LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 25/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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We cannot do a thing against the truth, but only for it
02 Corinthians 13/01-13: " This is now the third time that I am coming to visit you. “Any accusation must be upheld by the evidence of two or more witnesses”—as the scripture says.  I want to tell those of you who have sinned in the past, and all the others; I said it before during my second visit to you, but I will say it again now that I am away: the next time I come nobody will escape punishment.  You will have all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. When he deals with you, he is not weak; instead, he shows his power among you.  For even though it was in weakness that he was put to death on the cross, it is by God's power that he lives. In union with him we also are weak; but in our relations with you we shall share God's power in his life.  Put yourselves to the test and judge yourselves, to find out whether you are living in faith. Surely you know that Christ Jesus is in you?—unless you have completely failed.  I trust you will know that we are not failures.  We pray to God that you will do no wrong—not in order to show that we are a success, but so that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to be failures.  For we cannot do a thing against the truth, but only for it. We are glad when we are weak but you are strong. And so we also pray that you will become perfect.  That is why I write this while I am away from you; it is so that when I arrive I will not have to deal harshly with you in using the authority that the Lord has given me—authority to build you up, not to tear you down.  And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for perfection; listen to my appeals; agree with one another; live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.  Greet one another with the kiss of peace. All of God's people send you their greetings. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 24-25/18
"I Am Sick of Hijab, Sharia Law, Sharia Police"/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
Why Do Western Gays Abandon Their Islamic Brothers/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
How to Manipulate Migration Data? Take Belgium/Alain Destexhe/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
Prison in France: Terrorism and Islamism/Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
After hard, soft and smart, it’s sharp power/Adil Rasheed/Al Arabiya/January 24/18
Turkey sinks deeper in Syrian quagmire with Operation Olive Branch/Christian Chesnot/Al Arabiya/January 24/18

Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on January 24-25/18
Kuwait to Resume Assistance to Lebanon
US Stresses Lebanon Must Cut Hezbollah from Financial System
US Urges Lebanon to Distance ‘Hezbollah’ from Financial Sector
Turkey Hands over to Lebanon Suspect in Hamas Official’s Assassination Attempt
Lebanon: Calls for Official Probe into General Security Hacking Campaign
Aoun Concludes 'Positive' Visit to Kuwait
Hariri Meets Jubeir in Davos, Says Relation with KSA 'Very Good'
Berri: Nominations Begin Feb. 5, No Time to Amend Electoral Law
March 8 Camp to Confront Mustaqbal, LF in Elections
Aoun-Berri Row 'Won't be Resolved before Elections'
Rights Groups Urge Lebanon Probe in Alleged Cellphone Spying

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 24-25/18
Arab Leaders: We Can Resume Peace Talks Despite Jerusalem Controversy
Moscow denies Russian, Syrian forces behind chemical attack in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta
Trump urges Turkey to limit military actions in Syria
Erdogan vows to expand military operation from Afrin to Manbij
Syrian Democratic Forces says Turkey lying with claim that ISIS is in Afrin
Strikes kill 150 ISIS militants in Syria
ISIS claims attack on Save the Children office in Afghanistan
Iranian Security Report: Public’s Confidence Decline behind Protests
Tehran Reiterates Rejection of Negotiations Over its Ballistic Missile Program
Al-Jubeir: Mohammed bin Salman wants Saudi Arabia ‘a powerful state’
Saudi Crown Prince welcomes US House speaker Paul Ryan in Riyadh
SDF Denies ISIS Presence in Afrin, Acknowledges Foreign Fighters in its Ranks

Latest Lebanese Related News published on January 24-25/18
Kuwait to Resume Assistance to Lebanon
Kuwait - Mirza al-Khuwaildi/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018/Kuwait announced on Tuesday it would resume its economic aid to Lebanon and restore warm relations, which have been strained by Kuwait's accusation of Lebanese parties linked to Hezbollah of being involved in the Abdali cell conspiracy. This came following a meeting between Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah and Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Kuwait City. Lebanese sources said that Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Sabah gave his directives to the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to resume economic aid to Lebanon and respond to its needs.He was also quoted as saying that his country was ready to provide assistance to Lebanon directly and through international conferences. Relations between the two countries were shaken as a result of accusations by the Kuwaiti authorities to Hezbollah of transferring weapons to the Abdali cell and training its members, which threatens security and stability in the country. On July 22, 2017, Kuwait handed over an official protest note to the Lebanese government, calling on it to “assume its responsibilities” for “irresponsible practices” by Hezbollah. The Lebanese government sought to contain the crisis, while Hezbollah denied its involvement in the conspiracy that targeted Kuwait. Observers believe that the Kuwaiti initiative to resume aid to Lebanon was an indication that disagreement between the two countries has been brought to an end. Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Kuwait’s Emir informed Aoun that he had given the necessary instructions to the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to respond to Lebanon’s needs. “We will not hesitate to provide any assistance for Lebanon, whether directly or through international conferences," Sheikh al-Sabah said.
Aoun, for his part, Aoun expressed gratitude for Kuwait’s continuous support. The NNA reported that he has also asked for Kuwait’s participation in the three conferences to be held in support for Lebanon, in Rome, Paris, and Brussels. “The stability Lebanon is enjoying encourages investment and contribution to the economic development,” Aoun told his host, according to the NNA. The two leaders agreed on the need for a unified Arab stance “in the face of Arab and regional developments”. They also discussed the Syrian refugee crisis and condemned the US decision to consider Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

US Stresses Lebanon Must Cut Hezbollah from Financial System
voanews/January 23, 2018/Lebanon must cut Iran-backed Hezbollah from the financial sector, a U.S. official on combating illicit finance said Tuesday, two weeks after Washington began a new push to disrupt the militant group's global financing routes. On a two-day visit to Lebanon, the U.S. Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea "urged Lebanon to take every possible measure to ensure [Hezbollah] is not part of the financial sector."Billingslea also "stressed the importance of countering Iranian malign activity in Lebanon," a statement from the United States embassy in Lebanon said.
The Iran-backed, Shiite Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist group by Washington, but sits in Lebanon's delicate national unity government. U.S. officials say Hezbollah is funded not just by Iran but by global networks of people, businesses and money laundering operations.
The U.S. Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Acts of 2015 and 2017 aimed to sever the group's funding routes and a number of people linked to Hezbollah are on sanctions lists. The United States has had to balance its targeting of Hezbollah funding routes with the need to maintain Lebanon's stability. Lebanese banking and political authorities have lobbied Washington to make sure its anti-Hezbollah measures do not destroy the banking system underpinning the economy. In his meetings with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and other banking and political figures, Billingslea said the U.S. government was committed to work with Lebanon to protect its financial system and support a "strong, stable and prosperous Lebanon." Billingslea also said Washington would help Lebanon protect its financial system from Islamic State and other militants.
Two weeks ago, the Trump administration set up a team to reinvigorate U.S. investigations into Hezbollah-linked drug trafficking. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week denied any involvement in drug trafficking and said Hezbollah had a very clear religious and moral stance which forbids drugs and drug trading.

US Urges Lebanon to Distance ‘Hezbollah’ from Financial Sector
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018/US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea has urged Lebanon to ensure “Hezbollah” is not part of the financial sector, the US embassy in Beirut said. The mission said that Billingslea’s two-day visit to Beirut this week was aimed at discussing ways to combat illicit finance, including financing of Hezbollah’s “terrorist and trafficking activities.”During the visit, the US official met with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, Chairman of the Banking Control Commission Samir Hammoud, the Association of Banks of Lebanon, and the Union of Arab Banks. In his meetings, Billingslea “stressed the importance of countering Iranian malign activity in Lebanon, and the US commitment to help Lebanon protect its financial system from Hezbollah, ISIS, and other terrorist organizations,” the embassy said in a statement. “Billingslea also urged Lebanon to take every possible measure to ensure Hezbollah is not part of the financial sector,” it said. Billingslea “highlighted the close partnership that the US government has with the Central Bank of Lebanon and Lebanese financial institutions, and reiterated the importance of adhering to US sanctions.”The US Congress adopted a law in 2015 for sanctions against banks that knowingly finance Hezbollah.  Billingslea reiterated Washington’s commitment to protect and promote the Lebanese financial system and to support a stable and prosperous Lebanon, the US embassy added. His visit came after US Attorney General Jeff Session's announcement earlier this month that the Justice Department is forming a team of prosecutors to investigate drug trafficking and money laundering activity linked to Hezbollah.

