llLCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 18/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.may18.16.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006
Bible Quotations For Today
God is spirit,
and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 04/21-24:"Jesus said to her,
‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither
on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship
what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now
here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for
the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who
worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,until I make your enemies your footstool.’
Acts of the Apostles 02/29-39:"‘Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently
of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us
to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to
him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this,
David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, "He was not abandoned to
Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption."This Jesus God raised up, and of
that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God,
and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has
poured out this that you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the
heavens, but he himself says, "The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.’ "Therefore let the entire house of
Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this
Jesus whom you crucified.’Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart
and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’
Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit."For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who
are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’
Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
The world needs the courage, hope, faith and perseverance of Christ’s
followers.
Le monde a besoin du courage, de l'espérance, de la foi et de la persévérance
des disciples du Christ.
إن العالم يحتاج لشجاعة ورجاء وإيمان ومثابرة تلاميذ المسيح
Mustafa Badreddine and the road to
Jerusalem/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
Hezbollah’s vulnerability in Syria: Open exposure to many enemies/Joyce Karam/Al
Arabiya/May 17/16
As Lebanon’s Banks Begin To Implement U.S. Sanctions Against Hizbullah,
Hizbullah Criticizes Banking Sector, Warns Of Chaos In Lebanon And More ‘Actions
Against The American Takeover Plan’/H. Varulkar and E. B. Picali/MEMRI/May 17,
2016
What's next for Hezbollah in Syria/Ali Hashem/Al-Monitor/May 17/16
Can Lebanon make progress on oil, gas exploration efforts/Matt
Nash/Al-Monitor/May 17/16
Report: Mustafa Mughniyeh made Hezbollah military chief/Liad Osmo, Roi Kais/Ynetnews/May
17/16
The French Peace Initiative: From de Gaulle to Haaretz/Fred Maroun/Gatestone
Institute/May 17/16
Time to Leave UNESCO - Again/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/May 17/16
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
Sisi’s failing Egypt highlights the crisis of the Middle East/Dr. John C.
Hulsman/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
French journalist: Hezbollah asked
us to avoid saying Israel killed its military chief
Kerry Reiterates to Salam U.S.
Commitment to Help Lebanon Cope with Refugee Burden
Hariri from Elysée: Municipal
elections will encourage all parties to seriously consider holding presidential
and legislative elections
Pharaon confirms no Gulf ban on Lebanon visit
Aoun: 'Invisible Players' Orchestrated Jounieh Battle, Maarab Agreement Intact
Salameh: Banks Must Offer Justifications before Suspending Suspicious Accounts
Mustaqbal: Hizbullah Stance on Banks Measures Exposes Lebanon to Extreme Danger
Report: Car of Zahle's Intelligence Chief Stolen
Lebanese-Canadian Suspect in 1980 Paris Synagogue Attack Freed
Lebanese Forces Backs Municipal Lists in Jezzine and Maghdouche
French Ambassador Denies Paris Planning International Conference on Lebanon
Judge Saqr Charges 13 People for Terror Acts
Door Closes on Withdrawing Nominations for South Elections, Preparations for
Sunday Gear up
Report: LF Says Alliance with FPM Unwavering
Mustafa Badreddine and the road to Jerusalem
Hezbollah’s vulnerability in Syria: Open exposure to many enemies
The May 17, 1983, agreement between Lebanon and Israel
As Lebanon’s Banks Begin To Implement U.S. Sanctions Against Hizbullah,
Hizbullah Criticizes Banking Sector, Warns Of Chaos In Lebanon And More ‘Actions
Against The American Takeover Plan’
What's next for Hezbollah in Syria?
Can Lebanon make progress on oil, gas exploration efforts?
Report: Mustafa Mughniyeh made Hezbollah military chief
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
May 17-18/16
Statement byCanadian, FM, Minister Dion at conclusion of
International Syria Support Group meeting
Reinvigorating Canada’s human rights agenda
U.S. Senate Passes Bill Allowing Lawsuits against Riyadh over 9/11 Attacks
Saudi Executes Pakistani Drug Smuggler
HRW Says Saudi's Iran Spy Trial Makes 'Mockery' of Justice
Russians building army base at Syria’s Palmyra site
52 dead as rival rebel groups clash near Syrian capital
Red Cross: Situation remains ‘dramatic’ in besieged areas of Syria
Egypt President Backs French Proposal for Mideast Talks
France Urges Caution over Arms Supplies to Libya
Egypt's Sisi: 'There is trust and confidence between me and the Israelis'
Sisi offers mediating role in Israel-Palestinian peace talks
France postpones Middle East conference to summer
Iraqi forces enter remote western town held by ISIS
France probes video of children at ISIS execution
Yemen Government Suspends Participation in Peace Talks
$4 bln ‘missing’ from Yemen’s Central Bank
France urges caution over arms supplies to Libya
Iran MPs want US to pay damages for ‘hostile action’
Links From
Jihad Watch Site for
May 17- 18/16
Iranian Ayatollah: “The US is the toughest enemy of Islam and
Muslims”
Obama won’t let top aide who revealed he lied about Iran nuke deal testify to
House on the deal
Islamic State murders at least 58 people with blasts in Shia areas of Baghdad
Islamic State training child assassins to fire weapons and recite the Qur’an
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Democrats Try to Outlaw Trump’s Muslim Immigration
Ban
Islamic State publicly flogs women for violating Sharia dress code
Muslim cleric: “Treachery is one of the characteristics of the Jews…Their goal
is to uproot Islam”
Trump: Cameron “not willing to address the problem” of Islamic terror
Video: Robert Spencer on Is ISIS Islamic?
Raymond Ibrahim: The Jihad on Christian Church Tents
Latest Lebanese Related News published on May 17- 18/16
French journalist: Hezbollah asked
us to avoid saying Israel killed its military chief
Jerusalem Post/May 17/16/Hezbollah asked western journalists not to report that
Israel was behind the assassination of Mustafa Badreddine, Hezbollah's military
chief, a prominent French journalist has alleged. Georges Malbrunot, the Middle
East reporter for the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, wrote a series of
comments on his Twitter page on Saturday, regarding the assassination of
Hezbollah's top commander. "Hezbollah asked the journalists who asked for its
reaction to Baddredine's liquidation to avoid saying that Israel is involved in
the attack," Malbrunot wrote. "On Friday, I spoke with a diplomat in the Levant
who told me that the anti-Assad Syrian armed groups do not have the ability to
produce such a sophisticated operation even if Israel could resort to use the
services of one of these groups," the French reporter added. According to
Malbrunot, the foreign diplomat told him that "It could be little doubt that the
assassination of Badreddine is the continuation of the Israeli liquidations of
Hezbollah's senior leaders." A statement released by Hezbollah on Friday
emphasized that Badreddine was assassinated on Thursday night near Damascus
airport by an artillery shell fired by a Syrian rebel group. Although Hezbollah
did not publicly accuse Israel of his assassination, during the burial ceremony
of Baddreddine on Friday, senior leaders in the organization voiced anti-Israel
statements, naming the Syrian "heretic" rebel groups as the "spearhead of the
American-Zionist project in the Middle East."The Iranian news agency Fars
reported on Monday that General Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, payed a condolence visit to Baddredinne's
family in Beirut on Sunday, following which he visited Baddreddine's grave.
Kerry Reiterates to Salam U.S.
Commitment to Help Lebanon Cope with Refugee Burden
Naharnet May 17/16/U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry underlined on Tuesday the
pledge his country made during the London donors conference on refugees towards
assisting Lebanon in tackling this burden. Kerry made his stance in a letter to
Prime Minister Tammam Salam that was delivered by U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires
ad interim Danny Hall during talks held at the Grand Serail, announced the U.S.
embassy in a statement. “During our meeting, I delivered a letter from U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry to Prime Minister Salam expressing our commitment
to helping Lebanon cope with the presence of over one million displaced Syrians
here,” said Hall. “It underscores our unwavering commitment to support Lebanon
during this challenging time.” At the Syria donors’ conference in London on
February 4, the U.S. announced over $133 million in emergency humanitarian
assistance to support Syrian refugees and their host communities in Lebanon. “I
am proud to announce that all of these funds have been provided to the U.N. and
international organizations working in Lebanon,” continued Hall. “These
resources have already helped communities vaccinate children, rehabilitate
housing, and improve access to safe water, among other projects. The delivery of
the $133 million pledged in London brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance
to Lebanon for the Syria crisis to nearly $1.1 billion since the start of the
crisis.” The United States is committed to supporting Lebanon’s long-term
development needs as well as emergency humanitarian assistance. To that end, the
United States provided an additional $65 million in development assistance to
Lebanon in 2015. These funds strengthened public services in local
municipalities, expanded access to education, improved water infrastructure, and
provided other vital services for these Lebanese communities, said the embassy
statement. “Since the Syria crisis began, we have contributed over $300 million
in bilateral development assistance for Lebanon, and we plan to increase our
bilateral assistance even more this year,” added Hall. “The United States
applauds Lebanon’s efforts to date in responding to the Syria crisis, and we
look forward to taking stock of our mutual commitments and opportunities before
us at the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 23rd and 24th.
As we move forward together, America will continue to support Lebanon's
institutions and the Lebanese people each step of the way.”
Hariri from Elysée: Municipal
elections will encourage all parties to seriously consider holding presidential
and legislative elections
Tue 17 May 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that he discussed
with French President Francois Hollande the issue of the presidential vacuum and
its impact on the work of the state institutions and the Lebanese economy,
pointing out that he sensed an interest of the French President to end this
vacuum. Premier Hariri visited the Elysée Palace this afternoon. President
Hollande greeted him at the entrance and they held a meeting that lasted for an
hour.
After the meeting Premier Hariri said: "I had the honor to meet with President
Hollande. We discussed issues of interest to Lebanon and the region,
particularly the presidential vacancy and its impact on the work of the state
institutions and the Lebanese economy. I explained to him the steps we are
taking to put an end to this vacuum. We also discussed the issue of the Syrian
refugees and I thanked him for the assistance that France is offering to
Lebanon, but the permanent solution to this issue is the return of the refugees
to their homeland within the framework of a political solution as soon as
possible. We also discussed what is happening in the region and we agreed to
remain in contact regarding Lebanon."
Question: Did the French President propose new ideas regarding the presidential
vacancy?
Hariri: It is obvious that President Hollande is keen on ending this vacancy
because the social and economic situation in Lebanon reached very dangerous
stages. Last year, the economic growth was zero and this year it is below zero
and this affects all the Lebanese and the French President is very keen on
solving this issue.
Question: Do you think that the municipal elections that were held in Lebanon
can pave the way for parliamentary and presidential elections as soon as
possible?
Hariri: I think the municipal elections will encourage all political parties to
seriously consider holding the presidential and legislative elections.
Question: Did you discuss Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi suggestions to
president Hollande regarding the presidential vacancy, particularly his
insistence that you meet with General Michel Aoun?
Hariri: I have no problem in meeting with General Aoun, but we must define the
objective of the meeting. In the end, we have a presidential candidate, MP
Sleiman Frangieh, and we have respect and affection for General Aoun. And we
must elect a President.
I, as the head of a political movement, the "Future Movement", said we do not
mind that the other team have the majority and go to parliament to elect General
Aoun. We will not obstruct the election because we do not consider the
obstruction a constitutional right. So, what is the aim of meeting with General
Aoun? Is it to be convinced about him as presidential candidate? He has allies
in March 8 forces who should discuss the issue among themselves to reach a
solution, rather than talk to Saad Hariri to convince him of this solution.
Question: Did the French President say he would take action to resolve the
presidential crisis? And is France carrying out contacts with Iran or Saudi
Arabia for that aim?
Hariri: The issue of the presidential vacancy is very clear. Hezbollah and
General Aoun are obstructing the election. This is unfortunate because the
country and the Lebanese citizens are paying the price. We think that ending
this vacancy is the only way to end the current economic and social
deterioration in the Lebanese institutions.
Pharaon confirms no Gulf ban
on Lebanon visit
Tue 17 May 2016/NNA - Minister of Tourism, Michel Pharaon, indicated on Tuesday
that Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Awadh Asseri, had told him neither Saudi
Arabia nor the Gulf had banned their citizens from visiting Lebanon,
highlighting the necessity to provide their security and comfort.
"We hope that the summer season would be a success, thanks to the efforts of the
civil society that is defending civilization and legacy," he said.Pharaon made
these remarks during a press conference held jointly with MP Strida Geagea, at
Le Royel Hotel in Dbayeh, to launch the 2nd edition of Arz International
Festivals.
Aoun: 'Invisible Players'
Orchestrated Jounieh Battle, Maarab Agreement Intact
Naharnet May 17/16/Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun alleged
Tuesday that “invisible players” confronted the FPM-backed list in Jounieh's
municipal polls, while stressing that the elections will not affect his
movement's rapprochement agreement with the Lebanese Forces. “All the
information we received about vote buying operations in Jounieh were verified
through steps that were taken on the ground” by the rival alliance, Aoun said in
an interview on OTV. “Before the elections, we knew that something was being
prepared with the aim of being used after the polls,” he noted.“Money had
started flowing into Jounieh since Wednesday and vote buying operations started
on Friday by individuals who do not hail from Jounieh,” Aoun claimed. Following
a heated electoral battle and close results, the list backed by the FPM, the
Kataeb Party, the National Liberal Party, the Tashnag Party and the Waad Party
managed to clinch 14 seats on Jounieh's municipal council as the rival list
grabbed four seats.On Saturday, a day before Jounieh's municipal vote, Aoun had
charged that “an Africa-based Lebanese billionaire” was paying money in support
of the rival list, which was formed by prominent Jounieh businessman Neamat Frem,
ex-MPs Mansour Ghanem al-Bon and Farid Haykal al-Khazen, and the Lebanese
Forces. He was apparently referring to Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian
billionaire businessman who reportedly played a role in ex-PM Saad Hariri's
nomination of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency
after meetings in Paris. Franjieh emerged as Aoun's main rival in the electoral
race after the Hariri-Franjieh meeting. “Invisible players were orchestrating
the battle in Jounieh and we knew how the game was being run. Local
representatives of the team that was orchestrating the campaign were on the
ground,” Aoun said during Tuesday's interview. “I don't think that (Lebanese
Forces leader Samir) Geagea was part of this game and he had commitments with
candidates who were on the other list,” he explained, reassuring that “the
electoral battle in Jounieh will not affect the Maarab agreement.”“I don't need
the municipal elections to prove that I'm the most popular Christian
politician,” Aoun went on to say.
Salameh: Banks Must Offer
Justifications before Suspending Suspicious Accounts
Naharnet May 17/16/Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh stressed Tuesday that
Lebanese banks must “offer justifications” and consult with the Central Bank
before suspending accounts suspected of violating the anti-Hizbullah U.S.
sanctions law. “The law issued in the United States is an American law that is
supposed to be implemented globally and in Lebanon, and, accordingly, Memo 137
that was issued by the Central Bank on May 3, 2016 was a Lebanese legal
obligation,” Salameh said in a statement. “Article 70 of the Monetary and Credit
Act required the Central Bank to ensure credit stability and credit stability
cannot be secured without implementing this U.S. law. Our issuance of Memo 137
relieves the banks that deal with the Central Bank and confirms the
compatibility of the work of banks in Lebanon with the international
obligations,” the governor added. “Our failure to do so would have risked
isolating our banking sector from the world,” he noted. Addressing Lebanese
banks, Salameh pointed out that “except for accounts belonging to individuals or
firms blacklisted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S.
Department of the Treasury, banks seeking to suspend the accounts of certain
firms or individuals suspected to be violating the U.S. law must first offer
justifications before resorting to suspension.”
“The justification must include the account's transactions in terms of frequency
and size and the bank must await a response from the (Central Bank's) Special
Investigation Commission before suspending the account. If it does not receive a
response within 30 days, the bank would then be free to act on its own
responsibility,” the governor explained. He also noted that the Central Bank's
measures are aimed at “achieving the interest of Lebanon and its economy, for
the sake of the Lebanese and their savings.”A Hizbullah minister had warned
during a cabinet session on Thursday that a “red line” had been crossed after
two Lebanese banks reportedly suspended three Hizbullah-linked accounts in
conformity with the U.S. sanctions law. “Two Lebanese banks have suspended the
accounts of two Loyalty to Resistance bloc MPs and the account of the daughter
of an ex-MP who was in the bloc,” MTV and LBCI reported.
Commenting on the banks' measures during the cabinet session, Industry Minister
Hussein al-Hajj Hassan of Hizbullah warned that “a red line has been crossed”
and that “the U.S. sanctions shall not pass.”Reciting an official statement
after the session, Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said “following extensive
discussions, the cabinet decided to task the prime minister with following up on
the issue with the Central Bank governor in coordination with the finance
minister who is in the picture of the contacts and the taken measures.”Earlier
on Thursday, Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc said that U.S. sanctions on banks
that knowingly do business with the group could threaten Lebanon's financial
sector, hinting that supporters may withdraw their money from local banks. The
bloc also criticized Lebanon's Central Bank for saying it would abide by the
U.S. law, which came into effect last month and which the Hizbullah lawmakers
said violates Lebanon's sovereignty. The bloc said the Central Bank and private
banks would be participating in "a war of exclusion" against the group by
upholding the law. Salameh had said the bank will abide by the restrictions in
the Hizbullah International Financing Prevention Act, which was signed into law
in December. The U.S. regulations say Washington will target those "knowingly
facilitating a significant transaction or transactions for" Hizbullah or any
individual, business or institution linked to the group. Those under sanctions
include Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and slain top commander Mustafa
Badreddine as well as some businessmen. The list also includes the group's al-Manar
TV and al-Nour Radio. Nasrallah said last year that his group won't be affected
by the law because it doesn't deal with Lebanese or foreign banks. But a large
network of social and educational organizations associated with Hizbullah
provide services to its supporters and other Lebanese, and deal directly with
the government. When asked last month whether banks dealing with Hizbullah
Cabinet ministers or legislators who get paid by the state would be affected,
Salameh said that the law does not mention salaries. Lebanese officials and
lawyers say the impact of the law on the country's economy remains unclear. U.S.
