Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 16-17/2023
Israel-Hezbollah clashes: Latest developments
Macron reportedly calls off Christmas visit to Lebanon
CNN: US rebukes Israel over 'more than 30 attacks' on Lebanese Army
Recent Escalations in Israel-Hezbollah Conflict: An Update
Lufthansa resumes flights to and from Beirut
Israeli soldier killed in Lebanon drone strike
Bkerki sources describe the extension of the Army Commander's term as a 'significant step'
French Foreign Minister's visit delayed for technical reasons, LBCI source confirms
Eight Israeli army raids hit forested areas in southern Lebanon
French Foreign Minister's visit delayed for technical reasons, LBCI source confirms
Sadek to LBCI: The Parliament proved that it is capable of preserving Lebanon
Environment Minister launches first geological trail in Lebanon in the "Jaj Cedars Nature Reserve"
Mikati issues a memorandum declaring official mourning over the passing of the Emir of Kuwait
Geagea meets Bank Employees Union delegation in presence of MP Hajj, promises support to any legitimate demand
Bassil at the opening of “Municipal Forum on Syrian Displacement” in Rabweh: The extension is a continuation of the conspiracy related to...

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 16-17/2023
Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, dies at age 86
A look into dynamic legacy of Kuwait’s Sheikh Nawaf
Vast tunnel network in Gaza remains a challenge, say military experts
Hostage shooting incident 'against rules of engagement', IDF says
Palestinian boys and men detained without charge by Israeli military describe 5 days of alleged abuse
What is Israel trying to achieve in its brutal Gaza war?
Shipping companies abandon Red Sea routes over Houthi attacks
US and Britain say their navies shot down 15 attack drones over the Red Sea
British man in Berlin accused of running Hamas networks across Europe
US military leaders head to Israel and will offer advice on shifting to the war's next phase in Gaza
Author receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos
Communications blackout and spiraling hunger compound misery in Gaza as war enters 11th week
Biden under pressure as US clashes with Iranian proxies
UK MP’s relatives ‘days away from dying’ in Gaza church
Pentagon has ordered a US aircraft carrier to remain in the Mediterranean near Israel
Al Jazeera to refer killing of cameraman in Gaza to war crimes court

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 16-17/2023
Opinion: Talks can't end the Ukraine war, because Russia lies/Anastassia Fedyk and Tatyana Deryugina/Los Angeles Times./December 16/ 2023
Biden Administration Empowered Iran's Terror Group, the Houthis/Majid Rafizadeh/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/December 16, 2023
Gaza: What are the scenarios for ‘the day after’?/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/December 16/ 2023
Ukraine can help the Global South beat hunger/Denys Shmyhal/Arab News/December 16/ 2023
Washington visit teaches Zelensky a hard lesson about US domestic policy/Dr. Amal Mudallali/Arab News/December 16/ 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 16-17/2023
Israel-Hezbollah clashes: Latest developments
Naharnet/December 16, 2023
Hezbollah said Saturday that it mounted two morning attacks on the Birkat Risha Israeli post near the border, inflicting deaths and injuries.
Media reports said four Israeli soldiers were wounded in the attacks, one of them critically. Israeli artillery shelling meanwhile targeted the Wadi Hassan area on the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of al-Jibbain as well as the peripheries of the Lebanese towns of Khiam, Deir Mimas, Blida, Houla, Mays al-Jabal and Kfarkila.In a statement, Hezbollah announced the death of one more of its fighters, Radwan Hammoudi, saying he hailed from the southern city of Tyre. Later on Saturday, Israeli media outlets reported alert sirens in northern Israel and explosions in the Upper Galilee area, saying the sirens sounded amid a suspected aerial infiltration from Lebanon. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV meanwhile reported that Israeli interception missiles exploded over the Lebanese town of Aitaroun. Since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas war started, the frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen daily exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which says it is acting in support of Hamas and the Palestinian people. Since the cross-border exchanges of fire began in October, more than 120 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the frontier, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including a Lebanese soldier and 17 civilians, three of them journalist. More than 64,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, mostly in the south, figures from the International Organization for Migration show. On the Israeli side, at least six soldiers and four civilians have been killed, authorities there have said.

Macron reportedly calls off Christmas visit to Lebanon
Naharnet/December 16, 2023
A Dec. 21 visit that French President Emmanuel Macron had been scheduled to make to Lebanon has been called off, French diplomatic sources told the Saudi Okaz newspaper. The visit has been canceled for reasons that are still unknown and officials in Lebanon have been informed of this, the sources added.
The French leader had intended to inspect his country’s peacekeepers that are operating in south Lebanon as part of the UNIFIL force, on the occasion of Christmas. French political and security officials will meanwhile visit UNIFIL’s command to discuss “means to implement a French scheme for establishing a buffer zone in the south Litani area and forcing Hezbollah to withdraw to the area north of the river,” a media report has said.

CNN: US rebukes Israel over 'more than 30 attacks' on Lebanese Army
CNN/December 16/2023
Israel's military has repeatedly attacked the Lebanese Army near the border over the past two months, prompting alarm in the Biden administration and sharp rebukes from top U.S. officials to Israeli leadership, CNN has reported. "The Israelis have struck Lebanese Armed Forces positions more than 34 times since October 7, including with small arms and artillery fire, drones and helicopters," according to U.S. officials, a regional security source, and a list of the incidents compiled by the U.S. and reviewed by CNN. The Biden administration has told Israel that the strikes are unacceptable, officials said. One senior U.S. official said that the U.S. believes at least some of those strikes have been accidental, intended instead for Hezbollah, which also operates along the Lebanon-Israel border and has been hitting Israeli military positions. But the intention of other strikes has been less clear, the official said, and more junior Israeli troops may not be exercising enough restraint. But the scope of the incidents, which has not been previously reported, has frustrated U.S. officials because the U.S. believes the Lebanese Army will need to be part of any eventual diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon to quiet the current violence, CNN said. The U.S. is also deeply concerned that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could expand to Lebanon's border, and U.S. officials have been working with Israel and Lebanon to try to contain the war. “The United States has been clear we do not want to see this conflict spread to Lebanon and we continue to urge the Israelis do all they can to be targeted and avoid civilians, civilian infrastructure, civilian farmland, the U.N., and the Lebanese Armed Forces,” a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council told CNN. “The United States is proud of its partnership with the LAF, an essential institution, not only to the stability and security of Lebanon, but of the entire region,” the spokesperson added. A spokesperson for the Israeli army told CNN on Friday that any harm caused “to other forces is unintentional.”“In response to Hezbollah’s aggression, the IDF (Israeli army) strikes the terrorist organization’s military infrastructure and works to eliminate any threat to the State of Israel,” Israeli army spokesperson Nir Dinar said. “Any harm to civilians and other forces is unintentional. Such incidents are reviewed in order to improve operational precautions and to ensure accountability when necessary,” Dinar added. U.S. backing for the Lebanese Army gives Washington a partner in an active region that it can work with on a range of priorities, including counterterrorism. The senior U.S. official noted that the Lebanese Army is popular among the Lebanese public and, while not seen as a perfect counterweight to Hezbollah, is a "neutral" alternative that the U.S. believes will be an important player in any future peace settlement. U.S. officials believe Israel’s attacks on the Lebanese military have resulted in at least eight injuries and one death since October 7.
According to a U.S. list of the strikes seen by CNN, one Lebanese soldier was killed and three were wounded on December 5 after four tank shells hit a position on the Blue Line, the U.N.’s demarcation of the border between Israel and Lebanon.
The Israeli military apologized and said the Lebanese Armed Forces were not the target of the strike. The LAF has not struck back militarily, U.S. officials said.
Among the other incidents in southern Lebanon were Israeli strikes on two LAF positions on October 21 that destroyed an observation post. Six days later, a LAF patrol that included a brigade commander came under direct fire, according to U.S. officials. On December 8, one Lebanese soldier suffered from the effects of white phosphorous. That followed an October incident in which Israel reportedly used U.S.-supplied white phosphorous munitions and injured at least nine civilians, according to The Washington Post. The White House said it would be seeking answers from Israel about its use of white phosphorous.
The Israeli army's "continued pattern of strikes against LAF positions are concerning and irresponsible. The LAF is a critical and independent force that successive U.S. administrations have supported in recognition of its important role in stability in Lebanon,” said a senior congressional aide. “Many members of Congress share the administration’s strong concerns with such actions.” As the pace of the strikes escalated, administration officials made clear to Israeli leadership that they need to be more careful, U.S. officials told CNN. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been working with Lebanon to try to quell the violence between Israel and Hezbollah and quiet the border area. Israel wants Hezbollah to retreat north of the Litani River, which is about 18 miles away from the border, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has said.

Recent Escalations in Israel-Hezbollah Conflict: An Update
Daily Star/December 16/2023
On Saturday, Hezbollah reported launching two attacks in the morning against the Israeli Birkat Risha military post near the border. This assault resulted in casualties and injuries.According to media sources, the strikes led to injuries among four Israeli soldiers, with one in critical condition. In retaliation, Israeli artillery fired upon areas in Lebanon, including the outskirts of al-Jibbain and surrounding regions of Lebanese towns like Khiam, Deir Mimas, Blida, Houla, Mays al-Jabal, and Kfarkila. Hezbollah released a statement mourning the loss of Radwan Hammoudi, a member of their group from the southern city of Tyre, who was killed in the conflict. Subsequent reports from Israeli media indicated sirens and explosions in northern Israel, particularly in the Upper Galilee, suspected to be related to aerial activities from Lebanon. Simultaneously, Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV reported that Israeli interception missiles were detonated over Aitaroun, a town in Lebanon. The Lebanon-Israel border has been a hotspot for conflict since October 8, a day after the Israel-Hamas war began. The clashes, primarily between the Israeli military and Hezbollah, are reported to be in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinian cause.
Since the beginning of these border conflicts in October, over 120 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, including Hezbollah fighters, a Lebanese soldier, and 17 civilians, of whom three were journalists. The International Organization for Migration reports that more than 64,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, mostly in the southern region. On the Israeli side, casualties include at least six soldiers and four civilians, as confirmed by Israeli authorities.

Lufthansa resumes flights to and from Beirut
Agence France Presse/December 16, 2023
German airline group Lufthansa resumed its flights to and from Beirut on Friday after they were suspended on October 13 as tensions on Lebanon's border with Israel soared and the war in Gaza raged. Lufthansa's subsidiaries SWISS and Eurowings also resumed their flights, the group said. Lufthansa meanwhile said it plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv from January 8, after the service was suspended in early October following the start of the war with Hamas. Lufthansa will initially "offer a total of 20 weekly connections to and from Tel Aviv," Lufthansa said in a statement. "This corresponds to around 30 percent of the regular flight schedule."The Lufthansa group halted flights to Israel on October 9, citing security concerns after Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7. Other airlines including British Airways, Air France-KLM and U.S. airline Delta also cut flights to Tel Aviv in the wake of the attack. "The Lufthansa group continues to monitor the security situation in Israel closely and is in close contact with the local and international authorities," the statement said.

Israeli soldier killed in Lebanon drone strike
Arab News/December 16, 2023
BEIRUT: An Israeli soldier was killed and three others wounded, one critically, on Saturday when their military outpost was hit by a Hezbollah drone. Israeli media said that the explosive drone launched from Lebanon struck a caravan sheltering the soldiers in the Margaliot area of northern Israel.
The Israeli army has frequently used explosive drones in the past 70 days to target militant sites in the border region. Sirens sounded in the Upper Galilee after two drones were believed to have entered northern Israel airspace.
FASTFACT
Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the town of Al-Khiyam, Tallet Al-Ruwaisa in Hula, the city of Rab El-Thalathine, Aita Al-Shaab, and the outskirts of Al-Khiyam, Blida, and Mays Al-Jabal. Hezbollah said in a statement that it had targeted a military site in Margaliot with “two attack aircraft.”Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media that air defenses intercepted a drone launched from Lebanon, while another was found after falling in the Margaliot area. Hezbollah’s military media said in a statement that its fighters spotted Israeli troops entering two houses in the Al-Manara settlement on Saturday afternoon, and targeted the dwellings with “appropriate weapons, causing direct hits and leaving the soldiers either dead or wounded.”War correspondents in southern Lebanon reported three airstrikes by Israeli aircraft on Jabal Blat in the western sector. The Israeli army carried out eight airstrikes targeting the Al-Raheb area in Aita Al-Shaab, Khallet Warde, Salhaneh, Jabal Blat, and Ramyah, most of which are forested areas. Hezbollah also targeted Israeli soldiers sheltering in a bunker at the Baraka Risha site with a guided missile early on Saturday. The group said it targeted an Israeli infantry force near Baraka Risha for a second time “and achieved confirmed hits.”Hezbollah mourned one of its fighters on Saturday, bringing the total number of its casualties to 104 since the beginning of military operations. A Lebanese soldier was among five people killed in an Israeli attack on an army post. A member of the Amal movement, another from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and two from Hezbollah-affiliated groups also died. The total number of civilian casualties from the Israeli bombardment has now reached 17. Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the town of Al-Khiyam, Tallet Al-Ruwaisa in Hula, the city of Rab El-Thalathine, Aita Al-Shaab, and the outskirts of Al-Khiyam, Blida, and Mays Al-Jabal. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was expected to arrive in Beirut on Saturday, but was forced to return to Paris because of an aircraft malfunction, according to the French Embassy in Lebanon.The embassy confirmed the postponement of the visit. Colonna is expected to arrive in Lebanon on Monday after visiting Israel the previous day. Christophe Lemoine, deputy spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said on Friday that Colonna “will pass on messages during her visit to Lebanon and Israel to exercise self-restraint and act responsibly to contain the threat of a second front coinciding with the ongoing war in Gaza, to avoid the outbreak of a regional war.”The US and France are involved in diplomatic efforts to prevent the situation in southern Lebanon from escalating.

