THE MIDDLE EAST

Post Reply
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

CNN

"Syria accidentally shot down a Russian military plane"


By Barbara Starr, Ryan Browne and Nathan Hodge, CNN

18 SEPTEMBER 2018

Syria inadvertently shot down a Russian military plane after an Israeli attack on Syrian positions, killing 15 people on board, Moscow said.

The Russian military said Tuesday that the Russian maritime patrol aircraft was shot by by Syrian regime anti-aircraft artillery amid the Israeli attack on Monday, state news agency RIA-Novosti reported.


Moscow blamed Israel for putting its aircraft in the line of fire, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported.

"As a result of the irresponsible actions of the Israeli military, 15 Russian servicemen were killed, which is absolutely not in keeping with the spirit of Russian-Israeli partnership," said Russian Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, spokesperson for the Russian military, according to RIA-Novosti.

In a statement Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to the accusations by blaming the Assad regime for the deaths of the Russian aircrew and claiming that the IDF had followed the usual procedures when carrying out an attack in Syria, including making use of well-established communication links with Moscow.

"Israel holds the Assad regime, whose military shot down the Russian plane, fully responsible for this incident," the statement said, adding that Iran and Hezbollah were also accountable.

According to the statement, Syrian anti-aircraft batteries "fired indiscriminately and from what we understand did not bother to ensure no Russian planes were in the air."

The incident presents Moscow with a diplomatic conundrum, as the country has a strong relationship with both Israel and the Syrian regime.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday Moscow was "extremely concerned" about the downing of the aircraft, but declined to comment on further steps the Russian government might take in response or on any potential impact on relations between Russia and Israel.

According to a handout from the Russian Ministry of Defense of a conversation between Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and his Russian counterpart, Army General Sergei Shoigu, Shoigu described the actions of the Israeli air force as irresponsible and said to Liberman that the fault for the downed plane and the deaths of its crew "rests entirely with the Israeli side."

"We reserve the right for further reciprocal steps," Shoigu said, according to the handout.

Anti-aircraft system 'sold to Syria by Russians'

Reports of Syrian air defense activity and a missing Russian aircraft spread across Russian and Syrian news media Monday.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that a Russian IL-20 military aircraft disappeared over the Mediterranean.

TASS, citing the Russian defense ministry, said the aircraft went off the radars during an attack by four Israeli F-16 aircraft on Syrian targets in the north-western province of Latakia, where Russia has based much of its military presence, including aircraft.

Separately, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that air defense systems had intercepted a number of hostile missiles coming from the sea into Latakia city.

The Russian military said Israel notified the Russian side about the planned operation only a minute in advance, and that Israeli controllers would have seen the Russian plane, which was coming in to land, RIA reported.

In a highly unusual move, the IDF released details of its operation in Syria Monday, revealing that fighter jets targeted a Syrian Armed Forces facility, "from which systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons were about to be transferred on behalf of Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon."

"These weapons were meant to attack Israel, and posed an intolerable threat against it," the IDF said in a statement Tuesday.

The IDF alleges that by the time Syrian anti-aircraft missiles had been launched, Israeli warplanes responsible for the overnight operation were already back within Israeli airspace.

The IDF also says that the Russian plane was not "within the area of operation" while the Israeli strike on Latakia was underway.

The aircraft was shot down by an anti-aircraft system the Russians sold to the Syrians several years ago, a US official with knowledge of the incident told CNN Monday.

The Syrian air defense network in western Syria is very densely populated with anti-aircraft missile and radar systems.

In February, the two-man crew of an Israeli F-16 ejected from their aircraft when a missile exploded near them, damaging their aircraft as they finished conducting a mission against Syrian forces.

An Israeli defense official told CNN earlier this month that Israel has struck Syria 200 times in the past 18 months to prevent the deployment of Iranian weapons in the region.

Demilitarized zone in neighboring Idlib

The incident occurred on the same day that Russia announced a joint agreement with Turkey to create a demilitarized zone in Syria's Idlib province, which neighbors Latakia, potentially thwarting a large-scale military operation and impending humanitarian disaster in the country's last rebel stronghold.

Speaking alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at talks in Sochi on Monday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the creation of a 15-20 kilometer (approximately 9-12 miles) demilitarized zone will prevent a "humanitarian crisis" in the northwestern province.

All heavy military equipment tanks, ground-to-air missiles and mortars of all the opposition groups will be removed by October 10, the leaders said.

The zone, which will be patrolled by Turkish and Russian military units, will become operational from October 15.

Erdogan described the agreement as a "solution" to the issues in the region.