Treasury officials are expected in Lebanon later this month to discuss its
implementation.
Mustaqbal: Hizbullah Stance
on Banks Measures Exposes Lebanon to Extreme Danger
Naharnet May 17/16/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc warned Tuesday that Lebanon's
economy was facing “extreme danger” from Hizbullah's criticism of the measures
that the Lebanese banks have started taking in compliance with an anti-Hizbullah
U.S. sanctions law. “The bloc strongly condemns the stance of Hizbullah's
parliamentary bloc, which has called on Lebanese banks not to abide by the
regulations of the international financial system, knowing that all world
countries respect this system,” said Mustaqbal's bloc in a statement issued
after its weekly meeting. “Through this stance, Hizbullah is exposing Lebanon's
economic and financial security, the banking system, and the savings of the
Lebanese to extreme danger,” the bloc added. A Hizbullah minister had warned
during a cabinet session on Thursday that a “red line” had been crossed after
two Lebanese banks reportedly suspended three Hizbullah-linked accounts in
conformity with the U.S. sanctions law. “Two Lebanese banks have suspended the
accounts of two Loyalty to Resistance bloc MPs and the account of the daughter
of an ex-MP who was in the bloc,” MTV and LBCI reported. Earlier on Thursday,
Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc said that U.S. sanctions on banks that knowingly
do business with the group could threaten Lebanon's financial sector, hinting
that supporters may withdraw their money from local banks. The bloc also
criticized Lebanon's Central Bank for saying it would abide by the U.S. law,
which came into effect last month and which the Hizbullah lawmakers said
violates Lebanon's sovereignty. The bloc said the Central Bank and private banks
would be participating in "a war of exclusion" against the group by upholding
the law. Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh had said the bank will abide by the
restrictions in the Hizbullah International Financing Prevention Act, which was
signed into law in December. The U.S. regulations say Washington will target
those "knowingly facilitating a significant transaction or transactions for"
Hizbullah or any individual, business or institution linked to the group. Those
under sanctions include Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and slain top
commander Mustafa Badreddine as well as some businessmen. The list also includes
the group's al-Manar TV and al-Nour Radio. Nasrallah said last year that his
group won't be affected by the law because it doesn't deal with Lebanese or
foreign banks. But a large network of social and educational organizations
associated with Hizbullah provide services to its supporters and other Lebanese,
and deal directly with the government. When asked last month whether banks
dealing with Hizbullah cabinet ministers or legislators who get paid by the
state would be affected, Salameh said that the law does not mention salaries.
Lebanese officials and lawyers say the impact of the law on the country's
economy remains unclear. U.S. Treasury officials are expected in Lebanon later
this month to discuss its implementation.
Report: Car of Zahle's
Intelligence Chief Stolen
Naharnet May 17/16/Thieves stole the car of the head of the Zahle army
intelligence department on Tuesday, a media report said. “A car theft gang stole
today the car of Zahle's intelligence chief, Lt. Col. G. Gh., which prompted the
army's intelligence directorate to launch a probe into the incident,” al-Jadeed
TV said. “The gang left the car and fled the region when it found out that the
vehicle belongs to Zahle's intelligence chief,” it added. Security forces and
the army are currently pursuing the gang in order to unveil the identities of
its members and arrest them, al-Jadeed said. Car theft is rife in the Bekaa
Valley region, an area known for lawlessness and rivalries between clans over
the control of hashish production and trade. Security forces have launched
several crackdowns in the region in recent years in a bid to curb criminal
activity.
Lebanese-Canadian Suspect in
1980 Paris Synagogue Attack Freed
Agence France Presse/Naharnet May 17/16/The chief suspect in a deadly attack on
a Paris synagogue in 1980 has been released on bail after being held for 18
months, judicial and investigation sources told AFP Tuesday. Hassan Diab, 62, is
accused of being part of the Special Operations branch of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP was blamed for the bombing on
October 3, 1980, that left four dead and around 40 injured. Diab, a
Lebanese-Canadian sociology professor, was extradited from Canada in November
2014 and charged with the attack. The bombing of the synagogue in rue Copernic,
western Paris, was the first major attack on a Jewish site in France since World
War II.But Diab was released on bail on Saturday after a judge ruled there was a
doubt on the "fundamental question" of whether he was in France on the day of
the attack. Diab's ex-wife told investigators that he was in Beirut on September
28, 1980, despite stamps in his passport indicating that he was already in
Europe by that date, a source close to the investigation told AFP. The judge
said her statement should be treated with caution but had to be taken into
account, the source added. The Paris prosecutor's office has appealed the
decision. Diab has been charged with murder, attempted murder and destruction of
property as part of a terrorist enterprise. He has always maintained his
innocence and denied being a member of the PFLP. His lawyer, William Bourdon,
said there was "strictly no risk of flight. He will be present for the next
hearing before the court of appeal," where he could be returned to jail.
Lebanese Forces Backs
Municipal Lists in Jezzine and Maghdouche
Naharnet May 17/16/The Lebanese Forces announced on Tuesday that it supports the
municipal list dubbed “We are for Jezzine” set to wage the upcoming elections in
the South, the LF said in a statement. The list includes an alliance between the
LF, Free Patriotic Movement, Kataeb and families of the town, it added. The LF
reiterated the necessity to commit to electing all members of the list and
called on its supporters and voters for a massive turnout. The Lebanese Forces
supports another municipal list in the town of Maghdouche, south of Sidon, which
is headed by Ghazi Ayyoub. In addition to the LF backing, the list dubbed
“Maghdouche Gathers us” garners the support of the Free Patriotic Movement and
the town's families. It faces a list headed by the current municipal chief,
George Younan, and supported by MP Michel Moussa. The municipal elections in the
South and Nabatieh will be held on May 22. The elections first kicked off in the
capital Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. They were followed by elections in Mount
Lebanon on May 15. The last round will be held on May 29 in the North.
French Ambassador Denies
Paris Planning International Conference on Lebanon
Naharnet May 17/16/French Ambassador to Lebanon Emmanuel Bonne denied on Tuesday
media reports that said that Paris was planning on holding an international
conference to resolve Lebanon's political crisis, reported LBCI television. He
told the station that a “misunderstanding” had occurred over the issue. Bonne
had stated on Monday that Paris was seeking to hold such a conference in wake of
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's upcoming trip to Beirut. He is
scheduled to visit Lebanon on May 27. Lebanon has been without a president since
the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 due to electoral rivalry and sharp
political disputes among the parties. After a Paris meeting with ex-Prime
Minister Saad Hariri last year, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh
emerged as a serious presidential candidate but the proposal to nominate
Franjieh was met with reservations from Lebanon's main Christian parties as well
as Hizbullah. Franjieh's main competitor, Free Patriotic Movement founder MP
Michel Aoun, enjoys key support from Hizbullah and Lebanese Forces leader Samir
Geagea and has refused to withdraw from the race.
Judge Saqr Charges 13 People
for Terror Acts
Naharnet May 17/16/Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr charged 13 people with
belonging to an armed terror group for the purpose of carrying out terrorist
activities, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. NNA said that the
charged are Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationals and that they include
three people who are already held in detention. They were charged with belonging
to a terror group for the purpose of carrying out terror acts, participate in
military operations, monitor the positions and patrols of the Lebanese army in
the northeastern town of Arsal and for possessing military weapons.The case was
referred to Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riyad Abou Ghaida.
Door Closes on Withdrawing
Nominations for South Elections, Preparations for Sunday Gear up
Naharnet May 17/16/The door has been closed on the ability of candidates running
for the municipal and mayoral elections in the South to withdraw their
nominations, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday. Requests to
draw back nominations of candidates running for the municipal elections next
Sunday were closed at midnight, NNA. It has been reported that Sidon's Grand
Serail recorded the withdrawal of 188 candidates who were nominated for
membership in municipal councils, and 36 candidates running for posts of mayor
and mayoral council members in Sidon and villages. On the other hand, several
towns have won the municipal elections uncontested including: Bnaafoul, Bkasta,
Tanbourit, Qanarite, al-Hajja, Al-Addousieh and KfarJlal. Several mayors have
also won uncontested in several towns in Sidon and its district villages.
Efforts at Sidon's Grand Serail continue in preparation for the elections that
are set to be held on May 22 in the South and Nabatieh. The Interior Ministry
handed 587 ballot boxes that are to be distributed at polling stations.
Report: LF Says Alliance with
FPM Unwavering
Naharnet May 17/16/The alliance between the Free Patriotic Movement and the
Lebanese Forces is working "very well", sources of the LF told An Nahar daily on
Tuesday. “Our alliance with the FPM is at its best although it is still tender.
Efforts to shake it will go in vain,” unnamed sources told the daily. “The
municipal elections have many factors that overlap with each other. The battle
in Jounieh was not a battle of the LF against the FPM. It was more that the FPM
had a good understanding of the special relation between the LF and Nemat Efram.
The LF also have a good understanding of the special relation between the FPM
and Juan Hbeish,” said the sources. “Anyone who believes that they (municipal
elections) are steps that can shake the alliance is mistaken,” they added. On
the other hand, As Safir daily said that a meeting will be held between the two
parties at the conclusion of the municipal elections to review the experience,
pinpoint the weaknesses in the alliance, and try to improve the terms of the
partnership in the forthcoming elections. The LF and FPM made an electoral
alliance in some towns during the Mount Lebanon municipal elections, which were
held Sunday. They backed rival lists in some districts, and it was clear that
they were not united as their alliance fell apart in several towns.
Mustafa Badreddine and the road to
Jerusalem
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
After Mustafa Badreddine was killed, Hezbollah’s media department distributed
his biography and released photos and videos of him. It was the first time we
saw them. Before that there were only rare photos of him, while records about
his life were barely enough to know anything about him.
Badreddine was shrouded in mystery, especially during the past decade, despite
being in the limelight for being wanted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
Hezbollah refused to turn him in to the STL, which indicted him for the killing
of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
The distributed photos showed Badreddine outside in broad daylight speaking with
companions, smiling and enjoying his freedom. He seemed comfortable, not like he
was being pursued by the Lebanese judicial authorities.
The photos did not suggest he was serious about remaining in hiding, or
concerned about only moving at night. Far from living a secret life - as we
assume wanted men do - he lived an ordinary one, to the point where we might
have run into him on the streets of Beirut.
Badreddine was shrouded in mystery, especially during the past decade, despite
being in the limelight for being wanted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
The photos and biography that Hezbollah disseminated showed him as a man who
lived and died as a fighter against Israel. His biography ended with a statement
that he was murdered in Syria, where he was fighting jihadists. It did not
mention the death sentence issued against him in Kuwait in the 1980s for his
role in bomb attacks. It did not mention the international accusations against
him, such as those related to Hariri’s assassination.
The STL accused Badreddine of masterminding the assassination, buying the truck
of explosives, and fabricating the video of a man called Abu Adas claiming
responsibility. The biography did not mention Badreddine’s role in solidifying
the authority of the criminal Syrian regime. We are required to believe only his
heroism and alleged struggle against Israel.
Illusions
Those who repeat allegations that he was a hero do so automatically, as seen in
the reactions of media outlets affiliated with the ‘axis of resistance.’
Hezbollah supporters who always bring up Israel as such do so to negate the role
of politics and logic, and to portray him as innocent of the hideous crime of
assassinating Hariri and other Lebanese, and of the even more hideous crime of
supporting the Syrian regime, which is murdering its own people.
Similarly, the experience of late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad has taught us
that he could not have governed the country without spreading the illusion of
the Palestinian cause in order to deprive people of their rights. We are
supposed to continue believing this illusion.
The circumstances of Badreddine’s murder remain mysterious, like his story.
Syrian opposition factions and Israel deny involvement in his murder.
Badreddine was one of Hezbollah’s top military commanders, and he was wanted on
several charges. He is the fourth Hezbollah official to be killed in Syria, and
we are supposed to believe that this happened while he was on his way to
Jerusalem!
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/2016/05/17/Mustafa-Badreddine-and-the-road-to-Jerusalem.html
Hezbollah’s vulnerability in Syria:
Open exposure to many enemies
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
As the guessing game continues on how and who might have killed Hezbollah’s
enigmatic military leader Mustafa Baddredine in Syria last week, the series of
hypothesis around his death illustrate the party’s biggest vulnerability in the
conflict: operating in plain sight and in the midst of enemies.
Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian war officially entered its fourth year
this month, and while the party talks routinely about the military expertise and
strategic territorial gains it has secured in the conflict, Syria has also been
a costly undertaking for the party on the military, intelligence and financial
fronts.
From Ayoub to Baddredine. Hezbollah does not declare its casualties in the
conflict, but estimates point out to a figure between 800 and 1000 losses since
2013 in Syria. Such number stands out as being relatively high when contrasted
with Hezbollah’s losses of 1361 fighters in its whole three-decade-long war
against Israel including the July 2006 war (68 total).
But beyond the toll on its foot soldiers, recruits and finances, Syria’s most
costly burden on Hezbollah has been the losses in its senior ranking leadership
and key operational strategists in the party. From Fawzi Ayoub in 2014 to
Baddredine in 2016, Hezbollah has lost 10 senior leaders in the Syrian war,
among them names that have been associated with party’s ideological rise and
struggle such as Samir Kuntar and Jihad Imad Moughniyeh both killed in 2015.
The losses in Hezbollah senior ranks highlight the battle and security
challenges that have accompanied its Syria involvement. Fighting away from its
home base, and against the local population, the Syrian war is bringing forth a
set of vulnerabilities to Hezbollah, without the option of achieving its
objectives or ability to withdraw in the near future.
Whatever is the conflict’s outcome and the aftermath of the Baddredine killing,
Syria has already changed the image, trajectory and prowess of Hezbollah.
Geographically, securing Syria against a widespread local insurgency is proving
to be an unpractical and ambitious task for Hezbollah, Iran and the Assad
regime. Both Samir Kuntar and Baddredine were killed in Damascus, inside what
Hezbollah and Assad assumed to be a secure enclave. However, battles between the
regime and the rebels have gone on for years in Damascus suburbs, at a proximity
of 20-30 km from where Baddredine was allegedly killed.
Even in the best case scenario for the Assad regime if it takes control of all
of the Damascus suburbs (something it has failed to do in the last four years),
the Syrian capital will never be as secure of a fortress for Hezbollah as is
Beirut’s Dahiye. The Lebanese armed group does not have the power controls or
local support in Syria that it enjoys within the intelligence, military and
security structures inside Lebanon. This creates a major vulnerability and
dilemma for Hezbollah in dispatching a senior leader such as Badreddine to a war
zone where he was operationally needed but under greater threat.
Additionally, the cost of taking out Baddredine in an open and protracted war
like the one that Hezbollah is involved in inside Syria is much lower than
reigniting the Lebanese front, that has been fairly stable since 2006. More
importantly, the complexity and multiple layers of the Syrian conflict, the
divides sometimes within the regime and the rebel camps, as well as the
involvement of multiple regional actors, make intelligence breaches and
infiltrations all the more likely.
Hezbollah’s many enemies
In Syria, Hezbollah is confronted by a very long list of enemies, even longer
than that challenging the Assad regime who maintains its own intelligence
structure and base of supporters. The same cannot be said about Hezbollah who is
fighting on a foreign turf and has to rely on the regime for logistical and
intelligence support especially in areas far from the Lebanese border. Today,
the Syrian rebels, Jabhat Nusra, ISIS, Israeli, Turkish, Arab, European and US
intelligence are all are present in Syria and have a stake in taking out
Baddredine. Theories of infiltration within Hezbollah have also surfaced after
the Baderddine killing. The Independent reported that “more than one mourner at
Badreddine’s funeral voiced suspicion that Hezbollah has been infiltrated by
spies.” This is a possibility given that Baddredine and Kuntar are not the type
of fighters that Hezbollah would send alone to the battlefront. They operate
under very tight security, surrounded by bodyguards, and with no media exposure.
The many narratives from pro-Hezbollah media that followed the Baddredine
assassination, blaming Israel then the “Takfiris”, reflect the sense of disarray
following the operation, and the intelligence blow it represents in going after
the party.
Today, Hezbollah’s dilemma in Syria is in what it sees as a strategic battle to
fight despite the rising cost and exposure to its enemies. The Syrian landscape
and nature of the conflict are helping Hezbollah grow and expand territorial
control, but the party is also more laid bare to its rivals, trying to balance
out its losses and its interests in the longer run in Syria.There is a sense of
irony in Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, in that the party that largely chose
to stay away from the Lebanese war for 15 years has engulfed itself in a vicious
circle of proxy, internal and very costly conflict outside its home turf.
Whatever is the conflict’s outcome and the aftermath of the Baddredine killing,
Syria has already changed the image, trajectory and prowess of Hezbollah.
The May 17, 1983, agreement between
Lebanon and Israel
Following Operation Peace for Galilee, Israeli and Lebanese negotiators met to
discuss a treaty between the two countries. The delegations held over 35
sessions alternatively in Khalde, Kiryat Shemona, and Netanya starting on 28
December 1982. The agreement was finally signed on 17 May 1983 following
high-level US involvement including ten days of shuttle diplomacy by Secretary
of State Shultz. The main features of the agreement include putting an end to
the state of war between Israel and Lebanon, a mechanism for cooperation and the
establishment of an Israeli consulate in Beirut. Although the agreement was
signed it was never ratified due to strong violent Syrian opposition to the
treaty.
