LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 08/17
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For Today
Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10/40/42.11,01/:"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’ Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.

The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord
Acts of the Apostles 11/19-30/:"Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they associated with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians’. At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 07-08/17
Asking China to 'Fix' North Korea Is a Waste of Time/John R. Bolton/Gatestone Institute/July 07/17
Eastern Europe Chooses to Keep Western Civilization/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/July 07/17
What the G20 Should Be Talking About/Victoria Bateman/Bloomberg/July 07/17
Rouhani and Trump: Together against Iran’s Men with Guns/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17
Qatar: Purpose behind Escalation/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17
Asking China to 'Fix' North Korea Is a Waste of Time/John R. Bolton/Gatestone Institute/July 07/17
Crackdown on media and semblance of democracy in Myanmar/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
Shock Qatari people are facing has been in the making for decades/Sawsan Al Shaer/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
A serving of ISIS with salt and vinegar/Mashari Althaydi/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
Are the winds of change blowing in Iran/Hamid Bahrami/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 07-08/17
Arsal Operation Takes Legal Path…Presidential Efforts to Solve Syrian Refugees Crisis
Ibrahim Says Ready for Any Govt. Mission to Coordinate Return of Refugees
Hariri Says Allies of Syrian Regime Must Pressure it to Secure Safe Return of Displaced
Zahra: Syrian Ambassador Must be 'Summoned' Over 'Interference' in Lebanese Affairs
Ex-Minister Mashnouq: Three Sons of Ministers Fighting with Hizbullah in Syria
Two Bombs Target Army Troops in Arsal, No Casualties
Lebanon's State Websites Hacked with Pro-Syria Refugees Messages
Human Rights Minister Urges Army, Judiciary to Probe Detainees Deaths
Report: Army Panel to Probe Detainees Death, Sarraf to Declare Outcome
Sarraf highlights importance of unity facing enemy
Kenaan brands relation with LF as strategic
Ambassador Lassen discusses waste management with Minister Khatib
Hasbani inaugurates Arab Hospitals Federation Forum representing President Aoun
Judicial Council looks into Bachir Gemayel assassination case
MP Fadlallah: To address refugee issue as national pressing cause
Franjieh, Zasypkin tackle current developments
Army Commander, interlocutors tackle overall situation

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 07-08/17
Andrew Scheer Addresses Omar Khadr's Case Of Payout
US, Russia reach deal on Syria cease-fire - sources
On Eve of his Meeting with Putin, Trump Accepts ‘Russian Syria’ without Iran
Qatar Employs ‘Electronic Army’ to Spark ‘Revolt’ in Saudi Arabia
Battles to Retake South Mosul Village from ISIS
Facing defeat in Mosul, ISIS mounts diversionary attack to the south
10 killed in blitz car bomb attack in Egypt’s Sinai
Egyptian army: 40 militants involved in Sinai attack killed
Egypt and Russia’s foreign ministers discuss Qatar
Qatari Ships Barred from Suez Canal Economic Zone
29 Suspected ISIS Terrorists Arrested in Turkey’s Istanbul
Paris Playing ‘behind the Scenes’ Diplomatic Role in Gulf Crisis
France, Russia discuss Syria, sidestep differences on chemical weapons
Europe Hails Benghazi Liberation as Sarraj Congratulates Libyans and Ignores Haftar
Sudan Criticizes People’s Liberation Movement for Rejecting Political Dialogue
US Treasury Lifts Ban on Yemeni Government Accounts
Israel, India Sign $2 Billion ‘Iron Dome’ Deal
US judge blocks deportation of 1,400 Iraqi nationals

Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 07-08/17
Arsal Operation Takes Legal Path…Presidential Efforts to Solve Syrian Refugees Crisis
Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17/Beirut- The “Arsal operation” took on Thursday a legal path at the Lebanese army command in response to calls made by human rights organizations for an independent investigation after fears that four Syrian nationals, who died while in custody, had been physically abused.Meanwhile, there has been information that the Lebanese state might assign General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to politically coordinate with the Syrian regime on the return of refugees to their country, a controversial issue which some anti-Syrian regime officials in Beirut already opposed by accusing “Hezbollah” of trying to save Bashar Assad. The Asral operation controversy erupted on Wednesday when the army said four Syrian nationals, who had been arrested in the eastern border town, have died “after suffering from chronic health issues that were aggravated due to the climatic condition,” a position which prompted human rights organizations to demand a formal, transparent, and independent probe. Troops rounded up hundreds of Syrians during the raids carried out in Arsal last week. Four of them died while in custody.
Security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Lebanese army tasked its international humanitarian law office to follow up on the matter and prepare a report on the developments in Asral last week, when five suicide bombers blew themselves up in response to pre-emptive raids by the Lebanese army.
The sources said that a medical report issued by a forensic doctor who examined the bodies of the four Syrians, does not mention any abuse before their deaths. “The army insists on continuing its battle against terrorism and the pre-emptive strikes despite all the campaigns against it,” the sources said.
Syrian opposition forces and some human rights organizations affirm that between 10 and 19 Syrians have died from abuse while in the custody of the Lebanese army. In addition to the Arsal file, which caused a dispute in Lebanon concerning the issue of Syrian refugees, reports said that the Lebanese state is about to task Maj. Gen. Ibrahim to politically coordinate with the Syrian regime on their return to Syria. “The issue of refugees is in the right direction, and there is no doubt that the Lebanese state would solve it, particularly after the return of many Syrians home,” a minister close to President Michel Aoun told Asharq Al-Awsat. State Minister for Combating Corruption Nicolas Tueni said: “Coordination between the Syrian government and Lebanon is possible, and could be launched through the Lebanese General Security (agency) led by Abbas Ibrahim, who is responsible for protecting the Lebanese-Syrian border.”
However, presidential sources refused to confirm whether Aoun has tasked Ibarhim to carry out the mission, telling Asharq Al-Awsat: “No final decision has been taken in this regard.” Meanwhile, sources close to the premiership confirmed that Prime Minister Saad Hariri refuses any coordination between his government and the Syrian regime. The sources said the matter could be solved in coordination with the UN.

Ibrahim Says Ready for Any Govt. Mission to Coordinate Return of Refugees
Naharnet/July 07/17/General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said he is willing to carry out any mission entrusted to him by the Lebanese government as for dialogue with Syria to facilitate the return of displaced Syrians home, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. “I am at the disposal of the political authority and I am ready to carry out any mission I am tasked with,” as long as there is a political decision about it, Ibrahim told the daily in an interview. The General Security chief added that “security coordination with related parties (in Syria) has not changed, it is the same as it was previously and falls in the security interest of both countries.”Abbas' comments came after media reports pointed to an inclination to task him to “politically coordinate with the Syrian government on the refugee file – in his capacity as a presidential envoy.”Reports said the Lebanese government will maintain “its dissociation policy and it would later agree to any solutions that the 'presidential envoy' would reach, knowing that he enjoys good ties with the various local and external parties that are concerned with the crisis.”
The return of Syrian refugees has taken the forefront after the latest security sweep to combat terrorism in settlements camps in Arsal that left seven soldiers wounded in suicide attacks. Some calls arose encouraging coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian governments to return the displaced home, while others encouraged their return to be organized via the United Nations. Several officials of Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement are strongly opposed to any communication with Damascus, especially State Minister for Refugee Affairs Moein al-Merehbi. Several political parties, especially Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement, have called for coordinating the return of the displaced with the Syrian government.

Hariri Says Allies of Syrian Regime Must Pressure it to Secure Safe Return of Displaced
Naharnet/July 07/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed that allies of the Syrian regime must pressure the regime into securing safe zones in Syria for the displaced to return back home, and assured that Lebanon will block any attempt aiming to turn settlements camps into terror havens. “Let them exert pressure on the regime to facilitate the establishment of secure areas on the Syrian side of the border,” said Hariri reportedly referring to Hizbullah without naming the party. Hariri assured that the Lebanese state will confront any attempt to turn areas of displaced Syrians into incubators of terrorism but stressed that Lebanon will not drive them to an unknown fate. “Unfortunately, there is a new kind of outbidding that uses the tragedy of our displaced Syrian brothers to achieve cheap political gains, without realizing that they are threatening stability by trying to involve the Lebanese government in contacting the regime which is responsible for the tragedy of the refugees and the tragedy of all the Syrians,” said Hariri in a speech delivered during a graduation ceremony of the Beirut Arab University on Thursday. “First, these pressures constitute an unacceptable deviation from the rules of disassociation on which we agreed. Their only aim is to provide free political and security services to the Assad regime,” he said. “Second, the government of the Syrian regime is a key party in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens to the Lebanese territory. How does this enable it to discuss their return and protection? Unless what is meant by organizing the return of the displaced is handing them to the detention camps of the regime,” added the PM. “Third, those who are calling for contacts with the regime, are allies of the regime, fighting alongside the regime within the Syrian territory, and some of them take pride in reversing the previous equation in Lebanon and becoming part of the guardianship on the regime in Syria.”
“Fine, let them exert pressure on the regime to facilitate the establishment of secure areas on the Syrian side of the border, and camps under the supervision of the United Nations that can accommodate the refugees returning from Lebanon, instead of calling for the involvement of the Lebanese government in contacts that will lead to opening a new door to blackmail Lebanon without any real treatment of the consequences of the displacement? Or are they only good at outbidding your country, your government and your people?” asked Hariri. The PM added that Lebanon's main task is to confront the repercussions of the displacement on the Lebanese and country socially and economically, and to combat any attempt to use the displacement as a means to transfer terrorism to Lebanon. “Fifth, we are asking the international community to help us carry the burden of the displacement on Lebanon,” said Hariri, adding “we have no interest in sending a negative message to the international community saying that Lebanon has abandoned the path it has chosen in coordination with the United Nations and the international bodies and replaced it with a path with unknown results with the Syrian government, i.e. the same government that the international community holds responsible of the displacement crisis.” “The national, humanitarian and moral responsibility imposes on the Lebanese government to choose guaranteed options that protect the formula on which the Lebanese agreed, based on international legitimacy and not on wars, regimes and collapses,” he remarked. “In short, we will not drive the displaced to an unknown fate, but at the same time, we will confront any attempt to turn the areas of displacement into incubators of terrorism and extremism,” he concluded.

Zahra: Syrian Ambassador Must be 'Summoned' Over 'Interference' in Lebanese Affairs
Naharnet/July 07/17/Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra lashed out at Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali's “interference in inter-Lebanese” dialogue revolving around the return of displaced Syrians, and said that he must be “summoned” over his remarks, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. “The Syrian ambassador has shamelessly meddled in an inter-Lebanese dialogue. The Syrian ambassador may not interfere when the Lebanese argue about internal matters and whether they plan to hold talks with the Syrian authority or not,” said Zahra. On Thursday, the Ambassador has stressed that Syrian refugees in Lebanon cannot return home without “dialogue between the Lebanese and Syrian states.”The MP pointed out that it was Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem who had first called for talks with the Syrian government to help the displaced return home.
“Whoever wants to return does not need negotiations but is convinced that his return is safe and decides to return. Thus, calls to have talks with the Syrian regime was only intended to be a public acknowledgment of the Lebanese state of the legitimacy of this regime under the pretext of eliminating the burden of the displaced,” said Zahra. “It is well known that the legitimacy of the (Syrian) regime is questionable. A large part of its people does not recognize its legitimacy and considers it a murderous and criminal regime,” added the MP. He added that the return of refugees is a necessity but “there will be no dialogue with the Syrian regime. The ambassador has crossed the lines with Lebanon's Prime Minister and the authority” and tried to set conditions. The MP called on Lebanese authorities to “summon” the ambassador over his “interference” in Lebanon's internal affairs. In his remarks, Abdul Karim Ali said that “Syria will not accept mediations, but rather official communication to resolve this crisis that is threatening Lebanon.” Several officials of Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement are strongly opposed to any communication with Damascus, especially State Minister for Refugee Affairs Moein al-Merehbi. The Lebanese Forces is also opposed to such a move. Political disagreements prevented Cabinet from taking any decision on the file during the session. Several political parties, especially Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement, have called for coordinating the return of the displaced with the Syrian government.

