LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

August 19/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.august19.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16/13-17/:"No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God. ‘The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.

Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God
Second Letter of John 01/01-13/:"The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us for ever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning you must walk in it. Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person. Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister send you their greetings."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 18-19/16

Why Hezbollah won't open all-out front against Israel/Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/August 18/16
Hezbollah's Strategy in Syria Won't Help Against Israel ...There's no matching the IDF/David Daoud/The Weekly Stanfard/August 18/16

Egypt foreign minister upbeat on solution to presidency/The Daily Star/August 18/16

Trump's Jihad Against Jihad Deserves Support/Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/August 18/16
Iran officials defend Russian use of Hamadan air base/Arash Karami/Al-Monitor/August 18/16
Iran: Russians Using Iranian Airbases/Lawrence A. Franklin//Gatestone Institute./August 18/16
The Right to Dissent/Robbie Travers/Gatestone Institute./August 18/16
"No Room for the Zionist Entity in the Region"/Khaled Abu Toameh/August 18/16
Should Iraq's (Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) ISCI Forces Really Be Considered 'Good Militias'/Phillip Smyth/The Washington Institute/August 18/16
 

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 18-19/16

Why Hezbollah won't open all-out front against Israel
Lebanese Cabinet Fails to Reach Agreement on Military Appointments
Report: FPM Won't Hamper Agreement on a Successor to Higher Defense Council Chief
MP, Sami Gemayel: Decentralized Trash Management Alternative for Landfills, Protests Will Continue
Hand Grenade Explodes at Dawn in Ain el-Hilweh
U.S. Military and Lebanese Army Conclude Joint Military Exercise
Hezbollah's Strategy in Syria Won't Help Against Israel ...There's no matching the IDF.
Egypt foreign minister upbeat on solution to presidency
Hizbullah Slams Israeli Violations in Shebaa, Urges State to 'Defend Sovereignty'
Qahwaji Visits South, Says Army to 'Confront Any Israeli Attack'
Report: Czechs Kidnapped in Lebanon Sue Prague over 'Blunders'
Palestinian Ibrahim Hmayed turns himself over to army

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 18-19/16

U.N. Says No Humanitarian Convoys in Syria in a Month
Amnesty Denounces 'Appalling Abuse' in Syrian Jails
Syria Regime Aircraft Hit Kurd-Held Area for First Time
Chinese Admiral Visits Syria in Show of Support
Children in Syria's Madaya Await Urgent Medical Help
12 Dead, Over 200 Hurt in Spate of Turkey Attacks Blamed on PKK
Israel Defense Chief Has 'Carrot and Stick' West Bank Plan
HRW Hails Iraq Cleric's Call against Anti-Gay Violence
Boy in ambulance’ becomes face of Aleppo strikes
France targets mosques in fight against radicalism
Victories against ISIS leave Iraq’s Sunni heartland shattered
ISIS recruits have poor grasp of faith
Britain needs new race strategy as report shows ‘entrenched’ unfairness
False JFK airport shooting casts light on poor TSA protocols
With neighboring instability, Jordan growth slows as unemployment rises
Dr. Mohammad Maleki: The 1988 massacre in Iran stole many more lives than the regime claims
Iran: 4,400 clothes shops shut down for violating compulsory dress-code standards
Rep. Ted Poe: Protecting Iran’s Freedom Fighters in Camp Liberty
Iran: A family’s plea for internatioal condemnation of execution of three political prisoners of fellow Arab citizens

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on August 18-19/16
Lesbian CNN political commentator defends Sharia
CNN turns to hard-Left hate group Southern Poverty Law Center to define Sharia
Russia: Muslim cleric says “all women should be circumcised”
Obama lied, it was a ransom payment: US held cash until Iran freed prisoners
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: London’s Muslim Mayor Introduces the Thought Police
Merkel says refugees didn’t bring “Islamist terrorism” to Germany
Media Matters fabricates quote from Robert Spencer, claims he runs “white nationalist think tank”
Moderate Malaysia: Court rejects trio’s bid to renounce Islam
Abuse of Muslims is now mainstream”? Really?
Germany: Muslim arrested for Islamic State plot to explode nail-filled bomb at town festival
Twitter bans Breitbart bad boy Milo, but not ISIS-linked London jihad preacher
Robert Spencer, PJM: Creeping Sharia: Kentucky Firefighter Forced Out for Burning a Qur’an
Media Matters quietly removes false claims about Robert Spencer without retraction or apology
Media Matters fabricates quote from Robert Spencer, claims he runs “white nationalist think tank”

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 17-18/16

Why Hezbollah won't open all-out front against Israel
Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/August 18/16
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah broadcast a prerecorded speech from Bint Jebail, Lebanon, on Aug. 14 to mark the 10th anniversary of the war between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in summer 2006. It was a typical Nasrallah speech that included all his familiar themes: Israelis had lost trust in the institutions that defend them, and the 2006 fighting had cast doubt on Israel’s ability to continue to exist at all. He said that Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, are weak and tired and cannot defend themselves for much longer. He also mentioned his 2006 “spider web speech” — in which he said that Israel is weaker than a spider web — saying it demoralized Israelis at large.
While Nasrallah was still speaking, the “institutions that defend Israel,” in particular Shin Bet, released details about an interesting effort by Hezbollah to open a new terrorist front to operate in Israel. The new front would be controlled by Hezbollah activists from a distance, using Facebook, phony profiles on social networks and encrypted messages on the internet. The story was first reported in Israel on Aug.16 and included the names of eight Palestinian suspects from the West Bank, members of three separate cells, established to launch attacks in Israel. In each instance, Israel’s security institutions were able to arrest the suspects before they launched their operations.
In the surreptitious struggle between Israel and Hezbollah over the past few years, Israel has maintained the upper hand. As part of the struggle, Nasrallah has tried desperately to create a small-footprint front against Israel. In other words, he wants to foment a kind of anti-Israel terror not directly connected to Hezbollah to avoid giving Israel an excuse to attack his organization. Nasrallah cannot launch attacks from across the Blue Line, the international border between Israel and Lebanon, because he knows that doing so would result in an aggressive response by Israel. He also cannot let the situation deteriorate into a full-scale war, especially now, with Hezbollah sustaining hundreds of casualties and thousands more injuries in the blood-drenched Syrian quagmire.
At first, Nasrallah tried to create a second front against Israel in the Golan Heights. The rules of that operation called for low-key actions against Israel, without allowing the situation to devolve into a major conflict. Israel, however, has achieved a clear victory in the military and intelligence battle waged in the Golan Heights over the past two years. Nasrallah lost quite a few of his assets and people, including Samir Kuntar in December 2015 and Jihad Mughniyeh in January 2015, while Israel paid an acceptable cost for its actions. Furthermore, according to foreign news sources, Israel continues to attack strategic arms convoys heading from Syria to Beirut.
It is now clear that Nasrallah has changed course in creating terrorist networks directed by Hezbollah to attack inside Israel. The newly uncovered cells were recruited by two Hezbollah activists. One of them, who went by the name of Bilal, is based in Lebanon. He recruited Palestinians through the Facebook profile Falastin al-Houreh (Free Palestine). The second Hezbollah activist is a Gaza resident named Mahmad Faiz Abu Jedian. The recruiters followed identical tactics. They asked Palestinians who seemed to be leaning toward joining their cells to open secure email accounts, so they could communicate without being detected by Israeli cybersecurity. That was how they relayed instructions, orders and payments. Furthermore, Hezbollah sent special encryption programs to the new recruits for conducting secure communications.
Mustafa Kamal Hindi, from the Qalqilya region in the West Bank, was recruited in December 2015 to head one of the cells. Upon being instructed to attack IDF patrols in the Qalqilya region, he organized a cell of four people, who began training using hunting rifles and makeshift explosives. The members of his cell were arrested in June. A similar fate awaited the members of the cell recruited by the Gaza activist. Its members had also been told to launch operations, including suicide attacks and bus bombings, in Israel.
In each case, Hezbollah promised and in some cases transferred money to the recruits to fund their activities. In some instances, the men were promised sizable sums (30,000 shekels, about $8,000) upon completion of their missions. There was also an effort to recruit Israeli Arabs to join the cells, but these efforts were also foiled. Israeli Arabs continue to distance themselves from terrorism, with only an insignificant number actually taking part in such activities. In May 2016, Yoram Cohen, before stepping down as head of Shin Bet, disclosed that support for the “spirit of the Islamic State” among Israeli Arabs is the lowest in the entire Muslim world.
Hezbollah's recent activities exposed by Israel are just the tip of the iceberg. The rest lies well beneath the surface, where the two continue to clash at low intensity. It is also a battle of wits, with Israel trying to limit Hezbollah’s moves and prevent it from getting stronger. Meanwhile, Nasrallah is trying to keep the fire of his anti-Israel resistance burning, while minimizing the chances of triggering another conflict. He knows that he will not be able to fight such a war while engaged in the bloody war of attrition in Syria.
Nasrallah was right about one thing in his speech. Israel’s leaders during the 2006 Second Lebanon War have almost all been erased from the political and historical maps: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in prison; Defense Minister Amir Peretz was forced to resign; Chief of Staff Dan Halutz resigned; and IDF Chief of the Northern Command Udi Adam handed back the keys.
Beyond issues of personnel, however, Israel can look back contentedly at the war that took place more than a decade ago. It has enjoyed some 10 years of almost absolute quiet along its northern front. Hezbollah is drained and bleeding. Nasrallah has more or less resigned himself to fiery oratory, and Israel has managed to steer clear of the Syrian tempest. Israel is already signing on for 10 more years of the same. What about Beirut? That’s not entirely clear.

Lebanese Cabinet Fails to Reach Agreement on Military Appointments
Naharnet/August 18/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam chaired a cabinet meeting on Thursday at the Grand Serail that failed to reach an agreement over the thorny issue of military appointments. “No agreement was reached over the issue of military appointments after Defense Minister Samir Moqbel proposed three candidates,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij announced after the session. “The suggestion did not garner the needed number of votes,” he added. “Everyone agrees that the right principle is making new appointments if there is consensus, or else the defense minister would act according to the jurisdiction vested in him by the law,” Jreij said. The appointments at the military posts is a contentious subject among political forces, and a heated debate was expected during Thursday's meeting especially that the Free Patriotic Movement says its rejects term extensions for any military or security official. Moqbel had in August last year postponed the retirement of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Walid Salman and Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir, extending their terms by one year, after the political forces failed to reach an agreement on security and military appointments. Moqbel said earlier that he plans to propose the appointment of a successor to Kheir whose term ends on August 28, as he pointed out that he has three names as candidates for the post. Before the meeting began, State Minister for Administrative Development Nabil De Freij said: “We might discuss the trash management file if the PM raises it. As for the (military) appointments, those are not on the agenda and we are waiting for the names that will be proposed by the defense minster.”Health Minister Wael Abou Faour said that the priority is for the appointment of officials rather than an agreement on a term extension. “Appointments are a priority,” he said. “The meeting will not be an ordinary one,” said Education Minister Elias Bou Saab as he voiced hopes that it would be “productive and without obstacles.” Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb said: “We are interested in working with environment caring people to rid our country of pollutants,” referring to the trash file.

Report: FPM Won't Hamper Agreement on a Successor to Higher Defense Council Chief
Naharnet/August 18/16/The Free Patriotic Movement will facilitate the appointment of a successor to Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir whose term ends on August 21, al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday. “We have decided to facilitate the road in front of the appointment of a successor to Maj. Gen. Kheir during the cabinet session that will be held on Thursday,” FPM sources told the daily. “We will not oppose any of the names that will be suggested by Defense Minister Samir Moqbel to succeed Kheir. We will have no problem with that nor will Hizbullah, AMAL movement or the Progressive Socialist Party,” added the sources on condition of anonymity. “Let Prime Minister Tammam Salam and the Mustaqbal movement name whoever they wish to and we will agree on that. Extending terms is only discussed when there is difficulty in reaching an agreement. There is no need for extending terms as long as there is no problem with any of the names raised,” they added. The sources stated that they refuse the principle of term extension in the military posts, “our new position is to facilitate the appointment in order to drop any argument for extension.”Moqbel had in August last year postponed the retirement of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Walid Salman and Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir, extending their terms by one year, after the political forces failed to reach an agreement on security and military appointments.The cabinet will meet on Thursday to tackle several issues, and Moqbel plans to put forward the extension or appointment of a new Higher Defense Council chief.

