By
New Age Islam Edit Desk
21 December
2020
• Why
Hezbollah Is Losing the Support of Lebanon’s Shia Community
By
Hanin Ghaddar
• Perception
Shift Needed To End ‘Clash Of Civilizations’ Mentality
By
Mohamed Elbaradei
• Hezbollah’s
Global Trail of Criminality And Corruption
By
Baria Alamuddin
• Saudi
Arabia's Geographical Location Role In Yemen's Solidity
By
Ekleel Badr Sallam
------
Why
Hezbollah Is Losing The Support Of Lebanon’s Shia Community
By
Hanin Ghaddar
19 December
2020
Hezbollah’s
adventurism in Syria and the wider region has alienated the support of many
Lebanese Shia. The organization has also lost its military discipline and is
under financial pressure, putting it in a precarious position.
Hezbollah
currently faces four main challenges that have disillusioned previous supporters.
First, its
ongoing involvement in the war in Syria has exhausted the organization
militarily and undermined its mission statement to its support base. The heavy
price paid by Lebanese Shia, without any tangible victory, has caused some to
question their relation and loyalty to the militia and its ties with the
Iranian regime.
Hezbollah
originally emerged in south Lebanon in 1982, with substantial training and
funding from the Iranian Islamic regime, with resistance as its core goal.
However, its mission statement clearly adhered to the Islamic revolution and
with a broad goal of creating an Islamic state in Lebanon. Gradually, its Shia
ideology, commitment and support to Iran’s regional operations in the region –
first in Iraq then in Syria – exposed its real goal: supporting Iran’s hegemony
in the region. Its members and support-base constituted mostly of Shia fighters
and loyalists, who eventually found themselves tied up in Iran’s regional
plans. With the outbreak of the war in Syria, Hezbollah decided to intervene on
behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, sending thousands of fighters across the
border.
The
intervention has been costly. Not only has Hezbollah lost many fighters and
commanders, but it has failed to achieve a clear-cut victory that it could use
for propaganda purposes, such as the “divine victory” against Israel that was
proclaimed in 2006. The main so-called achievement has been keeping President
Assad in power, which has done little for Lebanese Shia. In contrast, many
Lebanese were killed fighting for Assad in Syria, while at home the community
feels more isolated than ever, as they lost access to and help from regional
stakeholders, mainly the Gulf, which has a history of supporting Lebanon in
times of need. With Hezbollah’s growing regional activities, the Shia felt they
had to pay the price.
Second,
Hezbollah’s rhetoric of resistance has lost much of its appeal.
The
organization has taken on an increased regional role under its Iranian backer.
Beginning in Syria, the group is now involved with pro-Iranian forces in Iraq
and Yemen.
This
expansion has led to considerable and frequent Israeli military responses, with
air strikes and targeted killings causing major losses to Hezbollah and Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Despite
its rhetoric of resistance, Hezbollah has not retaliated to any of the Israeli
strikes on its bases.
Instead,
both Hezbollah and Iran now prioritize regional hegemony over resistance
against Israel. They are reluctant to sacrifice the significant investments
they have made in their regional infrastructure means in a conflict with
Israel, which could lead to major losses in their arsenal and infrastructure
that they would struggle to replace immediately.
Third,
Hezbollah’s military has lost its discipline and has weaknesses in its arsenal.
To sustain
its involvement in Syria, Hezbollah needed to recruit tens of thousands of new
fighters who lack the discipline and training of the group’s previous fighters.
Hezbollah
now has a fighting force that has been infiltrated by disruptive elements that
could easily go out of control. Whether the group’s leadership will have the
time to establish discipline and control over its entire force remains to be
seen, as it is overextended and could find itself in a conflict.
As for
their arsenal, although they have started to develop a network of precision
missiles, these are now more exposed to Israeli strikes and international
pressure, because they constitute a serious danger on Israel’s infrastructure,
and at the same time they endanger US regional allies.
Forth,
Hezbollah is going through an unprecedented financial crisis due to the US
sanctions on Iran.
