LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 17/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
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Bible
Quotations
The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing
Matthew 15:29-39 /Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then
he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him,
bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and
laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they
saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the
blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples
to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been
with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away
hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” His disciples answered, “Where
could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”“How
many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few
small fish.”He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the
seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and
gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and
were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken
pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand
men, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got
into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
My joy would be the joy of all of you
Second Letter to the Corinthians 01/23-24/02/01-05/""But I call on God as
witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to
Corinth. I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we
are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith. So I
made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you
pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I
wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who
should have made me rejoice; for I am confident about all of you, that my
joy would be the joy of all of you. For I wrote to you out of much distress
and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let
you know the abundant love that I have for you. But if anyone has caused
pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent not to exaggerate it to
all of you
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on April 16-17/18
Why Is Trump Going Soft on Hezbollah/Emanuele Ottolenghi/Foreign
Policy/April 16/18
In Beirut the Rules Are Made to Be Broken/Erika Solomon/Financial
Times/April 16/18
Christian, Yazidi Women Still in ISIS Captivity/Sirwan Kajjo/Gatestone
Institute/April 16/18
Tariq Ramadan's Rape Trial: Blame the Victim/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone
Institute/April 16, 2018
Dhahran Summit and the Dialogue of Priorities/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq
Al-Awsat/April 16/18
Syria’s Axis of Evil Cannot Be Trusted/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April
16/18
Restoring the Initiative and the Hijacked Files/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/April
16/18
Why Zuckerberg Won the Facebook Hearings/Shira Ovide/Bloomberg View/Asharq
Al-Awsat/April 16/18
Destroying the structures of extremism/Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/April
16/18
Sururism: The most dangerous Islamized movement, who are they/Mohammed Al
Shaikh/Al Arabiya/April 16/18
Western strike on Syrian chemical sites isolates Israel against
Iranian-Russian axis'/DebkaFiles/April 16/18
Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on April 16-17/18
United front a solution to regional issues: Aoun
Hariri: Saudi Wants Lebanon Stability, Hizbullah Committed to Settlement
Jumblat Expected to Visit Tripoli after Hariri-Arslan Hasbaya Meeting
Supporters of Mustaqbal, Rival Candidate in Beirut Brawl
Aoun Says Won't Sign Amnesty for Those Involved in Killing Soldiers
Franjieh: Anyone but Bassil for Presidency
Gemayel Pledges to Revive Forgotten Development Projects in Metn
Saba: Lebanon's Public Debt Equal to $138 Billion
Hankache Pinpoints Flaws in Budget Clause
FPM Figureheads Criticize Controversial Budget Clause
Why Is Trump Going Soft on Hezbollah?
In Beirut the Rules Are Made to Be Broken
Titles For Latest
LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 16-17/18
Israel Admits to
Striking Syria: 'It Was the First Time We Attacked Live Iranian Targets'
Tel Aviv Vows to Continue Working Against Iran
NATO Chief: Strikes on Syria Regime Clear Message to Assad, Iran
Chemical Arms Watchdog Convenes on Syria’s Douma Attack
Chemical Arms Probe in Syria Stalled due to 'Security Concerns'
Kremlin Says Still Hopes for Dialogue with U.S. despite Syria Strikes
Russia Says Claims It's Preventing Syria Gas Attack Probe 'Groundless'
UK Says Russia, Syria Not Yet Allowed OPCW Team into Douma
Macron Clarifies Syria Comments, Says U.S. and France United
Rouhani Discusses Boosting Cooperation with Russia After US-Led Strike in
Syria
Tehran’s Former Persecutor 'Disappears' Before Serving Sentence for Murder
Hamas Tells Israel: Wait Until May 15
Awaiting Hafter’s Return, LNA Launches Offensive to Liberate Derna
Russia Voices Support for Hadi as Yemen Army Frees Govt. Compound in Saada
Iraq’s PM Admits Difficulty in Fighting Corruption
7 Inmates Killed, 17 Injured in South Carolina Prison Violence
Trump 'Morally Unfit' for Office, Fired FBI Chief Comey Says
Latest
Lebanese Related News published
on April 16-17/18
United front a
solution to regional issues: Aoun
The Daily Star/: April 16/2018/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Sunday called a
united Arab front was the only solution to the regions conflicts, during an
address at the 29th Arab League summit in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of
Dhahran. "After the storm struck our region, we must establish a future
vision [based on] openness and true solidarity. Without these we can't be
saved," the president said in his speech, according to a statement carried
by the state-run National News Agency. "No stance can be effective in
shifting the course of events unless ... we are all supportive of it in
words and actions," Aoun said, calling for an end to the fragmentation of
the region. “The war is still raging and the danger of an international war
in Syria is escalating,” Aoun said, referring to a joint strike carried out
by the United States, France and Britain Saturday after Damascus reportedly
carried out chemical gas attacks last week. “Terrorism is moving from one
country to another ... Lebanon has had its share of terrorism and although
it has overcome it, it still bears the consequences of successive crises
around it, from the global economic crisis, to the wars that surround it, to
the crisis of displacement."Aoun addressed representatives of Arab countries
attending the summit, calling for co-operation. "If there are eminent
threats, then our unity, or at least co-operation, can save us. ...Let us
become one big Arab nation, enriched by pluralism and strengthened by
components of diversity instead of remaining scattered, overtaken by caution
and unease that makes us easy to isolate when targeted with attacks."
Hariri: Saudi Wants Lebanon Stability, Hizbullah Committed to Settlement
Naharnet/April 16/18/Prime Minister Saad Hariri has stressed that Saudi
Arabia is keen on Lebanon's stability and that Hizbullah is “still
committed” to the political settlement that led to the election of President
Michel Aoun and the formation of his government. “The kingdom wants
Lebanon's stability and it was present at the Rome and Paris conferences. It
is backing Lebanon politically and economically and Hizbullah is still
committed to the settlement,” Hariri told reporters aboard a plane that
carried him to Beirut from Saudi Arabia where he attended the 29th Arab
Summit along with President Michel Aoun. Separately, Hariri noted that
“electoral alliances are different than political alliances.”“In the next
parliament, the sizes of blocs will be close and will not differ much,” the
premier added. Hariri also reassured that the ban on the travel of Gulf
tourists to Lebanon will be lifted after the May elections.
Jumblat Expected to Visit Tripoli after Hariri-Arslan
Hasbaya Meeting
Naharnet/April 16/18/Prime Minister Saad Hariri's visit to Hasbaya several
days ago has irritated the Progressive Socialist Party, especially that it
was made in coordination with Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal
Arslan, sources close to PSP chief MP Walid Jumblat have said. Commenting on
Arslan's welcoming of Hariri at Hasbaya's Chehabiyeh Fort and his insistence
that Hariri visit the Khalwat al-Bayada Druze prayer-houses, the sources
said “someone is deliberately crossing the red lines by infiltrating the
Druze community.” Political sources meanwhile suggested that Jumblat might
respond to the move by meeting the invitation to visit Tripoli from his
friends ex-PM Najib Miqati and parliamentary candidates Toufic Sultan and
Jean Obeid. Hariri's visit to the South was aimed at rallying supporters to
vote for al-Mustaqbal's candidate for Shebaa Imad al-Khatib. The
PSP-Mustaqbal relation was strained recently after Hariri refused to add MP
Antoine Saad to his West Bekaa-Rashaya list. Jumblat has personally
criticized Hariri's moves, noting that the premier is aiding Free Patriotic
Movement chief Jebran Bassil's attempt to “besiege” him.
Supporters of Mustaqbal, Rival Candidate in Beirut
Brawl
Naharnet/April 16/18/A clash erupted Monday morning in Beirut's Caracas area
between supporters of al-Mustaqbal Movement and others loyal to rival Beirut
parliamentary candidate Nabil Bader, who is running on a Beirut list led by
al-Liwaa newspaper editor-in-chief Salah Salam. LBCI TV said tensions
between the two groups had started after Bader rented an apartment in
Caracas and turned it into an electoral campaign office, which “provoked”
Mustaqbal's supporters. “The two parties charged against each other and
exchanged verbal insults, which prompted security forces to intervene to
contain the situation,” LBCI said. Al-Jadeed television meanwhile said “a
group from al-Mustaqbal Movement attacked the office of parliamentary
candidate Nabil Bader in Beirut's Caracas area in an attempt to remove the
candidate's posters and shut down the office.”“The group hurled stones at
the office and shouted insults against the candidates of the Beirut al-Watan
List, as security forces arrived on the scene and restored order,” al-Jadeed
added. “The candidates Bashar Qowatli and Salwa Khalil were coincidentally
at the site at the time of the clash,” the TV network added. Jamaa Islamiya
MP Imad al-Hout, who is part of the Beirut al-Watan List, meanwhile told al-Jadeed
that “some parties are inciting people.”“It's about time the interior
minister separated between his role as interior minister and his role as
parliamentary candidate. The time has come to rein in these groups and
protect citizens,” al-Hout added, stressing that his electoral alliance's
“only protector is the Lebanese Army.”His fellow candidate Qowatli meanwhile
said: “What happened today is unprecedented in Beirut's history. A billion
'blue amulets' cannot protect people, who can only be protected by awareness
and impartial security forces.”Qowatli's statement is a jab at al-Mustaqbal
Movement, which has chosen a blue eye-like symbol as its electoral logo. In
popular culture, the blue eye-like amulet is used to repel 'envy' and
'evil'. “We call on the interior ministry to put an end to the disorder on
the streets,” Qowatli added. The incident follows a similar electoral clash
that broke out Friday in Beirut's Barbir area between Mustaqbal supporters
and others loyal to the businessman Raja al-Zuheiri, who is running for the
Druze seat in Beirut on a list led by former judge Khaled Hammoud.
Aoun Says Won't Sign Amnesty for Those Involved in
Killing Soldiers
Naharnet/April 16/18/President Michel Aoun has announced that he will not
sign any general amnesty that would pardon inmates involved in the killing
of Lebanese Army soldiers. Talking to reporters aboard the plane that
carried him overnight to Beirut, Aoun described his meeting in Saudi Arabia
with King Salman as “positive, excellent and fruitful.”The president also
reassured that the monarch told him that Gulf tourists “will definitely
return to Lebanon this summer.” “The Saudi king announced the kingdom's
support for Lebanon in everything related to the revival mission that the
current government has launched,” Aoun told reporters. Lebanese authorities
have rounded up hundreds of Sunni Islamists over the last years, including
some involved in bombings against civilians and deadly clashes with the
Lebanese Army. They also include extremists believed to belong to
al-Qaida-linked groups and the Islamic State group. A lot of Islamist
prisoners and their families have decried delay in judicial procedures and
trials. Some prisoners are held for several years without trial or
conviction.
Franjieh: Anyone but Bassil for Presidency
Naharnet/April 16/18/Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh has
announced that he backs the election of any figure as Lebanon's next
president except for Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister
Jebran Bassil. “I support the election of any person from our camp except
Bassil,” Franjieh said in an interview on al-Jadeed television. “The FPM's
new alliances are out of fear of losing (the parliamentary elections) and
they have admitted so,” the northern leader added. Noting that there is no
“chemistry” between Bassil and 90% of Lebanon's politicians, “except for
Hizbullah,” Franjieh emphasized that “Bassil does not have the right to
classify others.” As for the elections in the mainly Christian north Lebanon
district, Franjieh noted that “only after allying with Independence Movement
leader Michel Mouawad and al-Mustaqbal Movement Bassil has managed to secure
the needed electoral threshold” for his list. “In the strategic policies,
there is no dispute with the FPM and President (Michel) Aoun has maintained
his stances,” the Marada chief added. “If they ask me to choose between
Bassil and (Lebanese Forces leader Samir) Geagea for the presidency, I would
choose Bassil because he is from our camp,” Franjieh said but added that
“should Geagea become president, he will definitely treat us better than
Bassil.”
Gemayel Pledges to Revive Forgotten Development
Projects in Metn
Kataeb.org/Monday 16th April 2018/
Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel on Sunday lashed out at the ruling authority for
lying to the Lebanese over the Article 50 of the budget, warning that said
clause risks relegating the issue of the refugees' return to the past by
granting them a permanent Lebanese residency. "Some are claiming that this
article was amended by replacing the "permanent" residency with a
"temporary" one, while the result would still be the same in both cases,"
Gemayel said in a meeting held at residence of Violette Ghazal, the Kataeb's
candidate for the Orthodox seat in Metn. "I wish someone could tell us who
were the ghosts who amended this article outside the Parliament," he stated.
"We fear that the ruling political class is selling the country.""Beware of
lies! I am only asking the voters of Metn to make their judgement based on
facts, not lies."Gemayel pledged to accord a paramount importance to issues
that concern the Lebanese, notably the housing loans which have been made
stricter, thus depriving the Lebanese from their right to acquire an
apartment in their own country. "While foreigners are being encouraged to
buy an apartment and get a Lebanese residency, the housing loans have been
halted, which is something that must be subject to accountability." "We will
keep speaking up loudly until a solution is found to this problem," he
vowed. Gemayel said that the $12 billion collected at the recent CEDRE
conference are debts to be paid by the future generations, questioning the
management skills of the Development and Reconstruction Council which will
be in charge of supervising these funds.“Our goal is not to win the
elections in any possible way, but rather to improve the country and our
children’s lives, knowing that some seats in other lists where sold in an
auction to bring in candidates who have little to no knowledge of the
country’s problems,” Gemayel said."I am very proud of the 'Pulse of Metn'
list as we are offering the voters a new option that is facing the ruling
authority's performance which is leading the country to an unprecedented
situation."“We will focus all our efforts to win the elections in Metn and
get a large opposition force that can pressure the state to execute
developmental projects and speaks on behalf of the people in Metn," Gemayel
said, adding that he will seek to revive forgotten projects, notably the
Ecochar plan which was set out 54 years ago. For her part, Violette Ghazal
Balaa vowed to enforce reforms if elected on May 6, hailing Gemayel as the
only leader of the opposition in Lebanon.
Saba: Lebanon's Public Debt Equal to $138 Billion
Kataeb.org/Monday 16th April 2018/Charles Saba, adviser to Kataeb party
leader, on Monday pointed out that Lebanon's public debt is actually equal
to $138 billion, taking into consideration all the financial obligations of
the government and the central bank.