MP, Sami Gemayel: Decentralized Trash Management Alternative for Landfills, Protests Will Continue
Naharnet/August 18/16/Kataeb party chief MP Sami Gemayel stressed on Thursday that establishing a landfill in Bourj Hammoud region will trigger the emission of poisonous gases and smoke that will affect the whole area around it for the next two decades. “The mountain of garbage in Bourj Hammoud must be addressed because it will emit poisonous gases and smoke for the next twenty years,” said Gemayel in a press conference. He pointed out that Sukleen has been recycling only %4 of the garbage collected and will do the same when it starts dumping in Bourj Hammoud, he said: “Sukleen will landfill %96 of non-recycled trash in Bourj Hammoud which will lead to diseases because of pollution. The process will continue for a period of four years along a distance that stretches from the City Mall (in Dora) to the Beirut Port.”He emphasized that alternatives for landfills are “easy and lie in a decentralization plan suggested by Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb instead of spending 115 million dollars to establish one.”Gemayel commented on the matter rather sarcastically, he remarked: “The seafront will be blocked with a 15m high wall and the people will eye the sunset on a mountain of garbage instead of on the horizon.”He expressed astonishment at how suggestions to “establish landfills in remote unpopulated areas were turned down, while ones close to densely populated regions next to the sea were accepted.”The MP concluded and said that the Kataeb campaigners will keep their sit-ins near the landfill until an alternative is found. Last week the protesters from the Kataeb Party managed to force their way into the landfill and demanded a halt to what they called “the project of land-filling the sea with garbage on Metn's coast.” The government's handling of the waste management file was one of the reasons that Kataeb cited when it asked its ministers to resign from Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet earlier this year. Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel has accused the government of taking a decision to “fill the Mediterranean Sea with garbage without conducting an environmental impact study and without sorting or treating the waste.”

Hand Grenade Explodes at Dawn in Ain el-Hilweh
Naharnet/August 18/16/A hand grenade exploded at dawn on Thursday in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh without causing any causalities, the state-run National News Agency reported. An unknown assailant tossed the grenade at the at the intersection of al-Fawqani street's vegetable market, NNA said. Such incidents have become frequent in recent years in Ain el-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the Palestinian camps in the country, leaving the Palestinian factions themselves to handle security. That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives.

U.S. Military and Lebanese Army Conclude Joint Military Exercise
/Naharnet/August 18/16/The U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Army on Wednesday concluded Resolute Response 2016, an annual, bilateral military exercise with the Lebanese army involving explosive ordnance disposal, diving exercises, and maritime vessel visit, board, search and seizure procedures, the U.S. Embassy said. The exercise ran from August 8-17 at the Jounieh Naval Base and included both land and sea-based exercises. Resolute Response is one of more than 60 military exercises conducted by U.S. Central Command with partner nations each year. The exercise provided an opportunity for U.S. military subject matter experts to “share information and best practices with their Lebanese counterparts in order to increase soldiers’ proficiency in these areas,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. “It is another example of America’s continuing partnership with Lebanon, and our commitment to building the LAF’s readiness and capabilities as it protects Lebanon’s borders from extremist threats,” it added.

Hezbollah's Strategy in Syria Won't Help Against Israel ...There's no matching the IDF.
David Daoud/The Weekly Stanfard/August 18/16
http://www.weeklystandard.com/hezbollahs-strategy-in-syria-wont-help-against-israel/article/2003876
Over the last three years of the Syrian Civil War, Hezbollah has increasingly operated as a regular army rather than in its traditional, decades-long role as a guerrilla force. The Shiite group has operated Syrian tanks and artillery, jeeps with recoilless rifles, and is even rumored to have acquired its own 75-tank armored brigade. As a result, some pundits have begun suggesting that Hezbollah has transformed into "an army in every respect," as Haaretz columnist Amos Harel has written. Others, like Foreign Policy's Nour Samaha, have suggested that "Israel may have reason to be concerned," that Hezbollah will "transfer the skills learned in Syria to any future confrontation with Israel," and fight the IDF as a conventional army.
That's unlikely. As long as the Jewish state remains the vastly superior conventional force, Hezbollah will continue to fight it according to its old successful guerilla methods. To confront the Israelis army-to-army would all but ensure Hezbollah's defeat.
Hezbollah participated in the Syrian Civil War almost from its outset in 2011, but by 2013 had transformed from its traditional insurgency tactics to acting as a counterinsurgency force against Syrian rebels. Since then, it has been conducting open warfare along established frontlines to conquer and control territory and knock out its foes, participating in combined-arms maneuvers with Iranian, Syrian, and Russian forces. Its fighters have even acted as battlefield commanders of Syrian troops.
Still, despite its growing strength and battlefield experience, Hezbollah is far from closing the gap in conventional strength with Israel. The Israel Defense Forces has made clear it intends to exploit that asymmetry "in the most muscular way possible" to score the decisive victory against the group that has eluded them in the past. The IDF's new plan, which it would follow in a war with Hezbollah, is called the Gideon Doctrine (outlined in a shorter, unclassified version titled "IDF Strategy"), which calls for a rapid deployment of ground-forces, simultaneous with aerial, naval, artillery, and cyber attacks. Israel's new strategy is to quickly penetrate Hezbollah's territory to damage its political and military infrastructure, while at the same time raining overwhelming fire on its targets.
Readily acknowledging this asymmetry in forces, equipment and capabilities, Hezbollah's leadership has said it never envisioned fighting a conventional war against the Jewish state. The group therefore has historically created its own definition of "victory"—instead of aiming to decisively defeat the IDF, Hezbollah would claim success for merely surviving and continuing to fight.
To date, Hezbollah has confronted Israel on two major occasions. The first was during Israel's occupation of south Lebanon from 1985 to 2000, when the IDF was a relatively fixed occupation force, and Hezbollah succeeded in constraining it with "rules of the game" that gave the group virtual immunity when it operated out of civilian areas in Lebanon. Accordingly, Hezbollah developed a thirteen-point guerilla doctrine designed to "defeat" the militarily superior IDF, drawing on such principles of guerilla warfare as surprise, identifying and hitting Israel's weaknesses—particularly its sensitivity to civilian and military casualties—and slipping away "like smoke" before the IDF could respond. In the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel no longer maintained fixed positions in south Lebanon, and the IDF was now more willing to target Hezbollah in civilian areas. Despite these changes, sensitivity to military casualties still shaped the IDF's planning. In its understandable effort to spare the lives of its soldiers, Israel did not commit ground troops in the numbers and manner necessary for victory and thus left its civilians exposed.

Egypt foreign minister upbeat on solution to presidency
The Daily Star/August 18/16
BEIRUT: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri Wednesday wrapped up two days of talks with Lebanon’s rival political leaders, expressing hope that the presidential election crisis, now in its third year, would be resolved.
He made the announcement after meeting separately with MP Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, head of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc.
Shoukri exchanged viewpoints with Siniora on the current political crisis in Lebanon and ways to overcome it, the National News Agency reported. It said the meeting, which was held at former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Downtown Beirut residence, was also attended by a number of Future MPs; Nader Hariri, chief of Hariri’s staff; and Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Badreddine Zayed.
Discussions continued at a luncheon hosted by Siniora for Shoukri and the accompanying delegation, the NNA said.
Shoukri’s meeting with Siniora came shortly after his talks first with Aoun and later with Geagea, centering on ways to end the presidential vacuum, which has thrown the legislative and executive branches of power into paralysis.
“We are confident that this [presidential] crisis and this vacuum will be resolved because of the sense of responsibility, which we have felt from all the parties. This will lead to achieving prosperity and stability for the Lebanese people,” Shoukri said after the one-hour meeting with Geagea at the latter’s residence in Maarab, north of Beirut.
He added that Egypt would contribute toward resolving the presidential crisis on the basis of “consensus” among Lebanon’s political parties so the country “would remain an effective element in the framework of pan-Arab security and Arab identity and in the framework of special relations linking Egypt and Lebanon.”
Shoukri said he discussed with Geagea what could be done to confront “several challenges in the Arab region.” He added that Egypt would continue its efforts to reconcile conflicting viewpoints between the rival factions with the aim of ending the presidential crisis.
For his part, Geagea said the region was in dire need of an Egyptian role in light of the “escalating crises in the Middle East.”
Shoukri, who earlier met with Aoun at his Rabieh residence, said they discussed solutions to the Lebanese political crisis that could pave the way to getting the country out of its current deadlock.
“We deliberated ways to achieve stability in Lebanon, and we have a vision that we are suggesting to all factions,” Shoukri told reporters after meeting Aoun.
He declined to give details of this vision. “It is too early to go into details. This visit is the first step and will be followed by more contacts,” he said.
Aoun and MP Sleiman Frangieh are the two main rival contenders for the presidency. Aoun, Hezbollah’s sole candidate, is also backed by the LF and some March 8 allies. Frangieh is supported by Speaker Nabih Berri, Hariri, MP Walid Jumblatt and some independent lawmakers.
Shoukri said there was regional and international concern over the situation in Lebanon. “We will continue our contacts at the regional level, in light of our relations with influential international powers, to explore what we can do,” he said.
He added that he saw many elements of consensus and understanding among the Lebanese factions, describing it as “a positive sign.”
Shoukri arrived in Beirut Monday night for a three-day official visit, seen as part of Egypt’s attempts to regain its major role in the region. He met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Berri, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian.
The Egyptian ambassador hosted a dinner Tuesday night for Shoukri at his residence in Dohat al-Hoss, which was attended by a number of Lebanese officials and politicians, including former presidents Michel Sleiman and Amine Gemayel, as well as Aoun, Siniora, and Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, who was representing Berri.
Lebanon has been without a president since former President Michel Sleiman’s six-year tenure ended in May 2014. Parliament has since been unable to meet to choose a successor due to a lack of quorum.
Shoukri’s visit came over a month after a trip by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault which also proved ineffective in resolving the presidential crisis.
 

Hizbullah Slams Israeli Violations in Shebaa, Urges State to 'Defend Sovereignty'
Naharnet/August 18/16/Hizbullah on Thursday condemned Israel's construction of roads in areas near the occupied Shebaa Farms as a “dangerous violation” of Lebanon's sovereignty. “The dangerous Zionist violation of Lebanese sovereignty and the sanctity of the land in the occupied Shebaa Farms... is a crime that will be added to the enemy's long history of crimes against Lebanon,” Hizbullah said in a statement.“It reveals the unrestrained Zionist ambitions regarding Lebanon's land and resources,” it added. Accordingly, Hizbullah called on the Lebanese state to “practice its normal role of defending Lebanon's sovereignty” and to “take the necessary measures in the face of the rejected Israeli moves.”Israel fought a devastating month-long war in 2006 against Hizbullah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers. The Lebanese group has targeted Israeli army patrols in the Shebaa Farms in response to strikes against its members in Syria, most recently on January 4.

Qahwaji Visits South, Says Army to 'Confront Any Israeli Attack'
Naharnet/August 18/16/Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji on Thursday inspected military units in the southern regions of Tyre and Marjeyoun and vowed that the army will confront “any Israeli attack.”Lauding “the efforts that are being exerted to protect the southern border and preserve its stability in coordination with the U.N. forces,” Qahwaji noted that “the army's main mission of defending the South against the Israeli enemy complements its other tasks in confronting terror on the eastern border and preserving security inside the country.”“The army will utilize all its assets to confront any Israeli attack against Lebanon,” Qahwaji added, reminding troops of the Lebanese army's victory over the Israeli forces in the 1948 Malkiyeh Battle. The army chief also reiterated commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah. The month-long 2006 war killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Report: Czechs Kidnapped in Lebanon Sue Prague over 'Blunders'
Naharnet/August 18/16/Four Czechs who were kidnapped in Lebanon last year are suing the Czech Republic for financial compensation, arguing that if the country’s intelligence services had been better coordinated they may never have had to endure a grueling period of captivity, state-run Radio Prague reported on Thursday. Five Czechs – a lawyer, a military intelligence officer, an Arabic interpreter and two TV reporters – were traveling in Lebanon last year when they were abducted. Now four of the five are demanding financial compensation from the Czech state amounting to CZK 40 million, Radio Prague said. “At the end of July the Ministry of Finance received a request for compensation for non-pecuniary damages pertaining to the four aggrieved in connection with their abduction in Lebanon. Each of them is claiming compensation of CZK 10 million. The aggrieved are claiming the referred to compensation as a result of maladministration,” Czech Finance Ministry spokesman Michal Žurovec told the radio network. The four former hostages say that the Czech civilian intelligence service had information that reprisals for the arrest of Lebanese citizen Ali Fayad in Prague were planned. The fact that his case came to court also helped lead to their abduction, they argue. One of the kidnap victims, Jan Švarc, was Fayad’s lawyer. Another of the plaintiffs, translator Adam Honsi, describes some of what they had to go through. “We have suffered serious illnesses. One of us was taking six kinds of medicine prior to the abduction for his heart and cardiovascular disease but all they gave him was aspirin. We have also suffered from mental problems. Our scariest experience was when during negotiations the kidnappers told the Czech side that if they didn’t fulfill their demands they would sell one or two of us to Islamic State,” Honsi added. The five Czechs were kidnapped in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. They were reportedly freed in a deal involving Prague's release of Lebanese citizen Ali Fayad, who had been held there at Washington's request on charges of selling arms to a Colombian rebel group.
Lebanon's State Commissioner to the Military Court charged Fayad in mid-March with backing a “Colombian terrorist organization” and selling arms and ammunition to the group. Fayad was one of a group of three men who were arrested in Prague in 2014 while allegedly trying to sell weapons to undercover U.S. law enforcement agents who pretended to be from a Colombian rebel group. Fayad returned to Beirut on February 1, the same day the five Czechs who went missing in Lebanon in July 2015 were set free in a swap deal struck by the Czech government for their release.

