidays. The national Covid-19 task force was to meet later the same day and expected to advise a three-week lockdown, said Petra Khoury, its head. Lebanon, with a population of around six million, has recorded 183,888 coronavirus cases, including 1,466 deaths, since February. On Thursday, it hit a daily record of more than 3,500 new cases. In what he termed a “catastrophic” situation, Sleiman Haroun, head of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals, said “the 50 private hospitals in the country receiving patients with Covid-19 are now almost full”. They have a total of 850 beds, including 300 in intensive care units, Haroun said. “Patients are now waiting in line… waiting for a bed to be free,” he said. After imposing tight restrictions in November to combat the spread of the pandemic, the government relaxed rules. Ahead of the December holidays, the government pushed back a nighttime curfew to 3:00 am and allowed nightclubs and bars to reopen. This prompted criticism from health professionals who warned bed occupancy in intensive care units was running critically low. “The problem is that once a patient is admitted to intensive care, they stay there for three weeks,” said Khoury. The “gatherings and private parties” of the December holiday season have fed a dramatic rise in cases, Khoury said. “Over the past three weeks, the occupancy rate of intensive care units has increased by 10 percent,” pushing the occupancy of hospital beds in Beirut to over 90 percent of capacity. Lebanon has been grappling with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The Lebanese pound has lost more than two thirds of its value against the dollar on the black market, leading prices to skyrocket. More than half of the population is trapped in poverty, according to the United Nations. Beirut was also hit by an August 4 explosion at its port that killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of the capital. “We have been asked by several hospitals not to transfer patients to them,” Lebanese Red Cross president Georges Kettaneh said. Instead, the Red Cross was taking patients to the Bekaa in the east or Nabatiyeh in the south. Lebanon is expecting to receive its first shipment of coronavirus vaccines in February from Pfizer-BioNTech.

New Year Message from the UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Marking the New Year's onset, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Stefano Del Col, delivered the following address to the Lebanese: In wishing you all a very Happy New Year, let me take this opportunity to thank everyone as well as UNIFIL troop contributing countries and the UN Security Council for ensuring" that UNIFIL was able to carry out its mandate as well as preserve the continued stability that we have witnessed in southern Lebanon since 2006. In 2020, we saw occasional yet serious tensions across the Blue Line, along with heated rhetoric in both Lebanon and Israel. The presence of more than 11,000 civilian and military peacekeepers is a deterrent to a resumption of conflict and a factor of stability for the country. The more than 450 daily activities our peacekeepers carry out have deterred escalations, something we should all be proud of. As a UN peace operation, we did our utmost to implement the Mission's mandate, but the absence of hostilities over the last 14 years must not lead to complacency. In 2021, we need to see more determination coming from all of us, UNIFIL and the parties as a necessary tool to move towards the full implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701. The adoption of Security Council resolution 2539 in August 2020, renewing UNIFIL's mandate for one year, demonstrated the Council's unanimous support for the work of UNIFIL and strengthens our resolve to pursue our mission with renewed vigour. Despite the challenges of the past year, we have also had some glimmers of hope. New developments in the south of Lebanon show promise. We need to look ahead and take further steps to mark the Blue Line and settle disputed areas as an important deconfliction measure. The commitment of the parties is of paramount importance. Our success depends on the parties' continued collaboration and support, and on finding mutually agreeable security arrangements to reduce the potential for tension and misunderstandings. We will continue to support, and exert all our efforts to increase the capacity of, our strategic partners, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), in southern Lebanon, both on the ground and at sea. The continued support of the international community for the LAF as the sole and legitimate provider of security is a crucial factor in the maintenance of peace and security in south of Lebanon. In 2021, let's continue to build on the progress we've made, together."

Lebanon: Rai Blames Government Deadlock on ‘Interests’ of Political Parties
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai slammed political parties over the obstacles facing the government formation process “for the sake of immediate or future calculations and interests.”His comments came as the country faces a government deadlock since the designation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to form the new cabinet more than two months ago. Speaking on Friday during New Year’s mass sermon, the patriarch stressed that no political party or group had the right “to hinder the formation of the government for the sake of current or future interests, while Lebanon is moving fast towards complete collapse and bankruptcy.” The patriarch is set to resume his initiative to bring the view of President Michel Aoun and Hariri closer on the cabinet formation. French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to resolve the government deadlock has faced internal obstacles. The international community linked its economic and financial support to the country with the formation of a cabinet that will begin implementing much needed reforms. “It is truly shameful that the New Year begins without a new government that is focused on its work. It is also disgraceful for those obstructing its formation to deal with the Lebanese problem as if it were one of the chess stones of the Middle East or the major countries,” Rai remarked. The patriarch stressed that any solution to Lebanon’s problems, whether it was the outcome of local efforts or of cooperation with the international community and the Arab world, should be in the interest of Lebanon and all the Lebanese.

Israeli Official Predicts War with Hezbollah in Near Future
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
A senior official in the Israeli army Northern Command expected a conflict to erupt between the Hezbollah party in Lebanon and his country in the near future. In remarks to Israel Hayom on Thursday, he said that “Hezbollah was very likely to try and perpetuate a cross-border attack in the near term, and that Israelis should consider the possibility that this path was inevitable.”He vowed that the military will “retaliate forcefully to such Hezbollah provocations.” “The northern border could see a resumption of full-fledged hostilities,” the official said. “I am sure that we will see some incident that will eclipse the Shebaa Farms event, which could result in fatalities. There is a high probability of this materializing, and this requires all of us to prepare accordingly; the chances of a sudden escalation is increasing steadily.”In July 2020, Hezbollah carried out an operation against the Israeli army in the disputed Shebaa Farms area at the Lebanese-Israeli border. Dozens of Israeli shells hit the area along the frontier. Fires burned and smoke rose from the area, but no casualties were reported by Israel or Hezbollah. The operation was made in response to an Israeli attack in Syria in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed a week earlier. The Shebaa Farms area is occupied by Israel and claimed by Lebanon. The United Nations regards the territory as part of Syrian land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Lebanon: Stray Bullets Kill Syrian Refugee, Hit 3 Planes on New Year’s Eve
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Celebratory gunfire to ring in the New Year in Lebanon left a displaced Syrian woman in the Taybeh camp near Baalbek dead, and injured a child in the Choueifat area and another person in Tripoli. The director-general of Middle East Airlines (MEA), Mohammed Al-Hout, confirmed that three planes were hit by stray bullets. Such bullets also fell on the roofs of residential buildings in Beirut, its southern suburbs, Tripoli in the north, and the Baalbek and Hermel governorates in eastern Lebanon. Palestinian camps also witnessed intense gunfire, especially in Rashidiya, Burj Al-Shamali and Al-Bass (southern Lebanon). Security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the relevant bodies were searching for a number of people for firing on New Year’s Eve. “The most important element is community awareness. Therefore, security agencies often carry out awareness campaigns for this purpose,” they said.
The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) issued a statement warning of random shooting on New Year’s Eve and calling on citizens to report any violation. Beirut MP Roula Tabsh condemned the practice. “It is neither manhood nor heroism, shooting over people's heads,” she said. “It is a backward and criminal phenomenon.”She urged the security and judicial bodies to “strike hard.”“It is unacceptable that we fall hostages to some outlaws,” she stated.

Lebanon New Year Celebratory Gunfire Kills Syrian, Damages Plane
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Celebratory gunshots to mark the New Year killed a Syrian woman in eastern Lebanon and damaged a parked aeroplane at Beirut airport Friday, state media and a company source said. Stray bullets from such gunfire are a source of constant worry across the country, but Lebanese authorities have struggled to stamp out the often deadly tradition. The Syrian refugee died "after being wounded in the head by a stray bullet" that fell on her camp in the eastern town of Baalbek, the National News Agency said. In the run-up to the New Year's Eve celebrations, security forces on social media had repeatedly warned against firing shots in the air, even specifically mentioning the danger of doing so near the airport. But images circulated on social media showed many people had ignored that advice. A source from Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines told AFP gunfire had damaged one of the company's planes parked on the tarmac at Beirut airport. The Airbus A321neo, only delivered to MEA last year, would need to be repaired but all other planes were undamaged and able to take off as scheduled, the source said. Officially, celebratory gunfire is illegal in Lebanon, where firearm ownership remains widespread three decades after the end of its 1975-1990 civil war.In September, Lebanese football player Mohamed Atwi died after being injured the previous month by a stray bullet.

Report: Government Deadlock Drags
Naharnet/January 02/2021
Lebanese leaders are still incapable of finding common ground to form a much-needed government in a country crippled by multiple crises, adding to an aggravating coronavirus outbreak, media reports said Saturday. “The President is impairing the formation of a government armed by the jurisdictions granted to him by the Constitution,” said Moustafa Allouch, al-Mustaqbal Movement official and adviser to PM-designate Saad Hariri said on Saturday. “Forming a government the way suggested by President Michel Aoun will only lead to further deterioration. It will fail miserably,” said Allouch, noting that Hariri seeks to form a government without granting a blocking third (veto power) to any party to obstruct the government decisions. Allouch accused Hizbullah and Free Patriotic Movement chief, MP Jebran Bassil of delaying the formation until the new U.S. President Joe Biden assumes office in January. Hariri met Aoun last week, their thirteenth and last meeting in 2020 on the government, after which the PM-designate announced that “clear complications” are still delaying the formation of the new government. A statement issued by the Presidency also said that "no final agreement was reached during the meeting."
Meanwhile, Bkirki sources of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi blamed the responsibility on Baabda, mainly Bassil, who is also the son-in-law of Aoun, MTV station reported. The sources said Rahi’s remarks earlier this week were referring to Bassil. Rahi, occasionally, criticizes the adamant attempts of some parties obstructing the cabinet formation in order to get an obstructing third in the government. “There are so many question marks revolving around the delayed government formation. A failure to agree on unified standards and the attempts of some to take Lebanon hostage for their own interest are some of these reasons,” he said. “Things are truly complicated,” he added.

October 17th activists stage a sitin outside Judge Sawan's residence in Ashrafieh: To continue investigations immediately, without delay!
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
A protest march set out this afternoon from Sassine Square in Ashrafieh towards the residence of Judge Fadi Sawan, organized by activists from the October 17th Movement, urging Sawan to pursue his investigations into the Beirut Port explosion with no further delay. Protesters stressed the need to unveil the truth about the blast and to hold the perpetrators accountable, away from any procrastination, silence, and contradictory behavior. "Every minute you give the criminals, you allow them extra time to obscure the facts. The blood of the Lebanese is more important than immunities, parliamentarians, ministers and presidents, and more important than the Court of Cassation and yourself...Every minute that is wasted increases the suffering of the families of the victims and the injured, and increases the suffering of detainees who may be innocent," said Elise Mokarzel, who spoke on behalf of the activists partaking in the sit-in. "We have come to tell you to proceed with the investigations immediately and without any further delay...You are obliged to inform the public opinion about who brought in the nitrates, traded in the nitrates and detonated the nitrates," she said, urging Judge Sawan not to betray his people, not to cover-up the crime, and to set an example to his fellow judges and achieve justice for the people at all costs.

