Detailed
Lebanese & Lebanese Related LCCC English New Bulletin For August 29/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.august29.18.htm
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Bible
Quotations
If I
must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness
Second Letter to the Corinthians 11/21-30: "To
my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone dares
to boast of I am speaking as a fool I also dare to boast of that. Are they
Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of
Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman I
am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with
countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from
the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods.
Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a
day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger
from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the
city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers
and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry
and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.And, besides other things, I
am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.Who is
weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?If I
must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."
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Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on August 28-29/18
Lebanon's
PM-Designate Says he Knows his Constitutional Powers/Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al-Awsat/August,
28/18
Hariri’s Tribunal Enters Final Stage, Deepens Conflict Between Lebanese/Youssef
Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/August, 28/18
Targeting Lebanon's Economy Would Only Threaten Hezbollah's
Opposition/Michael Young/The National/August 28/18
Nasrallah Take Note: Some Spider! Some Web/Jerusalem Post/August 28/18
Amir Hatami in Syria: To stay or Withdraw/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/August,
28/18
Kurds Who Fought Isis, Now Hunted By Iran's Regime/Jerusalem Post/August
28/18
Qatar and Turkey: Toxic Allies in the Gulf/Richard Miniter/Gatestone
Institute./August 28, 2018
The Senator No One Could Ignore/Albert R. Hunt/Bloomberg/August, 28/18
Rouhani fails to convince as MPs demand answers/Camelia Entekhabifard/Arab
News/August 28/18
Time to focus on water management in Arab world as source of growth and
stability/Anders Jagerskog/Al Arabiya/August 28/18
US Sanctions Should Pressure Iran to Stop Supporting Terrorism/Fox
News/Author: Ted Budd/August 28/18
Titles For The
Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
August 28-29/18
Dr. Walid
Phares: Hezbollah-linked newspaper al-Akhbar claims a false story
Report: 'Pivotal' Regional Changes Place Lebanon in ‘The Eye of The Storm’
Report: Lebanon’s Salvation Through a National Consensus Cabinet
Bassil Says 'Strong President' Should Have Govt. Share, Parliament Bloc
Hariri Threatens to Name Govt. 'Obstructors', Says STL to Fulfill Justice
Mashnouq: Hails General Security, Rebukes 'Conditional' Opening of Nassib
Crossing
Shock in Lebanon as Man Killed in 'IS-Like' Fashion over 'Blasphemy'
Lebanese Army Arrests Suspects in Hermel
Detainee Jumps Off 2nd Floor in Escape Attempt
Syrian Ambassador Makes Provocative Statement at Ain Al-Tineh
Souaid: Nasrallah Can't Disrupt STL's Verdict Through Finger Threats
Kataeb Party: STL Is the Only Chance to Uncover Long-Awaited Truth
Jumblat: Domestic Challenges as Important as STL, if Not More So
Lebanon's PM-Designate Says he Knows his Constitutional Powers
Hariri’s Tribunal Enters Final Stage, Deepens Conflict Between Lebanese
Targeting Lebanon's Economy Would Only Threaten Hezbollah's Opposition
Nasrallah Take Note: Some Spider! Some Web!
Syria Ready to Take One Million Returning Refugees, Says Moscow
U.S. Offered Assad to Leave Syria if Iran Withdraws From South, Report Says
Lebanese Report ( Al-Akhbar, a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily): Syrian
Officials Met with US in June
Titles For The Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on August 28-29/18
U.S., Canada Set for Talks to Revise NAFTA
Second U.N. Meeting on New Syrian Constitution Set for Next Month
Iran Says Advisers Will Stay in Syria
Damascus 'Legitimizes' Iranian Presence
U.S. Offered Assad to Leave Syria if Iran Withdraws From South, Report Says
Lebanese Report ( Al-Akhbar, a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily): Syrian
Officials Met with US in June
UN Court Has No Jurisdiction in Iran Sanctions Case, US Says
Iran at The Hague: The Sanctions Are Devastating Our Economy
Rouhani Referred to Judiciary after Failing to Appease Lawmakers
Iran Tries to Escape its Stifling Crisis by Turning to Qatar
Russia in Biggest Naval Mediterranean Build-up Ahead of Idlib Offensive
Fatah Committed to Achieving Palestinian Reconciliation 'above All Else'
Abbas to Submit Formal Request for Palestinian State Full UN Membership
Israel Develops Missiles Capable of ‘Covering the Region’
Jordanian Monarch Calls for Supporting Refugee-Hosting States
Yemeni Official: Iranian Armament of Houthis Intensified during Hodeidah
Operation Suspension
France's Environment Minister Hulot Announces Resignation
The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on August 28-29/18
Dr. Walid Phares:
Hezbollah-linked newspaper al-Akhbar claims a false story
August 28/18/ Dr Walid Phares Told al Hadath TV that Hezbollah-linked
newspaper al-Akhbar claim false story that "US intelligence visited Damascus
to offer retreat from Syria versus granting US oil companies concessions."
It claimed "the delegation flew on UAE flight." Obviously entire report is
"fake news"It is most likely that Hezbollah fabricated this report in order
to reassure public opinion that Assad-Hezbollah-Iran axis is strong and that
the US "is begging for a withdrawal." Psychological Propaganda on public
opinion"
Report: 'Pivotal'
Regional Changes Place Lebanon in ‘The Eye of The Storm’
Naharnet/August 28/18/Lebanon must form a new government in order to
“safeguard its internal arena” from the regional developments mainly “the
latest US escalation in Syria,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. A
senior political source expressed concern to the daily about the recent U.S.
escalation in the neighboring country, “because Lebanon, as historically
known, is directly impacted by the happenings around it.” “Evidently, the
Americans will not allow the situation to turn against their interests in
Syria, and the Russians are pushing for their own benefit too. Both sides
are mobilized, and the situation is extremely dangerous. It is open to
various possibilities,” said the source. “This serious situation in the
region, which I do not think Lebanon will remain immune to if things get
worse, requires the highest limit of internal immunization. The first step
is to form a government, which, unfortunately, does not seem imminent,” he
added. Last week, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser
warned that the United States would respond "very strongly" if Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons in an offensive to retake
Idlib province.
Report: Lebanon’s Salvation Through a National Consensus Cabinet
Naharnet/August 28/18/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri “will not step
back from his mission” and is keen on forming a national consensus
government to safeguard the investment programs that gained international
approval at the Cedre conference, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported
on Tuesday. Sources close to the PM told the daily: “Hariri will not step
back from his task to form a government. He insists on lining up a national
consensus cabinet to protect the international investment programs agreed at
the Cedre conference,” because he is confident that “it’s a salvation for
Lebanon.” The sources pointed out that Hariri wants a government composed of
the six major blocs represented in parliament so that none of them turns
into a “veto power” against the projects. Hariri “does not wish to engage in
political disputes with the parliamentary blocs during the formation
process, because he will have to sit with them in the Cabinet later on to
discuss how to govern the country into safety.”“Hariri knows well the
articles stipulated in the Constitution on the subject of forming the
government and the subject of the powers of the PM-designate,” added the
sources in reference to attempts targeting the powers of the PM. Hariri was
tasked with forming a government on May 24 but his missions has since been
delayed because of wrangling between political parties over Cabinet shares.
The major obstacles hampering the formation are the Christian and Druze
representation. The Lebanese Forces, whose victory in the May parliamentary
elections almost doubled its seats, demand four ministerial seats in
addition to a so-called sovereign portfolio. On the other hand, former Druze
MP Walid Jumblat and head of the Progressive Socialist Party insist on
allocating the whole three Druze ministerial seats. Meanwhile, his rival, MP
Talal Arslan of the Strong Lebanon bloc, also insists on getting a seat.
Bassil Says 'Strong President' Should Have Govt. Share,
Parliament Bloc
Naharnet/August 28/18/Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil said
Tuesday that the president of the republic should have a share in the
government and a parliamentary bloc in order to put the so-called “strong
president” idea into action. “The president's ministerial share is not
linked to a certain era and we must not return to strategic mistakes that
have been committed since the Taef Accord all the way to the issue of the
Orthodox Gathering electoral law and the issue of the strong president and
how he should be elected,” Bassil said after the weekly meeting of the
Strong Lebanon bloc. “We cannot tamper with these prerequisites or abandon
them because someone is seeking political gains,” he added. “During the Taef
Accord meetings, some said that the president should have a one third share
in Cabinet, but we have not reached this stage and it should not be counted
according to the number of MPs. The idea of the strong president is to add
to his few powers the strength of a parliamentary bloc that would be his
main supporter, or else what is the idea of a strong president?” Bassil went
on to say. Referring to the ongoing delay in the Cabinet formation process,
the FPM chief said: “We cannot confine the government formation process to
issues beyond the Lebanese border.” “Several ambassadors have asked me about
the government formation process and I responded with all due diplomacy and
manners that this is a domestic affair. We hope that this patriotic approach
will be endorsed in the formation process,” Bassil added. PM-designate Saad
Hariri was tasked with forming a new government on May 24. His mission is
being hampered by political wrangling over shares, especially over Christian
and Druze representation. Some parties such as Hizbullah and the Free
Patriotic Movement have suggested that foreign countries, especially Saudi
Arabia, are behind the ongoing delay. Hariri has meanwhile told reporters
that the new government “will not be formed” should the pro-Damascus camp
“insist on restoring Lebanese-Syrian ties.” But pro-Hizbullah journalist
Salem Zahran said that the PM-designate has “informed Hizbullah” that his
remarks were a “slip of the tongue.”
Hariri Threatens to Name Govt. 'Obstructors', Says STL to Fulfill Justice
Naharnet/August 28/18/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri warned Tuesday
that he could soon name those who are “obstructing” the formation of the new
government, as he stressed that the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon
will fulfill justice in the case of the assassination of his father, ex-PM
Rafik Hariri. “If the government is not formed soon, I will name those who
are obstructing its formation,” Hariri told reporters on the sidelines of a
meeting for the al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc. “The issue of the
government's formation is everyone's responsibility and it is only related
to shares and political parties that are demanding additional portfolios,”
Hariri added. He underlined: “I am the PM-designate and I will remain so and
I will form a government together with the president. Period.” President
Michel Aoun had on Monday urged Hariri to “take the initiative” and form a
government as soon as possible. As for the renewed controversy over the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Hariri said: “Hizbullah's stance on the
tribunal is clear, will not change and is not new. My stance on the court is
well-known and I'm keen on the country's security and stability but justice
will be fulfilled.” Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had on Sunday
warned parties allegedly “betting on the STL” against what he called
“playing with fire.”“Some March 14 circles are saying that the main reason
behind delaying the formation of the government is that the Special Tribunal
for Lebanon will issue its ruling in September and that there will be a new
situation in the country to capitalize on,” Nasrallah said. “The STL does
not mean anything to us at all and its rulings are of no value regardless
whether they are condemnation or acquittal rulings,” he added. The STL Trial
Chamber has scheduled oral closing arguments in the Rafik Hariri
assassination case for the period between Sep. 11 and Sep. 21. Four
Hizbullah operatives are being tried in absentia over their alleged role in
the killing. The STL Prosecution has recently submitted a “Final Trial
Brief” that explains the links between Hizbullah and the supposed
assassination squads and draws attention to meetings and phone calls between
senior Hizbullah and Syrian officials prior to the February 2005 attack.
Nasrallah has dismissed the court as a U.S.-Israeli scheme and vowed that
the accused will never be arrested.