Palestinian Ibrahim Hmayed turns himself over to army
Thu 18 Aug 2016/NNA - Wanted Palestinian Ibrahim Naeem Hamid, aka Ibrahim Nejme, turned himself over to the Lebanese army's Intelligence at Ain-el-Hilwe military checkpoint today, National News Agency correspondent reported on Thursday.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 18-19/16

U.N. Says No Humanitarian Convoys in Syria in a Month
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/16/Aid convoys have not reached Syria's besieged areas with desperately needed food and medicine for the past month, the U.N. envoy to the war-ravaged country, Staffan de Mistura, said Thursday. In protest at the failure of warring parties to allow aid to reach civilians, de Mistura cut short the weekly meeting of the Geneva-based humanitarian taskforce, which is headed by the United States and Russia. "Not one single convoy in one month has reached any of the humanitarian besieged areas," de Mistura told reporters, blaming relentless fighting. Thursday's taskforce meeting lasted just eight minutes before it was "suspended", de Mistura said, explaining that the move was symbolic and that the group would meet again next week. The envoy re-issued the United Nations' call for a weekly 48-hour humanitarian pause in Aleppo, where an estimated 1.5 million civilians are trapped as fierce fighting rages between Syria President Bashar Assad's forces and rebels. Aleppo, Syria's second city and former economic hub, has emerged as a top concern for the U.N. and aid agencies since regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July. De Mistura said the 17 countries that make up the International Support Group for Syria (ISSG), which sit on the humanitarian taskforce, would hold another meeting later Thursday on the issue of a humanitarian pause in Aleppo. Since the beginning of the year, the U.N. and its Red Cross partners have delivered aid to nearly 1.3 million Syrians living in areas defined as besieged or hard-to-reach. But the movement of convoys has primarily been hampered by access restrictions imposed by Assad's government. Deir Ezzor, which is partially controlled by the Islamic State group, has continued to receive aid over the last month through World Food Program air drops, de Mistura said. Four besieged areas -- Madaya, Zabadani, Foah and Kafraya -- have not been reached by a convoy in 110 days, the UN envoy added. More than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half the population has been displaced since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests that escalated into a brutal multi-front war.

Amnesty Denounces 'Appalling Abuse' in Syrian Jails
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/16/Syrian authorities are committing torture on a "massive scale" in government prisons including beatings, electric shocks, rape and psychological abuse that amount to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said Thursday. More than 17,700 people are estimated to have died in custody in Syria since the country's conflict began in March 2011, an average of more than 300 each month, the watchdog said in a report. Anyone seen as an opponent of the government is at risk of arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance and death in custody, according to Amnesty. It said the report was based on interviews with 65 torture survivors, mostly civilians, who described "appalling abuse and inhuman conditions" in intelligence agency detention centres and the Saydnaya Military Prison near Damascus. Most described witnessing at least one, if not several, deaths in custody, Amnesty said. Detainees are frequently subjected to a beating, known as a "welcome party", after their arrival at a prison by guards using tools such as silicone bars or hoses. "They had to break us; they treated us like animals. They wanted people to be as inhuman as possible," according to a former detainee identified as Samer, who Amnesty said was arrested while transporting humanitarian supplies. "I didn't see anyone die but I saw the blood, it was like a river," he said.

- 'Getting rid of the weak' -Omar S, who was a 17-year-old high-school student at the time of his arrest in 2012 after taking part in demonstrations, said the detainees were asked upon their arrival if they were ill. "It felt like the purpose was death, some form of natural selection -- to get rid of the weak as soon as they arrive," he said. "They first asked my friend and he said, 'Yes, I have breathing problems -- I have asthma.' They started beating him until he died, right there in front of me."
The rights group said it had documented cases of rape and sexual violence against both men and women. They include Said, a pro-democracy activist, who said that he was suspended by one hand while blindfolded. "While I was hanging ... they used an electroshock baton to hit my penis. Then they took the electroshock device and inserted it into my anus and switched it on. This was my first experience of rape. Then one of the guards asked for my face to be uncovered and I saw my father there. He had witnessed all of it." Access to food, water and sanitation facilities is often severely restricted in regime prisons and infestations of scabies and lice thrive along with diseases, according to the report. Amnesty urged world powers, in particular Russia and the United States, to pressure the Syrian authorities and armed groups to end the use of torture and other ill-treatment. "For decades, Syrian government forces have used torture as a means to crush their opponents," said Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther. "Today, it is being carried out as part of a systematic and widespread attack directed against anyone suspected of opposing the government in the civilian population and amounts to crimes against humanity. Those responsible for these heinous crimes must be brought to justice."

Syria Regime Aircraft Hit Kurd-Held Area for First Time
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/16/Syrian government aircraft bombed Kurdish positions in the divided northeastern city of Hasakeh on Thursday, the first such strikes against a Kurdish-held area of Syria, a monitor said. At least six Kurdish positions were hit, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. An Agence France Presse correspondent saw government aircraft target several Kurdish positions in the city, which has seen heavy clashes between Kurdish fighters and pro-government militia since Wednesday.

Chinese Admiral Visits Syria in Show of Support
Associated Press/Naharnet/August 18/16/Chinese state media say a top military officer visited Syria this week in a show of support for President Bashar Assad's embattled regime. The official Xinhua News Agency says Rear Adm. Guan Youfei met on Monday with Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij in Damascus. It said he also met the same day with a Russian general who is coordinating his country's military assistance to Assad's fight against armed opposition groups. Xinhua said Guan expressed China's willingness to boost military cooperation. Guan is head of the Office for International Military Cooperation under the Central Military Commission that oversees China's 2.3 million-member armed forces.
While China has echoed Russia's approach in backing Assad, it hasn't directly contributed forces in keeping with its policy of opposing outside intervention in domestic conflicts.

Children in Syria's Madaya Await Urgent Medical Help
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/16/Eyes closed against the searing light, a 10-year-old with meningitis writhes in agony on a bed in Syria's besieged town of Madaya as his parents look helplessly on. Yaman Ezzedin is one of several desperately ill children in the rebel-held town under regime siege outside Damascus in need of immediate evacuation to a well-equipped hospital. And he is one of some 40,0000 residents who have been affected by food and medicine shortages inside Madaya since the regime encircled the town two years ago and besieged it completely last summer. The town grabbed international attention in late 2015 after reports its residents were starving to death because of a lack of food. A 10-year-old Syrian girl shot in Madaya was evacuated on Sunday to a Damascus hospital after an online campaign, but another dozen children remain inside the town in urgent need of medical care. This week, activists inside Madaya posted a video of Yaman on social media as part of a plea for help for the children. "He won't stop crying the pain is so unbearable," his father Alaa tells AFP by phone. Cold compresses have done nothing to bring down his temperature, Alaa says, or alleviate convulsions, hallucinations and an intolerance of sunlight.
The young boy is so consumed by the pain, "he no longer recognises us," his father says, his voice breaking. "I don't know who to ask... I call on the whole world, the United Nations, the Red Crescent to save my son."
- One field hospital -Some 86 people have died in a year-long government siege of Madaya, including 65 from starvation and malnutrition, two NGOs said last month. The Syrian American Medical Society and Physicians for Human Rights blamed the deaths on the government's "stranglehold" on the town. The United Nations says nearly 600,000 Syrians are living under siege, mostly imposed by the government, though the tactic has also been used by rebel fighters and the Islamic State group.
Thirteen children including Yaman -- as well as a semi-paralysed, blind 22-year-old -- urgently need to be evacuated out of the town, according to medics. Madaya only has "one field hospital, which offers modest services owing to the lack of medication and equipment," a group of health professionals said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. "Everyone without exception suffers from a lack of calcium... and many are malnourished," they said. The group said 45 cases of typhoid had been recorded, "most... among women and children, with no medication or antibiotics to assist in treatment. "These cases are in dire need of hospitalisation outside of Madaya somewhere equipped and capable of offering treatment before time runs out," they said. On Thursday, the UN's Syria envoy called for 16 people -- mostly children and the youngest just six months old -- to be allowed out of Madaya for medical treatment. Staffan de Mistura also called for the evacuation of another two people from Fuaa, a rebel-besieged village in the northwestern Idlib province.

- Two dentists, one vet -Under a deal signed last September, any evacuation from the regime-encircled towns of Madaya and Zabadani must be matched by a similar operation from the rebel-besieged Shiite villages of Fuaa and Kafraya. Dentist Mohammad Darwish is one of just three acting doctors left in Madaya. Under blockade, the 25-year-old, another dentist and a vet have had to become surgeons, performing operations including caesarians and amputations to help the town's ailing residents. One of the worst cases he has seen is that of Bissan al-Shamaa, not yet one year old, whose parents unknowingly fed her milk formula that had been mixed with plaster powder. "She's suffering from septicaemia," a blood infection, he says. Activists inside the town this week posted a picture of Bissan among a series of images of children in urgent need of medical help. On the local council's Facebook page, nine-month-old Bissan appears with her large eyes lifeless and tiny body emaciated. The caption says she is suffering from severe malnutrition after her mother mixed her milk powder with starch. "May God prevent all parents from seeing their child in such a state," Yaman's father says.

12 Dead, Over 200 Hurt in Spate of Turkey Attacks Blamed on PKK
Associated Press/Naharnet/August 18/16/Twelve people were killed in a spate of bombings against Turkish security forces blamed on Kurdish rebels who appear to have ramped up their campaign of attacks in the aftermath of the failed coup. Turkish officials accused the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) of carrying out three bloody attacks in less than 24 hours that for the first time struck areas in the east that are not predominantly Kurdish. "This nation will never surrender to any terrorist organization," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Thursday on a visit to the scene of one of the bombings. The bloodshed comes in the week that the PKK -- regarded as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies -- marks what is considered to be the 32nd anniversary of its armed rebellion against the Turkish state. In the deadliest strike, five soldiers and a village guard were killed when a homemade bomb blew up in the path of a military convoy in the southeastern town of Bitlis on Thursday, Turkish media reported. Just a few hours earlier, three police officers were killed and more than 200 people injured in a car bombing against police headquarters in the eastern city of Elazig, leaving the building largely in ruins. The city, a conservative nationalist bastion, had been spared much of the violence that has rocked the Kurdish-dominated southeast since a two-and-a-half year ceasefire collapsed in 2015. And on Wednesday night, two more policemen and a civilian were killed and dozens wounded in a similar attack in the city of Van, not far from the border with Iran.
- 'Thwart the PKK' -
The rebels appear to have intensified their attacks since the failed attempt on July 15 to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. One senior Turkish politician suggested that the PKK was collaborating with supporters of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of orchestrating the coup bid. "Once again, the attacks in Van and Elazig show how PKK and FETO work together," former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu wrote on Twitter. "We will thwart the PKK like we thwarted FETO (Fethullah Terrorist Organization)," Defence Minister Fikri Isik told the Anadolu news agency, using the name Ankara gives to the movement led by Gulen. Yildirim, who visited the scene of the attack in Elizag along with several ministers including Isik and army chief Hulusi Akar, said a total of 217 people had been injured, including police and civilians. A Turkish official said more than 70 civilians and police officers were also wounded in the attack in Van, which has a mixed ethnic Kurdish and Turkish population.
- 'Exploiting the crisis' -
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to the Turkish government told AFP that the PKK was taking "advantage of the current atmosphere in Turkey.""Any terrorist organization likes to exploit crises," the source said, referring to the aftermath of the failed putsch which has seen a massive purge of the army, including the dismissal of almost half Turkey's generals and admirals. Davutoglu's suggestions of collaboration between the PKK and so-called Gulenists stand in contrast to the history of tense relations between them. It has often been said that one of the reasons for the acrimonious split between Erdogan and Gulen is the Turkish leader's now failed peace push with the Kurds.
More than 600 members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in PKK attacks since the ceasefire collapsed, according to a toll given by Anadolu on July 31. The government has hit back with deadly military offensives against the group in southeastern Turkey, including punishing curfews on urban areas. Anadolu said the operations have killed more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq but the toll cannot be independently verified. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984 in a separatist rebellion led by now jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Israel Defense Chief Has 'Carrot and Stick' West Bank Plan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/16/Israel's hardline defense minister Avigdor Lieberman has a new "carrot and stick" policy for the West Bank that will penalize the hometowns of Palestinian attackers while rewarding others, his ministry said Thursday. Under the policy, Palestinian families, villages and towns that are linked to attackers will face extra punitive measures, while those that are not will receive increased economic support. "Anyone who is ready for coexistence will profit, and anyone who takes the route of terrorism will lose," Lieberman said, according to Israeli newspapers. Lieberman described the policy as a "carrot and stick" approach, his ministry confirmed to Agence France Presse. The policy is dependent on support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Lieberman said he had already received. Israel has occupied the West Bank, which is home to more than two million Palestinians, since 1967. More than 400,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements which the international community considers illegal and sees as one of the largest obstacles to peace. According to Israeli media reports, Lieberman, whose ministry leads Israeli policy in the West Bank, has divided the region in two -- with Palestinian hometowns of attackers marked green and others in red or yellow. Those marked as threats could see increased arrests or raids and tighter restrictions on access, while those seen as accepting of Israel's presence could see increased state investment. In Beit Sahour, south of Jerusalem, the "carrot" could include a new hospital, Israeli newspapers reported. A wave of violence since October has killed 220 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say, with the majority of them from the West Bank. Last month the Israeli army closed off the Fawwar refugee camp close to the flashpoint city of Hebron for 26 days after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road, causing a crash that killed the driver. Lieberman will also seek to improve relations with prominent Palestinians outside the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority headed by president Mahmud Abbas.