Turkey Hands over to Lebanon Suspect in Hamas Official’s Assassination Attempt
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018/Turkish authorities handed over to Lebanon on Tuesday a suspect involved in the failed assassination attempt against prominent Hamas official Mohammed Hamdan in the southern city of Sidon. Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau was handed the suspect, Lebanese Mohammed Youssf al-Hajjar, at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, reported the National News Agency. Hamdan escaped the assassination attempt that took place in Sidon on January 14. The perpetrators were tasked by the Israeli Mossad intelligence service to assassinate the figure. A second suspect remains at large. Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that a Turkish security delegation had escorted Hajjar from Istanbul, where he was arrested, and he was transported back to Lebanon where he was detained by the Intelligence Bureau and General Security officers at Beirut’s airport. The arrest in Turkey was possible after the Lebanese authorities had provided their Turkish counterparts with the details of Hajjar’s flight departure time from Beirut to Istanbul. He was detained within hours. Lebanon’s Mustaqbal Movement sources said that Turkey’s quick action to turn over the suspect to Lebanon has eased political and security concerns in the country. The development will be on the agenda of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s trip to Ankara next week. The ISF Intelligence Bureau was able to uncover the identities of the suspects in the Sidon bombing by monitoring their telephone activity and through surveillance cameras that are installed at the bombing site and its surroundings.They were able to identify Lebanese Ahmed Beitieh as the main suspect in the crime. Beitieh, 38, hails from the northern city of Tripoli and has no prior criminal record. He works in the trade industry and frequently travels to the Netherlands. Investigations said that Beitieh and his accomplices had planted an explosive in Hamdan’s vehicle, which parked in Sidon, hours before carrying out their attack. They had used two vehicles in their operation, both of which have been seized by security authorities. Beitieh left Lebanon for Amsterdam on the same day as the failed assassination attempt. It is likely that he was recruited by Israeli intelligence while he was abroad. Later on Tuesday, the State Security General Directorate warned Lebanese social media users against contacting Israelis “under any pretext in order to avoid their recruitment as enemy agents.”

Lebanon: Calls for Official Probe into General Security Hacking Campaign
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018//Several non-governmental organizations have called on Lebanon’s general prosecutor to investigate reports of secret large-scale surveillance tied to the country’s General Security department, and urged the authorities to “immediately end" any arbitrary surveillance program.
“If these allegations are true, this intrusive surveillance makes a mockery of people’s right to privacy and jeopardizes free expression and opinion,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Lebanese authorities should immediately end any ongoing surveillance that violates the nation’s laws or human rights, and investigate the reports of egregious privacy violations,” she added. Seven human rights and media organizations, including HRW, said privacy and surveillance researchers released a report this month alleging that a malware espionage campaign responsible for stealing hundreds of gigabytes worth of personal data was tied to the bulky, sandstone-colored high-rise that is owned by the General Directorate of General Security in Beirut. Researchers at mobile security firm Lookout Inc. and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said the espionage campaign has been running since 2012, affecting thousands of people in more than 20 countries, including activists, journalists, lawyers, and educational institutions. Their 49-page report said the espionage was primarily carried out through mobile devices that were compromised by fake messaging applications, allowing attackers to take photos, retrieve location information, and capture audio.  It added that the haul, which includes nearly half a million intercepted text messages, had simply been left online by the hackers.  Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad al-Mashnouq has not denied the report, but he described it as “exaggerated.”Director General of General Security Abbas Ibrahim also said: “General Security does not have these type of capabilities. We wish we had these capabilities.” The organizations said in their statement that international human rights law prohibits any arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, including private communications. “Any government interference with privacy must be necessary to achieve a legitimate aim and must be carried out in accordance with both international and domestic law,” they said.

Aoun Concludes 'Positive' Visit to Kuwait
Agence France PresseNaharnet/January 24/18/President Michel Aoun held a closed-door meeting with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah at the end of his visit to the Gulf country on Wednesday morning. Aoun's trip is his first to the Gulf since the shock resignation and return of Prime Minister Saad Hariri late last year.The president was accompanied by a ministerial delegation. The "positive" visit, with talks on bilateral issues, was "an achievement in itself," said Lebanon's Minister of State for Administrative Reform Inaya Ezzeddine, speaking at a reception for the Lebanese community in Kuwait City. "The Emir of Kuwait expressed his readiness during the bilateral talks to support Lebanon in all files, and for Kuwait to back Lebanon in the region," she said. The delegation met with the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, which Ezzeddine said she hoped would bear fruit for Lebanon's revitalization plans. "This government is in the process of developing new economic and development visions and God willing we will secure ways to finance them," she said, adding that Lebanon was working to finalize financial studies ahead of a planned support conference in Paris. Kuwait, for its part, has increasingly emerged as a regional force of moderation, taking on mediation of the Gulf political crisis. The Aoun visit follows a tense standoff between Lebanon and heavyweight Saudi Arabia over the shock resignation of Hariri from Riyadh in November. Hariri's surprise announcement sent tremors through Lebanon and the region, with many suspecting the Saudis of forcing him out. The crisis was defused when French President Emmanuel Macron invited Hariri for talks in Paris, after which the prime minister returned home to a hero's welcome -- and returning to France in December for a conference in support of his government. That meet ended with plans for three follow-up conferences: one in Paris in early 2018 on boosting investment in Lebanon; another in Rome on building up Lebanon's army; and a third in Brussels on helping the roughly 1.5 million Syrian refugees that have fled there.

Hariri Meets Jubeir in Davos, Says Relation with KSA 'Very Good'
Naharnet/January 24/18/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday met with a senior Saudi official for the first time since the November resignation crisis. A picture circulated by Lebanese TV networks shows Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir having a standing conversation with Hariri – both smiling – on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Hariri told reporters later in the day that his relation with the kingdom is “very good.”The premier's talks with the Saudi FM follow a tense standoff between Lebanon and the kingdom over his shock resignation from Riyadh in November. Hariri's surprise announcement sent tremors through Lebanon and the region, with many suspecting the Saudis of forcing him out. The crisis was defused when French President Emmanuel Macron invited Hariri for talks in Paris, after which the prime minister returned home to a hero's welcome.Earlier on Wednesday, Hariri held separate talks with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. “The discussions focused on the preparations for the Rome II Conference, the Cedar Conference and the Brussels Conference. They also tackled regional developments as well as the bilateral relations,” Hariri's office said. Earlier in the day, the premier held talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan. Talks tackled “the regional and international developments and the relations between the two countries,” according to the premier's office. “It was an occasion to explain to His Highness the decision that was taken by the Lebanese government to dissociate Lebanon from all the problems, conflicts and wars in the region. I asserted to him that all political components have committed to this government resolution,” Hariri said after the talks. “We are keen on having great and special relations with all Arab countries,” Hariri added, revealing that he will soon visit Jordan to coordinate on the refugee file. Earlier, Hariri held talks with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Swiss President Alain Berset and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde. Hariri's talks with Gentiloni tackled “the preparations for the Rome 2 conference to support the Lebanese Army and security forces as well as the bilateral relations between the two countries,” Hariri's office said. The premier's discussions with the Swiss president meanwhile addressed “the latest developments in Lebanon and the region as well as the bilateral relations between the two countries.”

Berri: Nominations Begin Feb. 5, No Time to Amend Electoral Law
Naharnet/January 24/18/Speaker Nabih Berri stressed Wednesday that there is no time left to amend the electoral law seeing as the nominations and electoral campaigns are scheduled to begin on February 5. Noting that any amendments would lead to postponing the elections, Berri noted that “nominations begin on February 5 and come to an end on March 7, and the complete electoral lists are supposed to be submitted to the Interior Ministry by March 27.”“Had we resorted to amendments, the law and the elections would have been thwarted,” Berri said during his weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting with lawmakers. “The calendar stipulated by the law confirms that we have entered the elections phase. Any attempt or talk of amendments has become behind us and it would be inappropriate,” the Speaker added. “Electoral campaigns cannot begin if the electoral law is undergoing changes,” Berri pointed out. Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has recently called for amending the law to expand the deadline for expat voting registration, but Berri has warned that any amendments would practically lead to postponing the elections. Bassil's suggestion has been referred to a ministerial panel tasked with studying the implementation of the new electoral law.

