LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 25/17

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations
Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions
You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God

Saint Luke 12/13-21/:"Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, "What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?" Then he said, "I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry."But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’"


The Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul
Acts of the Apostles 23/12-22/:"In the morning the Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who joined in this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, ‘We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.’Now the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush; so he went and gained entrance to the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, ‘Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to report to him.’So he took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, ‘The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you; he has something to tell you.’The tribune took him by the hand, drew him aside privately, and asked, ‘What is it that you have to report to me?’ He answered, ‘The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they kill him. They are ready now and are waiting for your consent.’ So the tribune dismissed the young man, ordering him, ‘Tell no one that you have informed me of this.’"

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 24-25/17
Hariri-Geagea's Harvest of Succumbing To Hezbollah/Elias Bejjani/October 24/17/
Iran sentences 'Mossad agent' to death over scientist/killingsYnetnews/Reuters/October 24/17
Former Saudi, Israeli intelligence chiefs meet in NYC/Amir Bogen,New York/Ynetnews/October 24/17
Discovering the Secret Republic of Iran/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/
The Harder Brexit Gets, the More Necessary It Seems/Clive Crook/Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/
A Male Infertility Crisis Is Coming. The Middle East Can Help./Marcia C. Inhorn/Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17
I Was Brought Here Illegally in 1950. I’m Lucky I Wasn’t Deported./Alan Gerson/The Washington Post/October 24/17
Europe: Journalists Against Free Speech/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/October 24/17
Canada's Anti-Islamophobia Motion/A. Z. Mohamed/Gatestone Institute/October 24/17
Thanks to Obama, America is two steps behind Iran in Middle East/John R. Bolton//Gatestone Institute/October 24/17

Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on October 24-25/17
Hariri-Geagea's Harvest of Succumbing To Hezbollah
Pence Honors Memory of Marines Killed in 1983 Beirut Bombing
US Sanctions against Hizbullah Will Not Target Banks
Geagea Warns his Ministers May Quit over Lebanese Govt.’s Performance
Gen. Aoun inducted to US university hall of fame
Hariri Slams Rouhani's Statement about Lebanon as 'Unacceptable'
On UN Day, UNIFIL head stresses lasting peace in south Lebanon
Mustaqbal: Iran Seeking to Impose Its Hegemony on Lebanon, Region
Change and Reform Says Bassil to Propose 'Advanced, Logical Refugee Plan
Hariri Meets Governor-General of Australia
Berri tackles developments with interlocutors, confirms holding elections on time
Jumblat Embraces Bassil's Chouf Visit
UNIFIL Chief Calls for Achieving 'Lasting Peace' in South Lebanon
Report: Mustaqbal Keen on Alliance with LF, Their Presence in Cabinet
Sami Gemayel, Lassen tackle range of matters
Franjieh, Richard tackle overall situation
Rahi meets Army Commander in Washington
Army Commander pursues official visit to US, attends ceremony by NDU
Army apprehends wanted in Arsal for links to terrorist organizations
Hariri sponsors launching of HEC Paris Master's program in Beirut
Spanish Ambassador visits Tripoli Chamber: For bolstering Lebanon's ties with EU countries

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 24-25/17
Tehran Sentences Swedish Lecturer to Death for ‘Espionage’
ISIS-Planted Mines Delay Return of Raqqa Residents
Iraqi Kurd Parliament Postpones Elections for 8 Months
Saudi Crown Prince pledges to destroy extremism, urges moderate Islam
US demands Qatar stop funding terrorism
Report suggests Qatar transferring ISIS militants from Iraq and Syria to Libya
Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution on Extending Syria Gas Attacks Probe
Iran Recruits Afghans for Syria Fight
US-Led Coalition Denies Deadly Syria Strike
Fierce Clashes with IS Near Mosul', Says Paramilitary Unit
Kuwait Emir Warns against Gulf Crisis Escalating
Crown Prince Pledges a 'Moderate' Saudi Arabia
Sisi-Macron Meeting to Cover Security, Defense, Economic Cooperation
Macron Says No 'Lessons' to Egypt's Sisi over Human Rights
EU's Tusk Says 'Up to London' How Brexit Ends
Washington Seeks Algeria's Help in Military Operation in Niger
Iran sentences 'Mossad agent' to death over scientist killings

Latest Lebanese Related News published on October 24-25/17
Hariri-Geagea's Harvest of Succumbing To Hezbollah
Elias Bejjani/October 24/17/Hariri's & Geagea's shameful succumbing to Hezbollah's sinful governing deal, their dismantling of 14th of March coalition, as well as their hunger and lustre for power encouraged the Iranian Mullahs to confiscate, abuse and marginalize Lebanon's sovereignty, constitution and independence

Pence Honors Memory of Marines Killed in 1983 Beirut Bombing
Associated Press/Naharnet/October 24/17/Vice President Mike Pence on Monday honored the memory of 241 U.S. service members killed in the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, calling the three-decade-old attack the "opening salvo" in the war against terrorism. Pence and White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster paid tribute to the service members, including 220 Marines, on the anniversary of the deadly truck bombing during President Ronald Reagan's first term. The vice president pointed to President Donald Trump's recent decision to decertify the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which was tied to the bombing, and placed the 1983 attack as the first battle in the nation's ongoing war against terrorism. He also recalled the 58 French paratroopers who died when a second attacker struck their installation in Beirut. "The Beirut barracks bombing was the opening salvo in a war that we have waged ever since — the global war on terror. It's a conflict that has taken American troops across the wider world — from Lebanon to Libya, from Nigeria to Afghanistan, from Somalia to Iraq, and many other battlefields in between," he said. Pence said under Trump's leadership, "we will drive the cancer of terrorism from the face of the earth."The Beirut bombing was the deadliest attack against U.S. Marines since the battle over Iwo Jima in February 1945. The ceremony and parade at the Marine Barracks in Washington was attended by retired Lt. Col. Larry Gerlach, the commander of the battalion landing team who survived the bombing, and families of service members who were killed. Pence told the audience of his personal connection to the incident: His brother, Greg Pence, served in the Marines and was stationed at the Beirut barracks around the time of the attack. The vice president said he and his parents and other family members worried about his brother's safety when they heard about the bombing. Days later, Greg Pence, who is now running for Congress in Indiana, called home to tell his family that his battalion had shipped out shortly before the bombing. "I promise all of you, just like my brother, we'll never forget. We'll never forget the 241 who never had that chance," Pence said.

US Sanctions against Hizbullah Will Not Target Banks
Associated Press/Naharnet/October 24/17/New U.S. sanctions against Hizbullah expected to be released in the near future are not likely to affect the country's banking sector that is the backbone of the tiny Arab country's economy, a top Lebanese banker said. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote as early as this week on new sanctions against Hizbullah. It is still not clear whether the sanctions will target Hizbullah's allies in Lebanon. The U.S. has been increasing pressure on Hizbullah and earlier this month imposed sanctions on two Hizbullah officials and offered millions of dollars for information leading to their capture. Joseph Torbey, head of Association of Banks in Lebanon, told reporters that U.S. officials have reassured a Lebanese banking delegation that visited Washington recently that the sanctions are not going to target the Lebanese banking sector as long as they abide by American regulations.
He added that the Lebanese banking delegation tried through its meetings with U.S. officials and bankers "to shield the Lebanese economy from negative repercussions resulting from the new laws." The new American sanctions will come nearly two years after then U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Hizbullah International Financing Prevention Act that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with the group. Washington considers Hizbullah a terrorist organization and has imposed sanctions on the group and its top commanders. The expected new sanctions come at a time when the Trump administration is increasing pressure on Iran, Hizbullah's main backer that has been supplying the group with weapons and money for more than three decades. Hizbullah is more powerful that the Lebanese army and has seats in the Cabinet and parliament. The group also runs a chain of schools, hospitals and charitable organizations that provide services in areas where it enjoys popular support. Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged earlier this month that the sanctions will affect his group that widely uses cash in its financial dealings. "This does not affect our main source of finances, but there are people who donate (money) to us who might be cautious," Nasrallah said in an apparent reference to the money they directly get from oil and gas-rich Iran. "It will cause some harm to us." Earlier this month, the State Department offered up to $7 million for information leading to the capture of Talal Hamiyah, who it claims leads Hizbullah's "international terrorism branch."It also put a $5 million bounty on Fuad Shukr, a Hizbullah member who runs the group's military forces in southern Lebanon, where the group is based. It said he played a key role in Hizbullah's recent military operations in Syria. On Oct. 13, U.S. President Donald Trump noted in a speech that terrorist attacks against Americans and American allies were committed by Iranian proxies including Hizbullah.

Geagea Warns his Ministers May Quit over Lebanese Govt.’s Performance
Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea confirmed reports that ministers from his party may resign from the cabinet in protest against the government’s performance. The LF considers the appointments and electricity files to be the most contentious issues. Geagea also renewed his objection to the March 8 camp’s ongoing push to normalize ties with the Syrian regime. Up until this moment, the LF has not taken a final decision regarding the resignation, prompting other political parties to dismiss the warning, said a Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) source. The LF is threat is “not serious, but it is part of pressure being exerted to deliver a political message,’ it continued. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government situation is “solid”, saying that officials have resorted to escalating their political rhetoric to make gains ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections. The government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri was dealt a blow in September when Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil held a meeting in New York with Syrian regime FM Walid al-Muallem. The two officials were in the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Earlier this year, a number of Lebanese ministers had paid a visit to Damascus to attend the Damascus International Fair. They explained that they were making the trip on a personal basis, not an official one. Hariri had however managed to contain any negative repercussions of these developments by coordinating and communicating with President Michel Aoun.
The fate of the government is now being questioned amid the LF claims that its ministers may resign. This is the first time that Geagea openly discussed the issue. He was present in Melbourne, Australia where he was holding a number of political meetings. He said: “Resignation is an option if the violations reached the extent of normalizing ties with the Syrian regime.”

Gen. Aoun inducted to US university hall of fame

The Daily Star/October 24/17/BEIRUT: Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun was inducted Monday into the International Hall of Fame of the U.S. National Defense University. “Lebanese CHOD General Joseph Aoun @NDU_CISA Class of ‘09 inducted into @NDU_EDU Intl Hall of Fame - reflects our strong defense partnership,” Vice Chancellor of NDU’s College of International Security Affairs Mike Hammer tweeted late Monday. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut posted Hammer’s tweets to its account Tuesday afternoon. Aoun graduated from the NDU CISA in 2009 before assuming the top role in the Army on March 8, 2017. The Army chief is in the U.S. after receiving an official invite from U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford. Dunford is America’s highest-ranking military officer and the principal military advisor to the president, the secretary of defense and the National Security Council.

Hariri Slams Rouhani's Statement about Lebanon as 'Unacceptable'
Naharnet/October 24/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri lashed out at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressing that the latter's comments about Lebanon were “unacceptable.”“Rouhani's affirmation that no decision is made in Lebanon without Iran is unacceptable,” emphasized the PM replying to Rouhani's remarks in a Monday tweet. “Lebanon is an independent Arab state that accepts no guardianship and refuses what undermines its dignity,” stated the PM. On Monday, Rouhani said in a speech in Tehran that Iran's position in the Middle East had never been stronger. He said: “The greatness of the nation of Iran in the region is more than at any other time. In Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, northern Africa, in the Persian Gulf region -- where can action be taken without Iran?" he asked.