Ex-Minister Mashnouq: Three Sons of Ministers Fighting with Hizbullah in Syria
Naharnet/July 07/17/Former Environment Mohammed al-Mashnouq revealed on Friday that three sons of Lebanese ministers in the government are fighting alongside Hizbullah's ranks in the Syrian war. Mashnouq said he had a conversation with someone whose identity was not disclosed, he said he asked him “how can Lebanon dissociate itself from the war in Syria while three sons of Lebanese ministers are fighting with Hizbullah in Syria?”Mashnouq's remarks came in a tweet. Hizbullah and others from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are battling alongside regime forces in Syria to defend the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Two Bombs Target Army Troops in Arsal, No Casualties
Naharnet/July 07/17/Two explosive bombs targeting army troops blew up at dawn on Friday in the northeastern border town of Arsal, LBCI reported. The bombs exploded and another was dismantled by the security forces in the Arsal neighborhood of al-Jamalah, it added. The bombs were planted on side of the road by unknown gunmen to target army troops while they are on mission to the area, it added.No casualties were reported, LBCI said.

Lebanon's State Websites Hacked with Pro-Syria Refugees Messages
Naharnet/July 07/17/The websites of Lebanon's state government agencies were hacked on Friday with postings professing support for Syrian refugees and slamming the country's military and security agencies after the crackdown on militants in encampments of displaced Syrians. The websites of the General Directorate of State Security and the General Directorate of General Security were not loading on Friday and showed the message “hacked by the Syrian Revolution Electronic Army.”The hackers directed the agencies' websites to a statement that condemned the latest security sweep to combat terrorism in encampments of Syrian refugees in the border town of Arsal. “In response to the recurrent assaults against the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, detentions, killings, fires at settlement camps, ..we will continue with the #OpLebanon campaign against Lebanon's government institutions,” read the message. The same pro-Syrian refugees message, was also shown on Tuesday on the website of the country's state television website.

Human Rights Minister Urges Army, Judiciary to Probe Detainees Deaths
Naharnet/July 07/17/State Minister for Human Rights Ayman Choucair on Thursday called on the army and the judiciary to probe the recent deaths of at least four Syrian detainees in army custody. “The military institution has offered hefty sacrifices to protect the country, fight terrorism and eradicate extremism, and this is something that every Lebanese citizen is proud of,” Choucair said in a statement. “But all agencies tasked with enforcing the law and protecting security should abide by the detention norms that are stipulated by the law and should respect the rights of any detainee during interrogation,” the minister added, citing Lebanon's Code of Criminal Procedure and “the international laws that Lebanon has been signatory of since around 17 years.”“Accordingly, and in order to preserve the army's image and prevent any possibly malicious rumors, we call on the Army Command and the relevant judicial authorities to launch a transparent investigation into all the pictures and reports that were recently circulated regarding the latest arrests in Arsal, and to determine the causes that led to the death of a number of detainees,” Choucair went on to say. He also underscored that a government decision to “task the army with probing the detainees' death circumstances would be a proof of keenness on transparency and on clarifying the issue to the public opinion.”Media reports said Thursday that the government has decided to ask the Army Command to form a panel of inquiry into the deaths, after Prime Minister Saad Hariri raised the issue during Wednesday's Cabinet session. “Defense Minister Yacoub Sarraf would then brief Cabinet on the outcome before announcing the results in a press conference,” al-Hayat newspaper said. A Syrian opposition group and international and local human rights organizations had on Wednesday called for a quick investigation into the death of the four detainees. The four were detained in a sweeping security raid last week in refugee settlements in and around the border town of Arsal that netted 355 Syrians. Troops were met with a string of suicide attacks and grenades that left seven of them wounded and a Syrian child dead. The army's announcement that four detainees died due to "chronic health problems aggravated by weather conditions" sparked swift allegations that the four Syrian men were tortured to death, particularly after images emerged depicting a body with a bruised neck and bloody face. In remarks to The Associated Press over the weekend, an unnamed military official had dismissed allegations of abuse, saying mass detentions were necessary to combat terrorism. There has been no official response from the army to the accusations that followed the deaths.

Report: Army Panel to Probe Detainees Death, Sarraf to Declare Outcome
Naharnet/July 07/17/The government has decided to ask the Army Command to form a panel of inquiry into the death of at least four Syrian detainees in the army's custody, a media report said on Thursday. Prime Minister Saad Hariri raised the issue during Wednesday's Cabinet session, noting that the army's announcement that four detainees had died due to chronic health problems has “raised question marks” in Lebanon and abroad, al-Hayat newspaper reported. “It was decided to ask the Army Command to form a panel of inquiry into the circumstances of their deaths,” the daily said. “Defense Minister Yacoub Sarraf would then brief Cabinet on the outcome before announcing the results in a press conference,” al-Hayat added. A Syrian opposition group and international and local human rights organizations had on Wednesday called for a quick investigation into the death of the four detainees. The four were detained in a sweeping security raid last week in refugee settlements in and around the border town of Arsal that netted 355 Syrians. Troops were met with a string of suicide attacks and grenades that left seven of them wounded and a Syrian child dead. The army's announcement that four detainees died due to "chronic health problems aggravated by weather conditions" sparked swift allegations that the four Syrian men were tortured to death, particularly after images emerged depicting a body with a bruised neck and bloody face. Lawyer Nabil Halabi, who heads the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (LIFE), said there were indications as many as 10 refugees had died under torture. The Syrian National Coalition, a Turkey-based opposition group, alleged that Lebanese authorities were rushing the funerals without carrying out autopsies to determine the cause of death. In Arsal on Wednesday, Syrian refugees blocked a road to prevent the return of the bodies of the four for burial, demanding that autopsies take place first. According to photos seen by The Associated Press, two of the bodies showed heavy bruising on the face and abdomen — which Halabi said was consistent with beatings. The army over the weekend dismissed allegations of abuse, saying mass detentions were necessary to combat terrorism. There has been no official response from the military to the accusations that followed the deaths.

Sarraf highlights importance of unity facing enemy
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - Minister of National Defense, Yaacoub Sarraf, on Friday highlighted the importance of unity among citizens as well as among the military, in the face of the enemy. "When the enemy sees that we are divided parties, it will seek to drag us into war; but if we are one hand just as we are today in the army, we prevent hardships," the Minister said during a meeting organized by Labora at Balamand University in Baino, Akkar. Sarraf also called for providing support and orientation for the army, not just weapons.

Kenaan brands relation with LF as strategic
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - MP Ibrahim Kenaan from the Change and Reform bloc on Friday described the current relation between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces as "strategic", enjoying several common denominators on detailed dossiers.
"Communication between LF and FPM is ongoing... sharing goals of administrative decentralization and financial reform, as well as securing better representation and efficient administration," MP Kenaan said. The lawmaker also stressed that the administrative decentralization law is the bloc's priority in the next stage after the budget and the salary scale. Asked about the FPM's relation with the Marada Movement, Kenaan said that the relation has never been interrupted.

Ambassador Lassen discusses waste management with Minister Khatib
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - Ambassador Christina Lassen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, met today with Minister of Environment Tarek el Khatib. Discussions focused on the urgently needed nationwide waste management strategy and the need to protect our global resources, including the Mediterranean sea. They also focused on waste to energy plans and upcoming initiatives to address the waste crisis. Ambassador Lassen raised concerns about operations in the two landfills of Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud. Minister El Khatib assured her that the government is currently working intensively to address remaining problems. Ambassador Lassen said that the European Union is ready to support municipalities and operational initiatives, as well as the private sector and the civil society organisations in the preparation of long-term responses to the waste crisis. She added that addressing the solid waste crisis and channelling EU support need efficient, transparent and accountable responses at public and private sector levels. Since 2004, the EU has been financing the construction of 16 solid waste treatment facilities and the supply of equipment (e.g. containers, trucks, sterilisation centres) outside Beirut and Mount Lebanon, for a total of more than EUR 77 million.

Hasbani inaugurates Arab Hospitals Federation Forum representing President Aoun
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - Minister of Public Health, Ghassan Hasbani, representing President of the Republic Michel Aoun, inaugurated the Arab Hospitals Federation's Health Economic Forum, at Habtoor Hotel on Friday. "We are witnessing a demographic boom and an increase of citizens' healthcare needs, amid growing poverty rates among the Lebanese and the majority of the displaced and refugees," Hasbani said in his word, noting the decrease of international help. "Since the beginning of events in Syria, Lebanon has been witnessing an unmatched boom of population. [Lebanon] is the first host country as to the number of displaced compared to that of citizens," he explained. "There are nearly 1.5 million displaced Syrians in Lebanon," he added. "We have dealt with this realty by adopting the policies and directives that aim to meet the needs of citizens on one hand, and control and rationalize healthcare expenditures on the other," he said. "We will hold a meeting on Monday to launch the national healthcare system strategy," he revealed. He lastly highlighted the importance of partnership between the public and private sectors to develop and boost Lebanon's healthcare sector.

Judicial Council looks into Bachir Gemayel assassination case
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - The Judicial Council convenes under the chairmanship of the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Jean Fahd, to follow up on the investigations into the assassination of President Sheikh Bashir Gemayel and his colleagues on September 14, 1982. The hearing session is devoted to defense counsel in this case. Coinciding with the session, a number of Habib Chartouni's supporters gathered outside the Justice Palace, amidst strict security measures.

MP Fadlallah: To address refugee issue as national pressing cause
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - MP Hassan Fadlallah from the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc on Friday called to address the issue of Syrian refugees as a "national pressing cause," highlighting the necessity to communicate with the Syrian government in that respect. The lawmaker also called to keep this dossier away from political exploitation. On a different note, Fadlallah renewed Hezbollah's support for the salary scale and rejection of imposing additional levies on people. His remarks came during an interview on Annour radio station.

Franjieh, Zasypkin tackle current developments
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - Marada Movement head, MP Suleiman Franjieh, met on Friday at his Bnachai residence with Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, in the presence of Public Works and Transportation Minister, Youssef Fenianos. Talks reportedly touched on most recent developments.

