Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 08-09/2023
Israel Open to Strengthened Lebanon Ceasefire
Israeli strike kills four pro-Hezbollah fighters in Syria: monitor
Civilians Injured in South Lebanon… 3 Hezbollah Members Killed
Israel, on Reuters finding its forces killed Lebanon journalist, says area a combat zone
Netanyahu warns to turn Beirut and south into Gaza city and Khan Younis
French delegation to arrive in Beirut from Israel
Hochstein tells Bou Saab 1701 not on the front burner
Berri on buffer zone: Let Israel do it on its side
Israel-Hezbollah border skirmishes: Latest developments
Israel says anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed civilian
Hezbollah mourns three members from south Lebanon amid ongoing conflict
Rahi receives Army Intelligence Director
EU, Expertise France launch EUR 12 million project to enhance integrity, transparency, and accountability of Lebanese public administration
Bou Habib Advocates Full Implementation of Resolution 1701, Addresses Israeli Violations
Destruction After Targeting Center of Odeisseh in Front of al-Sahili Center (VIDEOS)
Blinken welcomes Israel probe on reporters killed, wounded in Lebanon
Fuel prices decrease across Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 08-09/2023
US embassy in Baghdad attacked with rockets, no casualties
US blocks UN Security Council demand for humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
US tells UN it does not support call for Gaza ceasefire
UN chief and many nations demand immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, but US remains opposed
Hamas says it repelled Israeli rescue attempt in Gaza, hostage killed
Israel Pursues Hamas in and Around Gaza's Biggest Cities
Death of Israeli minister's son 'turns arrows on a map into arrows in the heart'
Hamas says Israel destroyed historic Gaza mosque
US officials discuss post-war Gaza governance plans with Palestinian Authority and Arab nations
'EU adds two Hamas commanders to its terrorist list
Hamas says captive Israeli soldier killed in clash with special forces
Palestinian Authority working with US on postwar plan for Gaza — Bloomberg News
Macron Condemns Israeli Settler Violence in Call with Netanyahu
Palestinians crowd into ever-shrinking areas in Gaza as war against enters 3rd month
Report: US gives Israel till end of year to wrap up Gaza war
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer killed in Gaza strike
94 media workers killed this year, most of them in Gaza
Ex-Saudi Spy Chief Says Palestinian Issue Key on Any Israel Deal
Strangling Putin's legal system could bring about his downfall
Russia may be losing troops on the front lines almost as fast as it can bring in new ones, war experts say
Erdogan Ally Links Sweden’s NATO Bid to Gaza War in New Hurdle
As aid runs out, Syria’s displaced fear dying of hunger
US imposes sanctions on Iran-backed network funding Yemen’s Houthis

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2023
What Is Really Behind Bin Laden's 'Letter to the American People'?/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 08, 2023
Afghans find a credible opposition voice to the Taliban/Luke Coffey/Arab News/December 08, 2023
If we value our future, we must put a price on nature/Erik Berglof/Arab News/December 08, 2023
Turkiye, GCC seek formal partnership amid regional challenges/Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/December 08, 2023
A Symphonic Version of Terror/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 08/2023
Question: “What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh?”/GotQuestions.org?/December 08/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 08-09/2023
Israel Open to Strengthened Lebanon Ceasefire
FDD/December 08/2023
Latest Developments
Israel seeks a new diplomatic arrangement with Lebanon that would remove Hezbollah threats from the border area. “One option is to reach a different agreement, which could be similar to [United Nations Security Council Resolution] 1701, mediated by international parties,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on December 6. “They will respect our presence, our existence and our security, and we will respect the other side.”
Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, called for the disarming of all non-state actors in Lebanon and for the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers to be the only armed presence between the Litani River and Israel’s border. Hezbollah has routinely breached the resolution, and the UN has never enforced it.
At the same time, Gallant added, Israel remains ready to use force if a diplomatic agreement proves impossible. “The second possibility is that we will need to do this by force,” he said. “We don’t want war, but if we get to a situation where we need to establish security here, we will not hesitate — just as we did not hesitate in the south.”
In parallel to the two-month-old Gaza war, Israel has been battling Hezbollah across the Lebanese frontier at an intensity just short of full escalation. Tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel have evacuated as a precaution, many of them fearing that Hezbollah could repeat, in their communities, the October 7 cross-border atrocities by Hamas that triggered the Gaza war.
Gallant asserted that “we will return residents to their homes only when the conditions to do so have been created, and we will be sure that we can provide them with security.” Israel wants it to be “clear that in the area where the borders come into contact, there will be no threats, no gunfire, no anti-tank missiles, no forces, and for sure no forces which could invade the territory of the State of Israel from close by,” Gallant said.
Expert Analysis
“Israel’s openness to a ceasefire in Lebanon is commendable, an opportunity that any world power with sway in Beirut should seize. But caveats must be similarly taken seriously: If the Lebanese and their friends abroad want to spare themselves a looming disaster of Iran and Hezbollah’s making, they must ensure that the south of their country is transformed. It must be free of Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists and their arsenal of missiles and weapons of all kinds, and permanently. If that is not achieved diplomatically, Israel will be forced to achieve that militarily.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO
“Washington spent 17 years pretending the Lebanese Armed Forces and UN peacekeepers would disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani, yet it never happened, and the threat grew and grew. Hezbollah isn’t going to walk itself north of the Litani by diplomatic means alone.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor
“Seventeen years after the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, it is clear that Lebanon won’t or can’t disarm or control Hezbollah, which, at the end of the day, is part of Lebanon’s decision-making consensus. In the absence of any Lebanese will or ability to act, this leaves Israel in a position where it could be justified — legally and strategically — in taking necessary measures to blunt Hezbollah’s ever-growing threat on its northern border.” — David Daoud, FDD Senior Fellow

Israeli strike kills four pro-Hezbollah fighters in Syria: monitor
AFP/December 08, 2023
BEIRUT: Four pro-Hezbollah fighters were killed on Friday in an Israeli drone strike on their car in the south of Syria, a war monitor said. The four fighters “working on behalf of Hezbollah” were killed in Madinat Al-Baath town in the province of Quneitra, close to the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. The monitor was unable however to confirm if the combatants were Syrian or not, but they were not part of the Syrian army, Abdel Rahman said. The day before, the Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, reported that Israel hit sites close to Damascus with eight missiles, as well as a “regime military post in the province of Quneitra,” without causing any casualties. The strikes were a response to the bombardment of Israeli-annexed Golan, the monitor said. On December 2, two Syrian Hezbollah fighters and two officers of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, were killed in an Israeli air strike on Hezbollah sites close to Damascus, the monitor said. The official news agency of the Revolutionary Guards, Sepah News, reported on the same day that two members of the guards had died on an “advisory mission” in its ally Syria, but did not specify where and when they were killed. Israel has undertaken hundreds of air strikes in its neighbor Syria since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011, targeting the positions of the Syrian army and groups affiliated with Iran, such as Hezbollah. Those missions have intensified since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, which was triggered by the Islamist group’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil. On November 8, three Hezbollah fighters were killed in an Israeli strike against the militant group’s positions close to Damascus, according to the Observatory. Israel rarely comments on its operations in Syria, but says it wants to prevent Iran, its sworn enemy, from establishing itself on Israel’s doorstep.

Civilians Injured in South Lebanon… 3 Hezbollah Members Killed
Beirut: Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/2023
Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire on Thursday while the Lebanese party said it carried out a number of attacks targeting military sites and several gatherings of Israeli soldiers. Hezbollah mourned three of its members who were killed "while carrying out their jihadist duty," the party said in a statement. However, it did not state that they were killed "on the road to Jerusalem," a phrase listed in their previous statements symbolizing their solidarity and support for Hamas in its conflict with Israel in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said while visiting troops near the border with Lebanon, “If Hezbollah chooses to start an all-out war then it will by its own hand turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis.” Several students were injured after Israeli shelling on Thursday struck an educational institution in the southern Lebanese town of Qunin. As a result of the Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon between October 8 and December 5, the Lebanon Disaster Risk Management Unit said it registered 20,000 displaced people from villages in Tyre district, south Lebanon, Lebanon state-run NNA news said. Thousands were displaced to other areas and were not registered within the Disaster Risk Management Unit, NNA added. The unit spoke about a lack of resources to provide services, saying nearly 40 villages on the border with Israel are still not safe for civilians to return. Later in separate statements, Hezbollah said its fighters targeted the Bayad Blida and Al-Jerdah areas, in addition to several gatherings of Israeli soldiers near the Mitat barracks and the Jal Al-Allam site. Hezbollah said that among the 11 attacks carried out on Thursday, the party targeted Al-Marj Site and Ramim Forest in the occupied Lebanese Hounin village, in addition to an Israeli barracks in Matat, a village abutting the Lebanese border. Villages adjacent to the Blue Line in the western and central sectors experienced a cautious calm at night on Wednesday, disturbed by flare bombs, reconnaissance flights, and a shell that landed in the sea off the Bab Al-Tem area in the locality of Qassimiya. In Marjayoun, NNA said one person was wounded by Israeli shelling that targeted the Tallet Hamames in Serda. The man was transferred to the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital. NNA’s correspondent also reported that the Marjayoun plain was subject to Israeli artillery shelling on Thursday. Meanwhile, an Israeli civilian was killed after Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile from the Lebanese border Thursday. In response, the Israeli Army said it struck the source of the fire with attack helicopters, tanks, and artillery.

Israel, on Reuters finding its forces killed Lebanon journalist, says area a combat zone
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/December 8, 2023
The Israeli military, responding on Friday to a Reuters investigation that determined its forces killed a Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13, said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review. Without directly addressing the death of visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, a military statement said Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had on that day attacked across the border and Israeli forces opened fire to prevent a suspected armed infiltration. A Reuters special report published on Thursday found that an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah and wounded six reporters by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling. Israel's statement on Friday said that on Oct. 13, Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants launched an attack on multiple targets within Israeli territory along the Lebanese border. "One incident involved the firing of an anti-tank missile, which struck the border fence near the village Hanita. Following the launch of the anti-tank missile, concerns arose over the potential infiltration of terrorists into Israeli territory," the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement. "In response, the IDF used artillery and tank fire to prevent the infiltration. The IDF is aware of the claim that journalists who were in the area were killed. "The area is an active combat zone, where active fire takes place and being in this area is dangerous. The incident is currently under review," it said. The strikes killed Abdallah, 37, and severely wounded Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Christina Assi, 28, just over a kilometre from the Israeli border near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab. Amnesty International said on Thursday that the Israeli strikes were likely to have been a direct attack on civilians and must be investigated as a war crime. In a separate report Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the two Israeli strikes were "an apparently deliberate attack on civilians and thus a war crime" and said those responsible must be held to account. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday it was important that Israel's inquiry into the killing reach a conclusion and for the results to be seen. "My understanding is that Israel has initiated such an investigation, and it will be important to see that investigation come to a conclusion, and to see the results of the investigation," Blinken said at a press conference.

Netanyahu warns to turn Beirut and south into Gaza city and Khan Younis
Agence France Presse/December 8, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned to turn Beirut and south Lebanon into Gaza city and Khan Younis. During a visit to Israel's north on Thursday to assess the situation along the border, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah against seeking to widen the scope his country's war with Hamas in Gaza. "If Hezbollah chooses to start a global war, then it will turn Beirut and south Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis with its own hands," he said, referring to areas that have seen heavy damage in the fighting.

French delegation to arrive in Beirut from Israel
Naharnet/December 8, 2023
A joint delegation from the French defense and foreign ministries will arrive today, Friday in Beirut coming from Israel, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported. “The delegation heard from Israeli officials that the Hebrew state is willing to accept a diplomatic solution” for the border clashes with Hezbollah that have been ongoing since October 8 and have forced the residents of northern Israeli settlements to evacuate their communities, the daily said. “But Israel will not wait forever and our patience has started to run out,” the Israelis reportedly warned. French intelligence chief Bernard Emie had made a secret visit to Lebanon days ago. The visit followed meetings in Beirut by French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Hochstein tells Bou Saab 1701 not on the front burner
Naharnet/December 8, 2023
U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein told Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab in their meeting in Dubai that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 “is not on the front burner” and that “its amendment is not currently on the table,” a media report said. “I held a lengthy meeting with Hochstein and we agreed that any talk about a satisfying solution that would guarantee stability on the border cannot begin before the ceasefire,” Bou Saab told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday. Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen intensifying exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, but also Palestinian groups.More than 110 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, mostly Hezbollah fighters and more than a dozen civilians, according to an AFP tally, since fighting began in October. On the Israeli side, six soldiers and three civilians have been killed, Israeli authorities have said.