Saba posted a graph taken from the Facebook page "Ra's Al-Mal" (capital),
managed by Al-Akhbar newspaper, showing that Lebanon's total public debt has
reached $138 billion by the end of 2017, thus rising beyond the country's
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by more than double.
Lebanon is incurring a yearly interest rate equivalent to $9.5 billion, the
graph also shows. It is noteworthy to mention that the number $80 billion,
which is usually referred to when talking about the public debt, is correct,
but only represents the central government’s debts recorded in the Finance
Ministry's accounts. In other words, it represents the financial obligations
with interests paid through annual allocations included in the state budget.
Hankache Pinpoints Flaws in Budget Clause
Kataeb.org/Monday 16th April 2018/Kataeb candidate for the Maronite seat in
Metn district, Elias Hankache, on Monday stressed the need to abrogate the
Article 50 of the budget, slamming it as another "achievement" accomplished
by the ruling authority.“These are the things it is offering through this
clause:
- A residency "gift" for Syrian refugees;
- The increase of competition in the Lebanese labor market;
- Refugees would become residents;
- Lebanese residents would become refugees in their own country.
FPM Figureheads Criticize Controversial Budget Clause
Kataeb.org/Monday 16th April 2018/While Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim
Kanaan is still fiercly defending the budget clause which grants foreigners
a residency just by buying an apartment in Lebanon, his FPM colleagues don't
seem to be sharing his viewpoint and enthusiasm towards said article.
MP Nabil Nkoula said that any budget clause that does not comply with the
general accounting law is considered as null and void, noting that the
contested article has a permanent effect while the state budget applies for
just one year.
Nkoula said that the article was stealthily slipped into the budget,
describing it "one of the most dangerous laws". "One of the preconditions
for the CEDRE conference was to help Syrian refugees," he stressed. FPM's
candidate for the Maronite seat in Keserwan, Chamel Roukoz, also criticized
the budget clause, saying that it would have been better to solve the
housing loans crisis so as to enable the Lebanese, not foreigners, to buy
apartments in their country.
Why Is Trump Going Soft on Hezbollah?
Emanuele Ottolenghi/Foreign Policy/April 16/18
On Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence is set to meet with regional leaders
at the Summit of the Americas, where he should tell those assembled that it
is time to launch a coordinated campaign against Hezbollah’s illicit empire
in Latin America. (The Vice-President is stepping in for President Donald
Trump, who abruptly cancelled his Latin America trip to oversee the U.S.
response to Syria’s latest chemical attack outrage). But first, the White
House has to show that it is prepared to take the lead by designating
Hezbollah, a political and militant organization based in Lebanon, as a
Transnational Criminal Organization under U.S. law.
For a brief moment at the beginning of this year, reviving the pursuit of
Hezbollah in Latin America seemed to be a priority of the U.S. Department of
Justice. Last December, a Politico investigation charged that the Barack
Obama administration had gone soft on Hezbollah in order to facilitate
nuclear negotiations with Iran, group’s main patron. Specifically, the
investigation found that the Obama Justice Department deliberately
undermined Project Cassandra, an ambitious effort by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration to stop Hezbollah from trafficking drugs into the
United States and Europe.
While veterans of the Obama administration insist that Politico’s reporting
was downright false and politically motivated, the story spurred the Trump
administration to broadcast signals that it was serious about pursuing
Hezbollah. Indeed, days after Politico published its exposé, Attorney
General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of decisions made by the Obama
Justice Department, and, on January 11, he announced the establishment of an
interagency task force entrusted with combating Hezbollah’s terrorism
finance.
Yet, as of yet, there are no concrete signs that the Department of Justice
is ready to revive Project Cassandra. Nor has the Trump administration
designated Hezbollah as a Transnational Criminal Organization, which would
serve as a meaningful step toward drawing a sharp contrast between the
current president and his predecessor.
Although the Hezbollah International Finance Prevention Act of 2015 required
that the White House determine whether Hezbollah meets the criteria for
designation, the Obama administration declined to do so. Both the House of
Representatives and the Senate have passed legislation seeking to spur the
executive branch into action, while giving its agencies sharper tools to go
after the terror group. Yet the administration has not acted.
While there are plenty of other challenges that may have distracted the
White House and Justice Department from Hezbollah, the Summit of the
Americas represents a critical opportunity to put the issue back on the
table both at home and abroad.
To date, no Latin American country has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist
organization. Pence should definitely raise this issue on his second visit
to the region, although progress may be difficult.To date, no Latin American
country has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Pence should
definitely raise this issue on his second visit to the region, although
progress may be difficult. However, the United States can achieve much of
the same effect by persuading other countries to recognize Hezbollah as a
narco-trafficking threat under their own laws. Yet for that request to be
credible, the U.S. must do so first.
To be sure, Hezbollah rejects the notion that it would ever engage in
criminal activity, because the admission would seriously compromise its
claim to abide by Islamic ethics. Claiming that accusations of criminal
activities are just smear attempts, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah,
has repeatedly cited Iranian patronage as the source of Hezbollah’s
finances. While Iran’s largesse still goes a long way, Hezbollah’s financial
needs have dramatically grown over the years, driven by war and regional
adventurism on Tehran’s behalf. The ayatollahs remain committed to their
Hezbollah franchise, but have not always been dependable due to more than a
decade of sanctions-induced economic crisis. Since at least 2006, when
Hezbollah had to face the challenge of rebuilding Lebanon following its war
that year against Israel, the group has sought alternative sources of
revenue, making illicit finance a major item of its annual operating budget.
Numerous cases cited in the Politico exposé confirm that cooperation with
crime syndicates for fundraising is integral to Hezbollah’s organizational
structure and modus operandi, enjoying support from the organization’s
highest echelons.
In 2009, the Department of Justice indicted Hassan Hodroj and nine other
individuals. Their crimes included trading in counterfeit currency, fake
passports, counterfeited and stolen brand goods, and, ominously, the
attempted acquisition of 1,400 American-made Colt M4 carbines. Hodroj was at
the time, and remains to this day, a member of Hezbollah’s Political Council
in charge of Palestinian affairs. The criminal complaint against Hodroj
makes it abundantly clear that Hezbollah approved, coordinated, and
benefited from these activities. It also reveals that as undercover U.S.
agents negotiated arrangements for the weapons transfer, the operative
involved called a very senior figure in Hezbollah’s hierarchy — likely
Abdallah Safieddine — to facilitate the deal.
Safieddine is the man in charge of overseeing Hezbollah’s criminal
activities and is part of the group’s inner circle. He is Nasrallah’s
maternal first cousin and Hezbollah’s personal envoy to Tehran. His brother
Hisham, a cleric, is a member of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, the party’s
ruling body, and many consider him the likely successor to Nasrallah. In
February 2016, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency named Hisham as the head of
Hezbollah’s Business Affairs Component. Safieddine’s deputy, Akram Barakat,
has brothers who are senior members of the Barakat clan’s Latin American
branch. The U.S. Department of Treasury listed them as Specially Designated
Global Terrorists in 2006, accusing them of involvement in criminal
activities whose proceeds funded Hezbollah. Local authorities prosecuted
some, but not all of the brothers and their associates over the years for
crimes ranging from fraud to drug trafficking.
Other Project Cassandra cases are highly suggestive of a Hezbollah
terror-crime nexus. One in particular involves Lebanese businesswoman Iman
Kobeissi, whom U.S. undercover agents entrapped and arrested in 2015.
Kobeissi was indicted for laundering what she believed to be money from drug
proceeds, and for trying to procure weapons and airplane parts for both
Hezbollah and Iran. According to court documents, she boasted of Hezbollah
ties with criminal groups in numerous African and European countries during
her encounters with undercover U.S. agents. She also mentioned Puerto Rico
as a point of departure for cocaine shipments — an indication that
Hezbollah’s criminal networks operate inside the U.S.
The more recent case of Ali Issa Chamas, a suspected Hezbollah drug
trafficker extradited from Paraguay to the United states in June 2017,
appears to confirm Kobeissi’s comments about Hezbollah using Puerto Rico for
clandestine shipments of cocaine. Investigators discovered that Chamas was
conspiring with a U.S.-based associate to ship hundreds of kilograms of
cocaine to the United States by air cargo. According to court documents,
Chamas boasted of a secure and fast way to deliver his merchandise to the
United States. He was no more concerned about cargo screening in the United
States than in Paraguay, where corrupt officials look the other way in
exchange for bribes.
Another country where Hezbollah’s criminal enterprise has deep roots is
Colombia, to which Pence will travel after the Summit of the Americas.
Hezbollah works with local drug cartels to dispatch multi-ton shipments of
cocaine to both Europe and the U.S.
While at this weekend’s summit, the vice president should remind his hosts
about the Ayman Joumaa network in Colombia, which laundered drug proceeds
through a complex scheme involving used car businesses in the United States
and customers in West Africa. The Eastern District of Virginia indicted
Joumaa in 2011 based on Drug Enforcement Agency evidence, although he
remains at large. Even after the Joumaa case uncovered the prominent role of
used car sales, they remain an important part of Hezbollah’s money
laundering schemes through West Africa. Iman Kobeissi told U.S. undercover
agents that parking lots in West Africa were still overflowing with used
American cars as of 2015.
No matter how much Nasrallah pontificates about the pious and pure nature of
his terror group’s sources of funding, the evidence accumulated over a
decade of investigations in the United States and abroad makes a damning
case for passing tougher legislation against Hezbollah’s terror-crime nexus,
and an even more compelling one for a Transnational Criminal Organization
designation.
What is Trump waiting for?
In Beirut the Rules Are Made to Be Broken
Erika Solomon/Financial Times/April 16/18
Every day when I leave home, I pass a message scrawled in English on the
peeling wall of an old building. It says: “Politicians . . . raccoon???”
Beirut is a city awash with street art, but it is usually more
straightforward: a jibe at the entrenched elite, a web of Arabic
calligraphy. What could this enigmatic message mean? That just one of these
fuzzy, nocturnal creatures is worth a pack of politicians? That, like
raccoons, Lebanese politicians squabble over trash? (More on that later.)
Whatever it means, the message seems both outraged and amused — which is
just my impression of the spirit in which the Lebanese navigate life through
their city. I’ve lived here for eight years and, like most Beirutis, native
or adopted, I can’t stand the place — and I can’t stand to leave it, either.
Beirut can charm you with its snowcapped mountains diving toward the
Mediterranean, its crumbling mansions and the nightlife that local mythology
tells us never stops, even for wars.
But this is also a city where, for years, rival politicians have not
resolved a waste management crisis that one summer left trash spewing down
the streets. I’ve covered a demonstration where people blocked a street with
tyres — to protest against protests that blocked streets with tyres. And I
don’t care how many tech-savvy friends tell me it’s not possible: the
internet gets slower in Beirut when it rains.
Before living here, I loved listening to the comedic musicals about civil
war-era Beirut by Lebanese composer Ziad Rahbani. The electricity and water
cuts seemed strangely charming when actors sang about them. Much less
charming, I learnt, when I was the one waking up to find I had no water.
I first visited the city in 2008, while studying Arabic in neighbouring
Syria. I always felt I had to watch what I said in Damascus, to avoid
drawing the attention of the secret police. By contrast, Beirut felt
liberating. Gulf Arab tourists filled the streets of trendy downtown Beirut,
a sea of women in black abayas and men puffing water pipes.
But when I moved here in 2011, downtown was empty. The tourists were gone,
wary that neighbouring Syria’s conflict would re-inflame the wounds of
Lebanon’s own 1975-90 civil war, which divided the country along sectarian
lines.
Back then, I lived in Beirut’s buzzing northwestern Hamra district, and
spent most evenings at Mezyan, a favourite among friends fleeing Syria’s
war. By midnight, everyone was dancing traditional dabke through clouds of
cigarette smoke. As Beirut stabilised in recent years, I watched the
tourists come back, while my Syrian friends fled yet again — some to Turkey,
more tolerant of Syrian refugees, others to Europe, in search of new
beginnings.
I moved to Beirut’s eastern half with my partner, Alex, to a beautiful old
building with a balcony that looks to the sea. We have back-up water and a
generator, and no longer feel the daily indignities many others face.
The scars of Lebanon’s war may still be visible on Beirut’s buildings, but a
starker legacy is the division of its people. Broadly speaking, Muslims
ended up on the west side and Christians on the east. You can still meet
people reluctant to cross the “green line” — the infamous demarcation line
that ran north to south through the city and became a no-go zone of cratered
streets and buildings, where only militants would roam.
Today, Beirut’s downtown is filled with gleaming reconstructed buildings,
cafés and luxury shops. That glamour is simply out of reach for many
Lebanese, and Beirut’s glitzy heart can feel empty for a city so vibrant.
An important point for Middle East novices: Beirut may suffer from wartime
legacies, but it is not a country at war. I feel safer walking its streets
than I do back home in Los Angeles, or around the FT offices in London.
Friends are often shocked to hear we journalists can meet representatives of
the Shia Muslim force, Hizbollah, a group as press-savvy as any political
party back home. They even send me Christmas cards.
Now that I’ve come to the end of my time as the FT’s Middle East
correspondent and am heading to Berlin to work on a book about Syrian
refugees, I’ll miss this city, where socialising isn’t for weekends, but for
any day and every day — and where the grocer always notices when I’ve been
away.
I’ll even miss the way rules seem made to be broken. Once, when the
electricity at home inexplicably shut off, Alex marched over to the state
offices to complain. A group of workers on strike furtively explained how he
could (illegally) restart the electricity. Seeking proper recourse, he
called the government hotline. “Don’t tell anyone I told you this,” said the
voice. “But here’s how to restart it yourself . . .”
My most love/hate relationship is with Beirut’s “service” system (pronounced
“servees”), an informal shared taxi system to make up for the lack of public
transport. It works like this: you flag a taxi, say where you want to go,
and they’ll decide whether they feel like taking you. The standard price is
2,000 Lebanese pounds (about $1.33/94p).
You never know what will happen in a service. Every driver is a political
analyst, ready to expound upon the day’s news. Some regale me with old
ballads. Another shocked me by breaking into Hebrew and telling of his
former life as an Israeli collaborator.
