Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 27-28/2023
Report before the Military Public Prosecution against Bishops Al-Hajj and Semaan
Military Escalation in South Lebanon
The Israeli Foreign Minister threatens Nasrallah: It is your turn if you do not implement this measure
Gantz: The situation on Israel's northern border must change
Heavy exchange of missiles between Hezbollah, Israeli army results in casualties on both sides
Hezbollah wages drone, rocket and artillery attacks as border tensions escalate
Israel strike kills Hezbollah fighter, 2 relatives in Bint Jbeil
Israeli airstrike kills three in Bint Jbeil
Nine Israeli soldiers wounded in Hezbollah strike
Berri to hold presidential consultations as '3rd candidate' choice advances
Bukhari tells al-Rahi presidential file to be activated in February
Franjieh, PSP fail to agree on military appointments mechanism
Head of Lebanon's tiny Jewish community dies
Lebanon's 'gastronomic glory': Shawarma and cuisine shine in TasteAtlas' top '100 Best Cuisines and Dishes of the World'
The solar energy market declines by 80 percent
Beyond March 2024: The uncertain future of $100 monthly Aid for Lebanon's Army
Lebanese chefs bring Middle Eastern hospitality, Levantine flavors to Bali

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 27-28/2023
Tehran Declares ‘Countdown’ to Retaliation for Killing of Mousavi
Gaza War Will Go on for Months, Israel’s Military Chief Says
Israel Returns 80 Bodies to Gaza after Confirming They’re Not Hostages
Israel Pounds Central Gaza, Dozens More Palestinians Killed
Gaza deaths surge as Israel says war to last 'many more months'
Former Israeli settlers yearn to return to Gaza after war
Six killed in Israeli operation in occupied West Bank
US downs multiple drones, missiles fired by Houthis over Red Sea
Explosions Reported in Red Sea Shipping Lane off Yemen Coast
Guardian: US’s Extensive Weapons Stockpile in Israel Falls Under Scrutiny
Russia to Deploy Newest Howitzers Close to Finland's Border
Ukraine Downs 32 of 46 Russian Drones
Michigan Supreme Court rejects ‘insurrectionist ban’ case and keeps Trump on 2024 primary ballot
Jordan and Egypt condemn 'forced displacement' of Palestinians, call for global action
Netanyahu: Erdogan should not lecture us on ethics
Turkey hits 70 Kurdish sites in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for soldiers' deaths
Turkey urges US to keep promises on F-16 sale

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on December 27-28/2023
Our Lives and Culture in Gaza Are in Rubble./The New York Times/December 27/2023
Why Don’t We Call Things as They Are?/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 27/2023
On Being Anti-Israel and Not Pro-Hamas/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 27/2023
Egypt’s Gaza Dilemma/Jonathan Schanzer/Commentary/December 27/2023
How the US can push back against authoritarianism in China and beyond/Elaine K. Dezenski and Nate Sibley/Washington Examiner/December 27/2023
China's Increased Bullying of Philippines to Test US Resolve/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute./December 27, 2023
Red Sea shipping attacks threaten global economy/Afshin Molavi/The Arab Weekly/December 27/2023
In Syria, the politics of climate and conflict coalesce/Haid Haid/The Arab Weekly/December 27/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 27-28/2023
Report before the Military Public Prosecution against Bishops Al-Hajj and Semaan
NNA/LCCC/December 27/2023
The “Board of Representatives of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners”, through its legal representative, Attorney Ghassan Al-Mawla, submitted a report to the Military Public Prosecution on 12/26/2023, against both Bishop Musa Al-Hajj and Bishop Camille Semaan, against the backdrop of “their communication with the Zionist enemy,” announcing in a statement “It will prosecute every normalizer and dealer with the enemy before the competent judicial authorities.” The two bishops had participated within a delegation of representatives of the Jerusalem and Eastern churches in a holiday meeting that took place the day before yesterday, with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Defense Minister Moshe Arbel. It is noteworthy that Bishop Al-Hajj holds the position of Archbishop of the Diocese of Haifa and the Holy Land and the Patriarchal Vicar in Jerusalem, Palestine and Jordan, while Bishop Simeon holds the position of Patriarchal Vicar of the Syriac Catholic Church in the Holy Land.