Berri on buffer zone: Let Israel do it on its side
Naharnet/December 8, 2023
While Hezbollah opponents call for the implementation of U.N. resolution 1701, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri says he hopes that Israel implements the resolution. "I hope they implement it and withdraw from the Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills, the village of Ghajar, the 13 contested points and B1," Berri told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Friday, as he denied having discussed the issue with any diplomat or knowing about an imminent visit by U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein that would possibly discuss the land border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel.
Recent media reports had claimed a deal that would end the presence of Hezbollah from the area south of the Litani River, in return for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories and the 13 contested points. The area south of the Litani River would become a buffer zone, guaranteeing security to the residents of northern Israel. "They can make the buffer zone on their side of the border," Berri said. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had said in a statement Tuesday that U.N.-sponsored talks were planned in the coming months, aimed at "reaching an agreement, via the U.N., about contested points along the border with the Israeli enemy"."We hope that in the next three months we will reach a stage of total stability on our borders," Mikati added.

Israel-Hezbollah border skirmishes: Latest developments
Naharnet/December 8, 2023
The Israeli artillery shelled Friday several border towns including Blida, Dhaira, Rashaya al-Fokhar, Kfarshouba, Houla, Markaba, Aitaroun, al-Naqoura, Odeisseh, Maroun al-Ras, Mhaibib, al-Labbouneh, al-Naqoura and Shihine, as Hezbollah announced the death of one of its fighters.One civilian was injured in Rashaya al-Fokhar. Hezbollah for its part targeted Misgav Aam, Khirbet Ma'ar, al-Raheb post, and Ruwaisat al-Alam with "appropriate weapons". At dawn, the Israeli army opened machinegun fire towards Lebanon and targeted with flares and shells open areas in the south, including the outskirts of Dayr Mimas, Kfakela and al-Khiam. Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen intensifying exchanges of fire, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, but also Palestinian groups, raising fears of a broader conflagration. More than 110 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, mostly Hezbollah fighters and more than a dozen civilians, according to an AFP tally, since fighting began in October. On the Israeli side, six soldiers and four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel says anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed civilian
Agence France Presse/December 8, 2023
An anti-tank missile fired Thursday from Lebanese territory has killed a civilian in northern Israel, according to the Israeli army and emergency medical service. In a statement, the army said "terrorists launched an anti-tank missile from Lebanese territory toward the area of Matat", while the emergency service Magen David Adom said in a separate statement that a 60-year-old man was brought to one of their teams nearby with no vital signs and declared dead. "Additional launches from Lebanon toward Israel were also identified," the army said, adding its "helicopters, tanks and artillery are striking the sources". Hezbollah said in a statement Thursday that it had targeted a group of soldiers in the Matat barracks with "appropriate weapons and caused confirmed casualties" and that it had killed two Israeli soldiers at the Raheb post. Earlier in the day, the Israeli army reported "a number of launches" originating in Lebanon, adding that "fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah" targets in response. During a visit to Israel's north on Thursday to assess the situation along the border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah against seeking to widen the scope his country's war with Hamas in Gaza.
"If Hezbollah chooses to start a global war, then it will turn Beirut and south Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis with its own hands," he said, referring to areas that have seen heavy damage in the fighting. On Tuesday, a Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire on a military post near the border, the Lebanese army said, marking the first such death since hostilities along the frontier intensified after the Israel-Hamas war broke out. Israel's army expressed regret over the incident, saying in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it had been trying to "eliminate" a Hezbollah threat and that the Lebanese army was "not the target of the strike". Later Tuesday, Israeli shelling killed a Syrian labourer when it hit the chicken farm where he worked, according to Lebanon's National News Agency and a local official. More than 110 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border since October, mostly Hezbollah fighters and more than a dozen civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israel says six of its soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed in the area.

Hezbollah mourns three members from south Lebanon amid ongoing conflict
LBCI/December 8, 2023
Hezbollah mourned on Friday three of its members, Hassan Ali Dakdouk "Jawad" from Aita al-Shaab, Ali Idris Salman "Abbas" from Aramta, and Hussein Issam Taha “Abou Trab” from Mays al-Jabal.

Rahi receives Army Intelligence Director
NNA/December 8, 2023
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, on Friday received, in Bkerke, Army Intelligence Director, Brigadier General Antoine Kahwaji.
Discussions reportedly touched on the prevailing security conditions in the country.

EU, Expertise France launch EUR 12 million project to enhance integrity, transparency, and accountability of Lebanese public administration
NNA/December 8, 2023
On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, the European Union and Expertise France, the French public agency for international technical cooperation, launched a EUR 12 million project to support progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon.
The four-year project, funded by the European Union, is aligned with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (2020-2025), the opportunities of reform identified by the IMF Staff-Level Agreement and the principles of modern public administration. It also complements the current work done through the Lebanon Financing Facility for the Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF). Through the project, the European Union and Expertise France will continue accompanying oversight bodies that serve as critical safeguards against corruption, malfeasance, and inefficiency in the public sector. By holding government entities accountable, they contribute to the overall trust and confidence of the public in the government's ability to serve citizens’ interests. Support to the Public Procurement Reform will also be at the core of the project. A coherent and clear public procurement system regulated by independent authorities, in line with international standards, is essential to improve competitiveness, attract quality service providers and strengthen accountability and transparency. An effective public procurement system would further generate savings on a yearly basis, allowing for more resources to finance public investments and to enhance public service delivery. The project similarly intends to safeguard the integrity of the public administration, mainly in the area of public human resources management (roles and responsibilities of public officials, standards of transparency in appointments, promotion and non-discriminatory recruitment of public officials, etc.). In coordination with the Government, the project intends to adapt its approach to the challenging context in Lebanon, by:
- Strengthening the cooperation between the project beneficiaries (Civil Service Board, Public Procurement Authority, Central Inspection, Court of Account, and National Anti-Corruption Commission).
-Reinforcing the dialogue between authorities and civil society, which has a key role to play in combatting corruption and promoting transparency and accountability.
-Having project beneficiaries select pilot administrations (Ministry, public administration, Municipality) and seeking convergence of project activities (civil service reform, public procurement reform, preventing and fighting corruption).
-Strengthening the coordination with related programs and projects to build synergies and to efficiently implement the project.

Bou Habib Advocates Full Implementation of Resolution 1701, Addresses Israeli Violations
LBCI/December 8, 2023
Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib welcomed on Friday after meeting the French delegation the “full implementation of Resolution 1701." He reminded that Israeli violations have exceeded 30,000 since 2006, calling for ending Israeli encroachments on the Lebanese borders. He called for the demarcation of land borders, withdrawal from occupied areas and points, and refraining from using Lebanese airspace for attacks on Syria. He considered that "support for the Lebanese army is essential for the implementation of Resolution 1701" and called for the support of Lebanese government institutions.

Destruction After Targeting Center of Odeisseh in Front of al-Sahili Center (VIDEOS)
LBCI/December 8, 2023
The outskirts of the towns of al-Khiyam and Odeisseh are under bombardment. The targeting of the (Express) hut Odeisseh resulted in its complete incineration and damage to nearby shops in front of the al-Sahili Center. Although the video footage mentions the martyrdom of an individual, this has not been confirmed yet.

Blinken welcomes Israel probe on reporters killed, wounded in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/December 8, 2023
Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken has welcomed an Israeli investigation into a strike that killed a journalist and wounded six others on October 13 in southern Lebanon. "It is important and appropriate that it be fully and thoroughly investigated. My understanding is that Israel has initiated such an investigation and it will be important to see that investigation come to a conclusion and to see the results," he said when asked about the case at a news conference alongside his British counterpart David Cameron. An investigation by Agence France-Presse published Thursday into the strike, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six others, including two from AFP, points to a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in the high-tension border region. AFP photographer Christina Assi, 28, had a leg amputated and is still in hospital. Jointly conducted with Airwars, an NGO that investigates attacks on civilians in conflict situations, the investigation found that the attack involved a 120-mm tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region. It found that the strikes likely came from the southeast near the Israeli village of Jordeikh where Israeli tanks were operating. "I have extraordinary admiration for the men and women in your profession who, every day around the world, in the most dangerous places in the world, are trying to bring the facts, the stories to other people," Blinken said. Cameron also underscored the important role of journalists, particularly those working in conflict zones."It's absolutely essential that you have independent, impartial, professional journalists covering these conflicts," he said. "And it's an incredibly difficult job, incredibly brave job and my condolences from me and everyone in the UK for that loss of life."

Fuel prices decrease across Lebanon
LBCI/December 8, 2023
On Friday December 8, 2023, the price of 95 octane fuel decreased by LBP 20,000 and 98 octane fuel dropped by LBP 21,000, and that of diesel decreased by LBP 17,000, while the price of gas remained the same.
The prices of hydrocarbon derivatives became as follows:
- Gasoline 95 octane: LBP 1,541,000
- Gasoline 98 octane: LBP 1,580,000
- Diesel Oil: LBP 1,529,000
- Gas Canister: LBP 936,000

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 08-09/2023
US embassy in Baghdad attacked with rockets, no casualties
BAGHDAD (Reuters)/December 8, 2023
Rockets were fired at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Friday in an attack believed to have been carried out by Iran-aligned militias which have targeted U.S. interests in Syria and Iraq over Washington's backing for Israel in its Gaza war. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which an embassy spokesperson said did not result in any casualties. State media said it damaged the headquarters of an Iraqi security agency. Explosions were heard near the embassy, in the centre of the capital, at about 4 a.m. on Friday. Sirens calling on people to take cover were activated. It marked the first time the U.S. embassy had been fired on, apparently widening the range of targets after dozens of attacks on military bases housing U.S.forces in Iraq and Syria since mid-October amid fears of broadening conflict in the region. A senior official in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said on Friday attacks by Iran-aligned groups across the Middle East aim to apply pressure for a halt to Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. He did not refer specifically to Friday's attack. The dozens of attacks against U.S. forces in iraq and Syria have been claimed by a group of Iran-aligned Shi'ite Muslim militias operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. The U.S. has responded with a series of strikes that have killed at least 15 militants in Iraq and up to seven in Syria.
'ACTS OF TERRORISM'
The attacks pose a challenge for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who has pledged to protect foreign missions and capitlize on fragile stability to focus on the economy and court foreign investment, including from the United States. Sudani directed security agencies to pursue the perpetrators, describing them as "unruly, lawless groups that do not in any way represent the will of the Iraqi people," a statement from his office said. He also said that undermining Iraq's stability, reputation and targeting places Iraq has committed to protect were acts of terrorism. The U.S. embassy spokesperson called on the Iraqi government to do all in its power to protect diplomatic and coalition personnel and facilities. "We reiterate that we reserve the right to self-defence and to protect our personnel anywhere in the world," he said. Aside from its diplomatic staff in Iraq, the United States has about 2,500 troops in the country on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of both countries before being defeated. Iran-aligned Houthis have been firing at Israel and ships in the Red Sea in a campaign they say aims to support the Palestinians. U.S. warships have shot down several of their projectiles.

US blocks UN Security Council demand for humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)
The United States on Friday vetoed a proposed United Nations Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, diplomatically isolating Washington as it shields its ally. Thirteen other members voted in favor of a brief draft resolution, put forward by the United Arab Emirates, while Britain abstained. The vote came after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the 15-member council of a global threat from the two-month long war."What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?" Deputy UAE U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab asked the council. "Indeed, what is the message we are sending civilians across the world who may find themselves in similar situations?"The United States and Israel oppose a ceasefire because they believe it would only benefit Hamas. Washington instead supports pauses in fighting to protect civilians and allow the release of hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council that the draft resolution was a rushed, imbalanced text "that was divorced from reality, that would not move the needle forward on the ground in any concrete way.""We do not support this resolution's call for an unsustainable ceasefire that will only plant the seeds for the next war," said Wood. The U.S. had offered substantial amendments to the draft, including a condemnation of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that Israel says killed 1,200 people and in which 240 people were taken hostage.Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said her country abstained because there was no condemnation of Hamas. "Israel needs to be able to address the threat posed by Hamas and it needs to do so in a manner that abides by international humanitarian law so that such an attack can never be carried out again," she told the council.

