LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 03/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Explained/Iran's Proxy Wars: Can Trump Help Saudi Arabia Turn the Tide?
حروب إيرانية بالوكالات من خلال خلال اذرع مذهبية وميليشياوية : هل يستطيع ترامب مساعدة السعودية في
تحويل التمدد الفارسي؟
Haaretz/May 02/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64336/haaretz-explained-irans-proxy-wars-can-trump-help-saudi-arabia-turn-the-tide-%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84/
One of Donald Trump's main arguments for cancelling the Iran nuclear deal has been Iran's role in devastating conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon
Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a proxy war for almost 40 years, competing for regional supremacy from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon to Yemen.
U.S. President Donald Trump has strongly backed Saudi Arabia in its efforts to counter Iran's influence in the region. On multiple occasions, Trump has cited constraining Iran’s influence in the Middle East as cause for canceling the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which he claims allows Iran to continue to terrorize the region.
French President Emmanuel Macron offered a proposal last week at the White House to both save the Iran nuclear deal and address Trump’s issues with the deal. Under Macron’s proposal, the United States and Europe would agree to block any Iranian nuclear activity until 2025 and beyond, address Iran’s ballistic missile program and generate conditions for a political solution to contain Iran in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in battle for regional control as the Sunni majority Saudis try to expand influence to match and overtake the Shi'ite majority Iranians. Saudi Arabia has vowed to pursue nuclear weapons in the event the Iranians restart their nuclear program.
Israel and the U.S. fear Iran could fall back on its regional militant allies or proxies to retaliate against alleged air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, a strategy Iran has used with great success since its ruinous 1980s war with Iraq.
After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, the U.S. blamed Iran for training Iraqi militants to build so-called explosively formed projectiles, which penetrated armored vehicles to maim and kill soldiers. Tehran denied doing this. Western nations and U.N. experts also say Iran has supplied the Shiite rebels now holding Yemen’s capital with weapons, from small arms to ballistic missiles, something Tehran also denies.
Lebanon
Iran’s greatest proxy achievement is Hezbollah, the Lebanese
militant group and political organization that pushed occupying Israeli forces out of Lebanon in 2000. Since then, Hezbollah has remained an adversary of Israel and fought one war against it in 2006. Southern Lebanon’s rolling hills bordering Israel remain Hezbollah’s stronghold.
Iran could retaliate through Hezbollah, but the group has been battered in the Syrian war. Supporting embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad has seen hundreds of its fighters killed and wounded.
Hezbollah also wants to further integrate into local Lebanese politics as the nation votes on Sunday for a new parliament for the first time in nine years. Launching a new war could endanger its political support base, including possibly among its Shi’ite constituency, which is wary of another ruinous war with Israel.
After the surprise and temporary resignation of Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri in November 2017, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said Hezbollah had been "calling the shots" in the Hariri government, which included two Hezbollah ministers and was formed last year in a political deal that made Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, head of state.
Hezbollah and its allies will struggle to form a government without Hariri or his blessing, leaving Lebanon in a protracted crisis that could eventually stir Sunni-Shi'ite tensions, though there is no sign of this yet as all sides urge calm.
Announcing his resignation, Hariri cited an assassination plot against him and slammed Iran and Hezbollah for sowing strife and trying to "kidnap" Lebanon away from the Arab world. The declaration came as a surprise even to Hariri's aides.
It is not clear what comes next: Saudi-backed efforts to weaken Hezbollah in Lebanon failed badly a decade ago, ending with a bout of Sunni-Shi'ite fighting on the streets of Beirut that only underlined Hezbollah's military dominance.
Iraq
Iraq is unique in the Middle East as it is both a U.S. ally and an Iranian ally. In Iraq, Tehran-backed militias and Iranian commanders have often seemed as powerful as the U.S.-backed Iraqi military, most recently in an operation to retake Kirkuk from Kurdish forces.
So emboldened was Iran that top Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati trumpeted his regional alliance's success from Beirut early November 2017, declaring victories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. His statement to the media after a meeting with Lebanon’s Hariri was seen as a major provocation to regional Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
Iraq votes in a May 12 election, which could complicate and delay the formation of a government, threaten gains against Islamic State and let Iran meddle further in Iraq's politics.
