International
Biden halts Syria sanctions after earthquake, allowing increased weapons smuggling by terror groups
Turkey and Syria suffered a horrific 7.8 Earthquake killing tens of thousands. As a result, President Joe Biden decided to halt sanctions on the Syrian government beginning this week, which critics say will beef up the ability for terror groups to smuggle in weapons and “prop up dictator Bashar al-Assad and make it easier for his regime to misuse humanitarian assistance” reports Foreign Desk News.
Speaking to the Washington Free Beacon, Republican Senator James Risch from Idaho, a ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that President Biden’s Syria general license “has no controls to prevent diversions that could allow aid money to end up in the hands of the regime. “It is misguided and will be a windfall to Assad.”
Videos are already circulating on social media showing “massive convoys” of trucks “sent by the Iranian-backed Shiite Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, sending soldiers and supplies to Syria to aid with the earthquake.”
The Foreign Desk reported that the head of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, was spotted in the western Syrian city of Latakia to observe humanitarian aid and the losses from the earthquake victims, according to various photographs and videos circulating on social media.
The official Twitter account for news outlet Intelli Times tweeted that the IRGC Quds Force Chief was also seen with Mohammad Reza Zahedi, an acting liaison to Hezbollah and Syria’s intelligence on arms shipment.
“Easing sanctions on Assad without guardrails opens the door for the regime to line its pockets without helping those in need,” said Republican Representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina.
“Even worse, this feeds into the Assad regime’s false claims that U.S. sanctions were preventing aid and assistance efforts to the Syrian people.
Iraqi militia Al Hashd Al Shaabi crossing the Iraqi border to help Assad in Syria: pic.twitter.com/7fThRz2BTB
— Cyrus Force – Iran (@Michael16374273) February 12, 2023
בדרך לסוריה – שיירת החיזבאללה. pic.twitter.com/YZ6zH33BXI
— אינטלי טיימס – Intelli Times (@IntelliTimes) February 12, 2023
International
Iran and Iraq sign controversial five-year contract to continue export of natural gas
Despite the Biden administration having ‘strongly suggested’ that Iraqis find other ways solve their production problems, they have signed a new deal with Iran. Iraq’s ministry of electricity announced a finalized agreement on Wednesday, of which the Iran regime has signed a five-year contract to continue the export of natural gas for use in Iraq’s power generating plants.
Iraq will import up to 50 million cubic meters per day of the vital fuel; prior, Iraq had been procuring approximately half of that amount from Iranian suppliers, according to The Foreign Desk News.
The outlet notes this relationship between American adversaries has often brought criticism from Washington because the imports and their payments are subject to U.S. sanctions. The government in Baghdad must ask for waivers from the State Department to complete their purchases.
The Foreign Desk News goes on to explain:
Iran’s national gas company has been provisioning their neighbor for the last 10 years, as Iraq has long suffered domestic production problems due to corruption and inadequate infrastructure.
Most of the natural gas that Iraq imports is used to produce power for an unstable and maintenance-prone electrical grid. Service outages are common amid the country’s growing consumption and many residents frequently must rely on private generators during times of disruption.
Including the electricity that Iraq directly purchases from Iran, the Islamic republic is reported to be responsible for supplying nearly a quarter of the country’s total power use.
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