March 8 Camp to Confront Mustaqbal, LF in Elections
Naharnet/January 24/18/The March 8 forces have decided to form a unified electoral alliance to confront the lists of al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces in the upcoming parliamentary elections, a media report published Wednesday said. “The March 8 lists will seek local alliances with the Free Patriotic Movement where there is a mutual interest for both parties. They will however confront the lists of Mustaqbal and the LF,” pro-March 8 newspaper al-Akhbar reported. The daily revealed that over the past few days, Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem had met with Syrian Social Nationalist Party leader Hanna al-Nashef, ex-minister Wiam Wahhab and the majority of Hizbullah's Sunni allies such as ex-minister Abdul Rahim Mrad, ex-MPs Jihad al-Samad, Osama Saad and Adnan al-Traboulsi, the head of the Northern National Center Kamal al-Kheir and the journalist Salem Zahran.
“Qassem will continue his meetings in the coming days,” al-Akhbar added.Prominent March 8 sources meanwhile told the daily that there is a possibility for an alliance with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat in several districts. “Nothing prevents allying in certain districts, and the possibility hinges on Jumblat's ability to break his alliance with Hariri,” the sources said.According to the newspaper, the March 8 forces have decided to back Abdul Rahim Mrad's list in Western Bekaa, whereas Jumblat has decided to ally there with Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Also according to al-Akhbar, the March 8 forces will form a Beirut list comprising al-Ahbash's candidate Adnan al-Traboulsi and SSNP's candidate Fares Saad and “will not field a Druze candidate in the face of Jumblat's candidate.” Elsewhere, the March 8 forces are seeking a broad alliance in the Chouf-Aley district that gathers Wahhab, Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan, the SSNP and pro-March 8 Sunni candidates. It will also seek to ally with the FPM.

Aoun-Berri Row 'Won't be Resolved before Elections'
Naharnet/January 24/18/An major spat between President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri over a disputed decree will not be resolved before the May parliamentary elections, a prominent political leader has said. The talks that were held over the past weeks have led to a conclusion that "there will be no solution for the senioriy decree crisis before the parliamentary elections," a political leader who mediated in the crisis told al-Joumhouria daily in remarks published Wednesday. He revealed that "this crisis surpasses the declared reasons, something that those involved in it have acknowledged.""These reasons will become clear during talks to form the new government that will emerge from the elections," the political leader added. The Aoun-Berri spat broke out after the president and the premier signed a decree granting one-year seniority to a number of officers. Berri and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil have insisted that the decree should have also carried the finance minister's signature. Aoun and his aides have argued that the decree did not require Khalil's signature because it did not entail any “financial burden,” a point Berri and officials close to him have argued against. Ain el-Tineh sources have meanwhile warned that the decree would tip sectarian balance in favor of Christians in the army's highest echelons. The officers in question were undergoing their first year of officer training at the Military Academy when Syrian forces ousted Aoun's military government from Baabda in 1990. They were suspended by the pro-Damascus authorities until 1993 before they resumed their officer training course as second-year cadets.

Rights Groups Urge Lebanon Probe in Alleged Cellphone Spying
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/January 24/18/Eight rights groups including Human Rights Watch called on Lebanese authorities Wednesday to investigate reports of a massive espionage campaign traced back to a government security agency. Digital researchers last week said they had uncovered a hacking campaign using malware-infected messaging apps to steal smartphone data from people in more than 20 countries, including journalists and activists. The report tracked the threat, which the researchers dubbed "Dark Caracal", to a building in Beirut belonging to the Lebanese General Security Directorate. Eight rights groups and media organizations called on Lebanon's general prosecutor on Wednesday to investigate who was behind the campaign. "If these allegations are true, this intrusive surveillance makes a mockery of people's right to privacy and jeopardizes free expression and opinion," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Lebanese authorities should immediately end any ongoing surveillance that violates the nation's laws or human rights, and investigate the reports of egregious privacy violations." Other signatories included the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH), the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, and Lebanon's Social Media Exchange (SMEX). Hundreds of gigabytes of data have been taken from thousands of victims in more than 21 countries, said the report, authored by digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation and mobile security firm Lookout.
They called Dark Caracal "one of the most prolific" mobile espionage campaigns to date. With fake versions of secure messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal, the scheme has enabled attackers to take pictures, capture audio, pinpoint locations, and mine handsets for private data.
According to the report, Dark Caracal used FinFisher, surveillance software used by governments around the world. In 2015, Toronto-based research group Citizen Lab found that General Security and other Lebanese security forces have used FinFisher for surveillance in Lebanon. General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim did not explicitly deny the report. "The report is very, very, very exaggerated. We don't have these capabilities. I wish we had those abilities," he said. In comments to the media, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq also appeared to confirm there was at least some truth to the report. "It's not that it's not true, it's just very overblown," said Mashnouq.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 24-25/18
Arab Leaders: We Can Resume Peace Talks Despite Jerusalem Controversy
Jerusalem Post/January 24/18/Renewing the negotiations is dependent on goodwill expressed by both parties,” said King Abdullah of Jordan
Arab leaders in Davos expressed optimism Wednesday about the possibility of renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, despite controversy over the recent US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. King Abdullah II of Jordan told Maariv during the Davos conference that, following US President Donald Trump's announcement and intention to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, he would rather see the glass half full and focus on relations with Israel and how these ties can promote peace. he king said that “renewing the negotiations is dependent on goodwill expressed by both parties.” He also added that he would “prefer to remain optimistic.”Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir told Maariv that “[we] must wait for the American initiative,” and that “if it will have components that both parties can accept, it will be possible to renew negotiations despite the current crisis surrounding the Trump statement.”At the same time, on the sidelines of the conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, Swiss President Alain Berset and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. On Wednesday afternoon Netanyahu is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and in the evening will hold a meeting with French President Emanuel Macron.  Another meeting is scheduled with the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame. Their meeting is likely to deal with Israel's intention to deport illegal migrant workers to Rwanda and the controversy surrounding the issue.

Moscow denies Russian, Syrian forces behind chemical attack in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta
Reuters, Moscow/Al Arabiya/January 24/18/Russia denied accusations that Moscow and Syrian governmental forces were behind a chemical attack in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta on Jan. 22, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in statement on Wednesday, adding that the attack itself has not been confirmed. It also said that accusations were U.S. “propaganda” aimed at undermining peace talks on the Syrian civil war that Russia is hosting in the city of Sochi, due to begin on Monday, or "even torpedo the Syria peace process".

Trump urges Turkey to limit military actions in Syria
Reuters, Washington//Al Arabiya/January 24/18 /US President Donald Trump urged Turkey to curtail its military operations in Syria and avoid risk of conflict with American forces, in a call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, the White House said. "President Trump relayed concerns that escalating violence in Afrin, Syria, risks undercutting our shared goals in Syria," the White House said in a statement. "He urged Turkey to deescalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees." A statement from Erdogan’s office said that he told President Trump the United States must halt weapons support to the Kurdish YPG militia. The operation, launched at the weekend, aimed to "purge terrorist elements" from Afrin for Turkey's national security and was conducted on the basis of international law, the statement from the Turkish president's office said.

Erdogan vows to expand military operation from Afrin to Manbij
Al Arabiya English/January 24/18/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confirmed that his country will continue to abort what he called “the conspiracies on its border with Syria” starting with the area of Manbij. Erdogan pointed out that the organization of the Kurdish units and protection units are two sides of the same coin, and that external parties control them, and exploit them as needed. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson proposed the establishment of a security zone inside Syria at a depth of 30 kilometers. This comes as the Turkish military operations continue in Afrin, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the return of the Turkish aerial bombardment north of Aleppo province. The attacks targeted areas in the town of Jendiris and Rajo district, and other places in the countryside of Afrin. Fighting continues between Kurdish factions and Turkish forces supported by the Free Army factions on the north-west axis of Afrin and the mountain of Mount Semaan in the south.

Syrian Democratic Forces says Turkey lying with claim that ISIS is in Afrin
Reuters, Beirut/January 24/18/The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the Turkish army had falsely claimed that ISIS is present in the Afrin region of northwestern Syria that is being targeted in a Turkish offensive, accusing it trying to mislead global public opinion. “The whole world knows ISIS is not present in Afrin,” Redur Xelil, a senior SDF official, told Reuters. The Turkish military said on Tuesday that at least 260 Syrian Kurdish YPG and ISIS militants had been killed in its Afrin operation. Xelil said the Turkish military was greatly exaggerating the number of SDF and YPG casualties. He confirmed YPG and SDF fighters had been killed, but declined to say how many. He also said the SDF had killed tens of Turkish forces and allied Free Syrian Army fighters, but said he did not have a precise figure.