Army: Three persons arrested in Hermel for causing the death of one soldier, wounding another
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Lebanese Army Command - Orientation Directorate issued a communiqué this evening, in which it indicated that "on January 2, 2021, an Intelligence patrol unit in the town of Hermel arrested three suspects involved in shooting at a vehicle in which two soldiers and a civilian from the town were riding, causing the death of soldier Bashar Allam and the injury of another."The communiqué added that the detained individuals are currently being interrogated under the supervision of the concerned judiciary.

Three enemy breaches of Lebanon's territorial waters off Ras alNaqoura
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Lebanese Army Command - Orientation Directorate issued a statement on Saturday, in which it indicated that "on January 1 & 2, 2021, between the hours of 16:04 and 4:30, three marine violations of the Lebanese territorial waters were recorded off Ras al-Naqoura, to a maximum distance of about 185 meters, where a flare bomb was fired from one enemy gunboat over the aforementioned water zone."The breaches are under follow-up by the Army units in coordination with the UN Interim Forces in South Lebanon.

Caretaker Defense Minister inspects First Land Border Regiment deployed along Lebanon's northern borders
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Zeina Akar, inspected today the First Land Border Regiment deployed on the northern borders, accompanied by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Brigadier General Bassam Yassin, and the Director of Army Intelligence in the North, Colonel Nazih al-Beqai, alongside a number of army officers. The Regiment's Commander, Colonel Milad Saliba, and senior officers briefed Akar on the tasks of the Regiment and the joint force in monitoring and controlling borders, maintaining security, and enhancing citizens' confidence in the army, in addition to the role of watch towers and logistical and technical equipment. Saliba assured Akar that "the pace of smuggling via large vehicles has been completely stropped, and the smuggled goods have been confiscated." Marking the New Year's start, Akar wished the officers and soldiers a prosperous and successful year ahead, and expressed her appreciation to the Regiment and joint force units and the security apparatuses in charge of protecting the northern Lebanese borders "for their tasks in controlling the land borders, combating smuggling, controlling violations and illegal crossings, and continuously facilitating citizens' affairs, particularly during difficult climate conditions." Akar also commended and valued the Regiment's preparedness and high readiness to protect security and stability, after its military capabilities have been developed into a combat unit. Touching on the pandemic outbreak in the country, the Caretaker Minister hoped that all would fully adhere to the preventive measures against the Coronavirus, for the sake of their safety and the safety of their families. "We will always remain, government, people and leadership, by your side for the sake of defending Lebanon," Akar affirmed to the Regiment's officers and soldiers.

Hankash: Lebanon is not a 'mailbox' and it belongs solely to the Lebanese!
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
"We have enough worries and problems: no medicine, no hospitals, rampant corruption, deteriorating currency, and people's money stolen! Yet, you want to support Iran against America and the Houthi against the Gulf...You are settling accounts of no concern to us...Lebanon is not a 'mailbox' and it is only for the Lebanese! Whoever wants others' wars ought to go away, while we will remain," tweeted Resigned MP Elias Hankash today.

Hariri's Advisor: Lebanon will not be the confrontation front line on Iran's behalf!
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
"Some Iranian officials insist on dealing with Lebanon as an Iranian province and are trying to plunge the Lebanese people into the Iranian regime's open wars with the international community," tweeted Advisor to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, Hussein al-Wajeh, today. He continued, "Lebanon has not and will not be the front line in the confrontation on behalf of Iran. The Lebanese will not pay any price on behalf of the Iranian regime. Lebanon is an Arab country committed to the charters of the Arab League and it is sovereign, free and independent."

Adwan: Following our alerts yesterday, we reached what was expected with the Corona numbers!
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
"At the disposal of officials who do not meet during the week-end: After we alerted you a week ago and cautioned you yesterday, what was expected has occurred in regards to the numbers and hospitals...The Corona Committee made a late recommendation, but the Ministerial Committee and the Supreme Defense Council do not convene over the weekend, so the epidemic outbreak will await them till next week...Responsible officials indeed!!" regretted MP George Adwan via Twitter today.

Jumblatt: To adopt sterilization in villages and cities as a risk reminder
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Progressive Socialist Party Chief, Walid Jumblatt, tweeted today over the increasing Corona cases in the country, saying: "At the beginning of the Corona outbreak, we at PSP resorted to sterilizing public places and generalizing the wearing of masks...I am for returning to this method and adopting it in villages and cities as part of the danger reminder, and the state should also generalize this experience as most cities do not lack capabilities."

Zahle, West Bekaa Land Registry Secretariats to close for 3 days
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Governor of the Bekaa, Judge Kamal Abu Jaoudeh, issued Saturday a decision to close the Land Registry Secretariat Departments of Zahle and West Bekaa, centered at the Zahle Serail, as of next Monday for three days, after confirming a positive Coronavirus infection case among employees of the West Bekaa Department. In this connection, Governor Abu Jaoudeh instructed the Bekaa's Health Authority Head to follow up on conducting PCR examinations for all employees in both Departments and those who have been in contract with them, according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Public Health. Based on the test results, the appropriate measures will be taken accordingly.

Education Minister: To adopt distance learning, suspend class attendance throughout the upcoming week
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Caretaker Minister of Education, Tarek Majzoub, issued a statement on Saturday, calling on private and public educational institutions to suspend class attendance during the coming week and adopt distance learning instead, in light of the exceptional health conditions and the unprecedented rise in Coronavirus cases in the country. The statement, thus, cautioned all elementary and high schools, universities and institutes that class attendance is completely prohibited throughout next week, awaiting the final decision of the Ministerial Committee and the Higher Defense Council regarding the country's lockdown.

Hajj Hassan confirms 'resistance axis stronger than ever'
NNA/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
"Loyalty to the Resistance" Parliamentary Bloc member, MP Hussein Hajj Hassan, said Saturday afternoon, on the anniversary of the killing of the Iranian top military commander Qassem Soleimani, that the axis of the Resistance has become stronger and more ready to repel the enemy. "All the leaders of the resistance axis announced that it has become stronger, more determined, equipped and willed, and that the enemy's threats reflect its aggression and its project through which it aims to continue plundering the region’s resources and controlling it," Hajj Hassan told the attendees.
He praised the great role that Soleimani played by strengthening the option of resistance and empowering all pillars of the axis of resistance at all levels, from Palestine to Lebanon to Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 02-03/2020

Iran FM Urges Trump to Avoid Israel ‘Trap’ to Provoke War
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged US President Donald Trump on Saturday not to be "trapped" by an alleged Israeli plan to provoke a war through attacks on US forces in Iraq. He issued the warning on the anniversary of the US killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by a drone strike in Iraq. There was no immediate comment by Israel. Washington blames Iran-backed militia for regular rocket attacks on US facilities in Iraq, including near the US embassy. No known Iran-backed groups have claimed responsibility. "New intelligence from Iraq indicate(s) that Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans — putting an outgoing Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli (act justifying war)," Zarif said in a tweet. "Be careful of a trap, @realDonaldTrump. Any fireworks will backfire badly," Zarif wrote. Esmail Ghaani, who succeeded Soleimani as head the Quds force, said on Friday Iran was still ready to respond. The US military flew two nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Middle East in a message of deterrence to Iran on Wednesday, but the bombers have since left the region.

Israel may try to provoke war with attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq Iran's Zarif
Reuters/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday accused Israel of trying to provoke a war by planning attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. "New intelligence from Iraq indicate that Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans - putting an outgoing (President Donald) Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli (act justifying war)," Zarif said in a tweet. "Be careful of a trap, àrealDonaldTrump. Any fireworks will backfire badly," Zarif wrote. -

Iran General Warns US: Military Ready to Respond to Pressure
Associated Press/January 02/2021
The top commander of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Friday that his country was fully prepared to respond to any U.S. military pressure as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high in the waning days of President Donald Trump's administration. Gen. Hossein Salami spoke at a ceremony at Tehran University commemorating the upcoming one-year anniversary of the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who headed the expeditionary Quds force, on Jan. 3, 2020. At the time, Iran retaliated by launching a ballistic missile strike on a military base in Iraq that caused brain concussion injuries to about 100 U.S. troops. Washington and Tehran came dangerously close to war as the crisis escalated. "Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers. We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield," Salami said, without mentioning the U.S. directly. Several top Iranian officials, along with Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese allies and members of Soleimani's family, were in attendance. Soleimani's replacement, Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, said at the ceremony that Iran was not afraid of confronting "powers," again without naming the U.S. He also warned that "freedom seekers" within the U.S. could retaliate for the attack that killed Soleimani, telling America that "inside your own home, there might be those who want to respond to the crime that you committed."
The head of Iran's judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, said all those who had a role in Soleimani's killing will not be able to "escape law and justice," even if they were a U.S. president. Also, Iran's Foreign Ministry tweeted that Iran will not rest until perpetrators of Soleimani's killing are brought to justice.
"By committing a craven act of terror against Gen Soleimani, the US violated int'l law & the UN Charter in a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," said a post on the ministry's Twitter account. "The US' lawlessness in full show. #Iran won't rest until bringing those responsible to justice."
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday that Washington would bear responsibility for the consequences of any possible "adventure" in the region. His comments came during a call with his Kuwaiti counterpart, according to the ministry's website. Already, America has conducted B-52 bomber flyovers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf over what Trump administration officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the anniversary of Soleimani's killing. Strategic calculations on both sides have been complicated by the political transition in Washington to President-elect Joe Biden's administration, which may seek new paths in dealing with Iran. Also Friday, Iranian video sharing services released an English-language song filmed abroad that praises Soleimani. Footage of Soleimani's funeral and some videos of him in the battlefield were also shown.