US tells UN it does not support call for Gaza ceasefire
Michelle Nichols/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)/ December 8, 2023
-Ahead of a delayed Friday vote by the United Nations Security Council on a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, the United States - a veto power - told the 15-member body it does not support calls for such a move. "This would only plant the seeds for the next war – because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace," Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood told the council, which met to be briefed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. A Security Council vote on a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates was delayed several hours until 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) - shortly before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets in Washington with ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey. "Today this council will vote, it will have an opportunity to respond to the deafening calls across the world to bring this violence to an end," Deputy UAE Ambassador to the U.N. Mohamed Abushahab told the council. In Washington, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters that if the Security Council fails to adopt the resolution, "it is giving Israel a license to continue with its massacre of Palestinians in Gaza."
Along with demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the draft resolution also says Palestinian and Israeli civilian populations must be protected and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
'SPARE NO EFFORT'
The United States has repeatedly pushed the council to condemn an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, during which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 people were taken hostage. Wood said the council inaction was a "serious moral failure." Israel has focused its retaliation against Hamas in Gaza, bombarding it from the air, imposing a siege and launching a ground offensive. Gaza's Health Ministry says that so far, more than 17,480 people have been killed. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes. To pass, a resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the council's permanent members: the U.S., Russia, China, France or Britain. After several failed attempts to take action, the council last month called for pauses in fighting to allow aid access to Gaza. "I urge the council to spare no effort to push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, for the protection of civilians, and for the urgent delivery of lifesaving aid," Guterres said on Friday. Guterres - who has long called for a humanitarian ceasefire - made a rare move on Wednesday to formally warn the body of a global threat from the war. Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the Security Council on Friday that there was a ceasefire that had been broken by Hamas on Oct. 7. "The irony is that regional stability and the security of both Israelis and Gazans can only be achieved once Hamas is eliminated, not one minute before," Erdan said. "So the true path to ensure peace is only through supporting Israel's mission - absolutely not to call for a ceasefire."

UN chief and many nations demand immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, but US remains opposed
UNITED NATIONS (AP)/December 8, 2023
The United Nations chief and many Security Council members demanded an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza on Friday, but the United States reiterated its opposition despite a direct appeal from Arab diplomats, virtually dooming any action by the U.N.’s most powerful body.The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and other leading Arab nations and Turkey were in Washington on Friday on a rare joint mission to press the Biden administration to drop its opposition to a cease-fire. They were scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday afternoon. “If people are not seeing it here, we are seeing it," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said, adding: “We’re seeing the challenges that we are are facing talking to our people. They are all saying we’re doing nothing. Because despite all our efforts, Israel is continuing these massacres.”
Israel’s more than two-month military campaign has killed more than 17,400 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — and wounded more than 46,000, according to the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry, which says many others are trapped under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. The Security Council was scheduled to vote Friday afternoon on a resolution by the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the 15-member body, demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood’s statement to the council Friday, however, signaled the United States will veto the resolution.
Wood criticized the council for not condemning Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages. He said a cease-fire would leave Hamas in charge of Gaza, still holding more than 100 Israeli hostages. No government would allow such a threat after the worst attack on its peoples in decades, Wood said, stressing that a halt to military action would only “plant the seeds for the next war, because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution.”“For that reason, while the United States strongly supports a durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate cease-fire,” Wood said. The council called the emergency meeting to hear from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who for the first time invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, which enables a U.N. chief to raise threats he sees to international peace and security. He warned of an “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged the council to demand a humanitarian cease-fire. Guterres said he raised Article 99 — which hadn’t been used at the U.N. since 1971 — because “there is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza.” The U.N. anticipates this would result in “a complete breakdown of public order and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt,” he warned. Gaza is at “a breaking point,” he said, and desperate people are at serious risk of starvation. Guterres said Hamas’ brutality against Israelis on Oct. 7 “can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”“While indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas into Israel, and the use of civilians as human shields, are in contravention of the laws of war, such conduct does not absolve Israel of its own violations,” he stressed.
The U.N. chief detailed the “humanitarian nightmare” Gaza is facing, citing intense, widespread and ongoing Israeli attacks from air, land and sea that reportedly have hit 339 education facilities, 26 hospitals, 56 health care facilities, 88 mosques and three churches. Over 60% of Gaza’s housing has reportedly been destroyed or damaged, some 85% of the population has been forced from their homes, the health system is collapsing, and “nowhere in Gaza is safe,” Guterres said. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the council that Israel’s objective is “the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip” and “the dispossession and forcible displacement of the Palestinian people.”“If you are against the destruction and displacement of the Palestinian people, you have to be in favor of an immediate cease-fire,” Mansour said. "When you refuse to call for a cease-fire, you are refusing to call for the only thing that can put an end to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.”Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan stressed that regional stability and the security of Israelis and Gazans “can only be achieved once Hamas is eliminated — not one minute before.”“So the true path to ensure peace is only through supporting Israel’s mission — absolutely not to call for a cease-fire,” he told the council. “Israel committed itself to the elimination of Hamas’ capabilities for the sole reason of ensuring that such horrors could never be repeated again. And if Hamas is not destroyed, such horrors will be repeated.”

Hamas says it repelled Israeli rescue attempt in Gaza, hostage killed
DUBAI/JERUSALEM (Reuters)/December 8, 2023
The armed wing of Hamas said on Friday it had repelled an attempted hostage rescue by Israeli special forces in the Gaza Strip, inflicting several military casualties, and that a captive also died in the incident. Israel declined comment, accusing the Palestinian Islamist faction of attempting psychological warfare against it. In a statement on Telegram, Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades said its fighters discovered a special forces unit mounting a rescue attempt and attacked it, killing and wounding several soldiers. It did specify the location of the incident. It said a captive Israeli soldier was killed, naming him as Sa'ar Baruch, 25. Lists of the hostages published by Israel identify one of them as Sahar Baruch, a civilian student who was 24 when he was seized from his home during the Oct 7 cross-border Hamas killing and kidnapping spree that triggered the war. Of some 240 people taken hostage that day, 137 remain in Gaza captivity after others were recovered during a truce. Some have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities. "We are not going to comment on psychological warfare that Hamas continues to wage against the people of Israel," Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, said in a briefing when asked about the Hamas account of the botched raid. "We hold Hamas fully responsible for the safety and wellbeing of those hostages," he said, reiterating an Israeli demand - so far unmet - for the Red Cross to visit them.

Israel Pursues Hamas in and Around Gaza's Biggest Cities
Asharq Al Awsat/December 08/023
Israel pressed on with its offensive in and around Gaza's main cities on Friday, more than two months after Hamas's deadly attack sparked a war that has claimed thousands of lives and left the Palestinian territory in ruins. The death toll in Gaza has soared above 17,000, mostly women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry said, and vast areas of the besieged territory have been reduced to a rubble-strewn wasteland of bombed-out and bullet-scarred buildings. Early Friday, the health ministry reported another 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City, and "dozens" more in Jabalia and Khan Yunis, reported AFP. Israeli forces have encircled major urban centers as they seek to destroy Hamas over its unprecedented attack on October 7, when militants broke through Gaza's militarized border to kill around 1,200 people and seize hostages, 138 of whom remain captive, according to Israeli figures. In a Thursday phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden "emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas", the White House said in a statement. Biden also called for "corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities". Backed by air power, tanks and armored bulldozers, Israeli troops are fighting in Khan Yunis, the biggest city in southern Gaza, as well as in Gaza City and Jabalia district in the north. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said troops had closed in on the Khan Yunis home of Hamas's Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, 61, vowing "it is only a matter of time until we find him". Israeli television stations aired footage Thursday of tens of blindfolded Palestinian men wearing only underwear, guarded by Israeli soldiers in Gaza, setting off strong reactions on social media. "We are investigating to see who is linked to Hamas and who is not," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference. London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said one of its journalists was among them.
'We are dead already'
The fighting has pushed Gazans south, turning Rafah near the Egyptian border into a vast camp for many of the 1.9 million displaced by the conflict -- 80 percent of Gaza's population. "Two months on the road, moving from one place to another. These are the hardest two months we have experienced in our lives," said Abdallah Abu Daqqa, displaced from Khan Yunis to Rafah. Air strikes have followed them. Eight more hit Rafah overnight. AFP journalists saw around 20 corpses in white body bags, including a child, at its Nasser hospital, while men gathered nearby to pray. The mass civilian casualties in the conflict have sparked global concern, heightened by dire shortages caused by an Israeli siege that has seen only limited access for food, water, fuel and medicines. Israel has approved a "minimal" increase in fuel supplies to prevent a "humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics", and called on the international community to "increase its capabilities" to distribute aid. UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said there were "promising signs" Israel may open the southern Kerem Shalom crossing to aid deliveries. But Hamas has declared a "state of famine" in northern Gaza, saying no aid has arrived there since December 1.
And Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the "minuscule amount of aid" allowed into the territory was "tantamount to deliberately starving the population". "We are dying here, without even the need for rockets and bomb strikes. We are dead already, dead from hunger, dead from displacement," said Abdelkader al-Haddad, a Gaza City resident now in Rafah.
Intense fighting
The Netanyahu government has responded angrily to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoking the rarely used Article 99 of the world body's charter, calling on the Security Council to push for a ceasefire. The Security Council will hold an emergency at 1500 GMT Friday to discuss the crisis. The fighting in Gaza has killed 89 Israeli soldiers so far, including Gal -- the son of war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot -- on Thursday. In a Thursday briefing, the Israeli military said troops had "killed Hamas terrorists and struck dozens of terror targets" in Khan Yunis, and raided a military compound of Hamas's Central Jabalia Battalion. Hamas released footage of its fighters firing AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers from abandoned buildings in what it said was Gaza City, and said it was battling Israeli troops "on all axes of the incursion into the Gaza Strip".The militant group said it had destroyed two dozen military vehicles in Khan Yunis and Beit Lahia in the territory's north, and its rockets continue to target Israel, though they have been intercepted by air defenses.
Lebanon tensions
Israelis remained deeply traumatized by the horror of the Hamas attack and fearful for the fate of hostages as they headed into the Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, from Thursday evening. One of the worst-hit sites on October 7, the Supernova music festival, was recreated in a Tel Aviv exhibition hall to remember those killed and abducted by Hamas, complete with victims' tents and recovered belongings. "My brother Idan Dor, 25, was murdered at this festival and it took eight days for us to be told he was dead," said Daniela Dor-Levin. "He loved to dance, he had just started his life. He wanted peace." Meanwhile on Thursday, an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed a civilian in Israel, the Israeli army said. Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that if it "chooses to start a global war, then it will turn Beirut and South Lebanon... into Gaza and Khan Yunis with its own hands". An investigation by Agence France-Presse into an October 13 strike in southern Lebanon that killed a Reuters journalist and injured six others, including two from AFP, concluded that it involved a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region.

Death of Israeli minister's son 'turns arrows on a map into arrows in the heart'
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters)/December 8, 2023
Israeli war cabinet minister Gadi Eizenkot learned of the death of his son in Gaza combat while conferring about operational plans at military headquarters outside the Palestinian enclave, his partner in government recalled at the funeral on Friday. The experience, fellow centrist minister Benny Gantz said in a televised eulogy, brought home for them both the career-long knowledge that "arrows on the map can become arrows in the hearts of beloved families". Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, was among hundreds of thousands of military reservists mobilised for an Israeli offensive in response to an Oct 7 cross-border killing and kidnapping spree by Hamas, the Gaza Strip's ruling Palestinian Islamist group. A commando, he was killed on Thursday in the enclave's north, where Israeli forces are battling Hamas in a handful of holdout districts after over-running Gaza City last month. Hamas said he was killed by a bomb rigged to a guerrilla tunnel in the district of Tal al-Zaatar. When Eisenkot was summoned by a casualty notification officer, he was in a operational planning room with Gantz. "As that door - a door that became a curse - opened, it was similar to so many doors that you have opened in the past," Gantz said in remarks addressed to Eizenkot. Both are former infantrymen who rose to command all of Israel's military. "I looked at you. When you went out, I thought: 'No one deserves this. Gal doesn't deserve this. Only those who love the homeland, who are raised to defend it and stand at the vanguard, are liable to fall in battle while protecting its future." A former defence minister and the most popular political rival to conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gantz joined a broadened emergency government to help manage the offensive. Under the deal, Eizenkot also joined the war cabinet. Amid mounting international alarm at the civilian toll in Gaza, Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas - an Iranian-backed group sworn to its destruction - and recover 137 hostages. "Gal, I am certain that we will press the offensive, the effort to bolster the country which you so loved - in order that it will mainly be strong, cultivated and righteous," Eizenkot, his voice choked with tears, said over his son's coffin. Netanyahu was among dignitaries who attended the funeral in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. In a tribute to the Eizenkot family posted on social media, he said: "Our heroes have not fallen for nought. We shall continue to fight until victory."