Strikes kill 150 ISIS militants in Syria
Reuters, Washington/Al Arabiya/January 24/18/The US-led international coalition fighting ISIS said it killed nearly 150 militants in strikes on Saturday in the Syrian middle Euphrates River Valley. The latest strikes come as the United States urged Turkey to show restraint in its campaign against Kurdish forces in northern Syria and to focus on fighting ISIS militants. The United States has signaled an open-ended military presence in Syria as part of a broader strategy to prevent ISIS’s resurgence, pave the way diplomatically for the eventual departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and curtail Iran’s influence.
“The precision strikes were a culmination of extensive intelligence preparation to confirm an ISIS headquarters and command and control center in an exclusively ISIS-occupied location in the contested middle Euphrates River Valley,” a statement issued on Tuesday said, using an acronym for ISIS.
The strikes took place near As Shafah, Syria and killed between 145 and 150 militants. The statement added that US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes Kurdish YPG fighters, helped in target observation. Turkey seeks to avoid any clash with US, Russian or Syrian forces but will take any steps needed for its security, a Turkish minister said on Tuesday, the fourth day of its air and ground offensive against Kurdish forces. The United States and Russia both have military forces in Syria and have urged Turkey to show restraint in its campaign, named Operation Olive Branch, to crush the US-backed Kurdish YPG in the Afrin region on Turkey’s southern border. “Our SDF partners are still making daily progress and sacrifices, and together we are still finding, targeting and killing ISIS terrorists intent on keeping their extremist hold on the region,” Major General James Jarrard, commander of special operations for the coalition, said in the statement. The United States has led an international coalition conducting air strikes against ISIS since 2014. US troops have served as advisers on the ground with Iraqi government forces and with Kurdish and Arab groups in Syria. The coalition has said in the past that fewer than 1,000 ISIS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, but that the militant group still remains a threat. The figure excludes areas in western Syria under the control of Assad’s government and his allies.

ISIS claims attack on Save the Children office in Afghanistan
Reuters, Jalalabad/Al Arabiya/January 24/18/ISIS group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on Save the Children's office in east Afghanistan that left at least two people dead and 14 others wounded. "A martyrdom-seeking operation with an explosive-laden vehicle and three immersing attacks targeted British and Swedish foundations and Afghan government institutes in the city of Jalalabad," ISIS said via its propaganda arm Amaq. Save the Children suspends afghan operations. British-based charity Save the Children said it has suspended operations in Afghanistan after the deadly raid claimed by the ISIS group on its office in the country's east on Wednesday. "Save the Children can confirm that the security incident affecting our office in Jalalabad, Afghanistan is still ongoing," a spokesperson said in a statement. "In response to this all of our programs across Afghanistan have been temporarily suspended and our offices are closed."Militants stormed an office of the Save the Children aid agency in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday and battled security forces who surrounded the building, wounding at least 11 people, officials said. The attack began with a suicide car bomb outside the office, followed by gunmen entering the compound and battling Afghan special forces, a spokesman for the government in the eastern province said. “There was a blast and the target was Save the Children,” said spokesman Attaullah Khogyani. “Attackers entered the compound and the fight is going on.”The director of the provincial health department said 11 wounded people had been taken to hospital. “An explosion rocked the area and right after that children and people started running away,” said Ghulam Nabi, who was nearby when the bomb exploded. “I saw a vehicle catch fire and then a gunfight started.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban, seeking to reimpose Islamic rule after their 2001 ouster, issued a statement denying involvement. There are several other aid groups and government offices in the immediate area, and security forces evacuated people from surrounding buildings while they exchanged fire with the militants. “We are devastated at the news that our Save the Children office in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, came under attack this morning as armed men entered the building, about 9 a.m. today local time,” a Save the Children spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our primary concern is for the safety and security of our staff. We are awaiting further information from our team and cannot comment further at this time.” Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province, on the porous border with Pakistan. The province has become a stronghold for ISIS, which has grown to become one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous militant groups since it appeared around the beginning of 2015. Backed by intensive US air strikes, Afghan forces have claimed growing success against the Taliban and other militant groups, including Islamic State, but militant attacks on civilian targets have continued, causing heavy casualties. The attack in Jalalabad came just days after Taliban militants attacked the Hotel Intercontinental in the capital, Kabul, killing at least 20 people, including 13 foreigners. The attack underlines how difficult operating in Afghanistan has become for humanitarian aid organizations which have faced heavy pressure from armed groups and kidnappers. In October, the Red Cross announced that it was drastically reducing its operations in Afghanistan following attacks that killed seven of its staff last year. (With AFP)

Iranian Security Report: Public’s Confidence Decline behind Protests
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018/An Iranian security report on the recent protests revealed that the Iranians' confidence in the regime is declining in general, according to Iranian Deputy Minister of Interior for Security and Disciplinary Hossein Zolfaghari. Few days ago, Iran’s Interior Minister announced that it has presented a comprehensive security report on the recent riots, which lasted for more than 10 days in several Iranian cities, to President Hassan Rouhani. Zolfaghari explained that the report identifies three major issues as reasons for the protests in Iran: "a decline in public confidence", "mismanagement of public opinion" and "continued activity by foreign enemies." “The protests have seen a change in the level of protestors and slogans that have taken a more radical approach," Zolfaghari was quoted as saying by the state-run ISNA news agency. According to official statistics, 37 percent of the protests were due to economic reasons and 74 percent were calls against the performance of unlicensed financial institutions. "After paying 11 trillion toman from the country's treasury to compensate more than 90 percent of those affected and investors, the expectations were to resolve the issues related to this protesting segment, but unfortunately the officials did not see it properly," the report said. It also criticized the lack of transparency in the level of financial corruption in those institutions, which led to the protests. Zolfaghari also pointed to statistics on the composition of the protests in terms of age and education level. He said that 59 percent of the participants in the protests had a high school certificate and below in terms of educations while 26 percent were university graduates and 15 percent had even higher degrees. Also, 84 percent of the participants were under 35 and have no "security backgrounds," according to the statistics.
The report mentions three main factors in the rise in protests. The first factor is resembled in the decline of public confidence, including the decline of the effectiveness of institutions and agencies in dealing with the current conditions in the Iranian society, and resentment as a result of internal conflict and some points of weaknesses. The second factor refers to the mismanagement of public opinion, the increase of claims and expectations, both in electoral and political competitions, without taking into account the sources and potentials of the country, that led to the accumulation of unrealized expectations and popular discontent.
The third factor, according to the report, points out to the content of accusations made by senior officials to foreign parties, saying they "stand behind the protests."The report notes the continued activity of foreign enemies, including the USA and its allies in the region and the opposition parties.

Tehran Reiterates Rejection of Negotiations Over its Ballistic Missile Program
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018/Senior Iranian officials have reiterated Tehran’s refusal to return to the table of nuclear negotiations and halt its ballistic missile program. Secretary General of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said the latest US steps that defied the nuclear deal were “illegal”, stressing that the JCPOA was “indivisible under any circumstances.”He emphasized that Iran’s missile program and defense capabilities would by no means be subject to negotiations, as reported by Tasnim News Agency. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused Iran on Monday of not respecting part of UN Resolution 2231, which calls on Tehran to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads. The Iranian nuclear file was one of the main axes of Le Drian’s meeting with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in Paris. He noted that Paris was firmly committed to the principle of the nuclear agreement provided that Iran respected it.On Tuesday, Iran announced that its army forces have “successfully fired a ‘Nasr’ cruise missile from an onshore mobile launcher to destroy a naval target,” Tasnim News reported. “The Navy is also going to use long-range cruise missiles in the drill,” it added. Iranian government Spokesman Mohammad Nobakht said at his weekly conference on Tuesday that Tehran “will not negotiate with any party over its missile capabilities,” as reported by the government’s Mehr agency. “No one has the right to interfere in this regard with Iran’s affairs,” he was quoted as saying. “We will not negotiate with anyone in this regard because the defense structure is the right of the Iranian people,” he added. Iranian reports had pointed out that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif announced during his meeting in Brussels with the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain Tehran’s readiness to negotiate the missile program along with the nuclear file. However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Bahram Qassemi denied these reports during a press conference last week.

Al-Jubeir: Mohammed bin Salman wants Saudi Arabia ‘a powerful state’
Al Arabiya English/January 24/2018/Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair said on Wednesday that the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to turn Saudi Arabia into a normal and powerful country. "The world is not used to seeing Saudi Arabia moving quickly and boldly," he said during a conference held at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Some criticized Saudi Arabia for progressing slowly, and today the opposite is happening,” he added. The World Economic Forum will be held in Davos, Switzerland, from 23 to 26 January 2018, under the title "Building a Shared Future in a Disintegrated World.” The conference represents a global platform that brings together leaders from both the public and private sectors around the world, as well as 340 senior politicians and officials in the world.