On UN Day, UNIFIL head stresses lasting peace in south Lebanon
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - On UN Day, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael Beary on Tuesday highlighted the importance of working together to achieve a lasting peace in south Lebanon. Speaking at an event marking the 72nd United Nations Day at the UN Mission's headquarters in Naqoura, Major General Beary said "UNIFIL looks forward to a time when it can hand over authority for the area south of the Litani River to the sovereign Government of Lebanon." "UNIFIL and its peacekeepers will continually remind ourselves that this is why we strive to implement Resolution 1701," said Major General Beary at the event, referring to the UN Security Council Resolution aimed at creating a space for the parties to pursue a permanent ceasefire and for communities to live in peace.
During the ceremony, Major General Beary and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Brigadier General Khalil Gemayel, representing LAF Commander General Joseph Aoun, placed wreaths at the UNIFIL Cenotaph in honour of the more than 300 peacekeepers who have lost their lives over the past nearly 40 years.
"We must never forget the sacrifice that these peacekeepers and their families have made in the cause of peace in South Lebanon," said the UNIFIL head.
The event was attended by LAF officials, elected representatives, religious leaders, Qaemaqams, international organization delegates, and UNIFIL military and civilian personnel. Addressing the gathering, Major General Beary said: "We must all work together as one to avoid misunderstanding, to reduce tension, to avoid escalation that could lead to unnecessary conflict, in the area of operations and along the Blue Line in particular. We must work together as one to promote peace in our time and a better tomorrow for future generations, as was envisaged by those who drafted the United Nations Charter 72 years ago." In a press release by UNIFIL, it said: "UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter and it has been celebrated since 1948. Lebanon is one of the 51 founding members of the UN. The theme for the 2017 observance is "Potential in Diversity," which aims at reducing all forms of inequalities including those based on gender, age, race and faith."

Mustaqbal: Iran Seeking to Impose Its Hegemony on Lebanon, Region
Naharnet/October 24/17/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday warned that Iran is seeking to impose “hegemony” on Lebanon and the region. Hailing Prime Minister Saad Hariri's response to remarks by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the bloc described the premier's statement as “a patriotic and courageous stance.”“President Rouhani's arrogant and insolent remarks are totally rejected and Lebanon is an independent Arab state that rejects any hegemony and any insult against its dignity,” Mustaqbal added in a statement issued after its weekly meeting, echoing similar remarks by Hariri. “It has become evident that Iran is seeking to impose its control and hegemony over Lebanon and the region, which was reflected in the remarks of several Iranian officials over the past few years, the last of which were voiced by President Hassan Rouhani, whom we used to deem as moderate and open-minded,” the bloc went on to say. Rouhani said Monday that Iran's position in the Middle East had never been stronger. "In Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, northern Africa, in the Persian Gulf region -- where can action be taken without Iran?" he added.

Change and Reform Says Bassil to Propose 'Advanced, Logical Refugee Plan'
Naharnet/October 24/17/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday announced that Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil will propose an “advanced” and “logical” plan for addressing the Syrian refugee crisis during Thursday's cabinet session. “The burden of Syrian refugees on Lebanon has become very huge,” the bloc warned in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. “FPM chief Jebran Bassil will submit a plan to the government to tackle this file,” Change and Reform said. “This plan is advanced and contains logical and important points aimed at addressing the refugee crisis,” the bloc added. President Michel Aoun, the founder of the FPM, had on Friday said Lebanon should not wait for a "political or security solution" in Syria to address the burdensome Syrian refugee crisis. Calling for a “unified vision” for addressing the refugee issue in order to “achieve Lebanon's interest,” Aoun warned that “the refugee crisis is worsening” and noted that his latest meeting with the ambassadors of world powers was aimed at “rallying the international community and the U.N. to begin tackling the crisis.” Aoun specified rising unemployment among the Lebanese. At least one million registered Syrian refugees live in Lebanon, almost 25 percent of its population. Many more are believed to live unregistered, straining the country's already fraying infrastructure. Aoun said Lebanon does not want to force any returns, but appealed to international organizations not to "frighten" those who want to go home.

Hariri Meets Governor-General of Australia
Naharnet/October 24/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks on Tuesday with Australia's Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove at the Grand Serail where talks touched on strengthening bilateral ties between Lebanon and Australia at various levels, Hariri's media office said in a statement. Talks have also focused on the latest developments in Lebanon and the region. Later, Hariri and his guest held a meeting in the presence of Australian Ambassador to Lebanon Glenn Miles and the accompanying Australian delegation and the advisers of the Prime Minister Nadim al-Manala and Fadi Fawaz. Discussions addressed the latest regional and international developments, especially the Syrian crisis and its repercussions on Lebanon with with regard to the refugees. Cosgrove extended an invitation for Hariri to visit Australia.

Berri tackles developments with interlocutors, confirms holding elections on time
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday welcomed at his Ain Teeneh residence a delegation representing the gathering of national parties, forces and personalities in Lebanon, with talks featuring high on the most recent developments at the domestic scene. "Talks with Speaker Berri touched on a number of issues, but mainly on the paramount importance of preserving unity in Lebanon," head of the delegation, Mohammad Khawaja, said on emerging. "This unity has saved us from many dangers, including the Zionist threat in our beloved south and the Takfiri terror along the eastern mountain chain," Khawaja added as quoting Berri. He also cited Berri's assurance of holding elections on time in spring, and his rejection of any explanation or pretext to extend the term of the House of Parliament. Earlier, Berri received a delegation of former lawyers. He also received the head of the Federation of Lebanese Chambers, Mohammed Choucair, the head of the Council of Lebanese Economists, Salah Osseiran, and the head of the Union of Mediterranean Businessmen, Jacques Sarraf. "We discussed many important economic and tax issues, as well as other matters related to the wage hike," Choucair said following the meeting, stressing as well the importance of the President's support to economic bodies for the benefit of the overall national economy.

Jumblat Embraces Bassil's Chouf Visit
Naharnet/October 24/17/A delegation from the Free Patriotic Movement visited leader of the Democratic Gathering bloc MP Walid Jumblat at the latter's residence in Clemenceau, media office of the Progressive Socialist Party said on Tuesday. The delegation conveyed an invitation to PSP leader “Jumblat and his bloc to be part of a visit planned by FPM leader and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to the Chouf area,” the Druze and Jumblat's stronghold, said the statement. The FPM delegation expressed keenness “the visit would bring together all components of the mountain area.”The FPM delegation was comprised of Elie Haddad and Paul Aoun. They were greeted by Democratic Gathering bloc member MP Wael Abu Faour and PSP Secretary-General Zafer Nasser at Jumblat's residence. For their part the PSP delegation said Jumblat welcomes the visit as a way to “consolidate and consecrate reconciliation.”

UNIFIL Chief Calls for Achieving 'Lasting Peace' in South Lebanon
Naharnet/October 24/17/UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael Beary on Tuesday highlighted the importance of “working together to achieve a lasting peace in south Lebanon.”Speaking at an event marking the 72nd United Nations Day at the U.N. Mission’s headquarters in Naqoura, Beary said UNIFIL looks forward “to a time when it can hand over authority for the area south of the Litani River to the sovereign Government of Lebanon.”“UNIFIL and its peacekeepers will continually remind ourselves that this is why we strive to implement Resolution 1701,” said Beary at the even. In a statement, UNIFIL said U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 is aimed at “creating a space for the parties to pursue a permanent ceasefire and for communities to live in peace.”During the ceremony, Beary and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Brigadier General Khalil Gemayel, representing LAF Commander General Joseph Aoun, placed wreaths at the UNIFIL Cenotaph in honor of more than 300 peacekeepers who have lost their lives over the past nearly 40 years. “We must never forget the sacrifice that these peacekeepers and their families have made in the cause of peace in South Lebanon,” said the UNIFIL head.The event was attended by LAF officials, elected representatives, religious leaders, Qaemaqams, international organization delegates, and UNIFIL military and civilian personnel. Addressing the gathering, Beary said: “We must all work together as one to avoid misunderstanding, to reduce tension, to avoid escalation that could lead to unnecessary conflict, in the area of operations and along the Blue Line in particular. We must work together as one to promote peace in our time and a better tomorrow for future generations, as was envisaged by those who drafted the United Nations Charter 72 years ago.”U.N. Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the U.N. Charter and it has been celebrated since 1948. Lebanon is one of the 51 founding members of the U.N. The theme for the 2017 observance is “Potential in Diversity,” which aims at reducing all forms of inequalities including those based on gender, age, race and faith. UNIFIL was created by U.N. Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426 in March 1978, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area. UNIFIL currently has around 10,500 peacekeepers coming from 41 troop contributing countries. The Mission maintains an intensive level of some 13,500 operational activities monthly, by day and night, in the area of operations. It is complemented by a seven-vessel Maritime Task Force.

Report: Mustaqbal Keen on Alliance with LF, Their Presence in Cabinet
Naharnet/October 24/17/In light of the Lebanese Forces “inclination” to ask its ministers to resign from the government, al-Mustaqbal Movement has stressed keenness on its alliance with the LF and on the “presence” of the latter in the cabinet, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. On Mustaqbal's thought shall the LF decide to resign from the cabinet, Mustaqbal sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told the daily: “We can not guess whether the LF will submit a resignation, it is their own decision. But Mustaqbal is very keen on its alliance with the LF and on its presence in the cabinet.”The sources' remarks came after assertions made Monday by LF chief Samir Geagea who said that resignations are likely if the “violations reached the extent of normalizing relations with the Assad regime and continued attempts to approve suspicious tenders.”Geagea who spoke from Australia while on a tour, was referring to controversial calls voiced by some political parties to open channels of communication with Syria for the return of displaced. He was also referring to power generating ship tenders launched by Energy Minister of the Free Patriotic Movement Cesar Abi Khalil. Tensions has been growing between the FPM and the Lebanese Forces inside and outside the government. Media reports have quoted informed political sources as saying that the LF “has reservations over (Mustaqbal Movement leader) Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s performance and his submission to the president (Michel Aoun, founder of the FPM) in all issues.”The LF has argued that it “sees no transparency in the government’s performance and it does not believe that the state is inclined to put an end to shady deals and the waste of public money.”

Sami Gemayel, Lassen tackle range of matters
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - Kataeb Party chief, MP Sami Gemayel, received on Tuesday at the Saifi Central Kataeb House the EU Ambassador to Lebanon, Christina Lassen. MP Gemayel explained to Lassen the opposition's viewpoint and stances vis-a-vis current constitutional violations, stressing the importance of staging the forthcoming legislative elections on schedule without any delay, as per a statement by Gemayel's Media Bureau. The meeting also touched on the brunt of the Syrian refugee crisis on Lebanon at the various levels. Gemayel emphasized the need to find a swift solution to secure a safe return of Syrian refugees to their homeland under the supervision of the United Nations and the UN Organizations.

Franjieh, Richard tackle overall situation
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - Marada Movement head, MP Suleiman Franjieh, on Tuesday met at his Bnachai residence with the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, on top of a delegation of the Embassy. Talks reportedly touched on most recent developments. The meeting took place in the presence of former Minister, Roni Areiji, Dr Jean Boutros and Toni Franjieh.