Army Commander, interlocutors tackle overall situation
Fri 07 Jul 2017/NNA - Army Commander, Joseph Aoun, on Friday met respectively at his Yarzeh office with MPs Ali Ammar and Elie Maroni, with talks reportedly touching on the general situation in the country. General Aoun also met with the Personal Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Sigrid Kaag, who voiced support for the army in combating terrorism and maintaining Lebanon's stability.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 07-08/17
Andrew Scheer Addresses Omar Khadr's Case Of  Payout
July 07/07/17
From my press conference earlier today about Omar Khadr. Canadians are shocked by Justin Trudeau’s decision to give a $10.5 million secret payout to the terrorist who killed U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Speer in Afghanistan.
Make no mistake: this settlement is a choice made by Justin Trudeau, and what’s worse, he is hiding it from Canadians. This payout is a slap in the face to the men and women in uniform who face incredible danger every day to keep us safe.
As Prime Minister, I would have fought against this payout in court and made absolutely clear: Canadian taxpayers won’t be rewarding an admitted terrorist.

US, Russia reach deal on Syria cease-fire - sources
The Associated Press, Hamburg , Germany Friday, 7 July 2017/The United States and Russia have reached agreement on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, three US officials said on Friday as President Donald Trump held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The deal marks a new level of involvement for the US in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war. Although details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren’t immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said. The two US allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria’s civil war spilling over the border. The deal is separate from “de-escalation zones” that were to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The US was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Astana, Kazakhstan, to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach agreement. Previous cease-fires in Syria have collapsed or failed to reduce violence for long, and it was unclear whether this deal would be any better. Earlier in the week, Syria’s military had said it was halting combat operations in the south of Syria for four days, in advance of a new round of Russia-sponsored talks in Astana. That move covered southern provinces of Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida.
Syria’s government briefly extended that unilateral cease-fire, which is now set to expire Saturday — a day before the US and Russian deal would take effect.
Open-ended agreement
The new agreement to be announced Friday will be open-ended, one US official said, describing it as part of broader US discussions with Russia on trying to lower violence in the war-ravaged country. Officials said the US and Russia were still working out the details as Trump and Putin concluded their more than two-hour meeting on Friday. The US and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the US and Russia oppose the ISIS group in Syria. The US has been wary of letting Iran gain influence in Syria — a concern shared by Israel and Jordan, neither of which wants Iranian-aligned troops amassing near their territories. A US-brokered deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the ISIS is routed from additional territory in Syria. Though US and Russian officials had been discussing a potential deal for some time, it didn’t reach fruition until the run-up to Trump’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Germany, officials said.
High on the agenda
Before Trump’s meeting with Putin — his first with the Russian leader — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled that Syria’s civil war would be high on the agenda. Tillerson said in a statement before departing for Germany for the meeting that the US remained open to cooperating with Russia through “joint mechanisms” to lower violence in Syria, potentially including no-fly zones. “If our two countries work together to establish stability on the ground, it will lay a foundation for progress on the settlement of Syria’s political future,” Tillerson said on Wednesday. Moscow reacted angrily when the US downed a Syrian jet last week after it dropped bombs near the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the ISIS group. Russia warned its military would track aircraft from the US-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a hotline intended to avoid midair incidents.

On Eve of his Meeting with Putin, Trump Accepts ‘Russian Syria’ without Iran
Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17/Hamburg, Moscow- On the eve of a meeting with his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin in Germany on Friday, US President Donald Trump said “we recognize that Syria requires a political solution that does not advance Iran’s destructive agenda and does not allow terrorist organizations to return.”During his brief visit to Warsaw on Thursday, Trump said: “We urge Russia to cease its destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere and its support for hostile regimes including Syria and Iran, and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and the defense of civilization itself.”Trump is scheduled to meet Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit convening in Hamburg, Germany. Earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said that despite unresolved differences between the US and Russia on a number of issues, “we have the potential to appropriately coordinate in Syria in order to produce stability and serve our mutual security interests.” In Paris, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met on Thursday with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian to discuss anti-terrorist cooperation and the situation in Syria. A statement issued by the French Foreign Ministry said Paris does not seek to place the departure of Bashar Assad as a precondition to any political talks, but added that “Assad cannot find a solution to the conflict in Syria.”Surprisingly, chief of the Russian delegation to the Astana talks, Alexander Lavrentiev defended sending observers to the “de-escalation zones” in Syria, and said those were not a fighting unit, but only military observers already present in the area. Lavrentiev said Russian military police would be deployed there. Separately, the German news agency said Syrian army’s chief of staff General Ali Ayyoub visited his forces in the countryside of western Raqqa, the first such visit of a high-ranking military official to the stronghold of ISIS in the past four years. A military statement quoted Ayyoub as saying “the regime, its friends and allies are determined to continue the war on terrorism.”

Qatar Employs ‘Electronic Army’ to Spark ‘Revolt’ in Saudi Arabia
Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17/Paris, al-Dammam – The crisis with Qatar and the four Arab states is still ongoing and Saudi Arabia provided on Thursday further evidence of Doha’s antagonism against it. It revealed that Qatar has been operating over 23,000 Twitter accounts to stoke strike and a revolt in the Kingdom. “We found over 23,000 Twitter accounts driven by Qatar, some of them linked to accounts calling for ‘revolution’ in Saudi Arabia,” Information Minister Awwad Saleh al-Awwad told AFP during a visit to Paris. “This is a matter of national security,” he added, while saying that Qatar’s al-Jazeera satellite television is spreading messages of hate. “Al-Jazeera is a platform for terrorism, starting from bin Laden to al-Qaradawi. It is only normal that it be shut down. The channel and those working for it should be held accountable,” demanded the minister. According to al-Awwad, Qatar had called through the Twitter accounts for demonstrations to be staged in Saudi Arabia on April 21 and June 2. Those calls however have failed, he said. An aide at the Saudi Royal Diwan, Saud al-Qahtani revealed on Thursday that the concerned authorities tracked over 23,000 fake Twitter accounts that can traced back to Qatar. The accounts sought to create spite between the official authorities and the citizens, spark doubts and encourage a rebellion against the general system, he said. “A concerned team studied the sources of the tweets and found out the 32 percent of them were made from Qatar, 28 percent from Lebanon, 24 percent from Turkey and 12 percent from Iraq,” he noted. Meanwhile, Qatar has raised its rhetoric, refusing the demands of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. These four countries had severed their ties with Qatar in early June over its support for terrorism. They had made a list of demands to Doha in order to end the boycott, which Qatar had leaked to the media. The demands included halting the financing of international terrorist networks and taking decisions that are in line with its Arab and Gulf surroundings.

Battles to Retake South Mosul Village from ISIS
Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17/Erbil- Iraqi forces led a fierce battle on Thursday against ISIS gunmen who succeeded to sneak into Imam Gharbi village in southern Mosul. Along with sleeper cells in the village and its outskirts, the militants managed to control the village and take a number of families as hostages. Abdul Rahman al-Waggaa, a member of the Nineveh Provincial Council, told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the 9th Armored Division of the army continues its operation to restore control over the village and eradicate the remaining armed men who are detaining a huge number of families in the eastern side of the village. Security forces succeeded in evacuating the village from residents to avoid being injured during the battles.”Waggaa added that according to received information, around 20 ISIS militants, the majority of them foreigners sneaked to the village. An ISIS group was waiting for this force inside. So their number doubled, allowing them to hold the families captive.He pointed out that the security forces took their time before launching the battle to save these civilians. “The group continues to hold 20 families as hostages,” he added, refusing to announce the number of civilian losses during the past two days in the village. However, some village residents told Asharq Al-Awsat that ISIS executed the detainees while the residents killed some of the local armed men. Along with the liberation battle of Imam Gharbi village, Iraqi forces continued to advance from three axes in Old Mosul to regain control of the remaining parts. However, organizations tasked with rescuing civilians fleeing battles announced that the number of the displaced mounted to more than 900,000, the majority of whom are children and women.

Facing defeat in Mosul, ISIS mounts diversionary attack to the south
Reuters, Mosul/Tikrit, Iraq Friday, 7 July 2017/ISIS militants attacked a village south of Mosul, killing several people including two journalists, even as they were about to lose their last redoubt in the city to an Iraqi military onslaught, security sources said on Friday. The assault on Imam Gharbi village appeared to be the sort of diversionary, guerrilla-style strike tactics ISIS is expected to focus on as US-backed Iraqi forces regain control over cities ISIS captured in a shock 2014 offensive. Security sources said ISIS insurgents had infiltrated Imam Gharbi, some 70 km south of Mosul on the western bank of the Tigris river, on Wednesday evening from a pocket of territory still under their control on the eastern bank. Two Iraqi journalists were reported killed and two others wounded as they covered the security forces’ counter-attack to take back the village on Friday. An unknown number of civilians and military were also killed or wounded in the clashes.
UN suspends relief operations
The fighting forced the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration to suspend relief operations at two sites where it houses nearly 80,000 people near Qayyara, just north of Imam Gharbi, a UN statement said. With water trucks no longer able to reach the sites, the displaced people could run short of water at a time of midsummer temperatures well over 40 Celsius, it said. In Mosul, ISIS clung to a slowly shrinking pocket on the Tigris west bank, battling for every meter with snipers, grenades and suicide bombers, which forced Iraqi troops to fight house-to-house in densely-populated blocks.
The Iraqi military has forecast final victory this week in what used to be the de facto capital of ISIS’s “caliphate” in Iraq, after a grinding eight-month, US-backed offensive to wrest back the city, whose pre-war population was 2 million. But security forces faced ferocious resistance from roughly several hundred militants hunkered down among thousands of civilians in the maze of alleyways in Mosul’s Old City. Air strikes and artillery salvoes continued to pound ISIS’s last Mosul bastion on Friday, a Reuters TV crew said. Mosul was by far the largest city seized by ISIS in its offensive three years ago where the ultra-hardline group declared its “caliphate” over adjoining parts of Iraq and Syria.
Asymmetric attacks
Stripped of Mosul, ISIS’s dominion in Iraq will be reduced to mainly rural, desert areas west and south of the city where tens of thousands of people live, and the militants are expected to keep up asymmetric attacks on selected targets across Iraq. Adhel Abu Ragheef, a Baghdad-based expert on militant groups, said ISIS was likely to carry out “more of these raid-type attacks on security forces to try to divert them away from the main battle”, now in Mosul and then in other areas west of Mosul including near the Syrian border still ISIS control. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of ISIS’s “state of falsehood” a week ago, after security forces took Mosul’s mediaeval Grand al-Nuri mosque - although only after retreating militants blew it up. Months of grinding urban warfare in Mosul have displaced 900,000 people, about half the city’s pre-war population, and killed thousands, according to aid organizations.
The United Nations predicts it will cost more than $1 billion to repair basic infrastructure in Mosul. Iraq’s regional Kurdish leader said on Thursday in a Reuters interview that the Baghdad central government had failed to prepare a post-battle political, security and governance plan.

10 killed in blitz car bomb attack in Egypt’s Sinai
The Associated Press Friday, 7 July 2017/A car bomb followed by fierce gunfire was unleashed on a military checkpoint in northeastern Sinai Peninsula on Friday, leaving 10 Egyptian security troops including a special forces colonel dead and wounding at least 20, authorities said. The officials said the blitz attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint at a military compound in the southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy gunfire from dozens of masked militants on foot. The dead included a high ranking special forces officer, Col. Ahmed el-Mansi, and at least 20 others were wounded in the attack. Sirens of ambulances were heard from a distance as they rushed to the site of the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Egypt in recent years has been battling a stepped-up insurgency in northern Sinai, mainly by militants from an ISIS group affiliate. Army spokesman Tamer el-Rifai declined to immediately comment when reached by The Associated Press. Over the past months, ISIS has focused its attacks on Egypt's Christian minority and carried out at least four deadly attacks that killed dozens, prompting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare a state of emergency in the country.