HRW Hails Iraq Cleric's Call against Anti-Gay Violence
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/16/Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday welcomed a statement by influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urging an end to violence against gay and gender non-conforming people. The young Shiite Muslim cleric, who heads a militia and enjoys a wide following in Iraq, made his appeal to refrain from violence in a statement issued on July 7. Sadr said people should dissociate from homosexuals but "not attack them". While pointing out that Sadr remains intolerant of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, HRW called the statement "an important step". "He should ensure that those in the ranks of the militia under his command, the Peace Brigades (Saraya al-Salam), obey the order and should hold accountable commanders who do not," it said. "While Sadr is still a long way from fully embracing human rights for LGBT people, his statement shows that he understands the importance of stopping abuses against them," HRW deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said. The New York-based rights group has documented past abuses by militias, including Sadr's since re-branded Mahdi Army, against LGBT people. The group found that "a wide-reaching campaign of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings and torture" in early 2009 had started in Baghdad's Sadr City, a neighborhood named after the cleric's father where he enjoys massive support. "Mahdi Army spokesmen promoted fear about the 'third sex' and the 'feminisation' of Iraqi men, as well as suggesting that militia action was the remedy," HRW said. According to Iraqueer, the only Iraqi organisation dedicated to promoting LGBT rights, violence against homosexuals has continued since and the government has tolerated it. There is no direct legal provision in Iraq banning same-sex intimacy but the law criminalizes extra-marital sexual relations and does not provide for same-sex marriage.

Boy in ambulance’ becomes face of Aleppo strikes
The Associated Press, Beirut Thursday, 18 August 2016/Syrian opposition activists have released haunting footage showing a young boy rescued from the rubble in the aftermath of a devastating airstrike in Aleppo. The image of the stunned and weary looking boy, sitting in an orange chair inside an ambulance covered in dust and with blood on his face, encapsulates the horrors inflicted on the conflicted northern city and is being widely shared on social media. Doctors in Aleppo on Thursday identified the boy as 5-year-old Omran. Osama Abu al-Ezz confirmed he was brought to the hospital known as “M10” Wednesday night following an airstrike on the rebel-held district of Qaterji with head wounds, but no brain injury, and was later discharged. Doctors in Aleppo use code names for hospitals, which they say have been systematically targeted by government airstrikes. Abu al-Ezz said they do that “because we are afraid security forces will infiltrate their medical network and target ambulances as they transfer patients from one hospital to another.” In the video posted late Wednesday by the Aleppo Media Center, a man is seen plucking the boy away from a chaotic nighttime scene and carrying him inside the ambulance, looking dazed and flat-eyed. The boy then runs his hand over his blood-covered face, looks at his hands and wipes them on the ambulance chair. Opposition activists said there were eight casualties overall from the air strike on Qaterji, among them five children. The image of Omran in the orange chair is reminiscent of the image of Aylan Kurdi, the drowned Syrian boy whose body was found on a beach in Turkey and came to encapsulate the horrific toll of Europe’s migrant crisis.

France targets mosques in fight against radicalism
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English, Monday, 15 August 2016./In response to the series of terror attacks carried out in France over the past year, French officials have called for strict vigilance over mosques in the country. Following the Nice attack, Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for a ban on foreign funding of mosques in France “for a period to be determined.” Shortly after, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that, in fact, more concrete measures had already been taken, with 20 Salafist mosques forced to shut down since December 2015. “There is no place in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques,” Cazeneuve said, speaking to reporters after a meeting with Muslim leaders. A report recently published by French parliament recommended that the government establish a dedicated foundation that could monitor foreign fund remittances to French mosques. One of the report’s authors, legislator Nathalie Goulet told new site France 24, that the idea is “not to ban foreign financing but to make it transparent and conditional.”Funding for building new French mosques comes from individual donations in France — not from foreign governments, the report stated. The report’s findings indicated that the bulk of the foreign funding came from Morocco and Algeria, which have sent 6 million euros ($6706200) and 2 million euros ($2235400), this year. In France, mosques, churches, synagogues and other houses of worship — are not legally entitled to receive any state funding. As a result, mosques are funded through private donations from individuals and charitable organizations. France is estimated to have a population of almost five million Muslims, making it Europe’s largest Muslim community.

Victories against ISIS leave Iraq’s Sunni heartland shattered
The Associated Press, Amiriyah al-Fallujah, Iraq Saturday, 13 August 2016/As Iraqi political and military attention shifts north in the fight against ISIS, the military victories that have put Iraqi forces on Mosul’s doorstep have left behind shattered cities, towns and communities in Iraq’s Sunni heartland.
Anbar has witnessed the most successful military phase of the ground fight against ISIS to date. But rather than restore government order, services and security, liberation at the hands of Iraqi forces closely backed by the US-led coalition has merely moved many Anbaris from one waiting room into another. For Ali Athab, his most painful memory of ISIS rule in Fallujah was watching his daughter’s health deteriorate. Born with a rare neurological disorder, his daughter Zeina had been receiving treatment at a Fallujah hospital that helped control her seizures, but once ISIS solidified its grip on the city less than an hour’s drive from Baghdad, almost all the doctors fled. “She was starting to get better, but now she’s stopped speaking,” he said, explaining that the few doctors who stayed behind were only allowed to treat ISIS fighters. First the cost of medicine skyrocketed, then specialized medicine wasn’t available in Fallujah at all. Athab, 34 said he prayed for liberation, hoping once his city was retaken by Iraqi government forces his daughter would again be able to see a doctor. But more than a month after ISIS was pushed out of Fallujah, the city remains a ghost town and Athab and his family are stuck in a camp on the edge of Anbar province. This year, Athab’s family joined the more than 1 million other Anbaris who have been forced from their homes since 2014. Zeina, age 8, sits politely in a corner of the family’s tent, occasionally fidgeting and making sounds that don’t form words. In the small, hurriedly constructed camp on the outskirts of Amiriyah al-Fallujah, a single mobile clinic only had antibiotics and mild painkillers on hand. In Baghdad - just over 40 kilometers (25 miles) away, Zeina could have access to the care she needs, but her family - as Anbar residents - lack the legal paperwork required to cross over into Baghdad Province.
“There’s an assumption that after Daesh is defeated you can put the nation back together and in essence create a new nation, but that’s not what we’re seeing in Anbar,” said a western diplomat based in Baghdad, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym. Instead, industry and agriculture have ground to a halt, schools are closed, electrical grids are down and many roads remain unusable. In that vacuum, tribal politics are becoming more powerful and families are adopting more conservative habits, said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authorization to release information to the media. While Iraqi government security forces administer databases of information to identify possible ISIS fighters among civilians, much of the screening process is handed over to local Anbari officials and communities.
At one of the larger displacement camps in Amiriyah al-Fallujah, a crowd of women gathered around a humanitarian convoy calling for help, they all had sons who were detained while fleeing Fallujah. Two weeks after they were taken, the women didn’t know where they were or who was holding them.Detainees say that tribes and powerful families are accusing rivals of being ISIS sympathizers to settle blood feuds, unpaid debts and grievances that go back generations. “Anyone who has a problem with someone can just accuse him of being with Daesh,” said Hussein, a middle-aged man just released from a detention center, speaking on condition that only his first name is used for fear of his own security. Anbar’s residents describe feeling increasingly alienated from the central government, adrift in camps for the displaced or sharing close quarters with extended family. The vast majority of assistance that they are growing increasingly dependent on comes not from the central government, but from local political, tribal and religious leaders.
For Ahmed Fahel, 30, the fight against ISIS in Hit plunged his family into poverty. Living in a desolate camp further west in Anbar in the desert that lies between Hit and Ramadi, Fahel is now his extended family’s only breadwinner. His brother was executed by ISIS fighters just days before the town was retaken by Iraqi forces and his body was dumped in the street. Fahel only had time to quickly bury his brother in the garden before they fled.
“I have nothing and I also need to provide for my sister-in-law and her children,” he said, explaining he has since heard his house back in Hit was completely destroyed.
Nearly 1.3 million Anbaris are estimated to have been forced from their homes since early 2014 when IS first began to grow in power in the province, ferrying fighters and munitions through the lawless desserts along the border with neighboring Syria.
A decade ago, when the predecessor to ISIS had torn Anbar apart, a US-led effort to stabilize the province built support against al-Qaeda by pouring enormous amounts of resources into existing local tribal leadership networks. Today, Iraq’s central government - due in part to budget shortfalls sparked by the plunge in the price of oil - doesn’t have the resources and the US-led coalition doesn’t have the appetite for such an ambitious undertaking.
Without similarly large amounts of money, putting Anbar back together again will be impossible, said Ahmed al-Dara, a religious sheikh from Fallujah. And beyond the issue of resources, he said, the fight against ISIS in his home province is fundamentally different from the fight against al-Qaeda after the overthrow of Saddam in 2003. “This idea of reconciliation is not possible with Iraqis who joined Daesh,” said al-Dara, explaining that recovering from this insurgency would not only drive a greater wedge between Iraq’s Sunni and Shiites, but has also begun to fracture Iraq’s Sunni community.
“I know the people of Fallujah and Ramadi, they will never let a single Daesh supporter return to their cities,” he said. “This conflict has taken Iraq’s Sunnis back 50 years.”Athab, the Fallujah resident stuck in the tented camp on Anbar’s edge, describes the past 13 years of cyclical violence as exhausting. “This is the third time this has happened to Fallujah,” he said referencing the two US-led offensives against al-Qaeda insurgents in his home town in the mid-2000s. The battle against ISIS this year was the first to force him to flee his home and Athab vows it will be the last.
“I don’t want to live in Anbar anymore,” he said sucking at his front teeth. “Fallujah is finished, you can take it.”