Text of the May 17, 1983, agreement between Lebanon and Israel
The Government of the State of Israel and the Government of the Republic of
Lebanon:
Bearing in mind the importance of maintaining and strengthening international
peace based on freedom, equality, justice and respect for fundamental human
rights;
Reaffirming their faith in the aims and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations and recognizing their right and obligation to live in peace with each
other as well as with all states within secure and recognized boundaries;
Having agreed to declare the termination of the state of war between them;
Desiring to ensure lasting security for both their States and to avoid threats
and the use of force between them;
Desiring to establish their mutual relations in the manner provided for in this
Agreement;
Having delegated their undersigned representative plenipotentiaries provided
with full powers in order to sign in the presence of the representative of the
United States of America this Agreement;
Have agreed to the following provisions:
ARTICLE 1
1. The Parties agree and undertake to respect the sovereignty political
independence and territorial integrity of each other. They consider the existing
international boundary between Israel and Lebanon inviolable.
2. The Parties confirm that the state of war between Israel and Lebanon has been
terminated and no longer exists.
3. Taking into account the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 Israel undertakes to
withdraw all its armed forces from Lebanon in accordance with the Annex of the
present Agreement.
ARTICLE 2
The Parties being guided by the principles of the Charter of the United Nations
and of international law undertake to settle their disputes by peaceful means in
such a manner as to promote international peace and security and justice.
ARTICLE 3
In order to provide maximum security for Israel and Lebanon the Parties agree to
establish and implement security arrangements including the creation of a
Security Region as provided for in the Annex of the present Agreement.
ARTICLE 4
1. The territory of each Party will not be used as a base for hostile or
terrorist activity against the other Party its territory or its people.
2. Each Party will prevent the existence or organization of irregular forces
armed bands organizations bases offices or infrastructure the aims and purposes
of which include incursions or any act of terrorism into the territory of the
other Party or any other activity aimed at threatening or endangering the
security of the other Party and safety of its people. To this end all agreements
and arrangements enabling the presence and functioning on the territory of
either Party of elements hostile to the other Party are null and void.
3. Without prejudice to the inherent right of self-defense in accordance with
international law each Party will refrain:
a. from organizing instigating assisting or participating in threats or acts of
belligerency subversion or incitement or any aggression directed against the
other Party its population or property both within its territory and originating
therefrom or in the territory of the other Party.
b. from using the territory of the other Party for conducting a military attack
against the territory of a third state.
c. from intervening in the internal or external affairs of the other Party.
4. Each Party undertakes to ensure that preventive action and due proceedings
will be taken against persons or organizations perpetrating acts in violation of
this Article.
ARTICLE 5
Consistent with the termination of the state of war and within the framework of
their constitutional provisions the Parties will abstain from any form of
hostile propaganda against each other.
ARTICLE 6
Each Party will prevent entry into deployment in or passage through its
territory its air space and subject to the right of innocent passage in
accordance with international law its territorial sea by military forces
armament or military equipment of any state hostile to the other Party.
ARTICLE 7
Except as provided in the present Agreement nothing will preclude the deployment
on Lebanese territory of international forces requested and accepted by the
Government of Lebanon to assist in maintaining its authority. New contributors
to such forces shall be selected from among states having diplomatic relations
with both Parties to the present Agreement.
ARTICLE 8
1. a. Upon entry into force of the present Agreement a Joint Liaison Committee
will be established by the Parties in which the United States of America will be
a participant and will commence its functions. This Committee will be entrusted
with the supervision of the implementation of all areas covered by the present
Agreement. In matters involving security arrangements it will deal with
unresolved problems referred to it by the Security Arrangements Committee
established in subparagraph c. below. Decisions of this Committee will be taken
unanimously.
b. The Joint Liaison Committee will address itself on a continuing basis to the
development of mutual relations between Israel and Lebanon inter alia the
regulation of the movement of goods products and persons communications etc.
c. Within the framework of the Joint Liaison Committee there will be a Security
Arrangements Committee whose composition and functions are defined in the Annex
of the present Agreement.
d. Subcommittees of the Joint Liaison Committee may be established as the need
arises.
e. The Joint Liaison Committee will meet in Israel and Lebanon alternately.
f. Each Party if it so desires and unless there is an agreed change of status
may maintain a liaison office on the territory of the other Party in order to
carry out the above-mentioned functions within the framework of the Joint
Liaison Committee and to assist in the implementation of the present Agreement.
g. The members of the Joint Liaison Committee from each of the Parties will be
headed by a senior government official.
h. All other matters relating to these liaison offices their personnel and the
personnel of each Party present in the territory of the other Party in
connection with the implementation of the present Agreement will be the subject
of a protocol to be concluded between the Parties in the Joint Liaison
Committee. Pending the conclusion of this protocol the liaison offices and the
above-mentioned personnel will be treated in accordance with the pertinent
provisions of the Convention on Special Missions of December 8 1969 including
those provisions concerning privileges and immunities. The foregoing is without
prejudice to the positions of the Parties concerning that Convention.
2. During the six-month period after the withdrawal of all Israeli armed forces
from Lebanon in accordance with Article 1 of the present Agreement and the
simultaneous restoration of Lebanese governmental authority along the
international boundary between Israel and Lebanon and in the light of the
termination of the state of war the Parties shall initiate within the Joint
Liaison Committee bona fide negotiations in order to conclude agreements on the
movement of goods products and persons and their implementation on a
non-discriminatory basis.
ARTICLE 9
1. Each of the two Parties will take within a time limit of one year as of entry
into force of the present Agreement all measures necessary for the abrogation of
treaties laws and regulations deemed in conflict with the present Agreement
subject to and in conformity with its constitutional procedures.
2. The Parties undertake not to apply existing obligations enter into any
obligations or adopt laws or regulations in conflict with the present Agreement.
ARTICLE 10
1. The present Agreement shall be ratified by both Parties in conformity with
their respective constitutional procedures. It shall enter into force on the
exchange of the instruments of ratification and shall supersede the previous
agreements between Israel and Lebanon.
2. The Annex the Appendix and the Map attached thereto and the Agreed Minutes to
the present Agreement shall be considered integral parts thereof.
3. The present Agreement may be modified amended or superseded by mutual
agreement of the Parties.
ARTICLE 11
1. Disputes between the Parties arising out of the interpretation or application
of the present Agreement will be settled by negotiation in the Joint Liaison
Committee. Any dispute of this character not so resolved shall be submitted to
conciliation and if unresolved thereafter to an agreed procedure for a
definitive resolution.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 disputes arising out of the
interpretation or application of the Annex shall be resolved in the framework of
the Security Arrangements Committee and if unresolved shall thereafter at the
request of either Party be referred to the Joint Liaison Committee for
resolution through negotiation.
ARTICLE 12
The present Agreement shall be communicated to the Secretariat of the United
Nations for registration in conformity with the provisions of Article 102 of the
Charter of the United Nations.
Done at Kiryat Shmona and Khaldeh this seventeenth day of May 1983 in triplicate
in four authentic texts in the Hebrew Arabic English and French languages. In
case of any divergence of interpretation the English and French texts will be
equally authoritative.
David Kimche,
For the Government of the State of Israel
Antoine Fattal,
For the Government of the Republic of Lebanon
Witnessed by:
Morris Draper,
For the Government of the United States of America
ANNEX
SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS
1. Security Region:
a. A Security Region in which the Government of Lebanon undertakes to implement
the security arrangements agreed upon in this Annex is hereby established.
b. The Security Region is bounded as delineated on the Map attached to this
Annex in the north by a line constituting "Line A" and in the south and east by
the Lebanese international boundary.
2. Security Arrangements
The Lebanese authorities will enforce special security measures aimed at
detecting and preventing hostile activities as well as the introduction into or
movement through the Security Region of unauthorized armed men or military
equipment. The following security arrangements will apply equally throughout the
Security Region except as noted:
a. The Lebanese Army Lebanese Police Lebanese Internal Security Forces and the
Lebanese auxiliary forces (ANSAR) organized under the full authority of the
Government of Lebanon are the only organized armed forces and elements permitted
in the Security Region except as designated elsewhere in this Annex. The
Security Arrangements Committee may approve the stationing in the Security
Region of other official Lebanese armed elements similar to ANSAR.
b. Lebanese Police Lebanese Internal Security Forces and ANSAR may be stationed
in the Security Region without restrictions as to their numbers. These forces
and elements will be equipped only with personal and light automatic weapons and
for the Internal Security Forces armored scout or commando cars as listed in the
Appendix.
c. Two Lebanese Army brigades may be stationed in the Security Region. One will
be the Lebanese Army Territorial Brigade stationed in the area extending from
the Israeli-Lebanese boundary to "Line B" delineated on the attached Map. The
other will be a regular Lebanese Army brigade stationed in the area extending
from "Line B" to "Line A". These brigades may carry their organic weapons and
equipment listed in the Appendix. Additional units equipped in accordance with
the Appendix may be deployed in the Security Region for training purposes
including the training of conscripts or in the case of operational emergency
situations following coordination in accordance with procedures to be
established by the Security Arrangements Committee.
d. The existing local units will be integrated as such into the Lebanese Army in
conformity with Lebanese Army regulations. The existing local civil guard shall
be integrated into ANSAR and accorded a proper status under Lebanese law to
enable it to continue guarding the villages in the Security Region. The process
of extending Lebanese authority over these units and civil guard under the
supervision of the Security Arrangements Committee shall start immediately after
the entry into force of the present Agreement and shall terminate prior to the
completion of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
e. Within the Security Region Lebanese Army units may maintain their organic
anti-aircraft weapons as specified in the Appendix. Outside the Security Region
Lebanon may deploy personal low and medium altitude air defense missiles. After
a period of three years from the date of entry into force of the present
Agreement the provision concerning the area outside the Security Region may be
reviewed by the Security Arrangements Committee at the request of either Party.
f. Military electronic equipment in the Security Region will be as specified in
the Appendix. Deployment of ground radars within ten kilometers of the
Israeli-Lebanese boundary should be approved by the Security Arrangements
Committee. Ground radars throughout the Security Region will be deployed so that
their sector of search does not cross the Israeli-Lebanese boundary. This
provision does not apply to civil aviation or air traffic control radars.
g. The provision mentioned in paragraph e. applies also to anti-aircraft
missiles on Lebanese Navy vessels. In the Security Region Lebanon may deploy
naval elements and establish and maintain naval bases or other shore
installations required to accomplish the naval mission. The coastal
installations in the Security Region will be as specified in the Appendix.
h. In order to avoid accidents due to misidentification the Lebanese military
authorities will give advance notice of all flights of any kind over the
Security Region according to procedures to be determined by the Security
Arrangements Committee. Approval of these flights is not required.
i. (l) The forces weapons and military equipment which may be stationed stocked
introduced into or transported through the Security Region are only those
mentioned in this Annex and its Appendix.
(2) No infrastructure auxiliary installations or equipment capable of assisting
the activation of weapons that are not permitted by this Annex or its Appendix
shall be maintained or established in the Security Region.
(3) These provisions also apply whenever a clause of this Annex relates to areas
outside the Security Region.
3. Security Arrangements Committee
a. Within the framework of the Joint Liaison Committee a Security Arrangements
Committee will be established.
b. The Security Arrangements Committee will be composed of an equal number of
Israeli and Lebanese representatives headed by senior officers. A representative
of the United States of America will participate in meetings of the Committee at
the request of either Party. Decisions of the Security Arrangements Committee
will be reached by agreement of the Parties.
c. The Security Arrangements Committee shall supervise the implementation of the
security arrangements in the present Agreement and this Annex and the timetable
and modalities as well as all other aspects relating to withdrawals described in
the present Agreement and this Annex. To this end and by agreement of the
Parties it will:
(l) Supervise the implementation of the undertakings of the Parties under the
present Agreement and this Annex.
(2) Establish and operate Joint Supervisory Teams as detailed below.
(3) Address and seek to resolve any problems arising out of the implementation
of the security arrangements in the present Agreement and this Annex and discuss
any violation reported by the Joint Supervisory Teams or any complaint
concerning a violation submitted by one of the Parties.
d. The Security Arrangements Committee shall deal with any complaint submitted
to it not later than 24 hours after submission.
e. Meetings of the Security Arrangements Committee shall be held at least once
every two weeks in Israel and in Lebanon alternately. In the event that either
Party requests a special meeting it will be convened within 2 hours. The first
meeting will be held within 48 hours after the date of entry into force of the
present Agreement.
f. Joint Supervisory Teams
(l) The Security Arrangements Committee will establish Joint Supervisory Teams
(Israel-Lebanon) subordinate to it and composed of an equal number of
representatives from each Party.
(2) The teams will conduct regular verification of the implementation of the
provisions of the security arrangement in the Agreement and this Annex. The
teams shall report immediately any confirmed violations to the Security
Arrangements Committee and ascertain that violations have been rectified.
(3) The Security Arrangements Committee shall assign a Joint Supervisory Team
when requested to check border security arrangements on the Israeli side of the
international boundary in accord with Article 4 of the present Agreement.
(4) The teams will enjoy freedom of movement in the air sea and land as
necessary for the performance of their tasks within the Security Region.
(5) The Security Arrangements Committee will determine all administrative and
technical arrangements concerning the functioning of the teams including their
working procedures their number their manning their armament and their
equipment.
(6) Upon submission of a report to the Security Arrangements Committee or upon
confirmation of a complaint of either Party by the teams the respective Party
shall immediately and in any case not later than 24 hours from the report or the
confirmation rectify the violation. The Party shall immediately notify the
Security Arrangements Committee of the rectification. Upon receiving the
notification the teams will ascertain that the violation has been rectified.
(7) The Joint Supervisory Teams shall be subject to termination upon 90 days
notice by either Party given at any time after two years from the date of entry
into force of the present Agreement. Alternative verification arrangements shall
be established in advance of such termination through the Joint Liaison
Committee. Notwithstanding the foregoing the Joint Liaison Committee may
determine at any time that there is no further need for such arrangements.
g. The Security Arrangements Committee will ensure that practical and rapid
contacts between the two Parties are established along the boundary to prevent
incidents and facilitate coordination between the forces on the terrain.
4. It is understood that the Government of Lebanon may request appropriate
action in the United Nations Security Council for one unit of the United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to be stationed in the Sidon area. The
presence of this unit will lend support to the Government of Lebanon and the
Lebanese Armed Forces in asserting governmental authority and protection in the
Palestinian refugee camp areas. For a period of 12 months the unit in the Sidon
area may send teams to the Palestinian refugee camp areas in the vicinity of
Sidon and Tyre to survey and observe if requested by the Government of Lebanon
following notification to the Security Arrangements Committee. Police and
security functions shall remain the sole responsibility of the Government of
Lebanon which shall ensure that the provisions of the present Agreement shall be
fully implemented in these areas.
5. Three months after completion of the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from
Lebanon the Security Arrangements Committee will conduct a full-scale review of
the adequacy of the security arrangements delineated in this Annex in order to
improve them.
6. Withdrawal of Israeli Forces:
a. Within 8 to 12 weeks of the entry into force of the present Agreement all
Israeli forces will have been withdrawn from Lebanon. This is consistent with
the objective of Lebanon that all external forces withdraw from Lebanon.
b. The Israel Defense Forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces will maintain
continuous liaison during the withdrawal and will exchange all necessary
information through the Security Arrangements Committee. The Israel Defense
Forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces will cooperate during the withdrawal in
order to facilitate the reassertion of the authority of the Government of
Lebanon as the Israeli armed forces withdraw
As Lebanon’s Banks Begin To Implement U.S.
Sanctions Against Hizbullah, Hizbullah Criticizes Banking Sector, Warns Of Chaos
In Lebanon And More ‘Actions Against The American Takeover Plan’
H. Varulkar and E. B. Picali/MEMRI/May 17, 2016 Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.1248
Introduction
The Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act, passed by the U.S.
Congress in December 2015, is aimed at curtailing the organization’s funding of
its domestic and international activities, and also at combatting its global
criminal activities – including money laundering, drug trafficking, and human
trafficking – by which it funds the terror operations that it carries out
worldwide.[1] It bars any “foreign financial institution” that engages in
transactions with Hizbullah or with persons or bodies affiliated with it, or
which provides them with financial services or launder money for them, from
maintaining a relationship with the U.S. banking system. This means that any
bank in the world, including in Lebanon, that provides financial services to the
organization will be denied access to U.S. financial institutions – and thus to
the global financial sector. The ramifications of this are far-reaching and can
lead these banks to collapse. The law also imposes sanctions and penalties
(fines, imprisonment or both) on individuals or bodies that violate its
provisions. It came into effect on April 15, 2016, after the U.S. Treasury
issued regulations for its implementation; the Treasury also published a list of
some 100 bodies and figures associated with Hizbullah with whom financial
institutions may not conduct dealings.[2]
Since Congress passed the law, Hizbullah has been perturbed and apprehensive
about its ramifications and the impact it would have on its operation. This has
been expressed both in statements by Hizbullah officials and in articles in the
Lebanese press, especially the press close to Hizbullah.[3] In a speech a few
days after the law was passed, Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah
exposed his concern, by warning Lebanon’s banks not to “submit to the will of
America.”
In early May 2016, two weeks after the law went into effect, Riad Salameh,
governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL), Lebanon’s central bank, stressed, in a
directive to Lebanon’s banks, the need to fully comply with the law. Following
this, Lebanese banks began to close accounts of Hizbullah officials and their
family members, and it has been reported that dozens such accounts have already
been closed. Hizbullah reacted with a campaign of severe criticism against
Salameh and the Lebanese banking system, accusing them of “surrender[ing] to the
American financial mandatory authority in Lebanon and warning that this would
bring about the collapse of Lebanon’s currency and lead to “complete chaos” in
the country. Hizbullah ministers argued that the banks had crossed every red
line, and other Hizbullah members leveled threats against the banks.
