Arab press: Israel is testing the US administration in Syria, Iraq is fighting a war on two fronts

On Saturday, the Arab newspapers touched upon the most important and prominent topics, starting with the Syrian issue and the repeated Israeli strikes, and in return the Iraqi political crisis on two fronts, as well as the Libyan issue and the elections to be held.

Israel is "testing" the Biden administration in Syria

The beginning of the Syrian file and the Israeli raids on sites and points loyal to Iran in Syria from time to time, and in this regard Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper spoke, and said: “The official Syrian media reported that the air defenses confronted, on Friday morning, an "Israeli aggression” in the vicinity of Hama Governorate, resulted in the killing 4 of the same family.

This is the first Israeli attack on Syria since Joe Biden assumed the presidency of the United States on Wednesday.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria in recent years, targeting what it suspects are Iranian military gatherings, or operations to transfer weapons to the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, according to Reuters, which quoted sources in the region that Israel has intensified these attacks in weeks. The last rule of US President Donald Trump.

The Syrian official media quoted a military source as saying: “At about four o'clock today (yesterday), the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression with bursts of rockets from the direction of the Lebanese city of Tripoli, targeting some targets in the vicinity of Hama.” The source added, without specifying the purpose of these targets: "Our air defense media confronted the enemy missiles and dropped most of them."

In previous statements, Israel considered its strikes in Syria necessary to protect its northern front from Iran. "Israel is carrying out a campaign against Iran's concentration in Syria," said Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israeli Military Intelligence who now runs the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. He added, "These strikes will not stop just because Biden is installed, and I do not expect the American suspicions about them to continue."

According to the "Syrian Observatory", the Israeli raids targeted military sites, resulting in the "destruction" of at least five sites belonging to the Syrian army in the vicinity of Hama, where Iranian fighters and members of the Lebanese "Hezbollah" were also present.

In addition, a Syrian military sources said that the strikes resulted in the killing father, mother and 2 of their children, while 4 other civilians were wounded, as well as, to destroying 3 houses of citizens on the western edge of Hama, while Rami Abdul Rahman, director of SOHR, saying to AFP, "The Syrian defenses managed to shoot down a number of Israeli missiles, adding that "the remnants of an air defense missile landed on a house in a popular neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, killing civilians."

And Israeli websites that are concerned with security follow-up published that the targets that were bombed in Hamaya indicate that it is a factory for producing missiles. On January 13, Israeli raids on weapons depots and military sites in eastern Syria left at least 57 members of the regime forces and groups loyal to Iran dead, in a toll that is the highest since the start of the Israeli strikes in Syria.

Israel rarely confirms the implementation of strikes in Syria, but the Israeli army stated in its annual report a few weeks ago that during the year 2020 it had bombed about 50 targets in Syria, without providing details about them.

Israel reiterates that it will continue to oppose what it describes as Iran's attempts to consolidate its military presence in Syria.

Al-Kazemi is fighting a war on two fronts: Iran and ISIS

As for the situation in Iraq, Al-Arab newspaper discussed the security challenges that Mustafa al-Kazemi, the Iraqi Prime Minister, faces on two fronts to impose his government's control over the situation, and said: “The first challenge is against Iran and its militias in Iraq, and the second is against ISIS, which has re-emerged benefiting from it. From the government's focus on confronting the militias.

And after Al-Kazemi completed an emergency meeting with the National Security Council, on Saturday, he announced that the response to "the shedding of pure Iraqi blood will be cruel and earth-shattering, and the leaders of ISIS darkness will see any men they face."

Observers say that al-Kazemi is required in front of the street to control the security file, and to prevent any expected violations before they occur, in case he wants to gain the confidence of the Iraqis, but he is also responsible for preventing Iraqi groups loyal to Iran from taking advantage of Thursday's attack to carry out reprisals in Sunni areas.

And the aviation attack, due to its ugliness and the large number of victims that left it, could be an opportunity for the Commander -in- Chief of the Armed Forces to eliminate hotbeds of corruption rooted in the security and military institutions, and reduce the area of ​​Iranian influence over them, while observers expect that this plan will face fierce Iranian opposition, which may reach a level of tampering with the Iraqi security file.

Al-Kazemi held a series of emergency meetings on Thursday and Friday, which resulted in many decisions, including the removal of a number of senior security officials in connection with the air attack.