Hamas says Israel destroyed historic Gaza mosque
Reuters/December 08, 2023
CAIRO: Hamas said on Friday that Israel had bombed Gaza’s medieval Omari Mosque causing widespread destruction to the building and calling it a “heinous, barbaric crime.”Photographs carried by Hamas-run media in Gaza that Reuters could not immediately verify showed massive damage to the mosque, with fallen walls and roofs and a huge crack at the bottom of the stone minaret. Reuters journalists from Gaza identified the minaret in the picture as being that of the Omari Mosque. A spokesperson for the Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the damage to the mosque. The Omari mosque, named after Islam’s second caliph Omar, is the oldest and biggest in the tiny Palestinian enclave, which has been under Israeli bombardment since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack that Israel says killed 1,200 people. Israel’s assault has killed more than 17,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run territory, and has laid waste to entire city districts including much civilian infrastructure.

US officials discuss post-war Gaza governance plans with Palestinian Authority and Arab nations
Jennifer Hansler, Priscilla Alvarez and Natasha Bertrand, CNN/December 8, 2023
US officials are discussing post-war Gaza governance plans with the Palestinian Authority along with regional US allies – making it a key focus as they try to look beyond the immediate conflict. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday afternoon with a delegation of Arab counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority, where the topic of Gaza after the Israeli offensive was expected to be a main point of discussion. Shortly before the meeting began, the US vetoed a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. A draft version of the resolution, presented by the United Arab Emirates, had called for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” as well as “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” and “ensuring humanitarian access,” according to a draft copy. The US was the lone veto. The UK abstained because the resolution did not condemn the October 7 Hamas attack. When the war is over, US officials have said they ultimately envision both Gaza and the West Bank being ruled by a unified government led by a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who initially rebuffed the idea of the PA ruling Gaza on the heels of the Israeli offensive, has shifted his position. Still, many questions remain about the immediate “day after” for Gaza once the war ends. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday that the US understands that there will be “some kind of transition period” in which Israeli forces remain in Gaza after the end of combat operations, but that cannot be permanent.
A Western diplomat told CNN that in past conversations the Arab delegation has made clear that they are not eager to be involved with an international force to provide security in Gaza after the war. The ministers have also said that if the world wants Arab states to play a role in reconstruction and support of the PA, there must be a path towards a Palestinian state. At a press conference in Washington, DC, Friday, the delegation underscored that they were not willing to discuss the “day after” solely in the context of Gaza, but rather in the context of a Palestinian state.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi suggested on CNN they would not play a role in an international peacekeeping force, and condemned Israel’s offensive. “All of us are losing our credibility,” he told Jim Sciutto on “CNN Newsroom” on Max. “We are losing credibility in front of our people because our own people are looking at us and saying, ‘Okay, you’re demanding that Israel stop. It’s not. The whole international community has failed to act in any meaningful manner to stop the massacre,’” he said. “So. Everybody’s losing credibility. Moderation is losing credibility. The camp of peace is losing credibility. So that is a danger with which we we’re going to have to reckon at some point or the other.”The delegation reiterated their call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and cast aspersions on members of the international community – like the US – for failing to advocate for one. A senior administration official said that privately there is some consternation within the administration over the US’ Arab allies’ reluctance to play any role in a post-war international peacekeeping force, since they have been among the loudest in condemning Israel’s assault on Gaza. One Arab ambassador told CNN that their country would “absolutely not” place any of its own forces in Gaza after the war. Part of that is because the Arab states do not want to be seen as subjugating the Palestinians, the ambassador explained.
The Biden administration has consistently advocated for a two-state solution. Last month, Blinken laid out the administration’s terms for “durable peace and security” in Gaza after the war, which include no Israeli re-occupation and no reduction in territory. As such, the US is opposed to the establishment of an Israeli security buffer zone within Gaza after the war. Vice President Kamala Harris also raised post-conflict Gaza in multiple meetings and calls with Arab leaders last weekend when in Dubai, telling reporters that she shared what expectations the US will have with regard to post-conflict planning. “Specifically, I proposed three areas of focus,” Harris said, citing reconstruction of infrastructure in Gaza, reinforcing Palestinian Authority security and revitalizing PA governance. Harris also reiterated that a two-state solution is the best path forward. Blinken met with Abbas in Ramallah last week. Harris’ national security adviser, Phil Gordon, held additional meetings in the West Bank this week.
“He underscored our commitment to the future establishment of a Palestinian state and made clear that the Palestinian people must have a hopeful political horizon. To that end, Dr. Gordon discussed the revitalization of the Palestinian Authority,” according to a White House readout.
It’s an extension of what US national security officials have telegraphed as it relates to Gaza and the PA. “Leadership choices – these are, of course, up to the Palestinian people and Palestinians themselves. But there are a number of things that we think would be critical to making sure that, again, the Palestinian Authority can be effective in helping to advance the aspirations and the needs of its people,” Blinken said last week. Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said last month that the PA will “have to be part” of any future governing solution in both the West Bank and Gaza following the current hostilities – a prospect that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly opposed. The senior administration official told CNN that the apparent disagreement between the US and Israel over a future role for the PA is overstated. The US agrees that the Palestinian Authority in its current, weakened state would be unlikely to be able to govern Gaza, but that a “revitalized” PA – including potentially with new leadership entirely – is a plausible solution.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told Bloomberg that he sees a role for Hamas in future Gaza governance – a prospect that would also be firmly rejected by Israel, whose stated goal is to eliminate the group. US officials have said there cannot be a return to the “status quo” before October 7. The Western diplomat told CNN that privately, many of the Arab partners also do not want Hamas to remain in control in Gaza. It’s not clear that such an arrangement is even possible, given the long history of enmity between Hamas in Gaza and its bitter political rival Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The two sides have tried – and failed – multiple times to reach an agreement to unite the two separate Palestinian territories under one governance structure. Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in October 2017 under pressure from the Arab states, led by Egypt. Under the deal, a new unity government was supposed to take administrative control of Gaza two months later, ending a decade of rivalry that began when Hamas violently evicted the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in 2007. But the deal’s lofty aspirations quickly collapsed. When Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited Gaza in March 2018, he was the target of an assassination attempt when a bomb detonated near his convoy. Hamdallah’s Fatah party immediately blamed Hamas for the attack.

'EU adds two Hamas commanders to its terrorist list
Reuters/December 08, 2023
BRUSSELS: EU countries on Friday put two Hamas commanders on the European Union’s terrorist list, following the group’s October military attack on Israel. The two individuals are Mohammed Deif, Commander General of the military wing of Hamas, and his deputy Marwan Issa, the EU said. Effective Friday, the two commanders are subject to the freezing of their funds and other financial assets in EU member states, while EU operators are prohibited from providing funds and economic resources to them.

Hamas says captive Israeli soldier killed in clash with special forces
Reuters/December 08, 2023
DUBAI/JERUSALEM: The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas said an Israeli soldier who had been held hostage was killed early on Friday in a clash between the militants and an Israeli special forces unit that was conducting a rescue operation. Al-Qassam Brigades said its fighters had discovered the rescue operation and confronted the unit which led to the death and injury of a number of the Israeli forces involved in the operation, without specifying a number. They identified the captive soldier who was killed as 25-year-old Sa’ar Baruch and gave an identification number for him. The Israeli Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel rescued a captive soldier from Gaza captivity in late October and has said it could mount similar operations to retrieve remaining hostages if possible

Hamas condemns Israel over images showing semi-naked Palestinian prisoners
Reuters/December 08, 2023
CAIRO: A senior Hamas official accused Israeli forces on Friday of carrying out a “heinous crime against innocent civilians” after images of Palestinian men stripped to their underwear in Gaza circulated on social media. Izzat El-Reshiq, who is in exile abroad, urged international human rights organizations to intervene to show what happened to the men and help secure their release. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was concerned by the images and that all detainees must be treated with humanity and dignity in accordance with international humanitarian law. Israeli TV showed footage on Thursday, which Reuters could not independently verify, of what it said were captured Hamas fighters, stripped to their underwear with heads bowed sitting in a Gaza City street. “We are talking about individuals who are apprehended in Jabalia and Shejaiya (in Gaza city), Hamas strongholds and centers of gravity,” Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy told a regular briefing in response to a question about the images. “We are talking about military-age men who were discovered in areas that civilians were supposed to have evacuated weeks ago.”The Israeli military has been advising civilians to leave areas in Gaza where it plans to operate after launching its campaign to eliminate Hamas in the Palestinian enclave following the Islamist militant group’s Oct. 7 killing spree in Israel. One photo showed more than 20 men kneeling on the pavement or in the street, with Israeli soldiers looking on and dozens of shoes and sandals abandoned in the road. A similar number of men, also semi-naked, were crammed into the back of a truck nearby. Some Palestinians said they recognized relatives in the images circulating on social media and denied they had any links to Hamas or any other group. Reshiq said the men had been captured at a school in Gaza that was being used as a shelter after weeks of Israeli bombardments that have displaced many Gazans.
APPEAL TO HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS
Hamas held Israeli forces responsible for the lives and safety of the detained men, Reshiq added. “And we urge human rights organizations to immediately intervene to expose this heinous crime against innocent civilians taking refuge in a school, that had turned into a shelter because of Zionist aggression and massacres, and to put pressure by all means to secure their release.”The London-based Arabic language news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said one of the men detained was its correspondent Diaa Kahlout. “Al-Araby Al-Jadeed strongly condemns the humiliating arrest of colleague Diaa Al-Kahlout and other civilians,” it said, urging the international community and rights groups to denounce the arrest of journalists.The Committee to Protect Journalists also called for his release. Some Palestinians identified the place where the men were captured as the northeastern town of Beit Lahia, an area that Israel had warned civilians to leave and has been encircled and besieged by Israeli tanks for weeks. Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian American based in Virginia, said he saw relatives in one image and told Reuters they were “innocent civilians with no links to Hamas or any other faction.” “We strongly emphasize the importance of treating all those detained with humanity and dignity, in accordance with international humanitarian law,” Jessica Moussan, ICRC Media Relations Adviser, Middle East, said in a statement. Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission in London, said on X the images evoked “some of humanity’s darkest passages of history.”Prominent Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi said on X the incident was “blatant attempt at the humiliation & degradation of Palestinian men, abducted from their family homes, stripped & displayed like war trophies.”

Palestinian Authority working with US on postwar plan for Gaza — Bloomberg News
Reuters/December 08, 2023
Hamas militant group which controls Gaza to become a junior partner under the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
More than 17,170 Palestinians have been killed and 46,000 wounded since Israel began bombarding Gaza
The Palestinian Authority is working with US officials on a plan to run Gaza after the war is over, Bloomberg News reported, citing Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. The preferred outcome of the conflict would be for the Hamas militant group which controls Gaza to become a junior partner under the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), helping to build a new independent state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, Ramallah-based Shtayyeh said in an interview to Bloomberg News on Thursday. “If they (Hamas) are ready to come to an agreement and accept the political platform of the PLO, then there will be room for talk. Palestinians should not be divided,” Shtayyeh said, adding that Israel’s aim to fully defeat Hamas is unrealistic. Israel has vowed to wipe out Iran-backed Hamas after the Islamist militants attacked Israeli towns and villages on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and dragging about 240 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israel’s count. More than 17,170 Palestinians have been killed and 46,000 wounded since Israel began bombarding Gaza in response to the cross-border rampage, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Macron Condemns Israeli Settler Violence in Call with Netanyahu
Asharq Al Awsat/December 8/2023
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the Israel-occupied West Bank. Macron's Elysee office said the two held a phone call on Friday, during which Macron had also reaffirmed the need to protect the civilian population of Gaza and had told Netanyahu of the importance of reaching a lasting ceasefire deal. While Macron reiterated France's solidarity with Israel in its fight against terrorism, he nevertheless told Netanyahu to "take the necessary measures" to end the attacks by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has condemned violence against Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, saying in a state of law, only the police and the military had the right to use force.