Bkerki sources describe the extension of the Army Commander's term as a 'significant step'
LBCI/December 16, 2023
Bkerki expressed its satisfaction with the extension of the Army Commander's term.
This article was originally published in, translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan. The Nidaa Al-Watan newspaper quoted Bkerki sources as saying that what happened is "a significant step to ensure the continuity of the state structure and constitutes a victory for the nation and national security."
It called for this step to influence "the presidential election's file. Just as the deputies bore the responsibility for not vacating the leadership of the military institution, the other side should meet them and stop obstructing sessions and quorum failure, and elect a president as soon as possible."Diplomatic circles interpreted the broad picture of what happened Friday, telling Nidaa Al-Watan: "The succession of developments began with the postponement of the Cabinet session and culminated in Parliament.""This would not have happened if it were not for the general Christian 'atmosphere,' especially in Bkerki and the Christian parties. Also, the significant opposing conditions that coincided with the Christian 'environment,' making it weighty."The circles added: "Examples include the Sunni 'atmosphere' supporting the extension of the term of the Director General of the Internal Security Forces and the 'environment' of the Democratic Gathering, in addition to these three 'climates,' the civil 'atmosphere' is keen on stability.""The international pressure in this direction should not be overlooked, reaching the point of threatening with sanctions. Faced with all this, Prime Minister Mikati did not want to position himself against these opposing atmospheres, and Speaker Berri did the same."

French Foreign Minister's visit delayed for technical reasons, LBCI source confirms
LBCI/December 16, 2023
A French diplomatic source confirmed to LBCI: "There is no truth to the rumors circulating that the visit of the French Foreign Minister has been postponed due to the cancellation of President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Lebanon."
Rather, it is due to a technical malfunction in the minister's plane.

Eight Israeli army raids hit forested areas in southern Lebanon
LBCI/December 16, 2023
LBCI sources confirmed that eight Israeli army raids targeted the al-Rahib areas in Aita al-Shaab, Khallet Warde, Salhane, Jabal Blat, and Ramyeh, most of which are forest areas.

French Foreign Minister's visit delayed for technical reasons, LBCI source confirms
LBCI/December 16, 2023
A French diplomatic source confirmed to LBCI: "There is no truth to the rumors circulating that the visit of the French Foreign Minister has been postponed due to the cancellation of President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Lebanon."
Rather, it is due to a technical malfunction in the minister's plane.

Sadek to LBCI: The Parliament proved that it is capable of preserving Lebanon
LBCI/December 16, 2023
MP Waddah Sadek emphasized that the Parliament proved on Friday that it can preserve Lebanon, its security, and stability, especially with the extension of the terms for the leaders of the security agencies, particularly the Army Commander, for one year. Sadek affirmed in an interview on LBCI's "Nharkom Said" TV show that they are not in a position to "record goals and points."He affirmed that dealing with the country cannot be as expressed in the conference of the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, who expressed his indifference about whether the extension is legal. Sadek believed that the decision to "paralyze" the country is no longer in Bassil's hands. In contrast, he considered that it is essential to be convinced of the necessity of building institutions, pointing out that opposition forces can breach.

Environment Minister launches first geological trail in Lebanon in the "Jaj Cedars Nature Reserve"
NNA/December 16, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Environment, Nasser Yassin, launched today the first geological trail in Lebanon in the "Jaj Cedar Nature Reserve" in Jbeil, as part of the joint “Land Degradation Reduction” project between the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme. “The new trail, which will highlight the distinctive natural and geological wealth in the Jaj Cedar Reserve, is the result of cooperation with the Lebanese Mountain Trail Association, the Reserve Management Committee, and other partners, and with scientific support from the Department of Earth Sciences at the American University of Beirut," explained Yassin. He added: “Today is a step in deepening our work in organizing and managing natural reserves in Lebanon, and the beginning of the path to achieving a geological park that will be the first in Lebanon.”

Mikati issues a memorandum declaring official mourning over the passing of the Emir of Kuwait
NNA /December 16, 2023
Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued today a memorandum declaring official mourning over the passing of the Emir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The memorandum stated that "official mourning is announced over the death of His Highness the Emir of the sisterly State of Kuwait, the late Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who passed to the mercy of God Almighty on Saturday, 12/16/2023...Flags will be at half-mast in all public departments, official institutions and municipalities in mourning for a period of three days from this date until Monday 12/18/2023 inclusive, and regular programs on radio and television stations will be modified in accordance with the painful occasion...May God have mercy on the late Emir and rest his soul in peace in His vast Heaven."

Geagea meets Bank Employees Union delegation in presence of MP Hajj, promises support to any legitimate demand
NNA/December 16, 2023
Lebanese Forces Party Chief, Samir Geagea, received today in Maarab a delegation representing the Bank Employees Union, headed by Union President George Hajj, who raised the conditions of the employees in wake of the crisis in the financial and banking sector in Lebanon.Following the meeting, Hajj said they discussed with the LF Chief the increased lay-offs taking place in the banking sector which is affecting a large number of employees. He added: “We expressed to Dr. Geagea our position, particularly since we have a banking merger law that was initiated by the Strong Republic bloc and presented to Parliament by amending Article 4 of the merger law, which allows for compensation much more than what the law stipulates today."He went on, "As for our second topic of discussion, it was the issue of banking sector restructuring, for we believe that the only solution to the dismissal of fellow bankers lies in revitalizing the sector, which has been suffering from a crisis for the past four years."The Union President indicated that the LF Chief showed all support during the meeting and pledged that MP Razi El-Hajj of the Strong Republic bloc will follow-up on the merger law in Parliament.

Bassil at the opening of “Municipal Forum on Syrian Displacement” in Rabweh: The extension is a continuation of the conspiracy related to...
NNA/December 16, 2023
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil, considered at the opening of the “Municipalities Forum on Syrian Displacement” conference in Rabweh, that what happened yesterday regarding the extension in the House of Representatives is a continuation of the conspiracy related to displacement while extending the security policies approved on the border, saying: “Everyone acquiesced for extension, except for the Free Patriotic Movement.”
MP Bassil asked: “Can someone who goes to Syria repeatedly be considered a displaced person and receive more money than a Lebanese person and receive aid from the United Nations?”Bassil added: "From day one, we talked about an important role for municipalities regarding the issue of displaced people, but today, their role has become the only one that can be relied upon with partial and temporary solutions to alleviate the burden of displacement within the municipal sphere, in light of the increasing government, administrative and security deficit, and in light of the external conspiracy against us."
Bassil added: "We are facing international behavior that is closer to a conspiracy against Lebanon and Syria and has become a source of danger to Lebanon's existence. Western countries, through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, are working to stabilize the displaced in the land to which they were displaced and finance their survival. Unfortunately, these countries have moved to using Some Lebanese security institutions as a tool to implement their plans to close the maritime borders to prevent the refugees from leaking into Europe and the West, and open the land borders with Syria so that more Syrians will flow towards Lebanon. At the same time, the same countries are besieging Syria economically and tightening the noose on it financially to cause more Syrian displacement abroad and towards Lebanon. This is within the framework of the plan to dismantle the countries surrounding Israel and turn them into sectarian warring states by sabotaging their societal fabric. It is also within the framework of preparing a subversive internal ground that will be used when there is a need for internal seditious action that coincides with an external aggression against Lebanon." He said: “What happened yesterday regarding the extension in Parliament is part of the continuation of the conspiracy that Lebanese politicians and governments have not confronted since we talked about it in the year 2011, and God knows what will come next, in light of the shift in turning a blind eye, neglect, silence, or concealment of information..."Bassil considered that "it is not permissible, from a national and humanitarian standpoint, for the conditions of displaced Syrians to be much better than the conditions of Lebanese citizens. This is not racism, but patriotism. It is true that Syrians are victims of unjust injustice war, but the Lebanese are also victims of an external and internal conspiracy."Bassil concluded: “The Syrian government, due to Syria’s tragic economic and financial conditions, may not be able to rebuild, but this does not mean that we, as Lebanese, must pay the price on behalf of victim Syria, and on behalf of an unjust international community against it.”

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 16-17/2023
Kuwait's ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, dies at age 86
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/December 16, 2023
Kuwait's ruling emir, the 86-year-old Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, died Saturday after a three-year, low-key reign focused on trying to resolve the tiny, oil-rich nation's internal political disputes. Kuwait state television broke into programming with Quranic verses just before a somber official made the announcement. “With great sadness and sorrow, we — the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations, and the friendly peoples of the world — mourn the late His Highness the emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who passed away to his Lord today,” said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al Sabah, the minister of his emiri court, who read the brief statement.
Authorities gave no cause of death.
Kuwait's deputy ruler and his half-brother, Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, now 83, is believed to be the world’s oldest crown prince. He is in line to take over as Kuwait’s ruler and represents one of the Gulf Arab countries' last octogenarian leaders. In late November, Sheikh Nawaf was rushed to a hospital for an unspecified illness. In the time since, Kuwait had been waiting for news about his health. State-run news previously reported that he traveled to the United States for unspecified medical checks in March 2021. The health of Kuwait’s leaders remains a sensitive matter in the Middle Eastern nation also bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which has seen internal power struggles behind palace doors. Those from Sheikh Nawaf's lifetime, born before oil fully transformed Kuwait from a trading hub into a petrostate, have been fading away with age. That, as well as other Gulf Arab nations putting younger and more assertive rulers in power, has increasingly put more pressure on the Al Sabah to pass power onto the next generation. In neighboring Saudi Arabia, King Salman, 87, is widely believed to have placed day-to-day rule of his nation in the hands of his 38-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in as emir in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, following the death of his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The breadth and depth of emotion over the loss of Sheikh Sabah, known for his diplomacy and peacemaking, was felt across the region.
Sheikh Nawaf previously served as Kuwait’s interior and defense minister. His political fortunes were never certain despite being part of the ruling Al Sabah family. As defense minister, Sheikh Nawaf oversaw the rapid collapse of his forces during Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of his country in August 1990. He faced widespread criticism for his decisions during the war.
A letter reportedly sent to the country's ruler at the time alleged Sheikh Nawaf ordered tank crews not to fire on the approaching Iraqi forces. The reasoning behind the alleged order remains unclear. Iraq's battle-hardened forces, after years at war with Iran, easily overwhelmed the country.
A U.S.-led, multinational force later expelled the Iraqis from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm. The Al Sabah never published the findings of its investigations into the government's actions around the invasion. "Our main target is the liberation. After we return, we will repair our own house,” Sheikh Nawaf said in 1991. “You have to reform yourself and correct any previous mistakes.”He faced a demotion and then didn't hold a Cabinet-level position for about a decade afterward, serving as a deputy chief of the country's National Guard. Even on his return, analysts viewed him as not particularly active in government, though his low-key approach later appealed to some Kuwaitis who ultimately moved on from his wartime performance.
Sheikh Nawaf was largely an uncontroversial choice for emir, though his advancing age led analysts to suggest his tenure would be short. It was — he had the third-shortest tenure of any emir since the Al Sabah ruled Kuwait beginning in 1752. During his term, he had been focused on domestic issues as the nation struggled through political disputes — including the overhaul of Kuwait’s welfare system — which prevented the sheikhdom from taking on debt. That’s left it with little in its coffers to pay bloated public sector salaries, despite generating immense wealth from its oil reserves. In 2021, Sheikh Nawaf issued a long-awaited amnesty decree, pardoning and reducing the sentences of nearly three dozen Kuwaiti dissidents in a move aimed at defusing a major government standoff. He issued another just before his illness, aiming to resolve that political impasse that also saw Kuwait hold three separate parliamentary elections under his rule. “He earned his title — he has a nickname here, they call him ‘the emir of pardons,’” said Bader al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. “No one in modern Kuwaiti history has gone this far to reach out to the other side, to open up.”
Kuwait is perceived as having the Gulf’s freest parliament that comparatively allows for dissent. Meanwhile, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, restored ties after years of a boycott of Doha, easing regional tensions and allowing Sheikh Nawaf to focus on issues at home.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered his condolences.
“His Highness was a great friend of the U.K. and we will remember fondly all he did for our bilateral relationship and his work to promote stability in the Middle East,” Sunak said in a statement released by his office. Kuwait, a nation home to some 4.2 million people which is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey, has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves. It has been a staunch U.S. ally since the 1991 Gulf War. Kuwait hosts some 13,500 American troops in the country, as well as the forward headquarters of the U.S. Army in the Middle East.
*Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report

