Attack on US Embassy in Iraq Shows Stark Choices for Trump

Features

January 1st, 8:51am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Shiite militia supporters are seen through a broken window of a checkpoint in front of the US embassy, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019. (AP)

The attack on the US Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-supported militiamen Tuesday is a stark demonstration that Iran can still strike at American interests despite President Donald Trump's economic pressure campaign. Trump said Iran would be held “fully responsible” for the attack, but it was unclear whether that meant military retaliation. “They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!” Trump tweeted later in the afternoon. He also thanked top Iraqi government leaders for their “rapid response upon request.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper later announced that “in response to recent events” in Iraq, and at Trump's direction, he authorized the immediate deployment of an infantry battalion of about 750 soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the Middle East. He did not specify their destination. Esper said additional soldiers from the 82nd Airborne's quick-deployment brigade, known officially as its Immediate Response Force, are prepared to deploy over the next several days. A US official, who provided unreleased details on condition of anonymity, said the full brigade of about 4,000 soldiers may deploy, reported The Associated Press. “This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” Esper said in a written statement. The 750 soldiers deploying immediately are in addition to 14,000 US troops who have deployed to the Gulf region since May in response to concerns about Iranian aggression, including its alleged sabotage of commercial shipping in the Gulf. Tuesday's breach of the embassy compound in Baghdad, which caused no known US casualties or evacuations, revealed growing strains between Washington and Baghdad, raising questions about the future of the US military mission there. The US has about 5,200 troops in Iraq, mainly to train Iraqi forces and help them combat ISIS extremists. The breach followed American airstrikes Sunday that killed 25 fighters of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataib Hezbollah. The US said those strikes were in retaliation for last week's killing of an American contractor and the wounding of American and Iraqi troops in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the US blamed on the militia. The American strikes angered the Iraqi government, which called them an unjustified violation of its sovereignty. Trump blamed Iran for the embassy breach and called on Iraq to protect the diplomatic mission even as the US reinforced the compound with Marines from Kuwait. "Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many," he tweeted from his estate in Florida. “We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the US Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!” Even as Trump has argued for removing US troops from Middle East conflicts, he also has singled out Iran as a malign influence in the region. After withdrawing the US in 2018 from an international agreement that exchanged an easing of sanctions for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, Trump ratcheted up sanctions. Those economic penalties, including a virtual shut-off of Iranian oil exports, are aimed at forcing Iran to negotiate a broader nuclear deal. But critics say that pressure has pushed Iranian leaders into countering with a variety of military attacks in the Gulf. Until Sunday's US airstrikes, Trump had been measured in his response to Iranian provocations. In June, he abruptly called off US military strikes on Iranian targets in retaliation for the downing of an American drone. Robert Ford, a retired US diplomat who served five years in Baghdad and then became ambassador in Syria, said Iran's allies in the Iraqi parliament may be able to harness any surge in anger among Iraqis toward the United States to force US troops to leave the country. Ford said Trump miscalculated by approving Sunday's airstrikes on Kataib Hezbollah positions in Iraq and Syria — strikes that drew a public rebuke from the Iraqi government and seem to have triggered Tuesday's embassy attack. “The Americans fell into the Iranian trap,” Ford said, with airstrikes that turned some Iraqi anger toward the US and away from Iran and the increasingly unpopular Iranian-backed Shiite militias. The tense situation in Baghdad appeared to upset Trump's vacation routine in Florida, where he is spending the holidays. Trump spent just under an hour at his private golf club in West Palm Beach before returning to his Mar-a-Lago resort in nearby Palm Beach. He had spent nearly six hours at his golf club on each of the previous two days. Trump spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and emphasized the need for Iraq to protect Americans and their facilities in the country, said White House spokesman Hogan Gidley. Trump is under pressure from some in Congress to take a hardline approach to Iranian aggression, which the United States says included an unprecedented drone and missile attack on the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry in September. More recently, Iran-backed militias in Iraq have conducted numerous rocket attacks on bases hosting US forces. Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and supporter of Trump's Iran policy, called the embassy breach “yet another reckless escalation” by Iran. Tuesday's attack was carried out by members of the Iran-supported Kataib Hezbollah militia. Dozens of militiamen and their supporters smashed a main door to the compound and set fire to a reception area, but they did not enter the main buildings. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blamed Iran for the episode and faulted Trump for his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran. “The results so far have been more threats against international commerce, emboldened and more violent proxy attacks across the Middle East, and now, the death of an American citizen in Iraq,” Menendez said, referring to the rocket attack last week. By early evening Tuesday, the mob had retreated from the compound but set up several tents outside for an intended sit-in. Dozens of yellow flags belonging to Iran-backed Shiite militias fluttered atop the reception area and were plastered along the embassy's concrete wall along with anti-US graffiti. American Apache helicopters flew overhead and dropped flares over the area in what the US military called a "show of force." The US also was sending 100 or more additional Marines to the embassy compound to support its defenses. The embassy breach was seen by some analysts as affirming their view that it is folly for the US to keep forces in Iraq after having eliminated the ISIS group's territorial hold in the country. A US withdrawal from Iraq is also a long-term hope of Iran, noted Paul Salem, president of the Washington-based Middle East Institute. And it's always possible Trump would “wake up one morning and make that decision” to pull US forces out of Iraq, as he announced earlier with the US military presence in neighboring Syria, Salem said. Trump's Syria decision triggered the resignation of his first defense secretary, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, but the president later amended his decision and about 1,200 US troops remain in Syria. Trump’s best weapon with Iran is the one he’s already using — the sanctions, said Salem. He and Ford said Trump would do best to keep resisting Iran's attempt to turn the Iran-US conflict into a full-blown military one. The administration should also make a point of working with the Iraqi government to deal with the militias, Ford said. For the president, Iran’s attacks — directly and now through proxies in Iraq — have “been working that nerve," Salem said. “Now they really have Trump’s attention.”