Palestinians crowd into ever-shrinking areas in Gaza as war against enters 3rd month
Associated Press/December 8, 2023
Desperate Palestinians fleeing Israel's expanding ground offensive crowded into an ever-shrinking area of the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third month Friday. The United Nations warned that its aid operation is "in tatters" because no place in the besieged enclave is safe. Israel's ferocious military assault on Gaza, a tiny, densely populated territory, has led to widespread civilian casualties and mass displacements, triggering international alarm. The Israeli army said Friday that over the past day the military had struck about 450 targets in the Gaza Strip by air, sea and ground, signaling the continued intensity of Israel's campaign. Earlier this week, U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used a rarely exercised power to warn the Security Council of an impending "humanitarian catastrophe," and Arab and Islamic nations have called for a vote Friday on a draft Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire. The United States, Israel's closest ally, appears likely to block any U.N. effort to halt the fighting which was triggered by the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Still, U.S. concern over the devastation was growing. U.S. officials told Israel ahead of the expansion of its ground offensive to southern Gaza several days ago that it must limit civilian deaths and displacement, saying too many Palestinians were killed when it obliterated much of Gaza City and the north.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a call with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer that casualties are still too high, a senior State Department official said. Blinken told Dermer that Israel must also do more to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic discussion. Israel insists it must crush the military capabilities of Hamas, which rules Gaza, and remove it from power following the group's Oct. 7 attack. In the first stage of the war, Israel's devastating air and ground campaign focused on the northern half of Gaza, as hundreds of thousands or residents fled south. Intense battles continued in parts of the north in recent days, while troops there have rounded up hundreds of Palestinian men. In photos and video published Thursday, dozens of men are seen sitting in rows on a street in northern Gaza, stripped down to their underwear with their heads bowed as they are being guarded by Israeli troops. The images were the first showing such detentions in the war. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops have detained and interrogated hundreds of people in Gaza suspected of militant links. U.N. monitors said troops reportedly detained men and boys from the age of 15 in a school-turned-shelter in the town of Beit Lahiya, in the north. Over the past week, Israeli forces expanded their ground offensive into southern Gaza, with a focus on Khan Younis, the territory's second largest city.
With the entire Gaza Strip under military assault, tens of thousands of people displaced by the fighting have packed into the border city of Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, and Muwasi, a nearby patch of barren coastline that Israel has declared a safe zone. With shelters significantly beyond capacity, many people pitched tents along the side of the road leading from Rafah to Muwasi. "Humanitarian actors … are reporting extreme overcrowded conditions and lack of basic resources in Rafah," said the United Nations' humanitarian affairs section. The ability of U.N. aid agencies to receive vital aid supplies had been "significantly impaired" over the past few days due to trucks and staff being stranded by the fighting, and telecommunications blackout, it said.
"We do not have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore," the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned Thursday. The pace of Israel's military assault "has made no place safe for civilians in southern Gaza, which had been a cornerstone of the humanitarian plan to protect civilians and thus to provide aid to them. But without places of safety, that plan is in tatters."With the entire Gaza Strip under military assault, Israel designated Muwasi on the territory's Mediterranean Coast as a safe zone for those seeking safety from the fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants. But the U.N. and relief agencies say it is a poorly planned solution that offers no guarantee of safety in a territory where civilians have been faced by airstrikes even in other areas where the Israeli army has ordered them to evacuate to. Israel's campaign has killed more than 17,100 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — and wounded more than 46,000, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which says many others are trapped under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took more than 240 hostages. An estimated 138 hostages remain in Gaza, mostly soldiers and civilian men, after 105 were freed during a cease-fire in late November.

Report: US gives Israel till end of year to wrap up Gaza war
Naharnet/December 8, 2023
According to three officials in Tel Aviv who spoke to U.S. news portal POLITICO on condition of anonymity, the administration of United States President Joe Biden has now given Israel until the end of the year to wrap up its war on Hamas.The deadline was underlined by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Israel this week. But Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer told a security forum on Thursday that the administration is not imposing a hard deadline on Israel to end its military operation in Gaza. However, when Israeli officials outlined their plans to the top U.S. diplomat, stating that fighting in southern Gaza would last several months, reportedly Blinken tersely retorted, “You don’t have that much credit.”

Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer killed in Gaza strike
Agence France Presse/December 8, 2023
The Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, one of the leaders of a young generation of authors in Gaza who chose to write in English to tell their stories, was killed in an Israeli strike, his friends said overnight Thursday. "My heart is broken, my friend and colleague Refaat Alareer was killed with his family a few minutes ago," wrote his friend, the Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha, on Facebook. "I don't want to believe this. We both loved to pick strawberries together."Israel had conducted further raids on Thursday evening in the north of the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas authorities. Alareer had said a few days after Israel began its ground offensive in October that he refused to leave northern Gaza, the epicentre of the fighting at the time. "Refaat's assassination is tragic, painful and outrageous. It is a huge loss," his friend Ahmed Alnaouq wrote on X. The Literary Hub website also paid tribute to him, while author and journalist Ramzy Baroud wrote on X: "Rest in peace Refaat Alareer. We will continue to be guided by your wisdom, today and for eternity."Alareer, a professor of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught Shakespeare among other subjects, was also one of the co-founders of the "We are not numbers" project, which pairs authors from Gaza with mentors abroad who help them write stories in English about their experiences. The project edited the book "Gaza Writes Back", chronicles of life in Gaza by young Palestinian authors, and published "Gaza Unsilenced". Israel launched a vast military operation in Gaza following an attack by Hamas on October 7, in which around 1,200 were killed, mostly civilians, according to Israeli authorities. More than 17,100, also mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel's relentless bombardment that has spread to the entirety of the Palestinian territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. In November, Alareer published a poem on X entitled "If I must die" that was shared tens of thousands of times. It concludes with the words: "If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale".

94 media workers killed this year, most of them in Gaza
Associated Press/December 8, 2023
A leading organization representing journalists worldwide expressed deep concern Friday at the number of media professionals killed around the globe doing their jobs in 2023, with Israel's war with Hamas claiming more journalists than any conflict in over 30 years. In its annual count of media worker deaths, the International Federation of Journalists said 94 journalists had been killed so far this year and almost 400 others had been imprisoned. The figure for deaths is up from 67 in the same period of 2022 — including 12 killed in Ukraine — and double the total of 47 recorded for the whole of 2021. The group called for better protection for media workers and for their attackers to be held to account. "The imperative for a new global standard for the protection of journalists and effective international enforcement has never been greater," said IFJ President Dominique Pradalié. The group said 68 journalists had been killed covering the Israeli-Hamas war since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 — more than one a day and accounting for 72% of all media deaths worldwide this year. It said the overwhelming majority of them were Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces continue their offensive. "The war in Gaza has been more deadly for journalists than any single conflict since the IFJ began recording journalists killed in the line of duty in 1990," the group said, adding that deaths have come at "a scale and pace of loss of media professionals' lives without precedent."Ukraine also "remains a dangerous country for journalists" almost two years since Russia's invasion, the organization said. It said three reporters or media workers had been killed in that war so far this year. The organization also deplored media deaths in Afghanistan, the Philippines, India, China and Bangladesh. It expressed concern that crimes against media workers are going unpunished and urged governments "to shed full light on these murders and to put in place measures to ensure the safety of journalists."It noted a drop in the number of journalists killed in North and South America, from 29 last year to seven so far in 2023. The group said the three Mexicans, one Paraguayan, one Guatemalan, one Colombian and one American were slain while investigating armed groups or the embezzlement of public funds. In Africa, the organization said that it "deplores four particularly shocking murders," including two in Cameroon and one each in Sudan and Lesotho, "which have failed to be fully investigated to date."In all, 393 media workers were being held in prison so far this year, the group said. The biggest number were jailed in China and Hong Kong — 80 journalists — followed by 54 in Myanmar, 41 in Turkey, 40 in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, 35 in Belarus and 23 in Egypt.

Ex-Saudi Spy Chief Says Palestinian Issue Key on Any Israel Deal
Bloomberg/December 8, 2023
Saudi Arabia is making a resolution to the Palestinian issue a condition for any engagement with Israel, the kingdom’s former head of intelligence said, even as the US attempts to work on normalizing their ties while war rages in Gaza. “The Palestinian issue is upfront and must be dealt with, a priority of any Saudi engagement on the level that was presented in the press as being imminent,” Prince Turki Al-Faisal said at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi on Friday. The stance underscores how the war between Israel and Hamas altered the diplomatic calculus for Saudi Arabia. Before the conflict erupted two months ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom was getting closer “every day” to a landmark deal normalizing relations with Israel, even as he described the Palestinian issue as “very important.”But talks have been on pause since Israel’s retaliation following Hamas’s attack that killed some 1,200 people. The shift in sentiment has derailed the momentum of a set of peace treaties with Israel signed by several Arab countries in 2020 and mediated by the US. Israeli air strikes and a ground offensive into Gaza have claimed the lives of more than 16,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, and large areas have been reduced to rubble. “Palestine is there in front of all of the other considerations,” Al-Faisal said, pointing to several recent statements made by the Saudi crown prince. “I don’t think Saudi Arabia is going to engage in any such settlement or process of normalization with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue,” he said. Prince Turki, who’s also a former Saudi ambassador to the US, now holds no official role but is a rare senior royal who can air views on policy. The son of the late King Faisal served as the head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency from 1979 to 2001. Saudi Arabia has meanwhile been pushing to revive its 2002 peace plan that calls for Israel to withdraw from Arab land occupied since 1967. The initiative is “the equitable way” to end the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Prince Turki said.

Strangling Putin's legal system could bring about his downfall
Gabriella Jozwiak/Telegraph/December 8, 2023
For the second time, the State of Qatar has negotiated the repatriation of Ukrainian children deported to Russia. The country has become the go-to mediator in hostage crises too, having played a key role in brokering a deal between Israel and Hamas. But can Qatar also succeed, where others have failed, to help return thousands of Ukrainian hostages imprisoned in Russia? As the world watches horrors unfold in Gaza and Israel, the plight of Ukrainian imprisoned civilians like Mykyta Buzynov have fallen from view. In March 2022, Russian soldiers took the 25-year-old taxi driver from his uncle’s yard in the Chernihiv region. Witnesses said occupying forces searched his phone, accused him of being a traitor, threatened to shoot his girlfriend, then drove him away. Months later, his family discovered he had been held in a pretrial centre in the Russian city of Belgorod. Now his location is unknown. Buzynov’s name is one among more than 4,000 documented by Ukraine’s Centre For Civil Liberties (CCL). That is further to Ukraine’s kidnapped children, which Kyiv estimates exceeds 19,000 young people. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation is tracking cases of civilian imprisonment in Russia – men and women snatched off the streets without explanation. It estimates there are several thousand more. Russians interrogate them, accuse them of false crimes and deny their rights to contact families. They imprison them without trial – some for almost two years. Those who are released report being tortured, sexually abused, and starved. The system is a macabre merry-go-round of human rights violations. The world’s energetic reaction to the Middle East hostage crisis has revealed how weak headway on rescuing Ukrainian civilians has been, and increased an already profound frustration among human rights defenders.
They have levelled much of their anger at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Ukrainian government officials, in particular parliamentary commissioner for human rights Dmytro Lubinets, have accused the organisation of failing to fulfil its mandate.
The ICRC has defended its role and clarified it cannot act as a negotiator between states, but rather has a right to visit civilian internees to check their treatment and conditions follow international humanitarian law. The ICRC says Russia is denying it access to prisons. It will not state how many Ukrainians in Russian captivity it has reached.
ICRC spokesman in Ukraine Achille Després told me discretion was imperative: “You cannot even think of visiting a place of detention anywhere if you start calling out the people who hold the keys.”
This month expectations in Ukraine were high about a meeting between ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric and President Putin in Moscow. She last went in January. In September, Russian press published quotes from head of the ICRC Regional Delegation for Russia Boris Michel hinting at a visit. The ICRC declined to confirm or deny the trip. This week Spoljaric is in Gaza, with Israel to follow. Mikhail Savva, a Russian human rights professor and advisor to the CCL, hoped Spoljaric would raise the prison access agenda. He has experienced Russian prisons directly, after being prosecuted for his human rights work in 2013. He now lives in exile in Ukraine, having fled Russia. But he says he was lucky. Under the current regime, escape is impossible. Savva believes the ICRC should be bolder. He says since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin is seen as an anomaly. By treading carefully, the ICRC is helping him regain an image of conducting business-as-usual politics.Qatar, however, does not have a demarcated mandate, and its approach as mediator in the cases of children seems to be working. Last month, Lubinets announced Qatar had agreed to mediate on returning civilian hostages. With its help, perhaps, there is hope for families in Ukraine desperately awaiting news of lost relatives. But Western countries could also ramp up the pressure, says Savva. He has worked on several cases where direct appeals from Russian lawyers to Russian regional prosecutors, informing them they are holding a non-combatant illegally without charges, have surprisingly led to their release. “Some of them are afraid,” he suggests. “They know they are breaking Russian and international laws. They don’t know how long the current regime will last. When it falls, they will have to answer for the crimes they have committed.”For this reason, Savva wants governments to sanction local prosecutors, and people running prisons and penal colonies, to paralyse the system. And if that were to happen, he believes that Putin’s regime will fall.