A look into dynamic legacy of Kuwait’s Sheikh Nawaf
LBCI/December 16, 2023
When Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah ascended to the throne as the Emir of Kuwait in 2020, he was 83 years old, and consequently, his reign lasted only three years and a half. It is worth noting that he had been away from the spotlight in the last few months, to the extent that he delegated two years ago the Crown Prince, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to undertake some of the Emir's responsibilities. However, before that, and as the Crown Prince, he held the position for fourteen years during the reign of his late brother, Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, after being sworn in by the National Assembly to assume the position. He is the sixth son of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the former ruler of Kuwait, from his wife Yemama. He is the sixth after independence from Britain and the sixteenth since the Al-Sabah family took over the reins of governance in Kuwait almost two hundred and seventy years ago. His political career began more than sixty-one years ago as the governor of the Hawally region, which he developed into a modern area. He then held the ministries of interior and defense several times, where he developed the work's military and civilian aspects. He worked on modernizing and expanding the camps of the Ministry of Defense, equipping them with the latest weapons and machinery. Like his predecessor, he was keen on mediating between Arab and Gulf parties in conflict and avoided involvement in regional conflicts. Additionally, he consistently called for peaceful solutions, making him highly esteemed among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. He led mediation between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, contributing to lifting the blockade on Qatar and welcoming it back into the Gulf fold. He also praised the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation and its impact on the Gulf Arab situation.
The Crown Prince, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, will assume the throne in Kuwait. Furthermore, the Kuwaiti constitution clearly defines the mechanism for the transfer of power within the Al-Sabah family. It stipulates that the Emir of the country nominates the Crown Prince within one year of assuming power, and the parliament either accepts or rejects the nomination in a secret session. However, it has never happened before that the National Assembly rejected any nominee for the Crown Prince during the modern political life in Kuwait.

Vast tunnel network in Gaza remains a challenge, say military experts
Reuters/December 16, 2023
CAIRO: The Israeli army’s death toll in Gaza is already almost twice as high as during a ground offensive in 2014, a reflection of how far it has pushed into the enclave and of Hamas’ effective use of guerrilla tactics and an expanded arsenal. Israeli military experts, an Israeli commander, and a Hamas source described how the Palestinian group has used a big weapons stockpile, its knowledge of the terrain, and a vast tunnel network to turn Gaza’s streets into a deadly maze. At their disposal, they have arms ranging from drones rigged with grenades to anti-tank weapons with powerful twin charges. Since Israel’s ground campaign began in late October, about 110 Israeli soldiers have been killed as tanks and infantry thrust into the cities and refugee camps, based on official Israeli figures. About a quarter were tank crew. That compares with 66 in the 2014 conflict, when Israel launched a more limited three-week ground incursion but the goal then was not to eliminate Hamas. “There is no comparing the scope of this war to 2014 when our forces mostly operated no deeper than a kilometer inside Gaza,” said Yaacov Amidror, a retired Israeli major-general and former national security adviser who is now at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America or JINSA.
He said the army “has yet to find a good solution for the tunnels,” a network hugely expanded in the past decade.Israel’s offensive was launched after the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas gunmen. Since the war began, close to 19,000 people have been killed in Gaza, sparking international demands for a ceasefire and even calls from Israel’s staunch ally, the US, for a shift in strategy and more precise strikes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel would wage war “until absolute victory.” Israeli officials have said it could take months before it is complete.
“It has been a challenge from day one,” Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Netanyahu, told Reuters, saying the offensive had come with a “huge price” in Israeli soldiers. “We know that we wi’ll probably have to pay an additional price to complete the mission.”
Hamas has posted videos on its Telegram channel this month showing fighters with bodycams weaving through buildings to launch shoulder-held rockets at armored vehicles. One of them, posted on Dec. 7, was from Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, an area where both sides reported heavy fighting.
In another post on Dec. 5, a camera emerges from a tunnel, like a periscope, to scan an Israeli camp where soldiers rested. The post said an underground blast later hit it. Reuters could not verify the videos. A Hamas source, who spoke to Reuters from inside Gaza on condition of anonymity, said fighters moved as close as possible to launch ambushes, “taking advantage of the land we know like no others do,” often moving around or emerging from tunnels.
“There is a huge discrepancy between our power and their power; we don’t fool ourselves,” he said.
Hamas has not said how many of its fighters have been killed. Israel’s military has said it has killed at least 7,000. The group has previously dismissed the Israeli figure, saying it includes civilians. Hamas spokespeople outside Gaza did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on this article.
An Israeli commander who fought in 2014 said the expanded scope of this operation meant more troops were on the ground, giving Hamas the “defender’s advantages,” so higher troop casualties were to be expected. Israel’s military does not release troop numbers or other operational details. Israel’s Channel 12 television showed one army reservist unit, wary of booby-trapped doors, smashing through the wall of a building to enter a room to discover a munitions cache. Mirroring tactics used in 2014, Israel’s military has posted images on social media showing routes smashed through built-up areas by bulldozers so troops can avoid existing roads that might have land mines. Even in some districts in north Gaza where many buildings have been pounded into rubble, bouts of fierce fighting have persisted. “Hamas made some huge steps to build up its force since 2014,” said Eyal Pinko, a former senior official with Israel’s intelligence services who is now at Bar Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. He said some advanced arms, such as Russian-designed Kornet anti-tank missiles, were smuggled in with the help Iran. But he said Hamas had mastered building other weapons in Gaza, such as RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades, and the militants now had a bigger munitions reserve. Hamas posts have said the group’s weaponry includes “tandem” anti-tank weapons with two charges to pierce armor, which Pinko also said was in the militants’ arsenal.
Hamas videos often show big blasts when vehicles are hit. Israeli military experts said a blast did not mean a vehicle was destroyed as they said it could also be caused by defensive systems that exploded to halt incoming projectiles. Ashraf Abouelhoul, the managing editor of Egypt’s Al-Ahram daily who previously worked in Gaza and is a specialist on Palestinian affairs, said militants moved as close as possible to launch missiles and “locally-made projectiles.”But he said Israeli drones and other tactics were eroding their ability to surprise, even in urban areas. “City fighting has become more difficult” for the militants, he said. Israel’s military posted a video this month that it said showed militants emerging from a tunnel under a bombed building before missiles struck both. “Hamas may post their new weapons and tactics, but in principle, it remains a guerrilla resistance movement,” said Alexander Grinberg, a former Israeli military intelligence officer with the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.

Hostage shooting incident 'against rules of engagement', IDF says
Hugo Bachega - BBC Middle East correspondent/December 16, 2023
Three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza were shot dead while holding a white cloth, an Israeli military official says. The official said the case was "against our rules of engagement" and an investigation was happening at the "highest level".The hostages - Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Talalka, 22, and Alon Shamriz, 26 - were killed in Shejaiya on Friday. Israeli troops have been facing stiff resistance in the area near Gaza City. The case will add pressure on Israeli authorities to reach a deal for the release of captives who remain in Gaza. More than 120 people remain hostage in Gaza, after being abducted in the Hamas attacks on 7 October. The wait of their families has gripped Israel, as the military carries out its offensive against Hamas. An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said an initial investigation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) suggested the three hostages emerged shirtless from a building, with one carrying a stick with a white cloth. One of the soldiers, the official added, felt threatened, as the men were at a distance of tens of metres, declared them "terrorists" and opened fired. Two were immediately killed while the third, wounded, returned to the building.
A cry for help was heard in Hebrew and the battalion commander ordered the troops to cease fire. The wounded hostage later re-emerged, and was shot and killed, the official said. The hostages had either been abandoned by their captors or escaped, the official added. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as an "unbearable tragedy". "We will bind up our wounds, learn the lessons and continue with a supreme effort to return all our abductees home safely," he said. Meanwhile a freed Thai hostage who was held with the three men recalled his time with them. Wichian Temthong, 37, said he was "very shocked" and "saddened" to learn of the deaths of the men he spent nearly 50 days in captivity with. He said they had no common language so they used hand signals to communicate and give each other moral support.
Hostages' relatives are keeping up pressure on the Israeli government
In Tel Aviv, relatives of the hostages who are still being held in Gaza were expected to react to the incident later on Saturday outside the city's Museum of Art, in what is now known as Hostages Square. Since the end of a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas earlier this month, the families have urged the Israeli government to reach a new truce for at least some of the captives to be freed. The initial deal led to the release of more than 100 hostages, in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. "The Israeli government should make Hamas an offer they can't refuse. A ceasefire, an exchange, whatever it takes. The government has done nothing," Lior Peri, whose 79-year-old father Haim remains a hostage, told the BBC. "It's a rollercoaster [of emotions]. Every time we think we've reached a new low - but we can only imagine what's happening to the remaining hostages."The war in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas attacks that killed around 1,200 in Israel, has killed more than 18,000 people, according to the local health authorities, and pushed hundreds of thousands of others from their homes. Vast areas of the territory have been destroyed, and the United Nations has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe amid widespread shortages of basic supplies. Israeli authorities say the offensive's goal is to destroy Hamas and release the hostages. Amid mounting Palestinian civilian casualties, Israeli authorities have come under growing international pressure, including from the country's main ally, the US, but they have resisted calls for a ceasefire.