Saudi Crown Prince welcomes US House speaker Paul Ryan in Riyadh
Al Arabiya English/January 24/2018/Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed the speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan in Riyadh on Wednesday. During the meeting, the two sides discussed “bilateral cooperation" between the longtime allies, reported Saudi Press Agency and also discussed issues of common interest. US-Saudi relations improved markedly since President Donald Trump took office last year with a much tougher policy towards Iran that has seen his administration demand revisions that the other parties to the deal warn will torpedo it. The audience was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior; Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Governor of Makkah Region; Prince Khaled bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi ambassador to the US; Chief of the State Security Apparatus Abdulaziz Al-Huwairini, and Chief of the General Intelligence Khalid Al-Hamdan. On the American side, it was attended by the Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy Christopher Henzel; Congressman, Chairman of House Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry; Congressman, Chairman of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Devin Nunes; Congressman, Chairman of Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Trey Gowdy; Congressman at House Ways and Means, Oversight and Government Reform Committee Vern Buchanan; Congresswoman at House Armed Services Committee Liz Cheney; Congresswoman at House Armed Services Committee Stephanie Murphy; Congressman at House Appropriations Committee Scott Taylor, and National Security Adviser at the Office of House of Representatives’ Speaker Jeffrey Dressler. On Thursday, Ryan is due to travel on to Abu Dhabi for talks with leaders of close Saudi ally the United Arab Emirates.(With AFP)

SDF Denies ISIS Presence in Afrin, Acknowledges Foreign Fighters in its Ranks
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 24/2018/The Syrian Democratic Forces denied on Wednesday Turkish military claims that the ISIS terrorist group was present in the Afrin region in northern Syria where it has been waging a military offensive against Kurdish factions. “The whole world knows ISIS is not present in Afrin,” Redur Xelil, a senior SDF official, told Reuters. He said the Turkish military had greatly exaggerated SDF casualties, though he declined to say how many had been killed. The Turkish army had announced on Tuesday that at least 260 People’s Protection Units and ISIS members had died in the offensive that it launched last week. Xelil said that the SDF had killed dozens of Turkish soldiers and their allies in the Free Syrian Army. He declined however from giving an exact figure. In addition, he revealed that foreign fighters, including Americans, Britons and Germans, were fighting with the Kurdish factions against the Turkish offensive. Meanwhile, a US official expected President Donald Trump to contact his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday to express his concern about Ankara’s Afrin operation.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 24-25/18
"I Am Sick of Hijab, Sharia Law, Sharia Police"
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11779/hijab-sharia-law-police
"The regime wants you to think that either there are no protests, or that the protests are solely about the economy. But I am not protesting the economy. Women are protesting the repressive Islamist laws. I am sick of Hijab, Sharia law and Sharia police. Women are sick of the Sharia police monitoring them constantly for what they wear, what they say, what they drink, where they go, and what kind of relationships they have". – Leila, a young Iranian woman.
What now is the fate of these women? The history of the Islamist Republic of Iran shows us that arrested women are faced with atrocities such as rape, torture or execution. Some die in detention surreptitiously.
Feminists claim to be champions of women rights around the world. They argue that "universality" is a key component of their cause.
Perhaps it is worthwhile, though, to examine their nice slogans against reality.
Women took to the street recently in the front lines of protests in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The demands of the women were clear: Remove Sharia law, eliminate the obligatory hijab, improve the rights of women, and not to treat women as slaves and second-class citizens. Simple.
Many women demonstrated their resistance by bravely removing their hijab, thereby violating the Islamist law of the land. One photograph that has become a symbol of the protests on social media, is of an Iranian woman raising her fist in the air while she goes walks through tear gas. A video and pictures that also have become a symbol of the protests, show an unidentified woman removing her hijab, placing it on a stick and waving it. She was reportedly arrested shortly after her act of defiance.
The video and pictures of an unidentified woman in Iran removing her hijab, placing it on a stick and waving it, which circulated widely on social media, have become a symbol of the recent protests in the Islamic Republic. The woman was reportedly arrested shortly after her act of defiance.
In a video, a woman protesting in the streets is seen saying, "You raised your fists and ruined our lives. Now we raise our fists. Be men, join us. I, as a woman, will stand in front and protect you. Come represent your country." Another woman, in a crime punishable by death, courageously chanted against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Her chants encouraged and prompted men behind her to chant also. These women can be labeled true heroes.
During the protests, in Iran, however, Western feminist groups did not even issue a simple statement of support for these extraordinary women, let alone take any concrete actions to help them.
The Iranian regime brutally cracked down on the protesters. It killed more than 20 people and injured many more. The regime also arrested more than 3,700 people, including young girls and women.
Again, there was not one statement from Western so-called feminists condemning the Iranian regime.
Leila, a young Iranian woman interviewed by the author via Skype, pointed out that, "The regime wants you to think that either there are no protests, or that the protest are solely about the economy. But I am not protesting the economy. Women are protesting the repressive Islamist laws. I am sick of Hijab, Sharia law and Sharia police. Women are sick of the Sharia police monitoring them constantly for what they wear, what they say, what they drink, where they go, and what kind of relationships they have".
What now is the fate of these women? The history of the Islamist Republic of Iran shows us that arrested women are faced with atrocities such as rape, torture or execution. Some die in detention surreptitiously. In the Sharia court, ambiguous charges will be brought against them as you are reading this, charges such as "Moharebeh" or "Waging war against God", a capital offense in Iran; "insulting Islam"; "being corrupt on earth"; "endangering the national security"; "insulting the Supreme Leader", or "insulting Allah (God)" for defying the rules. With no due or fair process, the detainees are also denied access to lawyers. The Islamist judiciary of Iran has already announced that some of the detainees face the death penalty.
Where are the feminists and mainstream leftist media? These women need support right now. They are facing severe retribution. If you want to see true feminists, these women are the real promoters of women's rights: they are risking their lives. They are not just uttering nice slogans in a nice, safe environment.
No one is asking Western feminists to be as brave as these women. Cannot they just simply issue a statement of support from behind their comfortable desks? Can they really keep on turning such a blind eye on what they claim is their important cause?
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He is the author of "Peaceful Reformation in Iran's Islam". He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu.
© 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.
*https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11779/hijab-sharia-law-police