Iran Plans 20% Uranium Enrichment 'As Soon As Possible'
Associated Press/January 02/2021
Iran said Saturday it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at its underground Fordo nuclear facility "as soon as possible," pushing its program a technical step away from weapons-grade levels as it increases pressure on the West over the tattered atomic deal. The move comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. in the waning days of the administration of President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal in 2018. That set in motion an escalating series of incidents capped by a U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad a year ago, an anniversary coming Sunday that has American officials now worried about possible retaliation by Iran.Iran's decision to begin enriching to 20% a decade ago nearly brought an Israeli strike targeting its nuclear facilities, tensions that only abated with the 2015 atomic deal. A resumption of 20% enrichment could see that brinksmanship  return.Even Ali Akbar Salehi, the U.S.-educated head of the civilian Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, offered a military analogy to describe his agency's readiness to take the next step. "We are like soldiers and our fingers are on the triggers," Salehi told Iranian state television. "The commander should command and we shoot. We are ready for this and will produce (20% enriched uranium) as soon as possible."Iran's decision comes after its parliament passed a bill, later approved by a constitutional watchdog, aimed at hiking enrichment to pressure Europe into providing sanctions relief. It also serves as pressure ahead of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he is willing to re-enter the nuclear deal. The International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged Iran had informed its inspectors of the decision by a letter after news leaked overnight Friday.
"Iran has informed the agency that in order to comply with a legal act recently passed by the country's parliament, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran intends to produce low-enriched uranium ... up to 20 percent at the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant," the IAEA said in a statement.
The IAEA added Iran did not say when it planned to boost enrichment, though the agency "has inspectors present in Iran on a 24/7 basis and they have regular access to Fordo." The parliamentary bill also called on Iran to expel those inspectors, though it appears Tehran still hasn't decided to take that step.
Salehi said Iran would need to switch out natural uranium in centrifuges at Fordo for material already enriched to 4% to begin the process of going to 20%. "It should be done under IAEA supervision," Salehi added. Since the deal's collapse, Iran has resumed enrichment at Fordo, near the Shiite holy city of Qom, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran. Shielded by the mountains, Fordo is ringed by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications. It is about the size of a football field, large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened enough to lead U.S. officials to suspect it had a military purpose when they exposed the site publicly in 2009. The 2015 deal saw Iran agree to limit its enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. The accord also called for Fordo to be turned into a research-and-development facility. Under Iran's former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran began 20% enrichment. Israel, which has its own undeclared nuclear weapons program, feared Tehran was building a bomb.After the discovery of Fordo, the U.S. worked on so-called "bunker buster" bombs designed to strike such facilities. As Israel threatened at one point to bomb Iranian nuclear sites like Fordo, U.S. officials reportedly showed them a video of a bunker-buster bomb destroying a mock-up of Fordo in America's southwestern desert. Israel, which under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to criticize Iran's nuclear program, offered no immediate comment Saturday.
As of now, Iran is enriching uranium up to 4.5%, in violation of the accord's limit of 3.67%. Experts say Iran now has enough low-enriched uranium stockpiled for at least two nuclear weapons, if it chose to pursue them. Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful. Iran separately has begun construction on a new site at Fordo, according to satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press in December. Iran's announcement coincides with the anniversary of the U.S. drone striking Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last year. That attack later saw Iran retaliate by launching a ballistic missile strike injuring dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq. Tehran also accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet that night, killing all 176 people on board. As the anniversary approached, the U.S. has sent B-52 bombers flying over the region and sent a nuclear-powered submarine into the Persian Gulf. On Thursday, sailors discovered a limpet mine on a tanker in the Persian Gulf off Iraq near the Iranian border as it prepared to transfer fuel to another tanker owned by a company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. No one has claimed responsibility for the mining, though it comes after a series of similar attacks in 2019 that the U.S. Navy blamed on Iran. Tehran denied being involved. In November, an Iranian scientist who founded the country's military nuclear program two decades earlier was killed in an attack Tehran blames on Israel.

Tehran escalates threats against US on Soleimani’s killing anniversary
The Arab Weekly/January 02/2021
“Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, may be immune from justice being carried out. Never,” said Iran’s judiciary chief. Iran’s judiciary chief warned Friday that Qassem Soleimani’s killers will “not be safe on Earth”, as the Islamic republic began marking the first anniversary of the top general’s assassination in a US strike on January 3, 2020. Ebrahim Raisi, speaking at an event in Tehran to pay tribute to Soleimani, said not even US President Donald Trump, who ordered the strike, was “immune from justice”. “They will witness a severe revenge. What has come so far has only been glimpses” of it, Raisi told the gathering at Tehran University. “Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, may be immune from justice being carried out. Never,” he said. “Those who had a role in this assassination and crime will not be safe on Earth.” The event was attended by Iranian officials, and speakers included representatives from allied regional countries and forces, namely Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. A separate event is expected to be held in the coming days in Kerman, Soleimani’s hometown where he is buried. Soleimani headed the Quds force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.Iranian Quds force commander Esmail Qaani speaks during a ceremony on the occasion of the first anniversary of death of former Iran’s Top Iranian authorities, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had previously said that all those involved in his killing would face retribution. Days after Soleimani’s killing, Iran launched a volley of missiles at Iraqi bases housing US and other coalition troops, with Trump refraining from any further military response. The Iranian leadership has called the strikes a “slap” and vowed that “severe revenge” awaits. Soleimani’s successor, Esmail Qaani, warned during Friday’s event that it may come from anywhere. He also threatened that “freedom seekers” within the US could retaliate for the attack that killed Soleimani, telling America that “inside your own home, there might be those who want to respond to the crime that you committed.”
On the battlefield
The top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened as well to counter the US “on the battlefield”. Gen. Hossein Salami spoke at a ceremony at Tehran University commemorating the upcoming one-year anniversary of the US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Soleimani. “Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers. We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield,” Salami said, without mentioning the US directly. Several top Iranian officials, along with Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese allies and members of Soleimani’s family, were in attendance. Also, Iran’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that Iran will not rest until perpetrators of Soleimani’s killing are brought to justice. “By committing a craven act of terror against Gen Soleimani, the US violated int’l law & the UN Charter in a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” said a post on the ministry’s Twitter account. “The US’ lawlessness in full show. #Iran won’t rest until bringing those responsible to justice.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday that Washington would bear responsibility for the consequences of any possible “adventure” in the region. Already, America has conducted B-52 bomber flyovers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf over what Trump administration officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the anniversary of Soleimani’s killing. Strategic calculations on both sides have been complicated by the political transition in Washington to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, which may seek new paths in dealing with Iran. Experts see Tehran trying to pressure the new administration into softening its stance on countering Iran’s aggressive behaviour.
 

Bitcoin Passes $30,000 for the First Time
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Bitcoin, the leading virtual currency, saw its price pass $30,000 on Saturday for the first time, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg news agency.
The first decentralised cryptocurrency passed $30,823.30 at 1313 GMT, after breaking $20,000 on December 16.

New Year OPEC+ Meeting to Decide Production Levels
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Members of the OPEC group of oil producers and their partners will meet via videoconference on Monday to decide on production levels for February, hoping to turn the corner on a difficult year. The OPEC+ ministerial meeting comes after oil consumption tanked in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Despite a pick up in prices towards the end of last year, the market levels for black gold remain uncertain. After their last summit, from November 30-December 3, the OPEC+ members agreed to increase production by half a million barrels per day in January. Also at that meeting the 13 members of the OPEC cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, and their six allies, led by Russia, agreed to meet at the beginning of each month in order to decide on any adjustments to production volumes for the following month. Russia and Saudi Arabia are respectively the second and third biggest oil producers in the world after the United States.The decision illustrates OPEC's desire to maintain a strong influence on the oil market and the gravity of the situation for crude producers last year.
'Remaining demand uncertainty'
Before the pandemic, OPEC members were content with two summits per year at the organisation's headquarters in Vienna. "Finally, we saw a strong demonstration of OPEC+ will and capability to manage the market, laying the groundwork for Brent's recovery to over $50 per barrel despite remaining demand uncertainty in the market," JBC Energy analysts said in a statement.The two contracts of reference, North Sea Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude both ended the week around the $50 per barrel level, far lower than the prices seen at the start of 2020 but well up on the lows seen last year. In March, Moscow and Riyadh embarked on a brief but intense oil price war which led prices to plummet. On April 20, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude collapsed to minus $40.32 per barrel -- meaning producers paid buyers to take the oil off their hands. The climate between the two oil giants has eased since then, with the Russian and Saudi energy ministers meeting in mid-December in a display of unity. It remains difficult, however, to predict the evolution in demand as governments begin rolling out vaccination programmes against the coronavirus. Last month OPEC predicted a slight rebound in the market while noting continued uncertainties, particularly in the transport sector. Despite the heft of the OPEC+ countries, countries outside the system have a major impact on the oil market; principally the United States which is still producing 11 million barrels of crude per day. Even within its ranks, OPEC will have to pay attention to developments in the three members which have been granted exemptions from quotas -- Libya, Iran and Venezuela. Libya's production had been almost wiped out by civil conflict but has spiked since October after the signing of a ceasefire deal.

Car Bomb Kills Five in Turkish-controlled Syria
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
A car bomb near a vegetable market in northeastern Syria killed five people on Saturday in the Turkish-held border town of Ras al-Ain, a war monitor said. A woman and a child were among those killed, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. At least three of the victims killed were civilians, but the identity of the other two was not immediately clear. Four others were wounded, it said. Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies in October 2019 seized a 120-kilometre (75-mile) stretch of land inside the Syrian border from Kurdish forces, running from Ras al-Ain to Tal Abyad. Such bombings are common in Ras al-Ain. On December 10, a car bomb killed 16 people including two civilians and three Turkish personnel at a checkpoint in the town. In July, the blast from an explosives-rigged motorbike ripped through a vegetable market there, killing at least eight people, including six civilians.Syria's civil war has killed more than 387,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Car Bomb Explodes in Vegetable Market in Syrian Border Town
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 2 January, 2021
A car bomb exploded in a vegetable market in the border town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria with reports of several killed and wounded, the Syrian state news agency reported on Saturday. There were no further details about casualties in the report, but residents told Reuters two people were killed and several were wounded. Turkey, which is allied with some opposition groups opposed to Syrian president Bashar Assad, seized control of the town in 2019 in an offensive to push back Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, which Ankara views as a terrorist group.

Syria Blasts U.S. for Sanctions, Following UN Expert's Remarks
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Syria on Saturday lambasted the U.S. government for sanctions it has imposed on Damascus, following a U.N. special rapporteur's statement that called on Washington to remove unilateral sanctions against the war-torn country. The Syrian Foreign Ministry described U.S. sanctions against the country as equal to "crimes against humanity" that impact the life of normal citizens as the country looks to rebuild after 10 years of civil war. The U.S. has imposed sanctions for years on Syrian President Bashar Assad and a number of his top officials. Measures that went into effect in June will also allow U.S. authorities to target foreign companies that do business with some Syrian state institutions. On Tuesday, U.N. human rights expert Alena Douhan called on the United States to lift its unilateral sanctions "which may inhibit rebuilding of Syria's civilian infrastructure" destroyed by the conflict that has killed about half a million people. Douhan, who is the U.N. special rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights, said American sanctions "violate the human rights of the Syrian people."Speaking on Wednesday, the U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn rejected Douhan's statement as "misguided and false."He said that the blame for Syria's economic situation and humanitarian crisis falls on "Assad's brutal war against the Syrian people, not on U.S. sanctions." Areas under government control in Syria have been suffering from a severe shortage of bread and fuel that Damascus blames on Washington. In some areas, people have to stand in line for hours outside bakeries to get bread, the main staple in the country. Alongside being hit hard by sanctions, the Syrian economy has suffered for many years because of widespread corruption and recently as a result of a severe economic and financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon.