These reactions clearly indicate the scope of Hizbullah’s fears about the U.S.
law and its ramifications. It should be noted that in recent months Hizbullah
has also been the target of sanctions by the Gulf states and several other Arab
countries, which have designated it a terror organization and have begun
expelling its operatives from their territory.[4]
It should further be noted that it is not only Hizbullah that is concerned about
the U.S. law, but also Lebanon’s banking sector, because if it does not comply
with the law it will be barred from the global financial system, which could
bring about its collapse. In light of these concerns, two Lebanese delegations
were recently dispatched to the U.S., one on behalf of the Lebanese parliament
and the other on behalf of the Association of Banks in Lebanon. The aim of the
visits was to meet with U.S. Congress and Treasury officials and to discuss the
law and its implementation, and perhaps also persuade them to soften the
language of the law and provide guarantees for the Lebanese banks’ stability.[5]
This report will review Hizbullah’s apprehensions about the U.S. law as well as
the organization’s threats to the Lebanese banking sector, the Lebanese
government, and the U.S. following the law’s passage by Congress, and the
intensification of these threats since the Lebanese banks began implementing the
law.
Following Congress’s Passage Of The Law, Nasrallah Warns Lebanese Government,
Banks Not To Comply
On December 21, 2015, three days after President Obama signed the act into law,
Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah claimed that the law was part of
the U.S. war on his organization that it declared years ago. In an attempt to
downplay the importance of the new sanctions, Nasrallah argued that they would
have no impact. He added that ever since the U.S. designated Hizbullah a
terrorist organization in 1995, it has been trying to force the rest of the
world to accept this designation, but to no avail; he added that since it failed
in this attempt, it is now making false accusations against the organization.
“The Americans,” he said, “are trying to pressure Hizbullah again with a
decision they issued, according to which it is a criminal organization, and they
are accusing us of drug trafficking, human trafficking, and money laundering.
This is not true. These accusations are unjust, and we are not interested in
presenting proof of our innocence, because the accuser is the one who should be
presenting proof… This is a political accusation, part of a political, security,
and military campaign in the region, aimed at tarnishing Hizbullah’s image in
the eyes of the peoples of the world… It is part of a psychological war that
will not succeed.”
As part of his attempts to reassure Hizbullah’s supporters and to convince them
that the sanctions would have no impact, Nasrallah stated that his organization
holds no accounts in Lebanese banks, nor any investments in or partnerships with
Lebanese companies or merchants – and that therefore neither the BDL nor any
other Lebanese bank has any cause for concern. At the same time, he revealed his
concerns when he said: “The minute the U.S. gives the signal to harm some sector
or political stream, some Lebanese banks will begin settling scores [with that
sector or stream].” He declared that this would be “unacceptable” and warned the
government and the banks against “obeying the American will.” He claimed that
these American sanctions were aimed not just at Hizbullah but at Lebanon’s
citizens, companies and businessmen, and demanded that the Lebanese state defend
them: “We do not want the state to defend Hizbullah and its operatives, its sons
and its daughters. We are defending ourselves and know how to do so. But the
state must have people to defend any individual that the Americans wish to
accuse.”[6]
Hizbullah Faction In Lebanese Parliament: American Law Will Spur Hizbullah To
Act Against U.S.’s “Terrorist Branches” In The Region
On December 24, 2015, several days after Congress passed the law, the Hizbullah
faction in the Lebanese parliament harshly criticized the U.S. over it, saying
that “arrogance and terrorism” were behind the decision targeting Hizbullah, its
supporters, and “ostensible organizations and elements working with it”. This,
it stated, confirmed that the U.S. administration is indeed “the Great Satan.”
The faction also said that the law “would spur Hizbullah to continue its actions
against the American takeover plan and to continue resisting its terrorist
branches, represented by the Zionists and takfiris, in Lebanon and the
region.”[7]
Hizbullah-Affiliated Daily: Sanctions Could Lead To Intra-Lebanese Tension
Additionally, on March 31, 2016, the Lebanese Hizbullah-affiliated daily Al-Akhbar
published an article implicitly warning that the U.S. law would destabilize
Lebanon: “As the countdown to the release of the regulations for implementing
the American anti-Hizbullah sanctions begins, the fears that the [Lebanese]
domestic arena will be impacted by it and its ramifications are revived… as have
fears that this issue will become volatile…”
The article also outlined the assessments that the sanctions and the anticipated
regulations for their implementation will be harsh and will cover a broad range
of individuals and political, financial, and media institutions, and added that
if this proves to be the case, “it could constitute a worrisome factor that
could stoke domestic tension [in Lebanon, especially] in everything connected to
Hizbullah’s reaction to the attempts at besieging it…”[8]
As Sanctions Implementation Begins In Lebanon, Hizbullah Harshly Criticizes
U.S., Lebanese Banking Sector
On April 11, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department released the regulations for
implementing the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act; they included
details for applying the sanctions as well as a list of 99 Hizbullah-linked
individuals and institutions with whom banks and financial institutions
worldwide may not conduct business. The law, which as mentioned came into effect
on April 15, 2016, is binding on all the world’s financial institutions,
including Lebanese banks.
BDL Governor Salameh Orders Lebanese Banks To Comply With U.S. Law, Enraging
Hizbullah
On April 28, 2016, the governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh
explicitly stated, on the Lebanese LBC TV channel’s show Kalam Al-Nas, that
Lebanese banks must comply with the U.S. law. He stressed: “The American law
cannot be circumvented, because the regulations for its implementation include
all currency, including the Lebanese lira.” The BDL, he said, would issue a
statement emphasizing that Lebanon was committed to complying with the law and
would hold banks responsible for implementing it. He added, “This will be clear
and there will no way to get around it. This is an official and legal position.
The banks must align with us.”[9]
A few days later, on May 3, 2016, Salameh issued guidelines requiring “all banks
in Lebanon and all institutions under the oversight of the BDL” to comply with
the law and to immediately inform the BDL of any freezing or closure of any
account, or of any refusal to open any account, and to state their reasons for
doing so.[10] According to reports in the Lebanese press, Lebanese banks have
begun implementing these guidelines, and have already closed dozens of accounts
belonging to Hizbullah MPs and associates.[11] Salameh’s guidelines sparked
enraged responses from Hizbullah.
Riad Salameh (nna-leb.gov.lb, April 4, 2016)
Hizbullah MP: U.S. Is The Great Satan, We Must Resist Its Plans In The Region
Hizbullah MP Hussein Al-Moussawi threatened the U.S., saying: “The U.S. is still
the leader of the camp of lies, and, as the Great Satan, it attempts to give the
resistance a satanic image, and marginalize it with terrorism accusations and
economic sanctions… The sons of the ummah should be wary of the American plans
and carry out resistance against them.”[12]
Hizbullah: Salameh Surrendered To “The American Financial Mandatory” Rule In
Lebanon; Implementing This Law Will Lead To Chaos In The Country
After Lebanese banks began closing the accounts of Hizbullah affiliates, the
organization launched criticism not only at the U.S. but also at the Lebanese
banking sector. On May 12, 2016, the Hizbullah faction in the Lebanese
parliament issued an exceptionally harsh statement against Riad Salameh, noting:
“The recent American law, which forces Lebanese banks to comply with its
sections, is completely unacceptable because it will form the basis for a local
war of exclusion, which the central bank and other banks are helping to stoke.
This is in addition to the fact that complying [with the U.S. law] constitutes
an appropriation of Lebanese financial sovereignty.”
The statement also said: “The orders recently published by BDL governor Riad
Salameh… are a form of unjustified surrender to the American financial mandatory
authority in Lebanon – which could exacerbate the financial crisis in the
country, lead it to bankruptcy because of the ramifications of the deep schism
[that could come about] between the Lebanese and the banks, and place the
country on the brink of a grave currency collapse in the country and complete
chaos that will be unstoppable.” The announcement also called on the governor
“to reexamine the recent guidelines, such that they will be compatible [with the
principle] of national sovereignty,” and on the government “to take the
necessary steps to prevent the dangerous ramifications that are likely to
emanate from this.”[13]
Hizbullah-Affiliated Daily: Hizbullah Is Furious At BDL Governor For Reneging On
Understandings It Reached With Him
The Lebanese daily Al-Safir, which is close to Hizbullah, revealed on May 13,
2016 that the reason for Hizbullah’s fury at the BDL governor is that the
guidelines he issued for the banks effectively countermanded previous
understandings at which he had secretly arrived with Hizbullah, that were meant
to mitigate the impact of the sanctions. According to the report, former
Hizbullah MP Amin Shiri had concluded with Salameh that the Lebanese banks would
not decide independently on the closure of any Lebanese citizen’s bank account,
but would obtain Salameh’s personal approval beforehand. They also agreed that
the banks would allow any citizen, including Hizbullah members, to open an
account in Lebanese lira. However, the new guidelines that Salameh released in
early May contradicted these understandings; under the new guidelines, banks
should close accounts on their own and then inform the BDL, and must prevent
Hizbullah members from opening accounts in Lebanese lira –because the American
regulations for implementation specifically bar opening accounts in any
currency.
According to Al-Safir, Hizbullah was surprised, and enraged, by Salameh’s
guidelines. It quickly tried to contact him, but after receiving no persuasive
answer, it decided to publish the harsh statement against him, and to raise the
issue in the upcoming cabinet session.[14]
The daily Al-Akhbar, which is also close to Hizbullah, added that the
organization had sent a message to Salameh claiming that “some banks decide for
themselves to go too far in implementing the American sanctions, punishing
Lebanese [citizens] that the U.S. did not even seek to sanction.” The daily
added that Hizbullah had told Salameh that it would not allow the Lebanese
banking sector “to act purely as the executive arm of the American
administration [in carrying out its] decisions.”[15]
Al-Safir: Lebanese Elements, Saudi And UAE Foreign Ministers Worked To Step Up
The Sanctions
Al-Safir reported that several MPs, apparently from Hizbullah, had complained to
parliament speaker Nabih Berri that the regulations for implementation released
in April by the U.S. Treasury Department had included new sections that were not
in the law itself – for example, that the sanctions apply to all currencies, not
only to U.S. dollars. They argued that these additions undercut the
understandings between Hizbullah and Salameh, which were aimed at circumventing
the sanctions and mitigating their effects. The MPs argued that an apparent
“Lebanese element… leaked these [Hizbullah-Salameh understandings].” The daily
cited sources as saying that “there is an Israeli-Lebanese-Arab lobby operating
daily in Washington under the direct supervision of the office of Saudi Foreign
Minister ‘Adel Al-Jubeir and the office of UAE Foreign Minister ‘Abdallah bin
Zayed,” and adding that UAE Ambassador to Washington Yousef Al-’Otaiba is
working hard on this matter in Congress and the Treasury Department.[16]
Hizbullah Ministers: Lebanese Banks Have “Gone Too Far” In Implementing The
American Law”; This Crosses All Red Lines
On May 12, 2016, the same day the Hizbullah faction in the parliament issued its
statement against the Lebanese banking sector, Hizbullah ministers raised the
issue in the cabinet session. The Al-Akhbar and Al-Safir dailies reported that
Hizbullah ministers in the unity government, Hussein Al-Hajj Hassan and Muhammad
Fneish, had delivered scathing attacks on the Lebanese banks, saying that they
had “gone too far in implementing the American law” and had begun “taking steps
against people with no ties to Hizbullah other than familial ties to
organization officials.”
At the meeting, Hizbullah ministers claimed that one bank had closed the account
of the daughter of a former Hizbullah MP. Al-Hajj Hassan claimed that banks had
also recently closed the accounts of MPs Nawar Al-Sahili, ‘Ali Fayyad, ‘Ali
Ammar, and ‘Ali Al-Miqdad, as well as that of former MP Amin Shiri. Also closed,
they said, were accounts belonging to various cultural, religious, healthcare,
and societal institutions, as well as charity organizations; he also expressed
apprehension that the accounts of dozens of local municipalities would be closed
“on the pretext that they [are administered] by Hizbullah members.” It was also
reported that during the meeting, other ministers who are not members of
Hizbullah related how U.S. and French banks had refused to open accounts for
them and also closed their existing accounts.
According to Al-Hajj Hassan, these closures constituted “a serious attack that
crosses all red lines,” especially since the law harms all Lebanese, not just
one group or sect. Other reports in the Lebanese press noted that Al-Hajj Hassan
had issued threats, and had said that the BDL guidelines and the conduct of the
banking sector had “crossed the red line and reached the black line, and
Hizbullah will not agree to this, and the American sanctions will not be allowed
to pass.” It was also reported that Hizbullah ministers had called the Lebanese
banks’ implementation of the U.S. law submission to aggression, and added that
there must be no silence over this law, “because the occupation is not only
military, but also financial, political, and cultural.”[17]
Al-Safir reported that some ministers from the March 14 Forces, the rival bloc
in the unity government, were claiming that Hizbullah had brought this situation
on itself, and that the resistance had become a weak point for Lebanon, not a
source of strength. Furthermore, one minister argued that Hizbullah ministers
could not shift responsibility to the Lebanese banks or the BDL governor, since
no one in the world can confront the U.S. The cabinet meeting ended with a
decision by Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Finance Minister ‘Ali Hassan Khalil
to meet with Salameh to discuss the matter and update the government on the
results.[18]
Hizbullah Sources Threaten: Hizbullah Won’t Remain Silent – We Will Upend
Everything
On May 14, 2016, the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar quoted sources in the
Hizbullah-headed March 8 Forces as saying that the organization would not remain
silent about the new guidelines released by Salameh, and that it would not back
down from its demand that they be cancelled. The sources argued that the banks
were implementing the sanctions also against people who were not on the U.S.
Treasury Department list, only because they were Shi’ites or relatives of a
Hizbullah member. They added: “How is it possible that the bank accounts of MPs
representing the Lebanese people are being closed – how will they receive their
salaries?”
Hizbullah maintained that the BDL and the other banks are going beyond what the
Americans are demanding in their implementation of the sanctions, and thus are
strangling an entire community. The sources said: “When [Hizbullah] asked the
BDL governor about the implementation of the U.S. law, he said nothing about
what he is implementing today, but [said that there would be] an investigation
and an examination of every account about which there are doubts… But closing
the accounts of innocent people who have no connection [to Hizbullah] without
any investigation or examination [as is happening right now] – that is a
dangerous sign of concessions on Lebanese sovereignty and of punishment of the
Lebanese people by the state, which we will in no way allow to happen.” The
sources argued that the government must “cancel the BDL’s guidelines, otherwise
[Hizbullah] will react not only by thwarting the government['s activity] but
will upend everything, and will open the file of the banking sector from the
1990s onward…” – hinting that Hizbullah has information on improper conduct by
the banks.
Asked what was meant by the term “upend everything,” the sources quoted a hadith
attributed to Imam ‘Ali bin Abu Taleb, the fourth caliph: “I am amazed how a
poor man who lacks a crust of bread does not go out and brandish his sword at
the people” – hinting that Hizbullah’s reaction will be harsh.[19]
Nasrallah: We Face A Challenge To Obtain Monetary Aid – “We Will Be Grateful For
Every Donation”
Hizbullah officials’ threats and harsh reactions clearly attested to the
distress and pressure felt by the organization, and to the scope of the
sanctions’ impact on its activity. Additional evidence of this could be found in
a May 6, 2016 speech by Nasrallah following the release of the regulations for
implementing the U.S. law.
In his speech, Nasrallah reiterated, as he had first stated in his December 2015
speech, that the sanctions would do little damage to Hizbullah because the
organization was accustomed to such pressure and that it would overcome it as it
had in the past “under much worse circumstances.” But despite Nasrallah’s
efforts to convey the message that Hizbullah was just fine, the scope of the
economic damage done to the organization came through in his statements, in
which he noted, inter alia, that the Islamic Resistance Support Organization was
now playing a vital role in financially helping the organization. He even
personally appealed to the public of supporters of the resistance for monetary
donations, no matter how modest:
“I want to talk about this point openly, so that the people will also know how
we think and operate. We first of all consider the importance and real value of
the intention of the donors, not the size of the contribution… The families of
the martyrs donate, the wounded donate, the people donate, the elderly lady who
saved for her old age gives a little of her savings to the resistance, the boy
who is in school takes some of his allowance and drops it into the cashbox of
the resistance. This, for us, is worth millions. This is the real support for
us…
“Therefore, today, when we stand before America’s, Israel’s, and Saudi Arabia’s
attempts to dry up our sources of funding, we must realize that the sums donated
by this or that family via the the Islamic Resistance Support Organization, even
if modest, are in fact very large and extremely valuable sums. Obviously, we do
not want to embarrass anyone… [so that they will] donate to us, but we trust the
faith, the insight, and the reliability of all those who donate to us, since
they are the people with whom we have, together, [overcome] the most difficult
of days and circumstances, and the most dangerous of challenges and hardships.
With them, we have completed the path; we have triumphed, and passed through all
the difficult stages; with them, we will pass through all the difficult stages
to come, Allah willing.”
In an attempt to reassure the resistance-supporting public, he added that they
must not worry, because Iran would continue to send economic, material, and
military aid to Hizbullah despite the pressures and threats against it as
well.[20]
*H. Varulkar is Director of Research at MEMRI; E. B. Picali is a Research Fellow
at MEMRI.
Endnotes:
[1] On Hizbullah’s involvement in global drug trafficking, see MEMRI Inquiry and
Analysis No. 1227, Hizbullah’s International Drug Network Preoccupies Europe,
February 9, 2016.