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2061341/attack-us-embassy-iraq-shows-stark-choices-trump

The Beat Goes on: Fireworks, Smoke and Tear Gas Start New Decade

World

January 1st, 8:37am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Fireworks explode over the Marina Bay in Singapore during the New Year celebrations. (Reuters)

New York dropped its traditional crystal-encrusted ball to ring in 2020 in a packed Times Square, after crisis-marred celebrations in other countries ended a year of worldwide upheaval that saw strike-hit Paris welcome the new decade with fireworks, and London's Big Ben ring out after a long restoration. Billions around the world cheered in 2020 after a tumultuous year dominated by demonstrations calling for political revolt and action on climate change. "I'm not particularly optimistic about the future," 29-year-old Natalie Reinhart told AFP ahead of New York's midnight celebration. "I don't think anybody thinks the world is in a good place, and I think that's one of the defining things of the decade," the New Yorker said. "There's a sort of overt pessimism. Even our pop songs are sad." Performers in Times Square pulled through nonetheless, as artists including feminist rocker Alanis Morissette took the stage ahead of a highly anticipated performance by K-pop sensation BTS. New Yorker Gabriel Rodriguez, 53, voiced gloom over society's future but told AFP his way of coping: "I live day by day." 'New Year with Dignity' Chile saw thousands of demonstrators gather at Santiago's Plaza Italia -- the epicenter of protests against President Sebastian Pinera's right-wing government since October -- to celebrate a "New Year with Dignity." One of the world's biggest New Year festivals took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an estimated three million revelers. Most of them wore white as they listened to concerts and watched a traditional fireworks show at Copacabana Beach. In the French capital, tens of thousands gathered on the Champs-Elysees, despite a grueling transport strike that has spelled weeks of misery for commuters. They came on foot, by bike, taxi -- and a few by Metro -- to ring in the new decade as a dazzling light show lit up the Arc de Triomphe. In the British capital, thousands of revelers lined the Thames to watch fireworks fired from the London Eye for the last new year before Brexit. Big Ben rang out 12 times after the bell had fallen mostly silent in 2019 because of renovation work. It followed a year of political wrangling that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Theresa May and culminated in Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledging to leave the European Union on January 31. As US-Iran tensions rose again in the Middle East, fireworks exploded in Dubai around the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, pyrotechnics reflected off the waters of the Ebrie lagoon. Smoke-choked Sydney ushered in the New Year with an enormous fireworks display, despite a petition to cancel it that received more than 280,000 signatures as devastating bushfires raged across the country. But the show did go on: more than 100,000 fireworks lit up the skyline for the hundreds of thousands of spectators thronging the city center. Celebrations amid upheaval After more than six months of near-daily demonstrations, Hong Kong ushered in 2020 with tear gas and water cannon. Pro-democracy protesters took their movement into the new year with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for Wednesday. Before midnight, thousands of protesters gathered across the financial hub, including along the waterfront of Victoria Harbor and at nightlife hotspot Lan Kwai Fong. Demonstrators at the harborfront counted down chanting "Ten! Nine! Liberate Hong Kong, revolution now!" in a sea of light from their mobile phones. Smaller crowds of protesters in the Mong Kok district set fire to barricades and riot police unleashed their first volleys of tear gas for 2020 in response. Earlier in the evening, thousands of people linked arms in human chains that stretched for miles along busy shopping streets and through local neighborhoods. In impoverished North Korea, a large crowd that gathered for a concert in the center of Pyongyang cheered as the clock struck midnight. Fireworks burst in the sky above a neon-lit stage hosting a tightly choreographed dance performance. Across the border, South Koreans flocked to bell-ringing ceremonies -- a traditional ritual marking the start of the new year -- with thousands watching in central Seoul alongside performances by Korean pop stars. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual New Year address, 20 years after he was elevated to the presidency by Boris Yeltsin's shock resignation in his 1999 end-of-year speech. Russia celebrated the new decade over several time zones, with Muscovites flocking to the center of the capital for fireworks over the Kremlin.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2061321/beat-goes-fireworks-smoke-and-tear-gas-start-new-decade