Some Beirutis seem like the keepers of secret keys. It can be the friend who
takes me to a party in an Ottoman-era mansion, where the hostess in a
sparkling kaftan offers champagne bottles on ice. It might be the employee
at the hippodrome, who ushers me into the “VIP section” at the Sunday horse
races. It is as old and decayed as the normal section, but the old men in
three-piece suits poring over racing cards offer a trace of 1960s prewar
Beiruti glamour.
Even the beloved and despised service drivers offer valuable clues. When I
once struggled to describe a destination, one driver advised me to say
“Piccadilly theatre”. I hadn’t heard of it, because it had been shut down
for decades. But that’s the thing about Beirut: many of its landmarks are
memories. It’s as much about what isn’t there as what is.
Perhaps that is why expats and locals alike love the WalkBeirut tour, led by
the charismatic Ronnie Chatah. Whenever friends visit, I take them on his
exploration of forgotten places right in the middle of town. He weaves a
history both shared and intimate.
On top of the battle-scarred 70s tower block of the former Holiday Inn are
the crumbling remains of a revolving restaurant, where his parents went on
one of their first dates. Legal disputes over tearing the building down have
left it as an accidental monument to the war — and to life before it. “You
could say, in a way, I started out at that restaurant,” jokes Chatah.
Living in Beirut for seven years, I have my own map of memories and
absences. Places I once lived alone. The corniche where I would gossip with
a beloved friend who passed away.
I also walk past the glowing windows of apartments where I made meals with
friends, or the old Le Chef restaurant, where waiters who have known me for
years shout “Erikaaaa!” with happy madness as I pass, to the bewilderment of
their customers. There is the little side street I loved to walk down with
Alex.
He proposed by sending me on a scavenger hunt. A set of riddles led me
across town, from the little side street, all the way to the Corniche. I
arrived in time for sunset. I’ll keep the riddles. Someday, I’ll come back
searching for places that once were and, in Beirut, always will be.
Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on April 16-17/18
Israel Admits to Striking Syria: 'It
Was the First Time We Attacked Live Iranian Targets'
Haaretz/
April 16/18 /A senior Israeli military official tells The New York Times
columnist Thomas Friedman: 'It was the first time we attacked live Iranian
targets — both facilities and people' ,The official notes that the armed
Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace 'opened a new period'. A senior
Israeli military official admitted to The New York Times columnist Thomas
Friedman that Israel targeted the Iranian drone command center at the T4 air
base in Syria last week. “It was the first time we attacked live Iranian
targets — both facilities and people,” said the Israeli military official.
The official noted that the armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli
airspace "opened a new period," saying that “this is the first time we saw
Iran do something against Israel — not by proxy." During the attack, Israel
killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds force members, including
Colonel Mehdi Dehghan, who led the drone unit operating out of T4, east of
Homs. Two months ago, an Israeli F-15 war plane that carried out airstrikes
on a Syrian air base was shot down after it struck targets in Syria in
response to an Iranian drone that infiltrated Israeli airforce. The downed
Iranian drone was armed with explosives and on its way to carry out an
attack, the Israeli military said. According to IDF spokesman, Brig. Gen.
Ronen Manelis, the drone’s flight path and Israel’s “intelligence and
operational analysis of the parts of the Iranian unmanned vehicle” indicated
that “the aircraft was carrying explosives” and that its mission was “an act
of sabotage in Israeli territory.”
Tel Aviv Vows to Continue Working Against Iran
Ramallah- Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday praised his counterparts in the United
Kingdom and France for joining US President Donald Trump in airstrikes on
Syrian military facilities.“The important international message of the
attack is zero tolerance for the use of non-conventional weapons,” Netanyahu
told ministers at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, adding that
this “policy needs to also be expressed in preventing terrorist states and
groups from having nuclear abilities.” Netanyahu accused Iran of being the
main factor causing instability in the Middle East, noting that he had
spoken on the phone with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday
evening and called for a similar policy to be adopted against Iran’s nuclear
program. “President Assad must understand that when he allows Iran and its
proxies to establish a military presence in Syria, he is endangering both
Syria and the stability of the entire region,” he added. Echoing a previous
comment he made on Saturday, Netanyahu said that “Israel fully supports
President Trump’s decision to act against the use of chemical weapons in
Syria.”Israel was informed ahead of the strikes, sources said. On Saturday,
Netanyahu said Israel “fully supports” the pre-dawn airstrikes. In a
statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, he said, “A year ago, I
made clear that Israel fully supports the decision by President Trump to
stand against the use and spread of chemical weapons,” referring to American
strikes against the Syrian regime in April 2017 after a sarin gas attack on
a rebel-held town. “Trump’s resolve and Israel’s support remain unchanged,”
Netanyahu said. Education Minister Naftali Bennett, for his part, said that
Israeli will maintain absolute freedom of action on its "northern" borders
and is ready for all possible scenarios. “We will strictly implement all
that is required to address the Iranian position in Syria and to address the
response that may result from that,” Bennett, who also heads the right-wing
Jewish Home party, added. "Israel does not only deal with the head of the
octopus but also with its arms”.
NATO Chief: Strikes on
Syria Regime Clear Message to Assad, Iran
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/NATO's secretary general, Jens
Stoltenberg, said Monday the weekend's US-led punitive strikes will reduce
the Syrian regime's capabilities of carrying out new chemical attacks.
Stoltenberg said the strikes by the United States, France and Britain were a
"clear message" to the head of the regime, Bashar Assad, to Russia and Iran
that the use of chemical weapons is not acceptable and that the allies would
not stand by and watch. Stoltenberg spoke in an interview with Turkey's NTV
television. The TV broadcast his comments with Turkish translations. The
NATO chief is in Turkey for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
other officials. The US, UK and France told NATO envoys on Saturday their
coordinated air strikes on the Syrian regime targets were a last resort and
aimed to stop more chemical attacks, Stoltenberg said. The three allies
briefed NATO ambassadors at a special session at the alliance headquarters
and won support from the other 26 NATO members, who sought more diplomatic
pressure to uphold an international ban on poison gas attacks like the one
the West believes the regime conducted on April 7 in Douma. The strikes
"degraded the capabilities of Syria to conduct new attacks and at the same
time sent a clear message which deters further attacks", Stoltenberg told a
news conference after the meeting. "We will never have a total guarantee
against new attacks as long as we have regimes which are willing to use
chemical weapons," he said. "Chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity
and cannot be normalized."
NATO was not involved in the strikes.
Chemical Arms Watchdog
Convenes on Syria’s Douma Attack
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/The Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) held emergency talks in The Hague on Monday to
address the chemical weapons attack against the Syrian town of Douma.
The OPCW has 192 members, and Monday's governing executive council meeting
of 41 states was called by its chairman, Bangladeshi ambassador Sheikh
Mohammed Belal, to discuss the attack that left at least 40 people dead on
April 7. Meanwhile, OPCW inspectors were visiting sites in Douma where they
were aiming to collect samples, interview witnesses and document evidence to
determine whether banned toxic munitions were used. US OPCW Ambassador
Kenneth Ward stated at The Hague meeting that Russia may have tampered with
the site of the Douma chemical attack. "It is long overdue that this council
condemns the Syrian regime for its reign of chemical terror and demands
international accountability for those responsible for these heinous acts,"
he said in comments obtained by Reuters. "It is our understanding the
Russians may have visited the attack site. It is our concern that they may
have tampered with it with the intent of thwarting the efforts of the OPCW
Fact-Finding Mission to conduct an effective investigation." The US, Britain
and France fired more than 100 missiles at three chemical weapons facilities
on Friday, angering Syria's backer Moscow, which threatened to retaliate.
President Donald Trump said the strikes had accomplished their aim of
undermining efforts by the Syrian regime to produce and use chemical weapons
again in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. It has been more than
a week since the attack in which witnesses and Western governments described
helicopters dropping sarin and chlorine bombs that killed many children and
women hiding from clashes between rebels and government troops.
A diplomatic source told Reuters evidence may have been removed while
inspectors negotiated access with Syrian authorities. Syria and Russia deny
chemical weapons were used in the final offensive that captured Douma, a
rebel-held territory east of Damascus. The British envoy to the OPCW said it
had recorded 390 incidents of the use of banned chemicals in Syria since
2014. "The time has come for all members of this Executive Council to take a
stand. Too many duck the responsibility that comes with being a member of
this council. Failure to act to hold perpetrators to account will only risk
further barbaric use of chemical weapons, in Syria and beyond," said envoy
Peter Wilson. Priority must be given to boosting the work of the world's
chemical arms watchdog so it can dismantle Syria's "secret" toxic weapons
program, the French ambassador said. "The priority today is to give the
technical secretariat the means to complete the dismantling of the Syrian
program," Phillipe Lalliot told the OPCW. The European Union said Russia and
Iran should use their influence on the Syrian regime to prevent it from
further use of chemical weapons. "The EU calls upon all countries, notably
Russia and Iran, to use their influence to prevent any further use of
chemical weapons, notably by the Syrian regime", the EU said in comments at
the OPCW meeting, seen by Reuters. Moscow meanwhile vowed not to interfere
in the OPCW’s work in Syria. "Russia confirms its commitment to ensure safe
(sic) and security of the mission and will not interfere in its work," the
Russian embassy in The Hague said in a tweet. Syria joined the OPCW, the
organization tasked with monitoring adherence to the 1997 convention, in
2013 after a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people in Ghouta. The
move was part of a joint Russian-US deal that averted military action
threatened by then-president Barack Obama. A joint United Nations-OPCW
mission concluded that troops under Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad had
used chemical weapons several times in recent years, including in a sarin
attack a year ago in the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed nearly 100
people.
Chemical Arms Probe in Syria Stalled due to 'Security
Concerns'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 16/18/Russia and Syria have stalled
access to Douma by international experts seeking to probe an alleged poison
gas attack there, citing security concerns, a British diplomat said Monday.
The claim came as the global chemical arms watchdog held emergency talks on
the alleged atrocity, which prompted Western air strikes on Syria on
Saturday. The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW), Ahmet Uzumcu, told the closed-door meeting his inspectors
had failed to gain access to the site so far, the British ambassador to the
Netherlands told reporters. Uzumcu said "the Syrian regime and the Russians
were citing security concerns," ambassador Peter Wilson told a press
conference. The Russians and Syrians "have not been able to guarantee the
security of the delegation to go to Douma at this point," Wilson added,
saying no timeline had been given for when they could visit. The talks at
the OPCW's headquarters come two days after a wave of punitive missile
strikes in Syria launched by Western powers after the alleged April 7 toxic
arms attack on Douma. The team had been expected to begin their field work
on Sunday, but they met with officials at their Damascus hotel instead and a
strict media blackout was imposed on their schedule. The Kremlin dismissed
claims that Russia was impeding access. "We consider such accusations
against Russia to be groundless," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman
Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Moscow was in favor of "an impartial
investigation." The missiles that U.S., French and British warships fired on
suspected chemical facilities Saturday constituted the biggest Western
attack against the regime in the seven-year war.
The targeted sites were largely empty, and were all said to be facilities
for chemical weapons storage or production.
'Obscene lies'
In the Syrian capital, thousands of people gathered on the main Umayyad
square to express their support for President Bashar al-Assad in the
aftermath of the missile strikes. But at the OPCW, France urged nations to
boost the organization's work so it can dismantle Syria's "secret" toxic
weapons program. Following recent alleged attacks, "we all know, Syria has
maintained a secret chemical program since 2013," French ambassador Philippe
Lalliot said. "The facts are there, and they defy the most obscene lies and
the most absurd denials," he said. He added that priority must be given to
helping the OPCW "complete the dismantling of the Syrian program."The
limited scope of the weekend strikes and the fact that Damascus had time to
remove key assets thanks to prior warning given by the West to the Syrian
regime's ally Russia, have drawn skepticism however. The trio of Western
powers that carried out the strikes warned they would repeat the operation
if Damascus used chemical weapons again, while Putin warned any fresh
strikes would "provoke chaos."With no further strikes planned for the time
being, the West already appears to be shifting its focus to renewed
diplomatic action, with a new resolution to be debated at the U.N. Security
Council on Monday. "The bottom line for me is that this latest strike
changed nothing," said Nabeel Khoury, a former U.S. diplomat and currently a
fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank. "In my opinion, it was a staged
drama, orchestrated by Trump and Putin, for each to save face," he said. The
attack on Douma, in which most experts say chlorine as well as an agent such
as sarin were used, killed at least 40 people, according to local medics.
Holdout fighters from the Islamist group Jaish al-Islam subsequently
surrendered their heavy weapons and left, saying that the chemical attack
forced them to accept a Russian-brokered transfer deal.
No interference
Regime forces have since entered Douma and declared the entire Eastern
Ghouta region around it fully retaken, ending a five-year siege and
reclaiming an opposition bastion on the edge of the capital. Damascus and
Moscow have vehemently denied that any chemical weapons were used in Douma
and alleged instead that grim videos showing civilians foaming at the mouth
after the attack were staged. Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad
said several coordination meetings were held with the OPCW team, but he did
not provide any further details about their schedule. "Syria reiterated its
full readiness to coordinate and to facilitate the delegation's work," he
said, quoted by the official state agency SANA. Russia also promised Monday
it would not obstruct the fact-finding mission. Russia "will not interfere
in its work," the Russian embassy in The Hague said in a tweet. With all key
players having anticipated its findings, the chemical arms watchdog faces a
difficult task and the tea. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
however: "I can guarantee that Russia has not tampered with the site."'
Kremlin Says Still Hopes for Dialogue with U.S. despite
Syria Strikes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 16/18/The Kremlin on Monday said it
still hopes for dialogue with Washington despite US-led strikes on Moscow's
ally Syria last week. "We hope that, when our American colleagues solve
their internal issues, some kind of communication will begin despite all the
damage to (our) bilateral relations currently imposed by Washington,"
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that there are no current
discussions between the two countries on a possible summit between U.S.
President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The
United States, Britain and France carried out attacks at the weekend on
alleged chemical weapons facilities, in response to what they say was a
toxic gas attack by the Russia-backed Assad regime a week before. Moscow has
said the U.S.-led action was aimed at overthrowing Assad and keeping
Russia's influence in check. The Western strikes have led to tensions
between Washington and Moscow unseen since the Cold War. Vladimir Putin
denounced them as "an act of aggression against a sovereign state which is
at the forefront of the fight against terrorism."Russia on Saturday failed
to win U.N. backing for a condemnation of the Western strikes.