[2]
Congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2297/text;Treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/31cfr566_hizballah.pdf;Treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20160415.aspx.
[3] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), January 11, 2016, March 31, 2016.
[4] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1232, Lebanon’s Failure To Support Saudi
Arabia In Struggle With Iran Sparks Crisis Between Lebanon And Saudi-Led Gulf,
March 7, 2016.
[5] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), January 11, 2016, February 2, 2016, March 31, 2016.
[6] Alahednews.co.lb, December 21, 2015; Al-Safir (Lebanon), Al-Akhbar
(Lebanon), December 22, 2015.
[7] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), December 25, 2015.
[8] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), March 31, 2016.
[9] Al-Liwa (Lebanon), April 29, 2016.
[10] Al-Nahar (Lebanon), May 4, 2016.
[11] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), May 16, 2016, Al-Safir (Lebanon), May 13, 2016.
[12] Alahadnews.com.lb, May 2, 2016.
[13] Al-Safir (Lebanon), May 12, 2016.
[14] Al-Safir (Lebanon), May 13, 2016.
[15] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), May 13, 2016.
[16] Al-Safir (Lebanon), May 13, 2016.
[17] Al-Safir, Al-Akhbar, Al-Mustaqbal , Al-Modon (Lebanon), May 13, 2016.
[18] Al-Safir (Lebanon), May 13, 2016; Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), May 13, 2016.
[19] This hadith is attributed to Abu Dhar Al-Ghafari, a Companion of the
Prophet Muhammad, and the fourth person to be converted to Islam by him.
However, no verification or evidence has been found for such a hadith in the
Book of Hadiths, and some even claim that it is not reliable.
[20] Alahednews.co.lb, May 6, 2016.
What's next for Hezbollah in Syria?
Ali Hashem/Al-Monitor/May 17/16
Many people know the name Mustafa Badreddine, but few could say they really knew
the Hezbollah high commander in Syria, who died last week in an explosion at one
of the group’s bases near Damascus International Airport.
Even those who had met the man knew him by different names.
Hezbollah announced that its most prominent commander, known among his ranks as
Zulfiqar (a legendary sword in Islam), was killed in an artillery bombardment
carried out by area groups of “takfiris,” fundamentalists who excommunicate
other Muslims. According to an Iranian military source in Syria who spoke to
Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Badreddine wasn’t alone at the time of the
explosion.
“There was a high-ranking meeting. A senior Iranian commander was with him,
along with other Hezbollah senior officers. As they finished the meeting [and
started to disperse], a shell fell close to [Badreddine]. Shrapnel to the back
of his head killed him immediately … while there were a few light injuries among
the others.”
Losing the high commander of its forces in Syria makes the stakes very high for
Hezbollah in a war that has seemed to go nowhere in five years. According to the
Iranian military source, there is no way to make up for Badreddine's loss.
“He’s a combination of several elements — experience, charisma, military vision
and shrewdness — that are hard to find in one person. He had them all in him.
But this doesn’t mean Hezbollah’s men are going to be affected on the ground,”
he told Al-Monitor. “Resistance bloc fighters execute plans and tactics that are
drawn by the joint military command, so there’s no fear in this regard on field
operations. But, yes, the command will miss his capabilities and broad vision.”
The source added, “Hezbollah’s military today isn’t the same as a decade ago.
Today they are more institutionalized. Several great commanders have fallen in
the past couple of years, but this didn’t change the course of the war. … The
best farewell to [Badreddine] is to continue this war until the victory that he
was looking for [is achieved].”
But in fact, the killing of Badreddine is going to have a deep effect on
Hezbollah’s military command. For the first time in many years, there will be a
new commander from outside the legend of Badreddine and his brother-in-law,
commander Imad Mughniyeh.
A source close to the organization said, “There are other commanders who are
going to rise. The mythical effect of Mughniyeh and Badreddine didn’t allow
others to be heard clearly. This might be a chance for fresh blood to pour into
the group’s body — yet in Syria this will have a different effect.”
According to the source, the command in Syria is expected to see more
centralization under the Iranians. “Until his death, Badreddine played an
important role in the decision-making path in Syria, military-wise. This is due
to his character and history. Now the command is expected to solely be in the
hands of the Iranians, whereas Hezbollah’s role will be executing decisions
taken by the central command.”
Badreddine’s name has been in the media for decades. In 1991, he was said to
have taken part in negotiations for the release of Western hostages taken in
Beirut by the Islamic Jihad movement. According to the Oct. 16, 1991, issue of
the New York Times, Badreddine supervised a secret meeting with former United
Nations envoy Giandomenico Picco.
“I heard of his death this morning,” Picco told Al-Monitor on the phone from New
York. He said he wasn’t able to say for sure that he had met Badreddine. “They
were all masked, but I heard he was with them.”
In 1991, Badreddine was back from Kuwait, where he had been serving a life
sentence for allegedly bombing the French and US embassies there. According to
Kuwaiti media reports, Badreddine’s nom de guerre was “Elias Saab” and he was a
member of the Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party.
An Iraqi who said he was with Badreddine in the prison recalls the story of
their escape after the Iraqi invasion. “The prison was isolated completely.
There were seven of us — myself; Mustafa Badreddine, who used the name Abu Amin;
the well-known Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi AlMohandes; and others from the PLO,”
the Iraqi inmate, who refused to give his name, told Al-Monitor.
“Badreddine was trained to use and make explosives; therefore, when the guards
fled and we started hearing gunshots, he began planning for our escape. He
brought some soap, matches and batteries, and made a small bomb that destroyed
the locks.” According to the source, the prisoners were able to flee and stayed
in Kuwait for four days before arranging for sea passage to Iran, where they
were temporarily detained.
From 1992 until 1999, Badreddine was the military commander of Hezbollah leading
the resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. Then
Badreddine assumed another role and the command was taken by Mughniyeh, who was
married to Badreddine’s sister. While Badreddine had mainly focused on reducing
the number of deaths among members by enhancing the use of booby traps,
Mughniyeh came from a newer school of thought that blended classic military with
guerrilla war. By May 2000, Israel was forced to withdraw from Lebanon
unilaterally.
From 2000 until 2008, Badreddine’s role was to lead the group’s security
apparatus, which helped later in uncovering several Israeli spy networks in
Lebanon. A source close to the party indicated that Badreddine played a vital
role in the 2006 war with Israel, though the source provided no details.
The special tribunal for Lebanon that is looking into the assassination of
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri believes Badreddine and three others
were responsible for Hariri’s Feb. 14, 2005, death, an accusation that Hezbollah
repeatedly denied while refusing to hand over the four suspects. According to
the court, Badreddine used several names during this operation, among them Sami
Issa, Elias Fouad Saab and Safi Badr. The court’s accusation of Badreddine and
Hezbollah’s denial added to the already-tense atmosphere that had pervaded
Lebanon since 2005, though after the Syrian crisis the case dropped down on
Lebanon’s priority list.
In 2008, Mughniyeh was assassinated in a Damascus car bombing. Badreddine was
chosen among other commanders to fill the shoes of Mughniyeh, whose death
Hezbollah blamed on Israel. All those who were chosen became members of the
jihadi council and aides to Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. In 2011, the
Syrian crisis began at the same time the tribunal indicted Badreddine. A year
later Hezbollah started preparing for its intervention in Syria. May 2013 marked
Hezbollah’s first battle in Qusair. Badreddine started overseeing the group’s
war in Syria and how it developed from an operation to protect the borders to a
battle for the preservation of the Shiite shrines. He remained in that capacity
until the day he was killed.
To Hezbollah, Badreddine isn’t someone who can be replaced the next day, given
his history, understanding and influence inside the organization. Yet, the
number of commanders slain during the Syrian war has given the group the
experience to endure such hits with the fewest possible effects. In fact, one
day, years ago, Mughniyeh and Badreddine were seen as Nasrallah’s main
lieutenants. Now that he has lost both, Nasrallah will begin looking within his
ranks for the man who’ll replace his Syria war commander. He might have many
candidates, but none of them can fill the shoes of Mustafa Badreddine.
Can Lebanon make progress on
oil, gas exploration efforts?
Matt Nash/Al-Monitor/May 17/16
Wissam Zahabi is exhausted. It’s 5 p.m. He arrived in Beirut an hour after
sunrise from a fact-finding mission in Uganda and went straight to work. In the
evening, he has a conference to attend. It’s a busy day for a man who described
himself and his colleagues as “idle.”
His quote, however, needs to be understood in context. Zahabi is currently the
president of Lebanon’s Petroleum Administration, a government body established
in 2012 to regulate the country’s oil and gas sector. Back then, the pace of
activity to create the sector was akin to lightning by Lebanese standards. A law
passed in 2010 called for creating the LPA and naming its six board members. Two
years later, the six were appointed. (By comparison, it took five years to
appoint a board for the telecoms regulator and an electricity regulator called
for in a 2002 law still exists only on paper.) The board should be busy watching
over oil and gas companies searching for hydrocarbons in Lebanon’s slice of the
natural gas-rich eastern Mediterranean. It’s not.
When Najib Mikati resigned in March 2013, his Cabinet had some unfinished
business related to oil and gas, namely passing two crucial decrees: One carves
Lebanon’s offshore into blocks open for license, and another outlines technical
details for how the round should proceed — the tender protocol — and includes a
model contract to be signed between the state and the winning bidders. Despite
the lack of a functioning government, in May 2013, then-caretaker Energy and
Water Minister Gebran Bassil opened Lebanon’s first offshore oil and gas
licensing round anyway. Investors were lined up. Some of the industry’s
so-called supermajors such as Chevron, Total, ENI and Shell had prequalified in
April 2013 to participate in the licensing round.
Bassil’s move put Lebanon in an odd position. The licensing round was open, but
without the decrees, companies could not submit offers. As the round’s scheduled
closure date drew nearer with the decrees still being ignored by the Cabinet,
Bassil delayed it a few months. A few months later, he delayed again. And then
again. Each time, he chose a specific date for the round to close. When a new
government came to power in 2014, Bassil’s successor shifted tact. Closure of
the licensing round is now slated for “a maximum period of six months from the
date of the adoption of the two decrees.” Since that 2014 decision, however,
efforts to begin offshore exploration are moving at the more familiar pace of
standard Lebanese bureaucracy.
Zahabi confirmed the decrees are ready for the Cabinet’s signature but said he
does not think they will be approved soon, listing a litany of crises requiring
more urgent attention. He admits, “We’ve lost credibility, to be frank.” But
judging what impact this will have on companies’ willingness to participate in
the licensing round once it’s truly open is a difficult question. Every now and
again articles pop up in the local press claiming companies are losing interest
in Lebanon or lamenting that Lebanon's neighbors are moving ahead as it
languishes, but reading the minds of oil and gas companies that do not openly
discuss their future investment plans is no easy task.
Anyone who tries to do research in Lebanon knows that recent, reliable data is
nearly impossible to find. The one exception is the nascent oil and gas sector.
Lebanon’s offshore is almost entirely covered with both 2D and 3D seismic
surveys, interpretations of which the LPA updates. A wealth of data is helpful
for a country such as Lebanon where no offshore wells have ever been drilled.
While seismic data does not give an exact road map of where to successfully
drill, it significantly diminishes the risk of not finding oil. Once a company
wins an offshore exploration license, it will usually spend the first few years
searching for drilling targets. The amount of data Lebanon has could reduce the
amount of time between contract signature and the first well. The LPA, one of
the companies that conducted some of the seismic surveys, and a US government
body that did its own survey back in 2010 all say that data looks good. And with
all of the natural gas wells currently producing near Lebanon, the idea that the
country’s offshore is a potential cash cow is well established. Zahabi said
companies bought data several years ago and does not point to new sales as an
indicator of current interest. Instead, he points to Cyprus and Egypt.
Cyprus launched its third offshore licensing round in March, riding on hopes
created by a very large natural gas discovery in Egyptian waters at the end of
August 2015. Before the discovery in Egypt, however, Cyprus was in the press as
a disappointment, not as a country trying to lure new investments. The island
nation’s only confirmed natural gas find — Aphrodite — turned out to be smaller
than expected, and in the 12 months prior to the find in Egyptian waters, all
Cyprus had to show were two dry wells. Zahabi’s basic message was that if Cyprus
can hold a successful bid round, so can Lebanon. He isn’t even deterred by a
border dispute and, in fact, denies the existence of one.
Because they are neighbors, Lebanon and Israel should negotiate their own
offshore borders. Because they are technically at war, they haven’t. Israel’s
claim overlaps with Lebanon’s, leaving an 860-square-kilometer (332-square-mile)
triangle. Zahabi said Lebanon followed the UN’s law of the sea to determine its
offshore border, which it seems Israel de facto recognized when drawing the
blocks it wanted to open in licensing rounds (the Israeli blocks match Lebanon’s
claim of where the border lies and are to the south of where Israel wants its
border to end). The dispute is being mediated by the United States, and Zahabi
said he hopes a resolution comes soon. Even without it, he said, Lebanon is free
to explore where it chooses in its offshore waters. That is, as soon as the
politicians decide to do so.
Report: Mustafa Mughniyeh made
Hezbollah military chief
Liad Osmo, Roi Kais/Ynetnews/Published: 05.17.16/ Israel News
Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports Imad Mughniyeh’s son was chosen to
replace his uncle, Mustafa Badreddine, who was assassinated last week. Hezbollah
has reportedly appointed Mustafa Mughniyeh, the son of terrorist Imad Mughniyeh,
to command its military wing instead of Mustafa Badreddine, who was assassinated
last week, the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Mustafa Mughniyeh is the son of Badreddine’s sister who was married to Imad
Mughniyeh. Mughniyeh senior was assassinated in 2008.
Asharq Al-Awsat is one of the most widespread newspapers in the Arab world, but
it is a Saudi publication affiliated with the anti-Hezbollah Sunni axis.
Lebanese media has yet to report on any successor to Badreddine.
Intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon has researched Hezbollah’s intelligence and
security apparatuses and has been following the actions of Mughniyeh’s eldest
son, said Mustafa has barely been mentioned in the media before. “The 1980′s
were the years when (Imad) Mughniyeh spent time at a Quds Force camp near
Tehran,” Solomon said.
“At the time, he was pursued by foreign intelligence services after he stood
behind deadly terror attacks against Western and Israeli targets, which claimed
the lives of hundreds of people. In 1982, Mughniyeh opened a security guard
company in Lebanon and married his cousin Saadi Badreddine – the sister of
Mustafa Badreddine, who was appointed Hezbollah’s military commander,” Solomon
told Ynet.
During those years, Mughniyeh had tried to secure the release of his
brother-in-law Mustafa Badreddine, who was arrested following the attack on the
American Embassy in Kuwait in 1983.
“In January 1987, when Mustafa was still in jail in Kuwait, Imad Mugniyeh’s
eldest son was born. He named him Mustafa, after his wife’s brother – it’s clear
this wasn’t a coincidence,” Solomon said. “During that same year, Mughniyeh
senior’s parents came for a visit in Teheran and were photographed with the
whole family, apparently to mark Mustafa’s birthday, who was born that year.
(Mustafa) was not included in the picture and until today there is not one
single photo of him,” he added.
A year later, Badreddine managed to get out of jail in Kuwait and arrived at the
Iranian Embassy, while taking advantage of the chaos following the invasion of
Kuwait by then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussain. According to Solomon’s
investigation, while Mughniyeh senior was in charge of Hezbollah’s military and
operational activities, Mustafa had been training in Iran: “In 2005, he was 18
years old – the age when one completes basic military training in Hezbollah and
is sent to specialize in a certain field. At the same time, Mustafa began
joining his father on operational missions, and hence received an informal
education.
“Meanwhile, the relationship between Mustafa Mughniyeh’s mother, Saadi, and her
brother, Mustafa Badreddine was maintained at all times. Proof for that is shown
in the findings from the investigation on the assassination of Rafik al-Hariri,
the former prime minister of Lebanon, which included documentation of thousands
of conversations between the two. The history of their relationship ended up
playing an important role after Imad Mughniyeh’s assassination.”
After the death of Mughniyeh senior, an interesting process began to unfold. As
Jihad Mughniyeh, the youngest son, was becoming more publicly known, the oldest
son Mustafa continued to stay a mystery, with few mentions in the media.
A few months after the assassination of Mughniyeh senior, it was reported that
Mustafa became a father to a son in Beirut who they named Imad after his
deceased grandfather.
Four years later, during a broadcast by the Lebanese satellite TV station Al
Manar in honor of the anniversary of Mughniyeh’s death, Mustafa’s son was
interviewed wearing a military uniform. Imad junior was accompanied by the
parents of Imad Mughniyeh senior, but his father Mustafa was nowhere to be seen.
Interview with Mustafa Mughniyeh’s son, Imad
Ibrahim Al-Amin, an editor of a Hezbollah journal, said in January that the rest
of the family had expected Mustafa, the eldest son, to publicly announce his
father Imad’s death. However, Mustafa answered that he was not the right man for
the task and instead the task fell on young Jihad, who, up until then, was taken
less seriously compared to Mustafa.
Meanwhile, Mustafa became the protégé son and confidant of his father’s
successor, his uncle Mustafa Badreddine. Mustafa Mughniyeh is mentioned as
having a role in coordinating the movements of Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon,
Syria and Iran, and entrusted with their personal security. Furthermore, he is
said to provide vehicles for his uncle Badreddine and his personal security.
“As history shows, whoever went up the ladder to participate in secret Hezbollah
operations, first held positions related to the personal security of various key
members of the organization. It can be presumed that Mustafa’s identity has been
kept mysterious, as opposed to his brother, to ensure that in the future he will
be included in secret missions, such as those carried out by the 910 unit
(Hezbollah’s unit in charge of overseas attacks), led by his uncle Mustafa
Badreddine.”