Lt. Gen. Amer Saddam, Deputy Minister of Interior for Intelligence Affairs, was removed from his post and assigned Lieutenant General Ahmed Abo Rakief to replace him.

He is considered one of the closest senior officers to the prime minister, as he had previously assigned him to head a special committee to pursue and arrest corrupt officials.

Al-Kazemi dealt a painful blow to Iranian influence in Iraq, by overthrowing Lieutenant General Jaafar Al-Battat, commander of the Federal Police, and removing Abu Ali Al-Basri from the "Falcons Cell", which has special intelligence missions.

Al-Battat and Al-Basri are two figures known for their close ties to Iran, and they have occupied sensitive positions within the Iraqi security services for years.

Al-Kazemi's changes included the dismissal of Major General Bassem Majeed, director of the Intelligence and Security Department of Baghdad Operations, from his position, the assignment of Major General Ahmed Salim, commander of Baghdad operations, and the dismissal of Abdul Karim Abdul Fadil, Director General of Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at the Ministry of Interior.

ISIS adopted the suicide attack, indicating that two of its members, “Abu Yusuf Al-Ansari” and “Mohammad Aref Al-Muhajir”, blew themselves up in succession in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad, which is the organization’s well-known method of inflicting the largest number of victims by carrying out a first bombing. Then he waited for the gathering of civilians and security forces at his location to carry out the second bombing.

The Tayaran Square attack exposed flaws in the Iraqi security services, which are largely preoccupied with dealing with political tensions and the rising influence of rival armed militias.

Al-Kazemi assumed the premiership after serving as head of the country's intelligence service. It relied mainly on the Counter-Terrorism Service, which was trained by US forces to pursue jihadist cells, arrest corrupt officials, and limit attacks by armed groups that fire their missiles at the US embassy.

Observers believe that Al-Kazemi trusts a very limited number of security forces, which forced counter-terrorism forces to engage in unwanted confrontations against the pro-Iranian factions, which sometimes ended in their retreat.

The pressure exerted by pro-Iranian militias and their call for the withdrawal of American forces confused the relationship between Iraq and the international coalition, and opened the door for the return of militants to the fore.

Last year, the International Coalition announced, after withdrawing its forces from eight bases in Iraq, that the Iraqi army was now able to fight the remnants of jihadists on its own.

But it is clear that the penetration of the security and military institutions by the militias led to a lack of trust between the workers in the two institutions, which is what ISIS benefited from to return.

Libya ... the election of the new authorities in early February

While Al-Bayan newspaper included in its issue, issued, Saturday, the Libyan elections to be held next February, and said: “The United Nations Support Mission in Libya announced that the door for candidacy for membership of the new executive authority has been opened, which will remain open until next Thursday, indicating that The members of the dialogue will vote on the candidates for the leadership positions of the new government in Geneva from the first to the fifth of next February.

In a statement, the mission specified the conditions and mechanisms for running for the executive authority. Those wishing to run for membership of the Presidential Council must provide two recommendations from the members of the electoral college to which he belongs, regardless of the number of members belonging to that electoral college.

The newspaper indicated that whoever wishes to run for prime minister must provide at least two recommendations from the members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, without requiring that the two recommendations come from an electoral complex / specific region. The mission added that all those wishing to run for prime minister must fill out the nomination form for this, and those wishing to run for membership of the Presidential Council must fill out another special form, as well as a standard CV form for all candidates, stressing that no member of the forum has the right to submit more From one recommendation for one candidate for membership in the Presidential Council, and one recommendation for one candidate for prime minister, and all recommendations for those wishing to run must be included in the form for that.

The mission added that a committee of three members will be formed from the forum, with the support of the United Nations, to approve the nominations, by reviewing all candidacy applications, in accordance with the conditions for candidacy, and preparing a final list of presidential council candidates for each region and prime ministerial candidates.

The UN mission said that these guidelines and models come in accordance with the nomination criteria adopted by the Forum in Tunis in mid-November, and is to form a committee that includes three members of the Forum for Political Dialogue, to verify that the nominations are submitted in accordance with the requirements related to the nomination process for positions of authority. Temporary executive.

And added that this committee will also work to compile the final lists of candidates for the new presidential council for each region, and for the post of prime minister, so that after the end of the nomination period, the UN mission will hold a meeting for the forum in Switzerland, to conduct the voting process for the period from February 1 to February 5.

T/S

ANHA