Yemen's PM says airport attack aimed to 'eliminate' Cabinet
Samy Magdy/Cairo Associated Press
Yemen's prime minister on Saturday said that a missile attack on the airport in Aden was meant "to eliminate" the country's new government as it arrived in the key southern city — a daring assault which he blamed on Iran-backed rebels.
Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed spoke to The Associated Press in an interview conducted at his office in the Mashiq Palace in Aden. It was the leader's first interview with international media after he survived Wednesday's attack that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110 others. "It's a major terrorist attack that was meant to eliminate the government," the premier said. "It was a message against peace and stability in Yemen." Saeed repeated his government's accusations that Yemen's Houthi rebels were responsible for the missile attack on the airport and a drone assault on the palace, shortly after the premier and his Cabinet were transferred there. The new Yemeni government was formed in December to end a dangerous political rift with southern separatists who are backed by the United Arab Emirates. The internal rift threatened the UAE's partnership with Saudi Arabia that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen. He said that the "techniques" used in the airport missile attack were hallmarks of the Houthis' strategy. The attack took place moments after a plane carrying Saeed and his Cabinet members landed at the airport. AP footage from the scene at Aden's airport showed members of the government delegation disembarking as the blast shook the tarmac, with many ministers rushing back inside the plane or running down the stairs, seeking shelter. Saeed said three precision-guided missiles had struck the facility, targeting his plane, the arrival hall and the VIP lounge of the airport.
"The guidance accuracy was great. The operation was huge," he said. The prime minister said Yemeni investigators have collected the remains of the missiles and that experts from the Saudi-led coalition and the U.S. would help determine the type and origins of the missiles. Saeed and his newly formed Cabinet were returning to Yemen a week after they were sworn in before Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, where the embattled leader resides. The Cabinet reshuffle was part of a power-sharing deal between the Saudi-backed Hadi and the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of militias seeking to restore an independent southern Yemen, which existed from 1967 until unification in 1990. Saeed, the prime minister, said his government would prioritize "security and stability" in government-held areas after months of infighting between Hadi's government and the STC. "Whatever the challenges in Aden, the government remains," he said. He also pointed to "huge" economic challenges as being the focus of his government. The conflict in the Arab world's most impoverished nation began when the Houthis captured the capital of Sanaa in 2014, forcing Hadi's government to flee. The following year, the Saudi-led coalition intervened against the Iran-backed rebels in what has turned into a stalemated war. Since then, more than 112,000 people — fighters and civilians — have been killed.

5 Women Killed as Blast Hits Yemen Wedding Hall
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Five women were killed in war-torn Yemen when a projectile exploded at a wedding held on New Year's Day in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, officials said Saturday.  The government and Huthi rebel forces blamed each other for the Friday night bombing of the hall near Hodeida's airport, a frontline between the warring sides on the edge of the Huthi-held town. It came just two days after at least 26 people were killed in blasts that rocked the airport of the southern city of Aden as government ministers got off a plane. General Sadek Douid, the government representative in a UN-sponsored joint commission overseeing a truce, condemned the Hodeida blast, which also left seven wounded, as "an odious crime committed by the Huthis against civilians". Hodeida's Huthi-appointed governor, Mohammed Ayache, said on Al-Masirah television, which is run by the Shiite Muslim rebels, that "the forces of aggression never hesitate to blame others for their crimes". Saudi-backed government forces launched an offensive in June 2018 to retake Hodeida, the main entry point for humanitarian aid to poverty-stricken Yemen. But a ceasefire has been partially observed since December of the same year.

Palestinian Left Quadraplegic by Israeli Army Fire
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
A Palestinian man was paralysed from the neck down after being shot by the Israeli army during Friday clashes in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said. The man was shot through the neck, the ministry said in a statement. Palestinian sources had earlier reported the wounding of 24-year-old Haroun Rasmi Abu Aram in the village of Al-Tuwanah, south of Hebron. The man had been attempting to prevent the troops from "stealing an electric generator" that belonged to him, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. Israeli rights group B'Tselem said Abu Aram was helping a neighbour to build a house at the time of the shooting. The Israel Defense Forces told AFP that a number of Palestinians had attacked its troops who were conducting a routine operation to evacuate an "illegal building" and had fired into the air in response. An investigation into the incident was under way, the IDF added.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and its settlements in the area are regarded as illegal by much of the international community. But the settler population has grown in recent years. There are currently some 450,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, living among an estimated 2.8 million Palestinians. Tensions between the two communities have repeatedly led to violence.

Turkish Nationals among 4 Dead in Somalia Bombing
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Two Turkish nationals were among four people killed Saturday in a suicide bombing outside the Somali capital Mogadishu claimed by the Al-Shabaab militant group, officials said. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 14 others wounded in the blast, including three Turks, were being treated at a Turkish-run hospital in Mogadishu. The attack targeted employees of a Turkish company building a road between Mogadishu and Afgoye, a town about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the capital, officials from both countries said. "The number of our nationals who lost their lives in the terror attack in Somalia has increased to two," Koca said, adding the lives of the wounded Turks were not in danger. The two others killed in the assault were Somali special police, said Mohamed Ibrahim, a police officer in Afgoye. He said security forces opened fire as the bomber tried to force his way into a construction site where work was underway. "Unfortunately, he was already close to where people were gathered and detonated, inflicting casualties," he said. Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group waging a deadly insurgency against the foreign-backed government in Mogadishu, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Turkey is one of Somalia's closest foreign partners and is among several nations training soldiers to take over from African peacekeeping force AMISOM, whose troops are set to leave the country this year after 14 years. In June, two people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a Turkish military training base in Mogadishu. The bomber tried to conceal himself among young recruits who had gathered to enlist in the academy, which opened in 2017 and is among the largest foreign-run military centre in Somalia. Somalia plunged into chaos after the 1991 overthrow of president Siad Barre's military regime, leading to years of clan warfare followed by the rise of Al-Shabaab which once controlled large parts of the country and capital. After being pushed out of their main bastions by AMISOM in 2011, Al-Shabaab has continued to wage war against the government, with regular attacks in Mogadishu and against neighbouring countries which have contributed to the force. According to the Turkish foreign ministry website, the country's largest embassy complex abroad is in Mogadishu and investments in the country total $100 million (88 million euros). Turkish companies also run the Mogadishu international airport and seaport. Ankara also offers Somalia humanitarian assistance and scholarships, and earlier this year sent planeloads of medical equipment to help the country deal with the coronavirus pandemic. During some of the worst attacks in Mogadishu, Turkey has often flown the wounded to its country for treatment.

Mass Rave in France Breaks Up amid Virus Fears
Agence France Presse/January 02/2021
Hundreds of revellers were booked for breaking coronavirus restrictions as an illegal rave in northwestern France ended on Saturday after more than two days of partying that saw clashes with police. Police had failed to stop the underground event, which drew around 2,5000 people from Thursday night in two disused warehouses in Lieuron, south of the city of Rennes in Brittany. Such mass gatherings are banned across France to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and a nationwide 8 pm curfew -- which was not lifted for New Year -- applies across the country. Techno music had blared out during the night from the warehouses, which had been transformed into illegal nightclubs for partygoers who had flocked to the site from across France and even from abroad. The local prefecture said Saturday the music had been switched off and sound systems dismantled after two nights, and the first revellers began leaving the site before dawn. By 10:15 am it was under the control of police, the local prefecture said. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a tweet that police had booked more than 1,200 people and seized a truck, sound equipment and generators from the site of the "illegal raveparty." He said the large police presence at the site had led to the breakup of the event "without violence". The regional prefect, Emmanuel Berthier, said 800 people had been booked for failing to respect the curfew restrictions or wear masks or for participating in an illegal assembly. He told a press conference that police fined several hundred others for use of narcotics. Police on access roads were checking all those leaving the site, on foot or in vehicles, using torches to check their eyes for signs of drugs use, an AFP photographer said.
'Fierce hostility'
Police reinforcements continued to arrive and close off the site in a calm atmosphere Saturday morning, the photographer said. French authorities have been worried about mass rave parties throughout the pandemic, but New Year's Eve was a particular concern. On Thursday night the police had tried to "prevent the event but faced fierce hostility from many partygoers" who set one of their cars on fire and threw bottles and stones, the prefecture said Friday. First aid workers had distributed hand gel and masks at the event to try and limit the spread of the coronavirus. The regional health authority in Brittany noted the "high risk of the spread of Covid-19" at the event, and called on those who took part to undergo coronavirus tests and self-isolate immediately for seven days. The prefecture said in a tweet that a testing centre had been set up in a gymnasium in Lieuron. "They have put their lives in danger, their health, they must now protect those around them," it said. The French government, facing the threat of a new wave of Covid-19 infections, announced on Friday it was bringing forward its nighttime curfew by two hours in 15 regions to help combat the virus.
The country recorded around 20,000 new cases and 133 deaths on Friday, bringing the total number of fatalities to almost 64,800.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 02-03/2020

Iran and the US, Dilemmas of Security
Charles Elias Chartouni/January 02/2021
شارل الياس شرتوني: معضلات الأمن الأميركية والإيرانية
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/94529/charles-elias-chartouni-iran-and-the-us-dilemmas-of-security-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%b6%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7/
The strategic quandaries in the Persian Gulf are perpetuating, at a time when the chances of a generalized confrontation between Iran and the US are increasing by the day. The pitfalls of the presidential transition in the US, the first commemoration of Qassem Suleimani’s assassination, the resumption of Uranium enrichment in Iran, and the US withdrawal plans from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, have altogether created the congenial environment for war between the two States. The hazards of an open military affray cannot be dismissed in a context of strident polarization and political transition, whereas, the chances of eventual political normalization under the incoming administration are still highly tentative, let alone improbable. The insinuations and diplomatic simulations of actors and political observers, insofar as the eventual normalization between the two protagonists, the European and international Community, are still highly hypothetical.
This configuration is still marred by uncertainties, especially whenever it comes to Iran’s integration of the international community, the internalization of its legal standards and civility, and the engaging of a multitrack diplomacy aimed at addressing the militarization dynamics (conventional and nuclear), the geopolitical dilemmas in the Larger Middle East, the questions of Human Rights and the major financial, socio-economic and environmental issues. The overall examination of Iran’s political plight, ideological narrative and vested interests of its clerical and revolutionary guardians oligarchies, conveys a very sobering message insofar as the plausibility of a normalization scenario. The dilemmas of international normalization and internal liberalization, Iranian National security, Imperialism and proactive destabilization strategy throughout the Middle East, the delusions of a Counter-World Order, and the compounded fractures of bankrupted economics, societal dislocations and debunked revolutionary myths, largely account for the inability of this regime to question its policies, let alone engage in reforms, and open up to the rest of the world.
The self defeating dynamic propelled by the nuclear accord of 2015, was quite instructive about its paradoxes from the very beginning, since this eventual diplomatic platform was instrumentalized to launch a destabilization strategy throughout the Middle East, sustain international criminality and terrorism worldwide, engage in deliberate equivocations in regard to the nuclear policy, give way to large scale repression within Iran and deliberate oversight of Iran’s severe societal and environmental breakdowns. The intentional equivocations which frame the overall policy course of the Iranian regime, far from being incidental, are typical of a cynical survival strategy, a concealment ethos, and the uncertainties of a decaying dictatorship. There are very few chances for a constructive ambiguity which promotes a working diplomacy and the true chances of conflict resolution. The need for steady military containment, financial and economic sanctioning and open support of the Iranian political oppositions, are for the time being, the suitable platforms of a US working policy towards Iran.