About 60 percent of Iraqis are 27 or younger and many young people in urban areas say they want a secular government, underscoring the split within the Shi'ite voter base.
Syria
Since at least 2012, Iran has provided vital support for Syria's military. Tehran says its goal is battling extremist Sunni militancy. Its critics say it seeks to cement regional power extending through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force - an overseas arm of the IRGC - has appeared on frontlines across Syria, and coordinated with Moscow over its deployment in Syria in 2015. Iran says its forces are in Syria in an advisory role.
More than 1,000 Iranians have been killed in the war, including senior members of the Guards.
Iran-backed Shi'ite militias have come to Syria from around the region including from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to fight on the side of government forces. They have often been led in battle by Hezbollah.
Earlier this month, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia would be prepared to send troops into Syria under the U.S.-led coalition if a decision is taken to widen it.
Asked about Saudi troops on the ground in Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "We will sit down and talk about... how to best make sure that this is not America alone working on this, it's the Gulf states working alongside us."
Their manpower has helped pro-government forces hold ground in various battles, helping fill gaps in the Syrian army's capacities.
Yemen
Yemen's armed Iranian-aligned Houthi movement, which took out the Saudi-backed government in Yemen in March of 2015 and now controls northern Yemen, has fired over 100 missiles into Saudi Arabia, the latest salvo killing a man on Saturday in the southern Saudi province of Jizan. Those missiles have targeted the Saudi capital and key oil production facilities near Yemen - as well as Saudi oil tankers.
The United States and the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 accuse Iran of providing the missiles to its Houthi allies, which Tehran denies.
The war in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, which pits a coalition of Sunni Arab states friendly to the West against a Shi'ite armed movement sympathetic to Iran, has unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
The Houthis control the north of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. Saudi Arabia and its allies have been fighting on behalf of an exiled government with a foothold in the south
The Saudi-led coalition has launched thousands of air strikes on Yemen in the past three years, some of which have hit hospitals, schools and markets, killing hundreds of civilians while bringing Riyadh little closer to military victory.
The kingdom has said hundreds of its own soldiers and civilians have been killed in Houthi mortar and short-range missile attacks across their rugged southern border.
The United Nations says 10,000 people have died in the conflict so far, and millions face potential famine and disease because of disruption to food and medical supplies.
Around 22 million civilians, or 75 percent of Yemen's population, require humanitarian aid, according to latest U.N. data. The conflict has caused the worst cholera outbreak in modern history, with over 1 million reported cases.
**Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Palestinians: The Real Gaza Blockade
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 02/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12244/gaza-blockade
The Rafah border crossing is the Gaza Strip's single opening to Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. That border crossing is where the real suffering of the Palestinians has been taking place.
The Gaza Strip could be a livable environment if the Egyptians opened the Rafah terminal to allow the world to come and help the Palestinians living there.
As Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other organizers of the campaign have clearly stated in recent weeks, the Palestinian protests are aimed at thwarting US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East.
The weekly demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, which are scheduled to enter their sixth week this Friday, will undoubtedly continue to attract the attention of the international community and media.
Meanwhile, no one will pay attention to what is happening on the Gaza Strip's other border with Egypt, which has been closed for most of the past 10 years.
The demonstrations near the border with Israel are being organized by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip as part of the "March of Return" -- a six-week campaign of protests that is expected to reach its peak on "Nakba Day" ("The Day of Catastrophe"), the term used by Palestinians to describe the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
The Arab countries at the time opposed the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people and sent their armies to attack Israel, but lost -- a result that should probably be taken into consideration before one attacks. Since then, the Palestinians and Arabs have been commemorating their loss by holding anti-Israel protests and voicing their refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist.
There are, of course, no demonstrations planned along Gaza's border with Egypt to protest the continued closure of Gaza's better-known border crossing, Rafah -- its crossing to Egypt.
The Palestinians do not feel comfortable talking about Egypt's blockade of the Gaza Strip. They prefer to turn a blind eye to the severe travel restrictions imposed by Egypt on the residents of Gaza and instead put all the blame on Israel. Currently, Hamas leaders cannot leave the Gaza Strip without Egypt's permission. They are afraid to embarrass the Egyptians lest they be banned from leaving the Gaza Strip completely.