Rahi meets Army Commander in Washington
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, currently in Washington, met at his residence with Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, who briefed him on the climate of his visit to the United States in support of the Lebanese army. Patriarch Rahi arrived on Monday evening in the US capital, Washington, in the framework of his pastoral visit to the United States. Rahi is set to participate in the Conference on the Defense of Christians' Rights in the Middle East, organized by the President of the Association, Tawfiq Baaklini. The Patriarch also attended a reception held in his honor by the Lebanese Embassy charge d'affaire in Washington, Carla Jazzar, at the Embassy's headquarters. In his delivered word, Rahi underlined the importance of protecting the Christian presence in the Middle East alongside the Muslim presence, in a bid to continue to live together and create a shared culture and civilization.

Army Commander pursues official visit to US, attends ceremony by NDU

Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, pursues his official visit to the United States, whereby he attended a ceremony held in his honor by the National Defense University NDU in Washington. Senior University staff and officers attended the ceremony. In his delivered word, General Aoun thanked the US authorities for their continual support for the Lebanese army and their qualitative aids to the military institution. The Army Commander also outlined a project to build a National Defense University in Lebanon, in light of its importance in developing the military expertise.

Army apprehends wanted in Arsal for links to terrorist organizations
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - The army arrested one of the most wanted men in the town of Arsal, on charges of fighting against the army, firing rockets at Al Qaa and Hermel, and belonging to terrorist organizations, NNA reporter said on Tuesday.
The detained person was identified with the initials A.Y Amer.

Hariri sponsors launching of HEC Paris Master's program in Beirut

Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - The President of the Council of Ministers Saad Hariri sponsored today at the Grand Serail the launching ceremony of the HEC Entrepreneurship Master's program in Beirut. The program is the fruit of a partnership between ESA Business School in Beirut, HEC Paris, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The ceremony was attended by the President of HEC Jean-Paul Vermes, Education Minister Marwan Hamade, Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury, the French Ambassador Bruno Foucher, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Beirut and Mount Lebanon Mohammed Choucair, the director of ESA Stephane Attali and the president of HEC alumni in Lebanon Nicolas Boukhater. Prime Minister Saad Hariri emphasized the importance of education, reminding that during the war his father, martyr prime minister Rafic Hariri, sent people abroad to arm them with the weapon of education, adding "the only weapon that protects and guarantees the future is education, which is the only real hope for the Lebanese". Ambassador Foucher spoke about the long history of cooperation between France and Lebanon, adding that ESA "is the result of the political vision of two men who played a historic role in the aftermath of the civil war, to renew the old friendship between our two countries, by launching concrete projects directed towards the youth. I am talking about President Jacques Chirac and Former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri". Boukhater made a presentation about the HEC Entrepreneurship Master's program, and underlined its importance. Prime Minister Saad Hariri later chaired a meeting attended by Minister of Industry Hussein Haj Hassan, Minister of Agriculture Ghazi Zeaiter, MPs Wael Abou Faour and Ziad Al Kadri and a delegation of farmers and potato traders. The meeting focused on the difficulties faced by the agriculture sector and particularly potato traders. The delegation asked Hariri to contact the Jordanian authorities to remove the obstacles hindering the exportation of Lebanese products to Jordan. Hariri also met with Minister of Public Works, Youssef Fenianos, in the presence of the Director of Flight Safety at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Omar Kaddouha, a delegation from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Hariri's advisor Fadi Fawaz. After the meeting, Minister Fenianos said that the meeting tackled public safety at the Beirut airport, pointing out that the ICAO expressed its satisfaction with the measures taken.

Spanish Ambassador visits Tripoli Chamber: For bolstering Lebanon's ties with EU countries
Tue 24 Oct 2017/NNA - Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon, Jose Maria Ferry Della Pena, on Tuesday visited the Chamber of Tripoli and Northern Lebanon, where he met with Chamber head, Tawfiq Daboussi. Following a documentary film on the initiative entitled "Tripoli the Economic Capital of Lebanon", Daboussi said that the Chamber looks forward to strengthening and bolstering Lebanese-Spanish relations at all levels. Ambassador Pena, for his part, underlined the paramount importance of consolidating Spanish-Lebanese relations, in general, and reinforcing Lebanon's ties with the Group of the European Union countries, notably between Spain and Tripoli.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 24-25/17
Tehran Sentences Swedish Lecturer to Death for ‘Espionage’
Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/Relatives of Iranian academic and university lecturer Ahmadreza Djalali said he was unfairly sentenced to death for alleged espionage a year after his arrest in Tehran. Djalali’s wife Vida Mehrannia, who lives in Sweden with their two children, told Amnesty International that his physical and mental health have sharply deteriorated since he was detained. She added: “We are calling for his release because he has not committed any crime.”Djalali holds dual Iranian-Swedish nationalities. A Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that she had received information from reliable sources confirming Djalali’s death sentence, but at the same time said she was gathering information on the case. Iranian judicial authorities have not commented on reports circulated by Iranian websites about the death verdict. Djalali was a lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles when he was arrested by Iranian authorities on the sidelines a scientific conference he was attending in Iran. Djalali had staged a hunger strike several times during the time of his detention, protesting the charges against him. A Belgian source affiliated with the case noted that Djalali had been recently allowed by authorities two minutes to talk to his wife twice a week, but was unable to communicate with his lawyer. Another lawyer was appointed and dismissed. The Belgian associate said that the hunger strike has serious implications for the health of the Iranian detainee. Academics in Belgium and sympathizers with Djalali have written to European countries, which recently reached trade agreements with Iran, on how important it is to place pressure on the Iranian regime to respect international laws. They also demanded urgent medical assistance for the Iranian lecturer. Zeynab Taheri, one of Djalali’s lawyers, told Amnesty International that he was sentenced to death and given a 200,000-euro fine. “Ahmadreza Djalali was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that once again exposes not only the Iranian authorities’ steadfast commitment to use of the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law,” Amnesty International reported Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa as saying.

ISIS-Planted Mines Delay Return of Raqqa Residents
Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/Massive destruction left behind by fierce battles fought between ISIS terrorists and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters in Syria’s Raqqa have delayed the return of displaced residents to their homes. When scoping streets and neighborhoods, widespread devastation gauges the ferocity at which clashes were fought. Shops and homes that survived the bombardment had their windows and doors shattered by the power of the explosions. Post the former ISIS stronghold’s liberation, Raqqa’s Civilian Council finds itself in the process of preparing to take over the city's administration. The council is a local body consisting of 14 specialized committees. SDF officials announced that ISIS was fully expelled from Raqqa on October 17. Among the most important challenges will be sweeping mine-infested zones, lifting of rubble, and resuming local education after three years of disruption.
"We have developed evaluation programs to study all areas with affected services, such as health, educational and public-- and we have surveyed all life aspects in Raqqa. A rapid response plan has been developed accordingly," said Raqqa’s Civilian Council chief and Kurdish civil engineer Leila Mustafa.
The plan covers mine clearance, which will only be done through specialized organizations and international companies. There is also the return of the residents that is linked to clearing the city from the traces of ISIS. Opening main streets and entrances so that Raqqa residents can return and assist in reconstruction efforts is also another milestone to be crossed by the rebuilding campaign. At the end of September, members of the RCC, including Mustafa, traveled to the Italian capital Rome and held meetings with International Coalition countries, the United Nations and the European Union.
"We have seen these countries interact seriously with the council and they pledged assistance. The Netherlands allocated 1.5 million euros for de-mining operations, and the EU gave a €2 million grant for de-mining as well." Brett McGurk, the top US presidential envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, arrived in northern Syria last week and met with members of the Raqqa council and the reconstruction committee. He also met tribal leaders and urged them to work closely with the SDF. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that several leaders of the al-Qaeda offshoot, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, were killed by Israeli aircraft targeting two locations in the Golan Heights.

Iraqi Kurd Parliament Postpones Elections for 8 Months
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/Parliament in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region decided Tuesday to hold legislative elections in eight months after they were delayed amid tensions with the central government in Baghdad over disputed territories. Regional legislative and presidential elections had both been due on November 1 but were delayed after Baghdad seized a swathe of territory from Kurdish forces following an independence vote. There was no immediate word on a new date for a presidential election. "The Kurdistan parliament decided... to postpone the parliamentary elections in the autonomous region by eight months," Islamic Union of Kurdistan parliamentarian Bahzad Zebari told AFP. Farsat Sofi of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of long-time Kurdish leader Massud Barzani said parliament would choose the date for legislative and presidential elections.
The elections were originally set for just over a month after a September 25 referendum in the Kurdish areas which resulted in a massive "yes" for independence. The referendum, set in motion by Barzani, was strongly opposed by Baghdad. Iraqi forces last week swept into the oil-rich Kirkuk province in the north, restoring it and Kurdish-held parts of Nineveh and Diyala provinces to central government control. The rapid Kurdish retreat triggered recriminations among Kurdish politicians and prompted the regional parliament to postpone both elections. "Parliament has decided to freeze the activities of the Kurdistan presidency," Zebari said on Tuesday. This body includes Barzani, his vice-president Kosrat Rasul of KDP rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the head of the presidential cabinet, Fuad Hussein. Its freezing, and the fact that parliament did not extend its mandate again, represent a major blow to Barzani. On Sunday, Iraqi Kurdistan's main opposition party called for Barzani to step down after the loss of Kurdish-controlled territory. Shoresh Haji of the Goran movement, which holds 24 out of 111 seats in the Iraqi Kurdish parliament, said both Barzani and Rasul should quit."The Kurdistan region's president and his deputy no longer have any legitimacy and should resign," he said. Haji called for the creation of a "national salvation government" to prepare for dialogue with Baghdad and organize new elections. The mandate of Barzani, the first and only elected president of the autonomous Kurdish region, expired in 2013. It was extended for two years and then continued in the chaos that followed the Islamic State group's sweeping offensive across Iraq in 2014.Under the autonomous region's laws, it was Barzani who had set general elections for November 1. Tuesday's vote now means that parliament will decide the new electoral calendar, several parliamentarians said. A month after scoring a major victory in the independence referendum, Barzani now finds himself increasingly isolated both at home and abroad. The United States, a key ally of both Baghdad and Kurdish forces in the battle against IS, opposed the non-binding referendum, as did nations including Iraq's neighbors Iran and Turkey.

Saudi Crown Prince pledges to destroy extremism, urges moderate Islam
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishTuesday, 24 October 2017/Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday vowed to restore “moderate, open” Islam and destroy owners of “extremist ideas today and immediately”. “We are returning to what we were before -- a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world,” he said at an economic forum in Riyadh. “We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today,” he added. “We will end extremism very soon.”The crown prince’s statement is the most direct attack by a top official on the Gulf country’s influential conservative religious establishment. Earlier Tuesday, Riyadh announced the launch of an independent economic zone along the kingdom’s northwestern coastline. The project, dubbed NEOM, will operate under regulations separate from those that govern the rest of Saudi Arabia.