Military Escalation in South Lebanon
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27-28/2023
The southern border of Lebanon witnessed on Tuesday a clear military escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, which analysts say could pave the way for an expansion of the war between the two sides. The Israeli Jerusalem Post newspaper said that a drone exploded in Ramim Ridge in Israel's North, injuring seven. The injured were all brought to the Galilee Medical Center, which reported that they sustained shrapnel injuries or head injuries, it added. Meanwhile, The Times of Israel said nine Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in an anti-tank guided missile attack in northern Israel on Tuesday, while evacuating a civilian who had been injured in an earlier Hezbollah attack on a church. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar channel said Israeli media described the situation on the border with Lebanon as “difficult” after the party carried out a number of operations that left several casualties. On Tuesday, Hezbollah did not announce any casualties in its ranks. It said two civilians were wounded in southern Lebanon. In separate statements, the Lebanese party said it launched an aerial attack on a newly established command headquarters near Kiryat Shmona with a combat drone and inflicting confirmed casualties. Hezbollah’s fighters also fired missiles at the Zibdin barracks, and targeted the monitoring room near the Shomera barracks with appropriate weapons, achieving direct hits and causing casualties among their personnel. The fighters targeted the deployment of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Ramya site, achieving direct hits, in addition to a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Doviv Barracks, killing several of them. A Hezbollah statement also said its fighters killed or injured a gathering of Israeli soldiers at Al-Raheb site. According to military experts, the escalation at the South Lebanon front could lead to an expansion of the war between the two sides.

The Israeli Foreign Minister threatens Nasrallah: It is your turn if you do not implement this measure
Sputnik Arabic/December 27, 2023
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen headed a tour with foreign ambassadors on Israel's northern border, threatening the Secretary-General of the Lebanese "Hezbollah" that he would be "next in line." Cohen said, according to statements published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday: “Nasrallah must understand that he is next in line.” He added: "If (Nasrallah) does not want to be next in line, he must immediately implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and remove Hezbollah from the north of the Litani." He went on to threaten: “We will work to exhaust the political option, and if it does not succeed - all options are on the table. Hezbollah serves the terrorist government in Iran, and exposes Lebanon and the entire region to danger,” as he put it. In a related context, the Israeli army said in a statement: “A short while ago, Air Force fighters carried out an air strike on terrorist targets on Lebanese territory.” He added, "As part of the attack, many terrorist infrastructures were destroyed, along with Hezbollah military sites." The army said in its statement: “It also detected, during the past hours, a number of rockets that crossed Lebanese territory towards various areas in the north of the country and landed in an open area.” It continued: “Israeli army forces attacked sources of fire and other areas inside Lebanese territory.”The Israeli army concluded by saying: “Three enemy drones were also detected, crossing from Lebanon and landing in the Mount Dov area.”

Gantz: The situation on Israel's northern border must change
Tel Aviv: “Asharq Al-Awsat”/December 27, 2023
Israeli Minister Benny Gantz said today (Wednesday) that the situation on Israel's northern border must change and that time for diplomacy is running out, according to what Reuters reported. Gantz added in a press conference that “the situation on Israel’s northern border needs to change.” He continued: “The time for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government do not move to prevent the shooting of the residents of northern Israel and remove (Hezbollah) from the border, the Israeli army will do so.” The escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese border since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7 has resulted in the killing of at least about 160 people in Lebanon, including about 100 Hezbollah fighters and at least 17 civilians, including three journalists.

