UK £2 Issue 156, Year 4 May 13, 2018 EU €2.50 www.thearabweekly.com Editorial Elections in Tunisia Disillusionment of Arab and Lebanon youth should be of concern Page 6 Pages 12-13 Iran, Israel clashes likely to escalate in Syria after Trump’s Iran walkout ► Israel has been alarmed by what it considers a military buildup by IRGC forces in southern Syria, including the strategic Golan Heights. Ed Blanche missiles into Israel from Syria. It was the first time Iranian forces there fired directly on Israel’s military in Beirut months of growing tension and scat- tered exchanges along the Jewish t took no time for Iran and Israel state’s northern border. to start attacking each other in Israeli officials said several of the the wake of US President Don- missiles were hit by Israeli intercep- I ald Trump’s widely anticipated tors and none reached their targets withdrawal from the landmark 2015 or caused casualties. nuclear agreement with Tehran. The Israeli Air Force responded Israel had been pressing Trump with strikes by 28 aircraft that re- to ditch the nuclear accord, which portedly fired 70 missiles into more both maintain that, far from deter- than a dozen Islamic Revolution- ring Iran’s nuclear and ballistic mis- ary Guard Corps (IRGC) facilities in sile programmes, encourages such Syria, including a weapons depot at activities. Damascus’s international airport. In that sense, Trump’s action of- The Syrian Observatory for Hu- fered an opportunity for Israeli man Rights, which monitors the Syr- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanya- ian war through an activist network, hu, who has sought to take military reported that at least 23 Iranian and action against Iranian forces swarm- Syrian personnel were killed. (AP) ing over Syria on Israel’s northern Military analysts said Israel’s border. strikes constituted the most exten- On brink of all-out war. Trump’s withdrawal from the nu- sive attacks inside Syria since the clear agreement “has accelerated Jewish state’s victory over Syria and A mock road sign for Damascus and a cutout of a soldier on display in an old outpost in the Israeli the escalation between Israel and Egypt in the October 1973 war. controlled Golan Heights, on May 10. Iran,” observed Ofer Zalzberg of the Further clashes look inevitable if Brussels-based International Crisis Iran holds on to its deployment plans ence in Syria for strategic reasons plateau since 1967. was sanctioned from the very top in Group. in Syria, including the Golan Heights. and wants some kind of return on Iran “will need to push back” Iran as a measured but provocative Diplomatic sources suggest Trump “Iran will retaliate through prox- its heavy investment in troops and against the Americans and their al- answer against Trump’s closest ally may turn a blind eye to Israel’s ac- ies, sooner or later, against Israeli treasure there. Israel will go on hit- lies in the region “to show that it in direct response to the US presi- tions in retaliating for Iranian at- military sites in the north,” said Gary ting back, but eventually, the Irani- cannot be bullied,” warned Mark dent’s actions. tacks. Samore, a former White House coor- ans calculate they will inflict a major Fitzpatrick of the International Soleimani has risen to hero status Netanyahu, fearful of an Islamic dinator for arms control. catastrophe on the Jewish state.” Institute for Strategic Studies in in Iran for his leadership in expand- power on his doorstep, had gone to “The confrontation is expected Israeli forces “view this Iranian London. ing Tehran’s territorial ambitions great lengths to nudge Trump to void to drag on — and inevitably esca- attack very severely,” said an Israeli Israel claimed the missile barrage and leading IRGC forces who have the 2015 agreement, even present- late — because Iran’s hardliners see military spokesman, Lieutenant- was carried out by al-Quds Force, the kept the embattled Syrian President ing a massive trove of data on Iran’s an opportunity to seize geopolitical Colonel Jonathan Conricus. “This IRGC’s special forces arm. Israel says Bashar Assad in power. nuclear programme that allegedly control of the Levant through threat- event is not over.” the Iranians’ May 10 missile opera- indicated Tehran had a deliverable ening the Jewish state while bur- Israel has been alarmed by what it tion was masterminded by al-Quds Ed Blanche is a regular nuclear device before it signed the nishing their revolutionary creden- considers a military buildup by IRGC Force commander Major-General contributor to The Arab Weekly. 