Palestinian boys and men detained without charge by Israeli military describe 5 days of alleged abuse
Jeremy Diamond, Mohammad Al Sawalhi and Abeer Salman, CNN/December 16, 2023
Nimer Abu Ras’ wrists are bruised and lacerated. His hands are swollen.
He is one of hundreds of Palestinian men and boys who have been detained, many of them stripped and blindfolded, in recent weeks by Israeli forces conducting clearing operations in northern Gaza. Many of those detained have already been identified as civilians by relatives and employers after images of the mass detentions circulated on social media. Abu Ras was among a group of six boys and four men interviewed by CNN at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, where they were being treated for injuries and dehydration after being detained for five days. Like Abu Ras, many of them emerged from Israeli custody with swollen hands and bruised wrists from being handcuffed throughout that time. All of their hands were numbered with red marker by Israeli soldiers. They all told CNN they had been given little food or water during their detention and described instances of alleged abuse and humiliation. A doctor at the hospital said all of them had arrived “physically and psychologically exhausted.”“They would tie your hands behind your back and drag you like a dog – plastic handcuff scars on your arms. Depending on the mood of one of them, they would come kick you with their boots,” said 14-year-old Mahmoud Zendah, a recent wound marking the bridge of his nose. Zendah said an Israeli soldier had kicked him in the face. “I didn’t do anything to him. He just decided to come and kick me,” Zendah said. “He came to me and asked me, ‘Are you Hamas?’ I told him, I don’t know Hamas or the resistance. I’m only a child that goes to school and back home. I eat, I play with my friends and go back home. I don’t do anything else in life.”
Another 14-year-old, Ahmad Nimer Salman Abu Ras, was initially too afraid to even describe his detention. “I’m afraid,” he said. “I’m scared of the Israelis. I don’t want them to do something to us.” Like the others being treated at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah, they were detained as Israeli forces moved through the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City. “Suddenly, we heard people screaming and soldiers yelling and bulldozers destroying the houses,” Zendah’s father, Nader, said. “[The soldiers] opened the door of the house and separated women from men, they made us take off our pants and raise our shirts and lined us up against the wall…Then they put us outside of the house and blindfolded us.”They were then loaded into trucks and taken from one location to another. “They put us on the floor and put their feet on our heads, they would ask, ‘Are you Hamas?’ and beat [us]. When we wanted to sleep, we couldn’t because it was so cold. And when we asked for something to wear or cover ourselves with, they would beat us,” 16-year-old Mohammad Odeh said. Forty-year-old Mahmood Esleem, a diabetic, was weak when he arrived at the hospital. His son, Mohammad, who was detained with him, said his father was denied insulin during his detention. The next day, Esleem appeared to be in even worse shape – barely able to stand, complaining about pain in his foot and slipping in and out of consciousness, according to a cousin who was at his bedside. “All arrived physically and psychologically exhausted. They came to the hospital halfway walking on foot – ambulances met them halfway.
We gave them the needed medical treatment,” Dr. Khalil Al Daqran, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital spokesman said. “There were signs of torture on their arms and signs of beating all over their bodies.”The Israeli military said it was detaining and questioning individuals “suspected of terrorist activity” as part of its military operations in combat areas in northern Gaza and that “individuals who are found not to be taking part in terrorist activities are released.”“The individuals detained are treated in accordance with international law,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement in response to CNN. “The IDF strives to treat any detainee with dignity. Any incident in which the guidelines were not followed will be looked into.”A spokesman for the IDF declined to address specific allegations of abuse or provide an explanation for the detention of the 10 boys and men interviewed by CNN, despite being provided with a list of their names and the neighborhood where they were detained. The IDF also defended its practice of ordering those it detains to undress, saying the practice is “to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry.”Human rights groups have decried the photos and their wide circulation online after they emerged in Israeli media. “Whether the detention is of a civilian or a combatant, the law protects those in detention in custody against degrading and humiliating treatment and outrages upon personal dignity,” said Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine Director. Israeli officials have since claimed to the US that going forward they will give detainees clothes back “immediately” if they conduct strip searches, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday, adding that Israeli officials told their US counterparts that the photos should not have been taken or released. Civilians can be detained during armed conflict under international law, but only when “absolutely necessary for imperative reasons of security,” Shakir said, adding that Israel has violated those laws before.

What is Israel trying to achieve in its brutal Gaza war?
Sam Fellman/ Business Insider/December 16, 2023
Images of the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza capture similar scenes: Crowds of Palestinians gathering outdoors to stare at the craters where their roads had been, at the heaps of rubble that minutes or hours before had been their houses, apartment buildings, shops, schools, and mosques. After more than two months of war, the tiny enclave resembles the shattered European and Japanese cities of World War II. Researchers estimate that at least a third of Gaza's housing is damaged or destroyed. Already over 18,700 Palestinians are dead and 50,500 injured, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, and roughly 90% of the population have fled their homes and face food shortages, no electricity, sanitation problems in overcrowded homes and shelters, and spreading disease. Israeli society has mobilized to support the war and is largely united in the conviction that Hamas, the terror group that launched a murderous rampage from Gaza on October 7, must never again be allowed to threaten Israel. That paramount goal justifies and necessitates the use of maximum force. If Israeli leaders have a theory of what comes after, it is that Israel's retaliatory fury can serve as a wrecking ball to create the rubble from which a new social and political order in Gaza can arise. But there are few signs Israel can achieve anything like this, and a growing chorus of international leaders and military experts are warning that Israel is pursuing a half-baked strategy that is forged from a national trauma and premised on a flawed assumption — that massive air power and ground battles can defeat a militancy that blends into the population. In fact, these experts say, it's much more likely that these tactics will simply create more enemy combatants and play directly into Hamas' hands. Hamas' "very identity is based on the destruction of Israel and not working with Israel, so the notion that collective punishment is going to convince the population of Gaza to push Hamas to come to the negotiating table with Israel is just not going to happen," said Paul Poast, a University of Chicago professor specializing in international security. "If anything, they're able to use these very actions to say, 'Look, this is who we're dealing with. We're dealing with Israel. We've long told you that they don't care about you as people, and look.'" A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told BI in a statement: "In response to Hamas' barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities. In stark contrast to Hamas' intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm." The IDF has said that the elevated level of Palestinian casualties are due to Hamas using them as human shields.
So far, Israel's efforts are not bearing much fruit. Hamas's top leaders remain at large, hiding in their extensive tunnels or among the 1.9 million refugees who have fled the violence. Israel's military estimates it has killed 5,000 Hamas militants, or just about 16% of Hamas' armed wing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that "we will continue to the end" on Wednesday, the day it was disclosed that nine Israeli troops died in an urban ambush; the IDF has lost at least 444 troops in the 10/7 attacks and the ground invasion. Israel's defense minister said Thursday that "it is not easy to destroy" Hamas' infrastructure and that Israel needs months more for its war. One of the US' most influential former diplomats to the Middle East believes the conflict is likely to continue for at least three to four more weeks.
"There's a certain tension in objectives even from our own standpoint," said former Ambassador Dennis Ross, the lead envoy for peace negotiations in two US administrations, in a Tuesday phone call from Israel. "On the one hand, we want the Israelis to get this over as soon as possible. On the other hand, we want them to limit the way that they're doing it."Asked if the military destruction of Hamas is achievable, Ross told BI: "I think the Israelis are going to do it, period. And in the end, whether they will do it on a timeline that we want — I don't know yet."
The bombing 'trap'
Israeli leaders frequently use World War II, which saw massive civilian casualties in bombing campaigns against large cities like Dresden, Berlin and Toyko, as a reference point in justifying a bombing campaign that struck 22,000 targets in the war's first two months. Historians call it "strategic bombing" — the practice of systematically striking a nation's economy and urban areas to try to damage its ability to wage war. Netanyahu's office said in late October that accepting a ceasefire with Hamas was akin to the US's refusal to do so "after the bombing of Pearl Harbor," the surprise 1941 attack by Imperial Japan that plunged America into war. Similarly, Netanyahu parried questions about rising civilian deaths by referencing a WWII British raid that bombed a school in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen. Biden appears to have gotten similar treatment. He said Netanyahu told him in a private discussion: "You carpet bombed Germany, you dropped the atom bomb, a lot of civilians died." "Hamas conducted the massacre in a way that even the Nazis did not allow themselves to do," former Israeli ambassador Ido Aharoni told BI in a phone interview. "The Nazis were trying to hide their crimes. We don't have footage of Jews dying in the gas chambers, but Hamas did it enthusiastically, and they recorded themselves and they shared it with the world."Aharoni, a career diplomat who is now a senior faculty member at Tel Aviv University, said that Israel must use its full force to shatter Hamas so it can never again threaten Israel, and if this imperative requires leveling swaths of Gaza and straining the access of its two million residents to food and water, then that's what is going to happen.
"What do you do philosophically when you deal with an enemy that doesn't value life? It's a big philosophical debate. So 10/7 helped us to rewrite the rules of how we fight Hamas. And we made a decision in this philosophical debate that we need to go all the way to take them out. And if the collateral damage is going to be dramatic, just as the collateral damage in Germany and just the collateral damage in Japan was dramatic, then so be it."Aharoni continued: "It's unreasonable to expect Israel to go to war and expect Israel not to win the war at the same time."
The bombing campaign against Hamas-run Gaza is on pace proportionally with the destruction delivered in the strategic bombing of Nazi Germany. Yet our collective hazy memories of the so-called "Good War" may obscure the fact that, at best, the Allied strategic bombing of Germany didn't work — it likely led to the death of more Allied troops. The common fallacy of the so-called "bomb the shit out of them" approach is that enough death and destruction creates a breaking point where the populace cracks and refuses to support its government or overthrows it. In Nazi Germany, for example, the Allies pursued a devastating bombing campaign against 92 cities and towns with the aim of fomenting dissent against dictator Adolf Hitler and degrading Germany's will to fight. "That never happened, and the Wehrmacht fought hard all the way to the very end," said Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor and scholar of military power. "There's really no case to make that the killing of German civilians in World War II by the Allied bombing hastened the end of the war. It did not produce political effects and, if anything, it stiffened the morale of the German fighters."Pape is the author of "Bombing to Win," a landmark study of 40 strategic bombing campaigns in the 20th Century. Pape's research identified what he called an air power "trap" of mistaken thinking by military leaders, who often believe massive bombardment leads those bombed to capitulate. "When you bomb the civilians, the local population gets more angry and more fearful at the same time," Pape said. "And what they're fearful of is being then occupied militarily by this country and military force that bombed them so mercilessly."
Nazi Germany's defeat may also be instructive for Israel's goal of a post-war Gaza free of Hamas, which the Israeli prime minister has vowed to "eliminate." The military defeat of the Nazis required a naval blockade, air power, and enormous armies closing in on Germany from two sides — and in its wake only about 200 of the top Nazi leaders were tried, leaving many responsible for atrocities untouched. Many Nazi Party members held positions of authority in postwar Germany, including 25 cabinet ministers and a chancellor. In other words, the new government was hardly de-Nazified. Massive bombardment has had a checkered track record in the wars since. For instance, Poast, the University of Chicago professor and a colleague of Pape, said Israel's campaign in some ways resembles the US's expansion of strategic bombing into Laos and Cambodia, which ultimately failed to strangle North Vietnam and the Vietcong's supply lines and came at an estimated cost of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.
'Pumped up'
Israel faces long odds. Very few terror groups are defeated purely by military force; it's many times more likely they become part of a legitimate political process — an outcome that Israel has ruled out. In the throes of its war, Israel has struggled to define who will rule Gaza in Hamas' absence, or persuade its residents why this would be any better for them. Aharoni, the former Israeli ambassador, said that the time for Israeli leaders to lay out that roadmap is only once Hamas' leaders are killed and its forces defeated. He said the end of the military campaign will likely spell the end of the Netanyahu government as well, but for now "the Israeli public is pumped up, united, high spirits. Everybody wants to help. I've never seen anything like it. The entire society is galvanized."Even under mounting international pressure, the war is almost certain to continue. The thought of Hamas remaining in power, if diminished, is untenable to Israelis, an estimated quarter million of whom fled their homes after 10/7 and have not returned. "If Hamas still looks like it's able to fire rockets into Israel, that's not an outcome that Israelis are going to accept," said Ross, the veteran US diplomat and peace negotiator who's also a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Another clear motive in Israel's war also motivated the strategic bombings of World War II — vengeance. Israel has an entire category of targets chosen for their significance to Hamas and whose destruction inflicts "tactical and mental damage," an anonymous Israeli military intelligence officer told the magazine IsraelDefense; the Israeli left-wing outlet +972 Magazine and the Hebrew language news site Local Call have reported that the IDF has expanded its targeting and tolerance of civilian casualties. Israel relies on an AI-driven target factory that is able to rapidly produce recommended targets, as BI's Jake Epstein has reported, and its air force is dropping both unguided munitions and 2,000-pound guided munitions that can be expected to bring death and destruction beyond their targets in Gaza's dense urban environment. Targeting videos publicized by the Israeli Air Force show it shattering buildings in Gaza it claims were used by Hamas, including their homes. Israel's intelligence minister has argued that Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza should be resettled in other countries, a move that would further erode Palestinian claims for a state of their own. For these reasons, Palestinians who flee the Israeli onslaught into Egypt fear they won't be able to return.
Collective punishment may serve to instill fear towards deterrence from a future attack, but in an ongoing campaign it often has the adverse effect of steeling an opponent's will to resist. In 1940, Nazi bombers blasted London and other British cities, but the Battle of Britain backfired. It failed to stall Britain's industries critical to the war and actually strengthened the public's will to fight. "The British wanted payback," said Pape. Britain's air plans for Germany from the 1930s had focused solely on striking German economic centers, Pape said. But after the blitz, British leaders added population centers to their targets and began to bomb them with a goal of killing 900,000 German civilians. Over the next three years, Allied bombers would damage or destroy an average of half of the buildings in the 92 cities and towns targeted. And yet that campaign also failed to achieve its aims.
Rage is also an essential element for Israel's sworn enemy. Hamas relies on perceptions that Israel cannot be collaborated with, that it is a deadly enemy of Palestinians that must be destroyed by force, and that its civilians are legitimate targets. A recent poll shows that Hamas' support has risen in Gaza and soared in the West Bank since the 10/7 terror attacks. The challenge for Israel is that this ideology is fueled by the hatred for Israelis that's simmering across Gaza and the West Bank. "That's why Hamas is actually so willing to have civilian casualties occur in Gaza," said Pape, who has also studied the demographics and motivations of suicide bombers. "It's because each time Israeli bombs kill Palestinians, those Palestinians have family. They have friends who are ripe recruits for Hamas in the future." He added: "The real issue here is that very likely Israel is creating more terrorists than it's killing."