The organizers of the "March of Return," including several Hamas leaders, have repeatedly made it clear in the past few weeks that the real goal of the campaign is to "achieve the right of return" for Palestinian refugees and their several generations of descendants to their former homes and villages inside Israel.
For the Palestinians, the "right of return" means that Israel should allow millions of Palestinians to move to Israel -- a demand no Israeli government could ever accept as it would means turning the Jews into a minority in their own state.
Thus, the "March of Return" is hardly about a "humanitarian crisis" in the Gaza Strip. Instead, it is a campaign designed to put the issue of the Palestinian refugees at center stage and let the world know that the Palestinians will not give up what they call their "right of return."
The "March of Return," as Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said a few days ago, marks the beginning of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel. As Haniyeh and other organizers of the campaign have clearly stated in recent weeks, the Palestinian protests are aimed at thwarting US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East. The Palestinians claim that the plan is primarily aimed at "liquidating" the Palestinian cause and national rights.
Some Palestinians have argued that the "March of Return" is also aimed at ending the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since Hamas's violent takeover of the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007.
Despite the blockade, however, Israel has kept its border crossing with the Gaza Strip open, except for times when Hamas and other armed groups carry out terror attacks against Israelis. Even then, Israel closes the border crossings only for a few hours or days.
The civilian and commercial border crossings have also been open to some Palestinians and foreign nationals who enter and leave the Gaza Strip on an almost daily basis.
All eyes, then, are set on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel -- but what about Gaza's other border crossing, the one with Egypt?
The Rafah border crossing is the Gaza Strip's single opening to Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. That border crossing is where the real suffering of the Palestinians has been taking place. It has been mostly closed for the past decade, further aggravating the misery of the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. The Egyptians often cite "security reasons" as the main cause for the closure. According to Egyptian security sources, in the past few years there have been increased signs of cooperation between Hamas and some jihadist terror groups in Sinai.
The Gaza Strip could be a livable environment if the Egyptians opened the Rafah terminal to allow the world to come and help the Palestinians living there.
Israel's concern is that weapons could be smuggled into Gaza from the sea. This is the reason that Israel maintains a naval blockade along the Gaza Strip. In the past, Iran and Hezbollah have tried to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip along its seacoast.
Many of the problems in Gaza could be solved if the Egyptian authorities permitted Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip to pursue their studies or to seek medical treatment and work.
No one is asking the Egyptians to absorb the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and turn them into Egyptian citizens. No one is asking the Egyptians to provide the Palestinians with work and humanitarian and medical aid. No one is asking the Egyptians to compromise their security by opening the Rafah terminal.
Most of the Palestinians anyway do not want to stay in Egypt. For them, the Rafah terminal is just a passage to other countries.
True, the Egyptians have their own security concerns, especially in light of the increased presence of various Islamist terror groups in Sinai. These security concerns, of course, are not unjustified: jihadist groups continue to wage a campaign of terror attacks against Egyptian soldiers and civilians in Sinai.
Egypt's blockade of the Gaza Strip, however, began long before the emergence of the Islamist terror groups in Sinai.
Since 2009, the Egyptian authorities, with few exceptions, have kept the Rafah border crossing with Gaza closed. That year, the terminal was open for a total of only 35 days. 2014 was a bit better, with the terminal open for 125 days. In 2015, it was open for only 32 days, while in 2016, it was open for only 41 days. Last year, 2017, was the worst: the Egyptians opened the terminal for a total of just 29 days.
In 2017, Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip (pictured above) for just 29 days. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
The Egyptian blockade on the Gaza Strip is not, however, motivated mainly by security considerations. The Egyptians simply do not want to be responsible for the plight of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Cairo sees the Palestinians as "troublemakers" and "ungrateful" people, and simply do not want to help them.
In this regard, the Egyptians are not different from most of the Arab countries. The Arabs have had bad experiences with the Palestinians.
In the early 1970s, Jordan drove the PLO out of the kingdom in a bloody offensive known by the Palestinians as "Black September."
Thousands of Palestinians were killed or injured when the Jordanian army launched a massive military operation to stop the PLO from creating a state-within-a-state in Jordan.