Syria 2020: Between Asma Al-Assad and Rami Makhlouf
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/January 02/2021
Asma al-Akhras al-Assad never thought her family would ever be targeted by the US "Caesar Act" sanctions. More than that, the sanctions came to prove that change in Syria is an American policy, regardless of who is in the White House, whether it is Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
From "The struggle for Syria", the title of British Patrick Seale's book in the mid-1960s, to Nicholas Van Damme's "The Struggle for Power in Syria" in the 1970s, there was a return in 2020 to a mix of the two struggles.
There is at this stage a struggle over Syria and a struggle for power in Syria at the same time. But there is more to it than that. There are questions related to the fate of Syria as we have known it, as the country has come under five occupations: Iranian, Russian, Turkish, American and Israeli.
This return to the two struggles came half a century after the establishment of the current Syrian regime, which from the start was clearly a family system before anything else. In the year 2020, the system remained family-based, but a fundamental change in its composition occurred in light of the rise of Asma al-Akhras al-Assad, the wife of Bashar al-Assad, and the demise of Rami Mohammed Makhlouf.
From the Assad-Makhlouf regime, which lasted a long time, to the Assad-al-Akhras regime, which ended before it even began; in a country where the minimum level of awareness is lacking about what Syria has become in light of international and regional pressures. The rise of Asma, the daughter of a Sunni family (from Homs), did not continue for long. The US sanctions against her father, mother, and two brothers, Firas and Iyad, came to confirm that the US administration is adamant about change in Syria. The matter is no longer dependent on the administration of Donald Trump, but goes beyond it given that the main players in this regard are the two chambers of Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives), where radical change in Syria enjoys great support from Democratic and Republican senators and representatives alike.
One had to wait for the death of Mohammad Makhlouf three months ago to discover that the latter was the cousin of Hafez al-Assad and that his sister, Anisa, the wife of the late Syrian president, was not from a different social class.
Everything that the regime had propagated for half a century about the role of Mohammed Makhlouf in facilitating his sister's marriage to Hafez al-Assad was inaccurate. The truth of the matter is that there was, from the beginning, a division of roles between Assad, the father and his cousin, who put his hand on the Syrian economy while enjoying a cover from the former, in order to control the Alawite sect and ensure its compliance through private funds.
Hafez al-Assad founded the currently-established regime, November 16, 1970.
Hafez al-Assad was the defence minister starting in 1966. During his tenure , the Golan was occupied by Israel in June 1967, in circumstances that were ambiguous to say the least. He eventually turned against his Baathist and Alawite comrades.
He became the sole ruler of Syria after putting another Alawite, Salah Jadid, in prison with Sunni figures, including Nureddin al-Atassi, Yusuf Zuayyin, and others. He quickly got rid of another senior Alawite officer, Mohammad Omran, when he sent someone to assassinate him in Tripoli, the capital of northern Lebanon, in 1972. This made Lebanese Prime Minister Saeb Salam an undesirable person in Syria after he insisted on investigating the assassination of Mohammad Omran.
What happened in 2020 can be described as a very important development, even a turning point, on the Syrian level, less than ten years after the outbreak of the popular revolution in March of 2011.
In light of the regional and international struggle over Syria, the nature of the ongoing struggle within the ruling family has changed. Rami Mohammed Makhlouf, who inherited the role played by his father, was replaced by Asma al-Akhras al-Assad, the woman who is driven by an unmatched lust for power and financial influence.
In 2020, Asma was able to destroy the economic, social and sectarian empire of the Makhlouf family and fully control it and fragment what was left of it in the pursuit of her own project.
Thus, Alawite families, their livelihood and daily bread became dependent on the mercy of the “Syrian Trust for Development” institutions directly controlled by Asma al-Akhras, after they had been under the control of the Makhlouf family since the seventies of the last century when Hafez al-Assad allowed Mohammed Makhlouf to control the Syrian economy and use this money to control and subdue the Alawite sect and transform them into slaves of the ruling family.
Also, Asma was able to transform herself into a fundamental pillar in the equation of Syria's war economy to ensure the survival of the Assad regime.
Asma hopes to transfer power to her oldest son, Hafez. Today, she controls 70 percent of the Syrian public sector economy through the so-called “the fund of the martyrs and the wounded of the Syrian Arab Army”.
Asma is also directly involved in the Syrian private economy. She controls as well the resources of international humanitarian institutions and United Nations organisations operating in Syria through the ministry of social affairs and the Syrian Red Crescent and by forcing all international institutions operating in Syria to work exclusively through these two bodies that are 100 percent under her control.
Asma left the “dirty” economic activity to Maher al-Assad and sidelined him in the successful confrontation it waged against Rami Makhlouf and his group.
In addition, she was able to impose the control of her immediate relatives over a number of economic sectors. Asma al-Akhras al-Assad never thought her family would ever be targeted by the US "Caesar Act" sanctions.
She had thought that her British nationality and the "hidden political" role that her father, Dr Fawaz Al-Akhras thought he was playing, would provide her family with protection from the US sanctions that had previously targeted her personally as well as her eldest son, who is still dreaming of inheriting the presidency. The sanctions proved that the decision to place the family on the US sanctions list came in full coordination between Washington and London. More than that, the sanctions came to prove that change in Syria is an American policy, regardless of who is in the White House, whether it is Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

Is peace with the Gulf states real? Yes, it is - opinion
David M. Weinberg/The Jerusalem Post/January 02/2021
Emirati pursuit of peace with Israel is backed by a genuine discourse of religious moderation and broad-mindedness
Judging from responses to my article in this space two weeks ago about a recent visit to the United Arab Emirates, many Israelis remain skeptical about the discourse of peace and tolerance I discovered in Dubai.
Alas, Israelis have been conditioned to hear only bitterness from Israel’s Arab neighbors; a narrative of self-pity and anger marked by complaints, false allegations, vituperation and glorification of violence against Israel.
Nevertheless, I am persuaded that the Emirati pursuit of peace with Israel is genuine. It is backed by a discourse of religious moderation and broad-mindedness that is deep and admirable and incredibly hopeful.
For those who already may be rolling their eyes in disbelief, I declare up front that I never have been an acolyte of the Shimon Peres school of diplomacy; misty-eyed, kumbaya-inflected, naïve and dangerous thinking about peace in the Middle East. Nor do I subscribe to Peace Now’s faith in the Palestinians as a reliable partner for Israel in guaranteeing peace and security west of the Jordan River.
But the Emiratis are different. They are a distinctive type of Arab Muslim. They want to redefine the self-identity and global image of Arab Muslims in a way that blends enlightenment with tradition. Affiliating with Israel fits perfectly into this agenda, aside from the security and economic benefits that will devolve from UAE-Israel partnership. Indeed, the Emiratis see themselves as a people and a country that successfully blends ancient tradition, culture and ethnic identity with modern progress and ambition. (That, by the way, is how they view Jews and Israel too.)
Allow me to summarize almost verbatim what I heard from Emirati intellectuals and community leaders over a week in the UAE. The core problem in the Middle East, say Emiratis, is that religious hatred has become the main political currency, a very volatile and hypocritically exploited currency. Iran invests heavily in religious hatred; hatred of Israel, of America and the West, and of other Muslims who don’t hew to the radical Shi’ite line. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps relies on religious hatred to mobilize young men to its ranks. So do Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS and al-Qaeda.
The Abraham Accords are meant “to take religious hatred out of the equation,” and move Israel-Arab ties to the level of normal state-to-state relations, hopefully setting an example for other Arab countries in the region.
“We must end the zero-sum game of killing and conquering. We must change the political topography of the region and use peace to bring about a tectonic shift in the Middle East.”
THE ONLY WAY to stabilize the many areas of conflict throughout the Middle East, say the Emiratis, is to make “normal life” the central pursuit of all Arab governments. I was told, for example, that it is a “normal thing” to have a choice of fruits and vegetables from India, or from Israel, in Emirati grocery stores.
More importantly, normal family life revolves around school schedules and the quality of education. And this is where the Emiratis are regional revolutionaries. At the directive of Emirati leadership, for almost two decades schools have taught religious and ethnic tolerance, and the value of scientific and critical humanistic thinking. Therefore, Emiratis speak excellent English, study voraciously at the best universities abroad, embrace all the latest technologies in developing their country, host some 200 nationalities as expatriate businessmen and infrastructure workers in the UAE, and speak the language of multiculturalism and non-discrimination.
It is, apparently, why virtually every Emirati businessman and cultural figure I met, said, “We have been waiting for so long for an above-the-table relationship with Israel.”
The Emiratis see themselves and other Sunni Arabs as “victims of decades of media brainwashing” in support of “narrow” (meaning, radical Islamic) agendas and “immature” (meaning, Palestinian) thinking. These deleterious discourses always need an “enemy” to hate.
“But hatred is not from God. It does not flow from logic. And hatred is not the future,” a very senior Emirati who is close to UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed told me.
The Emiratis “have learned over the course of time” that boycotting Israel “makes no sense,” since Israel is clearly a force for stability and an engine for prosperity in the region. The Emiratis have “matured.” Unfortunately, the Palestinians have not, and the Emiratis “cannot wait endlessly for the Palestinians to do so.”Israeli-Palestinian peace is necessary, but it must be a “sustainable peace,” meaning that a two-state solution is not necessarily the best option, and the contours of a settlement “can’t fluctuate from one [US] administration to another.”
Furthermore, any future Israeli-Palestinian deal “will have to take broader Arab state considerations into account,” and this no longer means that Gulf Arabs necessarily will support maximum Palestinian demands.
“The Palestinians need peace with Israel more than Israel needs peace with the Palestinians. They should remember this in Ramallah and Gaza.”
Emiratis are not impressed by the term “Judeo-Christian values,” and they are quick to point out that in the 21st century, a clearly identifiable (Orthodox) Jew can walk the streets of Dubai or Doha in much more safety and comfort than he or she can walk the streets of Berlin, London, Paris or New York.
The Emiratis prefer to speak of “Abrahamic Family” values, which are less religiously divisive and more inclusive. Of course, this “Abrahamic narrative” also is meant to challenge the anti-Western and anti-Israeli agenda of Islamist extremists, as well as the mainly European and Christian hard Right, which sees all Muslims as inherently anti-Western, antisemitic, anti-Christian, and altogether threatening.
One Emirati intellectual I met is creatively rethinking the visions that Muslims and Jews have about Abraham and other biblical figures like Moses. He wants us to think of Abraham not (only) as a tenacious smasher of idols, but as “a yuppie, a son of a billionaire in Ur of the Chaldees, who today would teaching tolerance and Divine love with five laptops, a dozen iPhones, and people of all religions and nationalities in his class.”
He wants us to think of Moses not (only) as a shepherd in sandals chasing sheep across the desert, but as “a broad, brave leader who stood up to Pharaoh and all other bigoted orthodoxies of his time, and who emphasized broad education, self-refinement and nation-building.”
EMIRATIS EMPHASIZE that there are many misconceptions about Israel that still need to be overcome, even among educated Arabs. For example, many of them believe a myth that the two stripes on Israel’s flag represent two rivers. This is supposedly an expression of Zionist imperialist ambition to rule the region from the Nile River to the Euphrates River, as God promised Abraham.
Of course, this is nonsense. But none of the people I spoke to, knew that the stripes on Israel’s flag are taken from the Jewish prayer shawl, or tallit. None knew the stripes relate to the ritual fringes (tzitzit) on the prayer shawl, as well as to the obligation in Jewish law to distinguish light from darkness before reciting the morning Shema prayer. And no Emirati knew about kabbalistic emanations of Divine grace – dark stripes of God’s judgment (gevura) on a white background of God’s benevolence (hessed).
Similarly, Emiratis fear that Israel’s self-definition as a “Jewish state” is discriminatory, meaning that only Jews can become citizens – which is not the case. (Yes, I am aware how odd it is to hear this complaint from Emiratis, who refuse to give citizenship to any Arab or Westerner who isn’t from core Emirati stock!). In overall perspective, the Emiratis are pluralists when considering Israel’s place in the region. Many of them even are willing to say openly (when asked about this) that Jews and Israelis should be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and that prayer rights there should be extended to Christians too, if they so wish. One prominent Emirati cultural figure, who is close to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE and the ruler of Dubai, told me, “There is no reason why the plaza at Haram al-Sharif can’t be expanded to facilitate the prayer of other faiths. Islam is not meant to deny others their deep connections to God.”
*The author is vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, jiss.org.il. His personal site is davidmweinberg.com.