Russia may be losing troops on the front lines almost as fast as it can bring in new ones, war experts say
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/December 8, 2023
EUTERS/Alexey Malgavko/December 8, 2023
Russia is struggling to send enough soldiers to make up for its front line losses, war experts said. The Institute for the Study of War analyzed Russian casualty rates over the last two months. They suggest that Russia may be losing more soldiers than it can bring in new ones, it said. The Russian army is losing so many soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine that it is likely struggling to recruit enough new ones to replace its losses, according to military experts. The Institute for the Study of War drew its assessment from casualty and recruitment numbers shared by Ukraine over the last two months, as well as from the intensity of the fighting across the front lines. Russian forces lost almost 11,000 soldiers in the area around the eastern towns of Kupyansk, Lyman, and Bakhmut in November, Volodymyr Fityo, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command, said on Thursday, according to Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne. Based on this number and the intensity of the fighting on that axis, the ISW estimated that Russian casualty rates in neighboring Avdiivka could be even higher "given the higher operational tempo there."About 5,000 Russian troops were killed or wounded in that area between October 10 and 26, Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun said in late October, at the height of a bloody campaign that saw Russia launch two waves of assaults on Avdiivka, per the ISW. And with Russia throwing more soldiers into mass infantry-led assaults to take Avdiivka, the risk is that its forces will suffer "even greater manpower losses," the ISW said. Further south, Russian forces have suffered "significant casualties," with more than 1,200 soldiers killed and over 2,200 injured on the left bank of the Dnipro River between October 17 and November 17, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
Ukrainian forces are likely inflicting similar losses in the southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the ISW added. If the Ukrainian estimates are accurate, the ISW concluded, it suggests that Russian operations in Ukraine are "highly attritional," with Russian losses not just resulting from its offensives in Avdiivka. Added together, the ISW said that Russia's casualty toll would likely surpass the number of soldiers it is recruiting on a monthly basis, which Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence agency, claimed was about 20,000. Russia's death toll could actually be closer to the recruitment estimates released by Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev, who said that Russia's military recruited 42,000 personnel between November 9 and December 1, the ISW said. It added a caveat to its assessment, saying that "both recruiting and casualty figures likely fluctuate over the course of the year, and all available figures are likely exaggerated."If Russia keeps recruiting at its current rate while losing the same number of soldiers, its army will struggle to replenish or reconstitute its existing units, as well as form new ones, the ISW added.

Erdogan Ally Links Sweden’s NATO Bid to Gaza War in New Hurdle
Bloomberg/December 8, 2023
A key partner of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw fresh doubt on NATO’s Nordic expansion after conditioning his support for Sweden’s accession on “permanent peace” between Israelis and Palestinians. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party whose support gives Erdogan a majority in parliament, said “we look coldly upon Sweden entering NATO,” the Turkgun newspaper reported in an interview on Friday. The comments are the latest signal that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s enlargement could face further delays while a bill ratifying Sweden’s accession is stuck at the committee stage in the Turkish Parliament. Erdogan’s ruling Justice & Development Party, or AKP, is demanding a written anti-terrorism road map from Stockholm before they send the bill for a vote. The AKP will ultimately need the support of Bahceli’s 50 members of parliament to pass it. “If permanent peace is attained between Israel and Palestine and an independent Palestinian state is recognized, if Israel agrees to pay reparations and if Netanyahu stands trial at The Hague, we’d say OK to Sweden’s NATO membership,” the newspaper cited Bahceli as saying, referring to the Israeli prime minister. Bahceli has repeatedly slammed Sweden over Koran burnings and alleged terrorist activities on its soil, but has stopped short of criticizing Erdogan for proceeding with the country’s NATO bid or threatening to break his alliance with the president.

As aid runs out, Syria’s displaced fear dying of hunger
AFP/December 08, 2023
ATME, Syria: Displaced people in camps in northeast Syria have expressed fears about their future after the World Food Programme announced the end of food assistance across the war-torn country. “Stopping aid to the camps will exponentially increase suffering,” said Ali Farahat, the director of the Maram camp for the displaced in the town of Atme near the border with Turkiye. “Some have told me ‘if aid stops, we will die of hunger’,” he told AFP on Wednesday. In a statement issued on Monday, the WFP said it “regrets to announce the end of its general food assistance across Syria in January 2024 due to lack of funding.”The United Nations’ food aid agency said it would “continue supporting families affected by emergency situations and natural disasters across the country through smaller and more targeted emergency response interventions.”It told AFP the “decision is based on funding, which is a global issue that WFP faces.”In September, the WFP had warned that insufficient funds had forced it to reduce assistance in various parts of the world, pushing an estimated 24 million people to the brink of famine. In July, 45 percent of aid recipients in Syria were cut from assistance, it said. “WFP’s activities by nature are fully scalable meaning they can be reduced or increased based on needs and available resources,” the agency told AFP. Around three million people live in areas controlled by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) militant group in Idlib province. Roughly half live in camps for the displaced, while others reside in abandoned buildings or caves, or even in old buildings and rusty buses. Camps for the displaced are often overcrowded and lack basic needs, with residents depending principally on food, medical and other aid provided by international organizations. Residents of those camps in northeastern Syria, including Maram in Atme, are likely to be the hardest hit by the WFP decision. Maram’s residents could be seen queuing up to receive some of the last of their aid rations of the year. “Stopping assistance will lead to the death of those who subsisted on them because they don’t have money to buy food,” said Ahmed Adla, 40, who was displaced 11 years ago from the village of Kurin in Idlib’s countryside. Khaled Al-Masri, 45, displaced nearly 13 years ago from the nearby village of Hass along with 11 family members, said: “I hope they come to see our conditions and how we spend the winter. We can’t keep our children warm.”