Mashnouq: Hails General Security, Rebukes 'Conditional'
Opening of Nassib Crossing
Naharnet/August 28/18/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq hailed the
“tremendous” efforts exerted by the General Security Directorate in
maintaining Lebanon’s security, noting that complaints from people crossing
the border between Lebanon and Syria have “rarely been reported,” within the
six-year Syrian war that pressured people to cross into Lebanon. “Tremendous
efforts have been exerted by the General Security. Within the last six years
(the age of the Syrian war) we have rarely received any complaints from
millions crossing the border,” Mashnouq told reporters. Mashnouq was
addressing reporters from the General Security Directorate headquarters
where he visited the Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim
congratulating him on the 73rd anniversary of the Intelligence Agency. “The
Directorate has proved ability to bear the burden of people of two nations,”
added Mashnouq. The Minister denounced conditions set by the Syrian
government to open the international Nassib crossing. “From the beginning of
the Syrian crisis, Lebanon has opened all its crossings for the Syrian
people. Syrian conditions set to open the only crossing for Lebanon do not
reflect the Syrian people (will) and it should not be linked to political
negotiation,” added Mashnouq. Media reports said earlier that Syria has
rejected Lebanon’s quest to open the Nassib crossing (which helps revive
businesses) unless the Lebanese government asks for it officially, not
through delegates.
The international crossing between Syria and Jordan is the main crossing for
Syrian exports to Jordan and the GCC countries. In April 2015, it fell under
the control of Free Syrian Army and al-Nusra Front. On 6 July 2018, the
Syrian army recaptured Nassib Border Crossing to the 2018 Southern Syria
offensive. Lebanon hopes the crossing will be reopened after the
Russia-backed Syrian regime took control and that trade will again begin to
flow to help revive its economy.
Shock in Lebanon as Man Killed in 'IS-Like' Fashion
over 'Blasphemy'
Naharnet/August 28/18/A Lebanese cleric and his brothers have murdered a man
and mutilated his body in a method calling to mind the gruesome executions
of the Islamic State jihadist group, media reports said. The incident in the
northern district of Dinniyeh followed a verbal dispute between the cleric,
Khalil al-Dhaibi, and the 43-year-old victim, Mohammed al-Dhaibi, over a
“blasphemous slur,” the reports said. Al-Jadeed television said the cleric
and his brothers “stabbed the man to death, mutilated his corpse and threw
him on the side of the road near the town of Burj al-Yahoodiyeh.” “My
brother, who had an aid card from the social affairs ministry, was buying
goods from a supermarket before an argument broke out between him and the
supermarket owner over a hike in prices,” the victim's brother said in an
interview with al-Jadeed. “My brother, who was spontaneous in his actions,
hurled a slur mentioning God over the high prices,” the brother added.“The
cleric asked him why he was blaspheming against God and accused him of
apostasy and my brother told him to mind his own business,” the brother
explained. “Are you my God to hold me accountable,” he quoted his brother as
telling the cleric. “The cleric responded and they engaged in a verbal clash
and maybe charged against each other and the issue ended at that point,” the
brother said. He added: “The cleric then brought his brothers and they
ambushed my brother on the road.” “They mutilated his body... I met the
forensic doctor and he told me about a wound that is 19 centimeters long,
7-8 centimeters deep and 6-7 centimeters wide near the heart... There is a
wound near the lung while the hand is cut off and is barely attached to the
body. There are also wounds on the legs, the head and the entire body,” the
brother added. “They removed a part of his heart,” he said. A statement
issued by the Internal Security Forces said the victim “insulted the cleric
and cursed God” and that both men and the cleric's brothers used knives in
the quarrel. “The ISF's Intelligence Branch arrested one of the brothers in
hospital after he was wounded while the two others have turned themselves in
to the Branch, knowing that they also suffered knife wounds,” the statement
added. Al-Jadeed meanwhile said that the cleric is the imam of a mosque in
the northern area of Deir Amar and that he “has turned himself in to
security authorities while expressing pride in what he committed.”
Lebanese Army Arrests Suspects in Hermel
Naharnet/August 28/18/Several suspects were arrested at dawn on Tuesday in
the northern city of Hermel after engaging in gunbattles a few days ago, the
National News Agency reported. The Lebanese Army arrested three individuals
in Hermel’s al-Marah neighborhood during security raids its carried out at
dawn. The suspects are said to have engaged in fierce gun battles in the
area a few days ago. Armed troops confiscated military rifles and ammunition
in the possession of the suspects. The army has also raided some homes in
al-Shawagir neighborhood and arrested two suspects wanted on judicial
charges. The arrestees were taken to one of the barracks in the area for
investigation. They will later referred to the judicial authority
Detainee Jumps Off 2nd Floor in Escape Attempt
Naharnet/August 28/18/A detainee threw himself off the second floor of the
Justice Palace on Tuesday in a botched escape attempt. The National News
Agency identified the man by his initials, J.S., saying he staged the
attempt as he was being escorted by security forces following an
interrogation session. “He landed on a car parked on the ground floor near
the prison cell, suffering bruises and wounds,” NNA added. “He was
immediately rushed to al-Hayat Hospital in a critical condition,” the agency
said. It noted that the detainee is being held on drug dealing charges.
Syrian Ambassador
Makes Provocative Statement at Ain Al-Tineh
Kataeb.org/ Tuesday 28th August 2018/Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul-Karim Ali
on Tuesday described Lebanese factions that are against the normalization of
ties with Damascus as "voices of cacophony", calling on them to come to
their senses and realize that it's in Lebanon's interest to re-establish
ties between the two countries. “They must examine closely the brotherly
Lebanese-Syrian relations based on an approach that serves Lebanon’s
interest, before that of Syria. It is certainly in the best interest of both
countries to restore ties because terrorism threatening Syria also endangers
Lebanon," Ali said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain Al-Tineh.
The Syrian diplomat deemed anti-Damascus stances as "pathetic", saying that
contacts are already ongoing between the two countries. “Bilateral ties
already exist given that there’s a Syrian ambassador appointed in Lebanon
and vice versa. Brotherly ties between the two countries necessitate a more
realistic, acceptable and respectable discourse,” he added. “International
enemies that waged a war against Syria over the past years are now seeking
ways out of their arrogance so as to re-establish contact with Damascus.
Shouldn't the same apply to a friend country that borders Syria?" he said.
"Syria certainly needs Lebanon, but it is Lebanon the one that needs Syria
more. Both countries are bound by geographical, historical and ancestral
ties. Those who speak otherwise should reconsider their approach because it
is shameful,” the Syrian ambassador concluded.
Souaid: Nasrallah Can't Disrupt STL's Verdict Through
Finger Threats
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 28th August 2018/Former MP Fares Souaid on Tuesday said
that the threat made by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in his latest
speech was not directed at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and its
supporters, but rather at all the Lebanese.
On Sunday, Nasrallah defied once again the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)
that is investigating the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri, reiterating that
his group doesn't care about the ruling that is expected to be issued soon
by the UN-backed court.
"The STL means nothing to us. Whatever it decides is worthless. To those
betting on it we say: don’t play with fire," Nasrallah said. Speaking to the
Kataeb website, Souaid stressed that Hezbollah leader cannot distort the
STL's ruling through his finger threats, adding that Nasrallah doesn't need
to stir up new events similar to those witnessed in May 2008 because
Hezbollah already has the country in its grip. “Even the major political
parties did not talk about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon because they no
longer need taming as most of them have already been tamed,” Souaid
deplored. “Nasrallah’s statement was particularly addressed to a group of
Lebanese who still believe in justice and the STL, knowing that this group
has paid a dire price and believes that justice will permanently prevail if
it is served this time. The court will put an end to all crimes,” Souaid
noted. “Nasrallah wanted to look as if he is downplaying the STL's verdict,
while it is actually troubling and confusing him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t
have brought up this subject by refuting in advance all the accusations
against Hezbollah,” he stated.
Kataeb Party: STL Is the Only Chance to Uncover
Long-Awaited Truth
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 28th August 2018/The Kataeb party on Monday blasted
officials who are in charge of the government formation for not shouldering
their responsibility amid the critical phase that the country is going
through, criticizing them for focusing their attention on trivial political
bickering and the conflict over power while disregarding the people's
concerns. "The Kataeb party stresses the need to speed up the formation of a
productive government that includes experts," read a statement issued
following the weekly meeting of the Kataeb's politburo. "There is no
priority other than the citizens' interest in having a government that
manages their daily life affairs."The party renewed full commitment to the
role of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, deeming it as the "only chance"
that the Lebanese have been waiting to unveil the truth behind the
assassination of PM Rafik Hariri. "This court certainly serves as a gateway
to a safe and stable nation," the politburo affirmed. "The blood shed by
both martyrs Pierre Gemayel and Antoine Ghanem, as well as all the others
who were assassinated, is a trust consigned to the Kataeb party until
justice prevails, no matter how long it takes."
Jumblat: Domestic Challenges as Important as STL, if Not More So
Naharnet/August 28/18/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat
pointed out Monday that the country's domestic challenges could be “more
important” than any developments related to the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon. “The STL is existent and the government is financing this tribunal.
The court has condemned individuals and history cannot stop because of these
individuals. The domestic financial challenges are as important as the STL,
if not more so,” Jumblat said when asked whether there is a link between the
delay in the Cabinet formation process and any expected developments related
to the STL.
Jumblat was speaking to reporters after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain
el-Tineh. The STL is trying four Hizbullah operatives in absentia over the
2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri. The STL's prosecution has
described the group's slain military commander Mustafa Badreddine as “the
leader of the three-man team that coordinated the attack.” Separately,
Jumblat stressed that there is no “Druze obstacle” blocking the formation of
the new government. “There is no Druze obstacle. We're the ones who won the
elections, unless we want to repeat the elections,” the Druze leader told
reporters. “We must quickly overcome the governmental crisis because the
economic situation cannot withstand further delay. Caretaker Finance
Minister Ali Hassan Khalil has put us in the picture of scary facts,”
Jumblat said. As for the demands of the Lebanese Forces, the PSP leader
said: “The deputy premier post does not actually exist but the LF's demands
are justified within the framework of a national unity government.”
Lebanon's PM-Designate Says he Knows his Constitutional
Powers
Beirut - Thaer Abbas/Asharq Al-Awsat/August, 28/18
President Michel Aoun has unceasingly exerted “media pressure” on Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who stressed that he was aware on what the
Constitution stipulates with regard to the government formation process.
“Hariri won’t quit the premiership,” sources close to the PM-designate told
Asharq Al-Awsat. Aoun said Monday that Hariri had spent enough time
listening to the demands of political parties and therefore, he should now
take the initiative to form the government. “We are waiting for him,” the
president said. "Political and sectarian diversity creates problems when it
comes to government formation. We listen to the demands of political parties
and we aim to reach an agreement that would result in cabinet formation,"
Aoun added. In return, Hariri’s sources said the PM-designate deals with the
deadlock through three principles, including his determination to form a
national unity cabinet capable of protecting the investment program he is
working to achieve and which was agreed on during the CEDER conference in
April.“Hariri knows what the Constitution stipulates in regard to the
cabinet formation and his powers, and therefore, the PM would not engage in
disputes with any side,” the sources said. They added that Hariri wants the
government line-up to include representatives from the country’s six largest
parliamentary blocs. The president believes that Hariri is “confused” in
handling the issue of the cabinet formation, Aoun’s visitors told Asharq Al-Awsat
on Sunday. They said the president was not interfering in Hariri’s mission,
but he had asked the PM-designate to adopt unified norms in the cabinet
formation and not to keep any party outside the process. Speaker Nabih Berri
also weighed in on the deadlock on Monday.
“This situation cannot go on in this manner,” Berri told reporters at his
Ain al-Tineh residence.
Hariri’s Tribunal Enters Final Stage, Deepens Conflict
Between Lebanese
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/August, 28/18
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) begins on September 10 the trials of
four members of the “Hezbollah” security apparatus accused of assassinating
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. This final phase will be
devoted to the pleadings of the STL Prosecutor Norman Farrell, the
representatives of the victims and the defense team for the accused,
following which the tribunal will study the evidence and closing arguments
and issue its final verdict four years after the beginning of the public
trials. Hezbollah anticipated this important event, with its secretary
general warning against “playing with fire.” Hassan Nasrallah called
for not linking the formation of the government with the final verdict of
the STL, saying: “Frankly and clearly, the tribunal does not exist and its
decisions do not concern us at all, do not play with fire ... Do not play
with fire.”Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Trial Chamber
President, Judge David Re, has given Farrell and his team three days to
present his arguments and evidence, and a similar time for the team of those
affected by the crime, and then two days for the defense lawyers of each of
the four defendants. The accused currently facing trial in absentia are Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad
Hassan Sabra. They are charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act,
along with a number of other related charges. The UN Security Council
classified Hariri’s assassination in February 2005 as a "terrorist" crime,
appointed an international commission of inquiry, and then established the
STL for the prosecution of the accused.