Shipping companies abandon Red Sea routes over Houthi attacks
Saskia O'Donoghue/Euronews/December 16, 2023
British destroyer HMS Diamond has shot down a suspected "attack drone targeting merchant shipping in the Red Sea" during the night from Friday to Saturday. That’s according to the country’s Minister of Defence Grant Shapps, who took to X - formerly Twitter - to share the announcement. The Houthis have warned that they will target ships sailing off the coast of Yemen and with links to Israel, in response to the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In recent weeks, several missiles and drones have been shot down by American and French warships patrolling the area. The United Kingdom announced at the end of November the dispatch of the warship HMS Diamond to the Gulf to respond to "growing concerns" on the security of maritime trade routes in the area. Danish shipping giant Maersk on Friday ordered its ships to no longer pass through the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait "until further notice" after new attacks. The German shipowner Hapag-Lloyd also announced on Friday that it was suspending crossings of its container ships on the Red Sea at least until Monday after the attack on the Red Sea. one of its ships by the Houthis. This political-military movement, which controls a large part of Yemen, belongs, like Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, to what they call "the axis of resistance" against Israel, supported by Iran.

US and Britain say their navies shot down 15 attack drones over the Red Sea
LONDON (AP)/December 16, 2023
A U.S. warship shot down 14 suspected attack drones over the Red Sea on Saturday, and a Royal Navy destroyer downed another drone that was targeting commercial ships, the British and American militaries said. Houthi rebels in Yemen have launched a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, and have launched drones and missiles targeting Israel, as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to spread. U.S. Central Command said that the destroyer USS Carney “successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems" launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The drones “were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries,” Central Command tweeted. U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that HMS Diamond fired a Sea Viper missile and destroyed a drone that was “targeting merchant shipping.” The overnight action is the first time the Royal Navy has shot down an aerial target in anger since the 1991 Gulf War. Shapps said attacks on commercial ships in the global trade artery by Yemen’s Houthi rebels “represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security."“The U.K. remains committed to repelling these attacks to protect the free flow of global trade,” he said in a statement. HMS Diamond was sent to the region two weeks ago as a deterrent, joining vessels from the U.S., France and other countries. Global shipping has become a target during the war between Israel and Hamas, which like the Houthis is backed by Iran. Houthi rebels said they fired a barrage of drones on Saturday toward the port city of Eilat in southern Israel. The announcement came hours after Egypt’s state-run media reported that Egyptian air defense had shot down a “flying object” off the Egyptian resort town of Dahab on the Red Sea. Israeli-linked vessels also have been targeted, but the threat to trade has grown as container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries like Norway and Liberia have been attacked or drawn missile fire while traversing the waterway between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Earlier this month, three commercial ships in the Red Sea were struck by ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen. A U.S. warship shot down three drones during the assault, the U.S. military said. French container shipping line CMA CGM Group said Saturday it had ordered all its vessels scheduled to pass through the Red Sea to “pause their journey in safe waters with immediate effect until further notice.”On Friday Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, also told all its vessels planning to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea to stop their journeys after a missile attack on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship. German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd said it was pausing all its container ship traffic through the Red Sea until Monday

British man in Berlin accused of running Hamas networks across Europe
Jack Simpson/The Telegraph/December 16, 2023
A British Palestinian activist in Berlin has been accused of running Hamas networks across Europe, after several alleged members of the terrorist organisation were arrested on suspicion of planning an attack in Germany. The Times reported that a Briton was identified as the person alleged to be in charge of “Germany for Hamas” in internal documents produced by the German interior ministry. The report also claims that the unnamed man had contacts with the upper echelons of the group’s leadership and was a main organiser for events in a number of European countries. The revelations come after police in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands foiled a plot by Hamas to kill Jews in Europe. In Germany, authorities arrested three people after they discovered that Hamas operatives had been under orders to bring a cache of weapons from an undisclosed location in Europe to Berlin, to attack Jewish institutions. Denmark detained two people and issued warrants for four more. A Dutch national was arrested in Rotterdam.
Seven suspects
Germany has said that four of the seven suspects in the alleged plot are members of Hamas, the proscribed terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip and which launched the unprecedented October 7 massacre in southern Israel. There is no suggestion that the Briton in question is linked to the recent Hamas arrests or the terrorist plot uncovered this week. The October 7 attack on Israel saw 1,200 people killed and 240 taken hostage. Hamas is regarded as a terrorist group by the US, the EU and Britain. According to The Times, a report suggested that German security services believe that a British citizen who grew up in the UK after his parents left the occupied territories in the 1940s was a key Hamas contact in Europe. Intelligence agencies But two other intelligence bodies, including those charged with monitoring antisemitism, have previously described the Briton as the leader of the “central propaganda organisation of Hamas in Europe”. This has been backed up by Israeli state security, which has also alleged that the Briton represents a “Hamas affiliate”. German intelligence agencies believe there are about 450 Hamas members in the country. The group was given a blanket ban by German authorities, but until recently there hadn’t been strong concerns that violence perpetrated by the group could spread to Europe.

US military leaders head to Israel and will offer advice on shifting to the war's next phase in Gaza
WASHINGTON (AP)/December 16, 2023
The top two U.S. military leaders are traveling to Tel Aviv to advise the Israeli government on how to transition from major combat operations against Hamas in Gaza to a more limited and precise campaign — the kind of strategic shift they both have considerable expertise in.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown served in leadership roles as U.S. airpower and ground forces moved from major combat to lower-intensity counterterrorism operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is not clear how deeply their advice from lessons learned will resonate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government
Israel is still stinging from the deadliest attack ever on its homefront and has pledged to continue its bombardment of Gaza until Hamas, which orchestrated the Oct. 7 attacks, is fully destroyed.
Their trip highlights the increased efforts by the Biden administration to convince Israel that it should scale back its offensive, which has flattened much of Gaza's northern region, displaced millions and killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Israel’s push has been complicated by the dense urban population and Hamas' network of tunnels, and the militants are accused of using civilians as “human shields.” The sustained intensity of Israel's campaign has led President Joe Biden to warn that the U.S. ally is losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing." U.S. officials have been telling Israel for several weeks that its window is closing for concluding major combat operations in Gaza without risking the loss of even more backing. In a meeting Thursday, Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, urged Netanyahu to shift to more targeted operations by smaller military teams hunting specific high-value targets, rather than the sustained broad bombardment that has occurred so far. In response, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country would continue major combat operations against Hamas for several more months.
There are implications for the tens of thousands of U.S. service members deployed in the region. Austin on Friday extended the deployment once more of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and a second warship in order to retain a two-carrier presence in the Mediterranean Sea. The ships are seen as vital to deter Iran from widening the Israel-Hamas war into a regional conflict. The approximately 5,000 sailors aboard the Ford were originally due home in early November.
U.S. warships that were deployed with the Ford have intercepted incoming missiles fired toward Israel from areas of Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. They also have shot down one-way attack drones headed toward the ships and responded to calls for assistance from commercial vessels that have come under persistent Houthi attacks near the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
As of Friday, there are 19 U.S. warships in the region, including seven in the eastern Mediterranean. A dozen more stretched down the Red Sea, across the Arabian Sea and up into the Persian Gulf.
On Saturday, one of the warships assigned to the Ford carrier strike group, the destroyer USS Carney, “successfully engaged” 14 one-way attack drones launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. Britain reported that a Royal Navy destroyer downed another drone that was targeting commercial ships.
The missile and drone attacks have led at least two major shipping companies, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, to order their commercial vessels to temporarily pause transits through the strait. “The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety & lives of seafarers,” Maersk said in a statement posted to its official account on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday. “This issue cannot be addressed by the global shipping industry alone, and we urge the international society to come together to find a swift resolution to bring the situation under control.”Austin is expected also to visit Bahrain and Qatar and further work toward establishing a new maritime mission to provide increased security for commercial ships sailing in the southern Red Sea. Bahrain is the home of the U.S. Navy’s Central Command headquarters and the international maritime task force charged with ensuring safe passage for vessels in the region. Qatar has been vital in helping keep what has been a deadly localized war from boiling over into a regional conflict and negotiating hostage release. Earlier in his Army career, Austin oversaw the drawdown of forces in Iraq in 2011. He visited Israel days after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and has spoken to Gallant, his Israeli counterpart, more than two dozen times since then. In his meetings in Israel, he is likely to continue discussions on how Israelis define different military campaign milestones, to be able to assess when they will have sufficiently degraded Hamas to ensure their own security and shift from major combat operations, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters traveling with Austin.

Author receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos
BERLIN (AP)/Sat, December 16, 2023
The Russian-American writer Masha Gessen received a German literary prize on Saturday in a ceremony that was delayed and scaled down in reaction to an article comparing Gaza to Nazi German ghettos. The comparison in a recent New Yorker article was viewed as controversial in Germany, which strongly supports Israel as a form of remorse and responsibility for murdering up to 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Disapproval of Gessen's criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians comes as Germany grapples with the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, both pro-Palestinian protests and pro-Israel demonstrations in reaction to rising antisemitism. Gessen was originally due to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought on Friday in the city hall of Bremen, in northwest Germany, but the sponsoring organization, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Bremen Senate withdrew from the ceremony. It took place instead in a different location on Saturday with about 50 guests crowded into a small event room and with police security, the German news agency dpa reported. mIn Gessen's article, titled “In the Shadow of the Holocaust,” the author explores German Holocaust memory and Israel's relationship with Palestinians. Gessen writes that Gaza is “like a Jewish ghetto in an Eastern European country occupied by Nazi Germany.”“The ghetto is being liquidated," the article added. The ghettos in German-occupied countries during World War II were open-air prisons where Jews were killed, starved and died from diseases. Those who didn't perish there were rounded up and transported to death camps where they were murdered, a process called “liquidation.” The Böll Foundation called the comparison unacceptable. The jury decided in the summer to award Gessen, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It said it couldn't cancel the award itself.

Communications blackout and spiraling hunger compound misery in Gaza as war enters 11th week
Associated Press/December 16, 2023
A prolonged communications blackout that severed telephone and internet connections compounded the misery Saturday in the besieged Gaza Strip, where a United Nations agency said hunger levels had spiraled in recent days.
Internet and telephone lines went down Thursday evening and were still inaccessible Saturday morning, according to internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org, hampering aid deliveries and rescue efforts as Israel's war against Gaza's ruling militant group Hamas stretched into the 11th week.
"The internet blackout is ongoing, and based on our records it is the longest such incident" in the over-two-month war, said Alp Toker, the group's director. The United Nations' humanitarian affairs department said communications with Gaza were "severely disrupted" due to damage to telecommunications lines in the south.The offensive, triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million from their homes. Displaced people have squeezed into shelters mainly in the south in a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
The United States, Israel's closest ally, has expressed unease over Israel's failure to reduce civilian casualties and its plans for the future of Gaza, but the White House continues to offer wholehearted support with weapons shipments and diplomatic backing. In meetings with Israeli leaders on Thursday and Friday, United States national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed a timetable for winding down the intense combat phase of the war. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was also expected to visit Israel soon to discuss the issue.
The U.S. has pushed Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, and the government said it would open a second entry point to speed up deliveries. With only a trickle of aid able to enter and distribution disrupted by fighting, the U.N.'s World Food Program reported a surge from 38% to 56% in the number of displaced households experiencing severe levels of hunger in the space of under two weeks. In the north, where aid has been unable to enter, "households … are expected to face a catastrophic situation," the WFP said. The offensive has killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday before the communications blackout. Thousands more are missing and feared dead beneath the rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Its latest count did not specify how many were women and minors, but they have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead in previous tallies.In their Oct. 7 attack, Hamas militants allegedly killed about 1,200 people in Israel, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostage. On Friday, Israeli troops mistakenly shot and killed three hostages in Gaza City in the north. An Israeli strike killed a Palestinian journalist and wounded another in the southern city of Khan Younis, both working for the Al Jazeera television network. The two were reporting at a school that had been hit by an earlier airstrike when a drone launched a second strike, the network said.According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Samer Abu Daqqa was the 64th journalist to be killed since the conflict erupted: 57 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.Khan Younis has been the main target of Israel's ground offensive in the south.
In the north, the hostages were killed in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where Israeli troops have been engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas militants in recent days. The soldiers mistakenly identified the three Israelis as a threat and opened fire on them, said the army's chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. Hundreds of protesters blocked Tel Aviv's main highway late Friday in a spontaneous demonstration calling for the hostages' return. The hostages' plight has dominated public discourse in Israel since the Oct. 7 attack. Their families have led a powerful public campaign calling on the government to do more to bring them home. Anger over the mistaken killing of the three hostages — young men in their 20s — is likely to increase pressure on the government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more captives for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Hamas released over 100 hostages for Palestinian prisoners in November. Nearly all those freed on both sides were women and minors. Talks on further swaps broke down, with Hamas seeking the release of more veteran prisoners for female soldiers it is holding. Israeli political and military leaders often say freeing all the hostages is their top aim in the war alongside destroying Hamas. However, they argue that their release can only be achieved through military pressure on Hamas, a claim that has sharply divided public opinion. After negotiations broke down, Hamas said it will only free the remaining hostages, believed to number more than 130, if Israel ends the war and releases all Palestinian prisoners. As of late November, Israel held nearly 7,000 Palestinians accused or convicted of security offenses, including hundreds rounded up since the start of the war.