Russia Says Claims It's Preventing Syria Gas Attack
Probe 'Groundless'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 16/18/The Kremlin on Monday dismissed as
"groundless" claims that Russia and Syria have not allowed a fact-finding
mission by the world's chemical weapons watchdog to enter Douma to probe an
alleged gas attack. "We consider such accusations against Russia to be
groundless," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding
that Moscow was in favor of "an impartial investigation."Earlier, Britain's
embassy to the Netherlands said Russia and Syria had not yet allowed a team
from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to
enter Douma, where an attack on April 7 -- allegedly using chlorine and
sarin -- killed at least 40 people. OPCW chief Ahmet Uzumcu had briefed
emergency talks about the deployment of the team, which arrived Saturday in
Damascus. Moscow has vowed not to interfere in the team's work and hit out
at the United States, saying the weekend strikes by the U.S., France and
Britain on three facilities in Syria were a bid "to undermine the
credibility" of the mission. Peskov also dismissed French President Emmanuel
Macron's claims that the weekend air strikes had driven a wedge between
Ankara and Moscow. While acknowledging some differences "on a number of
issues" between Turkey and Russia, Peskov said they did not prevent the two
countries from cooperating in the implementation of large-scale economic and
other projects. Predictably, the Western strikes against Syria at the
weekend caused outrage in Moscow but Putin did not announce any retaliatory
measures, with Russia simply calling an emergency session of the United
Nations Security Council.
UK Says Russia, Syria Not Yet Allowed OPCW Team into
Douma
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 16/18/Russia and Syria have not yet
allowed a fact-finding mission from the world's chemical weapons watchdog to
enter Douma to probe allegations of a gas poison attack, the British embassy
here said Monday. The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ahmet Uzumcu, had briefed emergency talks about the
deployment of the team, which arrived Saturday in Damascus. But "Russia &
Syria have not yet allowed access to Douma. Unfettered access essential,"
the British delegation to the OPCW based in The Hague said in a tweet.
British ambassador to the Netherlands, Peter Wilson, urged Monday's meeting
"to act to hold perpetrators to account," saying failure to do so "will only
risk further barbaric use of chemical weapons, in Syria and beyond.""The
time has come for all members of this executive council to take a stand,"
Wilson said, adding "too many duck the responsibility that comes with being
a member of this council."He repeated that Britain, together with the United
States and France, on Saturday had struck at a "limited set of targets."They
included "a chemical weapons storage and production facility, a key chemical
weapons research center and a military bunker involved in chemical weapons
attacks." "Hitting these targets will significantly degrade the Syrian
regime's ability to research, develop and deploy chemical weapons," Wilson
said. Since Syria joined the OPCW in 2013, "we have sought to use diplomatic
channels ... to stop chemical weapons use in Syria but our efforts have been
repeatedly thwarted," Wilson said. It was "shameful" that a lack of
accountability for the April 2017 attack on Khan Sheikhun "can only have
reassured the Syrian regime that the international community was not serious
in its stated commitment to uphold the norm against chemical weapons use,"
he added.
Macron Clarifies Syria Comments, Says U.S. and France
United
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 16/18/President Emmanuel Macron sought
to clarify his comments on French and U.S. military operations in Syria on
Monday, saying both countries were committed to finishing the battle against
the Islamic State group and helping the peace process there. Macron said on
Sunday evening that Paris had convinced US President Donald Trump to stay
engaged in Syria "for the long-term" -- but just hours later the White House
responded by saying it wanted U.S. forces there "to come home as quickly as
possible."
Asked about a difference in position, Macron said both countries had the
same military goal but also had the same long-term target of building a
stable and peaceful Syria. "We have one military objective and only one: the
war against ISIS," he told a press conference, using an alternative name for
the Islamic State extremist group that is also sometimes to referred to as
Daesh. "The White House is right to recall that the military engagement is
against Daesh and will finish the day that the war against Daesh has been
completed. France has the same position," he said. "I suggested no change
last night."
The U.S., France and Britain carried out joint strikes against Syrian
chemical weapons installations on Saturday morning in response to an alleged
chemical attack on civilians by regime forces. "I am right to say that the
United States, because they decided to carry out this intervention, have
realized that our responsibility goes beyond the fight against Daesh and
that it was also a humanitarian responsibility on the ground and a long-term
responsibility to build peace," Macron added. Referring to a recent promise
from Trump to bring home American troops operating in Syria, Macron told his
interviewers on Sunday that he had helped change the U.S. president's mind.
"I assure you, we have convinced him that it is necessary to stay for the
long-term," he said. France and other European nations had been alarmed by
Trump's comments about ending America's presence in Syria, which
contradicted messages from U.S. military leaders and raised fears that IS
could stage a resurgence. Despite a string of military victories that have
driven the group back, IS militants are still in control of pockets of land
in Syria. Macron also said on Sunday that the Western intervention in Syria
on Saturday had driven a wedge between Turkey and Russia, which have been
building increasingly close ties -- to the consternation of Europe and the
U.S. Turkish politicians rejected the suggestion on Monday. "We can think
differently but they (our relations with Russia) are not so weak that the
French president can break them," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at
a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. "We have
strong relations with Russia," Cavusoglu added.
Rouhani Discusses Boosting Cooperation with Russia
After US-Led Strike in Syria
London, Tehran- Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani held telephone consultations with his Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin on Monday, urging the two countries to step up their moves in
Syria in response to US-led moves by Western countries.
On the other hand, Putin expressed Moscow's commitment to the tripartite
cooperation with Tehran and Ankara to reach a solution in Syria. The attack
by America and its allies shows new problems and issues in the course of
decisive confrontation with terrorism in Syria are rising, and they require
increased consultations and cooperation, Rouhani told Putin. Rouhani
stressed his country's preparedness to boost bilateral cooperation with
Russia and tripartite frameworks with Ankara to resolve the crisis in Syria,
accusing Western countries having no desire to allow for stabilizing Syria “easily.”More
so, Rouhani labeled the three-way attack by the US, France and Britain on
sites in Syria as an “aggression” and that it “comes within the framework of
raising the terrorists’ morale.” Rouhani said the US-led strike was proof of
Washington's close relationship with what he described as “terrorist groups”
and in retaliation to frustration caused by “terrorists losing control over
an important area like the eastern Ghouta." Speaking to Rouhani by telephone
the day after US-led strikes on suspected chemical weapons facilities, Putin
said “if such actions, carried out in violation of the United Nations
Charter, are repeated, that would inevitably provoke chaos in international
relations,” according to a statement from the Kremlin. "The leaders
exchanged views on the situation following the missile strike on Syria
delivered by the United States and its allies. They agreed that this illegal
activity is adversely impacting prospects for a political settlement in
Syria. On another hand, parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security
Committee member Mohammad Jawad Jamali in a Sunday closed-door meeting, and
in the presence of Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force leaders, assessed the
situation in Syria after the US-led strike. “The National Security Committee
is considering developments in Syria and the recent attack, in the presence
of Quds Force leaders and officials affiliated with the Syrian file in the
Iranian Foreign Ministry, Jamali said in a statement to the government.
Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Jamali remained reserved around the
sessions’ outcome and gave no further details. The meeting came days after
at least four Iranians were killed at the T-4 military airport in the Syrian
province of Homs, a city about 162 kilometers north of Damascus.
Tehran’s Former Persecutor 'Disappears' Before Serving
Sentence for Murder
London- Adil al Salmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Hours after
Iranian media confirmed the disappearance of former Tehran prosecutor Saeed
Mortazavi who was involved in the killing of protesters during the Green
Movement's protests in 2009, activists mounted posters in different parts of
Tehran demanding information about his whereabouts as well promoting “Where
is Mortazavi?” on Iranian social networks. This came about five months after
an arrest warrant was issued against Mortazavi following his two-year
sentence after being convicted of participating in the killing of Mohsen
Amini, one of the detainees in Kahrizak prison, southeast of Tehran. During
his trial, Mortazavi faced three counts, and in October 2014, he was cleared
of the accomplice murder charge and was sentenced to permanent dismissal
from all judicial positions and five years dismissal of government positions
for "unlawful detention".In April 2015, the Iranian court reopened
Mortazavi's case on charges of preparing false reports and colluding in the
killing of Mohsen Rouholamini, son of Abdolhossein Rouholamini adviser of
former Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Mohsen Rezaee. On
Thursday, Khorasan newspaper quoted Iranian Judiciary’s Spokesperson
Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei as saying that a court verdict calls for
imprisoning Mortazavi for two years, but unfortunately Judiciary authorities
were not able to arrest him as his whereabouts were unknown. The court
initially convicted Mortazavi of five years in prison after he claimed
responsibility for signing the decision to transfer the prisoners to "Kahrizak".
Eight years ago, the then-prosecutor in Tehran Mortazavi, issued orders to
arrest people protesting the results of the presidential elections and
torture detainees in Kahrizak, resulting in the death of four young
protesters, out of the 145 detainees transferred to prison at the early
hours of the protests. The transfer of prisoners to Kahrizak provoked wide
controversy, forcing the Iranian authorities to close the prison before the
demonstrators were declared dead. In September 2016, Iranian media published
a letter from Mortazavi apologizing to the families of the victims,
expressing remorse. He said the prison events were "unintentional."Tasnim
quoted Mostafa Turk Hamadani, Mortazavi's lawyer, as saying that over the
past five to six months, he has not been aware of anything about his client.
In similar statements, Hamdani told Elena that nine of Mortazavi's security
guards knew nothing about him or his whereabouts.
President Hasan Rouhani’s adviser on cultural affairs, Hesamodin Ashna said
that Mortazavi had fled the country in order to evade justice repeating the
scenario of chairman of Bank Melli Iran, Mahmoud Khavari who escaped the
country after he was accused of embezzlement.
Ashna said in a tweet: “Mortazavi carries many secrets with him,” adding
that with his disappearance, “the history of a decade of judiciary’s secrets
might vanish.”For its part, Javan daily, a newspaper affiliated with the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), responded to Rouhani's tweet,
saying that there is no doubt Mortazavi must be held responsible, and “we
must be careful that he doesn’t evade his responsibilities, but what does
the adviser aim behind raising doubts and speculations?”The newspaper added
that if anyone wanted to help Mortazavi escape, it will be the government of
Ashena, which controls the airports. Mortazavi’s disappearance was discussed
in parliament, with reformist MP of Tehran Mostafa Kavakebian, protested
against the judiciary because of the delay in Mortazavi's arrest. Human
Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday Mortazavi’s conviction dates to Iran’s
2009 contested presidential elections, which led to waves of protests and
the arrest of some 4,000 demonstrators. He was sentenced to two years in
prison for complicity in the death of one person arrested during Iran’s 2009
anti-government protests, however, he has vanished before he could even be
arrested. “Considering Iran’s abysmal record prosecuting human rights
abusers, it would not be surprising that certain authorities want to shield
Mortazavi from facing justice,” indicated HRW.
Hamas Tells Israel: Wait Until May 15
Ramallah- Asharq Al Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Hamas Movement has
threatened Israel of organizing an unprecedented march towards the Gaza
borders on the anniversary of the Palestinian exodus (Nakba Day), which
falls on May 15 each year. “Tell Israel to wait until May 15, when our
Palestinian people will break out and nothing will stop them. Wave after
wave, until we meet in Jerusalem,” Hamas’ Politbureau member, Khalil al-Hayya,
said on Sunday. He went on to say: “Our confrontation against the occupation
is ongoing with all the means available to our people, and [the march of
return] was launched and will end only with victory and
liberation.”Palestinians in the Gaza Strip launched the “march of return”
three weeks ago, and vowed to continue until the Nakba commemoration when
Israel celebrates its establishment. Israel has killed 35 Palestinians since
the marches began on the border of the Gaza Strip at the end of March, and
wounded around 3,000 people, including more than 1,500 with live bullets.
Palestinians accused Israel of deliberately targeting unarmed civilians to
thwart the marches. But Israel said it was targeting those trying to carry
out attacks through barbed wire. The factions were accused of using people
as cover for attempts to carry out operations. Last week, Israeli attacks
were reported against journalists and medical staff. The Palestinian
Authority requested an international investigation into Israel’s use of
bullets against civilians, but the Security Council could not even issue a
statement of condemnation because of the United States’ position. “The
martyrdom of fathers and children will not prevent the Palestinian people
from continuing the march of jihad and resistance,” Hayya stressed.
Awaiting Hafter’s Return, LNA Launches Offensive to
Liberate Derna
Cairo- Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat//Monday, 16 April, 2018
/Sources close to Libyan National Army Commander Marshal Khalifa Hafter, who
is currently being treated at a hospital in the French capital, confirmed
that his health is “excellent and at best.”More so, the LNA announced
kicking off a military operation to liberate the coastal city of Derna, the
last LNA-labeled terror pocket in the country’s east. Libyan sources
accompanying Hafter in Paris said that the top army chief was “healthy” but
declined to set a date for his return to Libya.
“The doctors advised him to rest for at least two weeks,” a source with
knowledge of the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat. According to the source, who
required anonymity, Hafter was undergoing “routine” medical checkup and
there is no concern for the LNA leader’s life.
Despite unofficial reports saying that Hafter will return to Libya within
the next two days, accompanying delegates declined to name a date. “This is
a decision to be made by doctors ... Marshal Hafter wants to return as soon
as possible, but this is a health decision, not a political one.”
On the other hand, locals reported a cautious calm looming over Derna’s
outskirts. The calm comes after an army statement announcing orders to storm
the city. Orders were given at the end of a meeting joining together Chief
of Staff of the Air Force, an Operation Dignity Battle commander and
high-end military officials, in preparation for the liberation of the
strategic coastal city. Chief of the Army Staff Lieutenant General Abdul
Raziq Al Nadouri on Saturday met with top military commanders and reviewed
the latest preparations for the “liberation” of Derna, a media center linked
to the Libyan National Army said. Local sources in the city said that the
army was preparing to enter the city, which was witnessing calm and cautious
military alert. They added that terrorist groups that are still holed up in
the city are preparing to repel the army's offensive. LNA Spokesman
Brigadier General Ahmad al-Mismari confirmed that all units in charge of the
military mission in Derna had received direct orders on posts and duties
from their superiors. He confirmed that army forces are in full readiness,
and they are determined to drive militia forces out of the city. After all
arrangements to enter the city were completed, Brig. Gen. Mismari said it
was time for the people of Derna to get rid of terrorist organizations,
stressing that the army relies heavily on the efforts of local public
figures in the efforts to expel terrorist groups.