In August 2011, Mustafa’s name emerged in connection to a mysterious explosion
that took place in a southern suburb of Beirut, known as a Hezbollah stronghold.
In the beginning, it was reported that the explosion was intended to target
Samir Kuntar – a member of the Palestine Liberation Front, who was convicted of
murdering the Israeli Haran family in a terrorist attack in 1979.
Later on, it was believed that it was actually Mustafa Mughniyeh who had been
the target of the explosion. The building that was blown up was used by
Mughniyeh as an office. The explosion resulted in the death of Mustafa’s
security guard and another individual was wounded.
During that time, Hezbollah began to believe that a foreign agent had
infiltrated their security apparatus and that Mustafa Mughniyeh’s name had been
leaked along with several other Hezbollah members in a 2011 report on French
newspaper Le Figaro. In response to that report, a Facebook page covering
Hezbollah’s fighting in Syria quoting sources close to the terror organization
as admitting for the first time that Mustafa was operating in Hezbollah’s ranks
against Israel and the rebels in Syria.
It is possible that the foreign agent who had operated against the organization
was high-ranking Hezbollah official Mohammad Shorba – who is now known to have
worked with the Mossad and CIA during those years.
Saudi media recently reported that Mustafa took over command of Hezbollah’s
operations in the Golan Heights after the assassination of his younger brother
Jihad Mughniyeh in an airstrike in January 2015 attributed to Israel.
Photo attatched/The Mughniyeh family photographed in 1987 in Tehran
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on May 17-18/16
Statement byCanadian, FM, Minister
Dion at conclusion of International Syria Support Group meeting
May 17, 2016 - Vienna,
Austria - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the
following statement at the end of the meeting of the International Syria Support
Group (ISSG) in Vienna, Austria:
“Today Canada, along with 26 countries and organizations, urgently sought
measures to prevent the collapse of the nationwide cessation of hostilities in
Syria. I raised particular concerns over the Syrian regime’s continued use of
barrel bombs on civilian neighbourhoods as well as the targeting of hospitals
and medical clinics.
“Discussions also addressed the sieges that have kept hundreds of thousands of
children, women and men without access to food, medicine and urgent humanitarian
supplies.
“I was pleased that one of the concrete outcomes of today’s meeting was a
commitment by the ISSG to ensure immediate and regular aid deliveries to all
besieged and hard-to-reach communities across Syria. Starvation as a weapon of
war must come to an end. The ISSG called on the World Food Programme to
undertake humanitarian airdrops across Syria if access is not provided by June
1, 2016.
“It is important to move toward the goal of a country-wide halt to the practice
of laying siege to communities. Canada is already contributing to initial
airdrops in Syria, and I signalled our full support for the expansion of
airdrops to all affected communities in the country, where operationally
feasible.
“I drew particular attention to the plight of detainees, calling for:
the immediate release of women and children, in particular;
the UN to be provided with a list identifying all detention facilities in Syria;
and
independent international inspections of all those sites.
“I also called for the suspension of all death sentences in Syria.
“Importantly, the ISSG welcomed the approach toward the next round of talks on
political transition set out by Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria.
Resuming peace talks is an urgent need. Reaching a solution will be long and
difficult, but the Syrian people have suffered long enough. Canada joins ISSG
members in calling on the parties to return to UN-led intra-Syrian peace talks
and to participate constructively in serious discussions on the formation of a
transition governing body.”
Reinvigorating Canada’s human rights agenda
May 17, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
As part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to human rights at home and
abroad, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today
announced the creation of the Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion (OHRFI).
The new office expands on the work undertaken by Andrew Bennett as head of the
former Office of Religious Freedom by bringing those efforts together under a
comprehensive vision that includes all human rights.
From today, all Canadian heads of mission (ambassadors, high commissioners and
consuls general) will make the promotion of “human rights, freedoms and
inclusion” part of their core objectives and these priorities will be included
in their annual performance commitments. Canada’s permanent representatives to
the United Nations in New York City and Geneva, Switzerland, will have a clear
mandate for the advancement of human rights, which is a critical part of
Canada’s re-engagement with the United Nations. Furthermore, the budget
dedicated to the promotion of human rights, including religious freedom, will be
as much as $15 million for OHRFI, three times the amount originally committed to
the former office.
The struggle for religious freedom is, at its heart, a struggle for the
universal and inseparable freedoms Canadians cherish. This enhanced approach
takes as its departure point a notion Canadians hold dear: people are stronger
not in spite of their differences, but because of them.
Promoting acceptance and protecting the differences that makes each and every
one of us so unique cannot be divided into separate, but equal, efforts. A
comprehensive approach to human rights, freedoms and inclusion will do more for
religious freedom because Canada will be doing more for the cause of all human
rights everywhere: at home and throughout the world.
OHRFI will work closely with Canadian and international members of civil
society, religious groups, academia, and non-governmental organizations—a
crucial network that will allow Canada to truly leverage its pluralistic
experience as a multicultural and multi-faith country.
OHRFI will have three divisions: Human Rights and Indigenous Affairs, Inclusion
and Religious Freedom, and Democracy. OHRFI will be led by Richard Arbeiter,
Director General, and a single point of contact, Giuliana Natale, Director of
Inclusion and Religious Freedom, will be available for direct outreach to key
stakeholders.
The current mandate of the External Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom and
Canada’s chairmanship of the International Contact Group on the Freedom of
Religion or Belief will also be maintained.
Quotes
“The Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion will address all human
rights across Canada’s foreign policy. Canada is first and foremost an
inclusive, diverse, multi-faith society, and today’s decision reflects these
values and our ongoing commitment to advancing them at home and abroad.
“I want to personally thank Andrew Bennett, who has shown remarkable ingenuity,
sensitivity and competency in serving as head of Canada’s Office for Religious
Freedom since its beginning.”
* Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs
U.S. Senate Passes
Bill Allowing Lawsuits against Riyadh over 9/11 Attacks
Associated Press/ Naharnet May 17/16/The U.S. Senate passed legislation Tuesday
that would allow families of Sept. 11 victims to sue the government of Saudi
Arabia, rejecting the fierce objections of a U.S. ally and setting Congress on a
collision course with the Obama administration. The Justice Against Sponsors of
Terrorism Act, approved by voice vote, had triggered a threat from Riyadh to
pull billions of dollars from the U.S. economy if the bill is enacted. The
legislation, sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, and Chuck
Schumer, a Democrat from New York, gives victims' families the right to sue in
U.S. court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in
the 2001 attacks that killed thousands in New York, the Washington D.C. area and
Pennsylvania. The House of Representatives still must act on the legislation.
Relatives of Sept. 11 victims have urged the Obama administration to declassify
and release U.S. intelligence that allegedly discusses possible Saudi
involvement in the attacks. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir denied earlier
this month that the kingdom made any threats over the bill. He said Riyadh had
warned investor confidence in the U.S. would shrink if the bill became law. "In
fact what they (Congress) are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign
immunities, which would turn the world for international law into the law of the
jungle," al-Jubeir said in a May 3 statement. Passage of the bill sends the
message that the United States "will combat terrorism with every tool we have
available, and that the victims of terrorist attacks in our country should have
every means at their disposal to seek justice," Cornyn said. Schumer said that
any foreign government that aids terrorists who strike the U.S. "will pay a
price if it is proven they have done so."Senate Democrats had firmly supported
the legislation, putting them at odds with the Obama administration. The White
House has said the bill could expose Americans overseas to legal risks, and
spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday efforts to revise the legislation fell short
in addressing the administration's concerns about preserving sovereign immunity.
"Given the concerns that we've expressed, it's difficult to imagine the
president signing this legislation," Earnest told reporters at the White House.
Schumer was confident the Senate had the necessary two-thirds vote of the
chamber to override a presidential veto. "We don't think their arguments stand
up," the New York lawmaker said at a news conference after the Senate action.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican and the chairman of the Senate subcommittee
that controls foreign aid, had blocked the bill from moving to the Senate floor
until changes were made to ensure the legislation didn't backfire on the United
States. Graham's apprehension was rooted in the possibility a foreign country
could sue the United States if the door is opened for U.S. citizens to take the
Saudis to court. Graham released his hold earlier this month, clearing the way
for Senate action. Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and the chairman
of the Armed Services Committee, also had warned that the legislation, if
passed, would alienate Saudi Arabia and undermine a longstanding yet strained
relationship with a critical U.S. ally in the Middle East. Schumer said it is
false to claim that the bill encourages retaliation or litigation against the
United States. "We're not busy training people to blow up buildings and kill
innocent civilians in other countries," Schumer said.
Saudi Executes Pakistani Drug
Smuggler
Agence France Presse/Naharnet May 17/16/Saudi Arabia on Tuesday put to death a
Pakistani man convicted of drug smuggling, bringing to 93 the number of
executions in the kingdom this year. Mohammed Ishaq Thawab Gul had been found
guilty of trafficking heroin into the kingdom, the interior ministry said. Most
people put to death in the Gulf country are beheaded with a sword. Murder and
drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47
people were put to death for "terrorism" on a single day in January. According
to rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia had the third-highest number
of executions last year -- at least 158. That was far behind Pakistan which
executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least
977, said Amnesty whose figures exclude secretive China. Rights experts have
raised concerns about the fairness of trials in Saudi Arabia and say the death
penalty should not be applied in drugs cases. The interior ministry, however,
said the government "is keen on fighting drugs of all kinds due to their serious
damage to individuals and the society".
HRW Says Saudi's Iran Spy
Trial Makes 'Mockery' of Justice
Agence France Presse/Naharnet May 17/16/A trial in Saudi Arabia of 32 men,
almost all Shiites, accused of spying for Iran makes a mockery of justice in the
Sunni kingdom, Human Rights Watch charged Tuesday. The accused are an Iranian,
an Afghan and 30 Saudis, all but one of them from the country's Shiite minority,
the New York-based watchdog said. HRW cited Taha al-Haji, a Saudi lawyer who
represented a group of the defendants until March, as saying the men were
suddenly brought to trial in February. "He said he believes the timing may
relate to ongoing hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia", it said in a
statement. Riyadh regularly accuses Tehran of "interference" in the region,
where the two countries support opposite sides of the wars in Yemen and Syria.
Relations worsened when Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after
demonstrators in Iran burned the Saudi embassy and a consulate to protest the
Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. HRW described the spy trial as "a
mockery of justice" that has violated the basic due process rights of the
accused, all of whom except one have been detained since 2013. "Authorities have
not permitted defendants to meet with lawyers or provided all of the court
documents necessary to prepare a defense," it said. HRW said prosecutors are
seeking the death penalty against 25 of the 32 accused. Haji said defense
lawyers had asked the court to halt an ongoing local media smear campaign
against their clients, which they said would lead to an unfair trial. The charge
sheet includes a number of offenses constituting "high treason" but there are
also charges "that do not represent recognizable crimes", the watchdog said.
These include "supporting demonstrations," "distorting the reputation of the
kingdom," and attempting to "spread the Shia confession" in Saudi Arabia, it
said. "Criminal trials should not be merely legal 'window-dressing' where the
verdict has been decided beforehand," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director
at HRW, said in the statement. She added that "being a Shia Muslim should not be
a crime, and Saudi courts should stop treating it as such."
Russians building army base at Syria’s Palmyra site
AP, Beirut Tuesday, 17 May 2016/The Russian military is constructing a new army
base in the central Syrian town of Palmyra, within the protected zone that holds
the archaeological site listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site and without
asking for permission from relevant authorities, an American heritage
organization and a top Syrian archaeologist said Tuesday. The American School of
Oriental Research's Cultural Heritage Initiative posted pictures from the
satellite imagery and analytics company DigitalGlobe that show the construction
on the edge of the ancient site that was damaged by the Islamic State group,
which held Palmyra for 10 months. Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes
captured Palmyra in March and fighting continues miles away until this day.
Russian demining experts have detonated hundreds of bombs left behind by the
extremists at and near the site since the town was captured. A top Syrian
archaeologist said the presence of Syrian and Russian troops in Palmyra is
important to prevent IS from coming back. Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of the
Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, told The Associated Press that
the Russians are building small barracks that includes offices and clinics.
Abdulkarim said his organization was not asked for permission but added that IS
is close to the town and the presence of Russian and Syrian troops is important
to ensure that the site remains in government hands. “We refuse to give
permission even if it was for a small room to be built inside the site whether
it is for the Syrian army, Russian army or anyone else,” Abudlkarim said by
telephone from Damascus. “We will never give such permission because this will
be in violation of the archaeology law.” Since Russia began launching airstrikes
in Syria in September 2015, Moscow has tipped the balance of power in favor of
President Bashar Assad's forces. Earlier this year Russia said it was scaling
back its presence in Syria. Before IS captured the town in May 2015, the Syrian
army was known to have minor military presence inside the site.During ISIS’s 10
months in Palmyra, the militants destroyed the Temple of Bel, which dated back
to A.D. 32, the Temple of Baalshamin, which was several stories high and fronted
by six towering columns, and the Arch of Triumph, which was built under the
Roman emperor Septimius Severus between A.D. 193 and A.D. 211. “During the time
of war, sometimes archaeological authorities don’t have a say but security
decisions dictate the orders,” AbdulKarim said. “Once the situation improves and
peace is reached, then we will openly call for removing” the barracks. Osama al-Khatib,
a Syrian opposition activist from Palmyra who currently lives in Turkey, said
the Russians are setting up prefabricated homes and tents on the northern edge
of the archaeological site. He added that the site where the Russians are now
based is hundreds of meters (yards) from the temples and the Arch of Triumph. He
said there are also some historical graves near where the Russians are setting
up their barracks.
52 dead as rival rebel groups clash
near Syrian capital
AFP, Beirut Tuesday, 17 May 2016/At least 50 fighters and two civilians were
killed Tuesday in clashes between rival anti-regime groups east of Syria’s
capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The powerful Jaish
al-Islam, or Army of Islam, has been locked in clashes with rival factions led
by Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate in the opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said nearly three weeks of fighting had
killed more than 500 fighters and a dozen civilians. One of the slain civilians
has been identified as the only specialist gynecologist still practicing in
Eastern Ghouta.
“This is absolutely a power struggle,” Abdel Rahman told AFP. Eastern Ghouta is
the largest rebel bastion in Damascus province, and Jaish al-Islam had long been
dominant in the district. The Saudi-backed faction is one of the key rebel
players in the High Negotiations Committee, which represents Syria’s opposition
in UN-backed peace talks. But Jaish al-Islam has recently been challenged by
Faylaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Fustat, both led by Al-Nusra Front, Syria’s
Al-Qaeda affiliate. Residents and local officials have tried to mediate an end
to the clashes and have staged protests urging the rival forces to stop the
bloodletting to no avail. On Tuesday, a Jaish al-Islam spokesman said his
faction was ready to put an end to the fighting based on an initiative by HNC
head Riad Hijab.
“But our brothers in Faylaq al-Rahman completely rejected this initiative,”
Islam Alloush said in a statement. Syria’s fractured armed opposition movement
has been ravaged by infighting, particularly between jihadist groups and their
rivals.
More than 270,000 people have been killed and millions more been driven from
their homes since the conflict began with protests against President Bashar
al-Assad in 2011. Watch also: U.N. tells states to stop Syria war crimes
Red Cross: Situation remains
‘dramatic’ in besieged areas of Syria
Reuters, Geneva Tuesday, 17 May 2016/The Red Cross is delivering assistance to
greater numbers of Syrian civilians and visiting more detainees in government
prisons but the situation remains “dramatic” in besieged areas, a senior
official said on Tuesday. Robert Mardini, regional director for the Near and
Middle East, said that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
stands ready to play a facilitating role in any prisoner release or exchange if
agreed by the parties. “We will be stepping up our response in Syria,” Mardini
told Reuters in his Geneva office. “It’s encouraging because we are able to help
more people and we call on all sides to facilitate more.”In the first three
months of this year, the ICRC delivered food to 2.6 million people in Syria, 60
percent more than during the last quarter of 2015, he said. Mardini disclosed
that ICRC officials made 9 visits to government-run central prisons last year,
which hold more than 15,000 detainees, and two visits this year to prisons with
close to 2,000 detainees. It is the only agency with access to Syrian government
detention facilities where more than 100,000 people are believed to be held.
“All this enables us to have regular contact, monitor detention conditions and
work towards improving them,” he said, declining to give details of its
confidential findings. On Wednesday, it will ask donors for nearly 25.2 million
Swiss francs, bringing its annual budget to 176.6 million francs for the country
now in its sixth year of war. “That is an indicator of our capacity to do more,”
Mardini said. The cessation of hostilities declared on Feb. 27 was a “glimmer of
hope that was short-lived”, which has been overtaken by intensified fighting
over the last three weeks, he said.“The humanitarian situation for people across
Syria and in particular in hard-to-reach and besieged areas is dramatic,”
Mardini said. This year, the ICRC has carried out 14 cross line aid operations,
to hotspots including the divided northern city of Aleppo, he said. “We have an
improved ability to cross because of the improved dialogue we have with all
sides.”
However, an aid convoy was refused to the besieged town of Daraya on May 12,
blocking what would have been the first supplies to its residents for more than
three years.“Clearly besieged areas in general and Daraya in particular are a
top priority for us but we need to do it properly,” he said. Regarding Daraya, a
town of 4,000, he said: “The idea now is to be able to go there with a more
significant convoy of course including medical supplies, vaccines, and baby
milk, but also food supplies because people are starving there. “People there
are eating grass and growing spinach and things like that, they don’t have real
food supplies...They have to drink from contaminated sources of water because
the water supply was interrupted and it’s not possible to disinfect water
Egypt President Backs French
Proposal for Mideast Talks
Associated Press/ Naharnet May 17/16/Egypt's president has declared his support
for a French proposal to hold a Mideast peace conference later this year.