Heavy exchange of missiles between Hezbollah, Israeli army results in casualties on both sides
Arab News/December 27, 2023
Israel radio announces ‘Iranian-made drone — launched from Iraq’
BEIRUT: Hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the southern Lebanese front were characterized on Wednesday by an abundance of rockets fired by both sides, causing deaths and injuries. Israeli Army Radio announced that “an Iranian-made drone was intercepted over the Mediterranean off the coast of Beirut, launched from Iraq.”Bassam Yassin, a retired Lebanese army brigadier general, ruled out the possibility of the drone being flown in Lebanese airspace. Yassin told Arab News: “If the drone crosses Lebanese airspace, it will take a longer time. The shorter and logical route is through Syria, Jordan, and then Palestine. “The drone that Israel spoke about is either from the Iraqi army or the Popular Mobilization Forces. No other group has such drones.”A source who follows air traffic matters told Arab News: “The drone may have crossed Lebanese airspace, but no one can confirm (this) because following up on this matter is limited to the Lebanese army and no one has the right to deal with it.
“When drones cross European airspace, for example, they disrupt air traffic. “Lebanon has been facing interference from Israel in terms of GPS maritime and air navigation since the conflict began with Hezbollah. However, Lebanon has alternative systems in place and there is no need to worry about aviation safety.” Israeli strikes on Tuesday struck a residence located in the remote border town of Bint Jbeil. The house was completely demolished by the missiles, resulting in three fatalities. Among the victims were two brothers, Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi, along with Ibrahim’s wife, Shorouk Hammoud. Another member of the Bazzi family sustained injuries. Ibrahim Bazzi had arrived in Lebanon recently after spending many years in Australia. His intention was to take his wife back to Australia with him so they could settle there. Ali Bazzi was a member of Hezbollah. While their funerals took place on Wednesday, Hezbollah targeted Israeli military sites in the Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shuba Hills, using attack drones and more than 12 missiles, including Burkan missiles. Israeli media reported that “missiles were launched from Lebanon towards an Israeli army position in Arab Al-Aramsha in Western Galilee.”
Hezbollah announced it had targeted “the Khirbet Maar site, its artillery positions, and the Israeli forces positioned around it with Burkan missiles, and they caused confirmed casualties.”The Iran-backed group also announced that it had targeted “a tent of a special force of the Israeli enemy army south of the Al-Dhahira site with guided missiles, causing direct hits and leaving its members dead and wounded.” Hezbollah also targeted a “new Israeli command position in the vicinity of the naval site with appropriate weapons.”In addition, the group announced “a joint attack with assault drones on the enemy soldiers’ concentrations established behind its positions in the occupied Shebaa Farms, resulting in confirmed casualties.”Israel’s Galilee Medical Center said that it had received “13 wounded people who were injured on the border with Lebanon, one of whom is in unstable condition as a result of the strikes by Hezbollah on various Israeli sites.”Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X: “Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile from Lebanon targeting a Greek Orthodox church in northern Israel, wounding two Israeli Christian citizens. When Israeli forces arrived to evacuate the wounded, Hezbollah fired another shell at the church, wounding nine of our soldiers.”Meanwhile, Hezbollah has announced the death of two of its fighters: Hadi Hassan Awala, from the southern suburb of Beirut, and Ahmed Hassan Al-Dirani, from the town of Qsarnaba in the Bekaa. An Israeli drone had targeted a car on the main road in Qlaileh on Tuesday night, killing those inside it. Israeli attacks have targeted the outskirts of Shebaa, Rashaya, Aita al-Shaab, Kafr Kila, Jebbayn, Tayr Harfa, Yarin, and Wadi Hamul in Naqoura, while an Israeli drone hit the area between Al-Dahaira and Tayr Harfa. Israeli warplanes have flown at medium altitude over Beirut, Mount Lebanon and other Lebanese regions, and have been noted at low altitude above Sidon and Zahrani.

Hezbollah wages drone, rocket and artillery attacks as border tensions escalate
Naharnet/December 27/2023
Hezbollah waged Wednesday a combined drone, rocket and artillery attack on Israeli forces and vehicles in the occupied Shebaa Farms, attacked an Israeli force in Dhaira and targeted the Hadb al-Bustan post and Kherbet Ma'ar with Burkan rockets.The group also attacked a "new command center" near the Israeli naval base in Ras al-Naqoura as the Israeli army said it has intercepted eight out of 18 missiles launched from Lebanon towards the Western Galilee. Israel for its part struck the outskirts of al-Jebbayn, Tayr Harfa, Dhaira, Yarine, al-Naqoura, Aita al-Shaab, and al-Hamames south of al-Khiam while Israeli soldiers along the border fired heavy machine guns towards bordering Lebanese forests. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily clashes on the border that have killed around 150 people on the Lebanese side -- most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups, but also at least 19 civilians. An Israeli air strike on a house in Bint Jbeil on Tuesday night killed a Hezbollah fighter and two of his relatives. On the Israeli side, at least four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed, according to Israeli officials.
On Tuesday, an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah wounded nine soldiers in Iqrit.