Speaking Tuesday, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the downing of the Russian aircraft would not affect the Sochi agreement "in any way," adding that "this is an important, breakthrough agreement."

In recent weeks, Syrian and Russian planes have conducted scores of airstrikes in Idlib in the run-up to an anticipated offensive by Russian-backed Syrian forces to retake the last part of the country under armed opposition.

Last week, UN officials said that more than 30,000 people fled the province in anticipation of the government offensive.

Natalie Gallon, Andrew Carey, Mary Ilyushina, Judith Vonberg and Radina Gigova contributed reporting.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/syr ... id=HPDHP17
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

MARKETWATCH

"U.S. oil sanctions on Iran threaten global supplies, but a demand slowdown poses a real risk"


By Myra P. Saefong

Published: Sept 20, 2018 5:51 p.m. ET

There are still several weeks before U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil actually kick in, but expectations of tight crude inventories already have contributed to much of this year’s gain in global prices.

The rise has come despite concerns over potentially lower energy demand and plans by two of the world’s biggest producers to boost output.

“The markets are always forward-looking,” said Tamar Essner, energy director at Nasdaq IR Intelligence.

“Exports from Iran are already down about 35%, when you look at crude and condensate [a very light oil] together,” since President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May.

The deal between Iran and six world powers and the European Union was made to ensure that Tehran’s nuclear program had a peaceful purpose, rather than to make nuclear weapons.

“The market has really been surprised by the degree of enforcement from the U.S.,” Essner said.

In the past, she adds, Washington had “targeted reductions in exports” with sanctions, but the current administration has “focused on elimination” of exports from Iran, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ third-largest producer.


Nations such as South Korea have reached full compliance with the sanctions, and “critically, we’ve also seen China already showing signs of reducing their level of imports,” Essner said, noting that a buildup of Iranian oil in offshore storage shows that “it’s been harder for Iran to find buyers.”

U.S. allies have until Nov. 4 to end imports of oil from that country.

Since Trump’s announcement in early May through mid-September, the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, climbed roughly 7%.

It settled at $78.60 a barrel on Thursday, up about 18% since the year began.

“European companies will almost certainly comply with these sanctions to avoid fines and confrontation with the U.S.,” said Sebastian Leburn, senior portfolio manager of Boston Private.

“About a third of Iran oil is exported to Europe, and this is where the curtailment will be most pronounced.”

Iran’s crude and condensate exports averaged 1.92 million barrels a day in August, down from 2.32 million in July, according to estimates from S&P Global Platts.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have been trying to ensure market stability in the aftermath of the Iran sanctions, but some question their ability to make up for the lost barrels of crude.

In June, OPEC and allied producers said they would rein in production curbs implemented in January 2017.

That could raise daily output by one million barrels, to help offset a possible supply shortage from the Iran sanctions and production losses in Venezuela and elsewhere.

A committee of OPEC and non-OPEC producers was expected to discuss how best allocate the production increase at a meeting in Algiers on Sept. 23.

However, it’s doubtful that Saudi Arabia or Russia can make up for the lost oil, maintains Campbell Faulkner, a senior data analyst at EOXLive.

“Neither country has the swing production it did a number of years ago.”

It’s more likely that U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude prices will spike into the $100 range, prompting production from drilled-but-uncompleted wells to ramp up, “along with greater U.S. exports to ease the tight market,” said Faulkner.

That “will not replace the totality of the loss, but it, along with marginal production increases globally, can soak the market to prevent” oil from going into the $130 range.

Iran, however, isn’t the only factor that will help guide oil’s direction.

The sanctions probably will remove 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil a day from the market, and that’s obviously very bullish for prices.

But the other big factor is the trade war, which is potentially very bearish for crude, because it could dampen demand, Essner says.

Trump has imposed tariffs on, and plans even more, on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods from China, the world’s largest energy consumer.

The “bigger factor through the rest of the year is likely demand rather than supply,” said Brian Youngberg, senior energy analyst at Edward Jones, and the “real” threat to oil demand comes from the “broader economic downturn in emerging markets as a whole, not just China.”

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-oi ... ewer_click
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"Mattis dismisses Iran's revenge threat as tensions climb after attack"


Phil Stewart, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin

September 24, 2018 / 2:12 AM

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday dismissed Iran’s threats of revenge after Saturday’s deadly attack at a military parade in southwestern Iran and said it was “ludicrous” for Tehran to allege U.S. involvement.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday the attackers who killed 25 people at a military parade had been paid by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and that Iran would “severely punish” those behind the bloodshed.


The deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also accused the United States and Israel of involvement in the attack and said they should expect a devastating response.

Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon that Iran’s threat did not give him any concern.

