Wednesday, July 20, 2022

VIEWS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA

Biden Failed In The Middle East On Three Counts – OpEd


 

By Marwan Asmar


Biden went back to Washington from his Middle East trip empty handed. He never got out of the tour what he set out to do. The Arab leaders meeting in Jeddah under the GCC banner plus Jordan, Iraq and Egypt give him an effective snub and a thumbs down.

Aside from increasing America’s chummy relations with Israel, which was expected, the US President and his White House team failed on at least three counts. On the issue of increasing oil production to lower prices, Biden only got vague promises from his hosts, King Salman and his Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. He didn’t receive real assurances and commitments that there would be hikes because of the OPEC plus meeting that sets production quotas for each member country and that is not due to meet till early August.

In reality however the Gulf states are happy with the current hikes in oil prices because they mean more revenues for countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who are fighting a war in Yemen despite the present truce there but it is difficult to see how much that would last. This failure to provide a guaranteed commitment to hike up productivity and some say stabilize prices is seen as a blow to Biden who faces congressional elections in November and high oil prices are not favorable to the American consumer.

On second count he failed to convince the Saudis to normalize relations with Israel, despite the tinkering, here and there, of open airspace for all international aircraft carriers. There was much media talk prior to the trip that there is a strong possibility Riyadh would normalize with Israel. Analysts had said the Israelis pushed him to go to Saudi Arabia for this purpose. But this flopped. The topic was not even brought up at the Jeddah Security and Development Summit.

If anything it was argued the meeting proved to be decidedly anti-Israeli despite the normalization states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Every Arab leader in the summit stuck to their principled Palestinian stance regarding independent statehood and the two-state solution, a concept that Biden and the American administration say they accept despite the fact that he already told the Palestinians in Bethlehem when he met President Mahmood Abbas that the time is not ripe to kick-start the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating process

On the third count Biden failed to whip an anti-Iranian stance for the Gulf countries want a  reproachment with Tehran and believe that a conciliatory approach would be better than abrasive outlook with a possibility of a direct strike on Iran which is what Israel wants. That includes the Saudis, who are talking to the Iranians in Baghdad, the UAE, Kuwaitis, Qataris, the Iraqis who want to engage Iran in a constructive dialogue.

Israeli had hoped that Biden would convince the Arab countries to establish a NATO-like military alliance in the Arab world to stand up to Iran and its military and nuclear capabilities. But this has failed and the Saudis in a point-blank fashion said they are not interested in such an alliance that would necessarily include Israel although they told they American president that they want to make sure that Iran would never be able to possess the nuclear bomb or any weapon of mass destruction.

Iranians officials on the other hand accused Biden of spreading what they termed as “Iranophobia” and trying to stir the region against the leadership in Tehran. But the White House might be playing some kind of a chess game or what people might be called brinkmanship and sending out signals to the Iranians to accept a new nuclear deal, similar to the 2015 deal, which the US left in 2018 but wants to re-enter under new conditions and new strings attached.

The Iranians are playing hardball despite their continuous meetings in Vienna starting last October and which were interrupted by Russia’s war on Ukraine, and their stop-go meetings in Qatar under European auspices. Tehran wants a deal with benefits and Washington wants a deal because it believes this would be the best way to check Iran’s nuclear ambitions through a rigorous inspection regime.

But its as if yet, there is procrastinations on both sides to the delight of Israelis. As well, Biden, a long-time seasoned politician with much experience in the ins and outs of international diplomacy, might be tangling himself up because of his foreign policy options because of the Russian war in the Ukraine and China.

But when he left Saudi Arabia, he said he is determined this time, not to leave the Middle East to Moscow and Beijing and that Washington wants to re-enter this vital and dynamic regional arena. He signed a strategic accord with the Saudis despite the Jamal Khashoggi murder case, he wants to explore more diplomatic options regarding Iran’s nuclear program – and hence the Doha talks – and has even invited the UAE president Mohammad Ben Zayed to the White House to rectify the previously cold relations between Washington and Abu Dhabi.

Thus, it may seem he left the region empty handed Biden is determined to revitalize relations with different actors in the Middle East.