Biden under pressure as US clashes with Iranian proxies
Brad Dress/The Hill/December 16, 2023
President Biden is facing mounting pressure from his right to hit back harder on the steady pace of attacks on U.S. forces across the Middle East, where American positions have been assaulted nearly 100 times and merchant ships harassed in the Red Sea. The spate of attacks from Iranian-backed groups across the region, which broke out nearly two months ago on Oct. 17 amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, are not letting up and have spurred growing anger on Capitol Hill. Republicans are pushing the Biden administration to project more strength against the Iranian-backed groups. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the floor Wednesday that Biden must focus on the “task at hand” — deterring Iran. These Iranian-backed groups “are not deterred, they believe they can try to kill Americans with impunity,” McConnell said, calling for Biden to “get serious about the threats we face.”Republican presidential candidates also called out Biden on the debate stage. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Navy veteran, has said American troops are “sitting ducks” in the Middle East. And former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador, has accused Biden of appeasing Iran.
“They only respond to strength,” Haley said of Iran. “You’ve got to punch them, you’ve got to punch them hard and let them know that.”
Since Oct. 17, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have attacked U.S. bases and troops 92 times, according to the Pentagon’s latest estimate.
The U.S. has also engaged the Houthi rebels in Yemen several times. The Houthis, who are also backed by Iran, have shot drones at American ships and attacked merchant vessels, including the successful hijacking of one commercial boat last month. Those attacks are in the Red Sea, where about 10 percent of the world’s commerce flows through every year. With the attacks stacking up and stirring criticism, defense officials argue the main objective is to contain the Israel-Hamas war and prevent a wider regional conflict, with Washington taking proportional measures against Iranian-backed militias.
The dangerous tit for tat is spurring concerns the U.S. is playing with fire — and creating fears that a misstep could spark an even greater surge of violence. “We’re in a really terrible, unstable and vulnerable condition,” said Thanassis Cambanis, the director of Century International, a progressive think tank. “Even if Iran and the U.S. don’t want a wider war, it’s easy for miscalculation to produce one.”The militants waging war in the Middle East against the U.S. have been doing so for years — there were some 70 attacks on U.S. forces between 2021 and early 2023, many by Iran-backed groups in Iraq and elsewhere.
But the breakout of the Israel-Hamas war sparked an unprecedented number of attacks in a short time frame. Analysts say the militia groups — and Iran — want to send a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people, while they are also bristling against increased U.S. military presence, including American aircraft carrier ships and nuclear-powered submarines in the region.
Iran and its proxies need to show they are acting against the U.S. amid the devastating war in Gaza, but Tehran, like Washington, doesn’t want to take things too far, according to analysts. The U.S. is struggling with two major wars in Gaza and Ukraine. With those hot conflicts stretching Washington thin, the Biden administration’s main goal is to ensure there is not a wider regional war in the Middle East. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday the U.S. is succeeding in deterring Iranian-backed militia groups.
“That’s not to say that the challenges associated with Iranian proxies attacking U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria or the rebels firing missiles at international shipping are not something we shouldn’t take serious,” Ryder said.
“But we will address those problems in the way that we’ve been doing. And we will continue to stay very focused on not only deterring, but also protecting our force.”
Michael Knights, an expert in Iraq and Iran at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the U.S. has managed to keep the fighting at a proportional level, and while that “doesn’t look good in a headline,” in reality there is no real threat.
Knights noted that no American service members have died in the recent attacks, and the militia groups appear to be designing the rocket and drone attacks to avoid fatalities. “They have a pretty limited chance of hitting Americans, and sometimes [the strikes] are quite aimed off, because large salvos haven’t even landed within the bases,” Knights said. “There’s been a lot of bangs, but they’ve all fallen into what we call the polite category, which means we’re largely looking at single drone attacks that the U.S. can just eat for breakfast.”
But Knights said the deterrence of the Houthis near Yemen has failed, and the U.S. may deliberately be holding back from carrying out more destructive strikes. One reason for the restraint could be to prevent the unraveling of peace talks in a years-long war between Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, both of which are in a fragile cease-fire, he added. “The U.S. doesn’t want to disrupt that peace process … and the Houthis are taking full advantage of that because they know right now they can do whatever they want,” Knights said. “They are the part of the deterrence puzzles where the U.S. is doing the least well.”The Houthis, like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are a prominent Iranian-backed faction and have earned their stripes in the war with Yemen’s government. That has molded them into a more formidable fighting force compared with other militia groups in Iran’s sphere. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, slammed Biden for failing to stop the Houthi attacks and urged greater action against the group, including a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designation.
“By prioritizing politics over security, this administration emboldened the Houthis, enabling them to develop more advanced weapons, deepen ties with Iran, and further entrench their control over millions of innocent Yemenis,” McCaul said in a statement.
“It is clear that the Houthis are a threat to Yemen, our partners across the Middle East, U.S. servicemembers and citizens in the region, and freedom of navigation and global commerce.”
An FTO designation could open up new paths to deter the Houthis, including curbing financing for the group. Jason Blazakis, director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said the FTO designation would help the U.S. and likely would not endanger Houthi-Yemen peace talks. “It would be a signal of U.S. displeasure with Iranian action,” he said. “There needs to be a response to the Houthis because of their untoward activities. They’ve become increasingly belligerent. That can’t be ignored.”
The U.S. is also considering a maritime task force, which would be made up of attack ships from several countries, to defend ships against Houthi threats in the Red Sea. Tensions are likely to remain high as long as Israel’s war to defeat Hamas rages in Gaza, with devastating consequences for civilians there. On Thursday, Israel’s defense minister said the war in Gaza could last “months.”
Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired U.S. colonel who previously served under former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Biden should bring the war in Gaza to a resolution if he wants to stop the Middle East conflict from ballooning out of control.
“Until we decide to essentially cut down our power a bit and let things settle,” he said, “they aren’t going to.”

UK MP’s relatives ‘days away from dying’ in Gaza church
Arab News/December 16, 2023
LONDON: A British MP’s relatives are “days away from dying” while trapped in a Gaza City church along with hundreds of other civilians, the BBC reported on Saturday. Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said her grandmother, her son, his wife and their 11-year-old twins are trapped in the Holy Family Church without access to water or food. Her relatives are Christian Palestinians who traveled to the church building for shelter after their home was flattened by an Israeli airstrike in the first week of the violence. The family have warned that six people — including a mother and daughter — have been killed by Israeli snipers firing on the church. Now more than 60 days into their refuge in the building, the family are sheltering on mattresses along with the hundreds of other people inside. Moran told the BBC: “I’m now no longer sure they are going to survive until Christmas. It does feel like it’s making a mockery of keeping civilians safe.”She said a grandfather, a sixth member of her family in the church, died after being unable to receive medical treatment last month. The church’s last remaining generator, which pumped water into the building, has now stopped working, Moran’s relatives said. The Israel Defense Forces have not provided any information to those inside the church about why the site would be targeted. Israeli soldiers entered the church site in the past day. Two men — a bin collector and janitor — who had come and gone from the church were apparently killed on Tuesday by Israeli forces, Moran’s relatives said. The MP said she has been in contact with the UK Foreign Office to secure the release of her relatives, but described the situation as “incredibly complex.”

Pentagon has ordered a US aircraft carrier to remain in the Mediterranean near Israel
AP/December 16, 2023
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and one other warship to remain in the Mediterranean Sea for several more weeks to maintain a two-carrier presence near Israel as its war with Hamas grinds on, US officials said.
It would be the third time the Ford’s deployment has been extended, underscoring the continued concerns about volatility in the region during Israel’s war in Gaza. The US has two aircraft carriers in the region, a rarity in recent years. Multiple US officials confirmed the longer deployments approved this week for the Ford and the USS Normandy cruiser on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public. Other ships in the Ford’s strike group had already had their deployments extended. The Pentagon ramped up its military presence in the region after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks to deter Iran from widening the war into a regional conflict. In the months since, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria have seized on the war to conduct regular attacks with rockets, drones and missiles on US military installations there.
FASTFACT
Multiple US officials confirmed the longer deployments approved this week for the Ford and the USS Normandy cruiser on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public. Other ships in the Ford’s strike group had already had their deployments extended. At the same time, US warships in the Red Sea have intercepted incoming missiles fired toward Israel from areas of Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. They’ve also shot down one-way attack drones headed toward the ships and responded to calls for assistance from commercial vessels that have come under persistent Houthi attacks near the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. As of Friday, there are 19 US warships in the region, including seven in the eastern Mediterranean and 12 more stretched down the Red Sea, across the Arabian Sea and up into the Arabian Gulf. Austin ordered the Ford and its strike group to sail to the eastern Mediterranean on Oct. 8, a day after the attack by Hamas that set off the war. The decision to keep the Ford — the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier — in the region comes as Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said Thursday it will take months to destroy Hamas, predicting a drawn-out war. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli leaders to discuss a timetable for winding down major combat in Gaza, but they repeated their determination to press the fight until Hamas is crushed. The Ford’s roughly 5,000 sailors have been waiting for a Pentagon decision on whether they would get to go home for the holidays. The ship left Norfolk, Virginia, in early May to deploy to US European Command, and under its original schedule it would have been home by early November. The original plan was for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group to replace the Ford in the region. But Sabrina Singh, in a Pentagon briefing on Oct. 17, said Austin had decided to extend the Ford’s deployment and have both the Eisenhower and Ford covering the waters from southern Europe to the Middle East. US military commanders have long touted the effectiveness of American aircraft carriers as a deterrent, including against attacks, hijackings and other aggressive behavior by Iran and its ships, including strikes on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis.
Officials said the plan is to keep the Ford there for several more weeks.
The Eisenhower is in the Gulf of Oman and has been patrolling in the Middle East along with the USS Philippine Sea, a Navy cruiser. And three warships — the USS Carney, the USS Stethem and the USS Mason, all Navy destroyers — have been moving through the Bab el-Mandeb daily to help deter and respond to attacks from the Houthis.Other ships that are part of the Ford’s strike group include the destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt. While the US regularly maintained two aircraft carriers in the Middle East during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in recent years it has tried to turn its attention and naval presence to the Asia Pacific.