Tehran’s hope for a happy nuclear new year - opinion
Ruthie Blum/The Jerusalem Post/January 02/2021
Diplomacy addicts always believe their lying eyes when a given reality is unpleasant – or when it’s touted by nemeses at home and those overseas in Israel.
The revelation by the FBI last week that Iranian cyberwarriors are behind the death threats against American officials circulating online since the US presidential election on November 3 should not have come as a surprise. One aim of the regime in Tehran and its PR soldiers is to sow internecine discord among its enemies. To those wearing rose-colored glasses about the dawn of utopia in the United States – thanks to the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and his sidekick, Kamala Harris – the fact that one of the multiple websites set up by social-media-savvy forces in the Islamic Republic targeted such figures as Christopher Krebs makes no sense. On November 17, US President Donald Trump fired Krebs from his post as head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency for refuting claims of massive electoral fraud on the part of the Biden campaign. It would stand to reason, then, that Iran would have no bones to pick with him. On the contrary, the mullahs and their puppets in Tehran have made their deep hatred for Trump clear for the past four years, well before he withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the favorable nuclear deal that it reached in 2015 with world powers, led by the administration of former president Barack Obama.
But the truth about the regime’s modus operandi is simultaneously simpler and more complicated. By attacking those who opposed the bid to prove that the Democrats stole the election, the honchos in Iran were making it appear that Trump supporters were responsible for the trolling.
Their tactic worked, until the FBI issued a statement on December 23 exposing the real culprit.
“The post-election creation of the ‘Enemies of the People’ website demonstrates an ongoing Iranian intent to create divisions and mistrust in the United States and undermine public confidence in the US electoral process,” the federal bureau announced.
This information didn’t have the slightest effect on the bated breath with which the Biden-Harris camp has been waiting for the administration in Washington to return to the JCPOA. Nor should any observer of the process leading up to its fruition have expected otherwise.
Diplomacy addicts always believe their lying eyes when a given reality is unpleasant – or when it’s touted by nemeses at home and those overseas in Israel.
ANXIOUS FOR Biden to honor his vow to re-enter the JCPOA once he assumes office, some 150 Democratic members of the US House of Representatives penned a letter to him earlier this month urging him to make good on his promise.
“With respect to Iran,” they wrote in part, “we agree that diplomacy is the best path to halt and reverse Iran’s nuclear program, decrease tensions in the region and facilitate our nation’s reincorporation into the international community.”
The missive went on: “We are united in our support for swiftly taking the necessary diplomatic steps to restore constraints on Iran’s nuclear program and return both Iran and the United States to compliance with the... JCPOA as a starting point for further negotiations. The JCPOA, an agreement you helped champion, verifiably constrained Iran’s nuclear program until after the United States’ unilateral withdrawal. Since 2019, Iran has changed course by increasing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium and enriching uranium to a higher purity level, while also installing advanced centrifuges beyond the agreement’s limits.
As a result, Iran’s breakout time of one year, as estimated under the JCPOA by the US intelligence community, has decreased to a few months.”
As if this weren’t both false and ridiculous enough – as the US under Trump has brokered unprecedented Mideast peace accords and has led, not been ousted from, the international community; while Iran has not complied with a single clause of the deal since it was signed; and the difference between a breakout time of a few months and a year is laughably negligible – the House Democrats continued by taking issue with the increase in sanctions.
“The Trump administration’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign has left Iran with an unconstrained nuclear program, failed effectively to address Iran’s other malign behavior and greatly increased the likelihood of violent confrontation and conflict,” they stated, exhibiting willful ignorance about Tehran’s remaining the world’s greatest state sponsor of terrorism and Trump’s policies aimed at altering this sorry situation.
In the alternate universe occupied by the letter’s signatories, “Re-engaging multilaterally on preventing the development of an Iranian nuclear weapon and re-opening channels of communication are essential to reversing these dangerous developments.”
Are they kidding? Have they not been paying attention to what Iranian leaders have to say about all this, which is that they won’t cooperate unless all limitations on them are removed?
The answer, clearly, is no. The last part of their plea to Biden indicates a total lack of understanding of, or interest in, the Shi’ite regime and its global hegemonic ambitions. It also illustrates a refusal to learn from past mistakes.
“We understand that returning to the agreement will require the selective lifting of some sanctions and rigorous implementation to verifiably ensure Iranian compliance,” it concluded, adding, “Reinstating our international agreements and engaging in sustained diplomacy are the best ways to achieve long-term non-proliferation and urgent national-security objectives, including the prevention of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon and the laying of a foundation for progress on other critical issues.”
WHAT THESE pathetic politicians, ensconced comfortably in the West, fail to realize or acknowledge is that there is no “dealing” peacefully with the likes of Iran.
This was apparent during the Obama years when former secretary of state John Kerry allowed himself to be humiliated by his counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose repeated verbal abuse was so blatant that even his puppet-master, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told him to cool it a bit.  Meanwhile, Obama wasn’t worried about Zarif’s treatment of Kerry. He was too busy being furious with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for trying to torpedo the disastrous deal-in-the-making. Indeed, contrary to the way in which the authors of the letter to Biden depict America’s behavior under Trump, it was in fact the Obama administration that abandoned its allies on behalf of its enemies. More egregiously, it put the latter’s interests ahead of America’s.There is no question that Khamenei, Zarif and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are banking, literally and figuratively, on Biden’s resuming a stance of US supplication. They’re certainly hoping that he won’t be prevented from dropping completely to his knees by a Republican-dominated Senate. If they get their wish for the new year, all the progress that’s been made where Tehran is concerned will be reversed. This has involved enhancing the Iranian people’s rage at their regime and making them braver about expressing it.
As former Defense Department adviser on Islamic culture Harold Rhode recently described, “Iran is in shambles in every respect, largely due to Trump’s effective sanctions on the regime. Corruption there reportedly has never been worse. The economy is in such dire straits that even the thieves are complaining that there is nothing to steal, because many members of the middle and upper classes have sold possessions to buy food.... When times were tough in the past, Iranians often quipped about the situation and subtly blamed the government for their misery. Lately, however, the jokes have become more blatant, indicating that the people are so desperate that they no longer feel they have something to lose by voicing criticism of the powers-that-be.”
Appeasement only strengthens those evil leaders’ resolve to hone the nuclear weapons with which to destroy the “Great Satan,” America, and the “Small Satan,” Israel. It never has or ever will cause Iran to exchange its swords for plowshares.