US President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia's King Salman meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. (SPA)

Original article

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Biden ineffective in the Gulf

Ahmed Mustafa, Tuesday 19 Jul 2022

US President Joe Biden tried to mend relations with a “unified” Gulf and Arab world but the results are not up to expectations, reports Ahmed Mustafa

Just one day after US President Joe Biden ended his visit to Saudi Arabia, one of the main goals of his first Middle East trip as a president was tested. The result indicated that it might take a while for the agreements concluded in the visit to have a visible impact on the ground.

As markets opened for business in Asia after the weekend on Monday, oil prices reached the hundred-dollar-per-barrel threshold they had just missed last week. Oil markets did not reflect the supposed Saudi promise to Biden to increase oil production to lower prices. They kept going up as fears of supply chokes persisted.

The US administration repeatedly denied that Biden’s visit to Jeddah was about oil. But once he flew direct from Israel to Saudi Arabia, marking the Saudi opening of their airspace to flights from Israel, oil was not only in the news but in the president’s remarks and in Saudi officials’ statements.

After meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman on Friday, Biden felt he “had secured Saudi Arabia’s agreement to produce more oil in the coming weeks”, as the president told reporters. The Crown Prince then announced that his country will increase its oil production to 13 million barrels per day to satisfy demand if needed and balance the market.

Contradictory statements from the Americans and Saudis about Biden raising the issue of the Khashoggi murder, oil and other issues marked the first part of Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia. The second part of the visit was meeting Gulf and three other Arab leaders in a Development and Security summit the Saudis hosted in Jeddah.

Though Biden said his message to Gulf and Arab leaders was “We will not walk away (from the region) and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia, or Iran”, none of the leaders present in Jeddah reiterated that message. So, the whole trip was just a reset of America’s relations with the Middle East, strained since Biden came to the White House early last year. Saudi commentator Abdel-Aziz Alkhames told Al-Ahram Weekly, “It was inevitable for Biden to visit, mainly to repair the damage he caused to relations. It would re-establish better cooperation between the US and the region”.

From a Western perspective it was mainly a win for Saudi crown prince and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed. Oxford University historian Andrew Hammond said of the visit: “Just the sight of decrepit Biden having to go begging in KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] to make up with them was pathetic. Saudis and Emiratis were in a very strong position. They got what they wanted more than ever.”

But a very significant byproduct of Biden’s visit was the apparent realignment of Saudi-Emirati relations. Rumours recently spoke of a slight rift between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on regional issues, ranging from Iran and Yemen to normalisation with Israel. But the Jeddah summit with Biden showed a unified position of the two countries – at least apparently.

The summit was preceded by only three one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Egypt, Iraq and UAE. The one who won an invitation to visit the White House was the UAE president. In fact, just a day before Biden arrived, the UAE signed a cooperation agreement with Iran that might not be significant in a practical sense but does send a message. Official Emirati statements reiterated the position that the UAE is ready to compromise with Iran for the sake of peace and stability in the region without the help of a third party.

Yet, as Alkhames strongly suggested, “Saudi-Emirati coordination has been crystal clear, as it was in the past as well. You notice that the UAE didn’t ask for the floor to deliver its own speech at the summit. That is because they assumed that the Saudi statement spoke for them, communicating the same stance.” He also added, on one of Biden’s goals, “I don’t think the attempt to push the region, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, away from China and Russia was successful. Relations with these powers are already established based on mutual interests with the two important countries. A lesson is learnt from past mistakes, and the countries in the region are going to deal with Washington differently, putting their national interest first with no ‘free lunch’ for the US or anyone else.”

The Emirati stance on raising oil production to help Biden internally, with his administration facing public anger over fuel price increases, has been harder than the Saudi, especially that according to oil experts the UAE is already quite close to the maximum possible daily production. But Alkhames said, “as for oil, there might be an increase in production but definitely based on market conditions. Everybody is hurt by inflation, consumers and producers alike. So increasing production will be subject to the ultimate goal of balancing the markets and thus ensuring fair oil prices.”