“We’ve been very clear that they shouldn’t take us on like that."

"And I am hopeful that cooler, wiser heads will prevail,” Mattis said.

“They’ve so far blamed at least three countries and I think one terrorist group."

"We’ll see how long the list goes."

"But it’d be good if they knew what they’re talking about before they started talking.”

In the southwestern city of Ahvaz, thousands packed the streets to mourn the victims of Saturday’s assault, many chanting “Death to Israel and America”.

Twelve members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were among the dead.

The coffins, wrapped in flags, were carried by mourners.

Many held pictures of a four-year-old boy killed in the incident, one of the worst such attacks against Iran’s most powerful military force.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said some 22 people had been arrested in connection with the attack.

“Weapons, (explosives) material and communication equipment were seized in the house that belonged to the five-member terrorist group that carried out the attack,” a ministry statement said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Gunmen fired on a viewing stand in Ahvaz where officials had gathered to watch an annual parade marking the start of Iran’s 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Fars and IRNA news agencies said on Monday five attackers were killed, not four as previously reported by state media.

The body of the fifth assailant had not been identified as it was mixed up with other casualties, Fars said.

“Based on reports, this cowardly act was done by people who the Americans come to help when they are trapped in Syria and Iraq, and are paid by Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” Khamenei said on his website.

Guards Brigadier General Hossein Salami, in a speech broadcast on state TV, said: “You have seen our revenge before."

"You will see that our response will be crushing and devastating and you will regret what you have done.”

Tasnim news agency quoted Salami as saying the “horrific crime” exposed the dark side of an alliance that the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel had created to counter Iranian influence in the region.

The secretary of Iran’s National Security Council said Tehran needed to talk to its neighbors to avoid tensions.

“It’s essential to be fully aware and increase our constructive dialogues to neutralize the plots of enemies who want to create suspicion and disagreement among regional countries,” Ali Shamkhani said.

He also said U.S. sanctions against Iran were illegal and President Donald Trump was using them as a tool for “personal revenge”.

MATTIS “WOKEN UP” BY NEWS

Mattis said it was clear that Iran still didn’t know what had happened.

He stressed the United States had no advance knowledge that such an attack was possible.

“I don’t get woken up with phone calls over something we know is going to happen."

"It’s just ludicrous to say we had anything to do with it,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asked by a Fox News interviewer if the United States played any role in the attack, said: “When you have a security incident at home, blaming others is an enormous mistake.”

The loss of innocent lives was tragic, Pompeo added.

There has been no reaction from Saudi Arabia or Israel.

Accusations against Gulf countries will almost certainly antagonize Iran’s regional foe Saudi Arabia.

The oil super-powers are waging a war for influence across the Middle East, backing opposite sides in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.

It is, however, highly unlikely the Guards will strike any of its foes directly and risk setting off a regional conflict.

Analysts said the violence has led to a boost in domestic support for the Guards which they could use to silence their critics, who include pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani.

Rouhani engineered Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that ushered in a cautious detente with Washington before tensions flared anew with Trump’s decision in May to pull out of the accord and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Mahmoud Alavi, said a network of suspects had been arrested in connection with the attack, the judiciary’s news agency Mizan reported.

He did not elaborate.

Karim Dahimi, a human rights activist in London, told Reuters local sources had said more than 300 people had been arrested in the cities of Ahvaz, Khorramshahr and Abadan in recent days, mostly from the Sunni Muslim community.

Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, and Islamic State have both claimed responsibility.

The Guard Corps was set up after the 1979 Islamic revolution to protect the Shi’ite clerical ruling system and revolutionary values.

It answers to Ayatollah Khamenei and has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units.

Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy and Phil Stewart, Editing by Richard Balmforth and James Dalgleish

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran ... SKCN1M40JN
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

MARKETWATCH

"Global oil settles at another 4-year high as U.S. benchmark climbs for a third session"


By Myra P. Saefong and Mark DeCambre

Published: Sept 25, 2018 3:16 p.m. ET

Global benchmark crude futures notched another settlement at a four-year high Tuesday, as U.S. crude prices rise for third consecutive session but eased back from the session's best levels.

U.S. crude prices posted a gain for a third consecutive session, but eased from the session highs as President Donald Trump at the United Nations assembly reiterated calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil prices and said the U.S. would take action if it didn’t.


Trump’s U.N. address partly explains the move in WTI, said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at Oanda, pointing out this line in the president’s speech: “The United States stands ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal and natural gas.”

“Trump has now escalated the rhetoric and if OPEC and other major producers will not increase supply, the U.S. is ready to step up,” said Esparza.