US imposes sanctions on Iran-backed network funding Yemen’s Houthis
Reuters/December 08, 2023
WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on 13 individuals and entities for allegedly funneling tens of millions of dollars in foreign currency to Yemen’s Houthi group from the sale and shipment of Iranian commodities. The US Treasury said in a statement that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s paramilitary and espionage force, backed the scheme involving a complex web of exchange houses and firms in multiple countries, including Yemen, Turkiye, and St. Kitts and Nevis. Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said funds provided by Iran have enabled recent attacks by the Houthis on commercial shipping in the Red Sea that endanger international trade. “The Houthis continue to receive funding and support from Iran, and the result is unsurprising: unprovoked attacks on civilian infrastructure and commercial shipping, disrupting maritime security and threatening international commercial trade,” the Treasury statement quoted Nelson as saying.’ The Houthis say they have been staging drone and missile attacks against Israel and Israeli ships in the Red Sea in response to the offensive Israel launched against Hamas in Gaza after the Oct.7 rampage into Israel by Hamas militants.
Iran denies any involvement in the attacks.
Washington has said that US warships have downed missiles and drones fired by the Houthis although the Pentagon says it has not been clear that the American vessels were actually targeted. US warships have also intercepted attacks on commercial ships that the US military says were linked to multiple nations.
The sanctions freeze all properties and interests in the United States of those targeted and generally prohibit Americans from conducting transactions with them. The Treasury said that the targeted network involved Said Al-Jamal, a key “Iran-based Houthi financial facilitator,” and Bilal Hudroj, who runs a Lebanon-based exchange house, both of whom already are under US sanctions. Jamal has for years used a web of exchange houses in Yemen and abroad to funnel the proceeds of Iranian commodity sales to the Houthis and the IRGC, the Treasury said, adding that Hudroj has assisted in the remittances to the Houthis.The 13 entities and individuals hit in the latest sanctions include a jewelry shop and exchange house in Turkiye, the Treasury said, as well as exchange houses, shipping agents and individuals in St. Kitts and Nevis, Britain and Russia.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2023
What Is Really Behind Bin Laden's 'Letter to the American People'?
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 08, 2023
"Battle, animosity, and hatred — directed from the Muslim to the infidel — is the foundation of our religion. And we consider this a justice and kindness to them." — Osama bin Laden, "Al-Qaeda's Declaration in Response to the Saudi Ulema."
"There are only three choices in Islam: either willing submission; or payment of the jizya, thereby physical, though not spiritual, submission to the authority of Islam; or the sword—for it is not right to let him [an infidel] live." — Osama bin Laden, "Al-Qaeda's Declaration in Response to the Saudi Ulema."
In his "Letter to the American People," however, bin Laden portrays Islam as "the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted."
When clarifying to the Saudis what Islam really has in store for infidels, bin Laden quoted many of the most militant verses, such as Koran 9:29: "Fight those among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] who do not believe in Allah, nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued."
Today, young Americans are eating up the old and discredited words of Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the murder of 3,000 Americans — all thanks to TikTok and its Chinese Communist Party owners.
As the war between Israel and Palestinians rages on, an old "Letter to the American People" from the terrorist Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the murder of nearly 3,000 people in the United States on September 11, 2001, after his first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993 failed, recently went viral on TikTok, where it is apparently "opening eyes" based on the sorts of reactions it has been receiving, such as:
"It's wild and everyone should read it. If you haven't read it yet, read it."
"I will never look at life the same again; I will never look at this country the same."
"I guarantee you it's going to blow your mind."
"[The letter] is actually so mind-fuc*ing to me, that terrorism has been sold as this [false] idea to the American people."
What great revelations did the Al Qaeda chief make in his letter from 2002? While justifying the 9/11 attacks, he accused America of any number of crimes — chief among them support for Israel supposedly at the expense of Palestinians.
The problem with bin Laden's litany list against America — and, in other letters, the West in its entirety — was that none of his accusations was the ultimate reason that he and Al Qaeda hated the U.S. and Europe.
Background: Osama bin Laden, from one of Saudi Arabia's most prominent families, denounced his country's royal family as insufficiently pious, formed the terrorist group Al Qaeda, and was eventually expelled from the Arabian Peninsula. He went to Sudan, then to Pakistan, where, after two attempts to destroy the World Trade Center – the second attempt brought it down – he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011.
Soon after the strikes of 9/11, sometime in February 2002, sixty Americans drafted a letter titled "What We're Fighting For: A Letter from America," in which they declared America's resolve to combat Islamic terrorism.
In response, 153 prominent Saudi scholars drafted their own letter, "A Letter to American Scholars and Intellectuals: How We Can Coexist," published in May 2002, in Riyadh. Their reply, signed by many important figures of the Saudi establishment, infuriated al-Qaeda, and prompted bin Laden to write "Al-Qaeda's Declaration in Response to the Saudi Ulema: It's Best You Prostrate Yourselves in Secret."
The whole point of bin Laden's declaration (translated and annotated in this author's The Al Qaeda Reader, pp.17-62) was to chastise the Saudis for what he deemed was a theologically invalid and cowardly response to the West, one typified by "prostrations." To correct the Saudis, he repeatedly emphasized what he considered Islam's "true" position concerning non-Muslims (see below).
Because bin Laden's essay was written to the Saudis -- that is, for Islamic eyes only -- it is refreshingly honest and straightforward, and not that different from the writings of ISIS.
For instance, the Saudis had written to the Americans that "The heart of the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims is justice, kindness, and charity." Bin Laden, outraged, reprimanded the Saudis:
"As to the relationship between Muslims and infidels... 'Enmity and hate shall forever reign between us — till you believe in Allah alone' [Koran 60:4]." So there is an enmity, evidenced by fierce hostility from the heart. And this fierce hostility — that is, battle — ceases only if the infidel submits to the authority of Islam, or if his blood is forbidden from being shed, or if Muslims are at that point in time weak and incapable [of waging jihad]. But if the hate at any time extinguishes from the heart, this is great apostasy! Allah Almighty's Word to his Prophet recounts in summation the true relationship: 'O Prophet! Wage war against the infidels and hypocrites and be ruthless. Their abode is hell — an evil fate! [9:73].' Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between the infidel and the Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred — directed from the Muslim to the infidel — is the foundation of our religion. And we consider this a justice and kindness to them. The West perceives fighting, enmity, and hatred all for the sake of the religion [Islam] as unjust, hostile, and evil. But whose understanding is right — our notions of justice and righteousness, or theirs?
Not content with chastising the Saudis, bin Laden then took it upon himself — and here is where it gets interesting — to personally respond to the American letter ("What We're Fighting For") by penning a missive titled, "Why We Are Fighting You." It is this letter that the Guardian published in late 2002, under the title, "Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America,'" and it is this letter that recently went viral. (The Guardian recently removed the text.)
Oddly, bin Laden said nothing about those many Islamic doctrines that require Muslims to hate and wage war against non-Muslims, which he had condemned the Saudis for failing to acknowledge in their "How We Can Coexist" letter.
When speaking to the Saudis, bin Laden had written:
"There are only three choices in Islam: either willing submission; or payment of the jizya, thereby physical, though not spiritual, submission to the authority of Islam; or the sword—for it is not right to let him [an infidel] live. The matter is summed up for every person alive: either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die. Thus it behooves the [Saudi] signatories to clarify this matter to the West— otherwise they will be like those who believe in part of the Book [Koran] while rejecting the rest."
In his "Letter to the American People," however, bin Laden portrays Islam as "the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted." Curiously, he neglects to mention the three options mentioned above – conversion, subjugation or slaughter – that he chided the Saudis for failing to "clarify" to the infidels. Instead, he merely invites Americans to embrace Islam.
Just like the Saudi response to the Americans, bin Laden's "Letter to the American People" ultimately relies on political, humanitarian and even emotional arguments as to why Al Qaeda had declared war on the United States (for instance, self-defense, U.S. support for Israel at the expense of Palestinians, U.S. support for oppressive, dictatorial regimes, unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc.).
Even the letter's opening Koranic verse puts everything in a defensive context: "Permission to fight is given to those who are attacked, for they have been wronged and surely Allah is able to give them victory" [22:39]. Yet when clarifying to the Saudis what Islam really has in store for infidels, bin Laden quotes many of the most militant verses, including Koran 9:29:
"Fight those among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] who do not believe in Allah, nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued."
Islam's classic threefold choice, then — conversion, subjugation, or slaughter — is the ultimate source of problems, even for other terrorist groups, such as Hamas. As the Encyclopedia of Islam's entry for "jihad" by Emile Tyan puts it:
"[The] spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general ... Jihad must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam ...."
Unfortunately, we, the "infidels" — Americans, Israelis, Christians, Jews, Hindus and all non-Muslims — are to people of this mindset de facto enemies. It is in this context that the question of U.S. support for Israel should be examined. Being hated and deemed an enemy for political differences is peripheral to being hated for simply existing, as, sadly, Islam views Jews -- not Israelis, Jews.
Nevertheless, instead of understanding and responding to this complex reality, today, young Americans are eating up the old and discredited words of Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the murder of 3,000 Americans — all thanks to TikTok and its Chinese Communist Party owners, who are outspokenly committed to displacing the US as the world's leading superpower. The Chinese Communist Party and their allies in Iran appear committed to that goal; what is the US doing about it?
Note: For additional articles that closely examine and show the contradiction between al-Qaeda's words to the West and its words to fellow Muslims click here, here, here, here, here, and here.
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Afghans find a credible opposition voice to the Taliban
Luke Coffey/Arab News/December 08, 2023
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows no sign of a peaceful conclusion. Meanwhile, the world remains focused on Israel’s war on Gaza. Sometimes it seems that policymakers have all but forgotten about Afghanistan.
After taking power more than two years ago, the Taliban have learned that resisting is much easier than governing. There is a nationwide shortage of basic medical supplies. Tens of millions of Afghans suffer from food insecurity. The economic situation remains bleak, with reports of fathers even selling off their young daughters for marriage to much older men to get money for food. Natural disasters have also taken their toll on the country. Major earthquakes in Herat in October killed almost 1,500 and left 144,000 needing humanitarian aid. The international community has not worked out a way to ensure that much-needed humanitarian aid reaches those most affected without lining the pockets of the Taliban elite in Kabul.
Meanwhile, the cycle of violence that has plagued Afghanistan for more than four decades remains unchecked. Daesh is an increasingly deadly force in the country and has been responsible for a number of mass casualty attacks. According to reports published by the UN, Al-Qaeda remains active. Smaller regional terrorist groups, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have also taken advantage of the Taliban’s hospitality. However, despite the tragic situation, there remains a glimmer of hope for the country’s future. This week more than 50 representatives from different anti-Taliban opposition and resistance groups gathered in Vienna for the third meeting of the so-called Vienna Process for a Democratic Afghanistan. A smaller group first met in September 2022, the first such gathering of opposition figures on the international stage since the Taliban regained power. The first meeting of the Vienna Process was also notable because it acknowledged the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, Ahmad Massoud, as the de facto leader of this anti-Taliban opposition movement.
The NRF was formed in August 2021 in the aftermath of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul. Massoud, the son of the late Soviet and Taliban resistance fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud, escaped from the city to his family’s ancestral homeland in the Panjshir Valley. Since then, the NRF has been active across northern Afghanistan as the only credible and non-extremist armed opposition to the Taliban.
Daesh is an increasingly deadly force in the country
The second gathering in Vienna last April featured an even more diverse group of participants, including activists from many different backgrounds, ethnic groups and religious affiliations, as well as representatives from the Hazara, Uzbek and Sikh minorities. Almost half the participants were women.
The most recent meeting was even more noteworthy. Although the center of gravity for the conference was Massoud and the NRF, other significant groups and personalities were represented. For example, senior figures of the National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan, also known as the Ankara Coalition, participated. This included former MP Mohammadi Muhaqeq and former vice president of Afghanistan Yunus Qanuni. The notorious Adbul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek Afghan commander and longtime Afghan powerbroker, sent a personal representative to deliver his message to the attendees. There were international observers from the US, and European and regional countries. On the final day of the meeting, they took part in the discussions.
Almost as significant as last week’s meeting in Vienna was the flurry of diplomatic activity by anti-Taliban opposition that took place in the lead-up to the event. In October, Massoud traveled to France to meet government officials and activists. He then continued on to Brussels, where he met with members of the European Parliament and held meetings with parliamentarians. Last month, he was invited as a special guest by French President Emmanuel Macron to take part in the Paris Peace Forum. At the event he was seated next to other heads of state and senior officials.
It is also worth noting that Ismail Khan, the former resistance fighter and governor of Herat, left Iran for the first time since fleeing from the Taliban in 2021, and traveled to Tajikistan. This was important because Tajikistan serves as the political home of the NRF. During Khan’s visit to Tajikistan, he held meetings with Massoud and Emomali Rahmon, the Tajikistan president. Khan’s visit demonstrates a growing alliance between northern and western Afghans in opposing the Taliban.
It remains to be seen what the future of the Vienna Process holds. With each gathering the participants grow in numbers and importance. After only three meetings, the Vienna Process has united a diverse group of Afghans on a common platform. All believe that the status quo under the Taliban is unacceptable. They emphasize that the protection of basic human rights, especially equal rights for women and minorities, are nonnegotiable. They have also agreed to “support all forms of resistance against the Taliban,” including armed opposition.
While many countries are willing to work with the Taliban as the de facto leaders of Afghanistan, few have had any level of engagement with the NRF or the Vienna Process. This is shortsighted. If there can be engagement with the Taliban, then there is no reason not to also engage with opposition groups. It is time for the international community to accept that the Vienna Process is a credible Afghan voice of opposition to the Taliban.
• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey

If we value our future, we must put a price on nature
Erik Berglof/Arab News/December 08, 2023
For millennia, natural infrastructure, such as river systems, wetlands, coastal plains, sand dunes, and forests, supported the development of human civilization. In fact, our ability to harness such infrastructure, for everything from food and drinking water to storm-surge protection and flood mitigation, has been central to our success as a species. And it will prove vital to our future survival. Technological advances propelled the evolution of infrastructure. Green turned to gray, with concrete, cable, and steel delivering energy, communications, and transportation — and, with them, unprecedented growth and development. But while rapid modernization produced once-unimaginable prosperity, it has had grave unintended consequences, not least the environmental degradation and greenhouse-gas emissions that are jeopardizing our very existence.
The question now is how to meet urgent environmental goals — reducing emissions and protecting and restoring nature and biodiversity — while enabling developing economies to fulfill their legitimate growth aspirations. The answer, as a recent report from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank suggests, may well begin with an explicit acknowledgement of nature as infrastructure.
Viewing nature as infrastructure is transformative, because it forces us to think in a more systemic way. As we pursue growth and development, we must not only avoid damaging nature, but also strengthen and enrich it through “nature-positive” investments, all while tapping its vast potential to deliver essential services. Biologists already do this when they benchmark how to restore degraded land. But now economists must get on board and enhance their tools for capturing the value and complexity of natural capital. Biodiversity, for example, covers not just the number of species, but also their genetic diversity and diversity of functions. Yet another dimension of biodiversity is the complex evolutionary history of species — when they were separated on the “tree of life.” It is only by deepening our understanding of biodiversity that we will comprehend nature’s full potential and our impact on it.
Governance and incentives are crucial to protect natural infrastructure
This knowledge is site-specific, and acquiring it will require contributions from scientists and local populations. The good news is that there are already models for such collaboration. The vast Sanbei reforestation project, aimed at preventing two large deserts from merging in northern China, was a flawed endeavor at the start, with only single tree types planted. But, over the course of two decades, deeper knowledge of the local environment and the participation of local communities transformed it into a success.
Governance and incentives are also crucial to protect and nurture natural infrastructure. In Indonesia, mangroves have long protected communities, particularly poorer households, from deadly tidal floods, but these are being depleted in regions with weaker state capacity. In Egypt, by contrast, efforts to restore mangroves have been aided by revenues from eco-tourism and beekeeping, which produces honey and supports the delivery of vital pollination services.
The nature-as-infrastructure approach demands that we assess what nature can deliver before considering gray solutions, and it can help countries close their infrastructure gaps in truly sustainable ways. But gray infrastructure will always be necessary for growth and development. This demands that we design it better, to minimize its impact on nature. For example, renewable-energy infrastructure has a large ecological footprint, and road infrastructure fragments and damages ecosystems. Solutions like co-locating infrastructure on brown sites and providing auxiliary infrastructure, such as wildlife highway crossings, green urban spaces, and nature-restoration offsets, can help mitigate these effects.
Of course, financing might pose a challenge. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed a year ago, assumes that between $598 billion and $824 billion per year will be needed by 2030 to close the biodiversity funding gap. Such sums, essential to protect and then begin to restore nature, can be generated only by valuing nature properly, and creating markets that will mobilize private and institutional capital.
To this end, “nature as infrastructure” must be developed as an asset class, using new tools and financial instruments. At the micro level, this will require better pricing of nature’s services — for example, usage charges or permits and taxes for damaging activities — and adaptive local regulations. Micro-level policies can support the development of other financial instruments and, eventually, markets — for performance-linked bonds, policy-based lending, debt-for-nature swaps, and nature credits, to name a few — to channel more finance into nature. Lessons from carbon markets should be heeded in order to avoid repeating past mistakes.
Special attention must be paid to low-income economies, many of which are highly vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation, but have rich natural endowments that should be valued properly. Multilateral development banks can catalyze the nature-as-infrastructure approach, ensuring that it is incorporated into all aspects of their operations. Ultimately, this approach should also guide individual infrastructure projects and national growth strategies.
The consequences of the infrastructure decisions we make today will be felt for decades to come. Only by committing to invest in green — and to build gray better — can we ensure we lay the groundwork for a fairer, more sustainable, and inclusive global economy.
• Erik Berglof is Chief Economist at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2023.