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday also called on Israel and the Palestinians to
seize what he described as a "realistic" and "great" opportunity to reach a
peaceful settlement to their decades-old conflict. The Egyptian president says
the Israelis and Palestinians need look no farther than the 1979
Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty to see the positive outcome of peacemaking. He
says the amount of animosity between Egypt and Israel that had existed prior to
the conclusion of the landmark accord was no different from how the Palestinians
and Israelis feel now. El-Sissi says Egypt is prepared to "make every effort" to
contribute to an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
France Urges Caution over Arms
Supplies to Libya
Agence France Presse/Naharnet May 17/16/France on Tuesday urged caution over
supplying arms to Libya's fledgling unity government, saying an EU naval
operation should ensure that weapons do not fall into the wrong hands. "As was
decided... in Vienna, it is essential to help the national unity government to
control and ensure the security of Libyan territory," the French foreign
ministry said in an online press briefing. But it stressed that only the
U.N.-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj "can legitimately
request exemptions to the arms embargo," the foreign ministry said. "The arms
embargo must be maintained. France would like the mandate of (EU Operation
Sophia against people smuggling) to be broadened to cover this." The United
States, Italy and Libya's friends and neighbors agreed at a meeting in Vienna on
Monday to arm the war-torn country's fledgling unity government to fight the
Islamic State threat. France and Britain are preparing a draft resolution at the
United Nations to allow EU ships in the Mediterranean to intercept vessels
suspected of carrying weapons to Libya, diplomats said Monday. The U.N. arms
embargo was imposed on the north African country in 2011, during the uprising
against Moammar Gadhafi. The U.N. resolution would also call for the naval force
codenamed Operation Sophia to train the Libyan coastguard.
Egypt's Sisi: 'There is trust
and confidence between me and the Israelis'
Maayan Groisman/Gerusalem Post/May 17/16
Amid growing opposition in Egyptian society to relations with Israel, manifested
in a new BDS campaign launched in Cairo this week, Egypt's President Abdel Fatah
al-Sisi has lauded the peace treaty with Israel, claiming that it "wrote a
bright chapter in the region's history."Delivering a speech at the inauguration
of a new power plant in the city of Asyut Tuesday, Sisi said: "When I meet
American Congress members and delegations of Jewish communities, I always tell
them that the step that was taken more than 40 years ago is the one that brought
real peace and wrote a bright chapter of peace between people in our region's
history.""After signing the peace accords, no one thought that true and lasting
peace, as it exists today between Israel and Egypt, could be achieved. However,
it became a permanent peace due to the changing times and reality," Sisi stated.
The Egyptian president dedicated most of his speech to the efforts to
reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Sisi said that "there is an
opportunity to write a new chapter of peace in the area," calling on both the
Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to take advantage of this opportunity. "If
we can all join forces in order to solve the Palestinian issue by creating hope
for Palestinians and assuring security for Israelis, we will be able to write a
new chapter that may prove to be more important than the peace accords between
Israel and Egypt," Sisi added. In light of the ongoing tensions between Hamas
and Fatah, Egypt's president urged the Palestinian factions to unify their
ranks, suggesting Egyptian mediation in reconciliation talks. To signal the dire
need to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Sisi asked the Israeli
leadership to allow his speech to be broadcast in Israel. The Egyptian president
concluded his speech by affirming that "there is trust and confidence between me
and the Israelis."
Sisi's comments appear to be a last attempt to revitalize the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process after France announced on Tuesday that the
regional peace conference that was supposed to take place this month will be
postponed to enable the American administration to attend it.
Sisi offers mediating role in
Israel-Palestinian peace talks
By Reuters, Cairo Tuesday, 17 May 2016/Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
promised Israel on Tuesday warmer ties if it accepts efforts to resume peace
talks with the Palestinians, urging Israeli leaders not to waste an opportunity
to bring security and hope to a troubled region. In an impromptu speech at an
infrastructure conference in the southern city of Assiut, Sisi said his country
was willing to mediate a reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions in an
effort to pave the way toward a lasting peace accord with the Israelis. “If we
are able to solve the issue of our Palestinian brothers it will achieve warmer
peace ... I ask that the Israeli leadership allow this speech to be broadcast in
Israeli one or two times as this is a genuine opportunity,” Sisi said. “I say to
our Palestinian brothers, you must unite the different factions in order to
achieve reconciliation and quickly. We as Egypt are prepared to take on this
role. It is a real opportunity to find a long-awaited solution.” French
President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday an international conference due in
late May in Paris to relaunch peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis had
been postponed but would take place this summer. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu told France’s foreign minister on Sunday that Israel remained opposed
to a French initiative for an international conference to try to revive peace
talks. Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel
with a US-sponsored peace accord in 1979, but Egyptian attitudes to their
neighbor remain icy due to what many Arabs see as the continued Israeli
occupation of land that is meant to form a Palestinian state.
France postpones Middle East conference to summer
Ynetnews/Reuters/Published: 05.17.16 /Israel News
French President Hollande says peace summit, initially scheduled for May 30,
will be postponed to accomodate US Secretary of State Kerry; 'This initiative is
necessary because if nothing happens, then colonization, attacks, terrorist
attacks and several conflicts are going to continue.'
PARIS - French President Francois
Hollande said on Tuesday an international conference due in late May in Paris to
relaunch peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis had been postponed but
would take place this summer. With US efforts to broker a two-state accord in
tatters and Washington focused on its November presidential election, Paris has
lobbied countries to hold a conference before then to get Israelis and
Palestinians back to the negotiating table. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc
Ayrault had proposed May 30 for the talks, but US Secretary of State John Kerry
is not available on that date, Hollande told Europe 1 radio. "John Kerry cannot
come on May 30. It's postponed, it will take place, it will take place in the
course of the summer," he said in an interview.
"This initiative is necessary because if nothing happens, if there is no strong
French initiative, then colonization, attacks, terrorist attacks and several
conflicts are going to continue," he added.
Israel objects to the initiative, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
stressing that the only way to advance a true peace between us and the
Palestinians is by means of direct negotiations between us and them, without
preconditions," adding that "any other attempt only makes peace more remote and
gives the Palestinians an escape hatch to avoid confronting the root of the
conflict."
Hamas, meanwhile, said the decision to postpone the summit "is another proof of
the failure of Abbas's policies and of the option of reaching a diplomatic
agreement."
Hollande also voiced regret about a resolution passed by the United Nations
cultural body UNESCO last month that failed to acknowledge Jewish ties to
Jerusalem's holiest site and caused anger in Israel,
"There was an unfortunate amendment put forward by the Jordanians ... which
blurred this text," Hollande said of the decision which concerns the site known
to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif or the al-Aqsa compound and to Jews as Temple
Mount. The resolution only used the Arabic terms for the site.
"I promise to be extremely vigilant when the next resolution is put forward in
October," he said. "I will look at it personally. It's not possible to call into
question the fact that these holy sites belong to three religions," he added.
**Elior Levy contributed to this report.
Iraqi forces enter remote western
town held by ISIS
Reuters, Baghdad Wednesday, 18 May 2016/Iraq’s military entered the remote
western town of Rutba on Tuesday in a fresh offensive against Islamic State
aimed at cutting off the militants’ supply route to neighboring Syria.
Counter-terrorism forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, entered the
town from the south and took control of al-Intisar district, the force's
spokesman Sabah al-Numan told Reuters. “We expect we will be able to reach the
center of Rutba tomorrow morning,” Numan said by telephone, indicating it was
about one kilometer (mile) from the forces’ current position. He said they faced
little resistance in breaching ISIS defences, but expected the insurgents had
holed up in buildings and would force street battles in Rutba, 360 km (225
miles) west of Baghdad. The military has pushed the jihadists out of much of the
northern and western territories they seized in 2014, but the group still
controls large areas and key cities including Mosul, which Iraqi authorities
have pledged to retake this year. Rutba is important as a “support zone” which
ISIS was using to stage operations into battle areas further north and east,
said coalition spokesman US Army Col. Steve Warren. He told reporters in Baghdad
last week the town was not as heavily defended as Ramadi and Falluja, further
east, predicting the group maintained up to “several hundred” fighters at any
given time. The Iraqi army, federal police and Sunni tribal fighters are also
participating in the offensive, which began on Monday when those forces began
approaching Rutba from multiple directions.
France probes video of
children at ISIS execution
AFP, Paris Tuesday, 17 May 2016/Prosecutors in Paris have opened an inquiry into
a video attributed to ISIS showing two children, presented as being French, and
suggesting they took part in the killing of Syrian prisoners, a judicial source
said Monday. The 14-minute video entitled "In my father's footsteps", which was
released on Sunday by ISIS, shows a teenager who says he lived in France and was
"the son of a French fighter who died a martyr". There is also another younger
boy in the video. "Their identities have not been established at this stage and
their nationality has not been confirmed," the source close to the inquiry said.
The investigation opened Sunday into possible terrorism-related acts and
associations is being conducted by the French intelligence agency and the
anti-terrorism unit of the judicial police.
Yemen Government Suspends
Participation in Peace Talks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet May 17/16/Yemen's government suspended its
participation in talks with Iran-backed rebels Tuesday for the second time this
month, the foreign minister said, in a new setback to the U.N.-backed peace
process. Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi said on Twitter that the Huthi Shiite militia
which controls the capital had "torpedoed the talks completely," by backtracking
on their commitments after a month of negotiations. "I have asked the U.N. envoy
not to allow the rebels to waste any more time... and to make them comply with
the reference issues before we resume the talks," said Mikhlafi, who heads the
government delegation. A statement by the government delegation said it would
continue to boycott the talks until the rebels comply with the agreed
references. It also urged the international community to apply pressure on the
rebels to implement international resolutions to end the war and held them
responsible for obstructing the peace negotiations. The statement blamed the
Huthis of destroying the country's economy, refusing to respect the ceasefire
and to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions.In particular the government
wants the Huthis to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution ordering them
to pull out of territory they occupied in a 2014 offensive and surrender heavy
arms they captured. Sources close to the government and rebel delegations
confirmed to AFP that a session scheduled to take place on Tuesday morning was
canceled after the government delegation withdrew. The pullout comes two days
after U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he was optimistic about
achieving a peaceful settlement in the war-torn country. The two delegations
were on the verge of finalizing a deal to release half of the detainees and
prisoners before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in early
June. The United Nations estimates that more than 6,400 people have been killed
and 2.8 million displaced in Yemen since March last year. A major stumbling
block at the talks in Kuwait City remains the form of government that would
control Yemen in a transitional period. The rebels want to share power with
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi while his delegation insists he is the
legitimate U.N.-backed head of state.
$4 bln ‘missing’ from Yemen’s
Central Bank
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 17 May 2016/Four billion dollars
have disappeared from Yemen’s Central Bank in the Houthi-controlled capital
Sanaa and the country is on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, its foreign
minister told reporters. Foreign Mininster Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi did not
accuse any side and gave no further details. His announcement is a bad omen for
Yemen, where a conflict between its internationally-recognized government and
Iran-backed Houthi militias has caused a major humanitarian crisis in the
country. On top of that, Yemen is already considered to be the poorest country
in the Arabian Peninsula. Mekhlafi also reiterated the Yemeni’s government
stance regarding its suspension of peace talks with the Houthis in Kuwait when
he said the latter backtracked on their commitments after a month of
negotiations. Yemen’s government suspended its participation in talks with the
Houthis Tuesday for the second time this month, Mekhlafi said earlier, in a new
setback to the UN-backed peace process. “I have asked the UN envoy not to allow
the rebels to waste any more time ... and to make them comply with the reference
issues before we resume the talks,” said Mikhlafi, who heads the government
delegation. The two delegations were on the verge of finalizing a deal to
release half of the detainees and prisoners before the start of the Muslim holy
fasting month of Ramadan in early June. The talks are aimed at an agreement that
would allow the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh
to evacuate cities they control in northern Yemen and for the formation of a
new, more representative government. The United Nations estimates that more than
6,400 people have been killed and 2.8 million displaced in Yemen since March
last year. Not only a looming bankruptcy but concerns about militants is also
stifling Yemen. Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility for a suicide
bombing last week that killed eight people and wounded a senior army commander
in the eastern part of the country in an internet posting on Tuesday. Khaled
Batarfi, an al Qaeda leader who was freed from prison last year when Al Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized Mukalla, also criticised the United Arab
Emirates over its role in freeing the Hadramout provincial capital from the
militants. General Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, commander of Yemen’s First Military
Region which has its headquarters in the city of Seyoun, was wounded last week
when a suicide bomber targeted his convoy while he was on a trip to inspect his
forces in the Wad Hadramout area.
(With Reuters, AFP)
France urges caution over
arms supplies to Libya
AFP, Paris Tuesday, 17 May 2016/France on Tuesday urged caution over supplying
arms to Libya’s fledgling unity government, saying an EU naval operation should
ensure that weapons do not fall into the wrong hands.“As was decided... in
Vienna, it is essential to help the national unity government to control and
ensure the security of Libyan territory,” the French foreign ministry said in an
online press briefing. But it stressed that only the UN-backed government of
Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj “can legitimately request exemptions to the arms
embargo,” the foreign ministry said. “The arms embargo must be maintained.
France would like the mandate of (EU Operation Sophia against people smuggling)
to be broadened to cover this.”The United States, Italy and Libya’s friends and
neighbors agreed at a meeting in Vienna on Monday to arm the war-torn country’s
fledgling unity government to fight ISIS threat. France and Britain are
preparing a draft resolution at the United Nations to allow EU ships in the
Mediterranean to intercept vessels suspected of carrying weapons to Libya,
diplomats said Monday. The UN arms embargo was imposed on the north African
country in 2011, during the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi. The UN resolution
would also call for the naval force codenamed Operation Sophia to train the
Libyan coastguard.
Iran MPs want US to pay
damages for ‘hostile action’
Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 17 May 2016/Iran’s parliament, also known as the
majlis, voted through a law on Tuesday obliging the government to demand damages
from the United States for 63 years of “hostile action and crimes.”
The bill lists Iranian complaints such as the supposed US support for a 1953
military coup in Iran, the devastating Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s and seizure of
Iranian funds abroad during the period of crippling international sanctions
which were only lifted earlier this year. “The government has the duty to take
the necessary measures seeking compensation for material and moral damages
caused by the United States” to the country and Iranians over the past six
decades the text reads. Parliament did not specify a sum, although Vice
President Majid Ansari said during the debate that “Iranian courts have already
ruled that the US pay $50 billion in damages for its hostile actions” towards
the country. The law was passed by the conservative-dominated outgoing
parliament in response to a US Supreme Court decision last month.
State of principle
While many hardliners and conservative lawmakers lost in last month’s election
to moderates and reformists, the new law points to deeper grievances felt by
Iran’s more liberal wing, said a commentator. The new parliament will be sworn
in on May 28. On May 16, a special working group formed at the order of
President Hassan Rowhani – himself a moderate - to investigate Iranian property
confiscated by the US government issued a statement saying that American
judicial system had “violated the principle of state immunity.” Alex Vatanka, an
Iranian-American commentator and analyst at the Washington-based Middle East
Institute think-tank, said that “this particular action by this parliament,
whose life comes to an end within two weeks or so, has plenty of support in the
Rowhani administration.”Rowhani and his foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif,
who played a key role in negotiating last year’s nuclear deal with six world
powers including the US, also have to display “showmanship” after a continuous
“barrage of criticism of hardliners” accusing the government of being
soft.“Domestically, [Rowhani and his moderate wing are] not in position to be
seen to be soft,” Vatanka added. Despite coming to an agreement over the nuclear
deal, which saw the Islamic Republic curb its nuclear ambitions in return for
the lifting of strict economic sanctions, tensions between the US and Iran show
no sign of letting up. In January, less than six months after the nuclear deal
was inked, Iranian naval forces seized two US navy boats off Iran’s coastal
water in the Arabian Gulf. The sailors were later released. Then in March,
Washington slapped sanctions on several Iranian firms after the Islamic Republic
performed a ballistic missile test. Earlier this month, an Iranian general on
Wednesday warned that Iran would close the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the
United States and its allies threaten Tehran.. But despite the continued
hostilities, Iranian sentiments towards the US have still softened considerably,
said Vatanka, who has studied Iranian media rhetoric for the last two decades.
“Even the rhetoric from the hardline circle isn’t as categorical as before,” he
said. “The sort of open-ended conflict with the United States… is now being
questioned even by the most hawkish voices in the system. And that is the untold
story.”(With AFP)
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on May 17-18/16
The French Peace Initiative: From de
Gaulle to Haaretz
Fred Maroun/Gatestone Institute/May 17/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8006/french-peace-initiative
France's peace initiative is French President François Hollande's equivalent of
de Gaulle's betrayal of Israel.
France has already announced that if the peace initiative fails, France will
recognize a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
rightly concluded that "this ensures that a conference will fail."
France knows that the peace initiative is pointless, but it is using it for
theatrical value to embarrass Israel's government and curry favor with Arab
regimes.
Those who claim to support peace, but who in fact work to undermine it, are
partly responsible for the anti-Semitic campaign against Israel. They should be
prominently named and exposed for collaborating with bigots, anti-Semites, and
terrorists.
When I hear about the current French peace initiative for Israel and the
Palestinians, I have to keep pinching myself to make sure that I am not
dreaming. After the powerful United States tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully
to bring peace between these protagonists, what makes the French think that they
can do better?
