Lebanon marks first anniversary of horrific blast at Beirut port

According to an AP report, private businesses and government offices remained closed on Wednesday, 4^th August 2021 in Lebanon to mark first anniversary of the horrific explosion at the port of Beirut with a national day of mourning.

The grim anniversary comes amid an unprecedented economic and financial meltdown, and a political stalemate that has kept the country without a functioning government for a full year.

United in grief and anger, families of the victims and other Lebanese were planning prayers and protests later in the day.

The explosion killing at least 214 people has been termed one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the history. The explosion tore through the city with such force it caused a tremor across the entire country that was heard and felt as far away as the Mediterranean island of Cyprus more than 200 kilometers (180 miles) away.

It soon emerged in documents that the highly combustible nitrates had been haphazardly stored at a port warehouse alongside other flammable material since 2014, and that multiple high-level officials over the years knew of its presence and did nothing.

A year later, there has been no accountability and the investigation has yet to find replies to questions such as who ordered the shipment of the chemicals and why officials ignored repeated internal warnings of their danger.

Families of the victims planned a memorial and prayers at the still wrecked site of the blast at Beirut port later in the day. Mass protests are also expected. A huge metal gavel with the words “Act for Justice” has been placed on a wall opposite the port with its shredded grain silos, near the words “My government did this” scrawled in black.

Flags flew at half-staff over government institutions and embassies and even medical labs and COVID-19 vaccination centers were closed to mark the day. Reflecting the sever anger at the country’s ruling class, posters assailing authorities have been hung on the facade of defaced buildings across from the port.

“Here starts your end and our beginning,” read one poster that took up the space of five floors of a high-rise. “Hostages of a murderous state,” read another.

In an extensive investigative report about the blast, Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for an international probe into the port blast, accusing Lebanese authorities of trying to thwart the investigation.

HRW said a lack of judicial independence, constitution-imposed immunity for high-level officials and a range of procedural and systemic flaws in the domestic investigation rendered it “incapable of credibly delivering justice.”

“Since the 1960s we have not seen an official behind bars,” said Pierre Gemayel, whose brother Yakoub was killed in his apartment in the explosion last year.

Taking part in a small protest outside the justice palace Wednesday, he said the refusal by the political class to lift immunity from senior officials accused of negligence that led to the blast is “proof of their collusion, and that their hands are tainted with blood.”

The explosion — which destroyed and damaged thousands of homes and businesses — and the lack of accountability, have added to tensions and anguish in a country reeling from multiple crises, including an economic unraveling so severe it has been described by the World Bank as one of the worst in the last 150 years.

The crisis has led to a dramatic currency crash and hyperinflation, plunging more than half the country’s population below the poverty line.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis recalled the suffering of the Lebanese people, as he held his first weekly audience with the public since surgery a month ago.

“A year after the terrible explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, that caused death and destruction, my thoughts go to that dear country, above all to the victims, to their families, to the many injured and all those who lost home and work,” the pontiff said.

“And so many lost the illusion of living,” he added.

US-Indian cooperation against China

According to South Asia Journal, the top diplomats of India and the United States have pledged to expand their multilateral security partnership, underscoring the deepening of ties between two countries concerned over China’s growing influence in the region.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met in New Delhi and sought to strengthen a regional front against Beijing’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and their cooperation in Afghanistan.

They also lauded each country’s help in fighting the coronavirus and said their vaccine partnership is an effort to end the pandemic. Blinken also announced a US$25 million fund to support India’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

“There are few relationships in the world that are more vital than one between the United States and India. We are the world’s two leading democracies and our diversity fuels our national strength,” Blinken said at a joint news conference.

Washington has made no secret of its desire for India’s help in isolating China. The two countries have steadily ramped up their military relationship and signed a string of defense deals.

The US and India are part of the Quad regional alliance that also includes Japan and Australia and focuses on China’s growing economic and military strength. China has called the Quad an attempt to contain its ambitions.

Blinken’s India visit comes just days after the No. 2 U.S. diplomat, Wendy Sherman, was in China.

Blinken said he and Jaishankar also discussed regional security issues including Afghanistan, where the US is expected to complete its military withdrawal in August. He called India’s contribution to the stability of Afghanistan “vital.”

Blinken said there was no “military solution” to the conflict in Afghanistan and that the country would turn into a “pariah state” if the Taliban takes control by force.

“We will continue to work together to sustain the gains of the Afghan people and support regional stability after the withdrawal of coalition forces from the country,” Blinken said.

Jaishankar said the world wishes to see an “independent, sovereign, democratic and stable Afghanistan at peace with itself and with its neighbors,” and cautioned that the country’s “independence and sovereignty will only be ensured if it is free from malign influences.”

 New Delhi has often expressed concern that a Taliban takeover could lead to security threats against India.

India has provided Afghan security forces with operational training and military equipment, even though it has had no troops on the ground. It has also provided more than US$2 billion in development aid to Afghanistan.

In June, India’s Foreign Ministry said it was in contact with “various stakeholders” in Afghanistan to discuss its future. More recently, officials from the two countries have increased mutual visits.