This crisis
is affecting Hezbollah’s capability to build its social and military. Most of
their social services – such as health and welfare system – are no longer
catering for the whole Shia community. Instead, they are only offered to the
close circle of military personnel and high-ranking executives. Even the
contractors that were hired to fight in Syria are not all able to access
Hezbollah’s welfare system.
Hezbollah
has recently created a new system to avert the repercussions of this crisis,
which is now aggravated by the deterioration of the Lebanese economy. However,
flooding their stores and centers with Syrian and Iranian goods, and moving
hard currency within a small circles of loyal Shia, will only increase
tensions. The financial crisis is exacerbating divisions within the Lebanese
Shia, first between Hezbollah’s military and civilian employees, and second
between Hezbollah members and the wider Shia community.
While most
Shia have lost their jobs or are receiving a fraction of their salaries,
Hezbollah’s important personnel are still receiving their salaries in US
dollars – a rare privilege in Lebanon today.
Accordingly,
the sense of inequality is exacerbating discontent among the wider Shia
community, many of whom are feeling sidelined. Most importantly, many in the
Shia community feel that they are going through the same pains and struggles as
the rest of the Lebanese, who have called out a corrupt political class that
includes Hezbollah.
The Shia
are not immune to the political elite’s destruction of the country, and
Hezbollah will not shield them from the collapse. This is a feeling that will
grow, and could lead to more tension within the community.
Eventually,
the Shia will regain their national identity, one that highlights their
Lebanese citizenship, rather than a dependence on Hezbollah and the Iranian
regime. Rebuilding Lebanon’s state institutions, rather than foster a deeper
relationship with those who weaken it, will protect all Lebanese, including the
Shia population.
____
Hanin
Ghaddar is the Friedmann Fellow in The Washington Institute’s Geduld Program on
Arab Politics.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2020/12/19/Lebanon-crisis-Why-Hezbollah-is-losing-the-support-of-Lebanon-s-Shia-community
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Perception
Shift Needed To End ‘Clash Of Civilizations’ Mentality
By
Mohamed Elbaradei
December 21,
2020
The year
2020 demonstrated, once again, that the relationship between the Western and
the Arab and Muslim worlds remains muddled, complicated by lingering memories
of colonization, wars, and atrocities that date back to the Crusades and, in
modern times, to Algeria’s war for independence from France and the recent wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a relationship marred by suspicion, distrust,
and resentment on the part of many (if not most) Muslims, as well as many in
the West. The thin knowledge that both sides of the relationship have of other
cultures doesn’t lend itself to mutual understanding — a grim fact that
radicals (again, on both sides) cynically exploit.
A plethora
of recent initiatives have sought to promote intercultural dialogue and foster
deeper understanding between civilizations and cultures, particularly Islam and
the West. Regrettably, these efforts, including the establishment in 2005 of
the UN Alliance of Civilizations, have remained mostly confined to the
well-educated and their efforts have had no impact on ordinary people. On the
contrary, an extremist attack or utterance overwhelms such initiatives and
reinforces the perception of two antithetical cultures locked in inevitable and
immutable conflict. The recent renewed uproar in France over cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad, and the shocking atrocities that followed, clearly
demonstrate the deep cultural divide that continues to roil relations between
Islam and the West.
Why have
these cartoons deepened this fissure anew? Non-secular Muslims perceived these
caricatures in a strictly religious framework, and the resulting anger and
indignation spanned the entire Islamic world, from North Africa to Indonesia.
Many Muslims regarded the images as another deliberate and vicious Judeo-Christian
attack on Islam — a continuation of the Crusades by other means. Why, some ask,
are attacks on Islam and its sacred symbols permitted, or even encouraged,
while criticizing Israel or Holocaust denial is regarded as anti-Semitic and
even punishable by law? Likewise, why are the French flag and national anthem
protected against desecration, while the most revered symbol of the Islamic
faith is not?
Many in the
West, on the other hand, regarded the attacks in France, and previous and
subsequent barbaric killings of innocent civilians in European cities, as
outright assaults by “Islamist terrorists” against Western culture and the
West’s way of life. These infamies, they say, were an attack on the West’s
defining values and freedoms. In the wake of these attacks, public awareness of
the depth of the cartoons’ offensiveness has diminished.