The Lebanese had a similar experience with the PLO when the organization was based in Beirut during the 1970s and early 1980s. There, too, the PLO tried to create a state-within-a-state and posed a serious threat to Lebanon's sovereignty.
No Arab country wants to undergo the same experiences as Jordan and Lebanon. That is why most Arab countries impose strict travel restrictions on the Palestinians and even subject them to discriminatory and apartheid laws.
The Arab countries consider the Palestinians a major headache. The Arabs also consider the Palestinians "ungrateful," especially after the PLO supported Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Kuwait was one of several Arab countries that used to give the Palestinians millions of dollars in financial aid. However, when Kuwait fell into the hands of Saddam, the Palestinians were the first to take to the streets to celebrate the invasion and voice support for the Iraqi dictator.
It would make sense if the Palestinians in Gaza were to stage demonstrations near the border with Egypt to demand an end to Egypt's blockade of Gaza. There are good reasons, however, why Palestinians in the Gaza Strip do not do this. They know very well that any attempt to infiltrate the border with Egypt would be met with the full force of the Egyptian army.
It is one thing to endanger the life of an Israeli soldier by lobbing rocks or petrol bombs at him. It is a completely different thing however, when we are talking about attacking Egyptian soldiers. The Egyptians would raze the entire Gaza Strip and probably bring down the Hamas regime.
Repeated appeals by Palestinians to Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing to Gaza have fallen on deaf ears in Cairo.
Recently, the ّIslamic and National Forces, a group of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, called on Egyptian President Abed Al-Fattah Sissi to open the border crossing to allow wounded Palestinians from Gaza to receive medical treatment in Egyptian and Arab hospitals. Again, ostensibly for "security reasons," their appeal was completely ignored. Emad Al-Agha, a member of the ّIslamic and National Forces group, said there are intensive contacts with the Egyptian authorities to pressure Cairo to open the border crossing for "humanitarian" reasons.
Reports about the suffering of Palestinian travelers at the Gaza-Egyptian border crossing fill Palestinian media outlets, but these reports are almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media in the West. Western journalists are well aware of the Egyptian border closure, but as Israel is not involved, the reporters and their editors do not really care.
Thousands of Palestinians converge on the terminal between Gaza and Egypt whenever there is a rumor that it might be opened. Some wait there for days with their luggage and are forced to sleep out in the open. Some Palestinians are required to pay bribes to Hamas and Egyptian officials to obtain permits to leave the Gaza Strip through the terminal. A Facebook page entitled "The Rafah Border Crossing - Endless Suffering" shows dozens of examples of the humiliation the passengers experience there.
Like most Arab countries, Egypt cares nothing about the Palestinians, especially those living in the Gaza Strip. From the point of view of the Arab states, the Palestinians are Israel's problem alone. Yet Egypt is sending Palestinians to knock on Israel's door and blame Israel for the "humanitarian" crisis in the Gaza Strip, while it is really Egypt that is responsible for the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Arab and Egyptian hypocrisy achieves new heights as journalists from these "countries create "fake news" echo chamber reporting on the "'March of Return" and use it to condemn Israel for sealing its border with the Gaza Strip. When will the real blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian one, be called out and condemned in the mainstream media?
**Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
© 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.

Iranians were on Mossad agents' tail during operation to retrieve nuclear archive
Yossi Yehoshua/Ynetnews/May 02/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64319/ynetnews-iranians-were-on-mossad-agents-tail-during-operation-to-retrieve-nuclear-archive-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84/
New details emerge about the covert operation to procure Tehran's nuclear secrets, dubbed as a 'treasure trove'; Netanyahu says UK, Germany, France, China, Russia and the IAEA were invited to Israel to examine documents.
More details have been uncovered about the Mossad's operation to capture Iran's nuclear archives and bring them to Israel, which has been dubbed by senior Israeli officials as "the largest intelligence operations in a generation."
The archive—which includes 55,000 pages and 50,000 additional files on 183 CDs—was brought to Israel last February, two years after Israeli intelligence learned of its existence and began planning the operation to seize it.
According to a senior intelligence official, the Iranians tried to make the facility housing the archive, which was located in an industrial area in the Shorabad district of Tehran, appear like an old abandoned storage space to hide its true purpose.