ISIS recruits have poor grasp of faith
AP, Paris Monday, 15 August 2016/The ISIS employment form asked the new recruits to rate their knowledge of Islam on a scale of one to three. And applicants, herded into a hangar somewhere at the Syria-Turkey border, turned out to be overwhelmingly deemed ignorant. The extremist group could hardly have hoped for better. At the height of the drive by ISIS for foot soldiers in 2013 and 2014, typical followers included the group of Frenchmen who went bar-hopping with their recruiter back home, the recent European convert who now hesitantly describes himself as gay, and two Britons who ordered ‘The Quran for Dummies’ from Amazon to prepare for jihad in Syria. They were grouped in safe houses as a stream of ISIS imams filled in the gaps, according to court testimony and interviews by The Associated Press.
Wrong place
“I realized that I was in the wrong place when they began to ask me questions on these forms like ‘when you die, who should we call?’” said the 32-year-old European convert, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He went to Syria in 2014 and said new recruits were shown ISIS propaganda videos on Islam, and that the visiting imams repeatedly praised martyrdom. Far from home and unschooled in religion, most of the recruits were in little position to judge. An AP analysis of thousands of leaked ISIS documents reveals most of its recruits from its earliest days knew little about Islam. According to the documents, which were acquired by the Syrian opposition site Zaman al-Wasl and shared with AP, 70 per cent of recruits were listed as having just “basic” knowledge of Shariah -- the lowest possible choice. Around 24 per cent were categorized as having an “intermediate” knowledge, and just 5 per cent were considered advanced students of Islam. The group preys on this ignorance, because it allows extremists to impose an interpretation of Islam constructed to suit its goal of maximum territorial expansion and carnage as soon as recruits come under its sway.
‘Smooth talk’
Among the documents were forms for nine of the 10 young men from the eastern French city of Strasbourg recruited - like the European convert - by a man named Mourad Fares. One of them, Karim Mohammad-Aggad, described going barhopping with Fares. He told investigators that ISIS recruiters used “smooth talk” to persuade him.He traveled with his younger brother and friends to Syria in late 2013. Seven of them returned to France within a few months and were arrested. Two died in Syria, while his 23-year-old brother, Foued, returned as one of the men who stormed the Bataclan on November 13, 2015, in a night of attacks which killed 130 people in Paris.“My religious beliefs had nothing to do with my departure,” Karim Mohammad-Aggad told the court before he was sentenced to nine years in prison. When pressed by the judge on his knowledge of Shariah, Islamic law, and how ISIS implements it, Mohammad-Aggad appeared dumbfounded, saying repeatedly: “I don’t have the knowledge to answer the question.”One of his co-defendants, Radouane Taher, was also asked by the judge about whether beheadings conformed to Islamic law. He couldn’t say for sure, answering: “I don't have the authority.”Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer with experience with Mideast extremist organizations, said most who claim allegiance to ISIS are “reaching for a sense of belonging, a sense of notoriety, a sense of excitement.”
Afterthought
“Religion is an afterthought,” said Skinner, who now works for the Soufan Group security consultancy. Those who truly crave religious immersion would go to Al-Azhar in Cairo, he added, referring to the thousand-year-old seat of learning for Shariah and Quranic studies among Sunni Muslims.The Soufan Group has said the ISIS group’s most active supporters often grapple with questions of identity and lack the knowledge about Islam to challenge its ideologues. Take Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, friends from the British city of Birmingham who joined ISIS. They were arrested after returning to Britain, and their 2014 trial revealed they had ordered ‘The Quran for Dummies’ and ‘Islam for Dummies’ books in preparation for their trip to Syria.
Not accredited scholars
Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan says that a look at top ISIS commanders shows that many are not accredited scholars, but instead once held senior positions under Saddam Hussein’s secular Baathist government. Ramadan, who teaches Islamic Studies at Oxford University and has written numerous books on Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe, says Islamic scholars must challenge the radical discourse of groups such as ISIS. “These are people distorting the message, not being equipped religiously speaking,” Ramadan said. “Muslims around the world have the duty to respond to this in a very articulated way.”

Britain needs new race strategy as report shows ‘entrenched’ unfairness
Reuters Thursday, 18 August 2016/Ethnic minorities face “entrenched and far-reaching” inequality and, combined with a rise in hate crime since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the government must come up with a long-term strategy, an independent report said on Thursday.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), a public body, found that the life chances of young people from ethnic minorities in Britain had deteriorated over the past five years after looking at areas such as education and health. David Isaac, who became EHRC chairman in May, called on the government to develop new targets to reduce race inequality in the criminal justice system, education and employment. “The combination of the post-Brexit rise in hate crime and deep race inequality in Britain is very worrying and must be tackled urgently,” he said in the report. In the week after June’s Brexit vote, the number of hate crimes reported to British police online spiked, after concern about immigration drove many people to vote to leave the 28-country EU bloc. “Today’s report underlines just how entrenched race inequality and unfairness still is in our society,” Isaac said. The EHRC said its biggest ever review into race equality in Britain found that long-term unemployment amongst 16 to 24 year olds from ethnic minority communities had risen by 49 percent since 2010, while for white people it had fallen by 2 percent. The job market is also not treating black, Asian and ethnic minority workers fairly, the report said, with people from those communities who have degrees two and a half times more likely to be unemployed than white workers with degrees. Black workers with degrees are also paid 23.1 percent less on average than their white equivalents. Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, has pledged to put the government at the service of “ordinary working people”, as part of a plan to heal the rifts exposed by the Brexit vote.

False JFK airport shooting casts light on poor TSA protocols
Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 16 August 2016/When chaos and panic ensued at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal 8 on Sunday night, amid fears that there was a shooting incident taking place, many passengers reported a lack of protocols and proper instructions by officials on how to react. One passenger, a professor at Northwestern University in Qatar who was going through the security before catching a Qatar Airways flight, told Al Arabiya English that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials “simply ran with the crowds.” “We received no instructions, it was absolute chaos. The TSA officials seemed confused and panicked as everyone else,” Justin Martin told Al Arabiya English. He said people started running and some shouted that there was a gunman and the commotion grew until everyone started running through the terminal. The confusion was so widespread that Martin said he witnessed people unable to walk unaided left behind as airline representatives and airport officials kept running for safety. “As I was running, I even passed some people who were left in wheelchairs,” he added. Reports of a gunman proved false after hours of lockdown and search showed no shooter was present at the terminal.
Lack of confidence
Boisterous celebrations over the Olympic victory of the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt is currently being investigated as a possibility by police for the cause of the confused panic. An internal New York Police Department briefing document, obtained by The Associated Press, said a preliminary video review showed that some travelers had started to act “extremely disruptive” while watching the Olympics on televisions in Terminal 8. The lack of safety procedures and lack of instructions struck a chord with passengers, especially after attacks at the Brussels International airport in March and Ataturk International Airport in June raised questions about global threats by extremists targeting travelers. “It doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in TSA. From my experience, it was almost to the point where they had no plan,” Martin said. Those hired for the screening process at US commercial airports are subcontracted to private companies and are not directly hired by the federal government. A TSA spokesperson told Al Arabiya English that airport police are responsible for protecting passengers and airport property during an active shooter situation.

With neighboring instability, Jordan growth slows as unemployment rises
The Associated Press, Dhiban, Jordan Sunday, 14 August 2016/Sabri Mashaaleh feels misled and angry: The 29-year-old studied counseling expecting to find a civil service job, in line with what used to be a typical life path for college-educated Jordanians.
Four years later, he’s still unemployed. His last hopes were crushed earlier this summer when troops tore down the tent in his small, remote hometown of Dhiban where he and other jobless young men had staged daily sit-ins for two months, demanding employment. With protests silenced, Mashaaleh sees a dark future for Dhiban. “Dhiban has become a fertile environment for radical thoughts, and it’s a fertile environment for drug problems, and a fertile environment for criminals,” said Mashaaleh, speaking at the roundabout where the tent once stood. The Dhiban unrest highlights what the Jordanian government now says is its biggest challenge- rising unemployment, particularly among the young, fueled by an economic slump and spillover from conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Youth unemployment is endemic in the troubled Middle East, where a demographic “youth bulge” has increased the number of jobseekers, including college graduates, while economies have stalled amid spreading violence. Even though Jordan’s unemployment problem is not unique, some say the pro-Western monarchy warrants special attention because of its strategic importance. The country is part of the US-led military coalition against ISIS extremists who control parts of Syria and Iraq and have attracted thousands of followers in Jordan. Any destabilization of Jordan, possibly triggered by economic problems, would alarm the kingdom’s allies. The government needs to take urgent action, said economist Omar Razzaz, who chairs a national team of experts trying to devise a new employment strategy. “We cannot afford to have the unemployment problem turn into a radicalization problem,” he said. “That’s the time bomb we are facing.” Economic growth in Jordan dropped from 3.1 percent in 2014 to 2.4 percent last year and 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to the World Bank. Continued fighting in Syria and Iraq forced the closure of Jordan’s main overland trade routes in 2015 and also harmed tourism and construction. Unemployment rose from 13 percent last year to 14.7 percent in 2016. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 35 percent have no jobs, said Lea Hakim, the World Bank’s country economist for Jordan. “The economy has not been generating enough jobs, not quantity and not quality jobs, for its population,” she said. The influx of Syrian refugees since 2011 has further expanded the labor force. Jordan hosts some 660,000 registered refugees, though a recent census counted twice as many Syrians in Jordan, out of a total population of 9.5 million. In the first years of the Syria crisis, Jordan barred refugees from working legally to protect its labor force. Instead, tens of thousands of Syrians worked informally in construction, farming and retail - sectors until then dominated by migrant workers from Africa and Asia because the jobs paid too little to attract Jordanians.
Earlier this year, Jordan changed course.
It struck a deal with donors to try to turn the refugee crisis into a development opportunity for Jordan and to deter Syrians from migrating to Europe by improving their lives in the region. The kingdom agreed to issue work permits to tens of thousands of Syrians. In exchange, Europe eased trade restrictions to encourage investment in Jordan, while donors, including the World Bank, promised concessional financing and grants for development and labor-intensive projects in the country. Ferid Belhaj, the World Bank’s regional director, said he expects this tradeoff to generate growth and jobs in three or four years. “The crisis is a huge challenge, but it can turn into an opportunity,” he told The Associated Press. Razzaz, the economist, said that in the meantime, the government should launch an ambitious public works program, including employing large numbers of Jordanians to care for children and the elderly. “We should ... start this program before we see protests,” said Razzaz, who also heads the Jordan Strategy Forum think tank. The government and donor countries have funded pilot programs that fall short of needs, he said. Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury described lowering unemployment as the government’s top priority. This includes a $35 million fund to encourage young Jordanians to set up small businesses. Jordanians need to understand that the public sector can no longer be the main employer, Fakhoury said. Opportunities are available outside the civil service, “but it requires also a change of mindset,” he said. In Dhiban, a town of 25,000 about 70 kilometers (44 miles) from the capital of Amman, many feel marginalized. Two dozen protesters, including Mashaaleh, were initially detained when troops backed by armored vehicles dismantled the protest tent in June, but all have been released. Mashaaleh said the protests were peaceful, though the Interior Ministry said three officers were wounded when shots were fired at them during a clash in Dhiban. The town’s mayor, Fhaid al-Rawahneh, 61, said that “we don’t want to fight with the security.” He said the government must do more to bring factories to the region. An attempt to attract a pre-fab home construction company to Dhiban with the promise of free land became entangled in red tape, he said. Young people in Dhiban have few options. Those who can mostly sign up for police or military work in Amman, and the high transportation costs take a big cut from their meager wages. Al-Rawahneh said only one of his four college-educated children has a job. “There is unemployment in every family,” he said. “Our only demand is to find jobs.”

Dr. Mohammad Maleki: The 1988 massacre in Iran stole many more lives than the regime claims
Thursday, 18 August 2016/NCRI - The first Chancellor of the University of Tehran following the 1979 revolution has claimed that the estimates provided by some Iranian regime officials about the number of political prisoners who were executed in Iran’s 1988 massacre is far too low.
Dr. Mohammad Maleki released this statement following the leak of an audio recording from 1988 featuring Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the former heir to Khomeini, who acknowledged that the regime knew about and organized the massacre. The majority of the victims were political prisoners affiliated to the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK). The text of Dr. Maleki’s remarks have been widely circulated on Persian-language websites.Dr. Maleki said: "I have evidence that provides information about a large number of those executed. The 4000 to 5000 number which Montazeri and others have claimed was only related to the executions carried out in Tehran while the massacre of 1988 was also carried out in other towns and even in the villages."He cited Reza Malek, a former senior official of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), who has claimed the number of PMOI-affiliated political prisoners who were executed was in excess of 30,000. Dr. Maleki said: “More than 30,000 of them were from the PMOI, and two to three thousand were from other groups. I have this figure from my source, who is still alive.” Dr. Maleki, 83, is a human rights activist who has been arrested and imprisoned by the Iranian regime many times and is banned from leaving the country. Last November he publicly condemned a brutal rocket attack on October 29, 2015 against members of the PMOI (MEK) in Camp Liberty in Iraq which left 24 people killed and dozens wounded.In December he publicly said that the victims of the Camp Liberty rocket attack would overcome all obstacles and continue with ever greater force their resistance against the clerical regime, adding that they "seek freedom from cradle to the grave."