Russia Voices Support for Hadi as Yemen Army Frees
Govt. Compound in Saada
Sanaa, Dhahran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Russia reaffirmed on
Sunday its support for Yemen’s internationally-recognized government
fighting against the Iran-backed Houthi-led insurgency and expressed its
readiness to adopt any role that serves peace.
On the ground, government forces advanced in the Kataf area north of the
Saada province, the Rahda front north of Lahij and the northern front in Al
Bayda. Army forces also secured the government compound in al-Zaher. The
stronghold seized is only kilometers away from the main Houthi militia
center in the Maran district of the neighboring Hidan directorate, Yemeni
army field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. Meanwhile, Yemeni President
Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi affirmed that Yemen is undergoing a process of
transformation and faces both local and regional difficulties. Hadi met with
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia,
on the sidelines of the 29th Arab summit hosted by the Kingdom. He relayed
his country’s appreciation of Russia's support for Yemen and the process of
political transformation based on the Gulf Initiative and its executive
mechanisms, the outcomes of the comprehensive national dialogue conference
and relevant United Nations resolutions, namely resolution 2216. The meeting
was held within the framework of consultation and exchange of ideas that are
intended to stabilize and restore peace and security for Yemen and its
people, Yemen’s news agency Saba quoted Bogdanov as saying. It reported that
Bogdanov expressed Russian readiness to play a peace-serving role. He
reiterated Moscow’s support for Yemen and its constitutionally-elected
government and noted current preparations for commemorating in November the
90th anniversary of the establishment of Yemeni-Russian relations. The
Yemeni-Russian meeting coincided with continued Yemeni military operations,
backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, on various fronts. Pro-government
forces made vital advances on the fronts of Saada, Al Bayda, Lahij, Taiz,
Nihm and Al Jawf. Intense airstrikes carried out by coalition forces on
Houthi militia pockets in more than one area aided the army’s push.
Iraq’s PM Admits Difficulty in Fighting Corruption
Baghdad - Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Iraqi Prime
Minister Haidar al-Abadi admitted on Sunday that his government is facing
difficulties in opening corruption cases, saying local authorities have been
"seriously" clamping down on corrupt individuals no matter who they are.
Abadi, in his statement at the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the Arab
Network for the Promotion of Integrity and Combating Corruption, said that
had it not fought corruption, Iraq would not have defeated ISIS. The
authorities will not hesitate to open any corruption case and those involved
in fraud "are aware of the government’s seriousness in this respect," he
said. The prime minister described unequal distribution of national wealth
as a form of corruption, and urged citizens to report to the competent
authorities about any corruption cases. The PM admitted that fraud or waste
of public funds can not be fought through conventional means, calling for "a
radical look at corruption."Nasr Coalition spokesman Hussein Darwish al-Adli
said the PM is fighting corruption “out of his constitutional and legal
responsibility” and in his capacity as the head of the executive branch
without any electoral considerations. Earlier in January, Abadi announced
the formation of Nasr Coalition to be cross-sectarian and bring together
representatives from all provinces to fight corruption and preserve the
victory of Iraq. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Adli indicated that Abadi, as
a leader, is serious in fighting corruption, in addition to his electoral
campaign, which focuses on him rooting out corruption as the head of a large
bloc running in the May 12 elections. The spokesman explained that “Abadi
has a clear vision formulated through a detailed program aimed at tackling
corruption responsibly.”Adli pointed out that the government has adopted the
draft-law on illicit gains which has been referred to the parliament for
approval. “The legislation will in itself be an important shift in the fight
against corruption,” he said. When asked whether Abadi formed a large bloc
for the purpose of forming the next government, he said: "This is something
legal in countries that adopt the principle of peaceful rotation of power
through elections. This is part of his electoral ambition.” Member of the
parliamentary finance committee Rahim al-Darraji also spoke to Asharq al-Awsat,
saying that since 2003, successive Iraqi governments have failed to fight
corruption because they part of it. The issue is often tackled in the media
without any serious official measures, indicated Darraj, saying more than
$328 billion have been wasted over the past fifteen years, in addition to
the presence of thousands of fake contracts. Former Minister of Water
Resources Muhsin al-Shammari believes that administrative corruption is the
source of all forms of corruption and terrorism. “Corruption and terrorism
are two sides of one coin and result from lack of legislation,” said the
former minister. He added that corruption is dealt through the activation of
the prosecution’s role.
7 Inmates Killed, 17
Injured in South Carolina Prison Violence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 16 April, 2018/Seven inmates have been killed and at
least 17 others seriously injured amid hours of fighting between prisoners
inside a maximum security prison in the US State of South Carolina. Prisons
spokesman Jeff Taillon announced the grim outcome after State Law
Enforcement Division agents helped secure Lee Correctional Institution
around 3 a.m. Monday. Taillon said no officers were wounded after multiple
inmate fights broke out at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. He said 17 of the injured
required medical attention outside the prison. The South Carolina Department
of Corrections tweeted that it involved multiple inmate-on-inmate
altercations in three housing units. Lee County Fire/Rescue said ambulances
from multiple jurisdictions lined up outside to tend to the wounded. The
local coroner's office also responded. The maximum-security facility in
Bishopville houses about 1,500 inmates, some of South Carolina's most
violent and longest-serving offenders. In March, inmates at the prison held
an officer hostage after taking control of a dorm room, US media reported.
The inmates held the officer for about 25 minutes before the room was
secured by law enforcement. In February, an inmate was killed by another
prisoner in a fight. Two officers were stabbed in a 2015 fight.
Trump 'Morally Unfit'
for Office, Fired FBI Chief Comey Says
Russia and Syria have stalled
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 16/18/Fired former FBI chief James Comey
lashed out at Donald Trump in an interview with ABC broadcast, calling him
"morally unfit" to be president and describing him as a serial liar who will
"stain everyone around him."Comey's remarks are the latest salvo in a war of
words with Trump, who excoriated the former FBI director on Twitter earlier
in the day, again calling him a "slimeball" and suggesting he should be
jailed. The wide-ranging interview with ABC News also came ahead of
Tuesday's release of Comey's memoir, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and
Leadership," in which he details his interactions with the Republican
president. "I think he's morally unfit to be president," Comey said, in his
first televised interview since being fired in May last year. The former
federal prosecutor pointed to how Trump "talks about and treats women like
they're pieces of meat" and "lies constantly about matters big and small and
insists the American people believe it.""Values matter," Comey said. "This
president does not reflect the values of this country." Comey also said that
serving in Trump's administration poses a serious ethical dilemma. "The
challenge of this president is that he will stain everyone around him," he
told ABC, which aired an edited version of the interview but published a
full transcript.
"And the question is, how much stain is too much stain and how much stain
eventually makes you unable to accomplish your goal of protecting the
country and serving the country?" Compromising material? But while Comey
sharply criticized Trump, he said he hopes the president is not impeached.
"I hope not because I think impeaching and removing Donald Trump from office
would let the American people off the hook and have something happen
indirectly that I believe they're duty bound to do directly."In his book,
Comey likens Trump to a dishonest, ego-driven mob boss and says he demanded
the then FBI chief's personal pledge of loyalty -- a damning account that
has infuriated the president at a moment of intensifying legal pressure on
other fronts. "I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew
this guy. Just another of his many lies. His 'memos' are self serving and
FAKE!" Trump said in one of a series of tweets fired off Sunday before the
interview. The president said Comey "stupidly" handled a probe into Trump's
2016 election rival Hillary Clinton and how she used a private email server
during her time as secretary of state. In another tweet, Trump offered a
mini-review of Comey's memoir. "The big questions in Comey's badly reviewed
book aren't answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information
(jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give
Server to the FBI (why didn't they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe's
$700,000 & more?"The jumble of references appeared to allude to
unsubstantiated accusations Trump has previously made claiming Comey lied in
Senate testimony last May in denying he had served as an anonymous news
source. "Look, it's been very clear that James Comey is a self-admitted
leaker. He lied to Congress," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said
Sunday on ABC's "This Week."In the interview, Comey said he was unsure
whether or not the Russians have compromising material that could be used to
blackmail Trump -- either relating to his pre-election personal conduct, or
his campaign's actions. "I think it's possible. I don't know. These are more
words I never thought I'd utter about a president of the United States, but
it's possible," he said.
Possible obstruction of justice
And Comey said the president may have obstructed justice when he asked him
to drop an investigation into former national security advisor Michael
Flynn. "Possibly. I mean, it's certainly some evidence of obstruction of
justice," he said. "It would depend upon other things that reflected on his
intent." Trump and his aides have countered Comey's media blitz by attacking
his handling of the probe into Clinton's emails. Comey acknowledged in the
ABC interview that his belief that Clinton would be elected president "was a
factor" in his decision to reopen the email probe 11 days before the U.S.
election, a development that Clinton blames for her surprise defeat."I don't
remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that she's going to be
elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she'll be
illegitimate the moment she's elected, the moment this comes out," Comey
said.
Trump attacked him on Twitter. "Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls,
where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly)
of the Clinton Email probe," Trump said. "In other words, he was making
decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he
wanted a job. Slimeball!" he wrote.
Latest LCCC Bulletin
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 16-17/18
Christian, Yazidi
Women Still in ISIS Captivity
Sirwan Kajjo/Gatestone
Institute/April 16/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12138/christian-yazidi-captivity
Despite losing control of Raqqa and other major strongholds in Syria and
Iraq, ISIS continues to keep many of the women it kidnapped during its rise
in 2014. The world seems to have forgotten about them.
Habib, traded four times during her captivity, witnessed many cases of
Christian and Yazidi girls -- some as young as 9 years old -- sold, raped
and tortured by ISIS members.
Currently, there are an estimated 1,500 Christian and Yazidi girls and women
still in captivity, while 1,000 others are missing in Iraq and Syria. Others
are believed to have been sold to sex traffickers in Turkey. It is an issue
that the international community cannot ignore.
After more than three years, Rita Habib, a 30-year-old Christian woman from
the Iraqi city of Mosul, was recently reunited with her blind father in
Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region. She and her father are the
sole survivors of a family whose members, like thousands of Christians and
other non-Muslims, was murdered by ISIS in mid-2014. Habib was among
hundreds of Christian and Yazidi women and girls abducted at the time and
sold into the sex trade. She was one of the lucky ones to be rescued by the
Christian advocacy group, the Shlomo Organization for Documentation, which
paid ISIS $30,000 for her release.
Abu Shujaa, a Yazidi activist who has been involved in rescuing hundreds of
Yazidi women from ISIS, helps secure their release in various ways, but said
that all require money, which is hard to come by.
When Raqqa, the former de facto capital of ISIS, was liberated by
U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, many captured women
were freed. Despite losing control of Raqqa and other major strongholds in
Syria and Iraq, however, ISIS continues to enslave many of the women and
girls it kidnapped during its rise in 2014. The world seems to have
forgotten about them.
When ISIS carried out its onslaught on Yazidi towns across northern Iraq in
the summer of 2014, its mission was to eliminate the kufar ("infidel
unbelievers"). To this end, it forced Yazidi men and women to convert to
Islam. Males who refused were murdered, and females taken as sex slaves.
Christians, viewed by ISIS as "People of the Book," purportedly fared
better. They were ostensibly given the option of paying jizya, a form of
Islamic protection tax, as an alternative to death, for the "privilege" of
living under the rule of ISIS's so-called caliphate. Such claims, however,
were apparently just propaganda: all Christians were forced to convert to
Islam; Christian girls and women, as with Yazidis, were forced into sex
slavery.
Habib, traded four times during her captivity, witnessed many cases of
Christian and Yazidi girls -- some as young as 9 years old -- sold, raped
and tortured by ISIS members.
Islamic State jihadists laugh and joke about buying and selling Yazidi sex
slaves, in a propaganda video.
At one point during the peak of the conflict, there were nearly 7,000
non-Muslim females captured by ISIS. Currently, there are an estimated 1,500
Christian and Yazidi girls and women still in captivity in Iraq and Syria,
while 1,000 others are missing. After their defeat in Raqqa, ISIS jihadists
reportedly moved most of the captive females to other areas under their
control in eastern Homs and southern Damascus. Others are believed to have
been sold to sex traffickers in Turkey.
With the anti-ISIS campaign gradually dwindling, many Christian and Yazidi
groups fear that discovering the fate of those girls and women still in ISIS
captivity is becoming even more difficult. It is an issue that the
international community cannot ignore.
**Sirwan Kajjo is a Syrian-Kurdish Washington-based journalist and author.
© 2018 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.
Tariq Ramadan's Rape Trial: Blame the Victim
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/April 16, 2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12171/tariq-ramadan-rape-trial
If defending Tariq Ramadan is regrettable, Western silence is worse.
There are also those who blame Ramadan's alleged victims. According to The
New Yorker, "[Ayeri] is something of a heroine in the extreme-right circles
of the fachosphère, where Islamophobia is a ticket of admission". So, the
"real" problem is "Islamophobia," not the Muslim subjugation of women.
The three women who accused Ramadan of rape have been the subjects of
intimidation, violence and threats.
"The blindness of the Anglo-Saxons on political Islam is frightening". —
Pascal Bruckner, French philosopher.
"If you thought it was challenging for women to come forward and accuse
Harvey Weinstein of rape, consider accusing the Islamic theologian Tariq
Ramadan", wrote Sylvie Kauffman, the former editor of Le Monde.
Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan
al-Bana, is a Swiss lecturer on Islam with millions of followers and one of
Time Magazine's "men of the year". Accused of rape by three women, however,
Ramadan is now in custody of the French police. In denying the allegations
of sexual violence, his #MeToo case has turned into a political and
religious affair.
The Algerian writer Kamel Daoud summarized the response of the Arab-Islamic
world to the Ramadan affair: "Silence, discomfort, embarrassment and
theories of mass conspiracy".