Follow the money: Hunting terrorists and their state sponsors - opinion
Avi Jorisch/The Jerusalem Post/January 02/2021
Israel has learned that one of the most effective ways to curb illicit actors is to hit them where it hurts: their pocketbook.
As I looked out the balcony of my Jerusalem apartment, I heard a loud thud. Almost immediately I saw ambulances driving at breakneck speed, and fear spread through my limbs. It was sometime in the late 1990s, and Hamas suicide bombings were taking place almost daily.
Then I waited. My girlfriend came home looking dazed and shaken. She’d been in Mahaneh Yehuda, where the bomb went off. She described men and women putting on their “death jackets” – paramedics and shop owners who had experienced this type of horror many times before and were trying to save as many people as possible and pick up the pieces of the dead. She sobbed uncontrollably in my arms for what seemed like an eternity.
I hadn’t thought of that traumatic day for a long time until I read Harpoon: Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism’s Money Masters (Hachette Books, 2017) by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Samuel Katz. As they described the many bombings, military operations and targeted assassinations from the Second Intifada, those memories haunted me. I finally understood why to this day I so rarely take public transportation anywhere in the world and why I avoid crowded places.
Years after the Mahaneh Yehuda bombing, I worked at the US Treasury and Defense departments tracking illicit money. Harpoon describes many of the operations we worked on to try and choke off the financial superhighways terrorists, money-launderers and criminals use to raise and move their dirty money. As I read, those memories came back to me as well. Non-fiction books don’t generally read like novels but I couldn’t put this one down.
Israel has fought many wars, and the battle against money-laundering and terrorism finance is perhaps one of its most significant challenges. Darshan-Leitner and Katz provide the first-ever account – previously classified – of how Israel brought together its government services, including intelligence units, police and diplomats, to create a task force to combat blood money.
In the early ‘90s, Israel nabbed Muhammad al-Hamid Khalil Salah, a Palestinian living in Chicago. After arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport, a nervous Salah went to the East Jerusalem YMCA. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) was suspicious, and an entry team positioned itself outside his hotel room, picked the lock and burst in. A police bomb unit was summoned to open his suitcases in case they were rigged with explosives. What the law enforcement officials found stunned them into silence: a huge amount of American dollars.
Israel’s security apparatus later discovered that Salah was much more than a bag man, delivering bundles of cash like a common courier; he was, in fact, a key node in the finance unit of Hamas’s trans-national terrorist finance organization. This case forced Israel to start tracking Palestinian charities that were ostensibly collecting nickels and dimes for orphans and widows, but were actually raising huge amounts to fund bullets, bombs and suicide bombers. The light had finally gone off for Israel’s security apparatus: Money could be a powerful tool to disrupt terrorists.
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As a result of that realization, in 2001, former Mossad head Meir Dagan formed a task force, code-named Harpoon, to follow money movements around the world. Harpoon describes some of the conventional and unconventional tactics the task force employed to disrupt the flow of money.
AS THE BOOK’S authors describe, since Harpoon’s founding, an army of accountants, forensic specialists, bankers and policymakers has worked to detect and curb the formal and informal methods terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah employ to abuse the international financial sector.
In spy thriller-like fashion, Harpoon covers Israel’s 2010 assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas military wing commander and top financier. Al-Mabhouh spent a chunk of his career commanding the highly secretive squad whose sole mission was to kidnap and murder Israeli soldiers, and he was eventually selected by Iran and Hezbollah to channel massive sums into the Palestinian Islamic factory of death.
“He was part accountant, part purchasing agent, part arbitrator, part facilitator and part banker,” recalled a former member of Harpoon. “Money went into one of his hands, and death came out the other.”
A year before he met his destiny, Israel inserted a Trojan horse on his laptop and monitored all of his movements. He traveled to Dubai, ostensibly a neutral city, since the United Arab Emirates has made it clear to Middle Eastern adversaries that they may not use its territory for waging war. That, however, reportedly didn’t stop an Israeli hit squad from assassinating al-Mabhouh in his hotel room, leaving the room locked from the inside – something no expert has been able to explain.
In the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Dagan argued in favor of bombing banks in Lebanon that, based on Harpoon’s work, were known to be handling funds for terrorists. Dagan believed that targeting the Lebanese economy would cripple the Party of God, stop Hezbollah from firing rockets into Israel, and send a message to the populace that their economic fate depended on reining in Hezbollah.
During the war, Israel bombed Beit al-Mal, Hezbollah’s treasury office, and banks that served as key pipelines for Hezbollah operations. These included Al Baraka Bank, Fransabank and Middle East Africa Bank – some of which I named and shamed in 2003 – as Hezbollah’s TV station advertised its accounts at these bank accounts and encouraged viewers to wire funds to it. Close to $100 million in hard currency was reportedly incinerated in the Israeli bombings, and Israel also hit bank information centers (and their backup facilities), erasing valuable data.
Harpoon also describes working with Dagan and others in the task force to develop a new battlefield to pursue those engaged in terrorism – “lawfare.” Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Shurat HaDin, an Israeli NGO that uses the legal system to fight terrorists, has filed thousands of cases in US courts against individuals, corporations and banks that have aided and abetted terrorism. This groundbreaking means of going after illicit actors has exerted financial pain on terrorists and their state sponsors, depriving them of valuable access to the international financial sector.
Terrorism is a plague that is waged by those looking to demoralize and bring down democratic regimes. Groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, and state sponsors like Iran, Sudan, Syria and North Korea, threaten the international order and all of civilized society. Darshan-Leitner’s work at Shurat HaDin and the work of Harpoon have played a critical role in going after terrorism and its sponsors. Responsible international policymakers can use Harpoon as a blueprint to creatively and successfully pursue terrorism finance. Israel has learned that one of the most effective ways to curb illicit actors is to hit them where it hurts: their pocketbook. The writer is the author of Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World (Gefen Publishing) and a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council.

China: Paying US Media to Publish Propaganda/'Borrowing a Boat to Go Out on the Ocean'
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/January 02/2021
In June, China Daily filed a disclosure with the Justice Department showing that, since November 2016, it had paid $19 million to U.S. media outlets, including $12 million to newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times.
China Daily's ads -- in a strategy known as "borrowing a boat to go out on the ocean" -- come in the form of advertising supplements, inserts called China Watch... camouflaged to look like the other news content of the media outlets in which they appear.
The practice does not seem to have caused any sort of actual uproar in those media circles that engage in it... This reticence is odd... but because so many journalists and editors consider themselves as standing up against racism, ethnic and religious discrimination, and human rights abuses. Taking money from the Chinese Communist regime in exchange for spreading its propaganda would seem to indicate that this stance is simply empty posturing.
The Chinese government-controlled English language newspaper, China Daily, in 2020 paid a variety of US media outlets nearly $2 million for publishing propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party, according to a disclosure that China Daily filed with the US Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Pictured: The entrance to the offices of China Daily in Beijing, on January 18, 2007. The Chinese government-controlled English language newspaper, China Daily, in 2020 paid a variety of US media outlets nearly $2 million for publishing propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a disclosure that China Daily filed in late November with the US Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), according to Daily Caller.
China Daily has reportedly been registered as a foreign agent under FARA since 1983, which means it is required to report its activities and financial transactions to the Justice Department.
In June, China Daily filed a disclosure with the Justice Department showing that, since November 2016, it had paid $19 million to U.S. media outlets, including $12 million to newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times. Other newspapers included the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Houston Chronicle and Foreign Policy. China Daily's ads come in the form of advertising supplements, inserts called "China Watch," in a strategy known as "borrowing a boat to go out on the ocean." According to Sarah Cook, Senior Research Analyst for East Asia, Freedom House, in 2017 testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission:
"This phrase refers to disseminating Chinese state-media content via the pages, frequencies, or screen-time of privately owned media outlets that have developed their own local audiences... In recent years, its robust expansion to English-language media has garnered much attention and public debate. One of the most prominent examples has been the emergence of China Watch — a paid insert sponsored by the state-run China Daily — that has appeared both in print and online in prominent U.S. papers like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal."
This form of advertising is sometimes also known as advertorials, or native advertising: the stories are camouflaged to look like the other news content of the media outlets in which they appear.
The Wall Street Journal's "China Watch" website, for example, has published a number of articles promoting China's handling of the pandemic, including articles with titles such as, "Apple CEO: China Getting Outbreak Under Control", "US Sister Cities Get Help From Chinese Friends in Virus Fight", "WHO Chief Highlights China-Africa Cooperation on COVID-19 Fight", and a number of articles criticizing the US for its questioning of China's handling of the pandemic, such as "Washington's Wuhan Travel Claim Rebutted" and "Trump's China Remark Rebuked".
China is not the only foreign government paying to advertise its national propaganda in the US. In 2007, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a Russian government newspaper, began to publish its advertorials, "Russia Beyond the Headlines," in The Washington Post, although the ads reportedly disappeared from the newspaper in 2015. In the past, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reportedly also published Russia Beyond the Headlines supplements in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
"China needs to strengthen media coverage...and use innovative outreach methods...to tell a good Chinese story and promote China's views internationally", Xi Jinping said at the National Meeting on Propaganda and Thought Work in August 2013. Since then, he has regularly repeated this message. "To present good images," Xi told an August 2018 National Meeting on Ideology and Propaganda, "we should improve our international communication capability, tell China's stories well, disseminate China's voice, show an authentic and comprehensive China to the world, and raise the country's soft power and the influence of Chinese culture".
As pointed out by James Fallows in The Atlantic back in 2010, when The Washington Post was already publishing China Watch, it is one thing when such a supplement is clearly labeled as a paid advertisement, but quite different when such ads are published online and made to look similar to the outlet's other news articles, that only "the tiny words 'A Paid Supplement to the Washington Post' in the upper right hand corner distinguish them from the rest of the content".
"Those who engage in this form of propaganda hope to exploit the higher credibility of the hosting media site to enhance the persuasiveness of their message", wrote researchers Yaoyao Dai and Luwei Luqiu, who did an online survey on the effect of China Daily's ads on American and British readers of The Washington Post and The Daily Telegraph. Their findings showed that readers actually struggled "to distinguish political advertisements from standard news stories regardless of their level of education and media literacy".
China does not lack for English language media giants of its own to disseminate the Chinese Communist Party narrative about China across the world. According to Professor Anne-Marie Brady, a fellow at the Wilson Center:
"In early 2009, Beijing announced that it would invest ¥45 billion (roughly US$7.25 billion) into its main media outlets in order to strengthen its international news coverage and global presence. As part of this campaign, known as 'big propaganda' (da waixuan), Xinhua News Service increased its number of overseas bureaus from 100 to 186. That same year, the Global Times (a popular tabloid with an international focus owned by People's Daily) launched an English-language edition. CCTV International also began broadcasting in Arabic and Russian, and in 2010 rebranded itself as CCTV News. China's massive investment in these media attracted considerable international interest and debate".
In a December 2018 report, "Assessment on US Defense Implications of China's Expanding Global Access," the Pentagon assessed China's media expansion:
"Xinhua News Agency, China's official state-run news agency, launched 40 new foreign bureaus and doubled the number of overseas correspondents between 2009 and 2011. Xinhua counted 162 total foreign bureaus in 2017 and aims to have 200 by 2020. China's expanding official media presence reflects a concerted effort on the part of its leadership to shape opinions about the country and promote China's view on key topics. President Xi Jinping urged China Global Television Network, Xinhua's international media service, to 'tell the China story well' and "spread China's voice... a 2015 Reuters report revealed that China Radio International (CRI), a Chinese state-owned entity, was using subsidiaries to mask its control over 33 radio stations in 14 countries, including the United States. These radio stations broadcast pro-China content but have not registered as agents of a foreign government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)".
The reason China did not rely solely on its own state media, according to Brady, was because the strategy of using state media was "widely regarded by Chinese mass-communication experts as a failure. If foreign audiences know that a piece of information comes from an official Chinese media source, they are likely to interpret it as 'propaganda' rather than 'news.'"With "social justice" having become something of a mantra across the Western mainstream media landscape, the promotion of Chinese regime propaganda to unsuspecting Americans constitutes an oddly incongruent and unethical business practice that the media industry does not appear to have reflected upon publicly, if at all. While several newspapers no longer engage in the practice – The Wall Street Journal, Washington Times and New York Times among them – the practice does not seem to have caused any sort of actual uproar in those media circles that engage in it, such as the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, the UK-based Financial Times, Chicago Tribune and Seattle Times. This reticence is odd, not so much because those newspapers want and need revenues, which is understandable, but because so many journalists and editors consider themselves as standing up against racism, ethnic and religious discrimination, and human rights abuses. Taking money from the Chinese Communist regime in exchange for spreading its propaganda would seem to indicate that this stance is simply empty posturing.
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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2021 will be a brighter year — if we make it so
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/January 02/2021
Confined to our homes by a raging pandemic, we in the UK saw in the New Year with immense barrages of fireworks blasted out of gardens — presumably as an expression of enthusiasm to see the back of 2020 and welcome in 2021. New Year marked an additional moment of pathos, as Britain finally left the EU; a foolish and backward-looking act of self-harm, conferring few obvious benefits.
I’ve never been a fan of large and ostentatious New Year parties, so it was no disappointment to me that COVID-19 compelled us to celebrate this season as an intimate family occasion. Thanks to modern technology I was able to spend ample face time with loved ones. This enforced period of house arrest provided precious time to look inside ourselves, better understand who we are, and empathetically consolidate our relationships with one another.
These have nevertheless been traumatic times for those who are alone, victims of domestic violence, and the elderly. Although the vaccine offers a light at the end of the tunnel, much of the developing world finds itself at the back of a long queue. Yet as someone who has always subscribed to a “glass half full” world view, I believe there is much perspective that we can glean from 2020, in order for 2021 to be a much more rewarding year.
While it has been a tough year for the economy, experts are predicting a rapid rebound. The drastic reduction in consumption of fossil fuels, and the reduced use of motor vehicles and planes, have made 2020 a bumper year for the environment — a salutary lesson on how the evils of climate change and air pollution can be thrown into reverse.
The coronavirus death toll was tragic, but this wasn’t the species-threatening pandemic that some people feared when we first heard about a terrifying new virus a year ago. Most of us had never heard of Wuhan, but in our densely connected world, almost every corner of our planet would quickly be afflicted. Our ability to cope with this crisis leaves the human race wiser and more resilient in preparing for future plagues, catastrophes and planet-wide threats.
Certain leaders who handled the pandemic disastrously have already been punished at the ballot box, and a number of discredited heads of state — Erdogan, Netanyahu, Litvinenko, Bolsonaro, Orban, Putin, Khamenei — look increasingly shaky on their thrones. This has to be cause for celebration.
This crisis offered copious examples of humanity at its best: Heroic health professionals and care workers on the front lines, those who devoted time to helping elderly neighbors, those who spent their lockdown time advocating for good causes or for developing talents and learning new skills. I must also make a special call-out for female leaders in states such New Zealand, Finland, Germany, Denmark and Taiwan; their calm, compassionate and competent management of the crisis was a wonder to behold.
I must also make a special call-out for female leaders in states such New Zealand, Finland, Germany, Denmark and Taiwan; their calm, compassionate and competent management of the crisis was a wonder to behold.
My greatest 2021 wish is to see more dynamic and effective world leadership — where leaders are leaders. At the top of my mind are the perfect storms of economic and political crises in states such as Lebanon and Iraq, where political leaderships negligently sat on their hands while citizens starved, wages went unpaid, and foreign-backed militias ran riot.
We face too many long-bubbling conflicts and political crises to do justice to here: All evidence suggests that China will continue to be a huge challenge for Joe Biden, notably in fair terms of trade, creeping authoritarianism and massive human rights concerns such as Hong Kong and the Uighur genocide. After a year of attempted assassinations, cyberwarfare, and warmongering throughout the Middle East, 2021 will be the year when the world must unite to get tough on Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s divisive demagoguery has meanwhile wreaked terrible damage upon India’s multifaith social fabric, with little attention so far from the outside world. Meanwhile, on the anniversary of Qassim Soleimani’s killing, Iran’s paramilitary proxies appear scarcely able to restrain themselves from provocations that could trigger conflict.
While I don’t want to give undue space to Trump, his departure represents a repudiation of inward-looking populist trends that have bedeviled global politics for the past four years. We can hopefully look forward to a period defined by greater multilateral efforts to solve global-scale challenges, a greater emphasis on justice, human rights and good governance, and a more humane era in which the cries and laments of refugees and oppressed peoples don’t go unheard.
2020 was furthermore defined by shocking social divisions, anti-science conspiracy theories, and hyper-politicized “with us or against us” attitudes. In 2021 we must put aside this political tribalism and demonization of those who think differently from us. Let’s not race to denounce people until we have taken the time to understand the nuances of what they are trying to say, and to feel compassion and empathy for them as fellow human beings.
As a species I hope that we have learned the correct lessons from 2020: The need to invest time and intimacy with loved ones, but also the wisdom to view ourselves at the planetary level. Our collective actions have immense consequences: Are we content to pollute our planet to extinction, while allowing for the continued exacerbation of inequalities and injustices that leave half the planet on the precipice of starvation?
The human race either survives and thrives together, or we collectively face oblivion. My treasured recent days spent with my grandchildren have been a reminder of how precious human life is. Love is arguably the most universal and powerful human emotion. There are few of us who wouldn’t sacrifice almost everything to protect the ones we love and see them prosper.
So let our collective 2021 new-year resolution be to go that extra mile to protect and enhance the world around us, as an eternal gift and legacy to those we love the most.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