US demands Qatar stop funding terrorism
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishTuesday, 24 October 2017/In an unusual move by officials in US Congress and figures working in the US administration, a conference in the capital called on Qatar to find a resolution of its positions between its allies on one hand and Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood on the other. One of the more prominent speakers was former US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who also served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Barack Obama, saying Qatar had funded terrorist organizations. “Qatar has a mixed record. We know that they provided financial support to the Muslim Brotherhood, terrorism, Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” Panetta said. “The problem is that they cannot receive one thing and it’s opposite," Panetta added. Panetta was pointing out that Qatar had close ties to the United States and was hosting a huge US military base on its soil while also funding terrorist-branded terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. Republican Rep. Robert Bettinger, a member of the counterterrorism subcommittee, revealed that he had met with the Emir of Qatar three times and met with the Qatari ambassador in Washington many times. “Frankly, the emir told me that we helped al-Qaeda in Syria because we hate Assad,” Bettinger said. The Hudson Institute was attended by a large number of members of the US Congress, especially members of the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee. Many, especially the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Qatar must fulfill its obligations and consider that non-compliance should be met with accountability. Congressional representatives and former officials pointed out that the dangers in the Middle East stem from two sources: The first is Iran and its affiliated organizations such as Hezbollah, and the second is the organization of the Brotherhood and its affiliated organizations such as Hamas, al-Qaeda, ISIS and others. Members of the US House of Representatives pointed to the dangers of the relationship between Qatar and these organizations on the one hand and with Iran on the one hand. Many, and in particular General David Petraeus, called for bridging the rift in the Gulf relations and called on the GCC to “overcome the matter and return to one another.”“We cannot coexist with the fragmentation of the GCC,” Petraeus added.

Report suggests Qatar transferring ISIS militants from Iraq and Syria to Libya
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishMonday, 23 October 2017/ISIS militants have allegedly begun to regroup in south Libya with Qatar’s help after the Gulf state was accused of transferring hundreds of fighters from Syria and Iraq to Libya, a UAE-based newspaper reported on Saturday. Military sources told Alittihad newspaper that the move is an effort to turn the south into a hotbed for extremists after ISIS took severe blows in Syria and Iraq, According to Libyan military officials speaking to the newspaper, ISIS fighters began to leave fighting areas through Turkey and are headed to Libya. The newspaper added that Doha, which is accused by the anti-terror quartet of supporting terrorist groups including groups in Libya that suffer from political divisions, is behind this activity.

Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution on Extending Syria Gas Attacks Probe
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have extended for a year the mandate of a panel investigating who is behind chemical weapons attacks in Syria. It was the eighth time that Russia has used its veto power at the Security Council to block action targeting its Syrian ally.

Iran Recruits Afghans for Syria Fight
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/Fleeing grinding poverty and unemployment, thousands of Afghan Shiites have been recruited by Iran to defend Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, former fighters and rights activists say. Afghan men and boys as young as 14 are signing up to fight on the promise of money and legal residency in Shiite-dominated Iran, Assad's regional ally, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Since 2013 the Afghans, including undocumented migrants living in Iran, have joined the Tehran-backed Fatemiyoun division fighters in Syria, said HRW and ex-members who spoke to AFP on condition their real names were not used. "For me it was just about money," said Shams, a former fighter. The 25-year-old, a member of the Hazara ethnic group, went to Syria twice in 2016 to fight in a conflict that has now been raging for more than six years. "Whoever I saw was going for money and to have free entry to Iran. I never saw anyone fighting for religious reasons," said Shams, who now lives in the Afghan capital Kabul. The withdrawal of US-led NATO combat troops at the end of 2014 drained the Afghan economy and left many people out of work, fuelling the flow of migrants into Iran in search of a better life. HRW estimated last year that Iran hosts around three million Afghans. In this desperate pool Iranian recruiters targeted Shiites to swell the ranks of Fatemiyoun soldiers, who HRW says fight alongside Syrian government forces. "I went there (Iran) because I was jobless and it was a way to get money for my family," said Shams. "My idea was to find a job in Iran. I had no plan to go to fight in Syria but after a month of being jobless I decided to go. "They were encouraging us saying 'you will be a freedom fighter and if you return to Iran alive you can stay with a 10-year residence permit'. But my main goal was to earn money."Afghan Shiites are given 1.5 million rial ($450) to register at a recruitment centre for the Fatemiyoun, Shams said. Once they have signed up they receive three million rial a month, a fortune for many poor Afghans. - Bodies -Shams' first mission was in June 2016 in the Syrian capital of Damascus, where he was assigned to protect a barracks for two months. He went back to the country in September and was deployed to Aleppo, where he was given his first AK-47 after receiving rudimentary weapons training from Iran's Revolutionary Guards. On the front line of the battle between Islamic State militants and the Al-Nusra Front jihadist group, Shams said he found himself caught up in an intense and deadly battle.
"In Aleppo we faced an ambush -- out of 100 fighters we lost almost all of them. There were 15 of us left alive," Shams said. "The bodies were sent back to Iran and the families in Afghanistan held funeral ceremonies in mosques without a coffin or grave."Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council, estimates more than 760 Afghans have been killed in Syria since September 2013. Another man who fought in Syria in 2014 when he was 17, said it was not just Afghans in Fatemiyoun. "There were also Pakistanis, Iraqis -- all the Shiites," he told AFP.
"We were mixed up with the Arabs, we didn't understand their language." HRW says the Iranians refuse to provide accurate figures, but estimates there are nearly 15,000 Afghans fighting for Fatemiyoun. Treated like slaves -"They are used by the Iranian government, which treats them like slaves," said Ramazan Bashardost, a Hazara member of parliament in Kabul. "The sorrow, pain and hunger of the people is not a major concern of the Afghan government." Afghanistan's foreign ministry called on Iran in October to stop sending young Afghans to Syria after the HRW report condemning the recruitment of minors.
But preventing Afghans from volunteering will not be easy. "Money and the prospect of a guaranteed residency for your family in Iran are major draw cards," said Shuja. Shams returned to Afghanistan after pleas from his family and he now hopes to buy a shop. He has no intention of going back. "I would never advise anyone to go there if he has a job here," he said.

US-Led Coalition Denies Deadly Syria Strike
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/The US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq denied on Tuesday that it had carried out deadly air strikes around the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor. The strikes on Deir Ezzor, where Syrian regime forces backed by Russia have seized most of the city from IS, were reported late on Monday by a monitoring group, a local official and Syrian state television. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 22 civilians were killed in strikes by unidentified aircraft in the Al-Qusur neighbourhood, in the west of the city. A local official said 14 people were killed and blamed coalition strikes. "The allegation that a coalition strike may have killed 14 civilians and wounded 32 others in Deir Ezzor is false," coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon told AFP. "Russian-backed pro-regime forces are conducting operations in Deir Ezzor and the coalition does not support pro-regime operations," he said. Dillon said the coalition had carried out only one strike in the area in the last two months, on September 16 in support of US-backed forces fighting IS east of the city. Syrian regime forces backed by ally Russia have seized most of Deir Ezzor city after breaking an IS siege of nearly three years on government-held districts in September. The regime offensive against IS, backed by Russian airpower, is being waged largely on the western side of the Euphrates river that cuts diagonally across Deir Ezzor province. A second, separate offensive against the jihadists is being fought on the eastern side by the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the coalition. A "deconfliction" mechanism is meant to keep the two campaigns separate. IS controls less than half of Deir Ezzor province, its last remaining stronghold in the country after the SDF ousted it from its bastion Raqa last week. More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the war began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Fierce Clashes with IS Near Mosul', Says Paramilitary Unit
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/Jihadists from the Islamic State group and fighters from Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition were locked in fierce clashes near Mosul Tuesday, with nearly 30 reported dead, the coalition said. Mosul, Iraq's second city, was retaken from IS in July after a massive months-long offensive."Waad Allah forces are repelling an IS attack southwest of Mosul in the Hatra desert" some 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Mosul, said a spokesman for the Hashed unit. The Hashed is an umbrella group of paramilitary auxiliaries formed in 2014 to support Iraqi regular forces after IS swept across swathes of northern Iraq. In a series of online posts, Waad Allah said IS sent "numerous suicide bombers" to attack its forces, and gave a death toll of 24 jihadists and four of its own men. Iraqi forces have retaken more than 90 percent of the territory IS seized in the country in 2014, with the jihadists now confined to the desert areas in Anbar province bordering Syria. But despite a series of stinging defeats, IS in Iraq retains the ability to launch attacks in areas declared "liberated" months previously. After losing Mosul in July, IS has also just lost Raqa, its "capital" in Syria. The Hashed took over the Hatra area in April this year after IS forces were ousted. The ancient walled city of Hatra in northern Nineveh province is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Kuwait Emir Warns against Gulf Crisis Escalating
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/Kuwait, the main mediator in a near-five month political crisis between Qatar and its Gulf rivals led by Saudi Arabia, warned on Tuesday that the dispute could escalate. Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, in an address to parliament, also said that Kuwait's goal was to save the Gulf Cooperation Council union from "cracking and collapsing." On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as Egypt, severed all diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing the gas-rich emirate of supporting Sunni Islamist extremist groups and having too close ties to Shiite Iran. Kuwait has led mediation efforts since then, but without success. "Everyone should know that Kuwait's mediation is based on a keen awareness that this crisis risks escalation," Al-Sabah said. The worsening of the breakdown between Doha and the Saudi-led bloc leaves Gulf states vulnerable to foreign interference, he warned. "An escalation would be an explicit invitation for regional and international intervention, which would have serious consequences for the security of the Gulf nations and their people," the emir said. "History and future generations will not forgive anyone who contributes, even one word, to fueling this dispute." Qatar warned last week that the crisis is hampering operations against the Islamic State group out of its Al-Udeid air base, home to some 11,000 U.S. soldiers. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has just visited Riyadh and Doha in hopes of easing the spat and unifying Washington's Gulf allies against Iran.
"We cannot force talks among people who are not ready to talk," Tillerson said.

Crown Prince Pledges a 'Moderate' Saudi Arabia
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/Powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged a "moderate, open" Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, breaking with ultra-conservative clerics in favor of an image catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth. "We are returning to what we were before -- a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world," he said at an economic forum in Riyadh. "We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today," he added. "We will end extremism very soon."The crown prince's statement is the most direct attack by a Saudi official on the Gulf country's influential conservative religious circles, who have for decades wielded influence on policy. While the Saudi government continues to draw criticism from international rights groups, Prince Mohammed has pushed ahead with reforms since his sudden appointment on June 21. Authorities have vied to modernize certain sectors in the kingdom, hinting that long-banned cinemas would soon be permitted as part of ambitious reforms for a post-oil era that could shake up the austere kingdom's cultural scene. The young prince is widely regarded as being the force behind King Salman's decision last month to lift a decades-long ban prohibiting women from driving. Earlier Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced the launch of an independent economic zone along the kingdom's northwestern coastline.The project, dubbed NEOM, will operate under regulations separate from those that govern the rest of Saudi Arabia. Monitors, including Amnesty International, say Saudi Arabia has in parallel stepped up its repression of peaceful rights activists. Saudi authorities last month arrested dozens of activists, including clerics, without disclosing any charges against them.