With French
President Emmanuel Macron at the forefront, Western leaders have argued for a
strong and unwavering response to the recent murders in France. Even though the
overwhelming majority of Muslims have always denied that murderous extremists
represent their faith, these tragic events became yet another opportunity for
some on both sides to score political points and promote their own narrow
agendas. While some opined that Islam needs reform, others claimed that the
solution is to restrict Muslim immigration to Europe. And some Muslims, in
response, want all Muslims to hark back to the caliphate — a time when the
Islamic world was united and powerful.
The truth
is that the two cultures have profound philosophical differences regarding the
meaning and scope of freedom of expression and belief. Secular Western culture
has an expansive view of these freedoms, regarding them as ultimate guarantees
against oppression and authoritarianism. The West thus gives precedence to
freedom of expression over the sanctity of religious beliefs, regarding the
latter as ideas that, like any other idea, should be open to criticism and even
derision.
Islamic
culture, by contrast, regards religious beliefs as sacrosanct and above the
temporal fray, and considers mockery of any Abrahamic religious belief or
symbol to be an attack against everything that Muslims hold sacred. The
difficult ongoing political and social transitions in much of the Islamic world
mean that many Muslims feel the need to rely even more on the certainties of
their faith as a counterweight to the rapid changes in the world. They are not
willing to tolerate an attack on the one constant in their lives that gives them
solace, hope, and true meaning.
Given all
the upheaval, confusion, and polarization in the world today, the last thing
that either Islamic or Western civilization needs is new reasons for division
and conflict. What is badly needed instead is a wide-ranging dialogue between
the two cultures that puts all contentious issues on the table, with the hope
of gaining a sympathetic understanding of the other’s perspective and thus
narrowing the gap that exists between both. Whatever the ultimate outcome, the goal
on both sides must be to agree on some formula of mutual respect and
self-restraint that takes into account each culture’s particular sensitivities.
But for any
dialogue to succeed, it must confront head-on the larger issue underlying the
recent crisis: The distrust that exists between the two cultures. The
discussion should therefore take place at the grassroots and not be limited to
the elite. And it should frame intercultural engagement not as an inevitable
clash of civilizations, but as an indispensable opportunity to seek mutual
accommodation. Only with this shift in perception and mindset will it be
possible to build a genuine partnership of equals between Islam and the West.
-----
Mohamed
ElBaradei is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1780361
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Hezbollah’s
Global Trail Of Criminality And Corruption
By
Baria Alamuddin
December
20, 2020
While
Lebanon bleeds, many essential medicines are unobtainable in mainstream
hospitals and pharmacies. Yet in Hezbollah-land a parallel system of health
facilities exists where a full spectrum of cheap Iran-imported drugs are
readily available.
Hezbollah
uses its control of the health ministry to systematically divert medical funds
for its own purposes. Hospitals damaged by the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion,
while treating thousands of injured blast victims, lost out on funds — but the
Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Rassoul Al-Azam Hospital, far from the blast zone,
raked in $3.6m in additional funding. With its system of parallel ATMs from which
dollars are miraculously available —parallel schools, parallel banks, parallel
economies, parallel systems for paying salaries — Hezbollah is profiteering
from Lebanon’s demise.
Hezbollah
demands continued control over Lebanon’s finance, health and transport
ministries precisely because the budgets and executive powers of these
ministries multiply opportunities for criminal gain. Lebanon’s airport, ports
and national borders are vital nodes for smuggling arms and narcotics. Lebanese
financial institutions have been sanctioned for laundering funds for Iran.
Since
Hezbollah’s 2018 State Department designation as one of the top five global
criminal organizations, its criminal operations have massively increased,
following explicit instructions from Tehran to “make money” any way it can to
offset the impact of sanctions. Drug enforcement officials have been surprised
to find Hezbollah criminal networks sometimes operating hand-in-hand with both
Daesh operatives and Israeli criminal gangs to achieve this goal.