2015 accord. tials and humiliating the Americans forces in southern Syria, including Qassem Soleimani, who reports di- He has covered Middle Eastern Thus unshackled by Trump, just — meaning the fumbling Trump ad- the strategic Golan Heights, which rectly to Iranian Supreme Leader affairs since 1967. after midnight May 9, Iran launched ministration. dominates northern Galilee. Israel Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. a barrage of 20 surface-to-surface “Tehran wants a long-term pres- has controlled half of the volcanic This underlined that the operation P2-8 Egypt moves towards ‘reviving roots’ Preparing with Greece amid Turkish history rethink for Ramadan Ahmed Megahid expatriates’ affairs. centuries. It was a meeting point for inauguration of the cultural week “The Greeks and the Cypriots are all Mediterranean cultures and an and spoke of the bonds that tied the an integral part of our history and important centre during the Hellen- three countries. Cairo the event was a good occasion for istic and Roman eras. The discovery of huge gas re- each of us to revive this history.” Alexandria functioned as the capi- serves in the eastern Mediterranean, aving secured long-term Alexandria, founded in 332BC, tal of Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzan- off the coasts of Egypt and Cyprus, economic relations, Egypt, was a centre of enlightenment for tine Egypt for a millennium before brought the three countries together Greece and Cyprus are tak- the Muslim conquest in 641. It was now. Cyprus and Greece plan to send H ing steps to forge clos- only then that Alexandria stopped their gas for liquefaction in Egypt er cultural ties. serving as Egypt’s de facto capital. and then to markets in Europe. The three countries organ- Despite this, ancient landmarks The three countries also plan to ised a cultural week with the bear witness to the city’s greatness move ahead with cooperation in aim of reviving Greek and Cypri- as well as that of the cultures and fields including trade, tourism ot legacies in the ancient Egyptian civilisations that made it. and transport. city Alexandria, which was found- The Alexandria Lighthouse is one At the time Egypt takes ed by Alexander the Great. of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient active action to revive its Called “Reviving Roots,” the World. The Great Library of Alexan- Greek roots, it has been event included visits to Greek dria was the largest in the ancient equally active in down- landmarks in Alexandria and mu- world. The Bibliotheca Alexand- playing its Turkish and Ot- sical concerts by Greek artists. rina, constructed in 2002, serves as toman roots amid a dispute be- Egypt invited dozens of Greek a commemoration of the ancient li- tween Cairo and Ankara. nationals whose parents and brary and an attempt to rekindle its In what amounts to a clash of grandparents once lived in Alexan- legacy. Mediterranean cultures over Egypt, dria to the event. They visited an- The coming together of Egyptian, the Egyptian government is chang- cient Greek monuments there. Greek and Cypriot cultures and civi- ing Ottoman street names across “The event sought to send a lisations enjoyed sponsorship from Egypt. Egyptian historians say message of love to the Greeks and (Reuters) the governments of the three coun- some of the Ottoman figures that the Cypriots, one that shows that Back to roots. tries at the highest level. streets are named after do not de- Egypt is proud of its shared history Egyptian President Abdel Fattah serve the honour. with their countries and civilisa- A statue of Alexander the al-Sisi, Greek President Prokopis tions,” said Nabila Makram, Egypt’s Great stands in one end of Pavlopoulos and Cypriot President Ahmed Megahid is an Egyptian minister for immigration and Fouad street in Alexandria. Nicos Anastasiades attended the reporter in Cairo. Page 20 2 May 13, 2018 Cover Story Gathering storm over Trump’s nuclear deal walkout Ed Blanche Beirut onald Trump’s decision to take the United States out of the breakthrough D 2015 agreement under which Iran curtailed its alleged quest to develop nuclear weapons has, at a stroke, hurtled the crisis- torn Middle East to the brink of regional catastrophe. The key element in this lurch towards a possible inferno will be clashes between Iran and Israel, a dogged opponent of an agreement it claims leaves Tehran clear to de- velop nuclear weapons. Although even the Americans concede that Tehran has observed the conditions of the 2015 agree- ment to the letter, Trump vowed to intensify sanctions against Iran, driven in large part by Teh- ran’s development of long-range ballistic missiles, even though these were not addressed in nego- tiations over Iran’s nuclear ambi- tions. The involvement of Iran’s proxies in regional wars was an additional concern for Washing- ton. As the crisis swelled, intelli- gence services of the main protag- onists have deepened the sense of dread pervading the region. The move by Trump, who branded the agreement “hor- rible,” was followed by a heavy May 10 exchange between Israel and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in which there were dozens of Iranian casualties in day-long clashes seen by many as a harbinger of more to come.