Sisi-Macron Meeting to Cover Security, Defense, Economic Cooperation
Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/A busy schedule has been laid before the much anticipated three-day visit by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to France. This visit is the first since French President Emmanuel Macron took office in May and since Sisi rose to power in Egypt.
Both leaders will meet on Tuesday as a part of a longer framework, which covers the war against terror, the Syria war, Iraq and other developments concerning Libya and Palestine. Bilateral cooperation involving defense and economic pacts, such as investments, will also be reviewed during the visit. Sisi and Macron will attend the signing of 17 joint cooperation agreements between the two countries in different fields, including investment and economy. Egypt has made several purchases of French military hardware in recent years, the most recent of which was a Gowind 2500 corvette naval vessel, which arrived in Alexandria earlier this month. The vessel is one of four such models purchased by Egypt in a deal signed in 2014. Sisi will also meet with French PM Edouard Philippe and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. Sisi is accompanied on his trip by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy, Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala Saeed, Minister of Industry and Commerce Tarek Qabil, Minister of Transportation Hisham Arafat, and the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service Khaled Fawzy. Great importance rides on Sisi and Macron’s meeting, particularly as international terrorism is growing. France and Egypt had imposed a state of emergency because of terrorist attacks and threats. Both countries consider the war on terror a “top priority”. France-based sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Paris is counting on the conference it intends to host before the end of 2017 on countering terrorism and its financing, which Macaron announced in his speech to the French diplomatic corps at the end of August. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Paris and Cairo share a joint concern over the role Libya plays in proliferating terror and radical recruitment.

Macron Says No 'Lessons' to Egypt's Sisi over Human Rights
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday declined to publicly criticise the rights record of his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, saying he was in not in the business of giving "lessons.""We do not give lessons without taking account of the context," Macron said at a press conference with Sisi in Paris, voicing support for Egypt's "fight against violent religious fundamentalism."France sees Sisi, a former general who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, as a key ally in the fight against terrorism and a source of stability in the war-wracked Middle East. Macron told the press conference that combating extremism "should be carried out with the respect of the rule of law and human rights" and his aides said he raised cases of arrested activists in private during the two-hour talks. The two countries marked Sisi's visit to Paris with the signature of several agreements on transport, energy and cultural cooperation. But neither Macron nor Sisi could escape questions over Egypt's record of abuses and repression. Asked by a French reporter about allegations that an Italian researcher found murdered in Egypt in 2016 died at the hands of the police, Sisi said emphatically: "We do not practise torture."Egypt is also a major buyer of French arms.

EU's Tusk Says 'Up to London' How Brexit Ends
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 24/17/EU President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that the outcome of fraught Brexit talks was "up to London" and that abandoning the EU divorce remained an option for the UK. "The EU will be able to rise to every scenario as long as we are not divided," Tusk told MEPs at a session of the European Parliament in the eastern French city of Strasbourg. "It is in fact up to London how this will end: with a good deal, no deal or no Brexit," he said, reiterating the controversial idea that the EU was open to backtracking on Britain's decision to leave the bloc. "We have managed to build and maintain unity among the 27 (remaining EU members), but ahead of us is still the toughest stress test," said former Polish prime minister Tusk. The comments come just days after European Union leaders threw British Prime Minister Theresa May a lifeline in Brexit talks, agreeing to start preparations for the next stage of negotiations on post-Brexit trade and a transition deal. Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, also in European Parliament, strongly underlined that the commission, which handles the talks for the EU, was approaching the negotiations in good faith."The commission is not negotiating in a hostile mood," said Juncker, who on Monday had to firmly deny a media report saying May begged him for help in the talks. "We want a deal. Those who don't want a deal, the no dealers, they have no friends in the commission," said Juncker. The slow progress in the two years of Brexit talks has stoked fears Britain could leave the European Union in March 2019 without a deal in place, risking economic and legal chaos.May is meanwhile struggling to contain divisions within her government and the belief among Brexit hardliners that Britain can afford to take a tough stance with Europe.

Washington Seeks Algeria's Help in Military Operation in Niger
Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/The Unite States is discussing with Algeria the possibility of including the Algerian army in a wide-ranged military operation in Niger. A top official at the US State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism (CT) is currently visiting Algeria to prepare for the operation, however, Algiers stated that its constitution bans the participation of the national army in a war outside the country's borders. Acting Deputy Coordinator for Regional and Multilateral Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of CT, Raffi Gregorian met on Monday with Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel, Security Presidential Charge des Affaires Athmane Tartag, and other officials. Speaking at the US Embassy in Algeria, Gregorian stated that Algiers refuses the participation of its army for constitutional reasons, however, the US believes that the Algerian army can bring the battle on terrorism to an end in the region, especially in Libya. A governmental source reported that the US official discussed with Algerian officials the possibility of including the army in a military operation linked to the ambush that targeted US troops in Niger.
Gregorian didn't obtain an initial approval from the Algerian official regarding the involvement of Algerian troops in a war outside the country, according to the source. The Algerian Army is familiar with the nature in Niger and the southern border, given that it has already been involved in security operations with extremists on the poor country's border. In 2008, Algerian extremist Mokhtar Belmokhtar kidnapped former UN Envoy to Niger Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, his aide Louis Guay, and their driver. Balmokhtar received a ransom in exchange of releasing the hostages.
The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Gregorian inquired about the capabilities of Algerian security forces and their thwarting abilities against any possible attack of the terrorist group ISIS in Libya. The US official also discussed "African Military Force" that "G5 Sahel"-comprised of Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso- plans to form. A Western diplomatic official residing in Algeria mentioned that United States Africa Command (Africom) headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, will oversee the expansion of the military operation. Gregorian also participated in a preparatory meeting for the Comprehensive Forum on Countering Terrorism which will be held on Wednesday. In a closed session, the official discussed terrorism threats in West Africa. Algerian FM chaired the meeting, at the end of which he announced that Algeria maintains a "high level of vigilance" within its territory and along its borders.
Msahhal reiterated the importance of ending terrorism funding in West Africa including the ransoms paid to release hostages as well as organized crimes such as money laundering.

Iran sentences 'Mossad agent' to death over scientist killings
Ynetnews/Reuters/October 24/17
Court says agent provided information that led to the murder of at least four nuclear scientists between 2010 and 2012 in what Iran believed to be a deliberate assassination campaign to sabotage Tehran's nuclear program; ‘agent’ not identified by court, but Amnesty International says Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges. Iran has sentenced to death a person found guilty of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists, Tehran’s prosecutor said on Tuesday. At least four scientists were killed between 2010 and 2012 in what Tehran said was a program of assassinations aimed at sabotaging its nuclear program. Iran hanged one man in 2012 over the killings, saying he had links to Israel. On the latest conviction, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told the judiciary’s news agency: “The person had several meetings with (Israeli intelligence agency) Mossad and provided them with sensitive information about Iran’s military and nuclear sites in return for money and residency in Sweden,”
The headline of the report described the convicted person as a “Mossad agent”.Dolatabadi did not identify the person, but Amnesty International said on Monday that Ahmadreza Djalali, an Iranian doctor who studied and taught in Sweden, had been sentenced to death in Iran on espionage charges.
Amnesty said the court verdict states that Djalali worked with the Israeli government which subsequently helped him obtain a residency permit in Sweden. Neither Iran nor Amnesty said when the verdict was issued. Djalali was arrested in April 2016 and held without access to a lawyer for seven months, three of which were in solitary confinement, Amnesty said.
“Djalali was sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial that once again exposes not only the Iranian authorities’ steadfast commitment to (the) use of the death penalty but their utter contempt for the rule of law,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East advocacy director.
The United States has denied Iran’s accusation that it was involved in the scientists’ deaths, and Israel has a policy of not commenting on such allegations. Dolatabadi said the convicted person gave Mossad information about 30 nuclear and military scientists including Massoud Ali-Mohammadi who was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in Tehran.  The judiciary said he was also linked to the assassination of nuclear engineer Majid Shahriari, killed in a bomb attack in November 2010. Djalali’s wife Vida Mehrannia, who lives in Sweden with their two children, has told Amnesty International that his physical and mental health have sharply deteriorated since he was detained. “We are calling for his release because he has not committed any crime,” Amnesty quoted her as saying.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 24-25/17
رئيس الموساد الإسرائيلي السابق افرام هاليفي يلتقي في نيويورك المدير السابق للمخابرات السعودية الأمير تركي الفيصل
Former Saudi, Israeli intelligence chiefs meet in NYC
Amir Bogen,New York/Ynetnews/October 24/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=59740
Fmr. Mossad chief Halevy meets Saudi counterpart al-Faisal in NYC forum; pair discusses Iran nuclear deal, Israeli-Palestinian conflict; al-Faisal: Saudi Arabia, Israel talks possible only after Palestinian issue settled; officials disagree on Iran deal, with al-Faisal saying it worsened Iranian aggression, Halevy claiming deal was best possible outcome considering circumstances.
Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy met his Saudi counterpart Prince Turki al-Faisal, former director of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Directorate, at a public event held in New York Monday, where the two discussed different Middle-East issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran nuclear deal and internal Syrian conflict.
The meeting of the two former intelligence agency directors of countries that have no diplomatic relations came shortly after the Saudi kingdom explicitly refuted rumors Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud visited Israel.
Prince Turki, 72, headed Saudi intelligence from 1979 until 2001 and was also the kingdom's envoy to the United States. When he began speaking, Turki clarified that although he has met several senior former security establishment officials since his retirement, he will not speak to current representatives of the Israeli government or its authorities.
Saudi Arabia has never conducted relations with Israeli representatives, even covert ones, Turki claimed, but hinted the rumors of the crown prince's visit can be sourced to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "mistaken impression he has adopted."
"I don't think there are any 'under the table' talks. I think Mr. Netanyahu painted a picture for himself in which there are some clandestine understandings between the two countries because of Iran, and is thus trying to present supposed support from the Arab world in order to encircle Iran while avoiding the Palestinian issue altogether," the Saudi chief said.
"I think Netanyahu believes this picture. Unfortunately, from what I heard from Saudi officials and from what I can glean from looking at the international arena, there are currently no talks between Israel and any Arab states," he claimed.
Halevy then surprised the pair's audience by recounting a secret meeting held in London in the 70s between Kamal Adham, Turki's predecessor in Saudi intelligence, and Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Abba Eban.
This attempted liaison failed for rather astounding reasons, Halevy said. "Adham used to go on months' long trips throughout the Arab world, and legend has it he would carry bags of money on these trips and hand them out to drum up support," the former Israeli Mossad director recounted.
"We thought we might be able to put together a meeting between (Adham) and our Minister of Foreign Affairs Abba Eban, and everything was set. But it was early in the morning and a colleague of mine failed to wake Eban up in time, so he missed the meeting. I was always regretted that incident. Maybe things would look differently today, but sometimes that's the way it is: people shouldn't sleep on the job," Halevy joked.
The public meeting between Halevy and his Saudi counterpart, who insisted on pronouncing the Israeli official's name as "Halabi" (meaning from Halab, or Aleppo, in Syria—ed.), also included former US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy.
The meeting was the culmination of a conference organized by the Israel Policy Forum in collaboration with Commanders for Israel's Security at the Streicker Center in Manhattan's Temple Emanu-El.
Using fluent English, Turki underlined the importance of the Arab initiative to resolving the Middle-East's conflicts and determined that despite Israel and Saudi Arabia's shared interests when it came to Iran, any collaboration between the two countries will not lead to resolving Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.
"What we need is 'over the table' talks, not underneath it. Israel needs to officially present its stance, and we can go from there. Iran is a goal shared by my country and Israel, and if that's the case then let us remove the Palestinian issue from the agenda. If we do so, then we can have back-channel talks," Turki said. Despite his reservations about Israel's attitude towards Palestinian negotiations and the Saudi peace initiative Turki himself is trying to promote, the Saudi official admitted Iran was the biggest threat to the region's stability and may grow bolder still under the auspices of the nuclear deal.
Scuttling the deal altogether, as US President Donald Trump is considering, will be too extreme a move at this phase, al-Faisal said. Nevertheless, he attached great import to exerting continuous pressure on the leadership in Tehran in order to "make them acquiesce not just to the letter of the agreement but also to its spirit." "On the eve of the signing of the agreement, Iran painted a positive picture of itself as being friendly and open to negotiations. That couldn't be farther from the truth. The deal has made Iran overly adventurous, and caused it to adopt an expansionist policy," Al-Faisal said, admitting his greatest concern was the day after the agreement's duration ended.
"We have 13 years to handle not only the nuclear issue, but all of the region's deployment of weapons of mass destruction. Not just in the Arab world but also in Israel and Turkey. This is what we're after," he added.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, it was Halevy—Mossad chief from 1998 to 2002 and secret envoy of successive Israeli governments for clandestine talks with the Arab world before his tenure there—who lauded the nuclear deal and the long stay it allowed Israel, the US and the international committee to stem the Islamic republic's destructive potential.
"The Iran deal is far from ideal, there are a lot of details we wanted to include in it that were excluded," Halevy revealed.
"Israel pushed for a rapid agreement limiting Iran's nuclear capacity, one that disavows the country's support of terrorism and developing its missile capabilities," he added.
"Israel never wanted the talks between Iran and the world powers to include all of the issues of concern. We believed focusing only on the nuclear issue was warranted, and nothing else. The deal doesn't deal with missile development because we didn't want it to deal with missile development," the Mossad chief explained. Halevy, who chaired the National Security Council in the past and is the head of the Hebrew University's Shasha Center for Strategic Studies today, wished to conclude his talk with a touch of optimism: "Iran is undergoing some changes. They may not be as rapid as those taking place in the US at the moment, but things are moving." Halevy further cautioned Israel's existential security cannot serve as an excuse for its leaders to abdicate the Mid-East arena. "We have no other choice but to find a way to live alongside our neighbors. And in order to do that we have to accept them as they are, and mustn't interfere with their internal political processes. If they want unification, let them have it. And if they want to come to us to negotiate, we must negotiate with them. Even with terrorists," he concluded.