It appeared that promises and diplomatic rhetoric were the main outcome, and with the Saudi crown prince now getting a sort of “American exoneration” – as one Western diplomat described it – the region is back to good relations with Washington but on a different footing. “It seemed like a visit aimed at making up with allies showing more independence from the United States than before, as the Ukraine war has shown. Biden framed it as an attempt to reassure regional allies of a continued US commitment to the region but also to bring Israel even closer to his Arab allies and push them towards joint defence arrangements, aimed against Iran. So he gave the impression of pushing the region towards confrontation at a time when tensions are actually quite a bit lower than during the Trump years, as Washington is trying to revive the nuclear deal with Tehran. We can only assume this is another one of those hawkish moves often made to offset a dove-like one, i.e. finalising a deal with Iran that would see sanctions lifted and limits on Iran’s nuclear programme.”

Regardless of public statements and any possible backstage deals, pressing the reset button on Gulf relations does not guarantee a proper startup. One might need to switch off and on multiple times before returning to normal operation. But the current regional and global environment does not provide an ideal situation for more attempts, so the status quo persists for now.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 July, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.


One summit, different versions

Salah Nasrawi , Tuesday 19 Jul 2022

A trip to the region has tested Joe Biden’s new Middle East policy, but has the US president notched up a political victory just by sharing the spotlight with nine Arab leaders? Probably not, writes Salah Nasrawi

One summit, different versions
(photo: AFP)

The aim, US President Joe Biden said, before setting off on a Middle East tour that ended in a summit with his Arab counterparts on 16 July in Saudi Arabia was to start a new and more promising chapter of America’s engagement there.

In an opinion article in the Washington Post titled “Why I’m going to Saudi Arabia” on the eve of his four-day tour, Biden laid out the selling points of his ambitious diplomacy by emphasising that the tour “comes at a vital time for the region, and it will advance important American interests.”

Outlining some of the critical disputes in the Middle East, Biden sought to defend his administration’s policies and pledged to build on “promising trends” that he boasted “the United States can strengthen in a way no other country can.”

On the stalled indirect talks with Iran over its nuclear programme, Biden wrote that he “will continue to increase diplomatic and economic pressure until Iran is ready to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal,” known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

On Saudi Arabia, where his administration’s relations have been strained over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Biden said his aim was to “reorient – but not rupture – relations with a country that’s been a strategic partner for 80 years.”

Biden stressed Saudi Arabia’s role in helping to support the truce in Yemen and pressing for additional oil production as part of efforts to help stabilise oil markets with other OPEC producers, two issues which he hoped would help to reinforce US-Saudi ties.

Biden’s account of his trip also focused on his efforts to promote US security interests in the Middle East by countering Russia’s and China’s increasing influence in the region, which he attributed to the “mistake” of “walking away from our influence.”

The other key issue on Biden’s agenda was to push for Riyadh’s diplomatic normalisation with Tel Aviv in order to “help build momentum towards Israel’s further integration into the region.”

The normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be the most significant expansion of the so-called “Abraham Accords” associated with former US president Donald Trump.

Yet, some major disagreements surfaced during the three stops on his controversial tour, which Biden decided it was worth the political cost of carrying out in order to counter dwindling US influence in the Middle East despite mounting opposition and scepticism.

In Israel, Biden diverged from Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Iran. While Biden said he still wanted to give diplomacy a chance to persuade Tehran to join a new nuclear deal, Lapid insisted that words alone would not thwart the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions.

“Words will not stop them, Mr President. Diplomacy will not stop them,” Lapid said. “The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear programme, the free world will use force,” he said at a joint press conference.

During his visit to the Palestinian Territories, Biden reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Occupied West Bank. However, he claimed that the “ground is not ripe” for restarting the talks between Israel and Palestine.

Abbas, who has been trying to convince successive US administrations to take a more active role in stalled Middle East peace efforts, warned that there was a narrowing window for the two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a final communiqué issued following their summit with Biden on 16 July, Arab leaders reiterated that any settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should be based on the two-state solution and take into consideration the 2001 Arab Peace Plan that trades normalisation for the return of the occupied territories.