Iran: 4,400 clothes shops shut down for violating compulsory dress-code standards
Thursday, 18 August 2016/Hossein Sajedi-Nia, Commander of the State Security Forces, announced that "more than 4,400 clothes shops were shut down" just last year "for offering indecent apparel violating public morality." Speaking at a meeting on "virtue and the veil", he acknowledged the failure of the regime's suppressive measures against Iranian women, adding that "the current status of the hijab and virtue does not conform to an Islamic society. The monitoring of women's veiling over the past 15 years indicates that the situation has gradually worsened." In the meeting held on August 12 to find new ways for suppression of women, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi also admitted that the regime had failed in its repressive campaigns. He said in the area of chastity and public morality, “24 departments have responsibilities... Despite the fact that specialized courts have been set up in Tehran to encounter these types of offenses, a lack of coordination among relevant departments, has prevented progress.”Jafari-Dolatabadi said the presence of people who do not succumb to the regime's suppressive rules “is predominant in public places such as parks, restaurants, etc. and it is necessary to overcome this atmosphere by providing solutions.”Referring to Khamenei's orders on women's veiling, the regime’s Prosecutor-General for Tehran also called on the regime officials to deal with "offenses against public chastity and morality." (State-run news agency ISNA, August 12, 2016). On July 20, 2016, Khamenei said: "Any discussion over the voluntary or mandatory nature of the Hijab (women's veil) is deviatory, and does not have any place in the Islamic Republic.... If it turns out that something is religiously unlawful (haram), the Islamic regime is duty-bound to stand against such haram.”The Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran condemns the Iranian regime's backward and repressive positions against women. There is no doubt that in fear of the Iranian people and women's growing protests, the misogynist regime seeks the remedy in further escalation of oppression of women. They know, however, that this will only foment the Iranian people's fury against the regime as manifested in the protests by various strata of society.
Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/August 17, 2016

Rep. Ted Poe: Protecting Iran’s Freedom Fighters in Camp Liberty
Thursday, 18 August 2016/NCRI - Judge Ted Poe, a Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, has published a commentary on the status of the members of the main Iranian opposition group PMOI (MEK) in Camp Liberty in Iraq.
The following is the text of his opinion article which was published on Wednesday on his official Medium account:
Ted Poe
Member of Congress, representing the second district of the great state of Texas
Protecting Freedom Fighters: Camp Liberty
An estimated 1,200 Iranian dissidents remain in Camp Liberty in Iraq at the mercies of the pro-Iranian government in Baghdad. These refugees, mainly members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (otherwise known as the MEK) are unarmed, innocent people who have been forced to flee their homes because of their opposition to the tyrannical theocratic regime in Tehran. They have endured decades of exile outside of Iran marked by continuous suffering and persecution.
Since 2013, seven rocket attacks have targeted Camp Liberty, wounding hundreds and killing at least 139 residents. All of these attacks are believed to have been carried out either by Shiite militias in Iraq linked to the Iranian regime or by agents of the Iranian Quds Force. No one has been held accountable for these attacks. In fact, no one has even been arrested. Despite the fact that the Iraqi government signed a Memorandum of Understanding ensuring the safety and security of the residents of Camp Liberty, it appears that the Iraqi government’s subservience to Iran takes precedence.
These dissidents are not safe in Iraq and must be relocated as soon as possible to some other country. Thankfully, 1,800 residents have already been resettled outside of the country, particularly in Albania, which took in the most recent batches of refugees leaving Camp Liberty in early August. However, recent reports from MEK sources within Tehran now suggest that the Quds Force is contemplating another major strike on Camp Liberty before the remaining refugees are allowed to leave. At the same time, Quds Force-linked paramilitary forces have been increasing their presence in Baghdad International Airport — a troubling sign that could presage another strike on the camp that is located not too far from the airport. The Iranian government would like extend the reign of terror it wages at home against any and all people who speak out against it- including the dissidents in neighboring Iraq. How many more people have to die? How many more times will unarmed refugees be attacked by rockets? The Iraqi government must live up to its commitment and protect these refugees until every last one of them finds his or her way to safety. And that’s just the way it is.

Iran: A family’s plea for internatioal condemnation of execution of three political prisoners of fellow Arab citizens
Thursday, 18 August 2016/The religious fascism ruling Iran's henchmen hanged three young political priosners from fellow Arab citizens this morning (August 17) 3 in Ahwaz Hamidieh with the mullah-made charge of "Moharebeh (enmity against God) and corruption on earth".
The three prisoners, Qais Obeidavi, 25-year-old law graduate, his 20-year-old brother Ahmad Obeidavi, and their cousin, Sajjad Balawi (Obeidavi), a law student, had been under torture and pressure in solitary confinements of Ahwaz Intelligence from the onset. In addition to the execution of these three men, the mullahs' judiciary has iised sentences of 25 to 35 years imprisonment for four other political prisoners from Arab compatriots. The Iranian Resistance offers its condolences to the families of the victims and calls on all fellow compatriots particularly young people across Khouzestan province to stand in solidarity and support with the families of those executed and prisoners. Thus since the beginning of August, coincident with the anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, the execution of 29 political prisoners by the religious dictatorship ruling Iran has been recorded. On August 2nd, 25 Sunni prisoners were executed collectively. The actual number of political execution is more than this. These executions are a continuation of massacre of political prisoners in 1988 whose perpetrators are also perpetrators of this crime. The officials in charge of executing Khomeini’s fatwa for massacre, and members of the “Death Committee” in 1988, today are among top political, intelligence and military officials of the clerical regime and in charge of suppression and execution. The Iranian Resistance stresses on the fact that the Iranian regime is able to survive only by execution, torture and suppression, and asks the International community, especially the Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council, member states and all human rights organizations to categorically condemn the new wave of political executions and to refer the dossier of the mullahs regime crimes, especially the massacre of 1988, to the UN Security Council and to bring leaders of this regime to face justice. Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/August 17, 2016
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on August 18-19/16

Trump's Jihad Against Jihad Deserves Support/Good luck on this, Donald Trump. This secular Muslim wishes you success.
الناشط الكندي المسلم طارق فتاح يؤيد سياسة ترامب لمواجهة الجهاد والجهاديين
Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/August 18/16 (published on August 16/16)
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/08/18/tarek-fatahtrumps-jihad-against-jihad-deserves-supportgood-luck-on-this-donald-trump-this-secular-muslim-wishes-you-success/

http://www.meforum.org/6200/trump-jihad-against-jihad

Trump's Jihad Against Jihad Deserves Support
Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/August 18/16 (published on August 16/16)
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/08/18/tarek-fatahtrumps-jihad-against-jihad-deserves-supportgood-luck-on-this-donald-trump-this-secular-muslim-wishes-you-success/

http://www.meforum.org/6200/trump-jihad-against-jihad

Can Donald Trump succeed in the war on radical Islamists where others have not yet tried?
It didn't take long for critics of Donald Trump to cry foul when the Republican presidential candidate announced his plans to "temporarily suspend immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting [Islamic] terrorism."
Take the reaction of Muzaffar Chisti, a director of the Migration Policy Institute, who told the New York Times: "How would you screen Muslims? There's no mention of religion on the passport. If you go by name, clearly a lot of Muslims don't have Muslim-sounding names."
In reality, in most cases, anyone would be hard pressed to find Pakistanis, or Iranian Muslims, Saudis or Somalis who have non Muslim-sounding names.
Other critics chose to mock Trump, claiming he was backing off from his December 2015 statement calling for the U.S. to bar all Muslims from entering the country until America could "figure out what is going on."
Trump is not the first to propose suspending Muslim immigration.
But Trump is not the first to propose such a policy. A Muslim group in Canada, in the wake of the failed "Toronto 18' terror plot, called for a similar suspension.
In 2006, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) suggested to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he suspend immigration from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Somalia, until Canadians officials did thorough security checks of prospective immigrants from these countries.
Unknown to many is the fact that security checks of would-be immigrants to Canada are not done solely by Canadian (or U.S.) officials, but also rely on information from foreign security agencies that may themselves be infiltrated by terrorist sympathizers.
In 2015, I was invited to make a submission to Canada's Senate committee studying the rise of Islamic radicalism.
As part of my submission, I suggested a plan akin to what Trump has proposed. I testified,
We [should] suspend immigration from Somalia, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia until we are assured that the men and women coming here are committed not to the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Shabaab, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Jamaat-e-Islami, but to a separation of religion and state, gender equality, liberal democracy.
The ease with which well-placed non-Americans travel to the U.S. as visitors was illustrated by the case of a Pakistani industrialist who owned a fertilizer factory that produced most of the material used by the Taliban in making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that were killing American troops.
In 2011, Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero who headed a U.S. military command created to stem U.S. casualties from IEDs, was trying to get in touch with this businessman in Pakistan, only to discover he was already coming to America for a visit. (The military did not suggest the factory owner was involved in bomb making, but was concerned about the theft of legal fertilizer shipments in Pakistan being used illegally in Afghanistan to make IEDs.)
Trump is not my kind of a politician, but in a world where almost no one has the courage to call an Islamist an Islamist, perhaps it's time for him to take charge of the world war that Islamism has declared on civilized people.
Trump has said that one of his first acts as president "will be to establish a Commission on Radical Islam – which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community, who will hopefully work with us. We want to build bridges and erase divisions."
Good luck on this, Donald Trump. This secular Muslim wishes you success.
**Tarek Fatah, a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and columnist at the Toronto Sun, is a Robert J. and Abby B. Levine Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Iran officials defend Russian use of Hamadan air base
Arash Karami/Al-Monitor/August 18/16
There has been a great deal of traditional and social media chatter over Russia's use of an Iranian air base to strike targets in Syria, reportedly the first time a foreign power has used an Iranian base since World War II.
At an open parliament session Aug. 17, Iranian parliamentarian Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh cited Article 146 of the Iranian Constitution, saying, “The establishment of any type of [foreign] military base in the country, even for peaceful purposes, is forbidden.” Falahatpisheh, who is a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, warned that Russia has a “turbulent foreign policy” and its own “strategic and foreign policy considerations.”
Referencing one of the early slogans in the 1979 revolution, “Neither East nor West,” Falahatpisheh added that whenever Iran had encountered problems, both Western and Eastern countries have teamed up against it. Indeed, the last time foreign countries used Iranian military bases, the Soviet Union from the north and the British from the south had invaded Iran.
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, however, dismissed Falahatpisheh’s concerns. “We did not put any military base at anyone’s discretion,” he responded during the session. “That we cooperated with Russia, who is our ally on regional issues, especially on Syria, does not mean putting a base at their discretion, and if the media reports such a thing, it is denied.” Larijani then praised Russia’s “correct understanding” of the region and expressed happiness that the Russians are also coming around to Iran’s positions on Yemen.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, also denied that Russia had set up a military base in the country. Boroujerdi said that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had approved the Russian use of the base in Hamadan and added, “It does not contradict the constitution because the Hamadan air base has neither become Russia’s air base nor have the fighter jets been stationed there.”
According to Boroujerdi, the Russians had only used the air base for refueling purposes under a bilateral agreement. He added the use of the air base to strike targets in Syria was based on an agreement between Russia, Iran, Syria and Iraq. Boroujerdi also denied reports that Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems have been set up at Hamadan.
Despite the surprise in the Iranian media and some officials over Russia's use of the Iranian air base, this unprecedented move was a long time coming, according to Ali Akbar Velayati, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s foreign policy adviser. After meeting with Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Middle East special envoy, Velayati said the Russian and Iranian cooperation against “terrorism and American invasions” should not be unexpected. He added, “In the last few months we made agreements with the Russians and our friends to stand against these invasions.”
Mehdi Mohammadi, conservative analyst and a former media adviser to nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, was less apologetic about the news. He wrote, “The biggest lesson is possibly for the first time in the last 100 years of this region, a military superpower, at its own expense, has become involved in a war that belongs to us.” He added that all it took for this to happen was one meeting between a general (Quds force commander Qasem Soleimani) and a veteran leader (Putin). In response to the criticism, Mohammadi wrote, “Sometimes intelligence is knowing what you should take pride in and what you should not take pride in.”US officials have said after the first round of strikes, the planes returned to Russia. However, Russia said that they conducted more strikes from Hamadan base today, Aug. 17.
 