Turkiye, GCC seek formal partnership amid regional challenges
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/December 08, 2023
The 44th summit of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council, held on Tuesday in Doha, was significant in several respects. The session was the first to be held outside Saudi Arabia since 2018 and the first to be hosted by Qatar since the AlUla Declaration was signed in January 2021, ending the three-year diplomatic rift. The summit was held in special circumstances, as the region is witnessing many hot developments, most notably the ongoing devastating Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip. These are extremely important developments that have many implications for the GCC and regional security. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani underlined that the Gulf nations can play a role in solving the major problems facing the region and the world. This summit was also remarkable because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was present as a guest. World leaders to have attended previous summits include Nelson Mandela, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Francois Hollande. Erdogan was in Qatar for a two-day visit on the invitation of Sheikh Tamim. The highlight of his visit was the ninth meeting of the Qatar-Turkiye High Strategic Committee, which aimed to review all aspects of relations between the two countries and explore ways to deepen them.
The photo of Erdogan with the Gulf leaders taken at the end of the GCC summit was a significant indication of Ankara’s burgeoning relationship with the bloc’s member states. The inclusion of Erdogan at the GCC summit also reflects Turkiye’s commitment to fostering stronger ties within the region. It aims to find common ground on mutual interests such as bilateral relations, economic partnerships and regional security concerns.
Erdogan’s discussions with the GCC leaders had two dimensions. First was their mutual interest on regional topics, particularly the Palestinian issue and Israel’s aggression on Gaza. The GCC leaders praised the role played by Erdogan and the Turkish government in terms of its support for the Palestinian cause and people. Second was the importance of enhancing their cooperation within the framework of strategic dialogue between the GCC and Turkiye. The significance of implementing joint action plans and strengthening the Turkiye-GCC partnership was emphasized.
The GCC declared Turkiye as a strategic dialogue partner in 2008. With the establishment of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council as a mechanism to allow greater institutionalized collaboration, Turkiye became the first non-Gulf country to acquire the status of strategic partner. This was considered as a huge step on the way to strategic relations. This initiative codified the framework for conducting the relationship and cleared the way for additional intergovernmental meetings. Turkiye and the GCC countries held ministerial meetings from the beginning of the strategic dialogue mechanism and Ankara also launched several initiatives with individual Gulf states at the bilateral level. The inclusion of Erdogan at the GCC summit reflects Turkiye’s commitment to fostering stronger ties
Five ministerial strategic dialogue meetings between Turkiye and the GCC have been held so far, while Turkiye will host the sixth in the first quarter of 2024. This meeting will take place after a very long break that saw crises both within the GCC itself and in its relations with Ankara. The summit will be an outcome of Ankara’s normalization of its relations with the GCC states since early 2021. The deterioration of Turkish-Gulf relations in the past decade adversely affected the chances of them institutionalizing their ties, such as through a free trade agreement or discussions on strategic cooperation.
In a speech at the closing session of the summit, Erdogan stressed the great interest that Turkiye holds in strengthening cooperation with the GCC countries, expanding business ties and establishing partnerships in various fields, as well as seeking new opportunities for cooperation.
The most important challenge in Turkiye-GCC strategic relations is the lack of institutionalization. So far, relations have been personal and issue-based, rather than based on any strategy toward the region. There is a divergence of approaches within the GCC itself. All of these factors complicate the creation of a common Turkiye-GCC strategy toward the region. Also, despite the strong economic foundations of this relationship, a free trade agreement has not yet been reached, while Turkiye has so far only been able to conclude such a deal with the UAE.
Over the course of the last decade, several regional developments have overshadowed the progress of the GCC’s integration process and its strategic relationship with Turkiye. This has led to little concentration on the economic and social aspects of cooperation between Turkiye and the GCC. However, there is now a window of opportunity for the two sides to benefit from the new political atmosphere and redirect their energies toward more solid and institutional partnerships that could mitigate any future divergences. Turkiye seems keen to share its strength, know-how and experience with the GCC states to help with the massive transformations going on in these countries under their ambitious vision plans.
In a changing global order, Turkish-GCC relations are dependent on several material, ideational, regional and domestic factors. Turkish policymakers’ conceptions of the country’s place in the regional order appears to be a crucial dimension of their relationship with the GCC states. From the Gulf side, true cooperation with Turkiye relies on strong intraregional cooperation between the GCC states.
• Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz

A Symphonic Version of Terror
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 08/2023
The history of terrorism in pursuit of political aims is as long as history itself.
However, the past two decades have witnessed important, and needless to say worrying, developments in what could be seen as a zoological version of political activism.
The old versions saw disgruntled individuals assassinating powerful enemies. Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by 53 senators led by his closest friends Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Nizam al-Mulk The powerful Grand Vizir of Seljuks in Iran suffered the same fate at the hands of 18 Nizari “hashasheen” (assassins) including a Russian slave. The Qajar Nasseredin Shah was dispatched with a single bullet while mumbling “Son of a Donkey!”
In time, terrorism was further simplified to consist of throwing a grenade at the Tsar’s golden droshky in Petrograd, shooting at the grand duke on a bridge in Sarajevo or, as Joseph Conrad showed in his famous novel “Under the Western Eyes”, planting a time-bomb in a crowded street in London.
Fast forward to the 20th century, using Semtex to blow up cafes, cinemas and restaurants in French-occupied Algiers or Saigon under Ngo Dinh Diem became textbook cases of political terror. Later, we witnessed scores of attacks in the form of hijacking passenger aircraft or cruise ships, the seizing of hostages, random shootings on passengers on trains and on people attending a concert.
To these must be added attacks on embassies, metro stations, and newspaper offices, in a dozen cities across the globe, and suicide operations costing the lives of hundreds of US and French troops in Lebanon. Finally, the 9/11 attack on New York and Washington D.C. provided a crescendo in that pulrimilennial tradition of terror if only by its sheer scale.
Yet all those versions of terror followed what in his essay “Poetics” Aristotle describes as the three unities a tragedian ought to observe: unity of action, time and place.
In musical terms that could amount to chamber music or, even better, the Indo-Persian one-track style of composing known as “dastgah” in which a monochord theme is insisted upon free of melodic variations.
Then on 28 November 2008 an Indian terror group calling itself “Mujahedin of the Deccan” (later exposed as Lashkar Tayyiba or Army the Purified Ones) invented a new kind of terrorist operation, one which in an article I wrote for the London Daily Telegraph the day after, I designated as “symphonic terror.”
In the Indian city of Bombay (Mumbai), the composers of this new form of terror ignored Aristotle’s three unities. They broke the unity of action by launching 12 different operations including amphibious landings, random shootings, seizing of hostages and exploding time-bombs. Unity of time was broken by spreading then operations over two days. Unity of place, too, was broken as attacks came on dozens of locations across the seaside megacity of 20 million inhabitants.
Involved in the campaign, a mixture of classical military and standard terrorist operations, were over 200 men who had placed explosives at selected points. But there were also gunmen operating in classic military style by seizing control of territory at symbolically significant locations along with hostages. Then there were militants prepared to kill, and be killed, in grenade attacks against security forces.
At the same time, the attackers distributed a large number of tracts justifying their operation by claiming they were fighting to free the part of Kashmir still under Indian rule. These included the citation: “Permission is given to those who were attacked, for they were wronged, and God is able to grant them victory, those who were driven out of their homes unfairly, only because they said, ‘Our Lord is God.'”.
Interestingly, it was later discovered that the Indian Intelligence had been informed of the attack but, no believing such an innovative operation possible, had ignored the warning. For Indian Intelligence, terrorism meant a small group of gunmen attacking police post in faraway Kashmir as a prelude to their inevitable journey to heaven.
Sounds familiar?
Regardless of the obvious contextual differences between the Mumbai events and the 7 October attack on Israeli kibbutz by Hamas, the two operations share the same symphonic characteristic mentioned above. If anything Hamas composed its symphony on an even grander scale by adding rocket, missile and drone attacks, deploying airborne units and using flanking moves from the sea. Here, we saw a variety of themes developed at the same time, at times in apparent contradiction with one another but eventually coming together in a grand deadly finale. The Mumbai events could be seen as terrorism using elements of classical warfare while the 7 October attack may look more like a military operation with standard themes woven in filigree.
A new form of militarized terror or a variety of warfare using elements of terrorism?
It is too early to know whether the Hamas attack will end up producing the same result that the Mumbai operation had.
The Mumbai operation forced India to abandon its tit for-tat policy regarding its armed opponents, that is to say liquidating only those who carried out any given attack. In an interview I did in 1996 for Asharq Al-Awsat with Indian Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee he said “opponents” always trained, armed and sent around 2,000 “terrorists” to India. “We kill them bit by bit but they are quickly replaced by others,” he said.
The Mumbai attack, changed that approach as India, after 2008, decided to go for a no-holds-bar strategy, trying to wipe out all the “enemy groups” where they were located. Using terror operations on a small scale is an effective means of making life difficult for a much stronger opponent and may even force it to offer some concessions. But grand dramatic attacks such as 9/11 against the US, the Mumbai campaign and the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel raise the stakes to symphonic level that those targeted cannot simply grin and bear it. 9/11 forced the US to invade Afghanistan and destroy al-Qaeda something it had not contemplated doing even after the massacre of 241 marines in Lebanon. After the Mumbai attacks, India made sure something like that could never happen again. In those cases an initial victory for the attacker proved to be a prelude to his annihilation. Between 2008 and 2023, prior to 7 October, Hamas had carried out scores of “3 unities” style attacks on with Israel responding in similar low-intensity counter-attacks, both engaged in a slow but bearable danse macabre.
7 October stopped that and started a new movement in a symphony whose finale is hard to predict.

Question: “What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh?”
GotQuestions.org?/December 08/2023
Answer: Paul speaks of a “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12:7. He calls it “a messenger of Satan” that had a purpose of “torment.” Many explanations have been put forward, but whether Paul is referring to a physical, spiritual, or emotional affliction—or something else entirely—has never been answered with satisfaction. Since he was not talking of a literal thorn, he must have been speaking metaphorically. Some of the more popular theories of the thorn’s interpretation include temptation, a chronic eye problem, malaria, migraines, epilepsy, and a speech disability. Some even say that the thorn refers to a person, such as Alexander the coppersmith, who did Paul “a great deal of harm” (2 Timothy 4:14). No one can say for sure what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, but it was a source of real pain in the apostle’s life.
Paul clues us in concerning the thorn’s purpose: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations.” So, God’s goal in allowing the thorn in the flesh was to keep Paul humble. Anyone who had encountered Jesus and was commissioned personally by Him (Acts 9:2-8) would, in his natural state, become “puffed up.” Add to that the fact that Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to write much of the New Testament, and it is easy to see how Paul could become “haughty” (KJV) or “exalted above measure” (NKJV) or “too proud” (NCV).
Paul also says that the affliction came from or by a “messenger of Satan.” Just as God allowed Satan to torment Job (Job 1:1-12), God allowed Satan to torment Paul for God’s own good purpose.
No one likes to live in pain. Paul sought the Lord three times to remove this source of pain from him (2 Corinthians 12:8). He probably had many good reasons why he should be pain-free: he could have a more effective ministry; he could reach more people with the gospel; he could glorify God even more! But the Lord was more concerned with building Paul’s character and preventing pride. Instead of removing the problem, whatever it was, God gave Paul more overwhelming grace and more compensating strength. Paul learned that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness” (verse 9).
The exact nature of Paul’s thorn in the flesh is uncertain. There is probably a good reason that we don’t know. God likely wanted Paul’s difficulty to be described in general enough terms to apply to any difficulty we may face now. Whether the “thorn” we struggle with today is physical, emotional, or spiritual, we can know that God has a purpose and that His grace is all-sufficient.