In Saudi Arabia, the trickiest diplomatic terrain Biden encountered on his Middle East trip, Biden had to bounce back on his earlier promise to make the kingdom into a “pariah” nation and was compelled to do business with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, whom the US intelligence community had earlier concluded had sanctioned Khashoggi’s murder.

In exchange, Biden may have been able to secure a half-hearted Saudi commitment to raising oil production, badly needed to balance the international market and ease high petrol prices and widespread inflation in the US and across the globe.

However, Bin Salman’s announcement that Saudi Arabia would increase oil production to 13 million barrels per day pending the outcome of a meeting of the OPEC+ group of countries on 3 August did not have an immediate effect on the market, probably because of expert doubts that the kingdom has much more oil-production capacity to deliver.

If Saudi Arabia does not increase its production, high oil prices will continue to pose a political threat to Biden and other leaders who are hoping to quell an oil-market rally that threatens global economic growth and is hindering efforts to choke off Russian oil revenues in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.

Further setbacks appeared when Biden met with Arab leaders in Jeddah for their summit meeting on Saturday, where he sought to integrate Israel into the region as part of a new axis aimed at encouraging more Arab countries to normalise their relations with Israel, seen as the crown jewel of Biden’s landmark trip.

Riyadh has taken a small step in allowing Israeli planes to fly over its airspace, but all eyes have nevertheless remained on Saudi Arabia with a view to seeing whether it will take steps to improve its ties with Israel including by establishing full diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir told the US network CNN that the kingdom would not fully normalise its ties with Israel until an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital was established.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also shrugged off reports about “any discussions regarding a GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council]-Israeli defence alliance in the integrated air defence network the United States is hoping to establish with Mideast allies.”

There were also further divergences of opinion, underscoring the multiple versions of a summit that Biden had hoped in his Washington Post piece would produce “promising trends which the United States can strengthen in a way no other country can.”

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi emphasised two themes that have always been dear to Egyptian policymakers: Arab national security and a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.

Calling for the mobilisation of Arab potential to confront the “dangers surrounding our Arab world,” Al-Sisi renewed Egypt’s demand that the region be declared a nuclear-free zone under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision, a demand opposed by Israel and stalled by the US.

The UAE showed a clear reluctance to support regional escalation against Iran. On the eve of the Jeddah summit, UAE Presidential Diplomatic Adviser Anwar Gargash said the idea of a confrontational approach to Iran was not something Abu Dhabi supported.

Stressing that his country would not be part of an anti-Iran axis, Gargash told reporters that “our conversation is ongoing... we are in the process of sending an ambassador to Tehran. All these areas of rebuilding bridges are ongoing.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, whose country’s parliament has just made it illegal to normalise relations with Israel and where Iran enjoys unprecedented influence, made it clear that he wanted the summit to focus on energy, food security, environmental challenges and cooperation on infrastructure and trade.

Biden and his foreign policy and national security teams may believe that the US still has plenty of influence in the region, enabling it to contain creeping Russian and Chinese power in the Middle East.

But in order to “build on this moment with active, principled American leadership” and return to a region Biden has long abandoned and sit with leaders whom he has abhorred as autocrats could require much careful follow-up.

Whether Bidden has left his mark on the Middle East by rekindling regional alliances and reestablishing US supremacy, and whether his trip will succeed in curbing petrol prices back home before crucial mid-term elections, remains to be seen.

To many sceptics in the region, Biden may simply have returned to Washington with “Hunain’s slippers” – a classical Arabic proverb about a Bedouin man who loses his camel while looking for lost footwear.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 July, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

Israel courts the Arab economies

Mohamed Abu Shaar , Tuesday 19 Jul 2022

Israel’s attempts to bring about its economic integration into the region are likely to fail in the face of Arab opposition, writes Mohamed Abu Shaar


Young scouts lift placards as they take part in a demonstration to denounce the Biden s visit to Israel, at the Ain Al-Helweh camp in Sidon, Lebanon

When Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid assumed the role of prime minister of Israel’s incumbent caretaker government, several scenarios emerged about the future of Israel’s relationship with the Arab countries in general and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in particular, especially since Israel’s right wing has been in power for so long.