Israel strike kills Hezbollah fighter, 2 relatives in Bint Jbeil
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
An Israeli air strike on a south Lebanon border town killed a Hezbollah fighter, the group said Wednesday, with state media reporting two of his relatives were also killed. The border between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7. "Enemy warplanes raided, before midnight (2200 GMT), a house... in the centre of the town of Bint Jbeil," around two kilometers from the border, killing a man, his brother and his wife, Lebanon's National News Agency said. The NNA identified the dead as Ali Bazzi, his brother Ibrahim and his wife Shourouk Hammoud. Ibrahim Bazzi was an Australian citizen who had flown in for a visit about a week ago."Ibrahim Bazzi had come to Lebanon a few days ago from Australia, where he has resided for years, to take his wife Shourouk with him and settle in Australia," the NNA said. Another family member was wounded, it added. Hezbollah later announced that Ali Bazzi was one of its fighters. Exchanges of fire have been largely confined to the border area, although Israel has conducted limited strikes deeper into Lebanese territory. Israel has been pushing for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, which lies about 30 kilometers north of the border. On Tuesday, Israel's military said an anti-tank missile fired by the Iran-backed militant group wounded nine soldiers as they went to assist a civilian wounded in an earlier strike. Since hostilities began, more than 150 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but also more than a dozen civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, at least four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed since October 7, according to figures from the military.

Israeli airstrike kills three in Bint Jbeil
LBCI/December 27/2023
Three martyrs were killed as a result of the Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in Bint Jbeil, in addition to one critically wounded person. The martyrs are Ibrahim Bazzi and his wife, Shorouq Hammoud, as well as Ali Bazzi, the brother of Ibrahim.

Nine Israeli soldiers wounded in Hezbollah strike
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
Israel's military said an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah wounded nine soldiers as they rescued a civilian who was injured in another cross-border strike. One of the soldiers was in a "serious condition", the army said. The anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon had hit a Greek Orthodox church in Iqrit, the army said in an earlier statement, referring to an abandoned Palestinian Christian village whose inhabitants were forced to leave during the 1948 war and creation of Israel. The army accused Hezbollah of constant firing at Israeli "civilian and religious sites".Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Hezbollah was "committing war crimes by indiscriminately attacking places of worship". On November 20, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that "Israeli artillery shelling" had targeted the Saint George Church in the border village of Yaroun, causing "major damage". The frontier between Lebanon and Israel has seen escalating exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, raising fears of a broader conflict. Hezbollah, which on Tuesday announced the death of two of its fighters, says it is acting in support of Hamas. Since hostilities began, more than 150 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but also more than a dozen civilians, three of them journalists, according to an AFP tally. On Tuesday, Israeli bombardment wounded two people in the town of Toulin, around 10 kilometers from the border, according to the NNA, which also reported Israeli strikes in other areas near the frontier. Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks against Israeli troops and positions. In one attack, the group said it fired missiles at an Israeli barracks. "Hezbollah is risking the stability of the region for the sake of Hamas," the Israeli military's Hagari said. On the Israeli side, at least four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed since October 7, according to figures given by the army. The ninth soldier died from wounds suffered earlier, the military said Tuesday.

Berri to hold presidential consultations as '3rd candidate' choice advances
Naharnet/December 27/2023
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is holding consultations with political leaders inside the country and foreign parties in order to re-activate the presidential election file, media reports said. Berri’s move comes after “the emergence of information that the file has returned to international attention amid signs indicating that the situation is in dire need for completing the electoral process,” ad-Diyar newspaper reported. “Accordingly, after the holidays Speaker Berri will conduct consultations aimed at reaching an agreement among the various parties, amid information that a ‘third choice candidate’ will have the advantage,” political sources quoted French and Qatari officials as saying.