Mossad agents nevertheless found it and reportedly went to procure the archive from the facility on January 31, 2018. According to an intelligence official, the Iranians learned of the break in at some stage of the operation, tried to locate the documents and CDs, and were even "on the tail" of the Mossad agents.
The intelligence official said the number of Iranian officials who knew about the existence of the archive—which included documents about Iran's nuclear activity over the previous 15 years—was so small that Tehran was stunned by the fact someone had been able to infiltrate it.
Ten days after the break in, Iran sent a drone from Syria into Israel, in what was possibly a response to the Mossad operation.
The senior intelligence official dubbed the archive a "treasure trove," saying Israel has never obtained such a large amount of materials in one operation.
He further noted the Mossad was unable to retrieve all documents hidden at the archive because "it would've been too heavy."
A massive team of analysts, nuclear experts and Farsi speakers were recruited to analyze and translate the seized documents. The Mossad also reportedly sought help from the Military Intelligence Directorate.
The intelligence official said the work of extracting all of the secrets hidden within the archive was a significant professional challenge, and noted there is much work left to do.
He added that the information already gleaned from the documents is very significant and includes new details.
"This archive gives us a lot of new details about the weapons program, and serves as proof on an entirely different level to the existence of such a weapons program, its characteristics and Iranian planning," he said.
The official noted that the "truly incriminating photographs could not really be presented to the public, because they show how a nuclear weapon is built. There is equipment Iran should not have, and they will have to provide explanations for this."
The senior intelligence official also rejected criticism from former Mossad deputy chief Ram Ben Barak, who claimed that publicly exposing these materials caused great security damage. The official insisted the release of the materials was done in coordination with the Mossad and other intelligence bodies, and that sensitive information was not exposed.
"They know exactly what we took," a senior diplomatic official confirmed. "There's no exposure and no damage. The entire presentation was coordinated with the head of the Mossad."
Since the arrival of the archive in Israel, senior officials have been holding discussions about what to do with it. Some advocated leaking it to foreign media—as Israel has done in the past—to ensure it goes public without its reveal being directly linked to Israel. Eventually, however, the decision was made to have Netanyahu publicly reveal the existence of the archive, with intelligence officials insisting this does not endanger sources or operation methods.
Netanyahu himself spoke about the translation of the documents with Fox & Friends on Tuesday.
"It's a 100,000 plus documents—a huge trove as you say. It's in Farsi, we had to put translators on it, professional people who understand these scientific and technological things, so it took us a while to do it," he explained. "I met President Trump in early March. I described to him what we have. I said we will immediately give all this information to the United States, which we did, so we've been examining it simultaneously here in Israel and in America."
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Netanyahu said foreign delegations will arrive in Israel over the weekend to examine the Iranian archive.
"I invited Britain, France and Germany," the prime minister said. "They expressed great interest, and they are sending delegations of professionals over the weekend. I told (Russian) President Putin that he too is invited to see the materials, and we also called the Chinese and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."
"We brought new materials on Iran's military nuclear program and turned the question marks into exclamation marks," he added.
During a speech at the Kirya IDF headquarters on Monday evening, Netanyahu revealed that Mossad agents were able to smuggle 100,000 documents out of Iran concerning Project Amad—Tehran's secret nuclear program between 1999-2003.
"This is an original Iranian presentation from these files, and here’s the mission statement: Design, produce and test five warheads, each with ten kiloton TNT yield for integration on a missile," the prime minister said. "That’s like five Hiroshima bombs to be put on ballistic missiles."
Later, Netanyahu presented a spreadsheet from the project that includes plans for centrifuge enrichment and designs for nuclear payloads on missiles.
The prime talked about the pressure Iran was under to stop its project, saying Tehran "was forced to shelve Project Amad. But it didn’t shelve its nuclear ambitions."
Netanyahu's main assertion was that Iran has and continues to lie about its nuclear program, and so the nuclear agreement signed with it should be nixed.
https://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3082,00.html

Iran and the collapse of the North Korean model
Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi//Al Arabiya/May 02/18
The main international news in recent days has been the historic meeting between the two presidents of North Korea and South Korea and which aims to end long decades of political and military conflict between the two countries. This news is not just related to these two states but it also carries major international dimensions.
