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Saturday, April 30, 2016
Excerpts: Iran election:big win for Rowhani's allies. US provided Lebanon reconnaissance airplanes. USVP Biden surprise visit to Iraq. May 01, 2016

Excerpts: Iran election:big win for Rowhani's allies. US provided Lebanon
reconnaissance airplanes. USVP Biden surprise visit to Iraq. May 01, 2016

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya 4/30/’16:”Big win for Rowhani’s allies in Iran
election second round, by Ageence France Presse
SUBJECT: Iran election:big win for Rowhani’s allies

QUOTE:Unofficial and incomplete results said that of the 68 seats being
contested between 33 and 40 went to the pro-Rowhani List of Hope.

FULL TEXT:Reformist and moderate politicians allied with Iran’s President
Hassan Rowhani won twice as many seats as their conservative rivals in the
second round of parliamentary elections, official results said
Saturday[4/30].

The reformist List of Hope that backs Rowhani gained 38 lawmakers in run-off
polls that took place Friday[4/29], with conservatives winning 18 and
independents 12, the interior ministry said.

The second ballot for 68 seats was needed as no candidate won the minimum 25
percent of votes in the first round of voting which took place on February
26, and its outcome will make the List of Hope the biggest single group in
parliament when lawmakers are sworn in next month.

The second ballot to complete a new 290-seat parliament took place
Friday[4/29] because initial polls on February 26 did not produce clear
winners in the 68 seats.

Rowhani's allies made huge gains in the first round of elections, on
February 26, when voters drove many conservatives out of the parliament.

Results from Friday's second ballot will decide who has the most power when
lawmakers are sworn in next month, opening or potentially closing a
politically delicate path to even limited social and cultural change in the
Islamic republic.

Tension over the vote's high stakes was dramatically underlined by a
shooting involving supporters of rival candidates in a southern province.
The rare political violence left four people wounded, a security official
said.

Around 17 million citizens were eligible to vote on Friday[4/29] in 55 towns
and cities. There was no voting in Tehran as the List of Hope swept all 30
of the capital's 30 seats in the first round.



+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 4]30/’16:”Lebanese Army Possess Reconnaissance
Planes to Deter Border Infiltrations”, Naharnet Newsdesk
SUBJECT:US provided Lebanon sophisticated reconnaissance airplanes

FULL TEXT:The United Stated provided Lebanon with sophisticated
reconnaissance airplanes that enabled its army to closely monitor the
mobility of militants on the outskirts of Lebanese regions, the Voice of
Lebanon radio (93.3) said on Saturday.[4/30]

The planes enable the army to prevent the militants from infiltrating the
porous Lebanese border with Syria, reports said.

It added that this type of planes have enabled the army recently to monitor
the reactions of armed groups after the killing of a top Islamic State group
in army raids.

The Lebanese army killed on Thursday[4/29] IS figure Nayef al-Shaalan and
his bodyguard during a raid on the outskirts of the northeastern border down
of Arsal.

The dead official goes by nom de guerre of Abou Fawz, and his bodyguard as
Ahmed Mroueh.

Their death came during a special operation carried out by the military in
Wadi al-Hosn during which troops arrested another bodyguard named Mohammed
Mousalli and several others, NNA said.

The army has been battling extremists near the border with Syria since the
IS and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front overran Arsal in August 2014.

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 4/30/’16:”US Vice President Biden on surprise visit
toIraq” ,by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: US V.P Biden. surprise visit to Iraq

BAGHDAD — US Vice President Joe Biden held talks in Baghdad Thursday[4/28]
during an unannounced visit to Iraq, whose leadership has been locked in a
protracted political crisis even as its forces battle extremists.

"The vice president has arrived in Iraq for meetings with [the] Iraqi
leadership focused on encouraging Iraqi national unity and continued
momentum in the fight against ISIL [Daesh]," his office said.
Biden met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi shortly after stepping
off the C-17 military transport plane that flew him to Baghdad.

Abadi and Biden discussed political, security and economic developments, the
premier's office said.

Biden's visit comes at a time of political crisis that has seen Iraq's
fractious political class squabble over Abadi's efforts to replace the
current government of party-affiliated ministers with a Cabinet of
technocrats.

Political turmoil surrounding Abadi's US-backed reform drive has sparked
chaos in parliament, with lawmakers brawling in the chamber, staging a
sit-in and throwing water bottles towards the premier.

Thousands of supporters of prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr have also
protested in recent days outside the fortified “Green Zone” — where Biden
and Abadi met Thursday[4/28] — ostensibly to lend mass support to the reform
process.

The political shambles has further discredited politicians who are widely
seen as corrupt and pursuing only the interests of their parties, clans or
sects.

Praise for Abadi

A US administration official travelling with Biden praised Abadi, whom many,
including within his own party, have criticised as a weak leader.

He said that Abadi “has been a very effective prime minister. He’s really
pulled the country together.”

“The vice president will also be discussing steps the international
community can take to promote Iraq’s economic stability and further regional
cooperation,” the statement from Biden’s office said.

Baghdad is grappling with a damaging budget crunch, caused largely by the
drop in the price of oil, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of Iraq’s
revenue.

The United States heads an international coalition of countries providing
Iraq with arms, military training and a limited number of combat forces to
help it battle Daesh, which overran large areas in 2014.

US forces have in recent weeks further deepened their involvement by setting
up a base south of Mosul, which is Iraq’s second city and the extremists’
main hub in the country.

The US official said Biden would not venture a timetable for a
much-anticipated offensive on Mosul, which is likely to involve a myriad
different — and sometimes competing — forces.

“We have to be realistic. We are at the end of April. Once we get into July
and August, it starts to get pretty hot in Iraq and things start to slow
down,” the US official said, suggesting a big push on Mosul was still months
away.

Mosul plan

Abadi vowed in February that Daesh in Iraq would be fully defeated by the
end of the year.

“It’s very important that the Iraqis decide on a clear plan for what forces
are going to take Mosul, under what arrangements so that everyone is clear
about the circumstances that will lead up to liberation and set the
conditions for the day after,” the US official said.

“What you don’t want is a race to Mosul from a bunch of different forces
that end up getting in each other’s way or clashing with each other,” the
official said.

Biden’s visit is the highest-ranking by a US official to Iraq since he
travelled to Iraq in 2011.

With the US election campaign in full swing and President Barack Obama due
to leave office having served two terms, Biden’s visit is also likely to be
his last to Iraq as vice president.

“The vice president has been the point person on Iraq for the administration
since the beginning,” the US official told reporters on Biden’s plane.

“He’s been itching to get back for a while — looking for an opportunity.
This seemed like a good moment to do it,” the official said.

Biden also met parliament speaker Salim Al Juburi but the White House did
not immediately disclose his full programme in Iraq.
===============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

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