“Trump gave no details, but he has suggested in the past that he would be willing to tap into the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] to keep oil prices low.”

Global benchmark November Brent rose 67 cents, or 0.8%, to end at $81.87 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

That was the highest finish for a front-month contract since Nov. 10, 2014, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

November West Texas crude tacked on 20 cents, or 0.3%, to finish at $72.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

That was its third session rise in a row and highest settlement since July 10, but it had climbed as high as $72.78 early Tuesday.

Oil prices have been mostly rallying, boosted in part by Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 Iran nuclear accord and renew sanctions on the country, which are aimed at sharply curtailing the major producer’s exports.

During an interview on Monday with NBC News, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly gathering, said “the United States is not capable of bringing our oil exports to zero.”

“It’s a threat that is empty of credibility."

"Perhaps on this path, we will sustain certain pressures but certainly the United States will not reach its objective,” he said.

Rouhani’s interview comes after a committee made up of some OPEC members and nonmember crude producers, known as the Joint OPEC-non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee, over the weekend in Algiers delivered no formal plan to boost output to offset an estimated 2 million barrels a day of oil that estimated to likely be lost due to Iranian sanctions.

However, “OPEC Gulf Countries, along with Russia, will be forced to increase the output to meet the global demand,” said Nicholas Gunther, market research analyst at Long Leaf Trading.

He believes that OPEC “has no problem ramping up production,” and that sanctions on Iran have been priced into the market, so “there should be no surprise when it comes time for the U.S. to enact” the sanctions.

Iranian exports have fallen by around 500,000 barrels a day between April and August, according to the International Energy Agency, with specific U.S. sanctions targeting oil set to take effect Nov. 4.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including Russia, agreed in late 2016 began capping global production in an effort to sop up a supply glut that had delivered a blow to crude prices, chopping them down from peak 2014 levels.

Back on Nymex, prices for heating fuels climbed ahead of the winter demand season.

Natural gas ended at its highest since January.

October natural gas settled at $3.082 per million British thermal units, up about 1.5%.

October heating oil added roughly 0.9% to $2.305 a gallon — the highest finish since November 2014.

October gasoline edged up 0.6% to $2.068 a gallon

Weekly U.S. petroleum supply data are due late Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute and Energy Information Administration early Wednesday.

Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a fall of 2.2 million barrels in crude stockpiles, but forecast increases for gasoline and distillate supplies.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/brent ... 2018-09-25
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

MARKETWATCH

"U.S. pulling some missile-defense systems out of Mideast"


By Gordon Lubold

Published: Sept 26, 2018 5:25 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon is removing some U.S. missile systems from the Middle East in October, U.S. military officials said, a move that will leave American allies with fewer defenses as the White House ramps up its rhetoric against what it says are threats posed by Iran.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is pulling four Patriot missile systems out of Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain next month in a realignment of forces and capabilities as the military steps up its focus on threats from China and Russia, multiple senior military officials said.

The relocation of the systems out of the Middle East, which hasn’t been previously disclosed, is one of the most tangible signs of the Pentagon’s new focus on threats from Russia and China and away from the long-running conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Two Patriot missile systems will be redeployed from Kuwait, and one each from Jordan and Bahrain, officials said.

Patriots are mobile missile systems capable of shooting down missiles and planes.

The four systems have been taken offline and will be redeployed by next month, officials said.

There are no plans for any of them to be replaced, and they are being returned to the U.S. for refurbishing and upgrades, an official said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-pu ... ewer_click
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

THE WASHINGTON POST

"Two princes: Kushner now faces a reckoning for Trump’s bet on the Saudi heir"


By Philip Rucker, Carol D. Leonnig and Anne Gearan

15 OCTOBER 2018

When President Trump chose Riyadh to make his debut on the world stage last year, he was placing a bet on Saudi Arabia, which serenaded him with military bands, dazzled him with a flyover of fighter jets and regaled him with a traditional sword dance.

The mastermind behind that wager — the White House adviser who convinced Trump to visit Saudi Arabia for his maiden foreign trip and who choreographed a veritable lovefest between the new American president and the desert kingdom’s white-robed ruler, King Salman — was Jared Kushner.


The presidential son-in-law has carefully cultivated a close partnership with the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Kushner has championed as a reformer poised to usher the ultraconservative oil-rich monarchy into modernity.

But the U.S.-Saudi alliance — and the relationship between Kushner, 37, and Mohammed, 33 — is now imperiled by the unexplained disappearance and alleged gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who had been living in the United States and wrote columns for The Washington Post.

The suspected killing has sparked international outcry and calls for tough punishment of Riyadh.

