Middle East Experience

Egypt, Greece and Cyprus are preparing to conduct joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea as a European summit is expected to impose sanctions on Ankara amid escalating tensions over maritime borders and gas exploration rights.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: As EU mulls sanctions against Turkey, East Med allies to begin joint drills

For years, Iran has repeatedly threatened to attack the Israeli city of Haifa.On Sunday, the city was again discussed as a target when an Iranian newspaper urged the government to attack Haifa if Israel is found to be behind the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist.Read more: Iranian media says Israeli arms were used to assassinate Mohsen FakhrizadehWhile Haifa may be the third largest city in Israel, in the eyes of the Iranian regime it is the primary target due to its economic significance and proximity to Lebanon, experts say.‘Economic heart’ of IsraelTehran believes Haifa is the “most critical business center of Israel,” according to Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior Iran advisor at the Washington think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).Iran’s Tasnim news agency, close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), published an article highlighting the economic importance of the city in December 2014.Haifa is Israel’s most important city, the piece claimed, adding that the city “has been dubbed the economic heart of the Israeli regime.”Read more: US condemns ISIS call to attack Saudi Arabia: OfficialThe article, titled “Five vital arteries of Israel in Haifa that are within the range of Hezbollah’s Iranian missiles,” listed five sites in the city as key targets: the port of Haifa, a petrochemical complex, an electricity company, the Matam Hi-Tech and Business Park, and a railway network.Haifa is known to be Israel’s most ethnically diverse city with a mixed Jewish-Arab population, but the most important characteristic of the city to the Iranian regime is its large petrochemical industrial facilities, according to Israeli expert Dan Arbell.“If the facilities were hit, it may lead to many casualties as the result of the spread in the air of chemicals, fumes, and toxic material,” Arbell, an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told Al Arabiya English.Proximity to LebanonHezbollah, Iran’s main proxy organization located in Israel’s neighbor Lebanon, attacked Haifa in 2006 with a rocket barrage that killed eight people.Ten years later, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah suggested striking Haifa again, specifically its stores of ammonium nitrate.Haifa, located in the north of Israel, is closer to Lebanon and therefore viewed as more vulnerable by Iran and Hezbollah than major central or southern Israeli cities, according to former Israeli Defense Forces Colonel Miri Eisin.“The perceived Hezbollah capabilities with missiles and precise guiding systems - all supplied by Iran - would be more effective against the northern locations in Israel,” Eisin said in an interview with Al Arabiya English.Read more: Watch: Hezbollah chief explains explosion scenario similar to Beirut blastIt is Haifa’s proximity to Lebanon that makes it more practical for Iran or its proxy Hezbollah to carry out a missile attack against it, according to Ghasseminejad.“We know as the distance from targets increases, Iran-manufactured missiles become less reliable,” Ghasseminejad said in an interview with Al Arabiya English.Iran’s threats against HaifaThe most recent threat against Haifa came from hardline Iranian newspaper Kayhan, which is run by Hossein Shariatmadari, a representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.The newspaper published an op-ed on Sunday that suggested that if Israel was found to have killed the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, then Iran should attack Haifa to destroy facilities and cause “heavy human casualties.”Fakhrizadeh died on Friday due to injuries sustained during a shoot-out between his bodyguards and “armed terrorists,” according to Iran’s defense ministry.The newspaper threat echoed Khamenei’s statements in 2013, when he said in a publicized speech that if Israel were to “make the slightest mistake, the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.”Earlier this year, a former IRGC chief said that Iran’s “revenge against America” will include the targeting of Haifa and Israeli military centers after the US ordered a drone strike that killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in January.Read more:Israel-Lebanon maritime border talks postponed: OfficialsNext four years under Biden ‘crucial’ to Israel-Palestine peace process: ExpertsTurkey condemns killing of Iranian nuclear scientist, urges restraint
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Why is Iran threatening Israel’s Haifa? Experts explain

US-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel that were scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed until further notice, a Lebanese security source and an Israeli official said on Monday.Long-time foes Israel and Lebanon launched the negotiations in October with delegations convening at a UN base to try to resolve a dispute about their maritime border that has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich area.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The US mediators, who informed the Lebanese side of the delay, will have bilateral contacts with both sides, the Lebanese source said. The Israeli official confirmed the delay but said he could give no further details.The Lebanese security source said the reason for the delay was Israel’s rejection of Lebanese proposals.Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio last week, said there had been no breakthrough after four rounds of talks and that Lebanon had “so far presented positions which add up to a provocation”.Steinitz said he expected “many more hurdles and bust-ups” but hoped a breakthrough could be reached in a few months.Read more: US-sanctioned Hezbollah’s Qard al-Hasan installs ATMs, violating Lebanon's fiscal lawCoronavirus: Lebanon to ease COVID-19 curbs from MondayWhy is Iran threatening Israel’s Haifa? Experts explain
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Israel-Lebanon maritime border talks postponed: Officials

Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi called on the country’s security services on Monday to crackdown on “infiltration networks” following the killing of a top Iranian military nuclear scientist.“The intelligence and security services should not hesitate in identifying and destroying the infiltration networks throughout the country and those who conspire with the enemy from within,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Raisi as saying.Read more: Why is Iran threatening Israel’s Haifa? Experts explainMohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed by the West to have been the architect of a secret Iranian military nuclear program, was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday.Iranian officials have accused Israel of being behind Fakhrizadeh’s assassination and vowed retaliation. Israel has declined to comment on the killing.Raisi, a powerful figure who is seen as a likely successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called for the formation of a special judicial committee to prosecute the perpetrators.Iranian rights activists have expressed concern that authorities could carry out arbitrary arrests.Raisi also criticized calls for restraint by Western powers following the assassination, saying: “Westerners who call for restraint in response to assassinations are actually giving the green light to terrorists.”Assassinations and sanctions are “two sides of the same coin,” Raisi added, stating: “It is wrong to hope for the lifting of sanctions through negotiation. Experience has shown that one should only be strong against those who sanction and assassinate.”Read more:All you need to know about Iran's nuclear programUAE condemns assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist, calls for restraintPresident-elect Joe Biden fractures foot playing with dogs: Doctor
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Iran judiciary chief urges crackdown on ‘infiltrators’ after killing of scientist