Al Jazeera to refer killing of cameraman in Gaza to war crimes court
CAIRO (Reuters) /Sat, December 16, 2023
Al Jazeera is preparing a legal file to send to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over what it called "the assassination" of one of its cameramen in Gaza, the Qatari-based network said on Saturday. The cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed by a drone strike on Friday while reporting on the earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster. Al Jazeera said Israeli drones fired missiles at the school that left Abu Daqqa with fatal injuries. Reuters could not verify the details of the incident.
"The Network established a joint working group, which comprises of its international legal team and international legal experts who will collaboratively initiate the process of compiling a comprehensive file for submission to the court's prosecutor," Al Jazeera said in a statement. "The legal file will also encompass recurrent attacks on the Network's crews working and operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and instances of incitement against them."Commenting on the incident, the Israeli army said in a statement it has "never, and will never" deliberately target journalists. It also said that remaining in an active combat zone during exchanges of fire "has inherent risks". The ICC already has an ongoing investigation into any alleged crimes within its jurisdiction committed on Palestinian territory and by Palestinians on the territory of Israel. In 2021, ICC judges ruled that the court has jurisdiction after the Palestinian authorities signed up to the court in 2015 and were granted United Nations observer state status. Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC over the Palestinian territories and has previously refused to cooperate with the court.
The ICC office of the prosecutor does not typically comment on the details of ongoing investigations. The 10 weeks of war in Gaza have taken a heavy toll on journalists, with at least 64 reporters and media workers killed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. The CPJ called on international authorities to "conduct an independent investigation into the attack to hold the perpetrators to account". An Israeli tank crew killed Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six reporters in Lebanon on Oct. 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling, a Reuters investigation found. The Israeli military said the incident took place in an active combat zone and was under review.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 16-17/2023
Opinion: Talks can't end the Ukraine war, because Russia lies
Anastassia Fedyk and Tatyana Deryugina/Los Angeles Times./December 16/ 2023
Following the full-scale invasion by Russia in February 2022, Ukraine has suffered tremendously. Tens of thousands have died, and a quarter of the country’s prewar population has been displaced. Homes, neighborhoods and entire cities have been reduced to rubble.
Some question the wisdom of Ukraine continuing to fight back instead of seeking to negotiate with Russia. President Vladimir Putin himself claims he “does not reject the idea of peace talks,” while prominent figures have called for negotiations, possibly involving a settlement to cede occupied territories in exchange for peace. Calls for Ukraine to have such talks rely on an assumption that Russia would negotiate in good faith. But, looking to history as a guide, this assumption is naïve. Russia’s actions over the last 31 years reveal a troubling pattern of frequent lying and breaking international agreements. Negotiations with Russia are therefore futile. Russia agreed to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and to refrain from the threat or use of force against Ukraine in both the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty of 1997. In an agreement partitioning the Black Sea Fleet after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia agreed to pay Ukraine to lease a naval base in Sevastopol. Seventeen years later, it illegally annexed that base and the rest of Crimea. In the Budapest Memorandum, Russia provided security assurances to Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal. Now, a nuclear power has launched a full-scale invasion of the state whose security it was supposed to protect.
Russia’s other neighbors have had similar experiences. Russia armed and fought on the side of separatists in both Georgia and Moldova.
In 1992, Russia signed two agreements ensuring the territorial integrity of Georgia and promising to avoid military involvement in its separatist conflicts. Yet in 2008, Russia invaded, falsely claiming that Georgia was committing genocide against South Ossetians to justify the war. In a cease-fire agreement brokered by the French president, Russia agreed to withdraw its troops from Georgia — but it never did. Fifteen years later, Russian troops continue to occupy 20% of Georgian territory. Similarly, some 1,500 Russian soldiers are stationed in the Moldovan region of Transnistria, more than 20 years after Russia made two agreements to withdraw them.
Perhaps Russia would be more likely to respect a treaty brokered by a powerful country such as the United States? Unfortunately, history provides no evidence for this assumption, either. Russia has broken every nuclear treaty it has signed with the U.S. Under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty signed at the end of the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia agreed to ban missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,000 kilometers. Within the last decade, Russia secretly tested a cruise missile with a range of 2,500 kilometers and now deploys it in four battalions.
This year, Russia suspended its participation in the New START treaty. Moscow had already been refusing to restart mandatory inspections of its arsenal after a pause early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in its dealings with the U.S., Russia readily violates treaties and abandons them when convenient.
Russia has also shown a pattern of disregard for states throughout Europe and the Americas. Its interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, when Russia hacked into the computer servers of the Democratic National Convention and targeted voter systems in all 50 states, was broadly publicized in the media. Additionally, the Kremlin has illegally meddled in the elections of countries including Belarus, France, Georgia, Germany, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine.
Russia has also conducted less subtle attempts at interference in foreign politics. The Kremlin attempted a coup in Montenegro a year before the country ratified its accession to NATO. Western intelligence concluded that a special unit of the Russian GRU planned to attack the Montenegrin parliament and assassinate the prime minister on the day of the parliamentary elections. This year, there have been allegations that Russia planned a similar coup in Moldova. Russia’s readiness to ignore the sovereignty of other nations is also exemplified by its audacious assassinations of political opponents in broad daylight across Europe. In 2006, former British double agent Alexander Litvinenko died from radiation sickness in London after drinking a cup of tea poisoned with polonium-210. British investigators concluded the assassination, carried out by Russian FSB agents, was probably ordered by Putin.
In 2018, Russian intelligence poisoned another former spy, Sergei Skripal, in a park in Salisbury. He survived the attempt, but a British woman died after accidentally coming into contact with the poison. The following year, a Chechen insurgent fighter named Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot and killed by an FSB agent in the middle of a park in Berlin. What is notable about these violent acts and attempts at election interference is that besides trampling on other states’ sovereignty, Russia consistently lies. According to Putin: “We didn’t meddle, we aren’t meddling, and we will not meddle in any elections.”The Kremlin also mocked British investigations into the poisonings of Litvinenko and Skripal as “totally absurd.” Russia’s modus operandi has always been “deny everything and admit nothing.”Those who argue that it is time for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia are overlooking reality. Russia has broken every peace treaty it ever signed with Ukraine, and many more with other states it has inflicted violence upon. The Kremlin operates without regard for its neighbors, the United States, European countries, or any moral or legal boundaries. Putin has no reservations about interfering in democratic elections, plotting coups or murdering people even on NATO soil. Negotiations hinge on having a modicum of trust in the other party’s commitment to honor agreements, but Russia has demolished any grounds for trust.
Anastassia Fedyk is an assistant professor of finance at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Tatyana Deryugina is an associate professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Emilia Marshall, a research fellow with Economists for Ukraine, contributed to this article.
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Biden Administration Empowered Iran's Terror Group, the Houthis
Majid Rafizadeh/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/December 16, 2023
The Houthis have been fortunate to have, as a powerful patron and sponsor, Iran. Their backers in Tehran will not let them run out of ammunition and the Biden administration will not let the Iranian regime run out of funds.
Iran has been employing every political and military tactic possible -- including racing toward nuclear weapons capability -- to complete its objectives of annihilating Israel, driving the United States out of the Middle East, and establishing an Islamist caliphate.
Does anyone seriously think that if Iran finally acquires a nuclear bomb, they will not use it -- or at least threaten to?
To deter further escalation, the US needs seriously to target the real source of this mayhem -- the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its IRGC. Perhaps the US might try incapacitating the Iranian ports that are used for oil exports, or take out a few IRGC facilities -- or maybe just send every IRGC officer a picture of his home?
Iran's militia and terrorist group in Yemen, the Houthis, has ratcheted up attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and escalated the launching of missiles and attack drones at Israel. Pictured: Guided missiles on display at a Houthi military parade in Sanaa, Yemen, on September 21, 2023.
Thanks to the Biden administration's alarmingly misguided officials and their counterproductive policies of appeasement towards Iran and its proxies, the Iranian regime's militia and terrorist group in Yemen, the Houthis, has ratcheted up attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and escalated the launching of missiles and attack drones at Israel. Now, the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah ("Partisans of Allah"), are threatening to attack any ship headed to Israel, regardless of its nationality or ownership. Why not just replace their flags with American ones?
The current problem with the Houthis began almost three years ago, when the Biden administration, after less than a month in office, reversed yet another policy of the Trump administration. On February 12, 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially revoked the designation of the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.In doing so, the Biden administration airily delisted a group, which, according to a Yemeni government intelligence report, "works closely" with Al Qaeda and ISIS, and in addition, regularly commits crimes against humanity. It recruits, injures and kills children. According to Human Rights Watch's World Report 2020:
"Since September 2014, all parties to the conflict have used child soldiers under 18, including some under the age of 15, according to a 2019 UN Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen report in 2019. According to the secretary general, out of 3,034 children recruited throughout the war in Yemen, 1,940—64 percent—were recruited by the Houthis."
The Biden administration delisted a group, the Houthis, who routinely resort to various methods of torture. According to Human Rights Watch:
"Former detainees described Houthi officers beating them with iron rods and rifles and being hung from walls with their arms shackled behind them.... The association [Mothers of Abductees Association] reported that there are 3,478 disappearance cases, at least 128 of those kidnapped have been killed."
The Houthis have been fortunate to have, as a powerful patron and sponsor, Iran. Their backers in Tehran will not let them run out of ammunition and the Biden administration will not let the Iranian regime run out of funds. Iran smuggles illicit weapons and military technology into Yemen. According to a report by Reuters, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) -- designated by the US State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization -- is a key supporter and sponsor of the Houthis, and has been stepping up its weapons supply to them in Yemen by way of Oman. The weapons include anti-tank guided missiles, sniper rifles, cruise missiles and attack drones.
Iran's leaders have admitted that they are helping the Houthis. The deputy commander of the IRGC's Quds Force Esmail Ghani stated in 2015, "Those defending Yemen have been trained under the flag of the Islamic Republic." In 2019, the Houthis, fired a missile at an Abu Dhabi nuclear facility -- an act most likely meant to create mass civilian casualties. Thankfully, the missile fell short.
More broadly, this drive by Iran gives an insight into the tactics and long-term strategies of Iranian-trained and -armed proxies across the Middle East. Their plans are built on several pillars: destabilization, conflict, assassination, anti-Americanism, the annihilation of Israel and Jews, and the rejection of any solution that has Sunni or Western origins. Iran's pursuit of these pillars, for instance, includes the assassination of Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. In 2017, two days after Saleh urged a resolution to the seemingly intractable conflict in Yemen, and when the international community sighed with relief that the four-year-old civil war was going to be resolved much sooner than expected, the Houthi militia murdered him.
Iran has been employing every political and military tactic possible -- including racing toward nuclear weapons capability -- to complete its objectives of annihilating Israel, driving the United States out of the Middle East, and establishing an Islamist caliphate. These acts not surprisingly include funding and arming Yemen's Houthis.
Iranian proxy militias have targeted US assets in Syria and Iraq at least 90 times since October 17. Since Biden has been in office, Iranian-backed proxy forces have targeted American forces in Iraq and Syria more than 150 times.
The Biden administration immediately needs to re-designate the Iran-backed Houthi group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, both for their military aggression against Israel and against ships in international waters, and for their crimes against humanity.
Does anyone seriously think that if Iran finally acquires a nuclear bomb, they will not use it -- or at least threaten to?
To deter further escalation, the US needs seriously to target the real source of this mayhem -- the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its IRGC. Perhaps the US might try incapacitating the Iranian ports that are used for oil exports, or take out a few IRGC facilities -- or maybe just send every IRGC officer a picture of his home?
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at *Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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Gaza: What are the scenarios for ‘the day after’?
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/December 16/ 2023
As the atrocities continue to unfold in Gaza, we hear so much talk now about “the day after” scenarios. This is paired with interesting statements recently made by the likes of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan indicating the start of a deviation from the hard-line earlier position of his administration, when President Joe Biden said there were no red lines for Israel.
Clearly, such a position by President Biden was not surprising ahead of an election year. However, that, accompanied by the much-criticized veto of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the UN Security Council, has now resulted in more than 18,500 killed by Israel, including babies, women, the elderly and at least 56 journalists. So, what do Sullivan’s statements mean? Firstly, that despite the carefully selected public phrases, it is clear that the global outrage of what is happening in Gaza has caused serious concerns behind closed doors in the US and Israel. This is why it is somewhat reassuring to hear someone as senior and experienced as Sullivan say that his recent talks with Israeli officials were about transitioning to a new phase of the war targeting Hamas in particular. He reiterated that Hamas is not the Palestinian people and that more needs to be done to ensure Israel’s declared intention not to target civilians reflects the reality on the ground. More significantly, he said that Israel cannot occupy Gaza in the long run. This brings us back to the ongoing debate about “the day after” scenarios.
First, it is important to remember what Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said a few days ago about the matter: Any future discussions cannot occur while the bombing continues. So, the attention has to remain on obtaining an immediate ceasefire. And what should be clear is that the — again highly condemnable — US veto should not be seen as the end of the road, but a reminder that more efforts should be made to convince the administration and the international community to put more pressure on Israel. This includes a reworded draft resolution if that is what it takes to resolve the matter.
The bottom line is that the aim should remain focused on an immediate ceasefire and a permanent solution to the conflict by finally reestablishing a Palestinian state living side by side and in peace with Israel.
This is why the obsession with talking about “the day after” must be paired with an equal obsession with talking about “the day before,” and that means the fact that Israel has been occupying Palestinian lands since 1967, as defined by the UN. A matter that must be resolved to ensure what happened on Oct. 7, and before, does not happen again.
The obsession with talking about ‘the day after’ must be paired with an equal obsession with talking about ‘the day before.’
Despite the gloomy outlook, there are still glimmers of hope. To start with, the Hamas leadership has signaled its willingness to accept a two-state solution — as suggested by senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk in a recent interview with Al-Monitor. Of course it is fair for one to argue — or rather wish — that it had done so 16 years ago and supported the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to reach a peace deal instead of undermining it and calling for the eradication of the state of Israel. After all, history shows that more Arab land has been liberated and reclaimed via negotiations as opposed to warfare. Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon are clear and recent examples.
Another sign of hope is the recent successful release of the first group of hostages. This was a reassuring sign that regional diplomacy can work, and it goes without saying that more goodwill gestures like that will go a long way. This is why efforts by countries like Qatar and Egypt must continue to be supported on that front. However, the question remains: What does “the day after” look like? We must examine all possibilities on the ground. It is clear nobody will accept another Israeli occupation of Gaza when the efforts are on convincing them to dismantle settlements in the West Bank to enable a two-state solution. What is also clear is the Arab/Muslim/Palestinian position — an absolute rejection of any Israeli plan to displace or transfer the people of Gaza elsewhere. Palestinians must and will remain in their land and another Nakba must be avoided.
Similarly, the PA would never accept riding back into Gaza on the backs of Israeli tanks. A transition period with international peace-keeping troops — like the situation in Lebanon — might be possible, but that would require an acceptable formation, most probably with the involvement of neutral international armies and Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel.
It is also likely there will be a situation whereby the West Bank and Gaza are reunited under one authority, which essentially goes against the creed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted for the past 16 years of widening intra-Palestinian divisions.
The last but probably unlikely possibility is a referendum, which includes all Palestinians, to see whether they want to live in one country alongside Israel. This is likely to be rejected by both sides, particularly as, while it would tick the box of Israel being a democracy, it would end its raison d’etre as a “Jewish state.”And given that a one-state solution is unlikely, what really does not help at this stage are the statements by Israeli officials, most recently and notably the ones by Israeli ambassador to London, Tzipi Hotovely, categorically rejecting in a televised interview the concept of two states.
What also does not help is the Muslim community shooting the messenger and calling for the boycott of an influential television show like “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”
In fact, what is needed is more appearances by rational guests who can present convincing arguments for justice. Just look at the results achieved by a fair and balanced reporter like CNN’s Clarissa Ward when she was given access, via an Emirati field hospital, to report from Gaza. The truth is very powerful, so I cannot see how anything can be achieved by boycotting the debate, as opposed to owning it.
*Faisal J. Abbas is the editor-in-chief of Arab News. X: @FaisalJAbbas