Kushner, however, has already signaled that he has no intention of turning his back on the crown prince, known by the initials MBS.

Trump himself has threatened “extreme punishment” even while repeatedly casting doubt on the Saudi regime’s guilt or the effectiveness of tough measures.

“It’s placed President Trump and the administration now on a tightrope and we will see how they perform,” said James C. Oberwetter, a U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under former president George W. Bush.

As Kushner and his father-in-law see it, the partnership has paid dividends in the form of Saudi pledges to purchase billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry as well as the kingdom’s position as an Arab ally in countering Iran and in fighting extremism throughout the Middle East, according to administration officials.

Trump and Salman together convened the leaders of 54 Muslim leaders to jointly condemn terrorism at a Riyadh summit in May 2017.

And the Saudis built a center to combat extremist ideology, which Trump inaugurated during his trip by placing his hands on a glowing orb.

Kushner has celebrated Mohammed’s moves to modernize Saudi’s economy and long-repressed society, including allowing women to drive and encouraging women’s entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, he considers the crown prince an influential and wise sounding board on geopolitics in the Muslim world and holds out hope that the crown prince might eventually deliver support from Saudi Arabia — home of the two holiest sites in Islam — for his foundering Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

But the Khashoggi crisis has become a reckoning for Kushner.

“I have a sense that they put all of their chips on the hope that the Saudis would be able to help the United States, not only in dealing with the challenges of terrorism, but also in dealing with peace in the Middle East,” said Leon Panetta, a defense secretary and CIA director under former president Barack Obama.

Khashoggi, who wrote columns critical of Mohammed, is said by Turkish authorities to have been killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

In conversations intercepted by U.S. intelligence, officials in Saudi Arabia discussed plans to lure Khashoggi back to his native Saudi Arabia and detain him.

The plot, U.S. intelligence officials believe, was ordered by the crown prince.


Kushner was not briefed about the plot before Khashoggi’s disappearance, according to two people familiar with his knowledge of the matter.

It would not be automatic for a senior White House adviser to be briefed on every new piece of intelligence in a region, unless officials decided it needed to be elevated to their attention, former national security officials say.

Critics of the Trump administration say Kushner has been dangerously naive to trust Mohammed and has allowed himself to be manipulated by an ascendant monarch who charms foreigners yet has been ruthless in consolidating power inside the kingdom.

Kushner declined to comment on his relationship with Mohammed.

His defenders say he has been realistic about Mohammed’s power and unafraid to chide the prince privately when he disagrees with his tactics but still believes there are long-term benefits in maintaining a close relationship.

“I don’t think they were played by him,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Sunday on CNN, referring to the Trump administration and Mohammed.

“I think that they wanted to put together a Middle Eastern strategy in which a less-than-perfect government was a key component of constraining Iranian ambition in the region.”

Trump has all but ruled out canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying Saturday that it would be “very foolish for our country” to give up what he wrongly characterizes as a $110 billion deal.

U.S. intelligence officials who have been warily watching Mohammed’s rise since before he was appointed crown prince in June 2017 said they assessed him as a naive, inexperienced and ambitious upstart who was not prepared for a position of great power.

They said they heard an echo of Mohammed in Kushner.

Here, too, was a young, power-hungry “prince” with no track-record in government.

“Prince Mohammed is a very shrewd, very smart, very capable guy,” said Joseph W. Westphal, a U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the Obama administration.

“He’s a very quick study."

"And I think he knows, or has certainly learned, much about our system and our politics.”

Mohammed and Kushner became close early on in the Trump administration.

They struck up a friendship at a White House lunch in March 2017 and had private, one-on-one phone calls that took senior intelligence leaders by surprise and worried career national security officials because note-takers were not always present, according to multiple people familiar with the relationship.

One Trump adviser said it was “insane” how much Kushner spoke with Mohammed.

The contents of some of those conversations remain a mystery.

Administration officials said that since those early months, Kushner has had key national security officials present for his conversations with Mohammed or he has later briefed them.

“Jared has always meticulously followed protocols and collaborated with colleagues regarding the relationship with MBS and all of the other foreign officials with whom he interacts,” said a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Kushner’s practices.

Nevertheless, anxiety among some American spies grew when they learned that foreign officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways to manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business dealings, financial difficulties and his lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence about those discussions.

One of the countries was the United Arab Emirates, a key Saudi ally.

One senior U.S. intelligence official said that Kushner has come under the influence of Mohammed’s simplistic view of power dynamics in the Middle East.

“MBS has an elevator pitch,” this official said, that Kushner has bought into: Iran is the main enemy and the single obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East.

The reality is far more complicated.