“New Delhi is clearly stepping up its game on the Afghanistan front,” said Micheal Kugelman of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center. “Its decision to engage more in regional diplomacy on Afghanistan signifies a desire to be more of a player than it has in the past.”

In a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later Wednesday, Blinken discussed the pandemic, security and defense cooperation, including Quad, and “shared values and democratic principles,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

Earlier during his visit, Blinken spoke to civil society leaders and said fundamental freedoms and rule of law are “tenets of democracies” like the US and India.

Opponents of Modi’s governing Hindu nationalist party have accused it of stifling dissent and introducing divisive policies that discriminate against Muslims and other minorities. Modi has also been accused of trying to silence voices critical of his administration’s handling of the pandemic.

India routinely denies criticism of its human rights record. It has also rejected criticism by foreign governments and rights groups that civil liberties have contracted in the country.

 “We believe that all people deserve to have a voice in their government, to be treated with respect, no matter who they are,” Blinken said.

But experts say human rights concerns are unlikely to fundamentally affect the US-India relationship.

“For all the rhetoric trumpeting the shared values that drive partnership, it really boils down to shared interests,” Kugelman said. “At the end of the day, so long as China’s rise continues to be a common concern, the relationship will have no trouble operating on all cylinders.”

Workers at world biggest copper mine in Chile to go on strike

Workers at the world's biggest copper mine of Chile, Escondida, have approved a strike after rejecting the final contract offer proposed by multinational owners BHP. Chile is the world's top producer of copper, making up 28% of global output. 

The mineral accounts for 10-15 percent of the South American country's GDP, with much of it exported to China, the world's biggest consumer.

Following the results of a vote that lasted until Saturday night, the union reported in a statement that there were 2,164 votes in favor of starting the strike against 11 for accepting the employer's offer.

Union and company leaders can initiate a final dialogue with government mediation within five to 10 days.

Escondida workers staged a 44-day strike in 2017, the longest in the history of Chilean mining. The strike caused US$740 million in losses for the company.

The workers are asking for a one-time bonus to recognize their work during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as education benefits for their children.

"We hope that this strong vote is the decisive wake-up call for BHP to initiate substantive talks... if it wants to avoid an extensive conflict, which could be the most costly in the country's union history," the union said.

The Escondida mine is located in the world's driest desert, the Atacama in northern Chile, at more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in altitude.

It is the same area where in 2010 some 33 men were trapped 700 meters underground for 69 days following a cave-in at the Copiapo mine.

Iran to China rail link via Afghanistan

Following the inauguration of Khaf-Herat Railway Project and announcement of Iran’s readiness to invest US$2.2 billion in Afghanistan to complete the final phase of this railway and to connect it to Mazar-e-Sharif, Iran’s railway route will eventually reach China.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani officially inaugurated the strategic Khaf-Herat railway project on December 10, 2020 through a video conference. The 225-kilometers-long Khaf-Herat railway is part of the Iran-Afghanistan rail corridor.

The project started in the fiscal year of 2007-2008, connects Iran’s eastern city of Khaf to Afghanistan’s western city of Ghoryan. The project was implemented in four parts, Iran was in charge of completing three of the mentioned four parts, two of which are in the Iranian territory and the other two are on the Afghan side.

“Herat- Mazar-e-Sharif Railway Project with a total investment of US$2.2 billion is one of the projects that is planned to be conducted by Iranian companies. This route can provide a rail link between Iran and Central Asia and China. The length of this railway is 656 kilometers and it has been officially announced that this railway will be implemented and put into operation by the Iranian private sector,” advisor to Iran’s Roads and Urban Development Minister, Hossein Mir-Shafi’ explained.

He further noted that positive talks have been also held in the field of road construction and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works has introduced their priority transit and transportation projects to the Iranian side.

“Following this, the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has held preliminary talks with the Association of Exporters of Engineering Services and announced the areas for mutual cooperation with the Afghan counterpart; Iran is going to invest at least US$3.1 billion in Afghanistan’s road construction projects.”

Haniyeh elected head of Hamas for a second term

According to a Reuters report, Ismail Haniyeh has been elected head of Hamas for a second term. The Palestinian Islamist group controls the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh’s victory caps internal elections that also saw the group’s Gaza chief, Yehya Al-Sinwar, win a second term in March. Further votes were delayed by May’s upsurge in violence.

"Brother Ismail Haniyeh was re-elected as the head of the movement's political office for a second time," one official told Reuters. His term will last four years.

Haniyeh, the group's leader since 2017, has controlled its political activities throughout several armed confrontations with Israel, including the most recent 11-day conflict in May that left over 250 in Gaza and 13 in Israel dead.

He has controlled the group’s political activities in Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the diaspora largely from outside Gaza, splitting his time between Turkey and Qatar for the past two years.

He was the right-hand man to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza, before the wheelchair-bound cleric was assassinated in 2004.

Haniyeh, 58, led Hamas' entry into politics in 2006, when they were surprise victors in Palestinian parliamentary elections, defeating a divided Fatah party led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Haniyeh became prime minister shortly after the January 2006 victory, but Hamas - which is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel and the European Union - was shunned by the international community.