Ukraine can help the Global South beat hunger
Denys Shmyhal/Arab News/December 16/ 2023
The large-scale war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine in February 2022 has extensively gone beyond the borders of our country and Europe.
Russian aggression has not only caused enormous human suffering and thousands of deaths, but it has also had a significant negative impact on global food security. It affects every country. It endangers everyone.
Ukraine has historically been recognized as a key player in terms of global food security. Our fertile soil, hardworking farmers, investments and technologies allowed us to become one of the world’s leading exporters of grain, sunflower oil, corn and other agricultural products.
We have forged fruitful and mutually beneficial relationships with many countries in the Global South. About 400 million people around the world, including many on the African continent, depend on our food exports.
Between 2016 and the start of the Russian aggression in 2022, Ukraine exported 92 percent of its wheat to Asia and Africa.
Nowadays, Russia tries destroying our agricultural potential and our ports, thus jeopardizing the world’s food security.
Over the past 100 years, Ukraine has experienced more than one famine. At least 4 million Ukrainians perished during the Holodomor of 1932-33. This was an artificial famine orchestrated by the policies of the Kremlin. The communist totalitarian regime forcibly confiscated food from Ukrainian farmers. This is a deep wound in the history of our country that continues to hurt each of us.
These days, Russia is again playing “hunger games,” but this time with all countries of the world.
Russia has arranged a blockade of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, through which Ukraine has traditionally exported more than 90 percent of its agricultural products. Russia attacks Ukraine’s port infrastructure with missiles and kamikaze drones, leading to huge damage. Russia destroys grain warehouses containing Ukrainian harvests that our farmers produced from the fields, some of which are mined by the Russian army.
This summer, Russia broke off the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which had allowed the export of nearly 33 million tons of agricultural products to 45 countries, 60 percent of which was delivered to Africa and Asia. In particular, the goods went to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
We tell the countries of Africa, the Middle East and Asia: Let us not build alliances against anyone — let us build alliances for a better cause.
Thanks to Ukrainian agricultural exports, food prices have dropped by 25 percent compared to the spike in prices caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Now, the Kremlin is deliberately jeopardizing the entire world. Russians clearly understand the role and importance of Ukraine in the global food security chain. But this does not stop them.
The latest report by UN agencies says there are 18 “hot spots” of hunger in 22 countries or territories in the world. Russia wants to take advantage of this. The Kremlin’s strategy consists of the following: The more crises it can create, the faster — it believes — it can destroy us.
Ukraine seeks peace. But it is about a just and lasting peace. This is only possible on the basis of the “Peace Formula” presented by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Food security is one of the 10 elements of the Peace Formula. It states: “The issue of food security must be de-weaponized. Any actions that negatively impact food production and supply generate global risks.”
It calls for free, full and safe navigation in the Black Sea and Azov Sea to be safeguarded.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Ukrainian humanitarian initiative known as “Grain from Ukraine” must work. They should not be threatened with attacks by missiles and kamikaze drones.
We tell the countries of Africa, the Middle East and Asia: Let us not build alliances against anyone — let us build alliances for a better cause.
For the sake of overcoming hunger. To make the world more secure. So that everyone in the world can provide food for their families.
More than 30 countries and international organizations have already joined Ukraine’s humanitarian initiative. Ukraine has delivered 170,000 tons of its grain to Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen and Kenya. In the near future, we plan to send another 25,000 tons of grain to Nigeria.
Even when facing this war, Ukraine has huge potential for developing agricultural exports. We are talking about almost 80 million tons of harvest. For domestic needs, 25 percent of the harvested grain is enough, while the rest can be exported, thus helping reduce food prices for everyone.
I am confident that Ukraine and the countries of the Global South will be able to restore the supply chain of grain and other agricultural products together. We will deprive Russia of its traditional weapon — hunger, which it provoked in the 20th century and which it keeps provoking now.
Ukraine believes that we can build a better world if we help each other. If we stand together against the injustice that threatens everyone. If we are united to ensure that no country in the world suffers from hunger anymore.
• Denys Shmyhal is the prime minister of Ukraine. X: @Denys_Shmyhal

Washington visit teaches Zelensky a hard lesson about US domestic policy
Dr. Amal Mudallali/Arab News/December 16/ 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington this week, almost a year after his last visit, when he received a hero’s welcome in the White House and in Congress. This week, during his third visit since the war started in 2022, he discovered what a difference a year can make.
Despite the warm White House welcome, the Ukrainian president found a different Washington on Ukraine. He found that money is drying up, with the Ukraine aid package being held hostage in Congress and tied to the immigration and US border policy, with a strong right-wing Republican group in Congress that sees its national interest on the southern US border more than on a European border. He undoubtedly felt that support for Ukraine was falling after the failure of the counteroffensive to deliver what was promised to Washington, and a pessimistic assessment that the war has stalled. He also saw an election campaign that made everything, including Ukraine aid, a political tool in the tug-of-war between the Republicans and Democrats over who will occupy the White House next year.
But, most importantly, Zelensky must have noticed the change in the language of support even from his staunchest supporter President Joe Biden. Last year, the president welcomed Zelensky with a promise that the “American people will stay with you as long as it takes.” This week, the US leader vowed to “continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment “as long as we can.”
The White House and the Ukrainian president were sensitive and concerned about the message that a dearth of US assistance sends to Russia and the world. Zelensky said that much at the white House when he warned that “the world is watching us,” and that if the aid does not come, Russian President Vladimir Putin could win.
Biden tied the aid to the credibility of the US, and urged Congress to approve the funding for Ukraine before the Christmas break, saying that otherwise they will give “Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him.”
The White House invited Zelensky to help lobby Congress, which is blocking any additional aid to Ukraine, and tying it to the immigration policy and the southern border with Mexico following a record influx of illegal immigrants. Republicans in Congress question the policy of sending billions in aid to Ukraine in what they regard as a stalemate and a “war of attrition,” according to US media reports.
The Ukrainian leader warned that 'the world is watching us.'
Last week, Republicans in the Senate blocked the White House’s request of its emergency spending bill requesting $111 billion that includes aid for Ukraine. The Senate vote was an indication of the dwindling support for Ukraine in the US. Polls show that most Americans oppose additional funding for the war with Russia, with 55 percent of respondents in a CNN poll saying Congress should not authorize more money for Ukraine.
The Republicans in Congress tied any authorization of aid for Ukraine to concessions from the White House on the immigration policy and the border with Mexico. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, when asked if Congress would approve aid for Ukraine, replied: “If they give us the border.” It is classic political horse trading, with Ukraine dragged into the fight. The border policy is an important issue for voters in this election year. Even governors of Democratic states are worried about the situation on the border, where a record 12,000 illegal immigrants entered the US in one day this month.
Zelensky made his case to Congress — telling them he needed aid “urgently,” and that a win for Putin “could be very dangerous” — but does not seem to have changed many minds in the entrenched Republican position. The House Speaker, who supports Ukraine, was skeptical, saying after meeting the Ukrainian leader: “We need a clear articulation of a strategy to allow Ukraine to win. And thus far, their responses have been insufficient.”
Sen. James Lankford, the lead Republican negotiator on the aid, reminded people after Zelensky’s visit that the US has its own national security issues as well. He said: “When we’re dealing with Ukraine, we’re dealing with Israel, we’re dealing with what is happening in the Indo-Pacific; we’re also dealing with what’s happening on our own border. We’ve got to be able to resolve that.” He is saying the US is overstretched.
Negotiations are continuing between Democrats and Republicans on the Hill, with Biden personally in regular contact with the Congressional leadership to push for a solution, according to the White House.
The White House is under immense pressure from all sides on this issue. Pressure from the Republicans who find this a golden opportunity to squeeze the White House for concessions on the border issue; pressure from progressives in the Democratic party who reject the Republicans’ strict approach to immigration and urge the president to resist; but, most importantly, pressure from the voters, with 64 percent disapproving of his border policy, according to a Wall Street Journal poll. In the face of all of this pressure, Biden is struggling to keep his Ukraine policy focused, funded and credible at a time when the situation on the ground is failing to inspire confidence that any of the war aims will be met soon.
Senate Majority leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) asked the Senate to return to Washington next week despite the Christmas holiday to try to reach an agreement on the border in order to free the aid for Ukraine. The Republican-controlled House adjourned. with the Speaker saying he was not going to ask people to stay in Washington “twiddling their thumbs,” when “they’ve not sent me anything,” meaning proposals.
Sen. Mitch McConnell said it is “impossible to pass the supplemental before Christmas.” But on Thursday night, two positive news items offered hope that an agreement might not be as elusive as it had seemed. Schumer’s request that the Senate come back next week to give negotiators time to reach an agreement coincided with the White House spokeswoman saying they are optimistic about a deal, and that the negotiations “are going in the right direction.” All indications were that the president is ready for a compromise. The question is, what will satisfy the Republicans?
It is classic political horse trading, with Ukraine dragged into the fight.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Independent and one of the leading negotiators, said: “I can see the deal. We have a lot to do to get there, but I can see it.”
However, Republican leaders poured cold water on the optimism of their colleagues, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) saying: “At the moment, a deal by the end of the year is just not remotely possible.” Graham said that he has not seen language to look at and that he is not going to “take the bait.”
A deal could be reached on the border and the aid, but the question is the timing. Time is a scarce commodity when you are fighting a war, as Zelensky impressed on Washington. The Ukrainian leader is learning the lesson of American domestic policy the hard way. But if he thinks things are so difficult for him now, he should not look forward to next year when the election campaign will overwhelm Washington completely.
Maybe the lesson for Ukraine, its president, and all involved is that when you are running out of money and time, it is best to change course. This conflict has gone on for too long, and a peaceful solution is overdue.
*Dr. Amal Mudallali is a consultant on global issues. She is a former Lebanese ambassador to the UN.