The sources described the ruling as “historic”. “It will be a strong verdict
based on irrefutable evidence that cannot be questioned or politicized,”
they said. Meanwhile, Legal Expert Antoine Saad told Asharq Al-Awsat
that Nasrallah’s recent warnings have indicated that he did not believe in
the logic of institutions or national and international justice. He
noted that Nasrallah “is trying to pressure Prime Minister-designate Saad
Hariri by all means, starting with the file of the displaced Syrians to the
normalization of relations with the Syrian regime and reaching the Special
Tribunal.” For his part, the coordinator of the General Secretariat of
the March 14 coalition, former MP Fares Soeid said that the Hezbollah
chief’s threats were not directed towards the international community, but
towards the Lebanese people.
“Nasrallah’s threat affects politicians and free media figures, who do not
enjoy political and security protection at the internal or external levels,”
he noted.
Targeting Lebanon's
Economy Would Only Threaten Hezbollah's Opposition
Michael Young/The National/August 28/18
Last week former Israeli Mossad chief Tamir Pardo proposed an idea that, he
said, would “defeat” Hezbollah. Mr Pardo recommended that the US impose
sanctions on Lebanon. These would be much more effective than a war against
the party, he said, if "there was a clear message that sanctions would only
be removed if Hezbollah gave up its arms or was absorbed entirely into the
Lebanese army and Iran [withdrew] its tentacles completely from Lebanon”.
In making such a suggestion, the former Mossad official adopted an
increasingly familiar line of those who are desperately searching for a way
to be rid of Hezbollah. Amid signs of the party’s predominance in Lebanon –
a model that has evidently appealed to its allies throughout the Middle
East, including the Houthis – an increasing number of voices have suggested
targeting Lebanese national institutions as a way of curbing Hezbollah's
power.
Proponents of this approach reject the warning that destroying the
institutions of the Lebanese state (and sanctions would certainly push the
fragile economy over the edge) can only favour Hezbollah. They argue that
because the party controls many of these institutions, undermining them
would harm the party. So they blithely suggest that attacking the state, its
economy and army, would lead to the magical end to which they aspire, namely
Hezbollah’s downfall.
The problem with this idea, apart from the folly of creating another failed
state in the region, is that it offers a superficial understanding of how
Lebanon functions. It is undeniable that Hezbollah has major influence over
the country but it is also true that the institutions of the state and
Lebanese society respond to a much broader array of interests that in many
cases are antithetical to Hezbollah’s, even if the group’s weapons make
effective opposition difficult.
If one is expecting easy solutions with regard to Hezbollah, that won’t
happen. Harming the state only risks undermining latent poles of opposition
to the party. And Mr Pardo’s “solution” is unlikely to be more successful
than other efforts to make Lebanon pay a price for Hezbollah.
For starters, the Iranian regime couldn’t care less about Lebanon’s economy.
Moreover, Mr Pardo’s proposal is built on a false premise. He believes that
economic pain would push the Lebanese to act against the party. But for many
of them, turning against Hezbollah would entail provoking civil conflict,
because the party will not voluntarily dissolve itself or cut ties with
Tehran. In fact, it will resist doing so. Between economic pain and the pain
of civil war, the Lebanese will choose the former.
Then there is the fact that the Lebanese have already paid a heavy price for
Hezbollah and there was little they could do about this. In 2006, the party
provoked a war with Israel that destroyed Lebanon’s infrastructure and led
to almost two years of instability as the parliamentary majority and
Hezbollah confronted each other.
The impact of this on Hezbollah’s fortunes was limited. But destroying the
Lebanese economy and impoverishing much of society will only erode the power
of a state that represents an alternative model to Hezbollah’s. What
governments have realised is that this notion of an alternative model is
essential. In certain situations where its power has slipped, the party has
had to rely on the state, which the state exploited to cross previous red
lines imposed by Hezbollah.
By embodying an alternative to the party, the state might be able one day to
tilt the balance to its advantage. In the late 1980s, popular exasperation
with wartime militias made many people support the Lebanese army with
greater vigour. The army commander at the time benefited from this mood and
happens to be Lebanon’s president today.
Certainly, such a process will be slow but undermining the state and economy
would only play into Hezbollah’s hands. Hezbollah has always sought to
discredit the state because what the state gains, the party loses.
Systematically, Hezbollah has striven to undercut the state’s and army’s
credibility to cover up for its own shortcomings. So pushing foreign
countries to add to this by targeting the Lebanese state would only allow
Hezbollah to pursue its agenda without credible state institutions left in
place to act as rallying points for its opponents.
Recommending collective punishment is a familiar arrow in the quiver of
Israeli officials. But rarely does it seem to work. If anything, it
heightens polarisation that only benefits those advocating for the strongest
line, in this case Hezbollah, which has the guns to make its arguments
prevail. Mr Pardo is like all the others who believe they have found the
silver bullet that will resolve the Hezbollah problem. He imagines that more
ruin will advance things.
But the Israelis have bombed Lebanon on countless occasions, just as they
have Gaza. Yet none of this has changed much, except to strengthen the
argument of Hezbollah and Hamas that the military option against Israel is
the only valid one. Israel or the US can severely damage Lebanon’s state and
society with little effort. However, in the end, there is a very high
probability that Hezbollah will be left standing alone, with no one in a
position to question its actions.
Nasrallah Take Note: Some Spider! Some Web!
Jerusalem Post/August 28/18
In Nasrallah’s view, Israel is on the verge of collapse, a country in which
its citizens are soft, fat and sassy.
It’s late August, and Israel is in the throes of its “cucumber season,” that
annual period when – for a variety of reasons – not a lot is happening in
the news.
And this year, cucumber season is likely to be quickly followed by the
“silly season” – the period close to when new elections will be called –
when the airways will be flooded by those trying to replace the government
saying how absolutely dire everything is. They will say Israel is falling
apart, marching toward theocracy, turning fascist, tanking economically and
isolated diplomatically – and that the average citizen just wants to leave.
Government officials will then counter that things have never been so good.
It’s a time of hyperbole, when the country we hear about on the airwaves
bears little resemblance to the one most of us live in. And in the midst of
all the noise, it is important to distinguish between reality and wild
exaggeration. Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah is unable to do that. In
Nasrallah’s view, Israel is on the verge of collapse, a country in which its
citizens are soft, fat and sassy. He said so much in a speech on Sunday,
claiming that Israelis are no longer willing to fight for the state.
“The Israeli leadership knows that it is difficult to convince people to
enlist in the elite units, the combat units, and everyone prefers to serve
in rear units. They lack the willingness to sacrifice that they once had;
they have no motivation to endanger their lives,” he was quoted as saying.
Somebody should be giving Nasrallah better intelligence. According to IDF
statistics published last year, 67% of those who enlisted in the summer of
2017 wanted to serve in combat units, as opposed to 68.8% in 2016. One of
the reasons given for the slight decline was a desire of increasing numbers
to go into the army’s high-tech units – units of increasing import in modern
warfare – where they will acquire skills that can be translated into
lucrative careers later on. And even with that decline, the Army reported
last year that – except somewhat in tank and anti-aircraft units – there are
more applicants than places to fill. Moreover, in the elite commando units –
the units that would be doing much of the fighting in Lebanon in case of
another war – there are more applicants than available spots, and the
competition to get into those units is intense.
Not exactly, as Nasrallah said, everyone preferring "to serve in the rear
units.”
NASRALLAH’S SPEECH on Sunday was reminiscent of the infamous “spider web”
speech he gave in May 2000 in Bint Jbeil, just days after then prime
minister Ehud Barak withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon. “Our brothers and
beloved Palestinians, I tell you: Israel, which owns nuclear weapons and the
strongest war aircraft in the region, is feebler than a spider’s web – I
swear to God” he said. “The resistance has defeated the grand Israel. The
resistance is conquering the great Israel.”Flush with a sense of victory
following the Lebanon withdrawal, Nasrallah’s theory was simple: Israel is
as fragile as a spider web, and all that he, the Palestinians or the Arab
world had to do was to blow on it and – whoosh – it would disappear. Four
months later, Yasser Arafat took his advice; following the breakdown of the
Camp David talks – when he did not get all he wanted – he launched a
protracted terrorist war against Israel: the Second Intifada. Arafat blew –
and blew, and blew – but the spider web did not disappear. This resilient
country did not buckle; its people lost neither their will to fight back nor
their will to sacrifice – and they did not lose faith in the overall justice
of their cause.
In 2006, Nasrallah tried to blow on the spider web himself, and Hezbollah
kidnapped reservists Eldad Goldwasser and Ehud Regev, an action that
triggered the Second Lebanon War. Although Israel did not perform in that
war as well as many had expected, and although there were many flaws,
Hezbollah was pounded – and the Lebanese border has been quiet ever since.
Nasrallah, who lives in a Beirut bunker because of his fear of Israel,
should keep this in mind when he predicts a loss of Israel’s backbone or
fighting spirit. The country is a lot stronger, and the people are much more
dedicated to it, than one could glean from reading the papers – especially
during an electoral “silly season.” Nasrallah would also be well advised to
go back and listen to Winston Churchill’s famous 1941 speech, where he spoke
of French Marshal Philippe Petain’s prediction that Hitler would
successfully invade Britain as he had done to France. “When I warned them
that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told
their prime minister and his divided cabinet: ‘In three weeks, England will
have her neck wrung like a chicken.’ Some chicken! Some neck!”
If Churchill would be responding to Nasrallah today, he might say: “Some
spider! Some web!”
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Nasrallah-take-note-Some-spider-Some-web-565950?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=20-2-2018&utm_content=nasrallah-take-note-some-spider-some-web-565950
Syria Ready to Take
One Million Returning Refugees, Says Moscow
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 28/18/Russia's defence minister said on
Tuesday that war-torn Syria would be ready to accept one million returning
refugees, following Moscow-backed reconstruction work. "Since 2015, when
towns and villages gradually started to be freed, more than one million
people have returned home," Sergei Shoigu said in comments reported by
Russian news agencies. "Now every opportunity has been created for the
return of roughly one million (more) refugees," he told journalists. "Huge
infrastructure reconstruction work is ongoing, the rebuilding of transport
routes and security points so that Syria can begin accepting refugees."
Russia, a long-time ally of Syria, launched a military intervention in 2015
to support the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a move that
changed the course of the war.Assad and his allies have since recovered
swathes of territory and the government is turning its attention to
post-conflict reconstruction, with the aid of Moscow. The war that erupted
in 2011, one of the most devastating conflicts since World War II, has
displaced more than half of Syria's population, including more than five
million beyond its borders. Most of them fled to neighbouring countries,
particularly Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. Presidents Vladimir Putin and
Donald Trump discussed the return of refugees at a summit in Helsinki last
month. Moscow later said it had put forward plans to Washington to cooperate
on their return to Syria but details have yet to be confirmed.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News
published
on
August 28-29/18
U.S., Canada Set for
Talks to Revise NAFTA
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 28/18/With a deal with
Mexico out of the way, US trade officials are due to resume talks with
Canada on Tuesday to try to salvage the North American Free Trade Agreement
as a trilateral deal. After months of intense negotiations, the United
States and Mexico announced an agreement Monday on a thorough overhaul of
the 25-year-old free trade pact, but President Donald Trump suggested he
could cut Ottawa out. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed in a
phone call with Trump that the aim is to reach a new NAFTA deal. The leaders
"had a constructive conversation" on NAFTA, and "look forward to having
their teams engage this week with a view to a successful conclusion of
negotiations," Trudeau's office said. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia
Freeland interrupted a trip to Europe to rush back to Washington to begin
talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. And Mexican
President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called for a three-way trade
deal, saying "it's important that Canada also be included." The outlines of
a NAFTA 2.0 are now on paper, including provisions on auto trade, tougher
worker protections and a provision to review the deal every six years. "It's
a big day for trade. It's a really good deal for both countries," President
Donald Trump said in announcing the agreement from the Oval Office, with
Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto participating by telephone.