Discovering the Secret Republic of Iran
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is the former general manager of Al-Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine Al-Majalla. He is also a senior columnist in the daily newspapers Al-Madina and Al-Bilad.
We all understand Iran, the regime with the ambition to dominate and gain influence. However, in fact we do not really know it. To Iran, the end justifies the means: from selling cigarettes to counterfeiting currencies, dealing drugs, money laundering, collecting Khums tax and using it for military purposes, establishing complex networks of companies in Africa, Latin America and Asia and sending clerics seeking loyalties from fighting coaches who train on weapons.
These are the secret activities of the Iranian empire, which tries to exploit everything it puts its hand on to serve its aims. It’s through these cells and secret smuggling networks that it built and continues to build its nuclear program.
Although propagating disputes is its official hobby, Iran does not fight with its own troops. The last war the Iranian armed forces fought was against Iraq and it ended in 1988. During that war, the new Iranian regime sent whatever forces were left of the defeated Shah and got rid of them.
After the revolution, the Ayatollahs led the regular army. These Ayatollahs are skeptics about it, and they do not recognize military ranks as they only respect religious hierarchy. Afterwards, all of Iran’s battles were assigned to cells, networks and infiltrators, like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Ansar Allah, Afghan Fatimids and dozens of other groups that are deployed across the region and fighting for the superiority of the Ayatollah’s state.
Iran did not and perhaps will not engage in military confrontations using its own battleships and fighter jets as, despite equipping its naval and ground troops with the best weapons, it avoids big confrontations. It secretly sends fully-loaded ships to the areas where there is unrest, while its soldiers guard the Quds Brigades troops crossing Mesopotamia to enhance the capabilities of foreign militias fighting under its command.
The US government recently said it plans to coordinate efforts between its regulatory and security institutions and seek the help of its regional allies to understand Iran’s training and smuggling networks more and how Tehran manages its secret wars across the world. It said it will publish the information it has about Iran’s secret companies and expose those who deal with them and that it will expose the evidence which proves Iran’s ties to al-Qaeda.
These ties came as a strange surprise to us and have changed how we view Iran since 2003. That year, explosions carried out by al-Qaeda rocked the Saudi capital. We thought the attacks were by Saudi terrorists, but to our surprise the orders to execute them were conveyed to a cell in Riyadh through telephone calls from Iran. The explosion in May that year was executed via a phone call from Bin Laden’s Egyptian aide Seif al-Adel, who is hiding with his fellow terrorist comrades in Iran. Seif al-Adel planned the murder of 18 Americans in the Somali capital in 1993 and it is believed that he had a role in planning the September 2001 attacks in the US. Before that, it never crossed our mind that the two enemies, Tehran’s regime and al-Qaeda, will meet and work together in the same field against the same target. After this happened, we began to see Iran as the country of mysteries and realized it is more mysterious than we thought. Knowing it well requires the regional powers’ joint work. They must work together to decipher its mysteries and expose networking, destruction and intelligence networks. Before engaging in any action against it, knowing the Iranian regime more has become a top necessity.

The Harder Brexit Gets, the More Necessary It Seems
Clive Crook/Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17/
Nobody was surprised that the European Union's leaders refused to move the Brexit talks forward at last week's summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Donald Tusk talked of progress and suggested there'd be more at the next gathering in December, but this speck of encouragement shouldn't obscure the bigger picture. The process is moving too slowly, and with each passing week, the chances of a chaotic UK departure from the EU grow. The closer this calamity comes into view, the more certain it seems that Britain has miscalculated -- and the more I’m coming round to the view that the UK was right to want a divorce. In the debate about Britain and Europe, I've been a reluctant Remainer. The UK has been an ill-fitting member of the EU all along. As the union integrates further over the coming years -- which it probably must, if it's to succeed -- Britain's discomfort was bound to grow. The UK did need a fundamentally new relationship with the rest of the EU.
But the government should have worked to create this new status -- a kind of associate membership -- from a position of strength inside the union. Its approach to the creation of the euro could have been the model: Be a nuisance, refuse to go along, and win special dispensation. Instead, by giving notice to quit the union altogether, on an EU-determined timetable, the UK surrendered most of its bargaining power. That huge tactical error is going to cost.
The stalemate in the exit negotiations is proof. At the same time, though, it draws attention to those very aspects of the European project that most concern so many Brits -- not just the 52 percent who voted to quit (despite endless dire warnings) but also an unknown number of reluctant Remainers like myself.
The difficulty of disentangling EU law from UK law, and putting the UK's international commitments back on a sovereign-country basis, is becoming all too clear. The threat of enormous disruption is real. Yet the scale and complexity of this task also show how deeply and broadly the EU has penetrated British governance. Few would argue that Europe's system of democratic accountability has developed to a commensurate degree. So the harder it is to exit, the more glaring the union's "democratic deficit" seems. For many British commentators, in fact, the coming disruption means this was never a matter of weighing long-term pros and cons of EU membership: There was no real choice, in their view, except to remain. But that draws attention to another problem. The irrevocability of EU membership was not previously advertised. Until recently, Article 50 in the European treaties was supposed to affirm that participation in the project was voluntary, contingent and subject to popular consent. Now it's portrayed by Remainers as a kind of suicide clause.
Remember that the European Union is a work in progress. "Ever closer union" remains a guiding principle, and, with the creation of the euro, deeper integration has become a practical necessity as well. It's happening -- haltingly, messily, and leading in the end who knows where. But if quitting the EU now is hard, how much harder will it be in ten years, or 20? And by then, what kind of union will the EU be?
Thus, on the one hand, the costs of Brexit in 2019 will be high; on the other, it might be now or never.
The current stalemate, in addition, has arisen partly by EU design -- which undercuts Remainers in another way. Europe's chief negotiator has a mandate to achieve "sufficient progress" on the exit payment, the status of EU citizens in the UK, and the Northern Irish border before moving to discuss the future relationship. This makes a deal much harder to strike. Complex talks succeed through bargains made in parallel across the full range of issues in contention -- not in rigid sequence, with the hardest questions up front. Presumably this staging was deliberate: It's taken for granted that the EU wants to punish the UK for deciding to quit, partly to teach other restless members to behave, and partly because Britain just has it coming. I see the reason in such thinking -- but it doesn't advance the EU's larger purpose of a closer union based on popular consent. You can strengthen obedience by making examples and threatening reprisals, but you don't build loyalty that way, and loyalty is what the EU most sorely lacks.
The EU should be more confident about its prospects with or without the UK If it believes in the strength of its union, and in the power of the four freedoms that the UK is reluctant to accept in full, then it should expect Britain to regret departing even if granted terms that cause the minimum disruption to trade and commerce. The EU should believe that the UK will see the error of its ways in time, even if the exit goes well. Until then, the EU would surely be better off having a prosperous friend, trading partner and military ally just off its coast, rather than a beaten and resentful enemy.
Britain's tactical choices have been terrible and it faces severe consequences. But, judging by this process so far, the EU isn't much better at seeing where its interests really lie.

