Lebanon Looks to Investment Partnerships with KSA in Petrochemicals, Industry, Leisure

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by english.aawsat.com - Fatah Al-Rahman Youssef

Riyadh- The Lebanese Labor and Investment Council in Saudi Arabia  =said it was looking forward to increasing investment partnerships between Riyadh and Beirut in the sectors of health, services, petrochemicals, industry, leisure and tourism. It added that the resumption of “Flynass” flights to Beirut would enable the business sector in both countries to implement qualitative partnerships and encourage tourism in Lebanon. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Rabih al-Amin, the council’s secretary said: “We need a Lebanese economic vision that simulates Vision 2030 and Saudi Arabia’s visionary programs, and that benefits from the stability of the Kingdom, under the aspirations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is one of the pillars of stability and prosperity in the Kingdom and the Arab region.” Al-Amin noted that major opportunities await the Lebanese investors, especially with the adoption of Saudi Vision 2030. In this regard, he stated that promising opportunities included investments in the sectors of health, services, petrochemicals, industry, leisure and tourism. However, the official warned of geopolitical circumstances, which might have an impact on the regional situation and would negatively affect progress on the Lebanese arena. He noted that since the last visit of the Lebanese President Michel Aoun to Saudi Arabia, “some Lebanese officials did not invest in this visit and its outcome in a way that serves the interest of Lebanon”. He also praised efforts deployed by the Saudi Chargé d’Affaires in Beirut, Walid Boukhari, who he said was able to build a distinguished presence through activities and initiatives of the embassy in Beirut, including the establishment of the Saudi Lebanese Business Center.

Lebanese held in Iran hospitalized after hunger strike

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Our prayers with Nizar Zakkar

BEIRUT (AP) " The family of a Lebanese man with U.S. permanent residency who has been held in Iran for nearly two years says his condition is deteriorating three weeks after starting a hunger strike. The brother of Nizar Zakka, who went missing on Sept. 18, 2015, during his fifth trip to Iran, says the 50-year-old was rushed to hospital on Sunday, where he refused an IV. Ziad Zakka said Tuesday his imprisoned brother is prepared to die if he is not released. Nizar, who used to live in Washington, leads the Arab ICT Organization, or IJMA3, an industry consortium from 13 countries that advocates for information technology in the region. Last September he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and given a $4.2 million fine in connection with spying allegations.

Lebanese army ‘taking all measures’ against terror threat at Syrian border

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by NAJIA AL-HOUSSARI | Special to Arab News  BEIRUT: The Lebanese army is taking “all necessary measures” to protect towns near the border with Syria from terrorists operating in the area, the commander of the country’s armed forces has said. Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun on Wednesday inspected the military forces in the areas around Jaroud Arsal.  The barren area in the mountains between Syria and Lebanon has been a base of operations for insurgents fighting in the Syrian civil war, including members of Daesh and the group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front. Aoun stressed the need to take “all necessary measures to protect border towns and villages and ensure the safety of their residents against any terrorist violations.”  He confirmed the army’s ability and determination to deter terrorist organizations, stressing that the army “was able to protect Lebanon in its most difficult situations, and would continue doing so regardless of the price… We don’t listen to all critical voices that want to jeopardize our ability to do our sacred role.”

The local mayor released a statement calling upon “Syrians in camps around the area… to stick to their tents and houses in cases of emergency, and not appear armed in any case. Otherwise, they will be held accountable.” Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said on Tuesday that the army would carry out an operation in the border area. Speaking in the Parliament, Al-Hariri described the operation planned for Jaroud Arsal as carefully studied, the National News Agency reported. The government had given the army the “freedom” to act, he added. Syrian regime warplanes have been intensifying strikes in the area, local residents said. Abu Omar, one of the residents, said: “This is the first time the hits take place in the morning and evening, indicating that the battle Hezbollah wants to wage against the Syrian militants in Arsal ... is approaching.”

Lebanon enacts laws to raise taxes for funding wage scale

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BEIRUT, July 19 (Xinhua) -- After passing the public sector's salary scale bill on Tuesday, the Lebanese parliament approved on Wednesday a series of laws that raise taxes to secure revenues for funding the wage scale. The house, in the second legislative session, approved a 7 percent tax rate on bank's profits, along with an imposed fine on maritime public property. The parliament also approved charging a fee of 5,000 Lebanon Pound (3.3 U.S. dollars) for non-Lebanese citizens upon their entry into the country, cancelled fees on economy travel tickets and kept the current fee at a price of 60,000 Lebanon Pound (40 U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, activists from the civil society, Kataeb party and former members of Armed Forces rallied near the parliament protesting against the tax hike.

Addiction and intrigue: Inside the Saudi palace coup

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This article does not represent the opinion of khazen.org -

(Reuters) - On Tuesday June 21 Mohammed bin Nayef, a powerful figure in Saudi Arabia's security apparatus for the past two decades and the next in line to the throne, was summoned to meet King Salman bin Abdulaziz on the fourth floor of the royal palace in Mecca. There, according to a source close to MbN, as he is known, the king ordered him to step aside in favor of the king's favorite son, Mohammed bin Salman. The reason: an addiction to painkilling drugs was clouding MbN's judgment. "The king came to meet MbN and they were alone in the room. He told him: 'I want you to step down, you didn't listen to the advice to get treatment for your addiction which dangerously affects your decisions'," said the source close to MbN.