Why Do Western Gays Abandon Their Islamic Brothers?
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10621/western-gays-islam-persecution
The LGBT establishment has, it seems, been hijacked by a politicized elite that cares little about the rights of their brethren in the Islamic world.
LGBT activists and celebrities have never once promoted a boycott of the Islamic regimes that stone, execute and jail their homosexual citizens. Why do they not orchestrate a campaign to boycott Iranian, Indonesian, Palestinian and Turkish goods?
Whenever Islamic radicalism has been defeated after its reign of horror and fear, what follows among ordinary citizens are scenes of hope and liberation.
Syrian women burned the burqas the Islamic State forced them to wear, after the militants were being driven out from the city of Manbij. "Damn this stupid invention that they made us wear," one woman said as she set fire to the garment. "We're humans, we have our freedom".
When the Taliban tyranny in Afghanistan ended, women's faces also began to reappear on the streets; and men, forced by the Taliban to grow beards, flocked to buy razors.
Why hasn't the West raised the question of gay rights under Islam? Go ask the LGBT establishment.
"Fight the nationalism that invokes walls and borders". This was the platform in 2017 of Rome Pride, the annual event of Italy's LGBT movement; it called for "resistance" against "populism" and yelled slogans such as "Make Italy Gay Again". But as the English magazine The Spectator noted, "the battle for gay rights stops at the borders of Islam". The Islamic State knows this well and, borrowing the slogan used by President Obama after the Supreme Court declared same-gender marriage legal, ISIS took to using the hashtag #LoveWins. Islamic supremacists laugh at our weakness.
During the summer, in cities across the West, the LGBT movement celebrated two weeks of marches and parades for "Rainbow Pride." At Chicago's "Dyke March," the organizers ejected marchers who carried rainbow flags with the Jewish Star of David. They were labelled "offensive" for this "inclusive" event, despite the fact that hundreds of gay Palestinians have found refuge in Israel.
The big New York Pride March last year became just another protest against President Trump, in favor of Obamacare and gun control (tell it to the 49 homosexuals murdered by ISIS jihadist Omar Mateen at the Pulse Club in Orlando), and against the Trump Administration's immigration policy. In Toronto, the Pride parade was dominated by the militants of Black Lives Matter. In Minneapolis, the LGBT marchers asked the police chief, Janee Harteau, to avoid the event.
Marchers at the 2017 San Francisco Pride Parade. (Image source: Pax Ahimsa Gethen/Wikimedia Commons)
That was just two ordinary weeks of "LGBT resistance" in the liberal and free West. What, however, was happening beyond its borders, in the lands of Islam?
In Erdogan's Turkey, Islamists attacked gays in Istanbul. Chechnya jailed and tortured gays. In Gaza, Hamas executed civilians and even fellow terrorists suspected of being gay.
Western LGBT marches did not raise a single flag against Chechnya, or advance slogans against the treatment of gays by the Venezuelan socialists, or protests against the murders of gays in the Islamic State. There were no chants against Indonesia, which has recently flogged homosexuals in the streets; no strikes to protest against the murders of gay Bangladeshi bloggers and LGBT activists, and no flash mobs against Iran, which had recently arrested 30 homosexuals in a night raid and submitted them to a "sodomy test".
But in the West, marchers shouted many useful slogans such as, "No cops! No banks". The marchers did not condemn the hacking to death of the editor of an LGBT magazine in Bangladesh.
At these LGBT parades, not a single slogan was heard against ISIS Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who declared a "war on gays" and whose henchmen, in a single day, executed nine men and one boy for being homosexuals. ISIS fighters are "tracking down every gay man". But at New York's gay pride parade, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Jared Kushner were called "queer-bashers", while Chelsea Manning, the idol of "fluid identity", thundered against America, evidently forgetting that Obama had graciously pardoned her.
The LGBT establishment has, it seems, been hijacked by a politicized elite that cares little about the rights of their brethren in the Islamic world. As Mark Steyn wrote, after ISIS jihadist Omar Mateen murdered 49 gays in an Orlando nightclub:
"the biggest mound of gay corpses ever piled up in American history and the worst terror attack on American soil since 9/11, all the usual noisy LGBTQWERTY activists fell suddenly silent, as if they'd all gone back in the closet and curled up in the fetal position".
It is now time for the LGBT activists to abandon this fetal position and fight for the freedom of their brothers and sisters in the Islamic world. For that, they would also find supporters among those who, in the West, oppose same-gender marriages. That battle would be gays' right to life, something conquered in the West long time ago but still questioned in many other parts of the world.
It is important to understand the death trap of the classic liberal position of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who, at Toronto's Pride Parade wore rainbow-colored socks printed with the Arabic words "Eid Mubarak" (a traditional Muslim holiday greeting). Trudeau just wished "happy pride to Allah", while many Muslim countries today condemn, if not murder, homosexuals.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali explained:
"no fewer than 40 out of 57 Muslim-majority countries or territories have laws that criminalize homosexuality, prescribing punishments ranging from fines and short jail sentences to whippings and more than 10 years in prison or death".
We need to understand that, as Milo Yiannopulous said, "as a gay person, the scariest words you will ever hear are "Allahu Akbar".
Gay fashion legends Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana faced a boycott and a backlash of controversy when they said they opposed gay "marriage" and adoption, find in vitro fertilization unnatural, and believe procreation "must be an act of love". The Italian pasta-maker Barilla caused outrage when its chairman Guido Barilla said he would only portray the "classic family" in his advertisements. But LGBT activists and celebrities have never once promoted a boycott of the Islamic regimes which stone, execute and jail their homosexual citizens. Why do they not orchestrate a campaign to boycott Iranian, Indonesian, Palestinian and Turkish goods?
The "LGBT resistance" need get out from under its "safe space" of Western "rights", complacency, moral relativism and security. They need to fight for their fellow persecuted "immorals" languishing in the Islamic world, beyond the borders of Western freedom. Their silence only encourages the intolerance aimed against them and others. It is not liberalism, permissiveness or tolerance. It is merely blindness, relativism and cowardice.
**Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
© 2018 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

How to Manipulate Migration Data? Take Belgium...
Alain Destexhe/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11774/belgium-migration-data
An honest report for this demographic forecasting should be called, "We shall soon be a million more, most of whom will be Muslims". But this kind of headline would invariably create a public debate on demography, population density and Muslim integration -- and that would be out of the question for European elites: that would make people super-anxious and worried.
Tricky surveys are only used for migration numbers; never for unemployment rates, literacy rates or GDP growth.
Unless there is rapid awareness about the exponential consequences of chain migration and arrivals from across the Mediterranean, mass migration will continue. Concealing this fact is pursued everywhere in Europe.
It should probably not come as a shock that statistics can be, and often are, presented and manipulated by elites. In Belgium -- and in all of Western Europe except Austria -- they form an informal multiculturalist lobby, which dominates universities, NGOs, public institutions and the media, in order to promote a pro-migration agenda.
In a relatively short time, Belgium has changed dramatically. Without any public debate, it has become a massive migration state. In just 15 years, Belgium has seen an increase of one million in its population -- from 10.2 million in 2000 to 11.3 million in 2015. These numbers represent a 10% rise over a very short period.
From 2000 to 2010, net immigration was nine times greater than in the Netherlands; four times greater than in France or Germany and even greater than in the United States, a country historically open to immigration.
Yet, this statistical reality has been hidden from the Belgian population. The elites and the media decide what people can talk about and what should be hidden. To force people to accept immigration as a given, data has to be hidden to avoid worrying the citizenry.
This is no grand conspiracy, no "Big Brother" masterpiece, but -- at best -- an honest enthusiasm for the multiculturalist ideology, or -- at worst -- the strong defensive mechanisms of Freudian psychology such as sublimation, denial or repression.
Information on flow but not on stock
Migration statistics are presented as annual flow. If this number goes down compared to the preceding year, it will be greatly emphasized; otherwise, it will be downplayed. A 10- or 20-year statistic would never be used. In looking at the scale of a country, annual flows are rarely subject to concern; but over a 10-year period, they could be alarming. We usually, for instance, talk about 40,000 naturalizations a year but none of these would remind us that there were also 200,000 naturalizations in three years and 608,322 in 12 years.
Those numbers represent 6% of Belgium's population. Additionally, no one writes that in just a few years, a million migrants arrived in a country of ten million, from 10.2 million in 2000 to 11.3 million in 2015.
Europeans move back to their country of origin, the others stay
In Belgium, a small country, open to its neighbors and host to the "capital of Europe," always has a procession of lobbyists and bureaucrats who have migrated from within Europe. This number is always larger, in terms of flow, than those arriving from other continents. The French and Dutch have the largest number of yearly migrants to Belgium, but after a few years they move back to their countries of origin. Turks, Moroccans and newcomers from other continents, do not.
So, the false impression is created that immigrants to Belgium are mostly Europeans, but in reality they are not. This incorrect statement is always reassuring and heavily emphasized, but there is never an analysis conducted over a period of 10 or 20 years. Also, a large number of European expatriates, according to emigration records, move back to their home countries. Moroccans, Algerians, Turks, and citizens of many other countries, apart from Americans, usually stay in Belgium... forever.
Demographic forecasts are not linked to migration
With the help of official forecasts, the media regularly note that the Belgian population is growing, and that this increase will continue. However, no one seems to be linking this rise in population to migration, even if, since 2000, that has been the driving factor.
During the coming decades, the Belgian State – already one of the most densely populated countries in Europe -- will again acquire one or two million more inhabitants, and will be confronted with numerous issues linked to this density, such as housing, education, healthcare, transportation, the environment, and so on. This projected increase in population is never emphasized or presented in relation to the number of Muslims in Belgium, which is expected to double (to 1,250,000, meaning 11.1% of the population) or even triple (to 2,580,000, meaning 18.2% of the population) before 2050, according to the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life. An honest report for this demographic forecasting should be, "We shall soon be a million more, most of whom will be Muslims". But this kind of title in the press would invariably create a public debate on demographics, population density and Muslim integration -- and that would be out of the question for European elites: that would make people super-anxious and worried.
Choice of words, and concealment of problems
The population increase continues in Brussels at an average of 1% per year. It is always characterized, though, as a demographic boom and never as a migration boom. Yet, migration and the higher birth rates of women coming from abroad are equivalent to this increase and might well account for it. Social issues are prominent. For instance, 90% of the people claiming social welfare benefits in Brussels have a migrant background. There have been tensions in public services, such as the administration of migrants by the civil service, hospitals and public transport, with a doubling of travelers in 15 years. More space is needed at schools: more than 40,000 additional pupils have been added to classrooms over 10 years. Moreover, the related costs are never debated or addressed. Those topics are just swept away as if they were totally disconnected to migration.
Disdain for the concerns of citizens
One of the surest means to dismiss the legitimate worries of a population is to ridicule people as if the major part of the population were ignorant. One can, for example, make use of a popular opinion poll asking, say, the number of Muslims in the country and then laugh at a popular exaggeration in the numbers. If Belgians (or Europeans) were just better informed or less stupid, the commentary on the poll results would say, people would stop worrying about migration, and everything would be shiny in the Brave New World again. These kind of tricky surveys, however, are only used for migration numbers; never for unemployment rates, literacy rates or GDP growth. No one is even trying to take into account this popular anxiety, even as it reveals intensifying societal unease.
Spillover effect of family reunification
In Belgium, around 50% of immigration is linked to family reunification. That number represents a higher level than those of our European neighbors and more than for most of Europe, even though all of western Europe has been hit by mass migration. A problem is that the type of mass migration Europe has seen is, by definition, exponential and without any end. There are marriages in name only, polygamy, marrying only within one's community for many Turkish and Moroccan weddings, and apparently often fraud.
The consequences on demographics of family reunification (chain migration) are never explained or taken into account.
Even Eurostat, the official statistics agency of the European Union, mixes data and ideology: that "immigration" is "good for Europe". In the very first lines of the latest report on migration (March 2017), Eurostat writes:
"In destination countries, international migration may be used as a tool to solve specific labour market shortages. However, migration alone will almost certainly not reverse the ongoing trend of population ageing experienced in many parts of the EU".
So, let us have more immigration!
Unless there is rapid awareness about the exponential consequences of chain migration and arrivals from across the Mediterranean, mass migration will continue. Concealing this fact is pursued everywhere in Europe. If we want to control and slow down immigration, according to the will of the majority of Europeans, the European people need at least to be aware of the gravity of the situation. Asking for an honest description of the migration crisis is vital if we wish to preserve the freedom of speech in democratic countries.
*Alain Destexhe is a Senator in Belgium, Former Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières and Former President of the International Crisis Group.
© 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.