Bukhari tells al-Rahi presidential file to be activated in February
Naharnet/December 27/2023
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari told Maronite Patriarch Beshra al-Rahi in their latets meeting that “an effective international drive will begin in February in order to secure the election of a president” for Lebanon, an informed source said.
Al-Rahi was relieved by what he heard and expressed satisfaction over the role of the five-nation group for Lebanon, the source told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. The daily also reported that “the MPs of the opposition are also carrying out contacts with political parties in a bid to activate the presidential file.”

Franjieh, PSP fail to agree on military appointments mechanism
Naharnet/December 27/2023
The Bnashii meeting between Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh and the head of the Democratic Gathering MP Taymour Jumblat has failed to reach an agreement on a mechanism for the appointment in Cabinet of a new army chief of staff and two military council members, media reports said. “The Marada Movement, according to MP Tony Franjieh, is raising question marks over the principle of appointments amid the absence of a president,” al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Wednesday. “The two sides agreed that disagreement (over the file) will not affect their relation, stressing that dialogue will continue,” the daily added.

Head of Lebanon's tiny Jewish community dies
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
The former president of Lebanon's tiny Jewish community, who had pushed for the rehabilitation of Beirut's abandoned synagogue, has died, his family and the community's lawyer told AFP on Wednesday. Isaac Arazi, 80, who headed the Lebanese Jewish Community Council, "died on Tuesday and was buried the same day," lawyer Bassem el-Hout said. Jews have been living in Lebanon for 2,000 years but their numbers shrank from some 22,000 before the 1975-1990 civil war to around 30 today, according to Hout. They left steadily for the United States, Brazil and Europe after the state of Israel was established in 1948, "but they are still attached to Lebanon and many come back regularly", Hout added. Arazi's family published an obituary in a Lebanese newspaper describing him as the driving force behind the reconstruction of the Magen Abraham synagogue in central Beirut, one of the largest and most ornate in the Arab world. The Jewish council that Arazi headed had helped fund the project through donations. In 2009, Arazi told AFP he was "ecstatic" about renovating the synagogue, which opened to worshippers in 1926, and expressed hope that the endeavour would "ensure that the community grows once again". The synagogue's last rabbi fled the country in 1977 as Lebanese Jews left in droves, particularly after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. A handful of buildings that were once synagogues still stand in Lebanon, including one in the northern city of Tripoli and another in the southern city of Sidon.

Lebanon's 'gastronomic glory': Shawarma and cuisine shine in TasteAtlas' top '100 Best Cuisines and Dishes of the World'
LBCI/December 27/2023
In various food rankings worldwide, Lebanon is almost always present with its tasting dishes. Known for its vast and rich "culinary heritage," the country's cuisine has grabbed fans around the world. This time, Lebanon "shined" among TasteAtlas' "100 Best Cuisines and Dishes of the World."TasteAtlas, which is a travel online guide for traditional food, has published the annual rankings of the best cuisines, dishes, food cities, food products, ingredients, and lists of legendary restaurants and cookbooks, recording a total of 395,205 dish ratings, and 115,660 food product ratings. According to these ratings, the top food items for each cuisine were extracted, and the best-rated cuisines in the world were examined based on the average ratings of each country's best-rated dishes and food products. Italy and Japan recorded the same average, but Italy took the first place due to a higher rating of its best-rated dish, pizza. Based on the average user ratings for dishes, a list of the top 100 dishes in the world has been published, placing the shawarma in the 44th place, while Lebanon ranked in the 25th place among the "100 Best Cuisines in the World." Although found across the Middle East, Lebanon's shawarma is very popular and nearly considered a national dish, with its fresh ingredients and spices echoing the Lebanese taste.