A Male Infertility Crisis Is Coming. The Middle East Can Help.
Marcia C. Inhorn/Asharq Al Awsat/October 24/17
Western men’s sperm counts are falling, and we ought to be concerned.
A major study published this July in the highly regarded fertility journal Human Reproduction Update showed that across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, men’s sperm counts declined by 50 to 60 percent over the 38-year period between 1973 and 2011. Environmental and lifestyle factors may be responsible for the decline. But the end result may be a new social crisis of male infertility — with potentially wrenching emotional implications for both the men and women involved.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that other regions of the world have gone through this already. The Middle East has been grappling with serious male infertility problems for decades. It has lessons to offer the rest of the globe.
Over the past 30 years, my research has focused on male infertility in the Middle East. There, genetic sperm defects — the main cause of male infertility — are particularly common and often run in families. High rates of male smoking, ambient air pollution in the major cities and the stresses of war, too, have taken a costly toll on male reproductive health. Yet the region not only has made tremendous technological advances in combating male infertility but also has undergone a dramatic change in societal attitudes toward the problem.
Back in the 1980s, as a doctoral student, I headed to Egypt to study infertility. Semen analysis had become widely available there by the 1970s, and by the time I arrived, ordinary Egyptians — including many a male cab driver I spoke with — were aware that men could have “weak” sperm. Scientific advances had made clear that infertility was not just a female burden.
And yet this widespread public awareness did not, at the time, translate into openness. Cab drivers might be willing to chat, but individual Egyptian men rarely disclosed their own infertility problems, even to close family members. Male infertility remained highly stigmatizing and emasculating; men often expected their wives to shoulder the blame for their childlessness in public. Infertility — caused by sperm defects — was often conflated with impotence.
Since those early days, much has changed as a result of several factors. Medical progress, religious permissions, and government efforts have combined to make male infertility treatment much more accessible. But men themselves have played a major role in lifting taboos, in ways that are instructive for the West.
The changes began with Islamic clerics, who were among the world’s first religious leaders to approve in vitro fertilization as a solution to marital infertility. A permissive fatwa covering IVF issued in Egypt in 1980 allowed the introduction of high-tech assisted reproduction across the Muslim world. The next decades saw an IVF boom, and today, the Middle East claims one of the strongest IVF sectors in the world.
This emergence of high-tech reproductive medicine took a leap forward in the 1990s, with the introduction of a new and particularly effective form of IVF treatment known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI, pronounced “ik-see”), a breakthrough that gives infertile men a real chance to become biological fathers. The coming of ICSI to the Middle East was a technological revolution that in turn led to a social revolution. As more and more infertile men sought the widely advertised “ICSI solution,” male infertility was transformed from a masculinity problem into a medical condition.
The widespread availability of ICSI has led to a “coming out” of infertile men across the region. Governments have helped this process along by pushing to make fertility treatments more accessible through public financing. Today, Middle Eastern men are increasingly open about their fertility problems: They tell their families, share information with friends and colleagues, and swap clinical recommendations with others needing help.
Nabil, an infertile man in Beirut, explained this changing view to me during my 2003 study of male infertility in Lebanon: “People know it is a medical problem. So we don’t feel this problem of manhood or womanhood. In our company, four to five people have IVF babies. So, in my company, people talk about it. I tell everybody about it. I don’t mind. My boss said, ‘You’ve been married for more than two years and you didn’t get your wife pregnant yet?’ I said, ‘I’m trying,’ but I couldn’t get my wife pregnant yet.” Nabil’s boss was even sympathetic enough to give him paid time off to accompany his wife to the local university’s IVF clinic.
As men like Nabil have come to acknowledge their infertility problems and seek treatment, they have helped to lighten the heavy load once carried by their wives: the scrutiny from in-laws, the social ostracism, the threats of divorce or polygynous remarriage. Indeed, the introduction of high-tech male infertility treatment and Middle Eastern men’s eager embrace of this technology have had positive effects on gender relations across the region.
To be sure, there are very real and important differences between the Middle East and the West when it comes to male infertility. In the Middle East, most infertile couples are barred from using donor sperm to conceive, despite the religious permissibility of many other treatments and technologies such as ICSI. In the West, ICSI has long been widely available, but the cost sometimes makes it inaccessible, particularly in the United States. But the primary obstacle has come from men’s own silence on the subject — and here is where the Middle East can serve as an instructive example.
Studies in the West have shown that male infertility remains a hidden, highly stigmatized problem — laden with feelings of inadequacy, confused with impotence and often spoken of, derogatorily, as “shooting blanks.” If women in the West have made great progress in talking about their own fertility struggles, men’s progress in this arena has been much slower going. In the West, the psychological stigma might not wind up as a barrier to seeking treatment — most couples who want a child are by now open to medical intervention if they can afford it. But it does mean that many men will experience unnecessary psychological pain and isolation. Although the Middle East is rarely held up as a model of progressive gender thinking, the region is a case study in the power of recasting infertility as a medical problem, not one of manhood. Technology can help, but in the end, there’s a large role for men themselves to play in speaking up about male infertility, especially as sperm counts fall.

I Was Brought Here Illegally in 1950. I’m Lucky I Wasn’t Deported.
Alan Gerson/The Washington Post/October 24/17
Once I was a “dreamer.”
To be sure, in time I became a member of the American establishment, at least at a middling level. During the Reagan administration, I served as senior counselor to the US delegation to the United Nations, and later I was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
But not so long before that, I was an illegal immigrant. I was little different from those who bear the designation dreamer today, the almost 700,000 who soon may once again be subject to deportation simply for coming into this country on their parents’ coattails as children.
For me, it began as a 5-year-old aboard the USS Pershing in December 1950 as it carried Holocaust survivors and their kin into New York Harbor. My parents had a visa for admission into the United States that was issued in the displaced-persons camp in Germany where they had found shelter under US and UN auspices after the war. Trouble was, the visa wasn’t their own. It belonged to a family that had obtained it but then decided to immigrate elsewhere instead.
I was identified as a different person who was a year older than I was. My parents also had taken on false identities. Had they not done so, they would have been turned away from the United States — they had no sponsors, and the entry quota was severe. But through subterfuge, they entered as illegal immigrants. I was barely conscious of this fact growing up, but I knew enough to realize something was askew. I remember my parents taking me, when I was 11 or 12, to Klein’s department store in Manhattan. As we exited the store, a man standing with a cart of frankfurters and sauerkraut yelled to my father using a name I did not recognize. It was our former name. My father’s face turned white as he shunted me aside, afraid some immigration agent might overhear the conversation. My parents were always afraid.
Then, when I was about 13, my father decided he’d had enough of living under a false identity. With the help of an able immigration lawyer, he went to court and got a sympathetic judge to allow us to obtain US citizenship under our original names.
We were fortunate. It didn’t have to turn out that way. The judge could have ordered our deportation. Or my parents could have balked at taking the risk of deportation and continued to conceal their true identities.
Had they followed that path, I today, at 72, would be subject to deportation along with the hundreds of thousands of dreamers less than half my age. Immigration law has no statute of limitations. Nor does it accord elementary due-process rights that pertain in any criminal trial. Deportation is treated as less than punishment. But of course deportation is terribly punitive, especially for the young who have known no home other than the United States and did nothing worse than hold on to their parents’ hands. And even if not deported, today’s dreamers could still face severe deprivation, including limits on their ability to work and to obtain funding for college. That is why I identify with the dreamers of today, who stand to be deprived of life as they know it, shipped off to some land they hardly recognize.
But for dint of circumstance, I might be in their boots.

Europe: Journalists Against Free Speech
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/October 24/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11214/europe-journalists-free-speech
Gone is all pretense that journalism is about reporting the facts. These are the aims of a political actor.
Being bought and paid for by the EU apparently counts as "press freedom" these days.
According to the guidelines, journalists should, among other things, "Provide an appropriate range of opinions, including those belonging to migrants and members of minorities, but... not... extremist perspectives just to 'show the other side'.... Don't allow extremists' claims about acting 'in the name of Islam' to stand unchallenged.... where it is necessary and newsworthy to report hateful comments against Muslims, mediate the information."
The European Federation of Journalists (EJF), "the largest organization of journalists in Europe, represents over 320,000 journalists in 71 journalists' organizations across 43 countries," according to its website. The EJF, a powerful player, also leads a Europe-wide campaign called "Media against Hate."
The "Media against Hate" campaign aims to:
"counter hate speech[1] and discrimination in the media, both on and offline... media and journalists play a crucial role in informing...policy ... regarding migration and refugees. As hate speech and stereotypes targeting migrants proliferate across Europe... #MediaAgainstHate campaign aims to: improve media coverage related to migration, refugees, religion and marginalised groups... counter hate speech, intolerance, racism and discrimination... improve implementation of legal frameworks regulating hate speech and freedom of speech..."
Gone is all pretense that journalism is about reporting the facts. These are the aims of a political actor.
A very large political actor is, in fact, involved in the "Media against Hate" campaign. The campaign is one of several media programs supported by the EU under its Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC). In the REC program for 2017, the EU Commission, the EU's executive body, writes:
"DG Justice and Consumers [the EU Commission's justice department] will address the worrying increase of hate crime and hate speech by allocating funding to actions aiming at preventing and combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance... including dedicated work in the area of countering online hate speech (implementation of the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online)... DG Justice also funds civil society organisations combatting racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance".
This political player, the EU, the biggest in Europe, works openly at influencing the "free press" with its own political agendas. One of these agendas is the issue of migration into Europe from Africa and the Middle East. In his September State of the Union address, the president of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, made it clear that whatever Europeans may think -- polls repeatedly show that the majority of Europeans do not want any more migrants -- the EU has no intention of putting a stop to migration. "Europe," Juncker said, "contrary to what some say, is not a fortress and must never become one. Europe is and must remain the continent of solidarity where those fleeing persecution can find refuge".
The EU, the biggest political player Europe, works openly at influencing the "free press" with its own political agendas. In September, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured) made it clear that whatever Europeans may think -- polls repeatedly show that the majority of Europeans do not want any more migrants -- the EU has no intention of putting a stop to migration. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
The European Union's REC Program also recently financed the publication of a handbook with guidelines for journalists on how to write about migrants and migration. The guidelines form part of the RESPECT WORDS project -- also EU-financed -- which "aims to promote quality reporting on migrants and ethnic and religious minorities as an indispensable tool in the fight against hate". The new guidelines are "aimed at strengthening quality media coverage of migrants and ethnic and religious minorities". The handbook was launched on October 12 by the International Press Institute (IPI) -- an association of media professionals" representing leading digital, print and broadcast news outlets in more than 120 countries. IPI boasts that it has been "defending press freedom since 1950". (Being bought and paid for by the EU apparently counts as "press freedom" these days.) Seven other European media outlets and civil society groups based in Europe participated in the project and presented it at an event at the European Parliament in Brussels attended by MEPs and civil society experts. According to the press release, the guidelines are "supplementary to standards already in place at news outlets".
The guidelines state that, "journalism cannot and should not 'solve' the problem of hate speech on its own" but that it can help to prevent its "normalisation". However, "meeting this challenge requires the involvement of many actors, in particular the European Union, which must reinforce existing mechanisms and support new tools designed to combat hate speech..."
Why do journalists, who claim to fight for the freedom of the press, now appeal to the EU to help bring an end to freedom of speech in Europe?
According to the guidelines, journalists should, among other things:
"Provide an appropriate range of opinions, including those belonging to migrants and members of minorities, but... not... extremist perspectives just to 'show the other side'... Avoid directly reproducing hate speech; when it is newsworthy to do so, mediate it by...challenging such speech, and exposing any false premises it relies on. Remember that sensitive information (eg race and ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, party affiliation or union affiliation, health and sexual information) should only be mentioned when it is necessary for the public's understanding of the news".
Is that why news reports always refer to perpetrators of rape or terrorism simply as "men"?
Specifically, with regard to Muslims, the guidelines recommend:
"Challenge existing anti-Muslim stereotypes that have become pervasive in public discourse... Increase the visibility of Muslim men and women in your general reporting... Take care not to further stigmatise terms such as 'Muslim' or 'Islam' by associating them with particular acts... Don't allow extremists' claims about acting 'in the name of Islam' to stand unchallenged. Highlight... the diversity of Muslim communities... where it is necessary and newsworthy to report hateful comments against Muslims, mediate the information. Challenge any false premises on which such comments rely".
Not even Orwell could have made that up.
**Judith Bergman is a columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
[1] Notably, the Media against Hate campaign does not define what it means by "hate speech". The closest one gets to a definition of what the campaign means by the term, comes from a chapter on hate speech from the report, "Ethics in the News" by the European Journalism Network (EJN) -- a British organization that claims to be "an independent, international, non-profit institute dedicated to the highest standards in journalism -- that the 'Media against Hate' has reproduced on its website. EJN defined hate speech as "...any expression that vilifies an identifiable group — a race, religious community, or sexual minority, for example — and thus prompts harm to members', e.g. "incitement to... negative discrimination and violence" and "expressions that hurt a community's feeling, including by insulting beliefs". While incitement to violence is punishable by law, hurting a community's feelings is not, but according to EJN, "legal limits should not determine the boundaries of professional conduct... journalists need to develop their ethical capacities to respond to the real risk of serious harm being promoted".
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Canada's Anti-Islamophobia Motion
A. Z. Mohamed/Gatestone Institute/October 24/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11184/canada-anti-islamophobia-motion
Even though at this stage, M-103 is non-binding, as one of its supporters -- Samer Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum and affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood -- wrote, "Now that Islamophobia has been condemned, this is not the end, but rather the beginning."
It sounds as if the next step is to try to make a non-binding resolution binding; and as if the eventual aim is to reinforce and legitimize the term Islamophobia, to limit freedom of speech, and to prevent Canadians from criticizing radical Islam, Islamic sharia, and practices such as wife- beating, honor killing and female genital mutilation (FGM).
Fear or anger toward radical Islam and Muslims are unlikely to be caused by an "irrational hatred and fear of Islam," or "Islamophobia". They are, however, likely to be triggered by global radical Islamic terrorist attacks and as more people become aware of the aggressive and intolerant nature of many Quranic verses, of the Muslims Prophet's hadiths, of what Canadian Muslim clerics (imams) are preaching and of radical Islam.
The Canadian Liberal Party's anti-Islamophobia motion, M-103, is not a law; it is a non-binding formal proposal, an opinion by Parliament. The motion's text calls on the government to "condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination."
However, the House of Commons Heritage Committee heard on September 27 that it is more likely to lead to "thought control, oppression, disharmony and criminalization of non-Muslims, " according to the National Post.
The hearing also revealed that there are many doubts about the motion's vague language. Committee members spent much of the time, the National Post added, trying to explain exactly what M-103 means.
The controversial motion passed 201 votes to 91 in March, after months of bitter debate, and protests and counter-protests, across Canada, and in the aftermath of the January 29 mosque shooting in Quebec City, where six Muslim men were murdered.
Careful, objective reading of the latest hate crime statistics in Canada, for 2015 (released in June 2017), exposes that the motion is biased in both its wording and priorities. It is also an act of favoritism in that it singles out Islam and only Islam for special treatment.
The motion sets forth the term "Islamophobia," mentions it twice by name, places the government's condemnation of "Islamophobia" first, and "all forms of systemic racism" and "religious discrimination" only after it.
This privileging could lead many Canadians and others believe that Islamophobia is now the greatest hate problem and crime in Canada.
Meanwhile, statistics show that out of all hate crimes reported to the police in 2015, the highest (48%) were motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity while the next highest (35%) were motivated by hatred of religion.
Statistics also indicate that of all hate crimes, 17% targeted Black people and 13% targeted Jews, while only 12% were against Muslims. So, if one has to single out a specific population in Canada because it is the most frequent victim of hate crime, they should single out Black people.
Considering the relative sizes of each of the Jewish and Muslim communities, the estimated rates of hate crimes per 100,000 individuals who reported that they were Jewish was 54, and for Muslims 15.1 -- meaning that Jews were 3.58 times more likely than Muslims to be the victim of a hate crime
Although statistics show that hate crimes against the Muslim population increased by 61% and against Catholics by 57%, those against Jews declined by 16% in 2015. Jews, however, are still the targets of more hate crimes than Muslims and Catholics.
All attempts to amend the motion have so far not been successful.
An amendment put forward by Conservative MP David Anderson to remove the word "Islamophobia" and include all religious communities was rejected by liberals, CBC News reported.
Even though at this stage, M-103 is non-binding, as one of its supporters -- Samer Majzoub, president of the Canadian Muslim Forum and affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood -- wrote, "Now that Islamophobia has been condemned, this is not the end, but rather the beginning."
It sounds as if the next step is to try to make a non-binding resolution binding; and as if the eventual aim is to reinforce and legitimize the term "Islamophobia," to limit freedom of speech, and to prevent Canadians from criticizing radical Islam, Islamic sharia, and practices such as wife- beating, honor killing and female genital mutilation (FGM).
Fear or anger toward radical Islam and Muslims are unlikely to be caused by an "irrational hatred and fear of Islam," or "Islamophobia". They are, however, likely to be triggered by global radical Islamic terrorist attacks and more people becoming aware of the aggressive and intolerant nature of many Quranic verses, of the Muslim Prophet's hadiths, of what Canadian Muslim clerics are preaching and of radical Islam.
Islamists and even some mainstream Muslims talk and behave in ways that reflect both supremacy and victimization; both faces are recklessly adopted by many in the governments, parliaments, academia, and media of the West. This awareness, in turn, might well provoke perfectly rational fear among non-Muslims.
**A.Z. Mohamed is a Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 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.