Egyptian army: 40 militants involved in Sinai attack killed
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 7 July 2017/(Agencies)/Egyptian army declared on Friday, that 40 attackers killed, 6 cars destroyed in checkpoint attack in Sinai, Egypt. Egyptian official sources said that the security forces toll in Sinai attack has risen to 23 dead and 33 injured. The Egyptian soldiers were targeted on Friday in attacks on several checkpoints in Sinai that included car bombings, the military said in a statement. The military said it killed the assailants as it clashed with extremists in North Sinai, where the ISIS group is leading a deadly insurgency. it was earlier reported that a car bomb followed by fierce gunfire was unleashed on a military checkpoint in northeastern Sinai Peninsula on Friday. The officials said the blitz attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint at a military compound in the southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy gunfire from dozens of masked militants on foot. The dead included a high ranking special forces officer, Col. Ahmed el-Mansi, and 33 others were wounded in the attack. Sirens of ambulances were heard from a distance as they rushed to the site of the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Egypt in recent years has been battling a stepped-up insurgency in northern Sinai, mainly by militants from an ISIS group affiliate. Army spokesman Tamer el-Rifai declined to immediately comment when reached by The Associated Press. Over the past months, ISIS has focused its attacks on Egypt's Christian minority and carried out at least four deadly attacks that killed dozens, prompting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare a state of emergency in the country.

Egypt and Russia’s foreign ministers discuss Qatar
By Ashraf Abdel Hamid Al Arabiya, Cairo Friday, 7 July 2017/Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri telephoned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday where the two officials discussed the Qatari crisis and stressed the their countries’ rejection of Doha’s support for terrorism. Ahmed Abu Zaid, spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, explained that Shukri briefed Lavrov on the outcome of the four-ministerial meeting held in Cairo on Wednesday, and affirmed the adherence of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain to rejecting the Qatari support for terrorism and extremism as well as their commitment to the list of demands handed to Qatar in this regard. During the phone call, Shukri stressed the need for the international community to intensify its efforts in the fight against terrorism and to block all means of financing, supporting and harboring terrorist organizations within the framework of the international strategy to fight and eliminate terrorism. The Foreign Ministry Spokesman added that the Russian Foreign Minister affirmed his country’s commitment to supporting all international counter-terrorism efforts and its constant readiness to cooperate to eliminate this phenomenon and to maintain the security and stability of the Arab countries. Shukri and Lavrov also discussed the developments in the Syrian crisis especially with the upcoming Geneva talks. Both parties affirmed their commitment to support the Geneva process and to make tangible progress in the political talks between all Syrian parties.
The two ministers agreed on holding a meeting in Cairo or Moscow to continue discussing the issues of mutual interest. On the other hand, Shukri received a call from Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah, in which he thanked Egypt and the Arab countries participating in the four-ministerial meeting in Cairo on Wednesday for the appreciation and praise expressed in the joint statement issued by the meeting for the efforts of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabber al-Sabah, Emir of the State of Kuwait, and the efforts exerted by the State of Kuwait to preserve Arab national security and Arab relations. Shukri briefed his Kuwaiti counterpart on the outcome of the four-way ministerial meeting as well as the deliberations and consultations that took place.

Qatari Ships Barred from Suez Canal Economic Zone
Asharq Al-Awsat/July 07/17/Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and the canal economic zone, Mohab Mamish announced on Friday that Qatari ships will be barred from the zone in line with decisions to prevent Qatari vessels from passing through these ports or entering them. His announcement came in light of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt’s severing of diplomatic ties with Doha, reported the Asharq al-Awsat news agency. Friday’s decision was out of keenness on Egypt’s national security, added Mamish. Any decision issued by the state of Egypt related to the Arab boycott will be effective throughout all ports in the economic zone, because it lies in territorial waters that are governed by the state of Egypt, which decides on the passage of ships or not, he explained. This does not however apply to the Suez Canal, he stressed. Mamish said that based on the 1869 Constantinople convention, the Canal is committed to international agreements that were signed by the Egyptian state. The Canal therefore is part of the international maritime system and should not be shut off to passing ships. Mamish said that the Qatari vessels that are crossing in the area are not loaded with cargo, but they are mainly loaded with gas and therefore cannot be barred passage.

29 Suspected ISIS Terrorists Arrested in Turkey’s Istanbul
Asharq Al-Awsat/July 07/17/Turkish police arrested 29 suspected ISIS terrorists in raids in 20 different locations in the city of Istanbul, announced the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday. Twenty-two of the detainees are foreign nationals, while the rest are Turkish. It did not disclose the details of the other nationalities. All of the suspects were believed to have fought in ISIS ranks in Syria and were preparing to return to the neighboring country, added Anadolu. Anti-terrorism police carried out operations in six city districts overnight, it said, adding that one unlicensed weapon and documents belonging to the terror group were found in the raids. Thousands of foreign fighters have joined the militants in their self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq in recent years, many of them passing through Turkey. Turkey has been hit by a series of deadly attacks carried out by ISIS or Kurdish militants and has stepped up anti-terrorism operations across the country. Ankara has detained more than 5,000 ISIS suspects and deported some 3,290 foreign militants from 95 different countries in recent years, according to Turkish officials. It has also refused entry to at least 38,269 individuals. On Wednesday, Turkish police detained six suspected ISIS terrorists for planning to attack a protest march led by the head of the secularist main opposition party. In a separate operation on Wednesday, Turkish police detained another 37 ISIS suspects across Turkey, authorities said. ISIS claimed responsibility for a New Year’s mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people. Earlier, officials said suspected Kurdish militants have detonated an improvised explosive device in southeastern Turkey as the armored vehicle of a district official was passing by. No one was hurt in the attack. The blast occurred Friday in the town of Baykan in the mostly Kurdish province of Siirt. It came days after two ruling party officials serving in district organizations were killed in attacks also blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said an operation was launched in the area to catch the assailants, adding that such attacks would not “end (Turkey’s) patience and determination” in the fight against the PKK.

Paris Playing ‘behind the Scenes’ Diplomatic Role in Gulf Crisis
Asharq Al-Awsat/July 07/17/Paris – France is maintaining its “behind the scenes” role in the Gulf crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt over Doha’s funding and backing of terrorism because the French government believes that the residents of the Gulf “can solve their problems by themselves.”French diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that French diplomacy is “active on different levels in order to deliver messages and push for decisions that may help contain the escalation and restore dialogue.”France is operating on two levels. The first is led by President Emmanuel Macron, who is in “constant contact” with Gulf leaders, revealed his circles. They said that he has twice contacted Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz. He also hosted Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed at the Elysee Paris and had three days ago contacted the Emir of Qatar. The French leader has also discussed the Gulf crisis with King of Morocco Mohammed VI during his visit to al-Rabat and his contacts with Arab and western officials. Macron intends to also address the Gulf crisis during Friday’s G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, said the presidency. The French circles did not elaborate on the “angle” in which he will bring up this issue, but it is likely that he will head into it when he discusses the war on terrorism and its financing. The funding of terrorism is included on the summit agenda. Macron understands the importance of the Gulf crisis because of its impact on the stability of the Gulf, on the war on terrorism and on the special tries that Paris enjoys with all Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, stressed Elysee sources. They added that “France is prepared to present all forms of support”, especially to the Kuwait mediation, which is the only “official” mediation in the crisis. The second level of the French efforts over the crisis lies is being led by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. Foreign Ministry sources aid that he is “in contact” with his Gulf counterparts, noting that he recently visited Cairo to tackle the dispute with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. He had held similar talks with Saudi FM Adel al-Jubeir, UAE FM Abdullah bin Zayed, Qatari FM Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and various Kuwaiti officials. The crisis was also discussed by Le Drian with Iranian FM Mohammed Javad Zarif during his latest visit to Paris. In addition to being active on the Gulf front, Paris has also been in contact with European and American officials. It believes that “Washington has a role to play” in ending the crisis. Since the eruption of the crisis with Qatar, the four Arab states made a list of demands to Doha to accept as a condition to end their boycott.
French government spokesperson Christophe Castaner said that Doha “had to respond to the demands,” but Paris has at the same time said that it did want to take sides in the dispute because it enjoys good ties with all those concerned. It therefore is primarily interested in “containing the escalation through refraining from pouring fuel on the fire and taking the necessary measures that can ease the tensions.”Le Drian intends in the upcoming days to “intensify” his contacts to resolve the problem, but no concrete plan has been set in place yet.

France, Russia discuss Syria, sidestep differences on chemical weapons
Reuters, Paris Friday, 7 July 2017/France and Russia agreed on Thursday that fighting terrorism in Syria was their common objective, but pointedly avoided airing their differences over the sensitive issue of chemical weapons. France appears to be broadly aligning its foreign policy with the US priorities of tackling terrorism while seeking better ties with Russia and avoiding a head-on clash with Moscow over Syria. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who held six hours of talks primarily on Syria with Russian officials in Moscow two weeks ago, continued his push for closer co-operation, when he met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov again in Paris on Thursday. With the two countries previously publicly at odds over the issue of chemical weapons, Le Drian now hopes to convince Russia to enforce a 2013 Security Council resolution to prevent their use in Syria. He also wants to win concessions from Russia to improve the humanitarian situation in a country where hundreds of thousands are besieged and millions displaced after six years of civil war. Le Drian has not said what incentives Paris could offer Russia in return beyond closer security cooperation. “Terrorism is our number one enemy and to fight it we have to put everything else aside,” Lavrov, whose country supports the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, said in a joint statement. Le Drian echoed those comments saying terrorism was their common enemy. Standing alongside Lavrov, he said that France, which has backed opposition groups fighting Assad, had set a red line on the use of chemical weapons in the country. He shied away from criticizing Russia. “We are both opposed to the use of chemical weapons and what’s at stake is to be able to dismantle the regime’s chemical weapons’ stocks,” Le Drian said, refusing to take questions from reporters. Lavrov himself made no mention of chemical weapons. French intelligence agencies have accused Assad’s government of carrying out a chemical weapons attack in April, something that both Syrian and Russian officials have dismissed. Paris said on Friday that findings by a fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that showed sarin or a sarin-like substance had been used proved this. Russia said the report was based on doubtful evidence.