Negotiators have worked for a year to update and rewrite NAFTA, but in the
last five weeks Washington and Mexico City worked to resolve their bilateral
issues without Ottawa. Trump stressed that he could go ahead without Ottawa
in the new agreement. "We could have a separate deal or we could put it in
the same deal," Trump said.
He indicated he would take a tough line with Canada on autos and dairy
tariffs, long a source of tension between the neighboring countries.
Not a sunset clause -There is some urgency
as the US seems keen to have the issue resolved before the November midterm
elections, and Pena Nieto wants to sign before handing the reins over to
Lopez Obrador on December 1.But Canada may not feel the pressure to hurry.
Freeland's spokesman Adam Austen said in a statement Canada "will only sign
a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class. Canada's
signature is required." Mexican officials have insisted all along that the
NAFTA must be a trilateral deal, but also acknowledged that either way it
will have free trade commitments with both nations. Lighthizer said the
administration would notify Congress by Friday of the new agreement, which
would allow the required 90 days' notice to get the pact signed by December
1. However, it was unclear whether the administration has the authority to
substitute NAFTA with a two-nation trade agreement. The Canadian team could
be more amenable to the talks now that the United States has backed away
from a controversial and strenuously-opposed provision to require the three
nations to renegotiate NAFTA after five years. Instead, senior US officials
told reporters the agreement had been extended for 16 years but would be
reviewed every six years. If the parties agree to continue with no changes,
it will be renewed for another 16 years. However, if the governments want to
make changes, they will negotiate while the agreement remains in place,
giving them a longer time horizon of 10 years to make changes, which is less
likely to spook investors and businesses. "It's an alternative to sunset
which we think works," another senior official said. And in fact, financial
markets were delighted by the news with the S&P 500 and the tech-dominated
Nasdaq stock indexes hitting fresh records at the close Monday. Mexico's
peso strengthened against the US dollar, as did the Canadian dollar, while
the US dollar index weakened slightly.
- NAFTA 2.0 -Lighthizer told reporters in a call that the agreement with
Mexico provided the "highest standards" of any existing agreement on digital
trade, financial services and labor rights. "We had a NAFTA agreement that
had gotten seriously out of whack, that led to large trade deficits and
needed updating," Lighthizer said. A key element of the US-Mexico talks has
been content requirements for autos, which Mexico agreed to increase to 75
percent from North America to get duty free NAFTA treatment. The sides also
agreed that 40-45 percent of cars must be made at "high wage" factories
where workers receive $16 an hour in order to receive duty-free treatment,
something that could deter off-shoring US auto manufacturing to Mexico.
Lopez Obrador, a leftist free-trade skeptic who won a landslide election
victory on July 1, said he considered it a good deal for Mexico.
Second U.N. Meeting on New Syrian Constitution Set for Next Month
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 28/18/The U.N. peace
envoy for Syria will host senior officials from a range of Western and
Middle-Eastern countries next month for talks on drafting a new Syrian
constitution, the U.N. said Tuesday. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has been
tasked with setting up a committee to write a new constitution for the
war-ravaged country. He is already set to host a meeting on September 11-12
at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva of senior officials from the
main foreign powers backing the project, Syrian government allies Russia and
Iran, as well as Turkey, which supports some opposition groups. And on
Tuesday, U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said de Mistura had convened a
one-day meeting on September 14 with senior representatives from Egypt,
France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United
States. The meeting, Vellucci said, was to focus on "the way ahead on the
political process" for Syria, "including the U.N. effort to facilitate the
establishment of a constitutional committee." De Mistura has said he wants
to have the constitutional committee in place before world leaders meet at
the General Assembly in New York in late September. De Mistura's previous
efforts to negotiate an end to the Syrian conflict have achieved no
breakthroughs. More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions
displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of
anti-government protests.
Iran Says Advisers
Will Stay in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 28/18/Iran's military
attache to Damascus told Iranian media on Tuesday that the country's
military advisers would remain in Syria under a defense agreement signed
this week. "The continued presence of Iran's advisers in Syria is one of the
areas covered in the defensive-technical agreement between Tehran and
Damascus," said Brigadier-General Abolghasem Alinejad, according to the Fars
and Tabnak news agencies. It was announced on Monday that an agreement on
security cooperation had been signed during a visit by Iran's Defense
Minister Amar Hatami. "Support for Syria's territorial integrity and the
independence of Syrian sovereignty were also emphasized in the agreement,"
Alinejad said. Tehran has provided steady political, financial, and military
backing to President Bashar al-Assad as he has fought back a seven-year
uprising.In an interview Monday night with the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen
television channel, Hatami said the agreement included the rehabilitation of
Syria's defense industry.
Damascus 'Legitimizes'
Iranian Presence
Damascus - London/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/Iran and Syria
signed a deal for military cooperation in a meeting between the defense
ministers of the two countries in Damascus, Iranian media reported on
Monday. "Syria is passing through the crisis stage and entering the
reconstruction phase," said Iran's Defense Minister Amir Hatami, according
to the Tasnim news agency. Hatami was on Monday on the second day of a
two-day visit to Damascus, during which he held "detailed negotiations" with
his counterpart Ali Abdullah Ayoub and the head of the regime, Bashar
al-Assad, according to Tasnim. The "defense and technical agreement"
provides for the continued "presence and participation" of Iran in Syria,
added Hatami. Tehran has provided steady political, financial, and military
backing to Assad since the war erupted in 2011. Hours after Hatami landed in
Damascus, “Hezbollah” members were seen leaving Syrian territories. Sources
said that convoys hoisting “Hezbollah” flags and carrying the group’s
fighters left the area of Qusair in Homs province’s western countryside, and
entered Lebanese territories through Hermel. It was not clear if Hezbollah’s
move was linked to the agreement signed between Tehran and Damascus. "The
most important element of the deal is the rebuilding of the Syrian armed
forces and defense industries so that they can regain their full capacity,"
said Hatami, according to Tasnim. Separately, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
Moallem said during a visit to western towns and villages on Monday that the
territory of the Sanjak of Alexandretta, now renamed Hatay, belongs to
Syria. The minister was seen in a video during his visit to Al Samra
village. “The Sanjak of Alexandretta is ours and we will have it back one
day,” he was heard saying. His comments came as the Turkish Army boosted its
forces in Morek near Hama, raising the number of military bases established
following an agreement reached with Russia to 12
U.S. Offered Assad to
Leave Syria if Iran Withdraws From South, Report Says
Haaretz/Aug 28, 2018
American intel officials met Syrian officials in Damascus last months for
four hours, Lebanon's al-Akhbar reports
The United States offered the Assad regime to take its forces out of Syria
in return for an Iranian withdrawal from the country's south, Lebanese
newspaper al-Akhbar reported Tuesday.
Officials in Washington have not confirmed the report, which has not been
published in U.S. media. In response to the report, the Syrians said that
the U.S. forces are occupiers and must get out. Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu has long lobbied both the U.S. and Russia to remove Iran from
Syria - the Iranian presence in Syria has triggered over a hundred of
Israeli airstrikes in Syria
The U.S. and Russia are currently both building up a large navy presence off
of Syria as the two countries try to head off a violent escalation in Idlib
betweet Assad forces, rebels and possibly Turkey.
The Lebanese daily, considered close to Hezbollah, reported that U.S.
intelligence agency representatives met last month in Damascus with senior
officials in the Syrian regime's security establishment.
According to the report the meeting lasted four hours and the Americans set
three conditions for their withdrawal, which would include leaving the al-Tanf
base near the Jordanian-Syrian-Iraqi border triangle as well as the forces
located east of the Euphrates River.
In addition to demanding Iranian withdrawal from south Syria, near Israel,
the U.S. representatives demanded, according to the report, written
confirmation that American companies would receive a portion of the oil
market and that the U.S would get information about terrorists.
The Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that Iran and Syria signed a deal
for military cooperation in a meeting between the defense ministers of the
two countries in Damascus. Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami travelled to
Damascus on Sunday for a two-day visit, meeting Syrian President Bashar
Assad and senior military officials, and said that the agreement also
stipulates helping rebuild Syria's military industry.
U.S. President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived
in Israel on Sunday for discussions on the security situation in Syria. A
senior White House official told Haaretz that when Bolton was in Moscow for
preparations three weeks prior, Putin told him that he doesn't want to see
Iranian forces remain in Syria but he's not sure Russia alone can get
Iranian forces out of the country.
Iran currently has thousands of soldiers and militia fighters operating in
Syria; Iran also expects to reap the benefits of Syria's reconstruction
process once the war is over. Iranian officials have said that Tehran will
not agree under any circumstance to remove its forces from Syria.
Russia is currently keeping Iranian forces at a distance of 85 kilometers
from Israel's border, but the Israeli and American position over the past
year has consistently been that Iran needs to remove all of its forces from
Syria. Putin shares that position but doubts whether it can be implemented,
according to the official.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/u-s-offered-assad-to-leave-syria-if-iran-withdraws-from-south-1.6428389?utm_campaign=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=smartfocus&utm_content=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fmiddle-east-news%2Fsyria%2Fu-s-offered-assad-to-leave-syria-if-iran-withdraws-from-south-1.6428389
Lebanese Report ( Al-Akhbar, a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese
daily): Syrian Officials Met with US in June
Jerusalem Post/August 28/18
The report, which claims to provide an account of a US offer to the Syrian
regime, is interesting for some of the details it provides and the agenda it
seeks to fulfill.
It reads like an espionage thriller. After an airplane touches down in the
dead of night at Damascus International Airport cordoned off by security
forces, a “huge procession of black SUVs” whisks away a high-level
delegation of US officials from “several intelligence and security
agencies.” They travel to a secret military facility in Mezzeh west of
Damascus, where the spooks meet with Ali Mamlouk, the mysterious Syrian
security chief and adviser to dictator Bashar al-Assad. A coterie of
Mukhabarat heavies from the Syrian Intelligence Directorate join in the
four-hour parley.
This was the scene that played out in June, according to a report at Al-Akhbar,
a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese daily and website. Published Wednesday, the article
purportedly provides an account of a US offer to the Syrian regime whereby
the Americans would pull out of their base at Tanf in eastern Syria. In
coordination with Russia and the Syrian regime, the US forces that had been
battling ISIS alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces would turn their desert
stronghold over to the regime
But the US wanted a quid pro quo – that Iranian forces quit southern Syria.
US oil companies would receive a “share of the oil sector” in eastern Syria,
and Damascus would provide intelligence on any western ISIS members and
potential ISIS threats to western interests.
According to the report, the Syrians considered but ultimately rejected the
“tempting” offer.
You are an occupying power in Syria. You entered our territory forcibly
without permission, and you can go out in the same way.” Syria is not a
country that can be cut off from its roots. It is part of a broad axis in
the region, and allied with Tehran and Hezbollah, the regime interlocutors
told the Americans.Bottom line, Iran will not pull out of southern Syria,
and if Americans want access to oil they can stand in line like everyone
else. As for foreign terrorists, “we are fully aware of the dangers
these people pose to us and to you,” the Syrians allegedly said. As for
foreign terrorists, “we are fully aware of the dangers these people pose to
us and to you,” the Syrians allegedly said. Noteworthy in the report are the
details it provides, and the agenda it seeks to fulfill. The United Arab
Emirates role in the meeting is mentioned several times. First, the author
claims that a UAE plane brought the US delegation. Second, the Syrians said
they have provided intelligence on terrorism threats to the UAE, and the UAE
is said to be interested in repairing relations with Damascus. The meeting
allegedly happened in June before Damascus launched its offensive to clear
the Syrian rebels in the south. In March, US President Donald Trump
indicated that the US would be “coming out of Syria very soon. Let the other
people take care of it now.” Assad said in May, during an interview with
Russia’s RT, that the US should “learn the lessons of Iraq” and leave Syria.