Trump Threatens Iran after Baghdad Embassy Attacked

Arab World

January 1st, 8:19am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Members of the Popular Mobilization Forces smash the bullet-proof glass of the US embassy in Baghdad. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump warned Tehran it would "pay a very big price" after a mob of pro-Iranian demonstrators stormed the American embassy compound in Iraq, as his government said it is sending hundreds more troops to the Middle East. Angered by US air strikes that killed two dozen paramilitary fighters on Sunday, hundreds of protesters spilled through checkpoints in the high-security Green Zone Tuesday, demanding the removal of American troops from Iraq and voicing loyalty to Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the attack was "orchestrated by terrorists," one of whom he named as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Muhandis has been identified as second-in-command of the Tehran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, which includes Kataib Hezbollah, the group that was targeted in the US air strikes. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said around 750 troops from a rapid response unit of the 82nd Airborne Division are prepared to deploy over the next several days to the region. "This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today," he said. Prior to the announcement, a US official told AFP that "up to 4,000 (troops) may ultimately be deployed". The US had already flown a rapid response team of Marines into Baghdad to reinforce its embassy after the attack Tuesday, which left smoke and flames rising from the embassy entrance and further heightened tension between Tehran and Washington. Esper's announcement is the latest move by Washington to step up its defenses in the region since Trump in May 2018 pulled out of a multinational nuclear deal with Iran and re-imposed crippling economic sanctions. Trump blamed Tehran for the embassy attack and warned that it would face punishment if Americans are killed. "Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities," Trump said on Twitter. "They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat," wrote Trump, adding "Happy New Year!" However, Trump later told reporters that he did not foresee war with Tehran. Trump's message came at the end of a day in which Washington officials appeared surprised and furious over the ease at which the protesters entered the Green Zone, reaching the US embassy compound for the first time in years. Live broadcasts showed the protesters battering down the high-security doors of the embassy reception building, smashing windows, burning a sentry box and chanting "Death to America!" The State Department and Pentagon demanded Iraq's leaders provide security to the compound -- which was already heavily fortified. By the time a contingent of US Marine reinforcements flew in, some of the demonstrators had pulled back and others settled in for a sustained protest, preparing food for the evening. Tehran said the United States is itself to blame for air strikes that killed about two dozen Kataib Hezbollah fighters on Sunday. US jet fighters on Sunday struck five Kataib Hezbollah outposts in Iraq and Syria after a series of rocket attacks on US-occupied facilities in Iraq over the past two months that are blamed on the group and its Iranian sponsors. One of those attacks, in Kirkuk on Friday, left an American civilian contractor dead and exhausted what US officials called Trump's "strategic patience" with Tehran. It also added to the growing calls by some political factions in Iraq to push US troops out of the country nearly 17 years after they entered and overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime. Late Tuesday Kataib Hezbollah hailed the attack as a "first lesson" to Washington, "so that Trump knows he did something extremely stupid". US officials said there were no plans to evacuate the mission, and no US personnel were reported injured. Ambassador Matthew Tueller, who had been on holiday, was on his way back to the embassy.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2061301/trump-threatens-iran-after-baghdad-embassy-attacked

Japan Media Blasts 'Cowardly' Ghosn after Escape

World

January 1st, 8:11am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Carlos Ghosn. (AFP)