The solar energy market declines by 80 percent
LBCI/December 27/2023
Under the title "Prices in Lebanon cheaper than China: Solar energy market declines by 80 percent," the newspaper "Al-Akhbar" reported: The import of solar panels in 2023 has decreased by 80 percent compared to 2022. The value of what was imported this year did not exceed $100 million, equivalent to about 20,000 tons of panels, compared to over 83,000 tons in 2022, with a value of nearly half a billion dollars. The decline also affected accompanying equipment such as batteries. In contrast to the import of 106,000 tons of batteries worth $305 million in 2022, Lebanon imported around 15,000 tons this year, worth $61 million. Some owners of companies operating in the solar energy sector attribute the significant decline in imports to the fact that "the poor do not have solar energy, and the affluent have installed it." With a sharp drop in demand for installing solar energy generation systems in homes, "major traders remain, while those urgently involved in the business left."

Beyond March 2024: The uncertain future of $100 monthly Aid for Lebanon's Army
LBCI/December 27/2023
Isolated from external interest in the military institution, regardless of its leader's identity, considering it as the pillar of fundamental stability in the country, trust in the person of the Army Commander General Joseph Aoun is seen as a reassuring factor for states and individuals to assist the institution financially, materially, or militarily, according to sources connected to influential countries. This article was originally published in and translated from Lebanese newspaper Nidaa Al-Watan. There is consensus that General Joseph Aoun has succeeded on multiple levels within the military institution, from "reform" and establishing the principle of transparency to good administration, maintaining the cohesion and resilience of the institution, and standing by all personnel... to "political" success in dealing with multiple challenges, overcoming various obstacles, and managing the relationship with Hezbollah.
Extending the term of the Army Commander is linked to external calls for implementing Resolution 1701 and deploying the Army south of the Litani River in exchange for the withdrawal of Hezbollah. Americans and Europeans are betting on General Joseph Aoun to enforce this with "force." However, the Army's handling of "Hezbollah" opening the southern front with Israel indicates that the Army operates within the political decision and government directives. Therefore, everyone, both internally and internationally, understands that the Army cannot make a decision to confront "Hezbollah," meaning the disintegration of the Army and civil war. Despite the various reasons for extending the term of the Army Commander, the fundamental concern for countries involved in Lebanese affairs remains to preserve the Army to maintain Lebanon. The military institution continues to receive donations, assistance, and grants, including military ones, within annual programs, mainly from the United States and Lebanese residents and expatriates through small amounts or providing "laboratories" or medicines, for example.
Since taking command of the Army in 2017, Aoun has focused on medical care and recovery, so most assistance is directed towards securing healthcare for all active-duty military personnel, retirees, and their families. Despite the financial and economic crisis that has affected the public sector and all state institutions, both security and civilian, the army leadership has managed to continue providing healthcare for its members at a rate of 100 percent, being the only institution that settles all its obligations to hospitals.
In addition, the Army Commander visited several countries seeking assistance for the army personnel and financial support. The virtual international conference to support the Army took place in June 2021. It was later translated into "One Hundred Dollars" monthly for each personnel from Qatar or the United States. In June 2022, Qatar announced financial support of $60 million to support the salaries of the Lebanese army personnel. After the United States overcame the legal obstacles prohibiting direct financial aid to a foreign army, it announced on January 25th, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the launch of a program to support the Army and internal security forces with a value of $72 million over six months, including a monthly payment of $100 for each military personnel. With the American financial payments being distributed to the military, the $100 from Qatar stopped, knowing that it was scheduled for one year. After the end of the American financial payments last November, the Qatari payments, which end in March, were resumed. Will the monthly financial aid for the army personnel be extended after the extension of its commander? According to sources connected to countries involved in Lebanese affairs, the decision to maintain the cohesion of the Army for the stability of Lebanon remains the same for all parties. Therefore, the principle of supporting the Army remains in place. In addition to confidence in the army leadership, various military aid and donations from individuals continue to ensure comprehensive healthcare in the foreseeable future. The Army also received a fuel grant from the "Qatar Development Fund" worth $30 million for six months as part of an agreement concluded at the end of last August, with payments arriving gradually.
As for the $100 distributed directly and equally to the army personnel, the "trilateral" discussion has begun between the military institution, Doha, and Washington. No confirmation has been made yet if this aid will be "extended," but there is a discussion on the matter following a request from the army leadership to continue beyond March 2024. Suppose a decision is made to extend this assistance. In that case, Qatar will likely be the funding party, as there are many legal obstacles to approving new American financial aid to the Army, and everyone, internally and internationally, is concerned about the military institution remaining resilient.