At the time Assad appeared to suggest the regime would be re-taking eastern
Syria. The Al-Akhbar report comes in the context of other articles that seek
to show how Syria and its allies in Lebanon continually stand up to foreign
intervention. For instance, an article in June by the same author claims
that Saudi Arabia had attempted a coup d’État in Lebanon, and failed. Saudi
Arabia is also reported to have unsuccessfully pressured Syria to abandon
its alliance with Iran.
The Syrian regime is now depicting itself as riding a wave of victories that
will bring an end to its savage seven-year civil war. It wants to portray
itself as deciding the future of Syria, and remove foreign forces, including
the US and Turkey.
Damascus hosted a high-level Iranian military delegation over the weekend,
including Iran’s defense minister, in a gesture meant to show that Iran is
not leaving. The Al-Akhbar report appears to be in that context, portraying
the Syrian regime as talking tough to Washington and being unwilling to
negotiate whether Iranian troops and advisers stay.
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Lebanese-report-Syrian-officials-met-with-US-in-June-565969?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=20-2-2018&utm_content=lebanese-report-syrian-officials-met-with-us-in-june-565969
UN Court Has No
Jurisdiction in Iran Sanctions Case, US Says
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 28/18/The United States told UN judges
Tuesday they had no jurisdiction to rule on Tehran's demand for them to
order the suspension of debilitating nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
Iran has argued that US President Donald Trump breached a 1955 treaty with
his decision to reimpose the sanctions after withdrawing from a multilateral
nuclear accord. But US State Department lawyer Jennifer Newstead told the
court in The Hague that it "lacks prima facie jurisdiction to hear Iran's
claims". But Newstead argued that the United States had the right to protect
its national security and other interests. The treaty "cannot therefore
provide a basis for this court's jurisdiction" in the case, she said. The
United States and several other world powers lifted sanctions on Iran under
a 2015 accord after years of diplomacy. In return, Tehran made commitments
not to seek to build nuclear weapons. Trump said the 2015 accord did not do
enough to curb the threat from Iran. He pulled out of the accord in May and
began reimposing sanctions this month. In the first day of hearings at the
ICJ on Monday, Iran's lawyers said the sanctions were threatening the
welfare of its citizens and disrupting tens of billions of dollars' worth of
business deals.
Iran at The Hague: The Sanctions Are Devastating Our
Economy
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/The US views Iran's filing with the
International Court of Justice as an attempt to interfere with its rights to
take actions on national security grounds and will fight Tehran's claims,
the State Department said on Monday as oral proceedings began before the
court. "Iran’s filing with the ICJ is an attempt to interfere with the
sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including
re-imposition of sanctions, which are necessary to protect our national
security. The proceedings instituted by Iran are a misuse of the Court,"
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. Tehran launched the suit
over US President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions that were
lifted in the landmark 2015 accord. Iran demanded Monday that the Court
order the United States to suspend the sanctions. Trump says the sanctions
are needed to ensure Iran never builds a nuclear bomb. But Iran's
representative Mohsen Mohebi branded them "naked economic aggression". His
team of lawyers told the court in The Hague that the measures were already
devastating Iran's economy and threatening the welfare of its citizens. "The
United States is publicly propagating a policy intended to damage as
severely as possible Iran's economy and Iranian nationals and companies,"
Mohebi said. "Iran will put up the strongest resistance to the US economic
strangulation, by all peaceful means."US lawyers are due to give their
response in arguments before the court on Tuesday. "We will vigorously
defend against Iran's meritless claims this week in The Hague," said Pompeo.
The US and Iran have clashed at the court in the past since they became
enemies after 1979. Iran ignored a 1980 US suit at the ICJ over the seizure
of American diplomats in Tehran, which the court found to be illegal. In
another suit and countersuit, the ICJ found that the 1955 friendship treaty
was still valid even though it was signed before the Iranian revolution.
However, the court found in 2003 that neither actions by the United States
against Iranian oil platforms nor Iranian attacks on American shipping
violated the treaty. Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that
Iran expects the remaining partners in its nuclear agreement to act quickly
to preserve it, Rouhani made the comments in a phone call to French
President Emmanuel Macron, according to IRNA. "Iran has acted upon all its
promises in the nuclear agreement and, with attention to the one-sided
withdrawal of America ...expects the remaining partners to operate their
programs more quickly and transparently," he was quoted as saying.
Rouhani Referred to Judiciary after Failing to Appease
Lawmakers
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
failed to convince parliament on Tuesday that his plans will pull the
country out of an economic nosedive worsened by America's withdrawal from
the 2015 nuclear deal as most of the questions of lawmakers were referred to
Iran's judiciary for further review. While Rouhani warned that "painting a
bleak picture of people's lives will lead to further darkness," lawmakers
voted four separate times to say they were unconvinced of his answers about
Iran's recession, its cratering currency, unemployment and smuggling.
"Certainly, we made and we have made mistakes," Rouhani acknowledged at one
point in a speech before parliament. In May, longtime deal skeptic President
Donald Trump pulled the US from the nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions
on Iran. That only fanned the flames burning through the country's economy
from chronic unemployment, high inflation and drastic drops in its currency.
Those problems sparked nationwide protests in December and January across
Iran. Lawmakers already have fired Rouhani's labor and finance ministers
this month amid the economic crisis. But Rouhani said those protests only
strengthened Trump's hand to pull out of the atomic accord. "This lured
Trump into saying that he will not remain in the deal," Rouhani said. "I
want to assure the Iranian nation that we will not allow the US plot against
the Islamic Republic to succeed," Rouhani told parliament in a session that
was broadcast live on state television. "We will not let this bunch of
anti-Iranians in the White House be able to plot against us."Most foreign
firms have abandoned investment projects in Iran, and the next phase of
renewed US sanctions in November will hit the crucial oil sector. The
lawmakers asked Rouhani about the government's failure in tackling the rise
of unemployment, slow economic growth, and the fall of the country's
currency rial - as well as revenue-sapping cross-border smuggling
operations. Rouhani said his government had asked the Revolutionary Guards
to help them in tackling the smuggling. Lawmakers also asked why the
government had not adopted reforms in the financial sector and foreign
exchange market, and sought an explanation why, more than two years after
the nuclear deal, Iranian banks still had only limited access to global
financial services. The parliament only found Rouhani's answer about the
banking satisfactory and referred the rest to the judiciary.
Iran Tries to Escape its Stifling Crisis by Turning to
Qatar
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
proposed to the Emir of Qatar on Sunday that Tehran help Doha in the
construction of infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup that is hosted by the
Gulf state.Rouhani made the suggestion during a telephone call with Qatari
Emir Tamim bin Hamad. The diplomatic and economic of Qatar boycott by Saudi
Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates has left a negative
impact on its ability to host the world’s top football tournament. The four
countries announced their boycott in June 2017 over Doha’s support and
financing of terrorism. The ensuing crisis resulted in delays in meeting
construction deadlines for the World Cup. Qatar used to rely significantly
on importing its building material from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Iranian
media reported that Rouhani suggested to the Qatari ruler that Tehran take
part in the construction of sports venues for the World Cup. Iran itself is
suffering from a stifling economic crisis that has seen the currency lose
half of its value since April. It has also come under re-imposed US economic
sanctions that took effect in early August. There have been persistent,
low-level strikes and demonstrations across Iran for months over high prices
and unpaid wages that have occasionally turned into violent protests against
the ruling regime as a whole.
Russia in Biggest Naval Mediterranean Build-up Ahead of
Idlib Offensive
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/Moscow is reinforcing its military
presence in the Mediterranean near Syria, a Russian report said Tuesday, as
speculation grows that Damascus is planning a campaign on rebel-held Idlib
province. Quoting anonymous sources, the Kommersant daily reported that
Russia sent two warships and an additional anti-aircraft missile system to
the Mediterranean in August. Pro-Kremlin paper Izvestia said Russia
currently has 10 warships and two submarines in Syrian waters, saying this
amounted to Moscow's biggest military presence there since it became
involved in the conflict in September 2015. According to Izvestia, Russia
plans to send "several more" warships to Syria. The paper cited military
experts as saying the fleet will be able to support the Syrian army's
operations in Idlib.Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has
charged that Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham "is close to committing a very serious
provocation in Idlib using chemical weapons."Moscow's accusations came after
US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said
Washington will respond "very strongly" if Syrian regime forces used
chemical weapons to retake Idlib. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
said on Tuesday that the Russian military was in talks with leaders of armed
groups in Idlib to reach a peace settlement, Russian news agency RIA
reported. Shoigu said the aim of the Idlib talks was to reach peaceful
resolution similar to the settlements in Syria's Eastern Ghouta and Daraa,
RIA said.
Fatah Committed to Achieving Palestinian Reconciliation
'above All Else'
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/The Fatah
movement informed Egyptian officials that Palestinian reconciliation should
be a priority above all else. The reconciliation should be based on
empowering the government in the Gaza Strip, after which a new agreement
could be reached through the Palestinian Authority (PA). A Palestinian
delegation met with Egyptian officials and informed them that the PA should
restore its authority over the Strip above all else because it is the only
body authorized to sign and implement agreements related to any part of
Palestine, informed Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. The delegation
was headed by Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization executive council and Fatah central council. Fatah also
objected to the representation of small factions affiliated with Hamas that
have no political status or standing in the talks, stressing that it will
not meet with them in the future. Addressing a possible truce agreement
between Israel and Hamas, the delegation told Egyptian officials that such a
pact would be part of the so-called "Deal of the Century" plan to isolate
Gaza from the West Bank and turn the Palestinian issue into a humanitarian
one. It warned that the Palestinian leadership will respond to such a deal
with unexpected measures. Ahmed stated that Egypt had offered new proposals
to achieve Palestinian reconciliation. Fatah is supposed to inform Egyptian
officials of its final position on a revised Egyptian paper on
reconciliation.
Ahmed explained that views were exchanged on the issue of national
reconciliation, but they did not see any positive development because all
the meetings held in Cairo prior to last week’s Eid al-Adha holiday focused
mostly on the truce.
Fatah’s position had a direct impact on the truce talks, which were
postponed by Egypt after they were supposed to resume on Monday. Hamas also
announced the postponement of the truce talks without giving any
explanation. Hamas official Husam Badran said the movement’s stance was firm
on “reaching real national unity based on the 2011 agreement.” Last week,
President Mahmoud Abbas warned that there can be no two separate entities
ruling Palestinian territories, stating that if the PA is not handed
complete control of Gaza, Hamas will be held accountable.Israel, meanwhile,
accused Abbas of trying to ignite a confrontation between Israel and Hamas
in Gaza. Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz said Abbas was
purposefully instigating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “The PA should not
get our backing,” he stated, adding: “They have purposefully created the
humanitarian crisis in recent months, and they are interested in pushing us
to a military conflict in Gaza.” “Abu Mazen is working to create bloody
riots in Gaza, so that we, in turn, can hit Hamas – his enemies, and then he
can travel around the world and denounce us,” Steinitz said. He said that it
was in Israel’s interest to reach a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza and that
the PA and West Bank should be excluded from it.
Abbas to Submit Formal Request for Palestinian State
Full UN Membership
Ramallah - Kifah Zaboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/Minister
for Jerusalem Affairs and Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine
Liberation Organization, Adnan al-Husseini, said that President Mahmoud
Abbas would submit a formal request for Palestine’s full membership in the
United Nations during his address to the General Assembly in September.
“After this speech there will be difficult and fateful decisions, the most
important of which is the determination of the relationship with the
occupation authorities,” he added. The expected Palestinian demand comes in
response to the US positions on the Palestinian issue. The Palestinian
Central Council set up a plan to confront the United States, beginning with
a request for full membership in the United Nations (UN), then suspending
recognition of Israel and abandoning all agreements with it. The Central
Committee requested the Executive Committee to submit specific timetables
that include a comprehensive definition of the political, economic and
security relations with the occupation, including the suspension of the
recognition of the State of Israel until the latter recognizes the State of
Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its
capital. The permanent representative of Palestine to the United Nations,
Riyad Mansour, said on Monday that “the legal procedures to obtain the full
membership must pass through three phases, beginning with the UN
Secretary-General, then the Security Council and finally the General
Assembly.