But this official said Kushner has appeared uninterested in studying the nuances of security dilemmas in the region and has skipped some intelligence briefings before some high-stakes negotiations.

Kushner sold Trump and administration colleagues on the idea that Mohammed, like Kushner, was a reformer looking to shake up old alliances and break up corrupt power blocs within his country.

Kushner privately argued for months last year that Mohammed would be key to crafting a Middle East peace plan, because with his blessing, much of the Arab world would follow, according to people with knowledge of the internal deliberations.

Kushner persuaded Trump to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit as president against the initial objections of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who as ExxonMobil’s chief executive had extensive experience negotiating with the Saudis and other Arab states.

“It was their premier disagreement,” said the Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid.

Tillerson, as well as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others in the U.S. government, was skeptical of Mohammed’s follow-through and of Saudi promises to help the United States counter Iran’s influence and destroy the Islamic State, according to the people familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them to reporters.

Trump put Kushner in charge of drafting a peace proposal for Israel and the Palestinians both because of his long ties to Israel and because his authority as a Trump family member would be readily understood in Arab family dynasties, such as in Saudi Arabia.

This past July, however, the Saudis delivered a setback.

After the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, King Salman publicly rejected Kushner’s peace plan and reassured the Palestinians that Saudi Arabia would not make the concessions that the United States sought for Israel.

The plan stalled and Kushner was startled and angry at the Saudi response, according to diplomats familiar with his reaction.


Trump is expected to soon present a reworked package, but it is not clear whether the Saudis would provide the diplomatic backing and financial support that Kushner has sought.

“It all smacks of a massive naivete on his part that he could sit down with MBS and figure out Middle East peace and a broader framework” involving Arab states that want a durable solution, said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institution.

The administration voiced little public criticism when Mohammed seemed to overstep with the detention last fall of leading Saudi businessmen and a bizarre episode involving what may have been the brief kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister, nor when the Saudi crown prince picked a diplomatic fight this year with Canada, a close U.S. ally.

In general, Trump’s critics have said the president’s admiration for strongmen and reluctance to champion human rights and democracy makes authoritarian leaders feel empowered because they do not fear American retaliation.

“The Jared-MBS relationship revolves around the Middle East peace process, and the hope that Jared had for the Israeli-Palestinian issue,” said Gerald Feierstein, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen and former senior State Department official who is now policy director at the Middle East Institute, which has hosted Khashoggi.

But, he added, “MBS for his own reasons has played along and given the administration reason to believe that the Saudis will do more than I believe they ever will.”

Josh Dawsey and Shane Harris contributed to this report.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/two ... id=HPDHP17
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

CNN

"Saudi officials to admit writer died in interrogation gone wrong, sources say"


15 OCTOBER 2018

ANKARA - According to two sources, the Saudis are preparing a report that will acknowledge that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death was the result of an interrogation that went wrong, one that was intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey.

One source says the report will likely conclude that the operation was carried out without clearance and transparency and that those involved will be held responsible.


One of the sources acknowledged that the report is still being prepared and cautioned that things could change.

The Washington Post columnist was last seen in public when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in Turkey on October 2.

Previously, Saudi authorities had maintained Khashoggi left the consulate the same afternoon of his visit, but provided no evidence to support the claim.

Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the consulate, says she did not see him re-emerge.

This is a breaking news story.

Check back for updates.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sau ... id=HPDHP17
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

CNN

"Jamal Khashoggi: Body of missing Saudi journalist was cut into pieces, Turkish official says"


By CNN Staff, CNN

16 OCTOBER 2018

The body of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi was cut into pieces after he was killed two weeks ago at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a Turkish official told CNN on Tuesday.

The claim, which was first made to the New York Times earlier in the investigation into Khashoggi's fate, comes after Turkish officials searched the consulate for nine hours on Monday night.


The Turkish official would not comment on the disposal method for the body.

Turkish officials have said privately that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate on October 2 after he arrived to obtain papers that would have allowed him to marry his Turkish fiancée, Hatice Cengiz.

Saudi Arabia has previously insisted he left the building alive, but Cengiz says she never saw him again.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier Tuesday said Turkish investigators were looking into "toxic" and "painted over material" as part of their inquiry.

"My hope is that we can reach conclusions that will give us a reasonable opinion as soon as possible, because the investigation is looking into many things such as toxic materials and those materials being removed by painting them over," Erdogan told reporters.

CNN saw a cleaning crew enter the main consulate building on Monday before Turkish officials, including a forensics team, arrived to begin their investigation.

Turkish investigators were expected to carry out a search of the Saudi Consul General's residence in Istanbul later on Tuesday.