Lapid is the first left-leaning politician to become prime minister of Israel in 13 years, after right-wing Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu served in the post from 2009 until 2021.

Netanyahu was succeeded by right-wing politician Naftali Bennett, leader of the Yamina Alliance, for one year when he formed a cabinet that he would lead for two years and then his partner in government Lapid would take over for the last two years of the government’s tenure, according to an agreement.

However, the coalition cabinet brought Bennett together with left and centre parties, with the support of that United Arab List led by Mansour Abbas, and it did not last long in the face of pressure from the right spearheaded by Netanyahu.

It duly collapsed, and Lapid has become interim prime minister until new Knesset elections slated for November are held.

Lapid’s political position is not the only reason for the momentum that began when he became prime minister. He also received a major boost when US President Joe Biden visited Israel and participated in the Jeddah Summit for Development and Security in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

The summit also included the Arab Gulf states, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq.

Biden’s visit, although dominated by the global energy crisis, was part of a general trend led by the current US administration to integrate Israel into the region through regional defence agreements to confront the threat of Iran.

Economic steps have been taken with some Arab countries, such as opening Saudi airspace to Israeli civil aviation. Washington believes such measures will pave the way to steps to normalise relations between Israel and some Arab countries that have not signed peace agreements with Israel, such as Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Israel is promoting these measures as the start of the normalisation of relations with Arab countries that have no political ties with it, especially Saudi Arabia. It views such normalisation as a political gain because it disconnects the Arab position from the Palestinian one.

However, Israel’s confidence collided with a unified Arab position expressed by Arab leaders at the Jeddah Summit. A political agreement between Israel and the PA based on a two-state solution that leads to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital is the only way to integrate Israel into the region and establish stability, they said.

This was confirmed by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan at the end of the summit, who said that lifting restrictions for all airlines to use Saudi airspace was not a signal moving towards future relations with Israel.

Leader of the UAE Mohamed bin Zayed told Biden during talks on the sidelines of the summit that the Palestinians must benefit from the so-called “Abraham Accords,” a reference to the normalisation agreements signed between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.

The summit was preceded by an invitation from Israeli Minister of Finance and leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party Avigdor Lieberman to create a Middle East Common Market that would include Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE.

Lieberman said this proposal “would change reality from beginning to end whether on security or economic matters”.

Israel’s Ministry of Finance prepared a report to present to Biden during his visit, suggesting the creation of a network of highways and railways in Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia to facilitate trade and save billions of dollars through a direct link between the Gulf states and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Jerusalem Post said that Israel needs such projects in order to become a key geopolitical player in the region, as it seeks more influence by controlling networks connecting the world together through the Middle East. This would lead to billions of dollars in investments in Israel and greater economic openness with countries around the world, it said.

The newspaper added that the country’s Ministry of Finance believes that Israel should take advantage of the current positive climate for regional cooperation to advance proposals for networking mechanisms.

However, Israel’s focus on economic solutions and its ignoring of political issues is viewed by many as a sign that it is trying to bring about its integration into the region by any means possible without making political concessions to the Palestinians.

Wajeeh Abu Zarifa, an expert on Israeli affairs, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “Israel wants to sign security and economic cooperation agreements in the region, and it has not stopped promoting such ideas. But there is no prospect for this because of the Arab position.”

He said that Israel wants to negotiate with the Palestinians but only if there is no tangible outcome and only if it benefits Israel’s interests.

Lapid seems more open to a solution with the Palestinians than Netanyahu ever was, or was his predecessor Bennett, who adamantly refused to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej recently revealed that Lapid has given instructions to resume the economic summit between the PA and Israel that has been suspended since 2009, the year Netanyahu came to power.

Frej said the summit would bolster the Palestinian economy by facilitating entry permits to Palestinian labour, cross-border trade, and other economic matters.

However, the heavy right-wing legacy in Israeli politics prevents Lapid from making major concessions on the Palestinian issue. His rise to power has come in extraordinary circumstances, he leads an interim government, and he is preparing for a fierce political battle in the next round of elections.

Promoting positions that are the polar opposites to prevailing trends in Israel would seriously hurt his bloc’s chances at the polls.