Taking sides during the Cold War
Decades ago, the two Koreas took sides with one of the two axes in the Cold War. South Korea took the side of the capitalist West while North Korea took the side of the Eastern communist bloc. As a result, South Korea became one of the most successful countries in the world; or rather an impressive model of development at all levels. On the other hand, North Korea focused on developing nuclear weapons and ruling with force like any typical communist regime. Thus it ended up becoming a nuclear state with an exhausted economy and whose people suffer from poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment under the dictatorship of the grandfather, son and then the grandson. If the North Korean model is successfully and completely toppled, we will witness a new international era in world history. North Korea poses a significant challenge to the whole world. No one knows what goes on within its borders. All it represents to its neighboring countries and the world is the continuous threat to possibly commit the folly of using nuclear arms. This is how it defined itself. Consecutive generations around the world have known it as a rogue state that is an essential cornerstone of every ‘axis of evil’ at the international level.
Restoring balance of power
A major imbalance of power occurred during the term of former US President Barack Obama, which allowed all countries that are hostile to the US and its allies to resurface at the international level, from Russia to North Korea and from Iran to the Muslim Brotherhood. The US thus had to restore international balance, which is what the US administration of Donald Trump and its allies around the world are doing.
North Korea’s escalation last year was an attempt to test the US resolve by threatening the US and its allies with long-range ballistic missiles and through other methods that are quite characteristic of North Korea. However, the response of the US administration was strong, strict and shocking as it confirmed its intention to subjugate North Korea with all possible political, economic and military means and by pressuring its allies by all means possible. The result was that North Korea was forced to change its hostile attitude towards the world and alter its direction.
No one precisely knows how decades-old armistice could overnight turn into a process of peace and hope, but this will clarify in the future. This new orientation has one goal which is the end of the North Korean model as a rogue state in the international order.
In our region, the Iranian regime was inspired by North Korea and viewed it as a role model – of course taking into consideration there are differences between the two regimes. With the collapse of this model, Iran will have to walk alone in building its own model amid all the major changes to confront its project. This confrontation is led by the US (under President Donald Trump) and it includes Britain, France, and Germany, along with Saudi Arabia and its allies in the region. Iran will not only face a challenge over its nuclear weapons issue and the P5+1 agreement, but on matters related to its terrorist destructive policies, its ballistic missiles, its support of militias, terrorist groups, and its interference in Arab countries’ affairs. If the North Korean model is successfully and completely toppled, we will witness a new international era in world history. This has not been completed yet as it’s not like the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was a result, but an issue that is being worked on, followed up on and monitored. The party most harmed by the change will be the Iranian regime.

Iran and the collapse of the North Korean model
Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi/Al Arabiya/May 02/18
The main international news in recent days has been the historic meeting between the two presidents of North Korea and South Korea and which aims to end long decades of political and military conflict between the two countries. This news is not just related to these two states but it also carries major international dimensions.
Taking sides during the Cold War
Decades ago, the two Koreas took sides with one of the two axes in the Cold War. South Korea took the side of the capitalist West while North Korea took the side of the Eastern communist bloc. As a result, South Korea became one of the most successful countries in the world; or rather an impressive model of development at all levels. On the other hand, North Korea focused on developing nuclear weapons and ruling with force like any typical communist regime. Thus it ended up becoming a nuclear state with an exhausted economy and whose people suffer from poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment under the dictatorship of the grandfather, son and then the grandson. If the North Korean model is successfully and completely toppled, we will witness a new international era in world history. North Korea poses a significant challenge to the whole world. No one knows what goes on within its borders. All it represents to its neighboring countries and the world is the continuous threat to possibly commit the folly of using nuclear arms. This is how it defined itself. Consecutive generations around the world have known it as a rogue state that is an essential cornerstone of every ‘axis of evil’ at the international level.
Restoring balance of power
A major imbalance of power occurred during the term of former US President Barack Obama, which allowed all countries that are hostile to the US and its allies to resurface at the international level, from Russia to North Korea and from Iran to the Muslim Brotherhood. The US thus had to restore international balance, which is what the US administration of Donald Trump and its allies around the world are doing. North Korea’s escalation last year was an attempt to test the US resolve by threatening the US and its allies with long-range ballistic missiles and through other methods that are quite characteristic of North Korea. However, the response of the US administration was strong, strict and shocking as it confirmed its intention to subjugate North Korea with all possible political, economic and military means and by pressuring its allies by all means possible. The result was that North Korea was forced to change its hostile attitude towards the world and alter its direction.