Iran: Russians Using Iranian Airbases
Lawrence A. Franklin//Gatestone Institute./August 18/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8706/iran-bases-russian

Iran's deepening military cooperation with Russia serves as a hedge, in the Iranian calculus, against any unilateral Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities during an interregnum between the Obama era and the inauguration of the next U.S. President in January 2017.
Moscow probably enjoys filling a vacuum created by U.S. refusal to be drawn too deeply into Syria's civil war. Additionally, Russia's air force is profiting by targeting training under wartime conditions, with little loss of personnel and equipment. Russia also most likely hopes to become the main arms supplier to Iran.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council admitted on August 16 that Tehran is permitting Russian military aircraft to stage operations against Syrian rebels from an Iranian airbase.[1] Satellite photography previously confirmed Russian military aircraft on the tarmac of Iran's Shahid Nojeh Airfield in 2015.
This is the first time, however, that Tehran is publicly confirming that it is allowing advanced Russian long-range bombers to use its main air base in Hamadan Province.
Previously, Russia's aircraft ran bombing missions from Russian airbases in the Caspian Region and from Syria's Latakia/Hmyemim (Naval/Air) complex. While the Hmyemim Airfield was adequate for Russian fighter-bomber aircraft such as the SU-24 (Fencer), the SU-34 (Fullback) and Moscow's attack helicopters, to conduct missions inside Syria, the runway is not long enough to accommodate heavier types of bombers. The runway at Hamadan is 15,000 feet long, permitting Russia's TU-160 (Blackjack), TU-22 (Backfire), and older Bear (TU-95) long-range bombers to stage operations.[2]
The Kremlin no doubt requested access to Iranian military facilities for similar reasons that the United States sought permission from Turkey to use its base at Incirlik: The bombers would be closer to their targets, which are presumably terrorist formations amidst the anti-Assad rebel groups. Flying Russian aircraft to Syria from Iran's Hamadan airfield, rather than from Russia, cuts the distance by approximately 1000 miles. With the lessened amount of fuel needed, there is "room" for heavier payloads to use on the targets. Additionally, Hamadan airfield features several hangars for aircraft repair and bunkers for pilot rest and recreation.
A Russian bomber operating from Iran's Hamadan Airbase drops bombs over Syria, August 17, 2016. (Image source: RT video screenshot)
Geopolitical reasons that are associated with this deepening Russian-Iranian cooperation include increased Iranian casualties and recent rebel gains, both causes for concern to Iran's high command. In addition, Iran's deepening military cooperation with Russia serves as a hedge in the Iranian calculus against any unilateral Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities during an interregnum between the Obama era and the inauguration of the next U.S. president in January 2017.
Moscow probably enjoys filling a vacuum created by U.S. refusal to be drawn too deeply into Syria's civil war. Additionally, Russia's air force is profiting by targeting training under wartime conditions, with little loss of personnel and equipment. Russia also most likely hopes to become the main arms supplier to Iran. Finally, both Russia and Iran view the possibility of a Sunni extremist regime in Syria as not in their interest. Russia already fears the return of thousands of Muslims who traveled from the North Caucasus and Central Asia to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
There is, however a downside for the Iranian regime. Russia has had a long predatory interest in Iran. In the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, Russia cooperated with Great Britain in dividing Iran into spheres of interest. Soviet Russia, after World War II, even occupied northern Iran for a brief period. Tehran's granting the Kremlin access to its airfields contradicts Imam Khomeini's ideological formula: "Neither East nor West." Khomeini was contemptuous of both the United States and the Soviet Union. He promised that Iran would stand on its own and not submit to the will of either superpower.
The Iranian regime's internal opposition might exploit this concession to a foreign power in a similar manner as did the Islamists against the late Shah. The Islamic revolutionaries accused the Shah of having capitulated to America by allowing American servicemen special legal status, not being subject to Iranian law. The revolutionaries won Iranian nationalists to their side by these attacks on the Shah's alleged lack of patriotism.
**Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, where he was a Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
[1] Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani confirms the story in Iranian media.
[2] Numerous RT Russian Videos showing Russian bombing runs by various long range bombers inside Syria from Russian airbases like Lipetsk Airfield in Russia and from other bases including Hmyemim in Syria. See Open source material on NATO names of Russian bombers and use of Iran's airbase in Hamadan Province.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Right to Dissent
Robbie Travers/Gatestone Institute./August 18/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8595/right-to-dissent
The irony is that these censors and would-be censors, such as the European Commission, the Dutch and Austrian courts, Facebook, Twitter are using their freedom of expression to suggest that someone else be robbed of his freedom of expression.
Recently, the BBC stripped the name Ali from Munich's mass-murderer so that he would not appear to be a Muslim.
Throughout history, it is the minorities or the lone voices that need from the majority to allow everyone to question, comment on and criticize opinions with which they disagree. Freedom to be wrong, heretical or "blasphemous" -- as we have seen with Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Darwin or Alan Turing -- is the only way that civilisation can grow.
Not to allow differing points of view only entrenches positions by depriving people of the opportunity to hear anything that contradicts them. For those doing the censoring, that is doubtless the point.
It would be a fair assessment to conclude that many people consider some statements not what they would like to hear -- whether by Salman Rushdie, Geert Wilders, Ingrid Carlqvist, Douglas Murray, Lars Hedegaard, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Theo van Gogh, the Mohammad cartoonists, Stéphane Charbonnier and other editors at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, among others. To say their remarks are sometimes regarded as controversial would be an understatement. Often, they are vociferous and vocal critics of extremist Islam, immigration, censorship and other policies -- and they have been accused of Islamophobia, hate speech, and inflaming racial and religious tensions. Several have been threatened with jail and death. Some have been murdered for their warnings.
Importantly, though, none of them has ever directly incited violence against a religion, ethnic minority, or sexual orientation.
Do not these voices, however repellent to some, deserve the chance to be heard without threat of retaliation? Their opinions are often not of the mainstream, but should that lead to censorship, death, or for Wilders and Sabaditsch-Wolff, court trials, for expressing their views?
On May 31, the European Commission announced its decision to control s-called "hate speech."
As democratic societies, we presumably believe that what strengthens our democracies, and separates free societies from the many authoritarian regimes, is free speech: the ability to air thoughts freely without fear of punishment. There is a saying that the founder of civilization was the first person who threw a word instead of a stone.
Throughout history, it is the minorities or the lone voices that need from the majority to allow everyone to question, comment on and criticize opinions with which they disagree. Freedom to be wrong, heretical or "blasphemous" -- as we have seen with Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Darwin or Alan Turing -- is the only way that civilisation can grow.
All of us are free not to listen to people with whom we disagree. We are also free to expose their arguments as false. Currently, those who defend free expression are not discussing ideas; they are discussing whether or not one should have a right to speak. Censorship moves debate away from the issues, then the issues remain undiscussed.
The irony is that these censors and would-be censors, such as the European Commission, the Dutch and Austrian courts, Facebook and Twitter are using their freedom of expression to suggest that someone else be robbed of his freedom of expression.
If there is no discussion of ideas, we must ask which ideas are acceptable and which are not, and with such questions, we move into the territory of Orwellian thought crime, which is where the proponents of censorship apparently want us to be. George Orwell's 1984 was not a manual; it was a stark warning about authoritarianism and censorship.
Is it possible that the censors may wish not to discuss ideas because they fear the answers?
When we present uncomfortable truths, or even untruths, they need to be heard, such as those who argued the world was flat or that vaccinations caused smallpox. It was only freedom of expression that enabled the abolition of slavery, or that supported the theory of evolution, voting rights for women, the Civil Rights Act, or equal opportunity for marriage for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals.
Freedom of expression is the tool that allows those who challenge injustice, prejudice and extremism the chance at least to present their case.
If we never listened to what we find uncomfortable, we would remain stagnant, probably with unbending ideas.
As unpleasant as it may be to listen to opinions that might differ from ours, the alternative, to suffocate free speech, is worse -- and incalculably more corrosive to civilization. If the violence carried out in the name of Islam poses a serious threat to the security of the Western World, or if new arrivals in a country are heavily involved in criminal activity, such as trafficking in drugs or humans and are filling the prisons disproportionately to the rest of society, those seem problems that it should be the duty of any citizen to point out. One might wish that these were not true, but the first step in correcting any problem is to be able to state it.
Censorship, by suppressing discussion of problems, therefore fails, counter-productively, to tackle what is causing them. Stifling discussion will not make the problem go away. Meanwhile, it festers and grows worse.
One cannot have discourse if there is no opportunity for opposition. We are now seeing European courts, the European Commission, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the UN Human Rights Council seek to silence those whose views they oppose.
It even turned out, at least in Germany last September, that "hate speech" apparently included posts criticizing mass migration. It would seem, therefore, that just about anything anyone finds inconvenient can be labelled as "racist" or "hate speech."
Censoring, ironically, ultimately gives the public an extremely legitimate grievance, and could even set up the beginning of a justifiable rebellion.
There is currently a worrying trend. Facebook, evidently attempting to manipulate what news people receive, recently censored the Swedish commentator Ingrid Carlqvist by deleting her account, then censored Douglas Murray's eloquent article about Facebook's censorship of Carlqvist. Recently, the BBC stripped the name Ali from Munich's mass-murderer so that he would not appear to be a Muslim.
Yet, a page called "Death to America & Israel", which actively incites violence against Israel, is left uncensored. Facebook, it seems, agrees that calling for the annihilation of the Jewish state is acceptable, but criticism of Islam is not. While pages that praise murder, jihadis, and anti-Semitism remain, pages that warn the public of the violence that is now often perpetrated in the name of Islam, but that do not incite violence, are removed.
Even in the United States, there was a Resolution proposed in the House of Representatives, H. Res. 569, attempting to promote the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Defamation of Religion/anti-blasphemy laws, to criminalize any criticism of "religion" – but meaning Islam.
Yesterday, at an airport, an advertisement for Facebook read, "A place to debate." Should it not instead have read, "A place to debate, but only if we agree with you"?
We should fear all censorship whenever and wherever we find it. We should welcome the right of anyone to speak. Not to allow differing points of view only entrenches positions by depriving people of the opportunity to hear anything that contradicts them. For those doing the censoring, that is doubtless the point.
But instead should we not be asking: who will be next? If voices, one by one, are silenced, who will be left to speak?
**Robbie Travers, a political commentator and consultant, is Executive Director of Agora, former media manager at the Human Security Centre, and a law student at the University of Edinburgh.
© 2016 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.