France's boldness is particularly shocking, since France long ago lost the right
to be considered a friend of Israel. In 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle
imposed an arms embargo on Israel when the Jewish nation was under threat from a
coalition of Arab countries. In doing so, de Gaulle threw the Jews under the bus
in order to improve France's relations with the Arab world. Thanks to Israeli
ingenuity and resiliency, Israel still defeated the Arab coalition in the Six
Day War and impressed the United States, which then replaced France as Israel's
main ally.
France's peace initiative, which includes an international summit in Paris on
May 30 to discuss the "parameters" of a peace deal, is French President François
Hollande's equivalent of de Gaulle's betrayal of Israel. France has already
announced that if the peace initiative fails, France will recognize a
Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rightly
concluded that "this ensures that a conference will fail."
France's peace initiative, which includes an international summit in Paris on
May 30 to discuss the "parameters" of a peace deal, is French President François
Hollande's equivalent of de Gaulle's betrayal of Israel.
It is clear that no solution would be acceptable to Israel unless it protects
Israel against continued Arab aggression, and unless it finds a solution to the
millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees with which the Arab world
insists on flooding Israel.
There is no sign that the Arab world, including the Palestinians, are anywhere
close to accepting these conditions. France's recognition of "Palestine" without
any deal would mean that France does not consider those two conditions
necessary.
France's recognition of "Palestine" without any deal would provide no solution
for Palestinian refugees. It would provide no solution to Palestinian terrorism.
It would not make the concept of a Palestinian state any more real than it is
today. It would not provide Israel with secure borders.
France's unilateral recognition of "Palestine" would simply provide one more
moral victory for the corrupt Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and one less
reason for him to negotiate peace in good faith or to give his people what they
really need: a thriving economy and a functioning civil society.
If France's initiative had any chance of success at all (which is doubtful
considering the U.S. failures under more favorable circumstances, when the
Palestinian leadership was keener on negotiations and when Hamas was weaker),
France eliminated that chance by announcing that it would recognize "Palestine"
regardless of what happens.
Is the French government so naïve that it would play into Abbas' hands and
sabotage its own initiative? Maybe, but the more likely explanation seems to be
that France knows that the peace initiative is pointless, but it is using it for
theatrical value to embarrass Israel's government and curry favor with Arab
regimes.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which is often more "pro-Palestinian" (read
anti-Israel) than the Palestinians, demands that Netanyahu accept the French
initiative.
Haaretz takes the position that "there is no reason to reject the French
initiative, which, even if it doesn't resolve the fundamentals of the conflict,
will at least put it back on the global agenda." The theory that the conflict
remains unresolved due to it not being on the "global agenda" is mind-boggling,
considering the vocal and vicious worldwide anti-Israel movement. The conflict
is very much on the "global agenda" -- too much so, in fact -- compared to other
conflicts that are deadlier and get far less attention.
Haaretz claims that the French initiative "may also generate some original ideas
and steps toward a solution." Considering the attention that this conflict
receives, the lack of "ideas" is far from being the problem. Pro-Israel and
anti-Israel editorialists and bloggers have generated an immense body of
"ideas," most of which are totally impractical, and all of which are unrealistic
until the Arab side of the conflict stops promoting hate against Israel and
starts negotiating in good faith.
Haaretz's pathetic defense of the French initiative is followed by wholesale
accusations, which have no substance, against Netanyahu. Haaretz, for instance,
tries to convince readers that Netanyahu's willingness to negotiate without
conditions is itself a condition! As Haaretz is into the business of redefining
words, why not say that the conflict is not really a conflict and be done with
it!
Haaretz concludes by saying that Netanyahu "should give it [the French
initiative] substance that will ensure the security and well-being of Israel's
citizens." If this were possible, that would indeed be commendable, but as
France, by promising the Palestinians recognition without negotiation, destroyed
what little chance of success the initiative might have had. Asking Netanyahu
miraculously to give the initiative "substance" is at best naïve, and at worst
treacherous.
It could also be a trap to set Netanyahu up for failure, which, considering
Haaretz's antipathy towards Israel's Prime Minister, is likely.
Contrary to Haaretz's assertion that "there is no reason to reject the French
initiative," as the initiative is almost certain to fail, its failure will be
one more weapon used by anti-Israel activists to demonize Israel, so there is
every reason to not lend the initiative a legitimacy it does not deserve.
Israel survived de Gaulle's betrayal, and it will likely survive Hollande's
betrayal. But one more failed initiative and one more meaningless recognition of
"Palestine" will push peace and Palestinian statehood even farther away.
As Alan Dershowitz wrote recently, those who aided the Nazis in killing Jews,
even indirectly, hold a part of the responsibility for the Holocaust. Those --
in France, at Haaretz, or elsewhere -- who claim to support peace but in fact
work to undermine it, are partly responsible for the anti-Semitic campaign
against Israel. They should be prominently named and exposed for collaborating
with bigots, anti-Semites, and terrorists.
**Fred Maroun, a left-leaning Arab based in Canada, has authored op-eds for New
Canadian Media, among other outlets. From 1961-1984, he lived in Lebanon.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. 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.
Time to Leave UNESCO - Again
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/May 17/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8048/leave-unseco
UNESCO's poisonous, fraudulent resolution is not only biased: it is negationist.
All traces of Jewish presence in Jerusalem and Judea in ancient times are
eliminated at the stroke of a pen.
Only six countries voted to reject the resolution: the United States, Estonia,
Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. France, Spain,
Sweden, Slovenia accepted the text and voted yes. The resolution was presented
with the support of several Muslim countries -- some often described as
"moderate": Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
UNESCO is a branch of the United Nations, and the UN is an organization where
democracies are in the minority, surrounded by a huge majority of
dictatorships and authoritarian regimes imbued with hatred toward the West.
Israel is virtually the only country designated as guilty of violating human
rights by the so-called Human Rights Council, and where, in 2009, Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed as a hero.
On April 11, 2016, the Executive Board of UNESCO adopted a resolution called
"Occupied Palestine." The title immediately exposes it as a biased document.
That is not surprising. All the texts adopted by UNESCO concerning the Middle
East are biased.
However, those who read it carefully can see that a further step was taken.
UNESCO's resolution is not only biased: it is negationist. All traces of Jewish
presence in Jerusalem and Judea in ancient times are eliminated at the stroke of
a pen. The Temple Mount is never mentioned. It is only called by the name al-Aqsa
Mosque / Haram al Sharif. The name "Western Wall" is placed between quotation
marks, to indicate that it is an invalid name: Al Buraq Wall is used without
quotation marks. The graves of Jewish cemeteries are described as "Jewish fake
graves."
It is a radical anti-Semitic resolution: denying historical fact, claiming that
what exists does not, presenting the history of Judaism and the Jews as lies.
Accusing Jews of "planting Jewish fake graves" is the lie. It is saying that
Judaism is a sham and Jews are liars and falsifiers.
The document is absolutely anti-historical, anti-fact and "anti-Zionist": it
tries unambiguously to "prove" that Israel was founded on an imposture and has
no reason to exist. The document constantly describes Israel as the "occupying
power" and presents it as a predatory and arbitrary country.
Voting for such a text means would endorsing historical negationism, radical
anti-Semitism, and absolute "anti-Zionism".
Correctly deciphering the meaning of the resolution and its implications, the
representatives of six Western countries -- the United States, Estonia, Germany,
Lithuania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom -- voted no.
Representatives of other Western countries -- France, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia --
accepted the text and voted yes.
The resolution was presented with the support of several Muslim countries --
some often described as "moderate": Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
The text was written by Palestinian Authority (PA) "experts." Since 2011, the
Palestinian Authority has had a seat at UNESCO under the name "State of
Palestine."
The Israeli government immediately expressed its anger. Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said that "anyone, let alone an organization tasked with preserving
history, could deny this link which spans thousands of years."
A petition was circulated by Stand With Us and the International Legal Forum,
demanding that UNESCO change its attitude and remains "true to its founding
principles."
The anger of Israel's government and indignation of others other is legitimate.
The petition is fully justified.
However, expecting that UNESCO will change its attitude is illusory. Expecting
that UNESCO will remain true to its founding principles is hoping for something
that will not happen. UNESCO long ago abandoned its founding principles.
UNESCO is a branch of the United Nations, and the UN is an organization where
democracies are in the minority, surrounded by a huge majority of
dictatorships and authoritarian regimes imbued with hatred toward the West.[1]
Israel is virtually the only country designated as guilty of violating human
rights by the so-called Human Rights Council, and where, in 2009, Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed as a hero.
In October, 2015, UNESCO had already started down path it follows today. It
defined Rachel's Tomb as the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque and the Cave of the
Patriarchs as the Ibrahimi Mosque, and declared them "Palestinian sites."
What is worrisome is that only six Western countries were ready to reject a
totally poisonous, fraudulent resolution.
The Western countries that voted for the resolution evidently approve of its
contents. These countries have lost all legitimacy to claim they want peace in
the Middle East. By approving the resolution, they show they are at war: against
Judaism, Jews and Israel. One of them, France, claims it will hold a meeting to
revive the "peace process": in this context, the claim is grotesque.
The fact that a group of Muslim countries, often described as "moderate,"
supported the resolution can only lead to the question: How can a country that
supports such a document be described as "moderate?"
That Palestinian Authority "experts" have written such a resolution should be
sufficient to show that the PA is not "moderate." It clearly has no intention at
all of creating a State alongside Israel; instead, as its leaders often openly
admit, its plan is that Israel has to be demonized, crushed and replaced.
The underlying problem is that this negationism, anti-Semitism and
"anti-Zionism" are deeply rooted in both Europe and Islam.
The Quran says Jews and Christians ("Crusaders") have falsified their sacred
books, and the history of Judaism and the Jewish people is false. Muslim
tradition says that Muhammad ascended to heaven from al Aqsa, and that the Al
Buraq Wall is the wall where he attached the winged creature on which he flew to
heaven. No room is left for the Temple Mount or the Western Wall, even though
they were there, with countless archeological artifacts, for more than a
thousand years before Muhammad was even born.
Muslim tradition also says that Jews, as disbelievers, are condemned to the
humiliating status of dhimmi,[2] and that all territories conquered by Islam
have to remain Muslim forever.[3] Muslim tradition cannot accept a country ruled
by Jews or Christians on land that was once conquered by Islam -- whether
Israel, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, or large swaths of Portugal and
Spain.
The resolution adopted by the Executive Board of UNESCO on April 11 is "Islamically
correct." "Moderate" Muslim countries cannot contradict the Quran and Muslim
tradition without risking being accused of irtidad (apostasy).[4] Palestinian
Authority "experts" are being true to the Quran and to Muslim tradition.
Western countries that approved the resolution showed their submission and
dhimmitude to "Islamic correctness." Dhimmis, in Islamic history, are second
class, "tolerated" citizens, who are subjected to special laws which remind them
of their inferiority as well as a tax, the jizya, to purchase "protection" for
their homes, possessions and lives.[5]
Countries that rejected the resolution would be considered insubordinate.
Refusing such a resolution is not enough. It is about time to ask the Muslim
world to leave behind its heavy load of noxious traditions, blackmail threats
and violence.
It is also time to do more.
Under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States left UNESCO in 1984,
because UNESCO was obviously subservient to the Soviet Union, and was serving
interests contrary to those of freedom, liberty and Western values.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke in French to a gathering of UNESCO
representatives in Paris, on Oct 18, 2015, assuring them that "the engagement of
the United States with this organization has never been as strong as now."
The United States returned to UNESCO in 2003. In 2011, when the Palestinian
Authority was admitted to UNESCO, the U.S. froze its financial contribution.
The United States badly needs to leave UNESCO again. UNESCO is obviously
subservient to "Islamic correctness," and serving interests contrary to those of
freedom, liberty and Western values. Eighty years ago, negationism and
anti-Semitism led to the Holocaust. It is urgent to say, "Enough."
**Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27
books on France and Europe.
[1] Dore Gold, Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos,
Crown Forum, 2005.
[2] Bat Ye'or, Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide, Fairleigh
Dickinson University Press, 2001.
[3] Robert Spencer, Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World's
Fastest-Growing Faith, Encounter Books, 2003.
[4] Yohanan Friedmann, Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in
the Muslim Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
[5] Bat Ye'or, op. cit.
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website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
In a sign of great tolerance, and despite what extremists have done to Muslims’
reputation across Europe, the people of London elected a Muslim, Sadiq Khan, as
mayor. He has nothing to do with religious activities - he won by presenting a
civil agenda in which he promised better security, municipal services and
housing conditions. London has suffered from Muslim extremists, while its Muslim
citizens’ reputation has been distorted by the crimes of terrorist organizations
such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Extremist
preachers who incited against others were present in the city for many years,
although it was London that saved them from hunger and fear. These people later
turned against the city and incited violence. Khan may adopt a stricter policy
than his predecessor in tackling extremism. He has firm stances against
Hezbollah and Hamas, and said he will lead a campaign against the spread of
extremism among Muslim youths. Khan calls for tolerance, and has visited temples
and churches. At a Hindu temple, he promised to lead a delegation of British
businessmen on a trip to India. Khan’s election interested people in the Arab
world, as many commentators considered it a sign of tolerance despite extremism
and terrorism in Europe
Diversity
The mayoral elections were diverse in terms of candidates. The Conservative
candidate Zac Goldsmith, who came second behind Labour’s Khan, is from a
prominent Jewish family. His sister Jemima was married to Pakistani cricketer
Imran Khan, who became a politician in Pakistan but failed to become prime
minister. The far-right British National Party garnered less than 1 percent of
the vote. Khan and Goldsmith come not just from two different religions but from
two different classes. The former is the son of a bus driver, while the latter’s
father is a millionaire. Khan’s election interested people in the Arab world, as
many commentators considered it a sign of tolerance despite extremism and
terrorism in Europe. While Londoners elected a Muslim mayor, U.S. Republicans
chose Donald Trump as their presidential candidate despite his hateful rhetoric.
Electing Khan reveals Londoners’ liberal orientations. Their city is one of the
world’s most important - a leader in thought and culture.
Sisi’s failing Egypt highlights the crisis of the Middle East
Dr. John C. Hulsman/Al Arabiya/May 17/16
Traditionally since the time of Nasser, Egypt – based both on its demography and
military might – has been first among equals in the Middle East, a perennial
great power without which regional stability would not be possible. However,
following the chaotic final years of the Mubarak era, and the shambolic
interregnum of the Muslim Brotherhood that followed, Egypt has slid off the
economic map, endangering its status in the region.
The numbers don’t lie
Things have gone from bad to worse under the comically inept rule of President
el-Sisi and the economic numbers tell the tale. Starting a business in Egypt
requires permits from 78 different agencies, hardly worth the bother. Tourism
receipts, the lifeblood of the Egyptian economy, declined to $7.8 billion in
2014, down 22 percent from Sisi’s first year in office and 40 percent from the
last year of Mubarak’s reign. As of September 2015, the country’s foreign
reserves declined to a miniscule $16.4 billion, enough to cover only three
months worth of imports. In early October 2015, Egypt’s official jobless rate
stood at an unhealthy 12.7 percent and was an alarming 35 percent in terms of
youth unemployment. As over half the population falls into this fragile
demographic, Egypt’s endemic and crushing economic woes will make it perennially
unstable. Egypt’s public debt is about 90 percent of GDP, way too high for an
Emerging Market. Likewise, its budget deficit is an utterly unsustainable 11
percent of GDP. The only way the country has been able to subsist is due to help
from Saudi Arabia, which has given Cairo billions worth of loans to prop up the
feckless regime. There is no sign of these loans ending, nor is there any sign
they will ever be paid back. What has happened is that the greatest perennial
regional power has become a mendicant. If the Sisi government can come to see
capitalism as more than a state piggy bank designed to keep his military cronies
sweet, the endless potential of the country could yet be realized
It doesn’t have to be this way
But there is one huge bright spot on the horizon, a possible game changer that
could just yet right Egypt’s present trajectory into irrelevance. At the end of
August 2015, the Italian oil firm ENI announced the discovery of a vast gas
field off the Egyptian coat. According to a number of estimates, the Zohr field
has the potential on its own to turn the country from a net importer to a net
exporter of gas by 2020. So as ever, this maddening, fascinating country is
engaged in what seems to be a perpetual race between realizing its mammoth
potential and falling victim to its own self-inflicted wounds. If the Sisi
government can come to see capitalism as more than a state piggy bank designed
to keep his military cronies sweet, the endless potential of the country could
yet be realized, and Egypt can regain its natural place as the most important
country in the region. However, given the economic illiteracy of the Sisi regime
up to now, don’t bet on it.
Balance of power
It became clear over 2015 that the regional balance of power has been shifting
relatively in the region. There are two major and important outliers, with
Turkey supporting one side and Russia the other. With the relative demise of
Egypt, this roughly evenly divided balance of power has shifted. The recent
island controversy roiling Cairo illustrates the power difficulty. Cairo is in
the process of returning two islands it has had jurisdiction over to the Saudis,
their rightful owners. This seemingly unremarkable swap has generated intense
controversy in Cairo, precisely because of Egypt’s weakness and dependence.
The charge has been levelled at the Sisi government that they are giving back
the islands in lieu of repaying their debts to Saudi Arabia. While this is
entirely untrue, it does show the degree of wounded pride in Egypt at its fall
from grace. Due to both its demography and its military tradition, Cairo has
long been seen by outsiders as the most important military and political power
in the region. Its dizzying economic fall from grace has dramatically affected
the balance of power in the region. Answering the sphinx’s riddle of whether
Egypt can right itself is a pivotal question not just for the country itself,
but for the region. For a Cairo that regains its place as a great power would
provide balance for the Middle East as a whole. An Egypt that economically
drifts into irrelevance means that the regional balance of power is likely to
remain volatile, which is dreadful news for all of us who wish the long
suffering Middle East a better day.