“Israel’s political situation is in serious trouble because of Israeli policies that destroy any possibility of peace,” Abu Zarifa said. “The economic proposals and Israeli aid package to the PA in exchange for security, or permits in exchange for calm, are small steps that make the Palestinian people more dependent on Israel.”

“They also put restrictions on the PA and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.”

Abu Zarifa said that Lapid had been affected by Israel’s shift to the right, and any gamble on a breakthrough in relations between Israel and the PA that tried to broaden horizons with the Arab countries would lose as a result.

The Palestinian presidency has repeatedly said that it is impossible to achieve any progress in regional economic cooperation without progress on efforts to reach a solution to the Palestinian cause and achieve the interests of the Palestinian people.

It declared this position in opposition to Israel’s promotion of its involvement in further economic activity in the region. Hamas also supports this position.

Suhail Al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’ politburo, told the Weekly that the issue was greater than just economics. “It is a political issue that cannot be reduced to economic measures,” Al-Hindi said. “What is needed is a solution to the Palestinian cause.”

Israel is also trying to handle the Gaza Strip separately from its dealings with the PA. “We will not accept a reduced state in Gaza,” Al-Hindi said. “We will not deal with just an economic peace. The Palestinian Territories are one geographical unit. Talk about ‘facilitations’ in Gaza cannot come at the expense of strategic political issues.”

Israel’s success in integrating its economy with other regional economies will remain contingent on the positions of the Arab countries, especially in the absence of the PA being able to disrupt it.

Divisions in Palestinian ranks have made it difficult for the PA to take a unified stand towards relations with Israel and other countries.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 July, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

SDF Announces General Mobilization in Anticipation of Turkish Attack

Tuesday, 19 July, 2022 - 
Turkey-backed Syrian fighters gather along the frontlines opposite Kurdish forces 
near the town of Dadat north of Manbij in Syria's northern Aleppo province, 
on July 5, 2022. (AFP)

The military councils of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared Monday general mobilization in areas under their control in northeastern Syria.

They also announced sending military reinforcements near the borders with Turkey as Ankara continues to threaten to wage a new offensive in the region.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the arrival of new regime reinforcements to the frontlines in the Manbij countryside, east of Aleppo.

Several buses loaded with regime and Russian forces arrived at frontlines on Monday.

Pro-Turkish National Army factions in the Manbij countryside also took up positions.

The regime forces have recently reinforced their positions in Ain Issa and the M4 international highway.

The reinforcements comprised buses transporting 250 soldiers, five tanks and heavy weapons.

The area witnesses almost daily clashes between the warring parties.

Separately, masses of US soldiers roamed the Tal Tamr countryside, northwest of al-Hasakah governorate, under the protection of SDF patrols.

The International Coalition Forces and SDF carried out a new round of military drills using live ammunition at the coalition base in al-Shaddadi town, south of al-Hasakah.

A convoy of military aid, comprised of 50 trucks, also arrived at the base. It included weapons, logistic equipment, armored vehicles and water and fuel tanks.

A day earlier, 80 trucks carrying reinforcements arrived at Coalition bases in al-Hasakah and the Deir Ezzor province.

Tunisia’s Ghannouchi Questioned by Authorities

Tuesday, 19 July, 2022 - 
Rached al-Ghannouchi, head of Tunisia's Ennahda party, arrives at the office of
 Tunisia's counter-terrorism prosecutor in Tunis on July 19, 2022. (AFP)

The leader of Tunisia’s main opposition party has been questioned by the country’s counterterrorism unit Tuesday on suspicion of money laundering and terrorism financing through an association charity.

It’s unclear how long the counterterrorism hearings could last for Rached al-Ghannouchi, 81, who is the leader of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. Critics believe it could lead to his arrest - or a trial.

Outside the hearing in the capital, Tunis, Ghannouchi’s supporters decried the proceedings as a sham orchestrated by authorities.

Angry demonstrators held placards reading: "No to political trials," "Down with the putsch" and "Saied get out," in allusion to the exceptional measures taken by President Kais Saied that he said were to "cleanse the country of corruption that plagues all the cogs of the state."