Thanks to Obama, America is two steps behind Iran in Middle East
/جون بولتون: بسبب سياسات أوباما أميركا متعثرة وإيران متقدمة في الشرق الأوسط

John R. Bolton//Gatestone Institute/October 24/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=59730
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11218/obama-iran-middle-east
The fall of Raqqa, capital of the Islamic State's "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq, is unarguably an important politico-military milestone, albeit long overdue. Nonetheless, ISIS, a metastasized version of Al Qaeda, remains a global terrorist threat, and prospects for Middle Eastern stability and security for America's interests and allies are still remote.
Even as ISIS was losing Raqqa, Iraqi regular armed forces and Shia militia were attacking Kirkuk and its environs, held by Iraqi Kurds since June 2014, when ISIS burst out of Syria and seized large swathes of territory from Baghdad's collapsing army.
The battles for Raqqa and Kirkuk reveal much about the mistakes in U.S. strategy for defeating ISIS, and the consequences of not supporting Iraqi Kurdish efforts to establish an independent state. The two battles are closely related, proving again the historical reality that the Middle East is replete with multi-party, multi-dimensional conflicts, and contains more troublemakers than peacemakers.
Most importantly for Washington, Raqqa and Kirkuk demonstrate that Tehran's malign regime is on the march, while American policy stands in disarray, even while President Trump rightly condemned Iran's continued regional belligerency and support for global terrorism. How this came to be is a lesson in bureaucracy. Existing policies, on auto-pilot as always when new presidents take office, especially when Republicans replace Democrats, persisted after January 20, without being subjected to searching review and modification.
Had the incoming Trump administration immediately reversed Barack Obama's support for the Baghdad government, effectively a satellite of Tehran's mullahs, we would not be, as we are now, objectively supporting Iran's hegemonic regional ambitions. President Trump did order a faster operations tempo against ISIS, and made significant changes in the rules of engagement for U.S. military activities.
Unfortunately, however, he was apparently not given the option to dump Obama's strategy of relying on regular Iraqi government troops and Shia militia, both dominated by Iran. Of course, Iraqi and Syrian Kurds could not have defeated ISIS alone, despite receiving U.S. advice and equipment and carrying a major part of the hostilities. The new administration should have pressed other Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in addition to Syrian opposition forces, to take more substantial military roles.
The result is that, today, as the ISIS caliphate disintegrates, Iran has established an arc of control from Iran through Iraq to Assad's regime in Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon. If this disposition of forces persists, Iran will have an invaluable geo-strategic position for possible future use against Israel, Jordan or the Arabian Peninsula's oil-producing monarchies. Thanks to Obama and the bureaucracy, the United States seemingly has no post-Raqqa politico-military policy, allowing Iran greater regional dominance by default.
Iran's grand strategy became even more evident in the swift pivot of significant military resources from the anti-ISIS campaign to the anti-Kurd campaign, resulting in Kirkuk's capture. Iraq's government and its sycophants have said the Kirkuk assault was necessitated by Iraqi Kurdistan's overwhelming vote for independence on September 25. In fact, the referendum merely provided a pretext, not the reason, for the Iran-directed military action.
The real reason was that ISIS's impending demise freed up regular and militia forces for what could be just the first stage in an Iranian effort to re-subjugate Iraqi Kurds to Baghdad. (To be sure, the Kurds themselves may have been partially responsible for their Kirkuk defeat. Conflicting media reports indicate that one Kurdish faction may have tried to cut a deal with the Baghdad — and implicitly Tehran — authorities, leading to Kurdish resistance around Kirkuk melting away.)
U.S. strategy, designed under Obama but continued by default under Trump, thus focused on one war while Iran was preparing for or waging three wars. Unfortunately, the cliché fits all too well: Washington is playing checkers while Tehran is playing not merely chess, but three-dimensional chess.
America saw only the war on ISIS and the need to destroy the caliphate. Iran shared that objective, but also prepared for two future conflicts: one against Israel and the Arab monarchies on a "southern front," and another against the Kurds, on a "northern front." Even as U.S.-directed mopping-up operations against ISIS continue, Iran is executing its two follow-on strategies, most visibly to the north against the Kurds, but perhaps even more significantly in the long term to the south.
There, Iran is continuing the long struggle for hegemony within Islam and in the broader Middle East, Shia against Sunni, Persian against Arab. Israel is just unlucky enough to be in the middle, not to mention being a prime target for Iran's nuclear-weapons program.
Russia is also benefitting from America's Middle East myopia. Moscow built from scratch a new air base at Latakia in Syria and increased its overall regional influence to levels not seen since Egypt's Anwar Sadat expelled Soviet advisers in the 1970s. Russia's next objectives are not yet clear, but the 180-degree reversal of more than four decades of successful U.S. efforts to keep Russia from meddling in the Middle East is stunning and dangerous.
President Trump must not allow bureaucratic inertia to block his efforts against Iran's threat. Washington should recognize Kurdish independence and urgently supply training and equipment, particularly armor and artillery which the Kurds need to withstand the U.S. equipment previously supplied to Baghdad's forces.
Washington should recognize Kurdish independence and urgently supply training and equipment, particularly armor and artillery which the Kurds need to withstand the U.S. equipment previously supplied to Baghdad's forces. Pictured: An Iraqi army M1 Abrams tank, supplied by the United States.
But broader leadership is also required. Rapidly increased pressure against Iran's role as the world's central banker of international terrorism, stressed in Trump's October 13 speech, cannot come fast enough. Abrogating Obama's Iran nuclear deal cannot be delayed further.
Moreover, U.S. efforts to pressure Iran are undercut if the Europeans, through trade and investment, are propping up the ayatollahs. The administration should not allow the Europeans a free ride, but should instead pressure them to reduce their business dealings with the mullahs.
If not, Tehran will rightly conclude the United States is really not serious about confronting their threat to us and our allies. That is the legacy of the Obama administration. It should not also be the legacy of the Trump administration.
*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 Hill 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.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11218/obama-iran-middle-east

نتائج مبادلة جعجع والحريري السيادة بالكراسي
الياس بجاني/24 تشرين الأول/17

استسلام جعجع والحريري وصفقتهما الخطيئة وفرطهما 14 آذار وعشقهما للكراسي وراء فجور حكام إيران واستهتارهم بسيادة واستقلال لبنان