The new details about the extraordinary meeting between the king and MbN that touched off the de facto palace coup help to explain the events that are reshaping the leadership of the world's biggest oil exporting nation. Reuters could not independently confirm MbN's addiction issues. Palace officials declined to respond to detailed questions about the circumstances surrounding MbN's overthrow. Sources with knowledge of the situation said however that the king was determined to elevate his son to be heir to the throne and used MbN's drug problem as a pretext to push him aside. Three royal insiders, four Arab officials with links to the ruling house of Saud, and diplomats in the region, told Reuters that MbN was surprised to be ordered to step aside. "It was a big shock to MbN," said a Saudi political source close to MbN. "It was a coup. He wasn't prepared." The sources said MbN did not expect to be usurped by the often impulsive Mohammed bin Salman, who MbN considered to have made a number of policy blunders, such as his handling of the Yemen conflict and cutting financial benefits to civil servants.

The high-stakes power grab has placed sweeping powers in the hands of the 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS, and appears designed to speed his accession to the throne. Should he get the job, the young prince will preside over a kingdom facing tough times from depressed oil prices, the conflict in Yemen, rivalry with an emboldened Iran and a major diplomatic crisis in the Gulf. The source close to MbN acknowledged that he had health issues, which were aggravated after an al Qaeda attacker tried to blow himself up in front of him in his palace in 2009. The health issues were corroborated by three other sources in Saudi Arabia and Arab official sources with links to the royal family. An Arab source with close Saudi links also provided a similar account of the meeting at which King Salman asked MbN to step down because of his alleged drug addiction. These sources said MbN had shrapnel in his body that could not be removed and he depended on drugs such as morphine to alleviate the pain. One source said MbN had been treated in clinics in Switzerland on three occasions in recent years. Reuters was unable to confirm this independently.

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yrian cease-fire a delicate balance of vastly different goals

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by Al Monitor - Hamidreza Azizi

As various international peace initiatives have sought a political solution to the Syrian crisis, the most recent tangible breakthrough came from someplace new. On July 9, the long-awaited meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States took place on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where the two sides reaffirmed a recently reached cease-fire for southern Syria. A day after the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia will continue cooperating with the United States on the de-escalation zones in southern Syria. He further pointed out that Russia, the United States and Jordan will establish a center in Amman to coordinate all the details of the zones. The very fact that the US-Russian truce initiative has survived its first week of implementation suggests that this time the two major powers have more incentive to cooperate on their areas of shared interests regardless of how partial and non-inclusive they could be. The significance of the recent cease-fire agreement becomes clearer given the latest round of negotiations being brokered by Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astana, Kazakhstan. The July 4-5 gathering stopped short of reaching an agreement, as Ankara reportedly objected to some details of the de-escalation zones. At the same time, the other main international peace initiative on Syria, namely the UN Geneva talks held July 10, has also failed to make a real breakthrough. Those talks did not even manage to bring representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition to the same table for direct negotiations.

So why is the US-Russian truce agreement in southern Syria experiencing a successful start when other recent initiatives have yet to achieve consensus on basic issues? To answer this query, one must consider the role Russia seeks to play in Syria. Generally speaking, it seems Russia has been trying to reach a series of bilateral and multilateral working structures with the various parties involved, with Moscow as the main actor in all those structures. On one hand, it has invested heavily in the Astana talks, and by doing so it has managed to effectively sideline the Geneva process and replace it with a Moscow-centered peace initiative.

Moscow has so far tried to build on its fundamental shared interests with Tehran and Ankara — for example, pushing for a political transition plan in Syria while preserving a minimum level of influence for each of the three parties in areas they deem vital for their national interests. But Russia also faces the task of bringing Iran and Turkey to a wider compromise on their long-term interests in Syria; this goal is difficult mainly because Iran prioritizes the defeat of all terrorist and armed rebel groups over the start of a political transition while Turkey wants to use the rebels it supports and the territories they have under their control as a bargaining chip in any future political talks. Although Turkey was the main obstacle to an agreement at the latest talks in Astana, Russia seems willing to keep bargaining to gain Ankara’s cooperation by giving it some points in northern Syria, an area vital for Turkey because of its concerns over the growing role of Kurdish groups. At the same time, by declaring that Tehran will host the next meeting of the Astana working group in early August, Moscow tried not to alienate Iran and to keep it active in the Astana talks.

Meanwhile, the Syrian truce agreement reached by Russia and the United States could be viewed as Moscow's attempt to prevent any further escalation with Washington and its allies. Syria has, in effect, been divided into different zones of influence between the regional and global powers, and Moscow has shown willingness to recognize the US zone of influence in southern Syria. Displaying a softer stance in the south is also vital for Moscow to preserve its good relations with Israel. Thus, Russia is additionally trying to ease Israel’s concerns over the presence of pro-Iran groups near its borders. All in all, it seems Russia has taken the first step toward recognizing different zones of influence in Syria. To Moscow, the key objective here is to prevent any escalation that could potentially lead to its further involvement in the Syrian crisis. At the same time, these various sets of agreements could potentially introduce Moscow as the real peace broker in Syria.

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