CCTV footage, which has served as a focal point in the investigations, showed vehicles moving from the consulate building to the nearby Consul General's residence on October 2.

The semiofficial Anadolu news agency said Saudi's Istanbul Consul General, Mohammed Otaibi, left the country on Tuesday.

On Friday, a source familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN that Turkish authorities have audio and visual evidence that showed Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate.

The evidence, which was described to the source by a Western intelligence agency, showed there had been an assault and a struggle inside the consulate.

There is also evidence of the moment that Khashoggi was killed, the source said.

Saudi Arabia has been under intense international pressure to explain Khashoggi's apparent death, which has created a diplomatic rift between Saudi Arabia and the West.

US President Donald Trump dispatched US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as sources told CNN that the Kingdom was preparing to acknowledge that Khashoggi died at the consulate in Istanbul as a result of an interrogation that went wrong.

The sources said the interrogation was intended to lead to his enforced return to Saudi Arabia.


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jam ... id=HPDHP17
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Audio Contains Gruesome Details of Khashoggi Killing, Turkish Official Says"


By CARLOTTA GALL and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

17 OCTOBER 2018

ISTANBUL — His killers were waiting when Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago.

They severed his fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded and dismembered him, according to details from audio recordings published in the Turkish news media on Wednesday.


It was all over within a few minutes, the recordings suggested.

A senior Turkish official confirmed the details that were published in the pro-government daily newspaper Yeni Safak.

The leaking of such details, on the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was visiting Turkey, reflected an escalation of pressure by the Turkish government on Saudi Arabia and the United States for answers on the fate of Mr. Khashoggi, a prominent dissident journalist who wrote for The Washington Post.

Fifteen days after he entered the consulate in Istanbul and was never seen coming out, the Saudis have yet to give an explanation.

Top Saudi officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance — denials that they repeated to Mr. Pompeo when he visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

A team of 15 Saudi agents, some with ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was waiting for Mr. Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate the moment he arrived, at about 1:15 p.m. on Oct. 2.

After he was shown into the office of the Saudi consul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, the agents seized Mr. Khashoggi almost immediately and began to beat and torture him, eventually cutting off his fingers, the senior Turkish official said.


“Do this outside."

"You will put me in trouble,” Mr. al-Otaibi, the consul, told them, according to the Turkish official and the report in Yeni Safak, both citing audio recordings said to have been obtained by Turkish intelligence.

“If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up,” one of the agents replied, according to both the official and the newspaper.

“Horrendous tortures were committed on Khashoggi, who came to the consulate for documents,” the Yeni Safak account said.

As they cut off Mr. Khashoggi’s head and dismembered his body, a doctor of forensics who had been brought along for the dissection and disposal had some advice for the others, according to the senior Turkish official.

Listen to music, he told them, as he put on headphones himself.

That was what he did to ease the tension when doing such work, the official said, describing the contents of the audio recording.

Such information would not have been disclosed in Turkey without the consent of the government.

Turkish media outlets and newspapers are closely controlled: They are either government-controlled or owned by pro-government business executives.

Censors are often present in newsrooms, and reporters and editors take close instructions from officials in the presidency.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/aud ... id=HPDHP17
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MIDDLE EAST

Post by thelivyjr »

THE WASHINGTON POST

"Suspects in disappearance of Khashoggi linked to Saudi security services"


Shane Harris, Erin Cunningham, Aaron Davis, Tamer El-Ghobashy

16 OCTOBER 2018

Three days before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in the United States earlier this year for a nationwide tour, another Saudi traveler who identifies online as a member of the Saudi Royal Guard also arrived in Washington, passport records show.

His stay overlapped with that of the prince.

Two times before that, this traveler had made other trips to the United States that coincided with visits by top members of the Saudi royal family, including King Salman and another one of his sons.

That same traveler, Khalid Aedh Alotaibi, has now appeared on a list provided by Turkish officials of 15 Saudis who Turkey alleges participated in the disappearance and alleged killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate on Oct. 2.

On Tuesday, Turkish officials provided passport scans for seven members of what they called a hit squad, and that information helped confirm Alotaibi’s travels to Washington.


Alotaibi is one of 11 Saudis included on the list who have ties to the Saudi security services, according to their posts on social media, emails, local media reports and other material reviewed by The Washington Post.

Two weeks after the disappearance of Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post’s Global Opinions section and critic of the Saudi government, there is mounting scrutiny of the 15 men identified by Turkey as members of the Saudi team involved in his death.

Turkey released the list as a way to demonstrate Saudi involvement in the killing.