“We have passed the first phase. The second will be difficult to attain as
long as Washington continues to veto the adoption of a resolution by the
Security Council in particular. The third phase is the General Assembly. In
case the Security Council passed a resolution recommending the membership of
the State of Palestine in the UN, then Palestine will have two-thirds of
votes in the General Assembly to gain membership,” Mansour explained. In
order for a country to become a member state in the UN, it should be
supported by nine of the 15 UN Security Council members, provided that the
veto is not used by one or more of the five permanent members.Palestine
received an observer status at the UN in 2012, when 138 countries voted in
favor of the draft resolution at the time, while nine opposed it and 41
abstained from voting.
Israel Develops Missiles Capable of ‘Covering the
Region’
Ramallah/Asharq Al-Awsat/August, 28/18/Israel’s Defense Ministry announced
Monday it had purchased a vast network of surface-to-surface precision
missiles, for an undisclosed sum, and is reportedly seeking longer-range
arms that can target the whole region. The ministry said only that the deal
is worth “hundreds of millions of shekels.”“We are acquiring and developing
precision fire systems that will enable the army within a few years to cover
any point in the region,” said Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. "The
project for setting up a precision rocket and missile system is underway,"
he said in the statement. "Part of it is already in production and part is
in the final phases of research and development,” he added. Lieberman made
the announcement in a revised tweet after a previous one said the missile
system is capable of hitting targets anywhere in the Middle East. He edited
his tweet after the Maariv daily’s military analyst Yossi Melman questioned
whether the missiles would reach the entire region, saying that was not
true. The Defense Ministry said Israel Military Industries will supply the
army with rockets that can hit targets between 30 kilometers and 150
kilometers away. “This precision firepower significantly improves the army’s
capabilities and enables precise impact on remote launch, immediate
availability and low mission cost compared to other combat systems,” it said
in a statement. Among the missiles purchased were multiple launch rocket
systems, or MLRS, which will be able to reach targets 40 kilometers away.
These rockets have warheads that contain 20 kilograms of explosives and are
guided by GPS. The system can fire 18 rockets per minute. Military analyst
for the Yedioth Ahronoth daily Ron Ben-Yishai said that Lieberman is not
planning a separate missile corps. He is rather seeking to arm the military
with additional rockets and missiles to serve as backup for the air force's
offensive capabilities in case Israel comes under attack on many fronts at
the same time.
Jordanian Monarch Calls for Supporting Refugee-Hosting
States
Amman - London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 28 August, 2018/King Abdullah II
of Jordan called Monday on the international community to assume its
responsibilities towards the countries hosting Syrian refugees. This came
during his meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo
Grandi, who arrived in Amman on Sunday for an official visit. The meeting
focused on cooperation between Amman and the UNHCR, particularly the
provision of services to refugees in the country, according to a statement
issued by the Jordanian Royal Court. The two sides discussed the growing
pressure on services in Jordan due to the high numbers of Syrian refugees in
the country, the statement said. King Abdullah called for continued
coordination between Jordan and the UNHCR to ensure that "refugees and host
communities receive the necessary support."The statement indicated that they
also discussed the enormous burdens placed by the Syrian refugee crisis on
Jordan's economy and the growing pressure it poses on service sectors,
mainly education, health and infrastructure. Grandi, for his part, hailed
Jordan's key role in providing humanitarian and relief aid to the refugees,
stressing the keenness of the UNHCR to continue cooperation and coordination
with the Kingdom to alleviate the impact of the refugee crisis. Some 650,000
Syrian refugees have registered with the UN in Jordan since the outbreak of
the Syrian conflict in 2011, while Amman estimates their numbers to be at
about 1.3 million. The Kingdom says that the cost of hosting them has
exceeded 10 billion dollars. Turkey has been hosting more than three million
displaced Syrians since 2011, but it is seeking now to move them into camps
on the Syrian side of the border. Lebanon hosts less than one million
refugees. The Syrian war has killed 340,000 people and displaced more than
half of the population inside the country and abroad.
Yemeni Official: Iranian Armament of Houthis
Intensified during Hodeidah Operation Suspension
Jeddah - Saiid Al-Abiad/Asharq Al-Awsat/August, 28/18/A local Yemeni
official said that Iran has doubled its supply of arms to Houthi militias in
Yemen during the suspension of the operation to liberate Al-Hodeida. He also
revealed that several militia leaders have escaped the city following the
strikes launched by the Coalition forces. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the
governor of Al-Hodeidah, Dr. Hassan Al-Tahir, said that Iran had supplied
weapons to the Houthis during the past period, through large boats, taking
advantage of the period during which the army stopped its march towards the
city center.
He added that the Houthi militias have brought in a large amount of weapons
across the sea, or through mercenaries coming from African countries,
exploiting their poor financial situation. On the political consultations to
be held under the auspices of the UN in Geneva next month, the governor of
Hodeidah said that these consultations should result in the departure of the
militias from Hodeidah and its port. He stressed that the legitimate
government had no choice but to confront the militias militarily to get them
out of the city, noting that the army was ready for this option. Tahir said
he did not have high hopes in the role of the United Nations to resolve the
crisis, but noted that it was now “necessary to implement the UN
resolutions… and to end the suffering of citizens.”
France's Environment Minister Hulot Announces Resignation
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 28/18/France's
Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot, one of the most popular members of
President Emmanuel Macron's government, announced his resignation on
Tuesday. "I am taking the decision to leave the government," he said on
France Inter radio, adding that he felt "all alone" on environmental issues
within the cabinet.
The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published
on
August 28-29/18
Amir Hatami in Syria:
To stay or Withdraw?
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/August, 28/18
Iran’s Minister of Defense Amir Hatami, whose visit to Damascus last week
was interesting, spoke of Iran’s desire to “strengthen Syria’s military
arsenal” and help it “expand its military equipment,” as reported by the
Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). He hinted that he’s “trying to pave
the way for the next phase of cooperation.” So what is this next phase? Does
it mean Iran’s withdrawal from Syria? The attempt to end the twin-status
between the Iranian and Syrian regimes has not succeeded despite the Israeli
shelling of Iranian troops in Syria, and which is on the largest scale since
the 1973 war, and despite Russia’s declaration that it does not support
Iran’s continuous presence in Syria and will not protect it from the Israeli
airstrikes. The Americans said they tried to tempt the Damascus regime but
failed, and Iran’s media outlets in Lebanon had claimed that Saudi Arabia
tried and failed.
Damascus’ relation with Tehran is an old ongoing problem for the region that
goes back to the period of the Iranian-Iraqi war in the 1980s. It developed
within the framework of the alliance of necessities, the Syrian Baathist
thus allied with the religious Iranian.
In the end of the 1990s, there was no longer a reason for this relationship
of necessity. The father Hafez al-Assad sought to diminish confrontations –
paving the way for after his death – so he adopted a rapprochement attitude
with Saddam’s besieged regime, reconciled with Turkey after handing over the
leader of the Kurdish-Turkish opposition and negotiated with Israel over
peace and reached an advanced stage of an agreement with it in Geneva.
Israel however obstructed signing the deal under the pretext that Assad’s
health was deteriorating and that it’s afraid of Syria’s future after him.
As Bashar ascended to power, optimism reigned in the region until it turned
out that the relation with Tehran had become deeper in secret. This was
confirmed after Israel’s withdrawal from South Lebanon. The Israeli troops’
withdrawal was supposed to pave way for breakthroughs which include the
withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and reconciliations that are in
parallel with Saudi Arabia’s peace project which Syria and all Arab and
Muslim countries had approved of. However, the complete opposite happened as
the two allies, Iran and Syria, intensified their presence in Lebanon. They
executed a wave of assassinations and the two regimes almost completely
dominated the country. There was no longer any doubt that there is a special
relation between Damascus and Tehran after the two allies’ cooperation in
adopting the Iraqi resistance and supporting terror groups in Iraq,
including al-Qaeda, Al-Zaraqawi and ISIS later became clear. Later on, the
term “the rise of the Shiite crescent” emerged. Today, attempts to get Iran
out of Syria seem tantamount to cutting off the umbilical cord – the
possibilities of their success are low. The relationship is solid rock
between the two regimes and also as a result of the decline of Assad’s
security and military institutions as a result of the civil war. The
calculations of the next phase have three points to take into consideration.
The first one is the Trump administration’s demand from Iran to get out of
Syria, as part of the 12 conditions set to end its economic war. The second
one is Israel’s insistence to get Iran’s forces and militias out of Syria or
else their capabilities will be destroyed. The third one is that for the
Assad regime to stay, the Americans had set the condition that Iran and its
militias exit the country. The Trump administration has backed down on
withdrawing from Syria and decided to maintain its military and political
presence there. Theoretically, the Iranian forces’, Hezbollah’s and
others forces’ exit seems like the expected result but who will believe Iran
is willing to cooperate and withdraw after all the massive human and
financial losses it endured in Syria’s war? Its withdrawal will be
considered a free defeat and will weaken the Tehran government’s negotiating
capability with Israel and the US. It will also end its investment in
Lebanon, i.e. Hezbollah which it built from zero and spent billions of
dollars on. As for Assad, his alliance with Tehran is old and dates back to
the beginning of his years in governance. All old attempts to break this
alliance have failed over the course of a decade and a half.
Kurds
Who Fought Isis, Now Hunted By Iran's Regime
جيرازولم بوست: إيران تطارد الأكراد اللذين حابوا ضد داعش
Jerusalem Post/August 28/18
Kurds who joined PAK are from Iran, but fled the Islamic Republic’s
repression to find refuge in the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government
areas of northern Iraq.
alek was a great guy, he was always laughing. When I heard he had been
killed I teared up. It gutted me,” recalls one of the men who served
alongside Said Kazim Kalhur, known as “Malek” to his friends and comrades in
the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK). The small group of dedicated fighters in
the PAK played a key role in fighting ISIS at several frontlines held by
Kurdish forces between 2014 and 2017. Now some of those veterans have been
kidnapped and killed by Iran’s regime, members say.
Kurds who joined PAK are from Iran but fled the Islamic Republic’s
repression, and found refuge in the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government
areas of northern Iraq. According to PAK, four of their members have been
targeted by Tehran in the last month. Malek was poisoned. Arman Ghafouri, an
environmentalist, was also tortured and killed. Two others had returned to
Kurdish areas in Iran and were kidnapped by the regime, accused of
supporting revolts and protests that have rocked Kurdish towns over the last
months
Malek’s story struck a cord with those who served with him at Bashiqa and
later during the Mosul offensive in October 2016. They asked that their
names not be used to protect their identity. “Malek hated ISIS. He hated
what they stood for and represented. I remember one day during a firefight
at Bashiqa he stood there cursing them.” Malek’s job was as a heavy machine
gunner in the unit, and he drove the truck that the machine gun was mounted
on. “He was a brave guy, a pure warrior.”
According to a statement from the group, he had returned to western Iran to
visit his family. “He was caught on March 3, and was taken by the Ettela’at
[intelligence services]. After many sessions of questions and a series of
torture, he did not share any information and was not ready to work with the
regime.” Eventually he was served a cup of water that was poisoned. “On
August 9, two other PAK members were on their way to rescue a wounded
Peshmerga from PAK near Saqqez.” According to the statement they were caught
by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In recent months numerous Kurdish groups, and average people throughout
Iran, have increased protests against the regime. This comes in the context
of protests that broke out in December 2017 and also increasing US
sanctions. Across Iran a variety of economic factors as well as anger over
suppression of minority groups such as the Kurds, have caused protests. The
IRGC has targeted Kurdish groups that it views as a threat. The PAK says
that it members have been targeted because they were well trained during the
years of the war on ISIS and had been preparing to return to confront the
regime in Iran. The PAK also fought Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq in
clashes near Prde (Altun Kupri) on the road between Kirkuk and Erbil in
October 2017. PAK’s commander Hussein Yazdanpanah has been outspoken in his
opposition to the role of Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq and also
Iran’s theocratic regime, which he and other PAK members see as linked.