Saied suspended parliament last year and seized broad powers in a move that he said was necessary to "save the country" from a political and economic crisis. This prompted criticism from the opposition, which accuses him of shunning democracy.

Ghannouchi was among a dozen top party officials whose bank accounts the north African country’s central bank froze earlier this month. Ennahda vehemently disputes the accusations of money laundering and terrorism financing.

Ennahda has said all these accusations are aimed at distracting attention from a July 25 referendum planned by Saied to change the constitution to augment presidential powers and reduce the role of the parliament and prime minister. The president’s critics say he is trying to legitimize a "coup."

One Ennahda official, former Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri, arrived at the hearing Tuesday and said he feared "a possible detention of Ghannouchi."

Bhiri was in power in the aftermath of the revolution that brought down the government of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

The Ennahda party published a statement on its website attributed to its president in which he denounced "the slander and shenanigans" of Saied’s presidency.

Saied and some others blamed Ennahda in part for Tunisia’s political crisis last year. Ennahda, which dominated parliament before it was suspended, is among the president’s fiercest critics.

Five Million Yemenis Receive Less Than Half of Daily Food Needs

Tuesday, 19 July, 2022 - 
Weather conditions exacerbated burdens of the displaced. (official media)

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed in a recent report a new reduction in food rations distributed to millions of needy people in Yemen.

By the end of June, the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) remained under-funded, forcing aid organizations to reduce or close critical assistance programs, the report showed.

As of June 30, the 2022 HRP secured only 26% of the requested $4.27 billion to provide lifesaving assistance and protection services to 17.9 million people.

With the funding cut in June, five million people will now receive less than half of their daily needs, while eight million people will receive less than one-third of their daily needs.

The report also revealed that the lack of funding has forced the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the sole provider of reproductive health medicines and is leading reproductive health service provision in Yemen, to scale back humanitarian operations by 25% since the beginning of the year.

Only 13% of a $100 million appeal has been funded so far.

In 2021, UNFPA reached 1.6 million women and girls with reproductive health services, assisting 151,000 safe deliveries and averting 344,000 unintended pregnancies, with support to 127 health facilities and payments to 2,065 health workers.

It warned that of the 41 major UN programs, 26 have been scaled back or closed. Unless funding is received, 15 will be either further reduced or closed in the coming months.

The report mentioned that hunger now is worse than ever, yet the World Food Program (WFP) was forced to cut rations for millions of people several weeks ago as it and other aid agencies are dangerously underresourced.

Similar cuts across all sectors are sadly costing lives, the report stressed, noting that it is the second major cut in six months only.

On June 26, the WFP announced scaling back its support in Yemen following critical funding gaps, global inflation and the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine.

This came at the time when an estimated 19 million people are facing acute food insecurity or worse, with more than 160,000 in catastrophic food needs.

In December 2021, WFP was forced to reduce food rations for eight million people due to funding gaps, and it had to introduce another round of cuts in May.

Resilience and livelihood activities, as well as school feeding and nutrition programs will cease for four million people, leaving assistance available for only 1.8 million people.

The report further warned that if immediate action is not taken, millions of people will face severe food insecurity, avoidable diseases, displacement and death.

Millions more will not be able to rebuild their shattered livelihoods.

Despite a sever funding shortfall, aid agencies in Yemen delivered life- saving assistance and services to an average of 12.6 million people per month during Q1 2022, reaching 70% of the targeted 17.9 million people through the 2022 HRP.

Some 25% of the number of people reached were women and 49% were children

OVERKILL
Israel Strikes Hamas Site after Bullet Hits Israeli Building


Tuesday, 19 July, 2022 - 

Palestinian workers clear the rubble of a building destroyed during an Israeli airstrike in in Gaza city early on July 16, 2022. (AFP)
Asharq Al-Awsat

Israeli aircraft struck a post belonging to the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in response to a gunshot fired into southern Israel from the Palestinian territory earlier in the day, the military said.

Palestinian media said the site was struck multiple times by missiles from the air.