According to the Turkish account and flight information, the 15 men arrived in Istanbul on Oct. 2 — most of them early in the morning — and then departed in the hours after Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Saudi officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance and say they have no information about his whereabouts.

They say he left the consulate shortly after he arrived to obtain a document he needed for an upcoming marriage.

Saudi Arabia has made no official statement about the men or said why they may have been in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

A report on the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news channel said the 15 were “tourists” who had been falsely accused.

U.S. officials now expect the Saudi government to accept responsibility for the death of Khashoggi in an explanation that shields the powerful crown prince from fault, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.

The diplomat spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

With President Trump suggesting that Khashoggi might have died at the hands of “rogue killers,” attention has increasingly focused on the identities of the men on the list and their reported links to the Saudi government, security services and the crown prince himself.

Alotaibi and eight others identified as suspects by Turkish officials appear to have profiles on MenoM3ay — a phone directory app popular in the Arab world — identifying themselves as members of the Saudi security forces, with some claiming to be members of the Royal Guard.

In one instance, Alotaibi identified himself with a symbol for the Royal Guard.

In another, someone else saved him in their contacts with the same symbol for the security force, which is charged with protecting the royal family.

Repeated attempts to contact Alotaibi using the phone number listed in the app were unsuccessful.

Five of the eight others are repeatedly identified in the app as either officers in the Royal Guard or employees of the royal palace.

Two of the Saudis on the list, Naif Hassan S. Alarifi and Saif Saad Q. Alqahtani, are repeatedly identified in the app as even closer to the royal family — specifically as employees of the “Crown Prince office.”

The Post could not independently confirm that either man works for the crown prince.

Phone calls placed to the numbers in the app over several days were not answered or showed that the phones were turned off.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the 15 men since last week.

Four men with those same names, however, self-identify in Facebook and other social media posts or have been quoted in Saudi news articles as members of the country’s security forces.

Another one of the suspects who appears to identify himself on the app as a member of the Saudi security forces is Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb.

A decade ago, Mutreb was listed as the first secretary at the Saudi Embassy in London, according to a British list of diplomats.

Mutreb’s name also appears in hacked emails released three years ago by WikiLeaks.

In an email sent to officials at an Italian security firm in 2011, a Saudi official identified Mutreb as among embassy staff who would receive advanced security training.

The New York Times reported late Tuesday that Mutreb had frequently accompanied and been photographed in proximity to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on official trips to Madrid, Paris, Houston, Boston and the United Nations.

In the article, the Times reported that it had found evidence that at least nine of the 15 Saudis on the list provided by Turkey worked for the Saudi military, security services or other government branches.

Another man identified by Turkish officials is Muhammed Saad Alzahrani, who is also identified on the app as a member of the Royal Guard.

A video showing a man wearing a black security uniform bearing the same name was posted on YouTube last year guarding the crown prince as he greeted visitors.

The guard in the video closely resembles the picture of Zahrani in a passport image provided to The Post on Tuesday.

Reached by phone Tuesday on a number listed in MenoM3ay, Zahrani denied being in Turkey and declined to say if he works for the crown prince, saying what he does for a living “is personal information.”

When told that The Post had been provided a copy of what purported to be his passport from Turkish officials, which includes patriarchal names, Zahrani asked if a reporter knew his mother’s name.

The reporter said he did not, and Zahrani hung up.

Among the most prominent names on the Saudi team list is Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert known for pioneering rapid and mobile autopsies, who flew into Istanbul shortly after Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate and flew out nine hours later, Turkish officials say.

Tubaigy, 47, is a top professor in the criminal evidence department at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences.

He presides over master thesis classes on identifying bones through DNA analysis and how the use of formaldehyde limits genetic tissue analysis.

But Tubaigy is also close to Saudi security operations, teaching and providing expert opinions on evidence collection and investigation.

In 2014, he persuaded Saudi officials to let him help design and purchase a $2.5 million tractor-trailer-size autopsy lab to accompany Muslims on the hajj to Mecca.

In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic news organization, he touted the truck as a first-of-its-kind in the world.

The mobile autopsy operation, he said, could provide preliminary analysis on some diseases in seven minutes and “provide the dissection service to the security authorities in a record time.”

Tubaigy has not responded to email and phone messages left at three numbers associated with the profile he had set up on an Arabic subscription phone app.

shane.harris@washpost.com

erin.cunningham@washpost.com

aaron.davis@washpost.com

tamer.el-ghobashy@washpost.com

Cunningham reported from Istanbul. Julie Tate and John Hudson in Washington and Souad Mekhennet and Kareem Fahim in Istanbul contributed to this report.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sus ... id=HPDHP17
Post Reply