Tehran also views the PAK as a threat inside Iran. “We are not in the
mountains. We are inside the cities, and people see that. We have gained the
people’s hearts.”
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Kurds-who-fought-ISIS-now-hunted-by-Irans-regime-565973?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=20-2-2018&utm_content=kurds-who-fought-isis-now-hunted-by-irans-regime-565973
Qatar and Turkey: Toxic Allies in the Gulf
Richard Miniter/Gatestone Institute./August 28, 2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12917/qatar-turkey-toxic-allies
"Iran's continued support of the Hezbollah terrorist organization with both
financial and political assistance, as well as weapons and tactical
training, deserves close examination. Western diplomats and Lebanese
analysts estimate that Iranian financial support for Hezbollah averages
around $100 million each year, sometimes reaching amounts closer to a
quarter of a billion dollars.... All of these activities pose a direct
threat to U.S. security interests, contribute to the prolonging of conflicts
across the Middle East, and pose threats to our key allies in the region." —
US Representative Ted Budd, member of the Financial Services Committee and
its Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee.
Why not consider expanding the US deployment at Al-Dhafra airbase in the
United Arab Emirates as a replacement for the airbases used by the US in
Qatar and Turkey, if the UAE accept the idea?
If one nation is able to defy or undermine U.S. policy while still pocketing
the benefits of America's friendship, many others may follow Qatar's
example. Why should other Arab nations endure domestic criticism, for
supporting America's war on terror if they can subvert America but still
enjoy America's military protection and their access to the world's largest
market?
These days, America has more trouble with its allies than its enemies.
Consider the strange case of Turkey and Qatar, two putative American allies.
Both nations host essential U.S. air bases while supporting Islamist
political parties, increasingly cooperating with Iran, America's most
determined enemy in the region, and actively subverting U.S. policy in the
region.
Questions began with the arrest of Andrew Brunson, an American-born
Christian pastor who has lived in Turkey for 23 years without incident.
Then, on October 7, 2016 Brunson and his wife Norine were seized as alleged
coup plotters. Norine was released after being held for 13 days, without any
charges being filed. Andrew Brunson has remained in detention since 2016 and
the charges, when they finally appeared, were numerous and impossible to
believe. Example: Brunson is a part of Mormon-inspired CIA plot to topple
Turkey's elected government. (Brunson is not Mormon and has no known CIA
connections.) If convicted, he faces up to 35 years in prison.
Turkey revealed its true intentions when it offered to exchange Brunson for
Fethullah Gülen, a self-exiled Turkish Islamic cleric who lives in
Pennsylvania. The Turkish government believes that Gülen and his alleged "Fethullah
Gülen Terror Organization" are behind the July 2016 alleged attempted "coup"
against the Turkish government. Dissidents maintain that the "coup" was
manufactured to give the elected Islamist government cover to purge
pro-secular senior military officers, opposition politicians and critical
journalists. For more than a decade, Turkish politics has been roiled by a
debate about undoing many of secular traditions and laws enacted at the
founding of modern Turkey in the 1920s, but now moving toward a more Islamic
model that is friendlier to Iran's Islamic dictatorship and less so toward
the US and the EU. Brunson apparently became a pawn in a larger chess game.
Enter President Donald J. Trump, who has publicly called for Brunson's
release while privately rejecting the idea of turning over Gülen, a legal
U.S. resident, to a foreign court system unlikely to give him a fair trial
in a charged political environment. Next, Trump piled on economic sanctions
to try to spring the jailed American pastor.
Those sanctions have gravely wounded Turkey's weakening economy, but not
weakened its resolve. Turkey's currency registered a 40% drop against the
U.S. dollar this year. Foreign direct investment into Turkey has also slowed
significantly this year. Still, its government has stayed the course and
refused to free Brunson. Indeed, it upped the ante: Turkey's leader called
on his followers to boycott iPhones and other iconic American products.
Remember, Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States and the second-largest
contributor of troops to that vital alliance. It is also home to key U.S.
air bases, including Incirlik, a massive complex near Adana housing some
5,000 US airmen.
As U.S. sanctions tightened, another U.S. ally, Qatar, intervened. Qatar's
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pledged to invest $15 billion in the
Turkish economy during a recent visit -- and plainly declared that the point
of the investment was to blunt the force of U.S. sanctions. With friends
like these...
It is worth taking a closer look at America's putative ally, Qatar. It is
also home to a major US air base at Al Udeid, from which American warplanes
bomb the Taliban, ISIS and elements of Al Qaeda.
Yet Qatar funds some of the same groups that America bombs. The gas-rich
peninsula channels money to Al Nusra, a Syria-based affiliate of al Qaeda.
It had funded Taliban leaders in the run-up to the September 11 attacks and,
just a few years ago, reportedly paid some $1 billion to Iran-backed
terrorists to ransom captives held in Iraq and Syria.
Qatar funds still other groups that kills Americans. Qatar's emir has
publicly and proudly announced his financial support for Hamas, which has
been officially designated as a "terrorist organization" by the U.S. and the
E.U. and Israel. Also, let us not forget the hundreds of millions of dollars
that Qatar gives to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the gateway
organization for almost every Sunni jihadi terrorist band in the Middle
East. Al Qaeda's current leader, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, began his extremist
journey in a Brotherhood chapter in Egypt, as did September 11 mastermind
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in its Kuwait branch. The onetime head of Al Qaeda in
Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was indoctrinated in the Brotherhood's Jordan
offshoot.
The emir has also welcomed Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood's
spiritual guide, to live in Qatar, as well as various senior Hamas
officials.
Al Jazeera, Qatar's state-run broadcaster, frequently lionizes these groups,
giving them air time to legitimize their murderous views toward Israel and
America as well as their Arab neighbors.
Add to that, Qatar's alleged hacking of U.S. citizens (including former
Republican National Committee finance chairman Elliott Broidy) and
distributing their private emails to journalists, according to U.S. court
filings.
In addition, Qatar's funding of lobbyists (at some $100,000 per month) who
are close to the current chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and that committee's ranking Democrat.
Senator Ted Cruz's former deputy chief of staff, Nick Muzin, pulled down
$300,000 per month from Qatar, according to Reuters.
Finally, Qatar has drawn close to America's biggest regional rival, Iran. It
shares the vast offshore Pars gas field with the Islamic Republic —
providing a river of money to the very nation that America suspects of
building nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to carry them to U.S.
bases in the Middle East and Europe.
US Representative Ted Budd, a member of the Financial Services Committee and
its Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee, in an essential article,
states:
"Iran's continued support of the Hezbollah terrorist organization with both
financial and political assistance, as well as weapons and tactical
training, deserves close examination. Western diplomats and Lebanese
analysts estimate that Iranian financial support for Hezbollah averages
around $100 million each year, sometimes reaching amounts closer to a
quarter of a billion dollars...All of these activities pose a direct threat
to U.S. security interests, contribute to the prolonging of conflicts across
the Middle East, and pose threats to our key allies in the region."
Taken together, the pattern is clear. Far from faithfully supporting current
U.S. policy, Qatar is using every means at its disposal to subvert or alter
it. Its slap-in-face funding of Turkey, while a US citizen is held captive
there, is simply the latest example of the behavior of Qatar, supposedly a
US ally.
Strangely, the Trump Administration seems to be of two minds about Qatar.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has spoken positively about Qatar's
counter-terrorism efforts while the State Department has soft-pedaled
Qatar's outrages. President Trump himself has not been consistent in his
public statements about Qatar. According to an April 18, 2018 article in the
New York Times:
"President Trump, who last year denounced the Persian Gulf state of Qatar as
a "funder of terrorism" and backed its rivals in a contentious regional
feud, welcomed its monarch to the Oval Office on Tuesday and portrayed him
as a partner in the fight against extremists.
"The friendly visit represented a remarkable turnaround for a president who
had once portrayed Qatar as part of the problem."
Ultimately, the Trump Administration will have to decide which set of its
allies to back: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf Arab states, or Qatar and
Turkey, each of which have cozied up to Iran. The way forward begins with a
simple question: Which set of allies actually supports America and its
objectives in the Middle East? Why not consider expanding the US deployment
at Al-Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates as a replacement for the
airbases used by the US in Qatar and Turkey, if the UAE accept the idea?
An expanded US deployment at Al-Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates
could be considered as a replacement for the airbases used by the US in
Qatar and Turkey. Pictured: A U.S. Air Force Memorial Day ceremony at Al
Dhafra Airbase, May 28, 2018. (Image source: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Erica
Rodriguez)
Resetting the alliance with Qatar will not be easy or cost-free. America
maintains a large presence in the Al Udeid military base in Qatar, and
Qatari investments in the U.S. economy are measured in billions. Hard
choices lie ahead.
The cost of doing nothing, however, is even greater. If one nation is able
to defy or undermine U.S. policy while still pocketing the benefits of
America's friendship, many others may follow Qatar's example. Why should
other Arab nations endure domestic criticism for supporting America's war on
terror if they can subvert America but still enjoy America's military
protection and their access to the world's largest market? What is a US ally
if lip service will do the trick?
Richard Miniter, widely published in leading outlets, is author of three
best-selling books and currently CEO of the American Media Institute, a
non-profit news organization that provides original content to 180 major
newspapers and 220 African-American weeklies.
© 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.
The Senator No One Could Ignore
Albert R. Hunt/Bloomberg/August, 28/18
John Sidney McCain's life and legacy are summed up by one word: courage. No
modern American public figure more embodies that quality than the Arizona
senator who died Saturday after a battle with brain cancer.
He displayed courage during five and a half years as a prisoner of war in
Vietnam, then he displayed a different kind of courage leading the effort to
normalize relations with that country even though it had beaten and tortured
him.
McCain was a favorite of human rights activists, often greeted as a hero
during his frequent visits to refugee camps.
It took guts to respond to the embarrassment of accepting campaign
contributions from a corrupt banker during the 1980s while he was a freshman
senator, by leading a long effort to reform the campaign-finance system.
"His courage was much like his personality: quick, defiant," said Mark
Salter, McCain's friend, speechwriter and political alter ego. "He had guts.
Others have guts; he used his for other people, particularly the oppressed."
Salter co-authored a half-dozen books with McCain, including one titled,
"Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life."
McCain's death leaves the Republicans with a 50-49 Senate majority. His
replacement will be named by the state's Republican governor, Doug Ducey,
who will face pressure from both a strong right-wing, pro-Trump wing of his
party and a faction loyal to McCain. The senator and Trump had genuine
contempt for one another.
McCain, who served more than 31 years in the Senate starting in 1987 after
four in the House, was one of the two most important American politicians
over the last 70 years who never made it to the Oval Office. (The other was
Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, who died in 2009 after 46 years
in the Senate.) He was the senator no one could ignore.
He was a moderate conservative and foreign-policy hawk who opposed
dictators, political corruption and Pentagon waste. He admired Presidents
Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, though he liked to cite as his real
heroes President Theodore Roosevelt and the fictional Robert Jordan, the
stoic anti-fascist fighter of Ernest Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell
Tolls."
He was no saint. He could display a temper so volcanic that some colleagues
thought it made him temperamentally unsuited to be president. (I was on the
receiving end of a couple of those outbursts, and strongly disagree.)
He also engaged acts of great kindness. When former Democratic Congressman
Morris K. Udall was dying of Parkinson's disease, for example, McCain would
go the veterans' hospital and read to him.
He loved the political arena, identifying with the saying "A fight not
joined is a fight not enjoyed." But he was serious about his hard-line
foreign policy views, shaped by Vietnam. As a 31-year-old Navy pilot, he was
shot down on his 23rd mission over North Vietnam. The son and grandson of
admirals, he was brutalized as a trophy prisoner, yet refused an offer to be
released ahead of another American who'd been imprisoned longer.