Earlier Tuesday, a bullet fired from Gaza hit an industrial building in the community of Netiv HaAsara, the military said. There were no reports of injuries in either incident.

No one has claimed responsibility for firing the bullet, but Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence originating from Gaza, which has been under the rule of the movement since 2007.

On Saturday, the Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes on a Hamas site in response to a rocket fire toward Israel. The rocket attack came hours after President Joe Biden concluded a three-day trip to Israel and the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ rival, holds sway.

Hamas does not recognize Israel and has fought four wars with it in the past 15 years.
California police fatally shot 23-year-old Black man as he ran away, video shows

Footage shows victim fleeing after police arrived in unmarked car and drew their guns

Police claimed the man ‘fit the description’ of a person they were investigating. Photograph: Bastiaan Slabbers/Reuters

Sam Levin in Los Angeles
@SamTLevinTue 19 Jul 2022 21.48 BST

Police in San Bernardino, California, fatally shot a 23-year-old man on Saturday as he was fleeing, according to surveillance footage that shows an officer firing just seconds after arriving in an unmarked vehicle.

Security camera footage from a parking lot in San Bernardino, a city an hour east of Los Angeles, shows two officers driving up in an unmarked car about 8pm as Robert Adams stood in the lot. As soon as two officers exited the car, Adams turned away from them and ran. It appeared that roughly five seconds after they had stepped out of the car, one of the officers fired at Adams from a distance, seeming to hit him and causing him to collapse to the ground.


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The video of the killing went viral on Monday and sparked national outrage, with civil rights lawyer Ben Crump calling it a “horrific execution” and Adams’s family urging authorities to file murder charges against the officer, who has not been identified. The killing comes weeks after police in Akron, Ohio, fired more than 60 rounds at Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man who was also fleeing, sparking widespread protests.

The San Bernardino police department said in a statement that the two officers were with a “specialized investigations unit” and were “conducting surveillance in an unmarked vehicle” after “receiving information that a black male armed with a gun was in the parking lot”. The surveillance footage does not have audio, but the department claimed that the officers gave verbal commands after they exited the car and that Adams had a gun in his hand as he fled.

Adams’s family said he probably did not know they were officers when they arrived. His mother, Tamika Deavila King, told CBSLA: “He was not a threat to them. He was running for his life.” King told the TV station that she was on the phone with her son just moments before the shooting.

Audwin King, Adams’s stepfather, told the Guardian: “We want full justice for our son. We want cops like that off of the force.” He previously told CBSLA that the officer “hunted him down like a dog”.

Jennifer Kohrell, a spokesperson for the police department, said Adams did not fire at the officers.

The video also does not show him pointing a weapon at the officers and only shows him running in the opposite direction. Kohrell said the department would release body-camera footage. She said Adams, who is Black, “fit the description” of a tip police were investigating, but she declined to say whether police confirmed he was the person they were looking for. She said the two officers were not on leave.

Adams was taken to a hospital after the shooting, where he later died.

A local councilman, Ben Reynoso, said he believed the officer should face criminal charges based on the video.

“I’ve been grappling with it all day. To watch him flee and get killed, there’s no justification. It was like an execution,” he said, adding that he questioned why police showed up in an unmarked car. “How often do we deploy these tactics? And to what end? If this could happen one time, is it happening somewhere else in our city right now?”

Andres Garcia, a local community organizer who until recently was living a block away from the lot where the killing occurred, said the police’s actions on the video reminded him of a gang attack: “I’m very familiar with gang violence and that’s what it looked like to me, like a gang-style hit and execution.” He said there has been recent gun violence in the area, and it was not surprising that someone would be scared and fleeing when two people slowly pull up in an unmarked car and then get out with guns drawn.

Reynoso noted that there was a long history of racial profiling at the San Bernardino police department. In April, a state audit found that officers in the department had engaged in “biased conduct” and cited a case of police using excessive force against a Latina woman who was involved in a car accident.

“There’s not a lot of trust between police and the community here,” Reynoso said.

Police in the US continue to kill more than three people a day, and have killed 633 people so far in 2022, according to Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group. That marks a slight increase from the killings at this point last year, which was one of the deadliest years for police violence on record.