Prison in France: Terrorism and Islamism
Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute/January 24/2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11787/france-prison-islam-terrorism
Like its police and the firefighters, France's prison guards say they live in a permanent climate of violence and fear. And their exasperation is growing.
"Before, every morning, I was afraid to discover a guy hanging in his cell. You know what I'm dreading today? To be slaughtered, stripped, stabbed in the back. In the name of Islam and ISIS. Every day, on my way to work, this fear gnaws at my belly." — 'Bernard,' a French prison guard.
"In the old days, aggressive behavior was linked to the difficulties of everyday life. Now hatred and violence are unleashed [by Islamists] against [our] authority, our society and its values." — Joaquim Pueyo, MP, former director of Fleury-Mérogis prison.
Instead of understanding that the famous deradicalization centers have not been useful because deradicalization did not take place, France's policymakers persist in thinking that the solution to the Islamist war is appeasement. Their new experiments all go in the same direction: pursuing the fantasy that "if we are nice with jihadists, they will be nice to us."
French prison guards are on strike. In a period of less than 10 days, a number of guards in various prisons were attacked and wounded, mainly by Islamists incarcerated for terrorist offenses or petty criminals apparently on their way to becoming radical Islamists. In reaction, the guards have blocked the normal functioning of the majority of prisons.
The wave of attacks began on January 11, 2018. Three guards of Vendin-le-Vieil's prison, in the north of France, were lightly wounded in a knife attack committed by the Christian Gantzarski, a German convert to Islam who joined Al Qaeda and masterminded the bombing of a synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia, in 2002.
On January 15, 2018, seven guards were attacked and injured by a "radicalized" inmate at Mont-de-Marsan prison, in the south of France.
On January 16, a guard at Grenoble-Varces prison almost lost an eye in an attack. Before entering a cell, he looked through the eye-hole in the door, when suddenly an inmate tried to put out his eye by jabbing a pencil through the eye-hole. Luckily, the guard was not injured.
On the same day, a 28-year-old inmate at the Tarascon prison punched a female supervisor in the face. Imprisoned for robbery, this detainee was suspected of being an Islamist undergoing radicalization.
On January 17, a guard at Grenoble-Varces prison was assaulted by an inmate who wanted to go to the prison infirmary without a doctor's appointment. Press reports did not mention if he were an Islamist or not.
On January 19, two guards were attacked by four Islamist inmates at the Borgo jail in Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. The guards were taken to hospital in serious condition. According to the prosecutor, "It is not possible to say that it is an Islamist terrorist attack."
On January 21, two guards -- a man and a woman -- at Longuenesse Penitentiary in northern France, were severely beaten by an inmate armed with an iron bar. They were later hospitalized.
On January 21, a total of 123 inmates of Fleury-Mérogis prison, in a suburb of Paris, refused to return to their cells at the end of exercise period. Intervention teams were called in to prevent a riot.
On January 22, guards at Craquelin Penitentiary in Chateauroux (central France), disarmed an inmate shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the Greatest") while threatening others with a knife. Before the guards managed to secure him, he managed to throw a chair at the security officers, slightly wounding one of them.
On January 22, according to the Ministry of justice, 27 prisons were totally blocked by guards on strike. According to the unions, between 120 and 130 prisons, out of a total of 188, were half- or totally paralyzed. Also according to the unions, a majority of the 28,000 guards on strike say they will not end the strike until the government provides sufficient resources to ensure their security.
Like its police and the firefighters, France's prison guards say they live in a permanent climate of violence and fear. And their exasperation is growing. 'Bernard,' a prison guard who requested anonymity, says:
"Before, every morning, I was afraid to discover a guy hanging in his cell. You know what I'm dreading today? To be slaughtered, stripped, stabbed in the back. In the name of Islam and ISIS. Every day, while I am on my way to work, this fear gnaws at my belly"
"What the guards are communicating is their feeling of abandonment," writes Le Monde.
Punches in the face, sprains, dislocations: Anthony, a supervisor at the Baumettes prison in Marseille, claims to have suffered four physical attacks in the last three years. Each time, he filed complaints, but all of them, were classified by the prosecutor. "We are asking for manpower, that is true," he said, "but also for judges to do their jobs because physical violence is becoming more and more common."
Terrorism and Islamism have changed the story of prison. According to Joaquim Pueyo, former director of Fleury-Mérogis prison, today a Member of Parliament, the situation is very simple:
"In the old days, aggressive behavior was linked to the difficulties of everyday life. Now, hatred and violence are unleashed [by Islamists] against [our] authority, our society and its values. [It is] not a surprise that guards, who are confronted with inmates' radicalization, become targets".
According official statistics of the Ministry of Justice, on December 1, 2017, slightly fewer than 80,000 people were in jail and prison in France. How many Muslim inmates are there in France? It is difficult to know, because the law prohibits any data based on race, religion or origin. In 2015, an official report from a Member of Senate, Jean-René Lecerf, quoted a study saying that in four of the biggest French prisons, more 50% of prisoners are Muslims. According the Ministry of Justice, 500 Muslims are currently in prison for terrorism and another 1,200 are common criminals that are being tracked as radical Islamists.
The prison guards' strike reveals much about the consequences of inadequate policies that have been pursued so far in criminal and prison matters. Guards are no longer willing to tolerate the violence and risk of death at the hands of Islamists and other radicals who threaten their lives in prisons.
Instead of considering that Islamism has apparently fundamentally changed the issue of criminal policy, the Ministry of Justice appears to continue thinking that the major problems are prison overcrowding and poor prison conditions.
Of course, problems of overcrowding and poor prison conditions are important. But administrative inertia, combined with the permanent political denial that Islamists are at war with France, make the politicians and civil servants blind to the disruptive character of Islamism in prison.
Instead of rethinking all prison policies from the position of Islamist risk -- the risk of guards being murdered, and the risk of Muslim inmates, who are the majority of 70,000 prisoners, being transformed into authentic jihadists -- the government tries to buy peace from the guards with a few salary increases and "experiments" to make Islamists "reintegrate" into a "normal life" in "normal society".
Instead of understanding that the famous deradicalization centers -- often converted medieval castles -- have not been useful because deradicalization did not take place, France's policymakers persist in thinking that the solution to the Islamist war is appeasement. Their new experiments all go in the same direction: pursuing the fantasy that "if we are nice with jihadists, they will be nice to us."
The situation is deadlocked because of a refusal to formulate the problem on factual basis. As long as policymakers do not consider Islamism as the number one problem -- the problem for which prison policy overall must be rethought -- France's prison guards will continue to pay with their suffering, and one day with their lives.
After the prison guards, it will be us. By the end 2020, 60% of convicted jihadists will be released -- that is, in less than three years.
Yves Mamou, author and journalist, based in France, worked for two decades as a journalist for Le Monde. He is completing a book, "Collaborators and Useful Idiots of Islamism in France," to be published in 2018.
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After hard, soft and smart, it’s sharp power
Adil Rasheed/Al Arabiya/January 24/18
The verbiage of the still evolving discipline of international relations grows thicker and more prolix by the day, making it ever more difficult for its exponents to keep pace with new ideas. It was in the early 90s when American political scientist Joseph Nye introduced the concept of ‘soft power’ and by the time US government started acknowledging its importance in mid-2000s, the Harvard professor introduced another concept ‘smart power’ as an extension of his earlier theoretical premise.
Power to influence
In recent months, a new term has caught the fancy of American political experts - ‘sharp power’. The coinage has not only been bandied as a legitimate concept in international relations, it is claimed that it is fast making redundant the post-Cold War terminologies of ‘hard’ power’, ‘soft power’ and ‘smart power’. Calling for a rethink of ‘soft power’, a report by the National Endowment for Democracy published last December argues: “the conceptual vocabulary that has been used since the Cold War’s end no longer seems adequate to the contemporary situation.”
To the less sanguine, ‘sharp power’ may be a hybrid of ‘hard power’ and ‘soft power’ or a sub-set of one of them. However, to its detractors the newly minted term is not a legitimate political concept but a mere instrument of information warfare launched by ‘motivated’ Western academia against the rise of China and Russia as influential ‘soft powers’.
The concept of ‘sharp power’ was first introduced in a paper ‘The Meaning of Sharp Power: How Authoritarian States Project Influence’ by Christopher Walker and Jessica Ludwig that was published in the noted US magazine on international relations Foreign Affairs on 16 November 2017. It was abstracted from their then upcoming report in International Forum for Democratic Studies titled: ‘Soft Power to Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence in the Democratic World’.
One of the great dangers of sharp power is that democracies might be tempted to imitate the sharp power tools of authoritarian regimes
The paper expounds Nye’s definition of hard power and soft power in order to then elucidate the concept of sharp power. It states that Nye conceived hard power as based on coercion, and largely being the function of a country’s military or economic might through threat or payment. In contrast, soft power was “based on attraction, arising from the positive appeal of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies—as well as from a vibrant, independent civil society”. Thus, soft power covers diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, economic reconstruction and development, as well as cultural influence like art, literature, music, cinema, design, fashion, and even food. In addition, smart power is the careful calibration of hard power and soft power to achieve political objectives against a target country or bloc, and refers to “an approach that underscores the necessity of a strong military, but also invests heavily in alliances, partnerships, and institutions of all levels to expand one's influence and establish legitimacy of one's action.”
New coinage
However, in recent months some Western political scientists have come up with the prevalence of a different power dynamic in the sphere of international relations, which they describe as ‘sharp power’. According to these academicians, ‘authoritarian states’ like Russia and China employ techniques of influence that may not be considered either ‘hard’ in an openly coercive sense or ‘soft’ as they are neither benign nor persuasive in their methods. In fact, far from using attraction and persuasion their attempt is supposed to cause distraction and manipulation. An article in The Economist recently defined “sharp power” by its reliance on “subversion, bullying and pressure, which combine to promote self-censorship.” According to the proponents of this new concept some countries “pierce, penetrate, or perforate the political and information environments in the targeted countries,” and thus their method of influence is neither ‘soft’ or hard’ but ‘sharp’. These political scientists particularly blame China and Russia for using ‘sharp power’ to promote their national interests in the international sphere. The argument here is that authoritarian states exploit freedoms in the Western world to covertly propagate their partisan and illiberal views. The proponents of ‘sharp power’ openly blame Russia and China for having opened media outlets and global television channels to manipulate news or establish educational or cultural centres abroad to “monopolize ideas, suppress alternative narratives, and exploit partner institutions.” It is also alleged that certain countries influence important politicians in the Western world or give election donations to political parties in order to effect change in a country’s leadership and policies.
Sharp and invasive
Interestingly, this theory of ‘sharp power’ comes in the wake of ongoing investigations by the FBI (US’ domestic intelligence agency) into charges that a top Russian banker having links with the Kremlin illegally moved money to fund President Trump’s election campaign in 2016. In Australia, Labor senator Sam Dastyari quit his country’s senate after reports that he had received money from a billionaire with ties to the Chinese government. The senator was known to have contradicted his country’s official position on the territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Germany’s spy agency has also accused China of contacting about 10,000 German citizens through social media, which includes legislators and civil servants, in the hope of ‘gleaning information and recruiting sources.’ It alleges that China has been using the LinkedIn business network to ensnare politicians and government officials, by having people posing as recruiters and think-tankers and offering free trips.
Western press reports also talk about China “grooming up-and-coming politicians from Britain, especially those with business links to the country”. In fact, Anne-Marie Brady of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand has gone to the extent of calling the use of ‘sharp power’ by China and Russia as the “new global battle”.
War of words
For its part, China has called the entire argument about its alleged ‘sharp power’ as “irresponsible and paranoid”. It attributes such allegations as a sign of anxiety among major powers towards the country’s growing international influence. As for Joseph Nye, the political pundit claims that one of the great dangers of sharp power is that democracies might be tempted to imitate sharp power tools of authoritarian regimes and lose their openness and soft power, which he deems as vital assets.
However, there are cynics who contend that the so-called sharp power tools and information warfare techniques are not the inventions or the exclusive preserve of China or Russia and have been used by secret services (particularly, espionage and manipulation) of various countries including democracies for a very long time.