He thought the US didn't fight to win that war, and became a consistent
advocate of US intervention in conflicts from the Middle East to the Korean
peninsula. He harbored a special contempt for Putin.
While conservative on government spending, regulation and some social
issues, he maintained working relationships with many liberals and
cultivated a reputation as an independent maverick.
His pursuit of campaign-finance reform infuriated many of his Republican
colleagues. In 2002, he joined forces with the liberal Democratic Senator
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to win passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform
Act banning large contributions to national party committees. It won them a
John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award, though its effect was later
blunted by Supreme Court decisions that reopened the spigots for big-money
influence peddling in politics. His initiative grew out of what he called
his most painful personal moment, taking gifts from a sleazy businessman
named Charles Keating.
Rouhani
fails to convince as MPs demand answers
Camelia Entekhabifard/Arab News/August 28/18
Iran’s finance minister was sacked by parliament on Sunday as a direct
consequence of the government’s struggle to manage the economic crisis that
has become a major threat to the regime. Government members have pointed
their fingers at US President Donald Trump and blamed his withdrawal from
the nuclear deal and newly reimposed sanctions as the main reason for Iran’s
hardship and its collapsing economy.
President Hassan Rouhani also appeared before the parliament on Tuesday to
answer members’ questions on the state of the economy, as the MPs wanted to
hear Rouhani’s plan of action for when the more stringent US sanctions on
oil hit on Nov. 4. Instead the president mainly focused on the good
relations he has with the parliament and the entire establishment and how he
can expand these ties. There was not much about his government’s plan of
action for addressing the upcoming sanctions or how he can improve the
economy based on the current circumstances. Basically, Rouhani did all he
could to prevent his own impeachment rather than try to convince the
ordinary Iranians that he is doing his best to improve their living
conditions. The MPs were not satisfied with the president’s explanations,
and I doubt the public will be either.
Interestingly, at the beginning of the session Rouhani said that the White
House would not be happy with the outcome. Perhaps he meant that the MPs
wouldn’t embarrass him with the sort of questions that would please the
nation’s enemy.
If Rouhani can survive the fallout from this grilling and parliament does
not impeach him, then his next foreign trip will be to the UN next month.
Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif are due to attend the
organization’s 73rd General Assembly in New York, but mainly with the aim of
finding a way of avoiding the next round of US sanctions. Zarif says the US
is waging “psychological war” against Iran.
If Rouhani and his team are counting on the US midterm elections and Trump’s
current domestic crisis to work in their favor, then they are wrong.
For them, the US dishonored the nuclear accord, but Trump has said many
times that he is willing to reach a better and more comprehensive deal if
the Iranians are ready to come to the negotiation table. However, Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps members and their associates are already
whispering of a betrayal conducted by government members during the original
nuclear talks and in the agreement.
Rouhani is currently facing two crises — one internal and one external. The
domestic one is related to public anger and the citizens’ demands and
frustrations over his failed attempts to improve their economic hardship,
which could easily soon turn the nation against the regime.
The external crisis is related to Iran’s foreign interferences and its
commitments toward Hezbollah members in Lebanon as well as Hamas, and its
support of Bashar Assad and his army in Syria.
Outsiders see Rouhani as powerless when it comes to regional policy, and
some Western powers believe he does not control the IRGC. But it seems the
current US administration sees the hard-liners and the so-called moderates
as two sides of the same coin and so treats them equally. For Trump, all of
the regime’s members represent the system, regardless of their political
affiliation. He wants to talk to them and he’s clear about his requirements
— the rest is up to them.
If Rouhani and his team are counting on the US midterm elections, which will
be held on Nov. 6, and Trump’s current domestic crisis to work in their
favor, then they are wrong. Trump will re-impose the oil sanctions two days
ahead of the elections and they will affect Rouhani’s government before the
results of the votes are known.
Spending time with the Chinese and Russians is a new trend for the Iranian
regime’s members, as they are counting on their support when the sanctions
come into effect. From giving a big chunk of the Caspian Sea to Russia and
its neighbors to allowing Chinese fishing boats to trawl the floor of the
Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, the clerics have been handing out gifts to
their supporters, but news of these concessions have given the people even
more reason to hate the regime and their foreign supporters.
Rouhani and Zarif are going to New York not just to address the UN General
Assembly, but are looking to seize their last chance to see if they can
change Trump’s mind about the oil sanctions. Astonishingly, the US last week
refused an offer from Russia that would have seen a rollback of Iranian
troops in Syria in return for a waiver of the oil sanctions — despite
Israeli calls for an immediate withdrawal. Trump’s national security adviser
John Bolton said the White House had rejected the Russian proposal.
President Trump is not a backchannel person: He wants direct talks with
Iran.
*Camelia Entekhabifard is an Iranian-American journalist, political
commentator and author of “Camelia: Save Yourself By Telling the Truth”
(Seven Stories Press, 2008). Twitter: @CameliaFard
Time to focus on water
management in Arab world as source of growth and stability
Anders Jagerskog/Al Arabiya/August 28/18
In Gaza, the drinking water tastes like seawater. Years of neglect and poor
management, due in large part to recurring conflicts, has led to the steady
depletion of Gaza’s natural aquifer. The empty aquifer has been invaded by
seawater and, alarming for public health, untreated sewage.
A series of droughts that struck Syria from 2006 onwards destroyed the
livelihoods of millions of Syrians who relied on agriculture. The United
Nations (UN) estimated that between 2008 and 2011, the drought affected 1.3
million people, with 800 000 people “severely affected.” People were forced
from their land, poverty levels rose, and part of the population was plunged
into deep food insecurity.
A vicious cycle
Neither one of these severe water crises are the cause of the instability
that grips both Gaza and Syria. Conflict in Gaza has made a bad situation
even worse; preventing the management of a vital natural resource that has
led to an environmental disaster. Policies to soften some of the impacts of
the drought in Syria could have kept people on their land and kept them from
falling into poverty. While neither of these crises are direct causes of
conflict, they fuel the frustrations that drive instability.
Water scarcity and instability feed of each other. Water crises strain the
ability of individuals and societies to maintain their livelihoods and
political stability. Fragile situations – characterized by weak and
ineffective institutions, histories of conflict, unsustainable livelihood
systems and decaying or damaged infrastructure – act as a multiplier of
challenges to sustainable water management. The compounding nature of water
and fragility gives rise to a vicious cycle, as pictured below, with each
reinforcing the other in a dangerous spiral.
The region’s policy-makers, practitioners, and researcher must focus
attention on water’s role as a risk factor in fragile systems, and adopt the
policies that convert the management and allocation of water resources into
a force that binds societies together.
The good news is that this vicious cycle be broken. It will not be quick, or
easy, but actions to preserve and better manage the region’s depleting
natural water resources will also contribute to building the foundations for
stability. The region’s policy-makers, practitioners, and researcher must
focus attention on water’s role as a risk factor in fragile systems, and
adopt the policies that convert the management and allocation of water
resources into a force that binds societies together. The region’s growing
population and rapid urbanization has placed ever greater demand on water,
while climate damage is making water scarcity ever more severe. There is no
time to waste.
Building Resilience
Water security in the region requires going beyond increasing immediate
water supplies to a focus on ensuring sustainable resource management, and
efficient and affordable service delivery. Such a balanced approach
fortifies the ability to withstand shocks and protracted crisis, such as
drought, conflict, or a refugee influx, while also addressing immediate
needs such as food security.
A recently completed water-treatment plant in norther Gaza, financed by the
World Bank, will address the threat to public health from untreated sewage.
The treated water will be used to replenish Gaza’s aquifer, and create a
water resource for agriculture.
Water management interventions should revolve around increasing incomes,
building resilient food systems and strengthening access through markets so
that people can obtain safe and nutritious food even if a crisis prevents
them from growing enough food by themselves.
In Jordan, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has
supported improving the rural livelihoods of communities that were
experiencing environmental and water scarcity problems, through a project
aimed at ensuring that small-scale producers, communities, and displaced
populations have increased access to agriculture-based livelihoods and
employment opportunities. The project has helped to weave the social fabric
back together and create a positive relationship between local people and
refugees.
A common cause
As water and agriculture problems are all essentially local, community
consultation, participation and ownership are vital, as is working with
whatever local government may exist on the ground. In addition, investing in
innovative policies and practices will be extremely beneficial. Research,
technology development and transfer can provide further improvements to
water efficiency and crop productivity in the region. Given the scale and
commonality of the challenges of many countries in the region and the
transboundary nature of important issues like climate change and shared
water resources, collective action and partnerships are essential. Both of
which contribute to both local and regional stability.
These links between water management, fragility and conflict are all
discussed in the recently launched joint UN’s FAO and World Bank report
“Water Management in Fragile Systems”, which discusses how investments in
water can be conducive to stability by addressing short-term livelihood
needs and long-term sustainability challenges.
**Anders Jagerskog is Senior Water Resources Management Specialist at the
World Bank and Pasquale Steduto is the Water Scarcity Regional Initiative
Delivery Manager and Regional Programmes Coordinator at FAO Regional Office
for the Near East and North Africa.
US Sanctions Should Pressure Iran to Stop Supporting Terrorism
Fox News/Author: Ted Budd/August 28/18
The Trump administration deserves credit for withdrawing from the disastrous
Iran nuclear deal. A lot of pundits didn’t think President Trump was serious
when he threatened to pull out of the agreement, but he showed otherwise.
Now that the president has decided to impose “snapback” sanctions on Iran,
we can now focus our economic power on the destabilizing behavior of the
Iranian government.
It is clear that Iran is promoting the expansion of military and terrorist
activities across the Middle East. As the Trump administration rightfully
begins to implement sanctions against Iran to combat this expansion, we have
to examine the actions of the Iranian government on several fronts.
Iran’s continued support of the Hezbollah terrorist organization with both
financial and political assistance, as well as weapons and tactical
training, deserves close examination. Western diplomats and Lebanese
analysts estimate that Iranian financial support for Hezbollah averages
around $100 million each year, sometimes reaching amounts closer to a
quarter of a billion dollars.
Hezbollah has also received Iranian-supplied weaponry, including 11,500
missiles that have already been placed in Lebanon. Along with the supplied
weapons, over 3,000 Hezbollah militants have undergone Iranian training.
They have learned about guerilla warfare tactics, operation of unmanned
drones and marine warfare.
Additionally, through Iran’s support and through their own illicit financing
and criminal networks, Hezbollah has become a dominant force and a direct
source instability in the Middle East.
Hezbollah has been fighting in defense of Syrian President Bashar Assad. It
has provided material support for designated terrorist organizations like
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It has engaged in training and command
operations for militia groups in Iraq. It has provided ballistic missiles
and leadership to the Houthi insurgency in Yemen. In addition, there are
reports of an increasing Hezbollah presence in North Africa.
All of these activities pose a direct threat to U.S. security interests,
contribute to the prolonging of conflicts across the Middle East, and pose
threats to our key allies in the region.
Finally, we should pay attention to Qatar’s continued support of
state-sponsored terrorism efforts. Our efforts to limit Iran’s support for
terrorism require cooperation. Qatar’s ongoing support and funding for
terrorist groups has been well- documented.
It’s of increasing concern that Iranian banks are moving their foreign
exchange operations to the Qatar National Bank. We know Iran’s access to
foreign currencies is an essential part of the government’s funding and
support for terrorism.
Further, Iran has recently voiced its support for the Qatari government,
strengthening our concerns with the activities of both governments.
As our Treasury Department continues to bring back sanctions against Iran,
the department should pay attention to these issues and keep a close watch
over the actions of both the Qatari and Iranian governments, as well as
Hezbollah’s illicit activities around the world.
Iran, Qatar and Hezbollah are responsible for the increase in
terrorist-based activities across the Middle East, and we must impose harsh
sanctions that directly limit the Iranian regime's access to finance. The
sanctions against Iran will affect all major industries, thereby preventing
the leadership from funding destabilizing activities in the Middle East and
wider world.