The COVID-19 pandemic may have left millions in isolation in 2020 during global lockdowns – but for sailors marooned at sea, being cut off for from the world is far from new.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.However, the aftermath of the pandemic – including border closures and immigration restrictions aimed at containing COVID-19 – has meant a longer spell in solitary onboard, with many sailors left marooned at sea despite finishing their normal tours of duty.The pandemic has also spelt a another disaster for those seafarers who were already stranded at sea – abandoned without pay, fuel and supplies – due to ongoing legal disputes, often as a result of vessel owners not paying wages and owners abandoning vessels with outstanding debts, leaving sailors unable to legally dock in ports.This double blow has put hundreds of sea merchants across the region at risk of severe mental strain, according to those working to help abandoned sailors return home.Nay Win, a 53-year-old from Myanmar, is a chief engineer on the vessel Mt Iba, a Panama-flagged oil tanker belonging to Sharjah-based Alco Shipping, with five crew on board.Two years ago, he and the other four members of his crew anchored 3.4 miles from Port Al Hamriya port, off the coast of Dubai. To date he is owed $93,000 in back pay. The vessel’s owner is currently in a legal dispute, he says, and he and his family are desperately waiting on the money that is owed.For seafarers, leaving a ship is the last resort, as the vessel represents their bargaining power for unpaid wages.“We are all suffering emotionally,” said Mr Win, who has not seen his wife, son and daughter for 40 months – and is bracing for another Christmas without them.“We have all not been able to financially support our families back home for a very long time. It means all the crew and all their families are getting into big trouble.”“We are all very depressed.”The double whammy means charities are working overtime to help those abandoned in Arabian Gulf waters – with workers warning that being stranded at sea during a global pandemic is having an impact on sea merchants’ mental health.COVID worsens difficult situationMohamed Arachedi, of the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, said that while seafarers in the region had “many difficulties” prior to the pandemic, “COVID-19 made things that much worse.”Having set up the trust’s branch in the Arab world two years ago, he has been at the forefront of helping sailors in the region.The waters around Yemen, the UAE, Kuwait, and Lebanon are some of the busiest in the world, he says, for stranded seafarers.Many, he said, are cases of “severe abandonment” – classed as where the crew on a vessel have been left onboard without assistance, wages or supplies for months on end.“What COVID has done has really brought an already bad situation to the very limits. It has enabled unscrupulous ship owners to not assume responsibility.‘It has burdened an existing bad situation for seafarers. They are suffering onboard ships.“I think this year it is very evident that governments should take it seriously. If everyone agrees –everyone – that nine percent of goods in the world is via to shipping, then we can agree these seafarers are very key workers- and those key workers need to move.“It is absolutely unacceptable ton have seafarers on board a vessel for more than 18 months and they cannot be repatriated because they are in a country whose borders are closed.”IMO estimates 400,000 seafarers strandedOn World Maritime Day, 24 September 2020, the head of the International Maritime Organization said some 400,000 seafarers from across the globe are now stranded on ships, continuing to work but unable to be relieved, in a deepening crew change crisis which threatens trade and maritime safety.During a high-level event on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, Captain Hedi Marzougui, who was in command of a vessel between December 2019 and May 2020, appealed to governments to act to allow seafarers to come home.“Not knowing when or if we will be returning home brings a severe mental toll on my crew and myself,” Captain Marzougui said. “I would encourage each and every one of you to think of how you would feel, if you had to work every day, for 12 hours, with no weekends, without seeing your loved ones, and trapped at sea. Now add that you have to do that with no idea of when you will be repatriated.”Rev. Andy Bowerman, Gulf and South Asia regional director for the Mission to Seafarers, a charity supporting abandoned crew in Dubai, is says he is helping double the number of stranded seafarers than before the pandemic struck.“For the past years we have been helping seafarers around UAE waters and we normally help anywhere between 60 -70 (stranded) seafarers at any one time.”This includes helping seafarers as they battle legal disputes which mean they unable to leave their ships and enter the UAE – and get their hands on their outstanding salaries – as well as ensuring they get essential supplies and human interaction with scheduled visits as often as the charity can offer assistance.Often, said Bowerman, the latter is the charity’s “bread and butter” due to the men on the ships suffering from isolation, loneliness and mental struggles.“Currently I am helping around 200 seafarers in the waters around the UAE,” he said. “That suggests a significant increase than before the coronavirus crisis.”This was a blow to many vessels stranded off the shore who were nearing a resolution to their outstanding cases – some who whom have been stranded for 18 months at sea.“There were cases nearing conclusions, then once COVID hit the people were going to buy the ships and help withdrew tier offers because they couldn’t afford it.”Take, for example, said Rev Bowerman, the case of the crew stuck on the Mt Iba.Some crew members have been at sea for three years - despite initially signing for a 12-month contract - and been paid only the first few months of pay.“The deal was almost signed and we were on the verge on agreeing what money the men were going to get and booking their flights home but then COVID-19 came, and the lockdown happened.”The offer was taken off the table, said, with a “derisory one” put in its placeA Chief Engineer on such vessels can expect a monthly salary of up to 7,400 dirhams ($2,000).“Times that by 18 months - in some cases - and that is a lot of money and these seafarers ca not take huge deductions of 50 per cent on what they are owned,” said Rev Bowerman. “They are the sole breadwinners for their families and, without having received any financial help for years, their families back home have borrowed money from friends, from banks…these men need their full salaries to clear the debts that have racked up back in their home country against their families.”The crew on vessels such as Mt Iba are now “almost back to square one,” and are facing the multiple despairs of not being paid, not being able to send back to family who rely on them as their sole breadwinners and being separated from families during the global pandemic.It means abandoned vessels can feel like “floating prisons,” said Rev Bowerman. “It is like people being imprisoned and for no fault of their own. Some of these sailors are nearly facing a mental breakdown.”Some vessels are covered by existing insurance policies - meaning the sailors get access to food, water and essential supplies. Others are not so lucky and rely on the donations of charities such as Mission to Seafarers.Read more:Pakistani sailor returns home after six months in war-torn YemenIndia, Philippines seek release of sailors on seized British-flagged tankerShip takeover by migrants raises concerns for rescues at sea
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Pandemic places further strain on sailors stranded at sea

As Iran investigates the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, fingers are already pointing at Israel and the United States, whose outgoing administration clearly wants to minimize the chances of reviving the nuclear deal.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Nuclear scientist's assassination puts Tehran at crossroads

The United Arab Emirates on Sunday approved the establishment of a new national cybersecurity council, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, UAE prime minister and vice-president and ruler of Dubai, said on Twitter..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: UAE creates new cybersecurity council

The Jerusalem Post and Khaleej Times to present in-person conference in 2021..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Dubai conference to highlight UAE-Israel peace accord

Lebanon lifted its coronavirus lockdown measures Monday, with traffic returning back to normal and businesses reopening throughout the country..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Life back to normal in Lebanon after lockdown

The People's Mujahedeen of Iran rejected as..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Exiled group rejects Iran 'lies' of role in scientist murder