No one precisely knows how decades-old armistice could overnight turn into a process of peace and hope, but this will clarify in the future. This new orientation has one goal which is the end of the North Korean model as a rogue state in the international order.
In our region, the Iranian regime was inspired by North Korea and viewed it as a role model – of course taking into consideration there are differences between the two regimes. With the collapse of this model, Iran will have to walk alone in building its own model amid all the major changes to confront its project. This confrontation is led by the US (under President Donald Trump) and it includes Britain, France, and Germany, along with Saudi Arabia and its allies in the region. Iran will not only face a challenge over its nuclear weapons issue and the P5+1 agreement, but on matters related to its terrorist destructive policies, its ballistic missiles, its support of militias, terrorist groups, and its interference in Arab countries’ affairs. If the North Korean model is successfully and completely toppled, we will witness a new international era in world history. This has not been completed yet as it’s not like the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was a result, but an issue that is being worked on, followed up on and monitored. The party most harmed by the change will be the Iranian regime.

They came, they saw, and Trump conquered
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/May 02/18
They tried their best but with an unpredictable US President, nothing is certain. In turn, President Macron of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel came to and went from Washington but the assessment of many is that President Trump was not moved either by an over extravagant show of affection from the French President or a more cooler and focused argument approach from Chancellor Merkel.
Key issues such as the US-EU trade imbalances and the looming Iran sanctions waiver have been left in the balance. At a joint press conference at the White House with the German Chancellor, President Trump was even less diplomatic and bemoaned America’s $151 billion trade deficit with the European Union, whose exemption from steel and aluminium tariffs expires unless the US grants an extension. Merkel lamely suggested that little progress had been made on the issue and that in the final analysis President Trump will decide, cool analytical counter arguments or not. To soften the blow, the American President laid the blame on the current trade imbalances on his predecessors and went further by reiterating his criticism of NATO members that do not spend the mandatory 2 percent of GDP on defense.
Again, Merkel had to defend herself by saying that Germany’s latest budget would take defense spending to 1.3 percent of GDP. World leaders and close American allies have now to take more seriously President Trump’s threat that allies have to now assume a far greater share of military and other nation building costs that the United States finds itself embroiled in, either as a peace keeper or as an active military participant.
Concerning Iran, the German Chancellor did not seem to have much luck too like President Macron. On her first visit to Washington since her close re -election, the Chancellor acknowledged that the Iran JOCPA deal is “anything but perfect – it will not solve all the problems with Iran”, but she described it as a building block but again conceded that Trump must decide whether the US would withdraw.
At least President Trump better received Angela Merkel this time as when Merkel last visited, Trump was criticized for not shaking her hand in the Oval Office. This time, he greeted Merkel outside the West Wing with a handshake and a kiss on each cheek but these pale by comparison compared with the effusive kisses that President Macron received. World leaders and close American allies now have to take more seriously President Trump’s threat that allies have to now assume a far greater share of military and other nation building costs
Trans-Atlantic trade war
All this has left the European Union’s leaders in a quandary and left the EU to warn about the costs of a trans-Atlantic trade war while bracing for one to erupt after the US signalled it will reject the bloc’s demand for an unconditional waiver from metals-import tariffs. Donald Trump’s administration is asking Europe, Canada and other allies to accept quotas in exchange for an exemption from steel and aluminium tariffs that kick in May 1, when a temporary waiver expires. This puts the EU in the difficult position of either succumbing to US demands that could breach international commerce rules or face punitive tariffs. But the EU’s resentment is also based on the fact that despite the effusive statements of love, friendship and admiration to the visiting European dignitaries, the US has not afforded them the same permanent waivers like other US trading partners.
The White House last month temporarily shielded some trading partners including the EU from the duties, at 25 percent for imported steel and 10 percent for aluminum on the grounds of protecting national security. The president ordered US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to negotiate with countries seeking permanent exemptions.