"No Room for the Zionist Entity in the Region"
Khaled Abu Toameh/August 18/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8704/zionist-entity
"The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Wakf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except Jihad." — Hamas Charter.
Hamas's decision to participate in the upcoming local and municipal elections will further strengthen the movement and pave the way for it to extend its control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
"The Zionist entity will not be part of this region. We will continue to resist it until the liberation of our land and the return of our people." — Musa Abu Marzouk, senior Hamas official.
How precisely Hamas intends to "serve" the Palestinians by running in the elections is somewhat murky. Abu Marzouk did not talk about building new schools and parks for the Palestinians. When he talks about "serving" the people, he means only one thing: recruiting Palestinians to Hamas and jihad against Israel and the Jews.
The dreamers in English still have it: "Hamas and Israel, Israel and Hamas. Maybe one day...who knows." And then the Arabic-language truth rolls in: "Death to Israel, always!"
Some Arab and Western political analysts have mistakenly interpreted Hamas's agreement to participate in the Palestinian local and municipal elections, scheduled for October 8, as a sign of the movement's "pragmatism" and march toward recognizing Israel's right to exist.
They falsely assume that Hamas's readiness to take part in the democratic process shows that the leaders of the extremist movement are also prepared to abandon their dream of destroying Israel and abandoning the "armed struggle" against it.
These arguments about Hamas's purported "pragmatism" and "moderation" were also made back in 2006, when Hamas contested the Palestinian parliamentary election. Then too, many political analysts claimed that Hamas's decision to run in the election was an encouraging sign that the movement has endorsed a new, moderate approach toward Israel and the peace process.
Reality, however, has proven these assumptions utterly false. Hamas's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election did not bring about any changes in its extremist ideology. Hamas did not change its charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel. Nor did Hamas abandon its murderous terrorist attacks against Israelis.
To recall, here is what the Hamas charter openly states about this issue:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Wakf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except Jihad. The liberation of that land is an individual duty binding on all Muslims everywhere. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from rising the banner of Jihad. This would require the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses on all local, Arab and Islamic levels. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the Islamic Umma [nation], clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters."
The 2006 Hamas victory, in fact, further emboldened Hamas and increased its determination to stick to its ideology and terrorism, in addition to the indoctrination and incitement against Israel. The following year, in 2007, Hamas even waged a coup against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and seized full control over the Gaza Strip.
Likewise, Hamas's decision to participate in the upcoming local and municipal elections will further strengthen the movement and pave the way for it to extend its control from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
So, an electoral win or loss for Hamas is totally irrelevant. Hamas is not going to change its ideology or soften its position toward Israel and the "peace process." And, of course, Hamas is not going to recognize Israel's right to exist. Its leaders continue to assure their people of that -- in public and on a daily basis.
As in the parliamentary election, Hamas may even emerge stronger and more resolved, especially if it wins the upcoming local and municipal elections, as it seems destined to do.
Hamas sees its participation in elections as a golden opportunity for "the reinforcement of its positions and for the encouragement of its Jihad," as it clearly and unequivocally states in its charter.
In other words, Hamas sees elections as a chance to pursue its fight to eliminate Israel. So Hamas is not running in the upcoming elections in order to provide the Palestinians with improved municipal services, but, as it states in its charter, "in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war" and "until liberation is completed, the invaders are vanquished and Allah's victory sets in."
Masked Hamas members (dressed in black) prepare to execute local Palestinians who they claim spied for Israel, Aug. 22, 2014, in Gaza. (Image source: Reuters video screenshot)
Yet, incredibly, some Western political analysts and Palestinian affairs "experts" dismiss the Hamas charter as irrelevant. This dismissal is now based on statements attributed sporadically to some Hamas leaders and spokesmen in various media outlets. These comments are, for them, "encouraging" and "positive" signs from Hamas. They even take the foolhardy step of advising world leaders to listen to these voices and take them into account when dealing with Hamas.
Let us examine, for a moment, one of those statements.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was recently reported to have voiced his movement's readiness to recognize Israel's right to exit if it withdrew to the pre-1967 lines, namely the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip (Israel already pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005).
Mashaal is reported to have told representatives of Asian media organizations during a briefing in Doha, Qatar, that he was prepared to accept Israel's right to exist and the "two-state solution."
Within hours, the Hamas leadership denied that Mashaal had made such remarks concerning Israel's right to exist. Hamas called the reports "lies" and "fabrications" and reiterated its refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. "These suspicious and fabricated statements are aimed at distorting the image and positions of Hamas and its leadership," read a statement issued by the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.
Slander and defamation: that is how Hamas views the talk about its leaders' purported readiness to recognize Israel. This, to them, is the worst thing that could happen to Hamas -- to accept the presence of Israel in the Middle East. The Hamas denial is aimed at protecting its reputation and image in the eyes of its supporters, lest they believe, God forbid, that the Islamist movement has abandoned its desire to eliminate Israel.
To set the record straight, another senior Hamas official, Musa Abu Marzouk, declared this week: "The Zionist entity will not be part of this region. We will continue to resist it until the liberation of our land and the return of our people." With tongue in cheek, Abu Marzouk, who is being groomed as a potential successor to Mashaal, stated that Hamas's goal behind its decision to participate in the October 8 local and municipal elections was to "serve our people." Addressing his rivals in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, the top Hamas official added: "Our differences will not reach the level of enmity. Our only enemy is Israel. Our political rivalry should not exceed its limit."
How precisely Hamas intends to "serve" the Palestinians by running in the elections is somewhat murky. Abu Marzouk did not talk about building new schools and parks for the Palestinians. When he talks about "serving" the people, he means only one thing: recruiting Palestinians to Hamas and jihad against Israel and the Jews.
In recent weeks, Hamas supporters have been launching various campaigns highlighting the Islamist movement's "achievements" in the Gaza Strip in a bid to win the hearts and minds of voters. One campaign, entitled, "A More Beautiful Gaza," features scenes of clean streets and public parks in some parts of the Gaza Strip. Yet the rosy picture that Hamas is painting is silent as to the extraordinarily high rate of unemployment and poverty in the Gaza Strip, or the fact that thousands of Palestinian families have lost their homes in wars with Israel that were the direct result of bombarding Israel with rockets and missiles. Nor does the campaign talk about Hamas's repressive measures against women and journalists.
This campaign of disinformation is aimed at persuading Palestinian voters that the two million residents of the Gaza Strip are living in a utopia under Hamas, and that this experience now needs to be copied in the West Bank.
There is no doubt that many Palestinians will fall into this trap and cast their ballots for Hamas. They will do so because they will be convinced that Hamas will solve all their economic and social problems and bring them peace and stability at home. But many Palestinians will also vote for Hamas for other reasons. The first of these is that they identify with Hamas's ideology, as expressed in its charter, and believe that jihad is the only way to "liberate Palestine." Second, Hamas has managed to convince a large number of Palestinians that a vote for another party or candidate other than Hamas would be a vote against Islam and Allah.
History seems to be repeating itself and the lessons from the Hamas victory in the 2006 parliamentary election have not been learned. Hamas is fooling not only many Palestinians by promising them a better life and prosperity under its rule; it is also fooling some Westerners, who talk about "signs of moderation and pragmatism" coming from the Islamist movement.
Since its establishment in 1987, Hamas has been single-minded about its charter-documented desire to wage jihad against Israel. Its leaders continue to state this in Arabic on a daily basis. It is not rocket science: the movement has not changed and will not do so in the future, regardless of whether it wins or loses any election.
Hamas has made itself perfectly clear. What is not so clear is why some Westerners continue to talk about its "policy shifts." Also difficult to understand is why some in the West are not asking President Abbas and his Palestinian Authority what they intend to do if and when Hamas wins the local and municipal elections. Finally, why Abbas is pushing ahead with preparations for the elections, when he knows that his Fatah faction could easily lose to Hamas, is a true mystery.
**Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 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.

Should Iraq's (Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) ISCI Forces Really Be Considered 'Good Militias'?
Phillip Smyth/The Washington Institute/August 18/16

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/should-iraqs-isci-forces-really-be-considered-good-militias
While Washington should continue its efforts to engage Ammar al-Hakim's militia network, it should also be wary of the umbrella group's close cooperation with rabidly sectarian, anti-American actors controlled by Iran.
Among the many Shiite militias that compose al-Hashd al-Shabi -- the umbrella network of Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) officially recognized by the Iraqi government -- some can be considered "good" in the sense that they are more nationalistic forces who do not engage in jihadist activities and whose ties with Iran are strained or otherwise limited. The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and its allied groups have often been categorized as "good Hashd" on the argument that they are better than the multitude of openly Iranian-controlled radical Shiite jihadist units operating within Iraq. Yet for a number of militias falling under the ISCI umbrella, closer analysis indicates that this assumption needs to be reassessed.
EVOLUTION OF ISCI (Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) )
The organization that would become ISCI was originally formed in the early 1980s by Iraqi Shiite exiles. Established in Iran under Tehran's tutelage, the group was then known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). In 1982, it developed a military branch called Faylaq Badr (the Badr Corps).
Following the 2003 coalition invasion and occupation of Iraq, SCIRI members filtered back into the country. Their founder and longtime leader, Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, was assassinated in August of that year, whereupon his brother Abdulaziz al-Hakim succeeded him. In 2007, the group changed its name to ISCI, in part to distance itself from Iran.
Following Abdulaziz's death in 2009, his son Ammar al-Hakim took his place and has been leading ISCI ever since. Under his tenure, the group has taken electoral and social positions more in line with influential traditionalist clerics such as Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Yet internal fissures emerged as Hakim opposed certain Iranian policies and distanced the group from the ideology of velayat-e faqih, which accords full authority to Iran's Supreme Leader -- a situation exacerbated by Tehran's support for Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. In 2012, these fissures spurred ISCI's Badr Corps, led by Hadi al-Amiri, to split off and reform themselves as the Badr Organization, a fervently pro-Iranian political and militia group. Afterward, Hakim attempted to remake ISCI into a faction that promotes middle-class Shiite-oriented Iraqi nationalism.
In 2014, when the Islamic State (IS) conquered Mosul and rapidly advanced into other portions of Iraq, ISCI reacted by forming its own militia, Saraya Ashura (Ashura Companies). This force includes a number of former Badr Corps fighters and regularly shows off weapons it has received from Iran. Nevertheless, neither Saraya Ashura nor ISCI has publicly celebrated Tehran's theocratic leadership or announced support for the Iranian-backed effort to send Shiite jihadists to Syria.
Regarding the Hashd network, Hakim and other ISCI representatives initially offered statements legitimizing the PMUs, but they have since pushed against them. In spring 2015, for example, Hakim argued that Baghdad should cut the salaries of 30,000 PMU fighters. Tensions were further heightened in May of that year, when U.S.-designated terrorist group Kataib Hezbollah, one of Iran's most loyal proxies, raided ISCI's Basra headquarters.
IRANIAN PROXIES IN THE ISCI ALLIANCE
Despite Hakim's tensions with some Iranian proxies, ISCI has maintained deep links with other Iranian-backed groups. When the ISCI-led Muwatin (Citizens) parliamentary bloc was created in 2014, it included nearly twenty different groups, some with close links to Iran.
Click on chart to view higher-resolution version.
One such group is Harakat al-Jihad wa al-Bina (Movement for Jihad and Building). Formed in 2011, HJB is a close ally of ISCI with representation in both parliament and the informal umbrella of ISCI militias. Hassan al-Sari, a parliamentarian who serves as the group's secretary-general, formerly led Harakat Hezbollah fi al-Iraq (Hezbollah Movement in Iraq, or HHI) and was a member of SCIRI's advisory council. Under his leadership, HHI fought Saddam Hussein's forces in southern Iraq's marshlands, and Sari's family lived in Iran at the time. More recently, he has advocated an armed Iranian presence in Iraq and vociferously opposed U.S. operations against IS.
In 2014, Hakim asked for HJB's help in recruiting members for a militia, eventually leading to the creation of HJB's Saraya al-Jihad (Jihad Companies). Yet the group has demonstrated far more willingness to answer such calls from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Despite Ayatollah Sistani's messages opposing the deployment of Shiite jihadists to Syria, HJB has sent numerous combatants to that country at Tehran's behest. This includes Saleh Jabr al-Bukhati, the deputy secretary-general of Saraya al-Jihad who was killed during the June 2016 battle for Fallujah. Previously, he had fought in Syria and was photographed in Iraq discussing battle plans with Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
Some sources have also linked a second HJB militia, Liwa al-Muntazir (Brigade of the Expected One), to Iran. According to a 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, the militia's secretary-general -- Daghir al-Musawi, a prominent figure in HJB and a former parliamentarian -- was likely a brigadier general in the IRGC-QF as well. The cable, which cited U.S. intelligence for some of its claims, also discussed another Musawi-led HJB militia, Harakat Sayyed al-Shuhada (Master of the Martyrs Movement, or HSS): "Members receive salaries and orders from the [IRGC-QF]...[HSS] gathers intelligence, smuggles lethal aid, and conducts limited attacks under Iranian direction."
In addition, Musawi has been a regular at Iraqi funerals for Shiite jihadists killed in Syria since 2013, and has made numerous appearances with Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri. Liwa al-Muntazir even deployed forces alongside Badr's during the fall 2014 battle for Jurf al-Sakhar. More recently, Musawi has held a number of public meetings with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a U.S.-designated terrorist and suspected IRGC commander who formerly led Faylaq Badr and was a key figure in the creation of Kataib Hezbollah. Despite these links, Hakim publicly congratulated Musawi in June 2016 for his service during the Fallujah fight.
SECTARIAN HARDLINERS
Another problematic element within the ISCI alliance is the outspoken and at times violent sectarianism exhibited by certain leaders, most prominently Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, who is an imam at Baghdad's Buratha Mosque, a former member of ISCI's advisory council, and current secretary-general of the militia Saraya Ansar al-Aqidah (Companies of the Supporters of the Creed). In 2007, Iraqi forces raided his mosque due to accusations that it was a base for Shiite death squads targeting Sunnis. In 2008, he stood firmly against Baghdad's recognition of the Sunni tribal "awakening" groups that successfully fought IS predecessor al-Qaeda in Iraq. And in 2012, he was at the center of another controversy when he insulted the Iraqi Kurds.
In late 2013, ISCI began to alter its public appearance along more moderate lines, and figures like Saghir were sidelined. Yet he still retained a religious and political leadership advisory role within ISCI and built his own political and militia apparatus. Meanwhile, as Iraqi Shiite jihadists were streaming into Syria, he issued public statements of support for them, even visiting an Iranian hospital in January 2014 to console wounded fighters. And when the creation of Saraya Ansar al-Aqidah was announced around this time, it was described as a group fighting in Syria, not Iraq.
HOW DOES ISCI FIT INTO U.S. POLICY?
As the United States continues to form links with various PMUs, it should take a nuanced and careful approach, recognizing that neither the militias themselves nor their constituent elements should be viewed as a unitary entity. This means being wary in dealing with ISCI and understanding that there are limits to cooperation. Facing external pressures and unable to fully control its many allies, the umbrella group is in the midst of a complicated situation, attempting to play all sides and address numerous, often-competing interests.
At the same time, this means there are opportunities for the United States to leverage ISCI's positions vis-a-vis Iran and its Iraqi Shiite clients, so efforts to engage the group should continue. The Obama administration deserves credit for praising Hakim's reformist moves and his attempts to counter the unchecked growth of Iranian-dominated PMUs. Yet ISCI's close cooperation with and continued incorporation of rabidly sectarian actors and firmly anti-American groups controlled by Iran should not be overlooked.
**Phillip Smyth is a researcher at the University of Maryland, editor of the blog Hizballah Cavalcade, and author of The Washington Institute report The Shiite Jihad in Syria and Its Regional Effects.