Hezbollah
exports tons of the amphetamine-based drug Captagon throughout the Middle East
and Europe,most of it produced in Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon and
Syria. A single 2020 seizure in Italy consisted of 84 million tablets worth
$1.1bn.
Europol
warns of intensified Hezbollah criminal activities “trafficking diamonds and
drugs.” Between Africa and Europe, Hezbollah has used its Lebanese émigré
connections to carve out a niche in the illegal diamond trade, as well as major
arms-smuggling operations throughout Africa.
Two
Hezbollah-linked Lebanese businessmen sanctioned by the US in 2019 for their
role in illegally trading diamonds were also thought to be trading artworks by
Warhol and Picasso for laundering purposes. The 2017 arrest of Ali Kourani highlighted
Hezbollah’s efforts to deploy sleeper agents, identify attack targets, and
engage in criminal activities in the US itself.
In 2011 a
US Drug Enforcement Administration investigation highlighted the role of
Hezbollah operative Ayman Jouma (still at large) in shipping an estimated 85
tons of cocaine into the US and laundering over $850 millionin drug money
through various front companies, including the Lebanese Canadian Bank. Jouma’s
labyrinthine trafficking network stretched from Panama and Columbia, via West
Africa and back to Lebanon.
Although
Hezbollah’s Latin American network (masterminded by the late Imad Mughniyeh)
was initially based in the tri-border region of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil,
these operations have increasingly consolidated themselves in Maduro’s
Venezuela.
Lebanese
émigré clans operate vast narcotics networks embedded along the Venezuelan
coast, primarily targeting the US. These clans enjoy intimate ties with Tareck
El Aissami, Venezuela’s oil minister and specialenvoy to Iran, who has been
sanctioned for his role in the drugs trade. In one 2020 scam, Aissami
contracted the National Iranian Oil Company to fix several Venezuelan oil
refineries. The refineries remain out of service, but Iran netted $1 billion in
gold bars from Venezuela’s bankrupt economy.
Hezbollah’s
international crime portfolio is primarily managed by Hassan Nasrallah’s
cousin, Abdallah Safieddine, Hezbollah’s envoy to Tehran. Safieddine and
Hezbollah official Adham Hussein Tabaja oversee a vast network of businesses
active in tourism, real estate, beef, charcoal, electronics and construction
that are essential for laundering Hezbollah’s criminal revenues. Bulk materials
such as charcoal are frequently used as cover for smuggling cocaine.
In Iraq and
Syria, Iran-backed Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary forces are part of these
transregional smuggling rings. A crucial difference, particularly since the
assassinations of Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, is that rival
militias compete over territory and criminal opportunities, meaning that Iraq
is torn apart by warring clans while citizens and their businesses are extorted
for funds. These militias have made locations such as Basra world centers for
crystal meth, and transit points for heroin and other contraband goods.
In southern
Iraq, locals warn that a crackdown against Turkish alcohol, including
paramilitary bomb attacks onshops, is motivated by aggressive efforts by Iran’s
proxies to flood markets with infinitely more dangerous crystal meth and other Iran-sourced
drugs. As one expert explained: “The drugs market rejoices in the misfortune of
the alcoholic beverages market,” making Iraq the battleground between Turkey,
the “mother of alcohol,” and Iran, the “mother of all drugs.”
Hezbollah’s
spiritual advisers during the 1990s ruled that the narcotics trade was “morally
acceptable if the drugs are sold to Western infidels as part of a war against
the enemies of Islam.” Yet today, from Beirut to Tehran, these nations are
plagued by millions of addicts, thanks to the theologically sanctioned
criminality of the so-called “Party of God.”
One rarely
discussed reason why Hezbollah and associates don’t want to put down their
weapons is that Hassan Nasrallah, Hadi Al-Amiri, Ali Khamenei and their
families manage billion-dollar criminal operations that make them unimaginably
wealthy while their nations disintegrate as a direct consequence of these
criminal enterprises.