The Muslim communities likely know what is at stake in the case of Ramadan,
which the Muslim sociologist Omero Marongiu-Perria has called a "crumbling
myth". But if the Muslims' silence and defense of Tariq Ramadan is something
regrettable, Western silence is worse.
Ramadan's ethnic and religious identity -- as is becoming increasingly
common (for instance, here, here and here) -- has been evoked as part of his
defense. After the first sexual accusations came out against Ramadan,
Professor Eugene Rogan, Director of Oxford's Middle East Centre, where
Ramadan also teaches, defended his colleague. Ramadan, Rogan said, is a
"prominent Muslim".
According to the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner, "the blindness of the
Anglo-Saxons on political Islam is frightening. In the United States, as in
the UK, attacking Tariq Ramadan earn you a charge of racism".
130 personalities, including the economist Thomas Piketty and the French
feminist Caroline De Haas, have defined the case against Ramadan as "a
political campaign that, far from defending the cause of women, imposes on
our country a destructive agenda of hatred and fear".
Thousands of people in Europe and millions in the Arab world are simply not
willing to accept that Tariq Ramadan can be judged and found guilty by a
system of democratic, Western and secular justice. That is the question at
stake: will we witness the triumph of extremists over powerless Muslim women
who will most likely never again have the courage to denounce their Muslim
aggressors? This desire to perpetuate inequality seems why enormous amounts
of money are being collected to defend Mr. Ramadan.
107,000 euros were immediately raised to defend Ramadan. Then, in just two
days, an additional 26,000 euros were collected.
The imprisonment of such a legend -- the grandson of the founder of the
Muslim Brotherhood -- has caused a stir in the French and Swiss Muslim
communities and mobilized a powerful propaganda machine. First the "Free
Tariq Ramadan" website was created. Then 137,000 people signed an appeal to
free him. Nadia Karmous, head of the Association of Muslim Women in
Switzerland, supported the theologian as "a reliable and caring person". At
a recent "Annual Meeting of Muslims of France" in Bourget, a "support
committee" for Ramadan was launched. His books were sold, and people
collected funds and signed letters to French President Emmanuel Macron and
the Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, asking for the release of their
idol.
The goal seems to be to turn Ramadan into a martyr. According to Asmar Lafar,
the president of the "Muslims of France" organization, Ramadan's pensée
("thinking/worldview") is still "intact" despite the accusations. People
holding placards saying "Free Tariq Ramadan" rallied in Paris.
Meanwhile, the three women who accused Ramadan of rape have been the
subjects of intimidation, violence and threats.
Their daily hell has been exposed by the French weekly Marianne. "You only
get what you deserve" is one of the many messages "Marie" (one of the two
women who uses a pseudonym) receives every day. Except that message came
from one of Ramadan's brothers.
"I go out less and less", she said. A few days ago, she was attacked on the
street. "Dirty bitch", four young men shouted at her.
One day, while "Marie" was bringing her son to school, a car stopped and the
driver shouted, "Shut up; watch out for your children". On March 24, she was
violently assaulted in the hall of her home by two men who beat her up,
sprayed water on her and said: "Next time it will be gasoline".
"Christelle", the second woman using a pseudonym, receives emails from
strangers containing "very specific information about her private life and
schedule".
Henda Ayari, who filed the first complaint against Ramadan on October 20,
2017, no longer receives any support: "My family does not speak to me any
more". Her name, phone numbers and addresses were disclosed on social
media.Her care was vandalized. "I cannot go shopping anymore," Ayari said,
"I cannot walk down the street, I go out with a cap, sunglasses and my head
down... "I have not received any message [of support] from feminist
organizations" she told Marianne.
All the testimonies are similar: "Phone calls in the middle of the night,
people who are breathing or laughing at the other end of the phone".
Very few talk about this #MeToo of multiculturalism, or about those who
blame Ramadan's alleged victims. According to The New Yorker:
"Ayari, who has received death threats, is a former Salafist who broke with
Islam and has became a devout feminist and secularist à la française. She is
something of a heroine in the extreme-right circles of the fachosphère,
where Islamophobia is a ticket of admission".
So according to this, the "real" problem is "Islamophobia", not the Muslim
subjugation of women.
Tariq Ramadan is extremely lucky. If he is judged according to Islamic law,
he will almost certainly be found innocent. In Islam, the testimony of a
female in court is worth half that of a man (Quran 2:282). If Ramadan is
found guilty, he should thank France for having a secular democratic justice
system. Otherwise, under Sharia, he would be stoned to death for adultery,
as done in Somalia. Not so bad for an "Islamophobic" country such as France.
Ramadan's alleged victims are less lucky. Either way, they will have to
continue to live in a society that treats them not as victims but as
enemies.
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and
author.
© 2018 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.
Dhahran Summit and the Dialogue of Priorities
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/18
Perhaps it’s not for a political reason that the city of Dhahran was
intentionally chosen out of 20 Saudi cities to host the Arab League summit
but it’s still geographically the closest city facing Iran. Iran was
mentioned in the major speeches delivered during the summit, indirectly and
indirectly. The meeting’s sponsor, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz called
for a “strong international stance to confront Iran’s behavior in the
region,” and renewed warnings of the “Iranian behavior’s danger.”
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit reiterated that there’s a
need for an Arab stance against Iranian meddling. Arab governments have
different stances on almost all causes, except the Palestinian cause to some
extent. This has been the case of the 37 ordinary and emergency summits held
in the past 70 years as Arab states rarely agreed on decisive issues. This
is why politicians often formulate general, loose and long statements to
bring positions closer.
In his speech to the League’s members, Aboul Gheit proposed a plan to
confront the multiple challenges via “a dialogue on the priorities of Arab
national security” and noted that “major threats confronting us are equally
important and dangerous.” The Arab League secretary general is right to
place all important cases in one basket as, for example, Libya’s crisis
cannot be viewed of lesser importance than Syria or Yemen.
Threats are common. Bahrain and Lebanon suffered from Iran’s interferences
six years ago, and today we can see that Iran’s rifles expanded the scope of
their activity towards Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria. If some Arab
governments do not think Iran’s behavior is a threat, either because they’re
geographically far from it or because they politically agree with it, the
Arab League’s principle of joint defense, and on which the league was
established, will have failed.
This is the significance of the dialogue which Aboul Gheit called for among
the 22 member states on the priorities of the Arab national security and
defining major threats.
Member states can adopt different stances that suit them but they are
committing a crime against the charter when they’re biased in dangerous
causes. Not all countries are expected or required to militarily commit to
defend the security of other members states that are at risk but they’re at
least expected to harmonize with the conditions of the membership of this
club, which is called the Arab League, by committing to a political stance
in solidarity. This is the weakest degree of faith.
Major and multiple crises in the region are a real test to relations between
member states and a test to the values and efficiency of the Arab League
system. It’s nothing new to see it fail at meeting the minimum obligations
in terms of the League’s charter which they signed. It’s based on dialogue
and a review of these successes and failures that we can see whether there’s
hope of treating this sick old League or not.
Unfortunately, our region, the Arab world and the Middle East in general, is
still the most troubled region in the world and the one with the most
failure in terms of political governance. This naturally reflects on and
interprets the failure of its organization, i.e. the Arab League. This
institution can play an important collective role in confronting crises. If
it had done so once and succeeded, it would have managed to establish values
for itself and for the member states.
The Arab Dhahran Summit concluded yesterday evening and a new year-long
cycle and new attempts will begin and may achieve breakthroughs that instill
hope during the upcoming months.
Syria’s Axis of Evil Cannot Be Trusted
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/18
There was a rumor ahead of the ‘tripartite’ (American, British and French)
bombing of Syria that the Assad regime and the Russian government had
offered the withdrawal of Iran and its militias from Syria as part of a
suggested resolution, in exchange for the trio refraining from the attack
and engaging in a new political exercise.
If we assume that such an offer was really on the table, would it have been
acceptable? It is definitely better than a limited strike, but the problem
is that the three parties involved in Syria are accustomed to promoting
lies. Even the Russians lost their credibility as a result of their support
for the allegations of Damascus and Tehran. After the chemical attack in
Douma, they repeated the same old story that the opposition attacked itself
and that the United Nations should inspect on the ground, with the aim of
wasting time and diluting the problem.
The ‘axis of evil’, which lacks credibility, cannot be trusted with
solutions or political resolutions. The Syrian regime escaped military
sanctions in September 2013, when the Russians suggested that it delivered
its stock of chemical weapons to UN inspectors. The stock was then removed
from Syria, and the regime claimed that it was everything in its possession.
Now we know, however, that it was hiding more.
The most dangerous part of this forgery is that this regime acts without any
consideration of the consequences. This shows Assad has not changed, even
though the world had wrongly assumed he might do so after the civil war. It
is clear that the mentality of revenge and extermination still reigns in
Damascus and Tehran; otherwise, there is no other justification for using
chlorine and sarin gases against civilians in Douma.
The role of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ‘Generals’ has been
important in this war, as they have assumed the command in many of the
battles throughout Syria over the past three years, and their reputation has
preceded them in terms of carrying out horrible revenge massacres along with
other pro-Iran militias.
Well, let us talk now about the coming days, since the military action by
three Western powers is over, and they believe the job has been done, even
though it does not seem to have adversely affected the strength of the
regime or its forces. American President Donald Trump wanted to convey a
message to prove that he means what he says, and the message was well
received.
But what happens next? We are facing two interlocking issues: The expected
US sanctions against Iran, which is a battle that is yet to begin; and the
desire to put an end to the civil war in Syria with a peaceful resolution.
The latter can be done either by reaching an agreement with the regime or by
creating a new status quo through protected military zones, like the
American plan for establishing a region in eastern Syria for monitoring and
launching attacks against Daesh and others when needed.
American sanctions against Iran will definitely weaken the regime in Tehran
and create an environment more favourable for finding a solution in Syria,
while loosening Iran’s grip on Iraq and Lebanon. Without further sanctions,
Iran will continue creating trouble in the region. Indeed, there is hope
that Syria may prove to be the Iranian religious regime’s Achilles’ heel, as
it boasts of being invincible there. The signs of this excessive confidence
are reflected in how Iran has turned Syria into a battlefront against the
Kurds and Israel, and a base for its threats against the stability of
Lebanon and Iraq. According to the Iranian plan, Syria is the key base for
its militias, which will be used by the IRGC as a launch pad against its
neighbors.
Can we ever believe that the Syrian regime in Damascus would be able to
eject the IRGC and Iran’s militias from Syria? It is too difficult to
believe. The current chaos ensures that Syria remains a source of trouble,
which is perfectly suitable for Iran and Russia to exploit as they look to
add more cards, and become key players in the region through starting fires
and extinguishing them.
Restoring the Initiative and the Hijacked Files
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/18
Whenever I pack my suitcase to cover an Arab summit, I remind myself of the
essence of my profession. I tell myself that my job is to look for the news
and try to read between the lines, and not to lament and shed tears. The
truth is that we have consumed all the dictionaries of regret, resentment,
frustration and disappointment. But in the end, I am an Arab journalist and
the figures scare me. Between each summit and another, I discover that the
number of Israeli settlements has increased, and that the looting of
Palestinian land is ongoing.
I also discover that the number of Arabs living in refugee camps is
estimated at millions and that a new generation is born under the camps’
cruelty and brutality. I find out that the number of Arab children deprived
of schooling is estimated at millions; and that fissures are slicing through
new capitals that are managed by non-Arab components in the region.
I also see that a large number of unemployed people had joined the endless
list; that poverty is taking root; and that it is very difficult for bright
ideas to find their way in the dark; and that Arab bodies are swallowed by
the fish after falling from death boats fleeing more than a hell. I find out
that the other components are racing to share influence on the Arab land, as
if the owner of the land has passed away or nearly died; and that these
components establish on the Arab territory factories for the militias,
working with great skill and abundance.
When following up Arab summits, I always thought to write an article
entitled: Oh hell! Then I have changed my mind out of my conviction that the
Arab situation is more severe than that headline.
I am writing as an Arab journalist, as my profession took me to attend many
summits. By the way, is a person considered rude if he still says I am an
Arab? Should we give up the spirit and the mantle and act as peoples lost in
conspiracies and interventions?
Why is the Arab component in the Middle East weakened to such extent? Why
don’t we have the right to get the minimum of what international
conventions, norms and historic facts gave us? At least, Iraq should be for
Iraqis, Syria for the Syrians, Lebanon for the Lebanese, Yemen for the
Yemenis and Libya for the Libyans. At the least, territories of these Arab
countries should not be seized by forces of darkness, coup militias,
invasions or foreign tutelage.
Is an Arab considered rude when saying that Baghdad should be ruled from
Baghdad, Damascus should be managed from Damascus, and the same for Beirut,
Sana’a and Tripoli? If we do not recognize an Arab tutelage over another
state, how can we accept non-Arab tutelage? Is it rude to demand that Arabs
have natural rights, no more or less?
The situation in Syria almost summarizes the current Arab calamity. Before
the Summit, tension escalated, the Western tripartite alliance targeted
Syrian chemical sites. The strike was limited, not aimed at the core of the
regime, nor at changing it. It was a reaction to the regime’s alleged use of
chemical weapons and a message that staying under Russia’s umbrella does not
prevent the West from launching punitive operations in response to the
violation of the red lines. But the Syrian situation is more complex than
the current US-Russian tension.
A quick look at the Syrian map is enough to know the scale of the disaster.
Russian, American, Iranian and Turkish armies are currently stationed on
Syrian territories. Syrian and non-Syrian militias cannot be counted here.
The success of the regime in dealing a serious blow to the opposition does
not refute the fact that the Syrian map is placed under bickering external
hegemony that has transformed the Syrian flag into a mere flag between many
flags. A quick look at the real origin of missiles fired by the Houthis on
Saudi Arabia shows that the threats to Arab national security have reached
an unprecedented level.
Concern over serious violations of Arab national security was strongly
present in the opening session of the Summit. This was expected as Arab
countries no longer have the luxury of delaying or avoiding naming things by
their names.
However, the highlight of the meeting was the declaration made by the
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to label the
Dhahran summit as the “Summit of Jerusalem” - a message of great
significance in light of recent talks and rumors. This was accompanied by
the announcement of financial support for the Islamic Endowments in
Jerusalem and UNRWA. The move was greeted with applause.