How Iran is still playing Soleimani’s ‘long game’
Joseph Hammond/Arab News/January 02/2021

جوزيف هاموند: كيف أن إيران لا تزال تمارس لعبة سليماني
For a brief moment, the assassination of Qasem Soleimani a year ago was “the story” of 2020. Analysts were frenzied in their alarmist predictions that not only was war with Iran on the horizon, but a broader conflict across the region was also imminent. Instead, 2020 proved to be noteworthy for how little the assassination altered the status quo.
Soleimani’s assassination in Baghdad was the biggest foreign policy gamble of President Trump’s term in office, but it was perhaps less audacious than George W. Bush’s venture in Iraq or Barack Obama’s war in Libya. The ostensible rationale offered by the Trump White House for the Soleimani strike was the murder of a US citizen in a rocket attack on an air base in Iraq, a clear act of provocation and one linked to Soleimani’s Revolutionary Guard-directed proxies.
For fans of Trump, the strike on Soleimani was bold, decisive, surgical and successful. For his detractors it was hasty, foolhardy and unnecessarily provocative. Such critics could point out that the strike provoked an Iranian missile attack on US forces in Iraq that injured 100 American soldiers.
However, a year has passed without the predicted conflagration in the Middle East. Not only did the mouse fail to roar, it barely squeaked. Perhaps Iran deemed its missile attack on the US air base in Iraq a proportionateresponse to the targeted killing of a senior military commander, an act that could reasonably warrant a declaration of war. Another possible explanation for Iranian restraint was its own role in shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 five days after Soleiman’s assassination, with the loss of all 176 passengersand crew, nearly 150 of them Iranian. Such collateral damage may have caused Ayatollah Khamenei a moment of reflection and reticence. Indeed, Iran only reluctantly admitted its role in shooting down the plane.
In either case, Iranian actions in response to Soleimani’s assassination reveal considerable insight into Tehran’s approach to geopolitics. The Quds Force under Soleimani regarded its terrorist plots and proxies in the Middle East as part of a long-term chess game. They are patient enough to study the board several moves ahead, and recognize their opponents may be impatient because of political and other factors. Tehran is adept at resisting the temptation to act impulsively or impetuously, and is willing to outlast opponents’ administrations and regimes if it serves their interests — even if that means sacrificing key pieces on the board.
Killing Soleimani was intended to coerce Iran into abandoning its aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East. One year on, that history appears to be repeating itself with a rocket attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad. Again, Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia with close ties to Tehran, is denying responsibility for an attack on US citizens, but evidence appears to point to its involvement and that of Iran.
One year on, Soleimani is long dead, but the terrorist network he has built across the region — from Iraq to Yemen — lives on.
In light of this recent incident, and its relative proximity to the anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination, it is worth noting that Soleimani did not die alone on that day in early 2020; also killed in the drone strike was Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the commander of Kata’ib Hezbollah, who had been designated a terrorist by the US and the UAE. It would not be implausible to infer that the latest embassy attack is retribution for Al-Muhandis, even though he was an incidental casualty in the strike intended for Soleimani.
The assassination of Soleimani revived global attention on Iraq, as well as Iran’s continued and growing influence over Iraqi politics and indeed the larger Middle East region. As a consequence of the killing, and as evidence of how much sway Tehran holds over Iraq, the parliament in Baghdad passed a resolution calling for the expulsion of US forces from Iraq. This resolution was approved only by pro-Iranian Shiite political parties and boycotted by a coalition of Kurdish and Sunni Arab politicians, as well as some Shiite groups. Iran preferspulling levers to launching missiles as a way of achieving its objectives. This is a key part of its long game.
Iran’s overt influence has been a contributing factor to street protests in Iraq, which began in October 2019 and have continued until now, albeit dampened by the pandemic. Indeed, a massive leak of documents in November 2019 revealed the broad extent to which Iran controls Iraqi public life. The New York Times obtained the cache of documents and gave the story greater visibility, though for most Iraqis it was hardly a revelation.
The Trump administration’s targeting of Soleimani was part of a wider strategy meant to roll back Iran’s influence in many parts of the Middle East. Indeed, another US drone strike in Yemen targeted Abdulreza Shahlai, a brigadier general in the Quds Force, on the same night as the Soleimani strike. Shahlai escaped but the strike did kill a lower ranking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps soldier, the first combat death the IRGC has acknowledged in its long war in Yemen.
Iran remains undaunted in its approach despite the death of Soleimani and even the killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. As I wrote here last year, Iranian operatives in South Africa planned to kill the US ambassador there, a personal friend of Trump. Last week the US designation of a pro-Iran Bahraini group as a terrorist organization also speaks to Iran’s commitment to building up the capabilities of its proxies across the region.
Soleimani’s assassination was certainly a significant blow to Iran, the loss of a high-value member of Tehran’s inner circle of leadership. A clever and careful strategist, Soleimani also possessed immeasurable experience and expertise at playing the long game. Indeed, he gained influence from the 1990s, often by pursuing carefully crafted policies focused on strategic long-term outcomes far more effectively than his predecessors. But his approach to the geopolitical chessboard is shared by the Tehran regime collectively. One year on, Soleimani is long dead, but the terrorist network he has built across the region — from Iraq to Yemen — lives on.
*Joseph Hammond is a journalist and former Fulbright Public Policy fellow with the government of Malawi.