In
accordance with Israel’s predilection for panic-mongering about Hezbollah’s
offensive capabilities, retired Israeli colonel, Eli Bar-On has been warning
that Hezbollah’s firepower exceeded that of 95 percent of the world’s
militaries. As usual, Al-Manar TV gleefully promoted Bar-On’s comments, proud
of Hezbollah’s global-menace status.
Too many
states continue to ignore Hezbollah’s criminal and terrorist activities. Rather
than Saad Hariri and French President Emmanuel Macron bending over backwards to
meet Nasrallah halfway on government formation (with sympathetic Shiite
appointees turning a blind-eye to long-running criminal operations), Hezbollah
should be banished from politics altogether, and UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army
should play a beefed-up role in combating industrial-scale smuggling and
organized crime.
I’ve always
been proud to be Lebanese, but it’s a source of intense shame when the world
sees our beautiful nation hijacked by Hezbollah’s corruption, criminality and
terrorism.
Iran and
its mafioso affiliates represent one of the world’s largest and most lucrative
criminal franchises. Only when we begin dealing with these entities as the
criminal-terrorists they are can progress be made in confronting the hydra-like
threat that Tehran poses.
-----
Baria
Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and
the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed
numerous heads of state.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1779821
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Saudi
Arabia's Geographical Location Role In Yemen's Solidity
By
Ekleel Badr Sallam
December
20, 2020
Saudi
Arabia's dynamic diplomacy, efforts and policies that resulted in the
implementation of ‘Riyadh Agreement’ on Yemen, was prepared through patience,
intensive meetings and finding a deep innovative solution.
Saudi
Arabia is committed to making all efforts to improve the lives of Yemenis, and
it is the largest donor of aid to its neighbor. The Kingdom has provided more
than $17 billion in humanitarian and development aid to Yemen since 2015.
Efforts
that Saudi Arabia played are due to the fact that politics and geography are
inter-twined because geographical relationships enter into political interests.
Nevertheless, the only exception to the prohibition against the use of force in
international relations contained in the Charter of the United Nations was the
right to self-defense.
Saudi
Arabia acted solely based on the principle of self-defense to prevent foreign
interference, which seeks to impose a new reality on Yemen by force and stage a
coup against the legitimate government and threaten the security of its neighbors
and the region.
If we
review the nature of Saudi policies in the Yemeni case, specifically after the
Houthi militia’s coup against Yemeni legitimacy, the Kingdom did not hesitate
for a second to pursue a policy of firmness, since the issue was related to
national security, sovereignty and independence of Yemen, as well as Saudi
borders.
Saudi
Arabia has welcomed the formation of a new government in Yemen following the
implementation of the mechanism outlined in the Riyadh Agreement between Yemeni
government and Southern Transitional Council (STC).
Saudi
leadership seeks peace and progress in Yemen: Riyadh Agreement will move
forward to promote stability, putting the interest of Yemenis above all
considerations, in addition to different alliances and entities announced by
the Kingdom.
Arab
Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen: Safeguard alliance assists the
coalition to support the legitimacy of Yemen to support Yemeni people from the
influence of Houthi militias loyal to Iran and its violations.
Saudi
Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY): SDRPY’s short, medium
and long-term reconstruction projects boost the economy and renew hope in
Yemen; with the goal to help all governorates in Yemen improve their standards
of living, increase job opportunities and encourage sustainable peace within a
secure and stable environment.
King Salman
Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief): KSRelief’s programs are chosen
based upon the eligibility of targeted recipients in selected geographical
areas; with the aim to provide humanitarian aid and relief to those in need
outside of the Kingdom’s borders. KSRelief distributes food-baskets, emergency
kits and blankets to the needy people of Yemen.
The Riyadh
Agreement established a new phase of cooperation and partnership, uniting
efforts to eradicate the Houthi coup, resume development and construction
processes. The agreement has emanated to turn a new page in Yemen’s history so
that it lives in security, stability and development.
-----
Ekleel
Badr Sallam is a Saudi political analyst specialized in International
Relations.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/601624/Opinion/OP-ED/Saudi-Arabias-geographical-location-role-in-Yemens-solidity
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URL: https://newageislam.com/middle-east-press/middle-east-press-hezbollah-losing/d/123822
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