The usually staid Japanese media lambasted the "cowardly" Carlos Ghosn on Wednesday, after the tycoon jumped bail and fled to Lebanon to avoid trial in Japan. "Running away is a cowardly act that mocks Japan's justice system," said the Yomiuri Shimbun, with Ghosn facing multiple charges of financial misconduct -- all of which he denies. By leaving the country, Ghosn has "lost the opportunity to prove his innocence and vindicate his honor," the paper added, noting that the court, his defense lawyers and immigration control officials also bore some blame in the affair. The liberal Tokyo Shimbun also said Ghosn's actions had made a mockery of the Japanese justice system. "The defendant Ghosn insists he escaped political persecution... but traveling abroad without permission is against the conditions of his bail, and mocks the Japanese justice system," the paper wrote, according to AFP. "There is a high probability that the trial will not be held, and his argument that he wants to prove his innocence is now in question." Some media noted that the decision to give him bail -- seen by some as unusual at the time -- now looks unwise. Prosecutors had argued at the time that he was a flight risk with powerful connections, but Ghosn himself had said he wanted to be tried to prove his innocence. One of his defense lawyers at the time has said he was such a famous face that there was no chance he would be able to slip away undetected. The conservative Sankei Shimbun noted that prosecutors believed the court had yielded to "foreign pressure" by offering him bail, amid widespread criticism in the global media of Japan's "hostage justice system" that allows for lengthy and repeated detention. In December 2018, the court declined prosecutors' request to extend Ghosn's detention by 10 days -- a surprising decision as the extension is usually almost automatic. And in fact Ghosn was bailed twice, once in March and a second time after he was re-arrested in April. "All of these were rare decisions," said the Sankei. The center-left Mainichi Shimbun quoted a senior prosecutor as saying: "This is what we predicted." "This has ruined the prosecutors' painstaking work" of collecting evidence in Japan and abroad against him. The Asahi Shimbun also quoted a former Nissan executive voicing his disappointment at Ghosn's actions. "The entrepreneur who ran Nissan for so many years and was well-known internationally turns out to be this kind of person. My jaw hit the floor. I can't find the words to express myself."

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2061286/japan-media-blasts-cowardly-ghosn-after-escape

Israeli Top Court Hears Case on Netanyahu's Political Future

World

December 31st, 9:45am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Reuters)

Israel's Supreme Court convened Tuesday to hear a petition on whether an indicted member of parliament can form a new government, a key test case for whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can prolong his political career after elections in March. If the court decides Netanyahu is ineligible, it could precipitate a constitutional crisis in Israel, and exacerbate the already tenuous ties between the Israeli government and judiciary. The court is not expected to hand down an immediate ruling and may ask for a full panel of the court to convene on the matter. Either way, it was wading into uncharted territory, said The Associated Press. Israeli law requires cabinet ministers and mayors to resign if indicted, but does not specify so for a sitting prime minister. There are no restrictions on Netanyahu to run in the March 2 election — the third in less than a year — but good governance groups are appealing on whether he could be tasked with forming a new government if he emerges victorious. Given the shaky legal ground, the court could deem the scenario hypothetical and delay the case until that actually happens. The hearing comes as Netanyahu appears poised to seek immunity from the corruption charges against him, delaying the prospect of a trial until the elections when he hopes to have a parliamentary majority coalition that will shield him from prosecution. The request for immunity is likely to languish under the current parliament. Normally, a request for immunity would need to be approved by a parliamentary committee and then submitted to a full vote. But the committee charged with handling such matters doesn't exist because a government was never formed after September's election. The attorney general cannot file the indictment until the question of immunity is settled, delaying any court proceedings. Netanyahu, who was re-elected leader of the ruling Likud party last week, has long accused judicial and law enforcement officials of trying to drive him from office and has said only the voters can choose who will lead the country. His allies have issued stern warnings against what they call an “activist” court overstepping its authority. Netanyahu has been in power for more than a decade and is Israel's longest-serving leader. He was indicted last month on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust stemming from three cases of trading political and regulatory favors for positive press coverage and accepting lavish gifts from wealthy supporters. Netanyahu has dismissed the allegations as an “attempted coup" and has vowed to battle them from the prime minister's office. Netanyahu is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime. His predecessor, Ehud Olmert, was forced to resign a decade ago ahead of a corruption indictment that later sent him to prison for 16 months.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2060056/israeli-top-court-hears-case-netanyahus-political-future