There is no exaggeration in saying that the Arab role in the region began to
dwindle when Khamenei’s Iran rushed to take out the Palestinian issue from
Arabs’ hands, presenting itself as the custodian and defender of the
Palestinian rights, and taking advantage, at that time, of the declining
Egyptian role due to the Camp David agreements and the consecutive Arab
reactions.
Observers do not forget that Iran began to creep into the Arab arena when
its supporters clashed with Israel. Under the pretext of fighting Israel,
Iran succeeded in planting the seeds of its influence in Lebanon, Syria and
the Palestinian arena, before the American invasion gave it the opportunity
to penetrate the Iraqi fabric and later move to Yemen. Turkey also realized
the importance of the Palestinian issue to find a corridor to a number of
Arab arenas or powers.
Putting back the Palestinian issue into its Arab cradle and committing to
the Arab Peace Initiative provide a common Arab ground for developing a
serious strategy to confront the Iranian and Turkish interventions. Isn’t it
strange, for example, to see the future of Syria discussed by the presidents
of Russia, Iran and Turkey, in the absence of any Arab representation?
Arabs have no choice but to regain the initiative, restore the kidnapped
files, and formulate realistic and effective policies to restore peace in
Syria, Libya and Yemen.
Assuming the responsibility of those files will push the major countries to
take into account the rights of the Arab component, instead of considering
its land as an arena for experimenting wars and weapons.
Why Zuckerberg Won the Facebook Hearings
Shira Ovide/Bloomberg View/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/18
Mark Zuckerberg did just fine in his first turn in the Congressional hot
seat. He was confident. He capably tackled many of the queries proposed last
week by Bloomberg columnists. The 33-year-old billionaire appeared humble
throughout much of the hearing, with only a few smug smiles.
The best news for Facebook Inc. the company was that Zuckerberg ably
deflected any challenges to the beating heart of its economic model: its
hungry data collection and the fine-tuned targeted advertising based on that
data. Zuckerberg's success is a win for anyone primarily concerned with the
company's market value. But it's a loss for the rest of us.
Facebook will keep failing users' trust as long as its business is based on
unrestrained hoovering of as much user data as possible, and crafting
ever-more innovative ways for advertisers to harness that information for
commercial goals. It's an arrangement to which Facebook's users agree and
can sidestep, technically, but it is hardly informed consent or a real
option to avoid.
This inherent conflict was on display during two of Zuckerberg's exchanges
on Tuesday. The first was with Senator Roy Blunt, the Republican from
Missouri. He asked Zuckerberg a series of questions about what information
the company can collect on its 2 billion users and use for advertising,
including whether the social network can pinpoint that a person who posts on
Facebook from his work computer in the morning is the same person who
uploads a photo to his Facebook smartphone app at night.
The answer, as Zuckerberg surely knows, is yes. Facebook brags to
advertisers that it can provide "cross device" targeting, as it is called.
The company can also track people nearly everywhere they go online, and it
can see what apps people have installed on their phones.
Facebook also collects information on "offline" activity, as Blunt also
asked, which includes information on users' location as they roam around the
real world. Companies can also match their information on what your purchase
in stores -- that box of cereal at the supermarket, for example -- and marry
it with Facebook account information. Inexplicably, Zuckerberg tried to say
he wasn't completely sure about Facebook's data collection policies, and one
of his underlings could follow up later. The Facebook CEO knows what his
company does, but perhaps he couldn't acknowledge that his companies relies
on assembling detailed dossiers on billions of people.
This exchange mattered because Blunt and others revealed the flaw in
Facebook's bargain with users. The company gives us a service we find
valuable, and in exchange we agree that Facebook will harness that
information to make money. Zuckerberg said everyone who uses Facebook
consents to what they agree to share, and has complete control of it. The
trick is few people really understand what they're giving, or are capable of
truly controlling it. Zuckerberg seemed to concede as much after a lawmaker
brandished a stack of papers said to be Facebook's data collection and ad
policy disclosures to its users.
Technically, Facebook's users can turn off targeted advertisements or
disable sensitive features such as image recognition in photos. (I couldn't
figure out how to do the latter, and I write about technology for a living.)
Zuckerberg believes he's giving users control, but he's giving them the
illusion of control. And that means the consent of Facebook users is not
informed.
Senator Richard Blumenthal and other lawmakers tried to get Zuckerberg to
change the rules of engagement between Facebook and its users. Facebook
right now operates as take or leave it. Users of Facebook give the company
broad permission to collect whatever information the operators of Facebook
want for whatever reasons they have. If the user decides to protect that
information, it is more of a case-by-case process. Blumenthal, the Democrat
from Connecticut, asked to flip that around, and force Facebook to
explicitly ask permission for whatever pieces of personal information it
wanted to harvest and use, and explain why.
Maybe people would find this system too cumbersome to be practical. And
regardless, there is no way Zuckerberg can agree to this. If everything on
Facebook only functioned with an informed "opt in" from users, the company's
business doesn't work. (Yes, a new European law forces companies to only
collect the information they need to provide a service, and obtain clear
consent to collect and use the personal information. Facebook has been
wishy-washy about whether its implementation of the European law will also
be applied to Facebook users outside of Europe.)
Facebook could voluntarily change the rules of the game. It could elect to
turn off location tracking of users by default, to stop collecting
information on people's activity away from Facebook without express
permission, and to give people even more information that shows how
advertisers target them for each Facebook ad they see.
Those changes could dramatically curtail Facebook's power and its revenue --
and that's the point. None of the good changes the company announced in
recent weeks will truly hurt Facebook because it hasn't revised its economic
engine: all that data, and unfettered use of it without informed approval of
Facebook's citizens. Only a dramatic data diet can curb the worst downsides
of Facebook. It's time for Facebook to really change.
Destroying the structures of extremism
Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/April 16/18
Prince Mohammed bin Salman correctly diagnosed the intellectual issues and
triggers that lead men to commit acts of terrorism. In an interview with
TIME magazine, he spoke about the Muslim Brotherhood’s crimes and their role
in promoting this evil.
He also discussed another dangerous movement that has its supporters and
followers in Saudi Arabia, the Sururist Movement, which lies at the center
of the Islamic Sahwa (Awakening) Movement. It’s an era that the state is
working on sweeping away and making it history.
The prince described the Sururists as even more extreme than the Muslim
Brotherhood, and added: “According to our law, they are criminals” promising
to take them to court whenever there is enough evidence against any one of
them, which is a very important step.
Neither Sahwa nor Sururism has been defeated yet. It will take a long time
before they can be defeated. There are extended conflicts and fierce battles
ahead. However, we will cross the bridge
Research on Sururism
Abdullah bin Bijad al-Otaibi wrote about the history of Sururism at an early
stage and has carried out an important study in this regard. Perhaps many of
those who have written about the history of Sururism and Sahwa have
benefitted from his study. Otaibi continued to write valuable and
significant articles about the Muslim Brotherhood and its role in Saudi
Arabia.
In an article published earlier this week, Otaibi wrote: “The relation
between Sururism and the Muslim Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia was
characterized by its fluctuation between joint work and inter-party rivalry.
They released ‘joint statements’ to voice opposing political stances but
they disagreed over political interests, as in the case of the 2005
municipal elections.”
He added: “Considering the great resemblance between the two, there were
great conflicts in the educational operation, charitable work as well as in
the media. This is in addition to conflicts over acquisition of mosques and
Qur’anic recitation sessions. Sururism and the Muslim Brotherhood are both
dangerous, extremist takfirist groups that have the same aims as other
terrorist and takfirist groups, such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Salafist
jihadist movements.”
The history of Sururism and Sahwa was a topic of great interest to writers
and researchers and plenty of periodicals and publications tackled it after
the political cover was lifted off Sahwa.
Many were encouraged to write about Sahwa after this cover was lifted but
those who were really brave are those who tolerated Sahwa’s lashes for
decades, when they fought it while it was holding full sway. These figures
were threatened, their reputations were tarnished and they were accused of
infidelity because they stood up against Sahwa. They are braver and stronger
than others because they confronted this movement when it wielded influence
even over state institutions. Although current publications came in late,
they add to the power of movements that oppose Sahwa and reactionary groups.
The history of Sahwa
An example of these publications is the book “Diagnosing Sahwa, analysis and
memories,” by Saudi Deputy Minister of Islamic Affairs Dr. Tawfiq al-Sudairy.
The book is important given the high status of the author, as he is a deputy
minister in a large ministry that supervises 90,000 mosques and can
influence each individual.
The author did not claim that the book is a detailed history of Sahwa but
said it’s a personal analysis that’s based on an experience he’s gained
since the 1960’s. Hence he used “analysis and memories” in the title.
The first chapter is entitled “political interpretation of Islam” and it’s
originally based on a lecture he delivered in Jenadriyah in 2016. It was
neither an interesting introduction nor expressive of the book’s content.
However, in the second chapter, he begins to narrate the analysis and
memories. It’s clear that the book was in his mind for some time but he
chose the time of its printing during a certain phase.
The book then tackles Hizbut-Tahrir, Tablighi Jamaat, Al-Jamia Movement, Al-Qubaysiat
Movement as well as Al-Qaeda and its proxies. However, when it comes to
Sururism, Sahwa, the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Jamaa Al-Salafiya
Al-Muhtasiba (Juhayman al-Otaybi’s group), his view seems clearer and
sharper and his words are even more strident as he recalls his memories that
are full of stances and debates.
The second chapter was entitled “Groups of political interpretation of Islam
in the Saudi kingdom.” I disagree with him here as there’s no point in
evading calling these groups as fundamentalist or radical or at least
describing them as “groups of political Islam.” The word “interpretation” is
actually vague in this context.
Threat of Muslim Brotherhood
Sudairy discussed the Muslim Brotherhood’s first stances towards Saudi
Arabia, and it’s extremely hostile positions. When King Abdulaziz made the
famous statement “We are all brothers and we are all Muslims” to Hassan al-Banna,
the latter reacted by making several statements.
For example, Fahmy- Abou Ghadir said Banna felt disgruntled because of Saudi
Arabia’s condition that if he wants to perform pilgrimage, he must not
deliver speeches or talk about politics. It’s well-known that the Muslim
Brotherhood had extended its wings in Saudi Arabia despite King Abdulaziz’s
deep awareness of the ambitions of Hassan al-Banna and the Muslim
Brotherhood.
Banna wanted to teach in Saudi Arabia but he did not succeed because Saudi
Arabia was aware of the threat he posed. Back then, Mahmoud Abdel Halim
quoted Banna as saying: “Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, are a
burden on the Muslim Brotherhood. This requires doubling efforts to instill
life in them.” (From the book Diagnosing Sahwa, page 43)
After the book was issued, Al-Arabiya’s website conducted an interview with
Sudairy. Journalist Huda al-Saleh brought up what many people noticed,
including what I objected on which is the selectivity when referring to some
figures with their initials.
Sudairy did not clarify his style regarding this selectivity as he named
dozens of Brotherhood, Jamia and Al-Jamaa Al-Salafiya Al-Muhtasiba figures
but he used initials for others. Some said Sudairy did so because of these
symbols’ popularity, so he did not name them but he named others because
their roles ended such as Manaa al-Qattan and Mohammed Surur Zine El Abidine.
Sudairy said, and I think it’s rare to listen to such a frank description
from an official with the rank of a minister: “The Muslim Brotherhood has
worked in a strident manner on Saudi territories, ever since its
establishment and until this day. It managed to infiltrate important sectors
in the state, of which the most significant are the public and university
education sectors, religious and administrative sectors and even the
military sector though partially as well as the private and commercial
sectors considering the Gulf area is the most important source of funding
for the group.”
Neither Sahwa nor Sururism has been defeated yet. It will take a long time
before they can be defeated. There are extended conflicts and fierce battles
ahead. However, we will cross the bridge. The path is rough but we have the
strength and the capability. What we rely on to destroy the structures of
the guardians of illusion is the political decision which wants this
phenomenon to disappear.
هدم هياكل سدنة الوهم
فهد سليمان الشقيران
الشرق الأوسط/16 نيسان/18
شخص الأمير محمد بن سلمان مكامن الخلل الفكري والمحفزات التي تذهب بالإنسان إلى
طرق الإرهاب ومسالكه، ففي حوارٍ مع مجلة «التايم» تحدث عن جرائم الإخوان
المسلمين وأدوارهم في صناعة الشر، وأضاف إليهم تياراً خطيراً في السعودية له
أتباعه وأنصاره وهو التيار «السروري» الذي هو محتوى الصحوة وعصبها، تلك الحقبة
التي تعمل الدولة على كنس ذكراها وجعلها من الماضي الأسود السيئ. وصف الأمير
محمد السروريين بأنهم في منزلة أعلى من خطر الإخوان المسلمين، وأنهم «مجرمون
وفق قوانيننا»، واعداً بمحاكماتٍ ضدهم متى ما توفرت الأدلة، وهذه خطوة مهمة
كبرى.
تاريخ السرورية كتب عنه الأستاذ عبد الله بن بجاد العتيبي مبكراً في دراسة مهمة،
ولعل الكثيرين ممن كتبوا عن تاريخ السرورية والصحوة قد أفادوا منها، واستمر في
التأريخ للعلاقة بين الإخوان المسلمين وأدوارهم في السعودية بمواد مهمة وثمينة،
نشر منها ست حلقات في هذه الجريدة، فالسرورية كما يشرح ابن بجاد في مقالة له
قبل أيام: «ظلّت العلاقات بين السرورية و(الإخوان) بالسعودية في تذبذبٍ بين
العمل المشترك وبين التنافس الحزبي، يجتمعون مثلاً في (البيانات الجماعية)
لتمرير مواقف سياسية معارضة ويختلفون في (المكتسبات الحزبية)، كما جرى في
الانتخابات البلدية عام 2005، وبحكم التشابه الكبير بينهما حدثت بينهما صراعاتٌ
في العملية التربوية والعمل الخيري، كما في الوسائل الإعلامية لكلٍ منهما، وفي
الاستحواذ على المساجد وحلقات تحفيظ القرآن وغيرها. السرورية و(الإخوان)
جماعتان متطرفتان تكفيريتان خطرتان، تتماهيان مع جماعات التكفير والإرهاب
كـ(القاعدة) و(داعش) وتيارات السلفية الجهادية في الغاية والهدف».