Lebanese chefs bring Middle Eastern hospitality, Levantine flavors to Bali
Sheany Yasuko lai/Arab News/December 27, 2023
JAKARTA: At her home in Beirut, Lisa Maalouf would host lunch feasts for her children and friends almost every Sunday — a weekly affair through which she channeled her passion for cooking, which recently gave rise to her own restaurant in one of the world’s most coveted tourist destinations. The 65-year-old from the Lebanese capital is now the head chef of Zali in Pererenan, in the southwestern part of Bali, the Indonesian island that every year welcomes millions of international tourists. Maalouf established Zali with her daughter and son, as well as their friends and business partners. When the restaurant opened during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, it was welcomed with enthusiasm. “The people were open to learning about the new concept, they were eager to learn what’s this, what’s Lebanese food. It was really nice to introduce them to a new culture,” Maalouf told Arab News.
And she wanted it to be the way it was at her home, to replicate her Sunday feasts in Beirut — an experience she said was always filled with chats, laughter, food-sharing and togetherness. “This is the purpose of Zali. I’m a mom, I’m a grandma. I cook here as I cook back home with my kids, how I cook for my family,” she said. “This is authentic, homemade food. It’s not a restaurant-restaurant, you know? Everybody calls me ‘mama’ here. They love to come and eat. They tell me they love the food because just like how your mama cooks at home, it’s me cooking here.”
Zali was also an opportunity for her to show the traditional Levantine cordial and generous treatment of guests. “The Lebanese bring people together,” she said. “Lebanese hospitality is known for its generosity; it has a very welcoming vibe.”
The restaurant’s menu is an array of her own favorite dishes, such as kibbeh, a popular Levantine dish based on spiced ground meat and cracked wheat, which is served with a side of yogurt dip. “It’s ethnic, different from other cuisines. It is unique. It’s not European, not American. It is unique and we have all our ingredients fresh,” Maalouf said. In Bali’s southeast seaside town of Sanur, Lebanese cuisine is also making its mark with Lebanesian Warung. The restaurant opened about five years ago, with a name that plays on the owner couple’s origins — the husband is from Lebanon and the wife from Indonesia. “Our food is authentic, it’s not fancy, it’s not fusion or anything like that,” Kitty, the Indonesian owner, told Arab News. Together with her husband Charbel, who is from the northern Lebanese city of Zgharta, Kitty serves various types of mixed grill, shawarma, mezze, as well as falafel, garlic sauce, and traditional leavened bread with different toppings, including zaatar. “We’re small, but we’re very proud of a lot of our dishes. Because you know, it’s the Lebanese tongue who has tried and tested it. We make a lot of things from scratch,” Kitty said. She is particularly proud of their bread, baked from an in-house recipe and always made to order. “Our staff knows how to assemble a lot of things but either my husband or I will still season most of the dishes. So, it’s very rustic,” she said.  Throughout the years, Kitty and Charbel have kept the Sanur restaurant small to stay true to its unique offering — personal touch. “It’s in everything, you know, it’s in the flavor itself, it’s in the interaction, it’s in the decor … It’s like going to someone’s house to eat. It’s the hospitality, which is a huge part of Middle Eastern culture,” Kitty said. “It’s not a conveyor belt style production. It’s human touch. You can feel that every bowl would be different, slightly, because we season every bowl as it goes out. It’s a personal touch, it’s family-feel, it’s hospitality, warmth, abundance, which is all representative of the culture.”