Europe Hails Benghazi Liberation as Sarraj Congratulates Libyans and Ignores Haftar
Asharq Al-Awsat/July 07/17/Cairo – Life has started to return to normal in Libya’s second city Benghazi only hours after commander of the National Libyan Army Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar announced its “complete liberation” from armed extremists after over three years of fierce battles.
Thousands of Libyans took to the streets throughout the country to celebrate the victory, while National Libyan Army members swept Benghazi for mines that the extremists had planted behind before their defeat. The citizens have been urged to stay away from the al-Sabri and Souk al-Hout areas until the forces announce that they are safe. Meanwhile, Prime Minister of the UN-backed national agreement government Fayez al-Sarraj congratulated in a statement the residents of Benghazi on the liberation of their city. He did not however explicitly mention Haftar or his forces in the statement.
He “hoped that the upcoming period would mark the beginning of the unified democratic civil state with a single army and sovereign and united institutions and that stability and security would be restored throughout Libya.”Priority now lies in “reconstruction and activating the role of state institutions to better serve Benghazi and the Libyan cities that have been plagued by extremism.”The presidential council is exerting all of its efforts to ensure that operation is restored at vital institutions as soon as possible, he added. In the first international reaction to the liberation, France praised what it described as the “progress” achieved by the National Libyan Army. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said: “Paris hails all counter-terrorism efforts, such as what was achieved by the forces of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar against the terrorist groups in Benghazi.”“For these successes to be sustainable, an organized Libyan army under the power of the civil authority should be formed in order to monitor all Libyan territories and borders,” she added. Haftar had in spring 2014 launched an operation to liberate Benghazi from extremists. In contrast to the international community, he does not recognize Sarraj’s government. His opponents, especially a group in Misrata, accuses the field marshal of seeking to establish military rule in the North African country. France, which backs Sarraj, had sent military experts to Haftar, who is considered the main deterrent against terrorism. Paris has repeatedly declared that Haftar is “part of the solution” in Libya and it seeks to launch an initiative with regional partners, especially the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, to reach this solution. British Ambassador to Libya Peter Millett hoped that Benghazi’s liberation will restore security and prosperity to the city, adding through his Twitter account that there is no place for terrorism in Libya. The UN mission in the country also hailed the liberation, hoping that it would mark a step towards stability, peace and reconciliation in Libya. The victory in the eastern city of Benghazi is considered a major feat for Haftar, who is advancing steadily in eastern and southern Libya in what is seen as a challenge to Sarraj’s government in the capital Tripoli, which is facing problems in expanding its authority.

Sudan Criticizes People’s Liberation Movement for Rejecting Political Dialogue
Asharq Al-Awsat/July 07/17/London– The Sudanese government said on Thursday that the refusal of the People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-N) to engage in political talks was an attempt to abort peace efforts, stressing its commitment to achieve comprehensive reconciliation in the country.
The Sudanese information minister and the government’s official spokesperson, Ahmed Bilal Othman, said in a statement to the Sudanese Media Center (SMC) that the government would conduct negotiations with SPLM-N with the aim of reaching a comprehensive peace and “not merely for the sake of negotiations”.He noted that the stance of the government with regards to the humanitarian corridor was settled and unwavering, saying they would not accept entry of relief except through Sudan. He added: “Any other steps by the movement that would not lead to realization of peace doesn’t concern us.”During the last round of negotiations in Addis Ababa in August, the SPLM-N asked the Sudanese government to allow the access of 20 percent of humanitarian aid through a humanitarian corridor in the Ethiopian town of Asosa. The government rejected the proposal, describing it as a violation to national sovereignty.
Othman stressed that the door was still open for dialogue, affirming that the government would sit with those who want peace “even of it is one person”. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, SPLM-N spokesperson Mubarak Ardol said that his movement was committed to holding negotiations on humanitarian issues, and would not participate in any political talks. Ardol blamed the Sudanese government for aborting the peace roadmap, noting that the movement has informed the African Mechanism that any future political process should include the government’s acknowledgment of a political crisis in the country.

US Treasury Lifts Ban on Yemeni Government Accounts
Riyadh– The US Treasury Department officially announced on Thursday its decision to lift a ban on the Yemeni government’s financial accounts, following the success of the Yemeni Central Bank in launching the international Swift system.
Other countries are also expected to lift the ban on the accounts of Yemen’s legitimate government, according to Ghamdan al-Sharif, the press secretary of the Yemeni prime minister. Sharif told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that when the Houthis and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh took control over state institutions and stole the financial reserves, the Yemeni government asked international banks to stop dealing with the central bank in Sana’a and wait until a Swift system is established in the central bank in Aden. He added that Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid bin Daghr launched on Thursday the Swift system at the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) in Aden following an inspection of the bank’s facilities and the mechanisms of operation. Sharif also said that the new measures would promote the country’s economy and increase commercial exchange between Yemen and other countries, which had stopped due to difficulties in performing financial transactions. The prime minister announced that his government has received an official notice from the US Treasury on lifting the ban on its accounts. During a meeting with the central bank governor on Thursday, Bin Daghr said Yemen would seek the lifting of the ban on its accounts in other countries, stressing the “courageous decision” of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to transfer the central bank to Aden.

Israel, India Sign $2 Billion ‘Iron Dome’ Deal
Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17/Tel Aviv – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi have signed a series of agreements on defense and technology, including a deal to buy the Israeli “Iron Dome” missile system, which is worth around $2 billion. The deal also involves the establishment of a joint Indian-Israeli company that would build a plant to manufacture this system in India. Israeli sources said that although the US administration and the Pentagon in particular were not looking favorably at the deal, they have so far not sought to stop it. A statement issued at the end of Modi’s visit to Israel detailed the list of agreements and deals forged between the two countries, while it ignored the need for a political settlement in the region on the basis of the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. “The two prime ministers discussed developments pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. They underlined the need for the establishment of a just and durable peace in the region. They reaffirmed their support for an early-negotiated solution between the sides based on mutual recognition and security arrangements,” the statement said. Netanyahu, Modi and their respective ministers have signed seven cooperation agreements, including partnerships in economic projects in Africa and the developing world. “We have the potential to revolutionize relations, not only between our two countries, but in the lives of millions of people. With regards to India, there are millions of people, but we are talking about what is more than this; we are talking about cooperation in Third World countries and about joint action to improve the future of African peoples,” the Israeli premier said. The statement also stressed joint efforts to fight terrorism. “Recognizing that terrorism poses a grave threat to global peace and stability, the two prime ministers reiterated their strong commitment to combat it in all its forms and manifestations. They stressed that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever. The leaders asserted that strong measures should be taken against terrorists, terror organizations, their networks and all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism, or provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups,” it stated. Bilateral agreements signed during Modi’s visit to Israel include a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Science & Technology in India and the Israeli National Technological Innovation Authority for setting up a joint Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund; MoU between the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation of India and the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources of Israel on a national campaign for water conservation in India; another MoU on state water utility reform in India, as well as a plan of cooperation between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) regarding cooperation in Atomic Clocks, in addition to other agreements.

US judge blocks deportation of 1,400 Iraqi nationals
The Associated Press, Detroit Friday, 7 July 2017/A federal judge has blocked the deportation of 1,400 Iraqi nationals in the US for another 14 days while he determines whether his court is the proper place to consider their fears of physical harm if they’re kicked out of the country. US District Judge Mark Goldsmith on Thursday extended until July 24 the suspension that was due to expire Monday because he hasn’t determined yet whether his court is the proper venue for the case first brought by 114 mostly Iraqi Christians rounded up in the Detroit area last month. The Justice Department has said a US District Court judge doesn’t have jurisdiction in the immigration matter. The government says 1,400 Iraqis are under deportation orders nationwide. Most are not in custody.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 07-08/17
Asking China to 'Fix' North Korea Is a Waste of Time
John R. Bolton/Gatestone Institute/July 07/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=56855
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10630/china-north-korea
American and South Korean officials have said for over a year that North Korea would be able, within a very short time, to miniaturize a nuclear device, mount it on an intercontinental ballistic missile and hit the continental United States. The country's test launch Tuesday didn't conclusively demonstrate that Pyongyang has reached this point, but Alaska and Hawaii might already be within range — and US forces in South Korea and Japan certainly are.
This isn't the first time the North has marked the Fourth with fireworks. On July 4, 2006, a North Korean short-range missile barrage broke a seven-year moratorium, stemming from a 1998 Taepo-Dong missile launch that landed in the Pacific east of Japan. Tokyo responded angrily, leading Pyongyang to declare the moratorium (though it continued static-rocket testing), ironically gaining a propaganda victory.
In addition, the North substantially increased ballistic-missile cooperation with Iran, begun earlier in the decade, a logical choice since both countries were relying upon the same Soviet-era Scud missile technology, and because their missile objectives were the same: acquiring delivery capabilities for nuclear warheads.
This longstanding cooperation on delivery systems, almost certainly mirrored in comparable cooperation on nuclear weapons, is one reason North Korea threatens not only the United States and East Asia, but the entire world. In strategic terms, this threat is already here. Unfortunately, we should have realized its seriousness decades ago to prevent it from maturing.
It's clear that nearly 25 years of diplomatic efforts, even when accompanied by economic sanctions, have failed. President Trump seemed to continue the "carrots and sticks" approach, first with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and more recently during South Korean President Moon Jae-in's Washington visit.
As he has said subsequently, however, we must shift to a more productive approach. China has been playing the United States while doing next to nothing to reverse the North's nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. Indeed, there's every reason to believe Beijing has at best turned a blind eye to willful violations of international sanctions and its own commitments, allowing Chinese enterprises and individuals to enable Pyongyang.
In response, many contend we should impose economic sanctions against China, pressuring it to pressure North Korea. While superficially attractive, this policy will inevitably fail.
Because, however, the failure will take time to become evident, sanctioning China will simply buy still more time for Pyongyang to advance its programs.
China's economy is so large that targeted sanctions against named individuals and institutions can have only minimal consequences. They will also suffer the common fate of such sanctions, being very easily evaded by establishing "cut outs" carrying on precisely the same activities under new names.
Plus, China's decades of mixed signals about the DPRK reflect its uncertainty about exactly what to do with the North. Sanctioning China might only strengthen the hand of Beijing's pro-Pyongyang faction, obviously the opposite of the result we seek.
Instead, Washington should keep its focus on the real problem: North Korea. China must be made to understand that, unless the threat is eliminated by reunifying the Peninsula, the US will do whatever is necessary to protect innocent American civilians from the threat of nuclear blackmail.
In the end, this unquestionably implies the use of military force, despite the risks of broader conflict on the Korean Peninsula, enormous dangers to civilians there and the threat of massive refugee flows from the North into China and South Korea. They can work with us or face the inevitable consequences, which will be far more damaging to China than pinprick sanctions.
These are very unhappy alternatives. But the lesson of the past 25 years is that pursuing diplomacy in the face of overwhelming evidence that diplomacy could not succeed has brought us to this point. We can either accept that reality now, or be forced to accept it later, with potentially much more painful results.
**John R. Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is Chairman of Gatestone Institute, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad".
**This article first appeared in the New York Post and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Eastern Europe Chooses to Keep Western Civilization
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/July 07/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10631/eastern-europe-islam-civilization
"The greatest difference is that in Europe, politics and religion have been separated from one another, but in the case of Islam it is religion that determines politics" — Zoltan Balog, Hungary's Minister for Human Resources.
It is no coincidence that President Donald Trump chose Poland, a country that fought both Nazism and Communism, to call on the West to show a little willingness in its existential fight against the new totalitarianism: radical Islam.
"Possessing weapons is one thing, and possessing the will to use them is another thing altogether". — Professor William Kilpatrick, Boston College.
In a historic speech to an enthusiastic Polish crowd before the meeting of the G20 Summit leaders, US President Donald Trump described the West's battle against "radical Islamic terrorism" as the way to protect "our civilization and our way of life". Trump asked if the West had the will to survive:
"Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?"
Trump's question might find an answer in Eastern Europe, where he chose to deliver his powerful speech.
President Donald Trump gives a speech in Warsaw, Poland, in front of the monument commemorating the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Germans, on July 6, 2017. (Image source: The White House)
After an Islamist suicide-bomber murdered 22 concert-goers in Manchester, including two Poles, Poland's prime minister, Beata Szydło, said that Poland would not be "blackmailed" into accepting thousands of refugees under the European Union's quota system. She urged Polish lawmakers to safeguard the country and Europe from the scourges of Islamist terrorism and cultural suicide:
"Where are you headed, Europe? Rise from your knees and from your lethargy, or you will be crying over your children every day".
A few days later, the European Union announced that it would begin proceedings to punish Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for their refusal to accept migrants as the European Commission had decided under a 2015 scheme it created.
After Szydło's speech, Zoltan Balog, Hungary's Minister for Human Resources, declared:
"Islam is a major culture and religion, which we must respect, but Europe has a different identity, and it is clear that these two cultures are incapable of coexisting without conflict... The greatest difference is that in Europe, politics and religion have been separated from one another, but in the case of Islam it is religion that determines politics".
That is why Viktor Orban has been labelled as "Europe's enemy within" -- because he spelled out what the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, will never do: "Keeping Europe Christian".
These speeches from Visegrad officials -- the European group made up of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia -- are just two examples of deep ideological divisions between Western European countries and those in Central- and Eastern Europe.
There has been a growing tendency of Visegrad leaders to depict Islam as a civilizational threat to Christian Europe. If, in Western Europe, Christianity has been dramatically cast aside by public opinion and severely restricted by EU official rules, in Eastern Europe new polls reveal that Christianity is as robust and patriotic as ever. That is why Trump called Poland "the faithful nation". That is why US Catholic magazines are openly asking if there is a "Christian reawakening" in Eastern Europe. Slovakia approved a law to prevent Islam from becoming an official state religion.
These Central- and Eastern European countries know that Western Europe's multiculturalism has been a recipe for terror attacks, for a start. As Ed West of The Spectator noted:
"Not all of Europe, of course. Central Europe, chiefly Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, remain largely safe from the terror threat, despite the former in particular being a Nato player in the Middle East. It is precisely because the reasons for this are so obvious that they cannot be mentioned. Poland is 0.1 percent Muslim, most of whom are from a long-settled Tartar community, Britain is 5 percent, France 9 percent and Brussels 25 percent, and those numbers are growing".
What is presumably "obvious" here is that Poland and Hungary are not hit by Islamic terror attacks because they have very few Muslims, while Belgium and UK it is the reverse. Europe would probably have been safer if it had followed Eastern Europe's example.
Eastern Europe not only shows a greater understanding of Western culture than Western Europe does; these Eastern countries have also been far more generous to NATO, the bulwark of their independence and security. Culture and security go hand-in-hand: if you take your own culture and civilization seriously, you will be ready to defend them.
A brief look at the NATO's members' military spending as a percentage of GDP shows that Poland meets the 2% target, unlike all the Western European countries. Only five of NATO's 28 members -- the U.S., Greece, Poland, Estonia and the U.K. -- meet the 2% target. Where is France? And Belgium? And Germany? And The Netherlands?
"Unlike most of its NATO and European peers," Agnia Grigas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, explained, "Poland has for the past two decades consistently viewed defense as a priority issue, and as a result, has been slowly but steadily emerging as the bedrock of European security". Poland -- unlike Belgium, Italy and other European countries -- is not a "free rider" but a trustworthy partner to its US ally. Poland showed loyal support to the United States both in Afghanistan and Iraq, where its troops fought the Taliban and helped to topple Saddam Hussein.
It is no coincidence that President Trump selected Poland, a country that fought both Nazism and Communism, to call on the West to show a little willingness in its existential fight against the new totalitarianism: radical Islam.
"The West will continue to have the military edge for a good time to come, but possessing weapons is one thing, and possessing the will to use them is another thing altogether", wrote William Kilpatrick, a professor at Boston College. "The West is strong militarily, but weak ideologically. It lacks civilizational confidence".
That is why it is critical that Eastern Europe continues to be a strong voice of dissent in the EU project. It might provide just the cultural confidence that European bureaucrats dramatically lack -- at the peril of Europe itself.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute

What the G20 Should Be Talking About
Victoria Bateman/Bloomberg/July 07/17
Resilience is fast becoming the new buzzword in global economics. International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has warned that we need to do more to protect and enhance the global economy’s ability to withstand shocks. According to German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, that involves “empowering people to bounce back after a crisis.”
The G20 have made “global economic resilience” a priority for their summit this week. And yet, for all the focus on the subject, there is too little talk about the areas that potentially have the broadest impact on resilience: migration, adult education and data-collection.
Governments now have a fairly standard toolkit, much advocated by the G20 and IMF, for building economic resilience: structural reforms to increase market flexibility, a broader tax base, greater use of what are called countercyclical policies, including automatic stabilizers and macroprudential policies such as capital buffers. But beyond these tested measures, other recent recommendations for resilience make liGttle sense. It is too much, for example, to expect governments or economists, as the IMF advises, to “anticipate the effects of technological progress and economic integration, [and] equip their populations with tools to reap the benefits.” The future is not entirely knowable, a fact which Keynes identified as being the driving force behind economic instability. Expecting public officials to have a crystal ball is a recipe for further undermining the public’s trust in elites and capitalism itself.
Some have suggested that improving social cohesion will enhance resilience. That sounds appealing: Research has long suggested that an economy’s ability to adjust to a major shock depends on its degree of, and its ability to manage, social conflict. The problem is finding ways to encourage change. How trusting people are of their wider communities, and how happy they are to help the less advantaged by contributing to a common pool of resources, is deeply rooted and not easy for a government to change, as a new NBER paper helps to show. Some countries will, as a result, be naturally far better positioned when it comes to managing shocks.
While the G20 are looking at the issue, two additional shock-adjustment avenues deserve their attention: migration and education, particularly adult education.
Migration as a tool to balance national or regional shocks now faces increased resistance from politicians eager to appease anti-immigrant strands in public opinion. But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, 30 million mostly poor Europeans fled to the US in response to shocks to their home economies, including the Irish potato famine. The ability to migrate acted as a release valve that helped individuals respond to unemployment and poverty, often benefiting others who were left behind.
Adult education can help alleviate the suffering of people in sectors that lose out from technological change and trade-based shocks. With hindsight, much more such support should have been provided to America’s rust belt and to deindustrializing northern England.
Governments and multilateral bodies can help here, beginning with data collection. Measuring and comparing countries by the presence of obstacles in the way of mobility and, by building on the work of the OECD on the availability and support for adult education, governments can help identify where support and policy change is needed. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report there are five types of risks to watch out for: economic, environmental, geopolitical, social and technological; as one risk recedes, another moves center-stage. There is a limit to what government can do to build up resistance. However, acknowledging that economies are not naturally stable, and taking action to measure and compare economies in terms of the basic policy measures that can help them adjust to an ever-changing landscape, would be a good start for the G20.

Rouhani and Trump: Together against Iran’s Men with Guns?
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17
These days something strange is happening with regard to Iran. You might say: so what? Strange things have been happening with regard to Iran ever since the mullahs seized power in 1979.
Alright, but what is happening now may merit closer attention because it represents an unprecedented convergence between the thinking of the Trump administration in Washington, on the one hand, and that of one of the factions involved in the power struggle in Tehran, on the other.
Last month, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that the Trump administration is putting final touches to a new policy on Iran with the ultimate aim of regime change. While details of this new policy remain a mystery, one thing maybe clear: one of its aims would be the dismantling of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which US experts identify as the mainstay of the Khomeinist regime.
National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster has more than hinted at this, while a number of Republican policymakers, among them Senator Tom Cotton, have evoked the designation of the IRGC as a “terrorist organization.”
Parallel to those developments, the Islamic Republic’s own President Hassan Rouhani has launched a campaign of vilification against the IRGC.
Some analysts dismiss Rouhani’s attacks as mere posturing.
After all, they argue, Rouhani himself is a product of the military-security complex based on the IRGC. Thus, his attacks on the IRGC, labeling it “a state with guns within the state,” may be a trick to hoodwink the gullible Americans into continuing Barrack Obama’s policy of propping up “the moderate faction” in Tehran.
This may well be the case. However, the IRGC sees Rouhani’s attacks as the domestic angle of a “plot” being hatched in Washington.
In an editorial published in the daily Javan, principal organ of the IRGC, General Yadallah Javani, says so with surprising clarity.
“What the President is saying (against the IRGC) is exactly copied from what the Western media have been saying for years,” he writes.
Another commander, Hamid-Reza Muqaddam-Far goes even further by accusing Rouhani and his clan of “unsheathing their swords” against the IRGC by “lying across the board”.
The IRGC’s Commander-in-Chief General Aziz Jaafari has linked Rouhani’s statements to efforts by the US to limit or even halt Iran’s project of building long-range missiles.
“Yes, we own missiles that smash the enemy,” Jaafari said in a speech a day before “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei reappointed him as IRGC commander-in-chief for a further three years.
Never missing an opportunity to attract publicity, General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Corps, has also entered the debate by claiming that “without the IRGC there will be no country!”
The so-called “moderate faction” led by the late Hashemi Rafsanjani and former President Mohammed Khatami has always told Western powers, notably the US, that the IRGC is a the principal hurdle on the way to the Islamic Republic’s change of behavior and “normalization.”
This was the theme that Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif used with some success in numerous appearances in American policy circles and think-tanks. His claim was that Iran’s interventions beyond its borders were due to the IRGC’s ambition to make the Islamic Republic a regional superpower, while “the moderates” wanted nothing but “win-win relations” with the West.
Last week, that theme was taken up by Rouhani in a speech in Tehran. “Our aim should not be to become the strongest power in the region,” he said. “What we want is a stronger region.”
However, becoming the regional “first power” is clearly stated as the principal goal of the Islamic Republic’s 20-Year Strategy, approved by the “Supreme Guide” in 2014.
In an editorial last Tuesday, the daily Kayhan, reflecting Khamenei’s views, insisted that becoming “the regional superpower” was not a matter of choice, but one of necessity for the Islamic Republic. The principal means of attaining that goal is the IRGC and its growing military power.
The current campaign to clip the wings of the IRGC is a reminder of the brief attempt by Khatami to disband the force by merging it with the regular armed forces.
It also echoes the campaign launched in the 1970s by the Shah’s many enemies to break the Iranian armed forces. At the time, the Khomeinists, the pro-Soviet Communists, the People’s Muajahedin, Libya under Moammar Gadhafi, the Palestinians led by Yasser Arafat, leftist parties in Western Europe and certain circles in the US worked together, albeit in an informal way, to vilify the Iranian army and mobilize Iranian and world opinion against it. Days after he seized power in 1979, Khomeini declared the destruction of the army as one of the top aims of his regime. The process of dismantling the army stopped only when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in September 1980.
Clipping the wings of the IRGC may be in the short-term interest of the “moderate” faction, which has held the presidency for 20 out of the past 38 years but, because of implicit or explicit opposition from the IRGC, failed to impose its full agenda on the Islamic Republic.
Thus by helping destroy the IRGC, Trump would be helping he “moderates”, often also known as the “New York Boys.”
The question is whether the “New York Boys”, who lack a popular base, would be able to keep Iran together, let alone implement policies that might please Trump or any other US president.
And what if, at some point and under certain conditions, one might need the very same IRGC to push the mullahs back to the mosques and seminaries?
To be sure, the IRGC is not the Shah’s army in the sense that it consists of more than a dozen bits and pieces with little esprit de corps and held together by expediency. However, one should not forget that Khomeini’s campaign to destroy the Iranian army amounted to a direct invitation to Saddam to invade Iran and to the USSR to occupy Afghanistan with all the consequences.
The dismantling of the IRGC may help the “moderates” for a while, but it could also open the way for ethnic revolts, civil war and larger scale terrorism in and around Iran. As Trump ponders his Iran policy, he should remember that nothing about Iran is as simple as the “New York Boys” claim. They sold Obama a bill of goods. Trump, the “dealmaker,” shouldn’t buy the same thing.

