Arab press: Makhlouf warns al-Assad of collapsing the country, US slap to Erdogan

On Tuesday, Arab newspapers touched upon the dispute between Rami Makhlouf and Bashar al-Assad, in addition to the US sanctions on Turkey, and the crisis in Lebanon and Libya.

'Makhlouf warns al-Assad'

The beginning is with the Syrian issue, and in this context, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper said: “Rami Makhlouf, the Syrian businessman and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad, warned of a collapse in the country, before urging him to take a series of reforms, which observers considered a political program.”

Makhlouf wrote on Facebook a message entitled: “From the servant of the servants to the president of the country” yesterday: “large group of investors, merchants and industrialists have served the country for 30 years (...) until the war came and began to tear the country apart, and many of us stood by The homeland (...), and suddenly the war merchants came, and practiced authoritarian and subversive tactics to control the economy. "He added:" There is no room for reforming the status quo and stopping the current collapse, except by stopping all the mechanisms used by war merchants, and returning to collective action, and accountability The wealthy in the war and the support team, preventing the security services from interfering in the daily life of the citizen (...) and inviting all who left Syria since the beginning and during the war to return (...) and return all the property that was stolen illegally, and opening a page under the banner (Syria for every Syrians) ".

'A new slap to Erdogan'

Regarding US sanctions on Turkey, Al-Arab newspaper said: "The United States imposed sanctions on the Turkish Defense Industries Administration and its head, Ismail Demir, in a step that comes in response to Ankara's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system."

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, said that his country had made clear to Turkey at the highest levels that the purchase of the S-400 system would endanger the security of US military technology and its personnel.

Pompeo said the sanctions include a ban on all US export licenses and permits granted to the Turkish Defense Procurement Agency.

Observers say that the approval of the sanctions will exacerbate the state of tension and harm relations between the two countries of NATO, especially as it comes after a series of warnings from the American side, which Ankara ignored, considering it at the time that it had the right to have a system to defend itself.

The sanctions were a blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was betting that the relationship he had developed with the US administration and President Trump would protect Ankara from any harsh punitive measures.

Experts expect that the announcement of the US sanctions will negatively affect the ailing Turkish economy, which is suffering in light of the Corona virus pandemic, the collapse of the local currency and the depletion of the country's foreign exchange reserves.

'Turkish concern about a political turn in Libya'

Regarding the Libyan issue, Al-Bayan newspaper said: "The tense events in western Libya revealed a conflict between the forces calling for a political solution and reconciliation and between the allies of the Erdogan regime, at the level of the reconciliation government, who are working to continue the Turkish intervention in the country."

Libyan parties responded to Erdogan's decision to extend the presence of his forces and his mercenaries in Libya for another 18 months, to his fear of losing what he believed to be the gains he had made in the country subject to a ten-year conflict, noting that the Turkish regime does not trust the ability of its allies to secure those interests in the event of reaching to a political solution and the arrival of new leaderships to the executive authority, especially at the level of my presidency of the Presidency Council and the Government of National Unity.

The statements of the Muslim Brotherhood Mufti, Sadiq al-Ghariani, who has been residing in Istanbul for years, revealed the presence of Turkish discomfort, which reached the point of anger, with the Minister of the Interior delegated to the Government of National Accord, Fathi Bashagha, because of two recent visits to Paris and Cairo, after he was affiliated with the Ankara axis.

The position of Ahmed Maitiq, First Vice President of the so-called President of the Presidential Council, of dialogue with the army leadership, which resulted in the restoration of Libyan oil flow to world markets, according to arrangements that prevent manipulation of its revenues, to the Turkish regime's feeling that there are consensuses going around behind its back to pull the rugs from under his presence in the country, which prompted him to mobilize the Brotherhood and outlaw militias, to reject the agreement, as he mortgages oil revenues to an account in Libya's external bank, which prevents it from disposing of it until the full details of the transitional phase are agreed upon.

At a time when the Turkish regime believed that it had put its hand on the Central Bank of Libya, it was surprised that his governor, Siddiq al-Kabeer, was accused of corruption by the head of the National Oil Corporation, and the decision of the Minister of Interior, Commissioner Fathi Bashagha, to include the name of al-Kabeer on the list of those banned from traveling, after it was proven that he was involved in wasting what he did not. Less than a billion dollars from the ministry's account, so Turkey's allies in various decision-making centers rose up against Bashagha, the first candidate for a government position.

Observers believe that the confrontation between Bashagha and al-Kabeer represented the most important collision between the two men, who until recently were affiliated with the alliance with Turkey, pointing out that Bashagha, who seeks to head the national unity government, realized that the Turkish influence in his country is blocked, and that it is better to leave the category of suspicious alliances. In the direction of linking balanced relations with all parties, and that internal and international balances do not allow the implementation of Erdogan's plan.

Lebanon: Will fail the path of forming Lebanese government?

In the Lebanese context, Al-Nahar newspaper said: “It was hoped that the round of debates and the exchange of responses and direct statements between the Baabda Palace and Beit al-Wasat would form, even in its negative character, a space for openness to the Lebanese about the nature of the complications that obstructed the formation of the government, as well as opening a gap through which a settlement or solution could be accessed. Imminent and decisive on the basis dictated by the constitution to announce the upcoming government as soon as possible.

And added, "The frankness about some aspects of the complications took place, but it highlighted a great contradiction that separates the vision of both Baabda and Beit al-Wasat, the last meeting between President Michel Aoun and the prime minister designating the formation of the government, Saad Hariri, and even clarifying the details surrounding the formation of Prime Minister Hariri and President Aoun's proposal, as well as to touch the way out of the great political clash between them, seemed to be moving away more than ever before, and thus the immediate and indisputable conclusion is that the path of forming the government appeared yesterday, as if it had slipped into the worst crisis it has known since Prime Minister Hariri's mandate, specifically after the last meeting Which was held between Aoun and Hariri last Wednesday in Baabda. "

T/S

ANHA