The EU is demanding a permanent, unconditional waiver from the US tariffs. So far, South Korea is the only nation to be spared from the duties, after reaching a deal to revise its bilateral free-trade agreement with the US To avoid the steel tariff, South Korea agreed to limit US shipments of the metal to about 2.7 million tons a year. In a halfhearted response, the EU seems to be hitting back as President Emmanuel Macron said this month: “We won’t talk about anything while there’s a gun pointed at our head.” Mrs Merkel seems to be more pragmatic about any final outcome and who will win in the end.
Her words at the joint press conference in Washington are apt in her assessment of how things had developed with President Trump. “We spoke about the state of negotiations and our respective assessments. The decision lies with the president.” They certainly, came, saw but President Trump conquered in the end.

Are the wars in Sinai and Yemen necessary?
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/May 02/18
It is easy to criticize anything, especially complex political, security and military operations that affect the lives of people.
This is what some has been doing toward the operations in Yemen against Houthi-Iranian militias and in Egypt where the Egyptian army and police have launched an operation against ISIS fighters in Sinai, specifically in north Sinai.
It is quite easy to ask: Then what? How long will we stay the course? Where are we going? When will the roar of cannons, the whizzing of airplanes, the firing of the machine guns and the costly bills of war come to an end?
However what is difficult is to answer such questions: Can one living in the southern Saudi border with its mountain ranges and plains coexist with the Houthi gangs which are an organ of the Khomeini body which has taken it upon itself to destroy the Saudi state as we’ve seen since 1979?
Is it “normal” for Saudi Arabia to remain silent and ignore the Houthis until the damage is done? Is the Egyptian state required to ignore the existence of ISIS, al-Qaeda and Brotherhood gangs that explicitly announce that their goal is to destroy the Egyptian state, demolish the borders for the sake of their parent organization and dive with the country’s fate into the sea of darkness?
Are the Egyptian state and its army required to be paralyzed regarding this situation?
The war to liberate Yemen from the gangs of Khomeini and Egypt from the gangs of ISIS is a war of necessity
Mistakes committed
Have mistakes been committed? Yes. Mistakes were made, but this is the nature of work and the characteristic of activity.
Last Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed that the military operation, which has been carried out by the army in cooperation with the police in Sinai since February, will be finalized as soon as possible.
In a gathering organized by the Egyptian army, Sisi told the people of Sinai that a development plan is currently being implemented in Sinai and will complete by 2022. He then stressed: “We will finish the mission as soon as possible.” Sisi was keen on venerating the people of Sinai, saying: “Terrorism is present in all the governorates of Egypt,” adding: “If we had not taken these measures (in Sinai), we will have lost Sinai.”
The Egyptian president made these statements to respond to intimidation campaigns, not the ones emanating from the Muslim Brotherhood through its Turkish or Qatari channels, but from certain international human rights organizations that one does not know not what they exactly want! What do they want? For Egypt to hand over Sinai to ISIS?
Egyptian Army spokesman Tamer Rifai has criticized a Human Rights Watch report about a “looming humanitarian crisis” in Sinai due to the anti-terrorism operation conducted by the military.
The report included massive exaggerations about the situation of the people in North Sinai. Of course, their situation is not good and it’s certainly difficult as a war is being fought!
The war to liberate Yemen from the gangs of Khomeini and Egypt from the gangs of ISIS is a war of necessity, even if it angers sensitive groups and the new Hashishin.

Iranians were on Mossad agents' tail during operation to retrieve nuclear archive
Yossi Yehoshua/Ynetnews/May 02/18
إسرائيل: إيران اكتشفت عملية «موساد» منذ اليوم الأول... لكنها صمتت/عملاء الجهاز اقتحموا مقر الأرشيف النووي قرب طهران وسرقوا وثائقه الأصلية
تل أبيب: نظير مجلي/الشرق الأوسط
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64319/ynetnews-iranians-were-on-mossad-agents-tail-during-operation-to-retrieve-nuclear-archive-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84/

Morocco severs ties with Iran, accusing it of backing Polisario Front
Why has Morocco severed its diplomatic relations with Iran
Iran denies Morocco accusation of Polisario arms delivery
المغرب يقطع علاقاته مع إيران بسبب دعمها لجبهة البوليساريو
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/64323/why-has-morocco-severed-its-diplomatic-relations-with-iran-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%B9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1/