Qatar: Purpose behind Escalation
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/July 07/17
The Qatari foreign minister has disclosed the government’s concern that the purpose of the four states’ boycott is to change the regime in Doha! The rest of the Qatari officials and official media, however, continued to express belief that the target is to change the government’s policy and acts, boasting that this won’t happen.
Are the four states in quest of changing Qatar’s regime or attitude?
Certainly, both parties are not on good terms and that’s why ties have reached an unprecedented phase in the history of political tension – this is supposed to urge Qatar to carefully read the messages sent by Bahraini, Emirati, Saudi and Egyptian governments.
The Qatari government might be confused about the meanings behind the messages, but it surely knows that countries rarely express what they really want and rely instead on familiar rules of diplomacy, with varying degrees, to express themselves.
Since the first week of boycott, confusion surfaced in Doha which turned to Turkey’s help and communicated with Washington to explore its position since Qatar hosts its two military bases. Qatar also accelerated its cooperation with Iran in fear of a military act.
One month later, Qatar focused on media confrontation instead of military defenses to respond to accusations ranging from backing international terrorism to destabilizing Arab states. These dangerous charges were endorsed by major states including the US.
Despite the Qatari foreign minister’s speech at Chatham House in London on his concerns over a wish to change the regime, there has not been any military mobilization on the Qatari border or maneuvers in its vicinity.
No threats were made against Qatar except for the boycott, which is a means of expressing differences among countries and is not up to par with the accusations made by the Qatari minister.
The four states’ boycott of Qatar – or the blockade as Doha calls it – can’t be aiming to topple the regime because Qatar isn’t besieged. Its alleged suffering has been ridiculed because its airport and port are working and the shelves are stocked with all kinds of foods including luxurious items such Salmon and Caviar!
With two giant cargo aircraft daily, Qatar can easily meet citizens’ needs of food and medicine. You can’t topple a government – that has USD170 billion in foreign banks, an equivalent to the Jordanian budget for 15 years- by boycotting it economically!
Then, what is the purpose behind all these decisions and their accompanying fuss?
The four states’ rage reflects that of the whole region which sees Qatar as a threat to security and stability because it hasn’t stopped, for years now, its programmed activities to manage political change and its backing of extremist Islamist groups.
By the force of arms, Qatar brought some of these groups to power such as in Egypt. It had a pursuit to impose extremist terrorist groups in volatile areas such as Libya and Syria, by favoring them over moderate armed political groups.
There were high hopes that Qatar’s policy of supporting Islamist armed groups and intervening in others’ affairs would change with the former emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani handing power to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
There was an optimism that we might be facing a new Qatar that is going to follow the path of other Gulf states in dedicating itself to local development. But four years have passed and proven that the political project hasn’t been altered with the change of the reign.
I believe that the four states’ goals of the boycott have quick and subsequent results. For the first time, Qatar has found itself in the eye of the storm. It has fallen under international scrutiny and is being closely watched in light of serious accusations of financing and supporting terrorism.
Qatar is now partly isolated with only Turkey standing by its side, yet Doha knows that Ankara would go with the flow of its interests just like it did with Russia and Iran.
Political and financial activities’ cost has hiked in Qatar and worst of all is that it has become a notorious authority not only locally and among its people but also within the ruling family. This bad reputation will weaken Qatar with time and with the continuation of confrontations.

Asking China to 'Fix' North Korea Is a Waste of Time
John R. Bolton/Gatestone Institute/July 07/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10630/china-north-korea
American and South Korean officials have said for over a year that North Korea would be able, within a very short time, to miniaturize a nuclear device, mount it on an intercontinental ballistic missile and hit the continental United States. The country's test launch Tuesday didn't conclusively demonstrate that Pyongyang has reached this point, but Alaska and Hawaii might already be within range — and US forces in South Korea and Japan certainly are.
This isn't the first time the North has marked the Fourth with fireworks. On July 4, 2006, a North Korean short-range missile barrage broke a seven-year moratorium, stemming from a 1998 Taepo-Dong missile launch that landed in the Pacific east of Japan. Tokyo responded angrily, leading Pyongyang to declare the moratorium (though it continued static-rocket testing), ironically gaining a propaganda victory.
In addition, the North substantially increased ballistic-missile cooperation with Iran, begun earlier in the decade, a logical choice since both countries were relying upon the same Soviet-era Scud missile technology, and because their missile objectives were the same: acquiring delivery capabilities for nuclear warheads.
This longstanding cooperation on delivery systems, almost certainly mirrored in comparable cooperation on nuclear weapons, is one reason North Korea threatens not only the United States and East Asia, but the entire world. In strategic terms, this threat is already here. Unfortunately, we should have realized its seriousness decades ago to prevent it from maturing.
A South Korean navy ship fires a missile during a drill aimed to counter North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile test, on July 6, 2017 in East Sea, South Korea. (Photo by South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images)
It's clear that nearly 25 years of diplomatic efforts, even when accompanied by economic sanctions, have failed. President Trump seemed to continue the "carrots and sticks" approach, first with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and more recently during South Korean President Moon Jae-in's Washington visit.
As he has said subsequently, however, we must shift to a more productive approach. China has been playing the United States while doing next to nothing to reverse the North's nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. Indeed, there's every reason to believe Beijing has at best turned a blind eye to willful violations of international sanctions and its own commitments, allowing Chinese enterprises and individuals to enable Pyongyang.
In response, many contend we should impose economic sanctions against China, pressuring it to pressure North Korea. While superficially attractive, this policy will inevitably fail.
Because, however, the failure will take time to become evident, sanctioning China will simply buy still more time for Pyongyang to advance its programs.
China's economy is so large that targeted sanctions against named individuals and institutions can have only minimal consequences. They will also suffer the common fate of such sanctions, being very easily evaded by establishing "cut outs" carrying on precisely the same activities under new names.
Plus, China's decades of mixed signals about the DPRK reflect its uncertainty about exactly what to do with the North. Sanctioning China might only strengthen the hand of Beijing's pro-Pyongyang faction, obviously the opposite of the result we seek.
Instead, Washington should keep its focus on the real problem: North Korea. China must be made to understand that, unless the threat is eliminated by reunifying the Peninsula, the US will do whatever is necessary to protect innocent American civilians from the threat of nuclear blackmail.
In the end, this unquestionably implies the use of military force, despite the risks of broader conflict on the Korean Peninsula, enormous dangers to civilians there and the threat of massive refugee flows from the North into China and South Korea. They can work with us or face the inevitable consequences, which will be far more damaging to China than pinprick sanctions.
These are very unhappy alternatives. But the lesson of the past 25 years is that pursuing diplomacy in the face of overwhelming evidence that diplomacy could not succeed has brought us to this point. We can either accept that reality now, or be forced to accept it later, with potentially much more painful results.
**John R. Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is Chairman of Gatestone Institute, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad".
**This article first appeared in the New York Post and is reprinted here with the kind permission of the author.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Crackdown on media and semblance of democracy in Myanmar
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
Proof, if proof was needed, that Myanmar is still quite some way away from democracy has emerged over the past few days: the army has arrested three local journalists for meeting with ethnic rebels to report on a drug burning ceremony they were holding. They have been charged under a law targetting ‘people who help illegal groups’. The rebel group in question, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army from the northern Shan state is already widely known for its operations against drugs activities such as poppy cultivation, heroine refineries and meth labs. No matter: if three independent-minded journalists can be prosecuted for “doing propaganda” for a rebel group, then of course they will be prosecuted. Why would the population of the ‘newly democratic’ Myanmar want to be informed about the activities of any group other than the country’s military and civilian government? Such a response from the military is, of course, to nobody’s surprise. After all, the Burmese have only lived under the military junta since 1962. That’s not the revealing part of the story: rather, what is important here is the response of the new democratically elected civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The civilian government had no response. This is now an incontrovertible pattern: whatever the military does, it will remain unchallenged. Whether it is the renewed campaign to terrorise the Rohingya or other ethnic minority groups, whether it is stomping on emergent press freedoms, or whatever else, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is not there to act as counter-balance or as a center of power with an alternative approach or point of view. The civilian government is an entirely subservient institution whose role is primarily to rubber-stamp the activities of the military and whose leaders, including Ms Suu Kyi herself, can be carted out in front of local and world media to act as apologists for whatever the military wants to do. Even after the decades in which Aung San Suu Kyi has lived in the consciousness of the global public as the iconic democracy advocate and dissident under house arrest, in government she has been nothing short of an enthusiastic supporter of the army and all its activities
Shedding responsibility
It is a pretty good system of retaining power and shedding responsibility for the Burmese Army. But let us not be fooled. The Army and its powerful leaders do not just enjoy constitutional supremacy in matters of foreign policy and domestic security. Nor do they control the vast majority of the country’s resources simply as a legacy of the junta era. They remain the all-pervasive power in the country, and there is no other institution of state which can, or is inclined to, challenge them. Certainly not, it seems, Aung San Suu Kyi’s ‘democratic’ government. The only challenges to the Army come from the ethnic insurgent groups in the border areas of the country. Now, there is a case that can be made in defense of Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian government. While they do have the support of the people, they have no other source of power. They simply do not have the ability to challenge to military, even if they were so inclined – certainly no way to challenge the Army that would not lead to a bloody civil war. And what the military giveth, in this case democratic elections, the military can take it away. Perhaps what they are trying to do, what they might be telling themselves is their cause, is to play the long game: hold in there and allow the new democratic system to become sufficiently entrenched and capable of standing on its own, before it can attempt to curb the power of the Army.
And perhaps that is indeed what they are trying to do. But for us who do observe the country closely and who are desperately looking for clues that the civilian government has its own agenda for a brighter future for Myanmar, there is little to give us hope.
Even after the decades in which Aung San Suu Kyi has lived in the consciousness of the global public as the iconic democracy advocate and dissident under house arrest, in government she has been nothing short of an enthusiastic supporter of the Army and all its activities. In 2013, long before rising to power, she proclaimed that she was “fond” of the Burmese Army.
It seems that since she has been in their employ, her fondness has only grown greater. I hope I am wrong in this. But I am still waiting for any evidence that there is a Nobel Peace Prize winner somewhere in there.