How India's Economy Came Back Down to Earth

Opinion

December 31st, 9:35am

Daniel Moss

Daniel Moss -

India's economy lost its sheen this year. As it stumbles through a deep slowdown and a credit crisis, the country has gone from being hailed as a colossus-in-waiting to placing among the also-rans. Rarely has a major economy had such a humbling turn in fortunes. In the third quarter, gross domestic product rose 4.5% from a year earlier, about half the pace notched in the first part of 2018. Consumer confidence has tumbled to the lowest level since 2014. The labor market, a vital indicator in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, is fragile: The jobless rate has climbed to a 45-year high of 6.1%. Just last year, India was the world’s fastest growing major economy. The past decade has been replete with predictions it would take up an increasing share of global commerce, alongside China and America. But the Philippines and Indonesia grew quicker than India last quarter and Malaysia was just a hair behind. China, grappling with its own slowdown, logged a respectable 6% and Vietnam was way ahead at 7.3%. Much of this comes down to the country's broken financial system. Indian banks struggle with a load of bad loans that's among the biggest in the world. Overextended traditional lenders gave way to shadow banks. They, too, ran into walls. One of the most prominent, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd., defaulted last year, setting off a liquidity crisis. While the government took control of the company in an effort to contain the damage, their work was just beginning: Last month, the central bank removed the management of Dewan Housing Finance Corp., a big player in mortgages, and sent it to bankruptcy court. Lenders have pulled in their reins across the board. Alarmingly for the Reserve Bank of India, these clogs in the financial pipes mean five interest-rate cuts this year haven't packed much punch. Despite early and aggressive action to lower rates, all the benefits of loose monetary policy aren’t flowing through to the real economy. In difficult times, central bankers usually keep a firm and credible hand on the rudder. But the RBI has surprised investors a few times this year. An unusual 35 basis-point cut in August, rather than the quarter percentage point economists anticipated, looked frivolous rather than clever. A reduction this month seemed like a sure thing until officials balked. That was a shocking mistake. Then there’s the issue of unreliable statistics. An academic paper by a former aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi reckons growth over the past few years was actually a lot closer to the third quarter's 4.5% figure. Repairing data during a slump is tough because even incremental progress will be overshadowed by unflattering year-ago comparisons. India’s defenders bristle when it’s set beside China: Here’s a democracy with a robust federal system and an independent judiciary, they argue. That makes impossible the kind of sweeping change that Deng Xiaoping forced on China, which transformed the mainland into an export and manufacturing powerhouse. Fair enough; during good times, however, Indian leaders said little to rebut the comparison. This slump doesn't have to be the end of India's run. As wrenching as the Asian financial crisis was for the “tiger economies” of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea, they emerged stronger after painful recessions. Officials bolstered reserves, constrained foreign-currency borrowing and scrutinized debt levels while central banks became more independent. While growth is lower in the aftermath, it’s also more sustainable. India will always be more important to the world economy than the Philippines or Malaysia. Even if activity slows to a snail's pace for a while, its sheer size makes its contribution to global growth far more valuable. As soon as next year, India's monetary and fiscal stimulus will begin to kick in. The economy will likely grow about 5% this year and pick up to 6% in 2020, says Shilan Shah of Capital Economics. India may yet reclaim its mantle as the next big thing, albeit a toned-down and more durable version. The country and the world could be well-served by this brush with reality. Bloomberg

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2060051/daniel-moss/how-indias-economy-came-back-down-earth

Interim Algeria Army Chief: We Thwarted the Conspiracy

Arab World

December 31st, 9:28am

Algiers - Boualem Goumrassa

Said Chengriha. (AP)

Algeria’s interim chief of staff Said Chengriha declared on Monday that the country had confronted a “dangerous conspiracy” aimed at undermining the state. Those were his first remarks since succeeding lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah, who passed away suddenly last week of a heart attack. Chengriha was speaking before military commanders, including the general secretary of the Defense Ministry and heads of departments in the ministry. The conspiracy sought to target constitutional institutions and push Algeria towards “chaos and violence,” he continued in a brief address. His remarks echoed those of Gaed Salah, who died on December 23. “The military high command realized the danger of the conspiracy and was able to guide the country wisely and patiently by overseeing and protecting the peaceful rallies without a single drop of blood being shed,” he added. The military also enabled the state institutions to perform their duties amid the turbulent situation in the country by confronting to all attempts aimed at undermining national unity, continued Chengriha. He stressed that the military and security forces succeeded in securing free and transparent presidential elections. “We will remain in service of the nation and we will not abandon our constitutional commitments regardless of the challenges.” “We will confront anyone who attempts to harm our national sovereignty,” he added in reference to the developments in neighboring Libya. Gaed Salah was widely seen as holding the reins in Algeria after he pushed longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in April. Algerians have been protesting for months against the country’s ruling elite. Gaed Salah did not attempt to crush the peaceful protests with violence, but many demonstrators saw him as the main obstacle in their path. He pushed for an election to replace Bouteflika, a vote the protesters regarded as a charade as the real power would remain with the army. Chengriha, like Gaed Salah and most of Algeria's other rulers since independence, is a veteran of the guerrilla war against French rule. Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected president earlier this month.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2060041/interim-algeria-army-chief-we-thwarted-conspiracy