Turkey sinks deeper in Syrian quagmire with Operation Olive Branch
Christian Chesnot/Al Arabiya/January 24/18
Is Syria becoming a death trap for Recep Tayip Edrogan? Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, the ‘Turkish sultan’ has committed all possible mistakes with his neighbor, showing a surprising lack of political acumen. He first thought that his old ‘friend’, Bashar al-Assad and his regime would collapse like a pack of cards in a few months. The Turkish president started imagining that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood would soon assume power in Damascus, like their Egyptian cousins. However, Erdogan soon became disillusioned.
Erdogan’s blunders
By opening its borders to armed groups, the Turkish president then let in the most heinous extremist elements that had for long made Turkey their base. Erdogan thought of hitting two birds with one stone: weakening the Baathist regime and the Kurds. In both cases, the Turkish president’s plans came a cropper. Bashar Al-Assad is still in office and taunting his counterparts in Ankara. As for the Kurds, they have advanced their groups as part of the international anti-ISIS coalition. The territory they control is more than three times the size of Lebanon!
Kurdish fighters may prove to be a mighty opponent to Turkish troops because they know the land as well as their own pockets.
Basically, Erdogan’s fears were never so much about the self-proclaimed Islamic State and the jihadists. To him, the number one threat was posed by the Kurds. He noted with horror that the great powers (United States, Russia, and France) supported the Syrian ‘Peshmerga’. It must be said that they were on the front lines against ISIS, from Kobane to Manbij and Raqqa. It is the People’s Protection Units, who recently arrested a group of senior French jihadists. In Paris, the popularity of the Kurds suddenly increased.
For Ankara, the project of a Kurdish-Arab border guard’s force supported by Washington was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This was followed by the Russian-backed Syrian regime’s offensive in the Idlib region to drive out the jihadists. Erdogan now saw red!
The Syrian quagmire
He therefore imagined and launched his Operation Olive Branch against the Kurdish canton of Afrin. In doing so, he has fallen a little deeper into the Syrian trap that might inexorably swallow him. It is an operation bearing very high risks. Even though the Turkish army is much more powerful than the People’s Protection Units, this offensive will not be smooth sailing.
First, the steep relief would favor the defenders. The Peshmerga could inflict heavy losses on the Turkish army, including its armored vehicles and tanks. Even if the Turkish army manages to occupy Afrin, it would have to hold its ground. The question is, for how long? However, in the Middle East more than anywhere else, the occupation armies have had varying fortunes, but always at a high human and financial cost. The canton of Afrin will probably be no exception.
Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units are known for their discipline and fierce fighting. They may prove to be a mighty opponent to Turkish troops because they know the land as well as their own pockets. There is little doubt that the Syrian regime will help them as well.
Another unknown factor is: what will be the reaction of the Kurds in Turkey? An internal front could open. Did Erdogan account for all the risks before giving the go-ahead to the Afrin operation? He probably thinks he will win by crushing all his opponents with an iron grip both within and without. What is certain is that Turkey is exposed to counter-shocks which could be painful. Erdogan’s feat has been to get everyone back in Syria. The Afrin's operation can also be seen as a desperate attempt by Erdogan to save what remains of any Turkish influence in Syria, which has been in decline since the fall of Aleppo in December 2016.