Shock Qatari people are facing has been in the making for decades
Sawsan Al Shaer/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
They are shocked, and not only because of the firm stand by the boycotting countries, but also because of the wide reaction of the Gulf people which supported the boycott, if one goes by what is being said and written and published through the mainstream media and through social media. What the brothers in Qatar say is that this is “jealousy and hatred” of the ruling families in the Gulf over the al-Thani family because of the success in development they achieved in Qatar and that there is a desire to bring down Qatar’s “ambition” in “leadership” and “independence”. The Qataris believe that those who mobilize Arab, international and Gulf public opinion are a media group that has been pushed by the regimes to launch a campaign of “false fabrications” against Qatar. The shock pushed them to line up behind their leadership and defend them out of a sense of threat of security and stability that the people of Qatar have never experienced before. The sense of fear for the state and its fall, which they feel now, was a sense inherent to the peoples of the boycotting countries. It was not a feeling of authority confined to the Gulf leaders and regimes. It was a feeling experienced by the peoples of the boycotted countries. Its daily meal, especially in recent years, and the reason is the leadership of Qatar and specifically the Father Prince.
Horror perpetrated in Bahrain
In 2011, in Bahrain people formed groups to protect homes, families, children and women, because our security forces were restricted in using their legal powers under intense US pressure at that time. The horror pushed people to close their doors and make sure everyone was at home. What happened to us at Salmaniya Hospital and at the Bahrain University was like a horror film for the extent of violence perpetrated by terrorists against students and patients. At this time, the Qatari leadership was spraying salt on our wounds and opening Al-Jazeera channel to the terrorists, calling them “opposition” and calling our sons who defended our doorstep “thugs”, under the instructions of the Prince’s consultant, al-Attiyah. What was broadcast on Al-Jazeera channel was not going to be aired without the consent of the leadership, whether we heard the call or not ! Even the Arab peoples hoped that this day would never come, when they have to face Qatar as a country and this confrontation would harm the people who are also responsible for what their leadership is doing. But we have had enough, and the perils that have risen due to the continuation of the Qatari project to bring down the Arab countries. We wish our Qatari brothers to excuse us. We have only just started!
What happened was not between a ruling family and other ruling families. Let us put the politics aside and pray for the best. What happened was a ruling family that threatened our security as Gulf, Arab, Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan people who tasted fear, lost security and safety because of the practices of your ruling family. If you are shocked by the intense and overwhelming resolve of the Arab people today. You should realize the following. After being restricted, they are allowed to express the feelings that they had held for 22 years. A media restriction that they understood and for years contained their anger in the hope that the brother would stop killing his brother and raise his hand, over 8,000 days - non-stop for 22 years - we reluctantly endured it and you did not have to bear it even for one month. Even the Arab peoples hoped that this day would never come, when they have to face Qatar as a country and this confrontation would harm the people who are also responsible for what their leadership is doing. But we have had enough, and the perils that have risen due to the continuation of the Qatari project to bring down the Arab countries. We wish our Qatari brothers to excuse us. We have only just started!
We ask the Qatari people to open the files that are with us by themselves, to go back in time to see what Al Jazeera has been broadcasting over the past 20 years. It is still available, and links these reports, meetings, news headlines, and the terms used then on Al Jazeera. We ask them to link the number of victims of violence from security forces in the boycotting countries, to know the cause of this anger now. Al Jazeera’s reports have made the victims of the state just numbers “according to the official sources”. The terrorists were martyrs for Al Jazeera, but it seems that our brothers in Qatar were not watching the channel!
‘Hosting’ file in Qatar
What we are asking the brothers in Qatar to open the ‘Hosting’ file in Qatar to ask who are those that Qatar has been opening the door for, two decades ago? Who are these Afghans, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, Algerians and Bahrainis who are only responsible for supporting sabotage and terrorism in their countries? They will find their names strange to his ears and probably it is the first time to hear it, they might even know nothing of their presence in his country, only few of them that they might deal with, as these people do not appear on the Qatari TV! Qatari people should link these names with the terrorism and violence, not only in the Arab countries but also recently in Europe and USA. They will find that the threads extend between these names, those organizations that carry weapons and Qatar. Today, the Qatari leadership will not only bear the responsibility of hosting, empowering and financing them. But also, it will bear the shock of the Qatari people and its practices that the Qatari people may now deny out of the shock. However, as evidence mounts, the Qatari people will know that any crime committed by their leadership is not only against us but against them too, which has led to this separation between brothers.
This entitlement to the Gulf, Arab and international security will make the opening of these files the task of the Western, the Arab and Gulf media - files that condemn Qatar is stacked high, and only some have come out. Qataris themselves will have the biggest shock once the secrets behind these files come to light, beyond the reaction of the people in the boycotting countries. Finally, we all hope that we will not be forced to have that confrontation and the hearts of the people of the Gulf are waiting for the day when Qatar itself closes these files after they give up their project, and return back to their home.

A serving of ISIS with salt and vinegar
Mashari Althaydi/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
It is obvious that the strange meal the Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte has offered to eat, has a story that goes beyond an ISIS appetizer dish. It is a strange statement from the eccentric president. But the edgy and unpredictable Duterte should not be blamed as he always acts and talks differently from others.
A few days ago the Philippine police found four bodies belonging to sailors of a cargo ship, with their heads cut off by a known ISIS-affiliate terrorist organization called Abu Sayyaaf in south of Philippines. Directing his threat to the terrorists, President Rodrigo Duterte told reporters and local officials, reviewing the pictures of the sailor victimes late on Wednesday: “I will eat their livers if you like,” “Give me salt and vinegar and I will eat it in front of you. I eat everything, even if it is not edible,” he said. Yes, pursuing and killing and imprisoning these devils is a dutiful business of the security forces, the prosecution and those in the judiciary, but there is a task that goes beyond that to achieve a long-lasting impact. Duterte was looking at a mobile phone with the photo of the two killed sailors on the screen, saying “Are we going to let them enslave us?” If only it ends at this act which reminds us of the lead character of the film ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and the insane psychopath Hannibal Lecter. In spite of the barbarity of the meal, the situation on the ground is rather more difficult and ruthless than this barbaric ritual dish.
Past atrocities
The native Indians used to skin their opponents’ heads after killing them . The Portuguese, in their barbaric campaigns over the Arabian seas and ports in the 16th century, cut off the heads of their victims and then stuffed them with straw. They then engraved the image of this head on the leading warrior’s shield to set an inspiring example for him and his descendants. The way it was done to Muqrin bin Zamil by Count Lousa as the Arab king resisted the Portuguese invasion of the island of Bahrain. Getting back to today’s world, Obama was proud to kill Osama bin Laden, the devil of Al Qaeda, and throw his body to the bottom of the Arabian Sea. Also, that of Al-Zarqawi the butcher of al-Qaeda who was killed by a massive air strike. Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, the al-Qaeda criminal in Saudi Arabia, was killed by a direct attack from the Saudi security forces in Riyadh.As well as the recent claims by the Russians regarding targeting the successor of black evil ISIS, the Iraqi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi … all of that is not the end of the story.
The answer
Yes, pursuing and killing and imprisoning these devils is a dutiful business of the security forces, the prosecution and those in the judiciary, but there is a task that goes beyond that to achieve a long-lasting impact. How does the states and society succeed in uprooting the appeal of these ideas? How do you create an environment that prevents breeding the spawn of the devil? This is the responsibility of the leaders of major countries who should adopt innovative, new and bold ideas. This has not happened yet. Thus, the solution for some lies in a pinch of salt and some drops of vinegar!

Are the winds of change blowing in Iran?
Hamid Bahrami/Asharq Alawsat/July 07/17
Tens of thousands of supporters of Iran’s main opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), gathered in a massive convention hall in Villepinte, Paris over the weekend to call on the international community to back the Iranian people’s democratic aspirations and recognize the NCRI as a real alternative to the mullahs’ theocracy. The grand gathering of Iranians, which takes place in Paris every year, was this year attended by more than 50 parliamentary delegations from all around the world including the US and Middle East as well as the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, the former Chairman of the US Democratic Party and former Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, member of the European Parliament, Gérard Deprez and many prominent political dignitaries.
The keynote speaker at the event was NCRI-president, Mrs Maryam Rajavi. In her speech that was also broadcast inside Iran, she underscored that “regime change [in Iran] is within reach because the mullahs have gotten themselves stuck in three wars of attrition in the Middle East.
Their withdrawal from these conflicts in whatever form or shape will undermine their own existence.” In the US an Iran policy remains unclear but it is obvious that the current White House does not want to appease the Iranian regime.
Regionally and internationally, the Iranian regime is in the worst situation because it has destroyed all bridges with the US and the neighboring Arab countries
Bridges destroyed
Regionally and internationally, the Iranian regime is in the worst situation because it has destroyed all bridges with the US and the neighboring Arab countries. Today, the regime in Tehran is terrorizing its own people and is a major threat to the Middle East and the world peace.
The NCRI is fighting to bring about democratic change by overthrowing mullahs' theocracy. For over three decades, the Iranian Resistance has urged the internationally community to adopt a firm policy towards the regime, hence, it is not surprising that Mrs Rajavi welcomed the statement following the recent Islamic, American Summit. “We have welcomed the statements made at the Arab, Islamic, American Summit in Riyadh against the Iranian regime’s terrorist and destabilizing activities. Nevertheless, we emphasis that the ultimate solution to the crisis in the region and confronting groups like ISIS, is the overthrow of the Iranian regime by the Iranian people and Resistance”, she said in her speech.
The most serious threat
The realities on the ground in the Middle East show that Mrs Rajavi is accurate. As the campaign to destroy ISIS is ultimately successful, the most serious threat facing the world and the US president is to confront Iran’s destabilizing actions in the region for example in areas in Syria and Iraq that are liberated from ISIS. If Iranian regime is allowed to usurp these areas then it would pose even a greater danger to the US, Europe and Gulf countries. Consequently, to protect their national interests, they are and should looking for a solution to stop the mullahs. Until now, their policy has been to accommodate Iran’s actions and evidently it has failed. They hoped to reform Iran’s behavior by cozying up to President Hassan Rohani but on the contrary, this policy has increased Iran’s intervention in the Middle East. That is why the US and its Arab allies have taking steps to change their policy. Hence, a few weeks ago, the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, announced that “Our policy towards Iran is to push back on this hegemony, contain their ability to develop obviously nuclear weapons, and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government. Those elements are there, certainly as we know,” Tillerson said on June 14. It is an obvious fact that the NCRI and its democratic platform for future Iran provides a viable alternative for this policy. In this case, the former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton highlighted a crucial aspect about this policy at the gathering in Paris. “There is a viable opposition to the rule of the Ayatollahs and that opposition is centered in this room today”, he said in his speech. Yet the most vitriolic remarks at the gathering came from mayor Giuliani who pointed to the Iranian regime’s malicious activities in the region stressing that the mullahs are the source instability and crisis in the region, and have kept their grip on power in the past 38 years through widespread repression and blatant disregard for human rights at home and the export of extremism and terrorism abroad. “I am happiest to be here because finally I can probably say that the government of United States supports you, we are behind you, we agree with your values. Finally I can stand here and say that you, my government and your leadership, we see Iran exactly the same way. The regime is evil and it must go”, he said addressing the tens of thousands gathered in Paris.
Overthrowing with minimal risks?
It is time for the international community to make decisive decisions on Iran. Today, the only remaining way to end four decades of crisis in the Middle East. It is a known fact that Iranian regime is root of problems in the region. Therefore, it is necessary that Mrs Rajavi’s voice is allowed to be heard.
To end the mullahs’ regime in Iran, Mrs Rajavi made three recommendations, “Recognize the resistance of the Iranian people to overthrow the mullahs’ religious dictatorship. Expel the regime from the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and hand over Iran’s seat to the Iranian people’s Resistance. Designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization and evict it from the entire region.”
If the international community wants democracy and human rights to root and progress in the Middle East, it should heed these recommendations.