Following a brief civil war, Hamas seized Gaza from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in 2007. Israel has led a blockade of Gaza since then, citing threats from Hamas.

 

 

 

 

 

Israeli ship attacked off coast of Oman

An Israeli-operated ship came under attack off the coast of Oman on Thursday night in the latest case of tit-for-tat retaliatory strikes between Israel and the Resistance Axis. 

The oil tanker, Mercer Street, which is managed by Israeli shipping magnate Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime, was traveling from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah. The ship was attacked by what American sources say a drone in the north of the Sea of Oman.

The Israeli company said two crewmen, a British and Romanian national, died in the attack. “With profound sadness, we understand the incident onboard Mercer Street on 29 July, 2021 has resulted in the deaths of two crew members on board,” Zodiac Maritime said in a statement.

No country claimed responsibility for the attack but the Iranian news channel Al-Alam said the attack came in retaliation for an earlier Israeli strike against the al-Dhaba’a airport in the Syrian city of al-Qusayr which killed two men from the Resistance.

Citing informed sources in the Resistance, Al-Alam said the attack on Mercer Street was in response to the al-Dhaba’a strike. Although, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Al-Alam, citing Resistance sources, said the attack on the Israeli ship off the coast of Oman was carried out by resistance groups in response to the Tel Aviv attack on Syria's al-Dhaba’a airport.

“This announcement seems to have come to confirm in practice that the axis of resistance is greater than geography, and that the front of this axis is one front, as is the front of America, Israel and the Arab backwardness, headed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, one front,” the Iranian broadcaster commented on its scoop. 

Reuters quoted Western intelligence sources as saying that the main suspect in the attack is Tehran, but the same sources stressed that governments are still seeking compelling evidence. The U.S. State Department expressed its alarm over the incident, and confirmed Washington's work with its international partners to find out the circumstances, and that it is closely monitoring the situation.

In Israel, there was no unified reaction to the attack. First, Israeli media sought to downplay the incident but as the story developed, they highlighted the Israeli allegations against Iran, though it did not claim responsibility for the attack.

An Israeli security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that Israel believes Iran was behind the attack on the ship, citing similar attacks in the past.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid put the blame on Iran for the incident. “Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that harms us all. The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terrorism that also harms freedom of shipping,” he claimed in a statement without providing any evidence to support his claim. 

Israeli news website Ynet said the assessment in Israel was that there were two attacks on the ship, spaced several hours apart. The first caused no damage, and the second hit the bridge, causing the casualties. It quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying “Israel will find it hard to turn a blind eye to the attack,” according to Reuters.  

Another Israeli news website DEBKAfile which is known for its close ties with Israel’s intelligence community claimed that the Israeli vessel was attacked by an “Iranian kamikaze drone,” something that took place for the first time. All previous alleged cases of Iran’s attacks on Israeli vessels involved allegations that Iran used other means to mount an attack. 

DEBKAfile reported that what happened in the Sea of Oman marked the “first direct armed drone attack on an Israeli merchant vessel.”

According to the Israeli news website, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz called an urgent conference on Friday night with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and other senior commanders, following which Gantz announced that Israel would make an “appropriate response” to the attack.

Iran supplying electricity to Pakistan, despite domestic shortage

According to a Dawn newspaper report, Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar thanked the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan on Friday for “normalizing” electricity supply to the bordering districts of Baluchistan.

“I am grateful to the Ambassador of Iran in Pakistan for promptly accepting my request and normalizing the flow of electricity to the Makran division,” he said in a tweet.

Gwadar, Turbat and Makran have been facing extensive power cuts for more than a week. These areas are not part of the national grid and, therefore, rely on electricity imported from Iran. The neighbouring country curtailed electricity supply as it faces a shortage of hydel power generation.

 “In the meanwhile, we are also bringing forward the timelines of the project that seeks to connect these areas to the national grid,” said Azhar.

A local source told Dawn that electricity supply from Iran hasn’t been restored fully as many affected areas continue to face hours-long power outages.

Pakistan imported 514GWh from Iran in 2019-20, which was less than 0.4 per cent of the country’s total electricity generation in the same year, according to the power regulator.

The country’s electricity generation capacity exceeds demand as the last government commissioned new power plants of almost 7,000MW in its five-year term. However, vast areas in Baluchistan still remain disconnected from the national transmission network. Azhar has vowed that these areas will be connected to the national grid within two years.

Earlier, in a conversation with Dawn, independent energy consultant Najam ul Hassan Farooqi said the recurring problem can only be solved once the 300MW imported coal-based power plant currently under construction in Gwadar comes online.

 “It’ll take at least three years to set up a 700-kilometre transmission line from Gwadar to Karachi,” he added.

One of the major reasons is the “procedural delay” in the allocation of gas to Habibullah Coastal Power, a 140MW gas-based power plant located near Quetta.

The only power plant in the area sufficient to meet the local demand stopped producing electricity in September 2019 when its gas supply agreement with the government-owned Sui Southern Gas Company expired after 20 years.

The company’s power purchase agreement, however, is valid until 2029. Its validity was pegged with the reallocation of gas. The plant has been shut for 21 months as the formal summary has yet to be moved to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for the allocation of gas.