بالطبع لقد أخذ تاريخ السرورية والصحوة حيّزاً من اهتمامات الكتّاب والباحثين،
ومساحاتٍ من الدوريات والمطبوعات، وذلك بعد أن رفع الغطاء السياسي عن الصحوة
كلها وعن تاريخها ورموزها، حينها تشجّع الكثيرون لكتابة ما في خواطرهم، مع أن
الشجاعة والسبق لأولئك الذين تحملوا طوال العقود الماضية سياط الصحوة وكانوا
يحاربونها وهي في عزها، ونالهم التهديد والتشويه والتكفير، إنهم أكثر قوة
وشجاعة حين واجهوا ذلك التيار وهو يمسك بكثير من المؤسسات والمفاصل في الدولة،
غير أن المؤلفات والكتابات الحاليّة وإنْ جاءت متأخرة فإنها تضيف وتزيد من قوة
التيار المناوئ للصحوة والجماعات الرجعية، ومن ضمن ذلك ما طرحه نائب وزير
الشؤون الإسلامية الدكتور توفيق السديري في كتابه «تشخيص الصحوة.. تحليل
وذكريات».
والكتاب مهم بالنسبة لمنصب كاتبه، من نائب وزير لوزارة ضخمة متشعبة تشرف على
تسعين ألف مسجد وجامع، وتستطيع التأثير على كل فردٍ.
لم يدّعِ المؤلف أن الكتاب عبارة عن تاريخٍ مفصّلٍ للصحوة، وإنما قراءة شخصية
بنيت على تجربة امتدّت منذ الستينات الميلادية، ولهذا فعنوان الكتاب الفرعي «تحليل
وذكريات»، وقد بدأ الكتاب بفصلٍ أولٍ عنونه بـ«التفسير السياسي للإسلام» أصله
محاضرة ألقاها بالجنادرية عام 2016 لم يكن مدخلاً مشوّقاً ولا معبراً عن مكنون
الكتاب، غير أنه وفي الفصل الثاني يبدأ بكتابة المشاهدات والتحليلات والذكريات،
ومن الواضح أن الكتاب أصله محفوظ منذ زمن غير أنه اختار توقيت طباعته في هذه
الفترة. ثم عرج على حزب التحرير، وجماعة التبليغ وتحولاتها، وتيار الجامية،
وتنظيم القبيسيات، وتنظيم القاعدة ومآلاته، ولكنه مع كل حديثٍ حول السرورية
والصحوة وتاريخ تنظيم الإخوان المسلمين والجماعة السلفية المحتسبة (جماعة
جهيمان) تبدو مشاهداته أوضح، ونظرته أحد، وقلمه أقدر على التعبير، وتحضر
الذاكرة مشحونة بالمواقف والسجالات والذكريات.
المؤلف عنون الفصل الثاني بـ«جماعات التفسير السياسي للإسلام في المملكة
العربية السعودية»، وهنا أختلف معه، فلا معنى من الهروب من تسمية هذه الجماعات
بالأصولية أو الراديكالية أو على الأقل «جماعات الإسلام السياسي»، فكلمة «التفسير»
ملغزة وغير دالّة.
أشار المؤلف للمواقف الأولى لجماعة الإخوان المسلمين تجاه السعودية، وهي مواقف
ساخنة بعداوتها، وآية ذلك أن موقف الملك عبد العزيز الشهير مع حسن البنا حين
قال جملته الشهيرة: «كلنا إخوان وكلنا مسلمون» ضارعه مجموعة من المواقف لحسن
البنا وبخاصة رواية فهمي أبو غدير عن امتعاض البنا من شرط السعودية عليه إن
أراد الحج، ويتمثل بعدم الخطابة والكلام في السياسة، ومعلوم أن تنظيم الإخوان
كان قد مد أذرعته في المناطق السعودية رغم وعي الملك عبد العزيز العميق لطموح
حسن البنا وجماعة الإخوان المسلمين، لقد أراد التدريس في السعودية ولكنه لم
يفلح بسبب وعي السعودية بخطره، حينها يروي محمود عبد الحليم عن البنا قوله: «إن
البلاد الإسلامية بما فيها السعودية، عبء على الإخوان المسلمين، مما يتطلب
مضاعفة الجهود لبعث الحياة فيها»! (من كتاب «تشخيص الصحوة» ص:43).
بعد صدور الكتاب أجرى موقع قناة «العربية» حواراً مع د. توفيق السديري، وقد
أحضرت المذيعة والصحافية هدى الصالح ما يطرحه الناس على المؤلف، منها ما أعترض
أنا عليه، وهو الانتقائية في ترميز أسماء مختصرة بحرفين، انتقائية لم يوضح
المؤلف منهجه فيها، فقد تطرق لأسماء العشرات من رموز الإخوان المسلمين، وكذلك
الجامية، والجماعة المحتسبة، ولكنه على الضفة الأخرى يرمز لأسماء، البعض يعزوه
إلى جماهيرية بعض أولئك الرموز فلم يسمهم، بينما يفصح عن أدوار آخرين انقرضوا
مثل مناع القطان ومحمد سرور زين العابدين.
المؤلف يقول، وأظن من النادر أن نستمع إلى مثل هذا التوصيف الصريح من مسؤول
بمرتبة وزير: «إن تنظيم الإخوان المسلمين عمل بشكلٍ قوي على الأراضي السعودية
منذ نشأته حتى يومنا هذا، واستطاع اختراق مجالاتٍ مهمة في الدولة، ومن أهمها
قطاع التعليم العام والجامعي، والقطاع الديني، والقطاع الإداري، بل والقطاع
العسكري، وإن بشكلٍ جزئي، وكذلك القطاع الخاص والتجاري باعتبار منطقة الخليج
أهم مصدر تمويلي للجماعة».
لم تُهزم الصحوة ولا السرورية بعد، أمامنا وقت طويل، وصراعات ممتدة، ومعارك
ضارية، لكننا سنعبر الجسر، والطريق وعرة، والأرض سبخة، ولكن لدينا القوة
والقدرة، معولنا في هدم هياكل سدنة الوهم القرار السياسي الذي أراد للظاهرة أن
تزول.
Sururism: The most dangerous Islamized movement, who are they?
Mohammed Al Shaikh/Al Arabiya/April 16/18
In his interview with TIME magazine, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
said that the Muslim Brotherhood is the legitimate ancestor of all Islamist
movements that have spread across the world. However, he said the followers
of the Sururist Movement were the most extremist in the Middle East. This is
actually accurate. But what is Sururism? To whom does it belong? And how did
it come into existence?
Sururism is a movement that took from Salafist doctrines selectively but
adopted the organizational forms of the Muslim Brotherhood, as the latter
does not pay much attention to the doctrine, as the majority is Ash’arites.
The Muslim Brotherhood is lenient with groups that claim they are Islamic,
but Sururism puts the doctrine first while adding a political dimension as a
requirement so much so, that they say one’s Islam isn’t complete without it,
calling it the concept of al Hakimiya (the governance), even though the
elders of this movement never imposed this condition.
Over time, this movement was able to draw the attention of many enthusiastic
youth, who were eager for a new revolutionary Sunni approach resembling
Khomeini’s movement in Iran. In the early 1980s, the Sururists were able to
infiltrate all the social classes and was embraced by many preachers,
teachers and young judges
Life and ideology of Mohammed Surur
This group was founded in the Saudi Kingdom by Mohammed Surur Naif Zine El
Abidine, who worked as a mathematics teacher in the institutes of the Imam
University and who has not studied the Sharia methodology.
He began advocating his movement in Ha’il, while others say it was in
Buraidah. He then relocated to the eastern province. When authorities were
alerted about his activities, he travelled to Kuwait and from there to
Britain, where he founded As-Sunnah Magazine, which was smuggled by his
followers to the kingdom and the rest of the Arab world.
Surur was born in Hauran in the Levant in 1938. He first embraced the Muslim
Brotherhood ideology. When he came to the kingdom, he found that political
Islamization which does not care about the purity of the faith, as is the
Brotherhood's ideology, was liable to fail in the Kingdom.
So from the 1960s onwards, he began establishing a new approach of mixing
faith with politics, embracing the approach as he learned from the Muslim
Brotherhood of which he was a follower.
Over time, this movement was able to draw the attention of many enthusiastic
youth, who were eager for a new revolutionary Sunni approach resembling
Khomeini’s movement in Iran. In the early 1980s, the Sururists were able to
infiltrate all the social classes and was embraced by many preachers,
teachers and young judges.
They even infiltrated officials in the Interior Ministry as Surur himself
was assigned with the task of writing a book to defend Sunni people in the
face of the Khomeinist revolution. The book was published under the title
The Era of the Magi Has Come. Mohammed Surur wrote it under the pseudonym of
Abdullah al-Gharib. Back then, fears of the expansion of the Khomeini
revolution were at their peak.
At first, the state considered Sururism as a pure Salafist movement that
abided by the orientations of the Salafist Saudi state. This gave members of
this organization in the 1980s the freedom to move and attract young people
to their ideology. At the time, much of the sheen of the Muslim Brotherhood
was starting to fade, which created a hostile ideological struggle between
the two movements. Triumph here was for the Sururists.
The decline of Sururism
Saddam's occupation of Kuwait and the Sururists’ feeling that they’ve spread
and acquired a large number of followers were the defining moment in the
divorce between the government and the Sururists, especially after the
imprisonment of their senior figures who thought that the state was not
capable of confronting them.
However it was a retroactive divorce as the kingdom’s victory in the
liberation of Kuwait and the Sururists’ feeling that they had committed the
mistake of rushing into a confrontation with the government, made them
compromise to survive the storm, carefully awaiting the opportunities to
prove their loyalty and pledging allegiance in a tactical maneuver that
helped them reconcile with the government.
The government cautiously went along with it, trying to contain them.
However, an ideologically driven person is like a drug addict, he may
convince you that he has gone sober as long as he feels you are stronger
than him, but as soon as an opportunity presents itself, he will return to
his old habits with the spirit of the stubborn fighter who does not mind
sacrificing himself to support his cause.
The regime of Hamad bin Jassim and Hamad bin Khalifa in Qatar managed to
infiltrate them and recruit most of the group, especially their key figures.
Qatar generously funded them and turned them into a fifth column. When Qatar
flared up the Arab Spring, the Sururist Movement was at the forefront of
those cheering for it and supporting it.
However, the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the decline of
their role in Tunisia, the civil war in Libya and the failure of Islamists
in Syria have exposed them to all those who were led astray by their ideas.
Then came the knockout punch that paralyzed them, which was the severing of
relations with Qatar, which was their first funder, as well as the
determination and perseverance adopted by the state to confront them and
their advocates.
This made many of them raise white flags, surrendering to defeat and trying
to save themselves from the fate that the Salman state seems determined to
execute, i.e. to eradicate all the politicized Islamized figures from our
societies at any cost.
Prince Mohammed's recent statements seem to mean a lot and signify that
eradicating them is a matter of time and prioritization, no more.
Western strike on Syrian chemical sites isolates Israel
against Iranian-Russian axis'
الضربة الغربية للمواقع الكيماوية في سوريا عزل إسرائيل بمواجهة محور
إيران-روسيا
DebkaFiles/April 16/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/63920
The US-allied strikes in Syria have
heightened Israel’s apprehension about being left alone to face a possible
Iranian reprisal for the T-4 strike. That Israel’s forces are on higher
alert than ever on its northern borders with Syria and Lebanon – days before
its independence anniversary celebrations – is a measure of this
apprehension. The US, British and French surgical missile strikes on three
Syrian chemical sites on Saturday, April 14, it was realized in Jerusalem,
not only missed addressing Israel’s security concerns, but exacerbated them.
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Iran’s Middle East commander, Gen. Qassem
Soleimani and Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah had every reason to breathe a
sigh of relief when they heard the Trump administration’s assurance that
further military action would be forthcoming only if Assad repeated his use
of chemical weapons after the Douma atrocity. After an anxious couple of
weeks, all three saw they were off the hook for further US military action,
whether against regime targets in Damascus, Iranian, Shiite and Hizballah
forces in Syria – or even acts of aggression against Israel.
Nasrallah was the first to openly rejoice. On Sunday, he put the new
situation in a nutshell: “Western strikes on Syria had failed to terrorize
the army, help insurgents or even serve Israel’s interests.”
His assessment was confirmed by the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, in
a Fox TV Sunday interview: Asked when US troops would be pulled out of Syria
as President Donald Trump had promised, she outlined the administration’s
three goals before this drawdown: a total end of the use of chemical weapons
in the Syrian war; complete defeat and destruction of the Islamic State; but
on the third goal, the ambassador’s otherwise crisp delivery turned vague:
She said: “And he wanted to make sure that we had good grounds to watch what
Iran was doing and they were weren’t making a lot of aggressive headway in
terms of that, because Iran is a national threat to American interests.” Not
a word did Haley have to say on the threat posed by Iran’s military presence
in Syria, although that is of the greatest concern to Israel’s security.
Therefore, when President Trump said he would leave Syria “to others,” he
apparently included Israel (and Jordan), who would be left to face up to the
threats posed to their borders on their own. Jordan’s King Abdullah will
soon make tracks to Damascus and seek security guarantees from Assad, rather
than facing a fight to defend his border, Israel however is left with
diminished US support in Syria, whereas Iran and its minions, can count on
ramped up Russian backing.
The Trump administration’s decision to impose fresh sanctions on Russian
entities mixed up in supplying Syria with materials for manufacturing
chemical weapons, moved the conflict into economic channels. This will have
the effect of tightening the collaboration between Moscow and Tehran and
give them greater incentive for sanctions-busting.
Already, deepening Russian-Iranian collaboration in Syria is giving Israeli
leaders sleepless nights. Iranian, Syrian and Hizballah officers work
together in the field, share bases and coordinate their operations. And now,
Tehran has just given Moscow permission to position Russian heavy strategic
Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers for operations in Syria at the Artesh’s Shahid
Nojeh Air Base in the western Iranian province of Hamedan. Israel has yet to
discover how Moscow is compensating Tehran for this advantage. Clearly, Iran
will have exacted payment in military coin to serve its well-known goals.