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 27-28/2023
Tehran Declares ‘Countdown’ to Retaliation for Killing of Mousavi
London: Adil Al-Salmi/December 27/2023
Iran has vowed on Tuesday a harsh response to the killing of Razi Mousavi, supply officer of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Syria. Mousavi was killed in an airstrike on the Sayeda Zeinab in Damascus countryside. The Israeli airstrike claimed the lives of three fighters loyal to Tehran, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "Two foreign fighters and one Syrian fighter were also killed in the Israeli strike," said the Observatory. It added that Moussavi was targeted shortly after he entered a farm. Residents in the Sayeda Zeinab district south of Damascus, where the strike hit, reported that Iran-backed groups have tightened security there. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian said in a post on X that “Tel Aviv faces a tough countdown.” Iranian Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri said, “Israel committed a strategic mistake, and their crimes will not remain unanswered.”
General Jafar Assadi, former commander of the Revolutionary Guard forces in Syria, said that the Zionist entity targeted in recent weeks one of the headquarters frequented by Reza Mousavi, and he was not there at the time, but this time spies were able to determine his location, according to an agency affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Assadi did not identify the spies or how they were informed of Mousavi’s movements. He added: “What the Israelis did was not rational and correct. It seems that they want to cling to anything, but this will not benefit them.” “They want to expand the war. Israel’s friends always advise it to exercise restraint, but what benefit will restraint do for it?” Assadi pointed out that Mousavi “carried out many actions in Syria, and had the trust of General Soleimani,” noting “everyone knows him in Syria, from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to others.” Iranian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Amir Saeed Iravani warned in a letter to the Security Council that “Iran has its legitimate and inherent rights based on international law and the United Nations Charter for a decisive response at the appropriate time,” according to IRNA. Despite Iranian accusations, Israel did not claim responsibility, but the US website Axios quoted Israeli officials as saying that the Israeli army is preparing to take revenge on Syria and Lebanon. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hinted on Tuesday that the country had retaliated in Iraq, Yemen, and Iran for attacks carried out against it as the war in the Gaza Strip widens to other areas of the region. "We are in a multi-front war and are coming under attack from seven theatres: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria (West Bank), Iraq, Yemen and Iran. We have already responded and taken action in six of these theatres," he told lawmakers.
“I say here in the clearest way: Anyone who acts against us is a potential target, there is no immunity for anyone,” he added. Gallant says the war in Gaza will be “a long, hard war.” “It has costs - heavy costs - but its justification is the highest that can be.”
“Without meeting the goals of the war, we will find ourselves in a situation where... the problem will be that people will not want to live in a place where we do not know how to protect them,” he said. For his part, Iranian Defense Ministry Spokesman Brigadier General Reza Talai said Israel will receive a decisive and intelligent response. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi pledged that "Israel will certainly pay the price for its crime." Shortly after his death was confirmed, a statement from the Revolutionary Guards said that Mousavi was the supply official in the Resistance Front in Syria, and one of the companions of the former official of foreign operations in the Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in an American air strike in Baghdad in early 2020. Mousavi was the last person to accompany Soleimani in the last hours before he left Damascus for Baghdad, according to the Revolutionary Guards’ websites. Iran's Ambassador to Damascus Hossein Akbari said that Mousavi was at the Iranian embassy at 2 p.m. local time and lost his life after being struck by three missiles upon returning home. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard media provided additional details of Mousavi’s roles outside Iranian borders. Tasnim said that he “played roles for 25 years in the (Resistance Front).”

Gaza War Will Go on for Months, Israel’s Military Chief Says
Reuters/December 27/2023
Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza will likely go on for many months, the country's military chief said on Tuesday. "The war will go on for many months and we will employ different methods to maintain our achievements for a long time," Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told reporters in a televised statement on the Gaza border. "There are no magic solutions, there are no short cuts in dismantling a terrorist organization, only determined and persistent fighting," said Halevi. "We will reach Hamas' leadership too, whether it takes a week or if it takes months."
Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas after its fighters burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Its air, sea and ground offensive in Gaza has since killed nearly 21,000 Palestinians, according to authorities. "We said from its first moments that this would be a long war because it was right to set far-reaching goals and we will reach far, that's why the duration will be long." The duration, Halevi said, will allow the military to adapt its methods. "Ultimately, will we be able to say that there is no enemy surrounding the state of Israel? I think that's too ambitious, but we will create a new security situation," said Halevi.

Israel Returns 80 Bodies to Gaza after Confirming They’re Not Hostages
Reuters/December 27/2023
Israel has returned the bodies of 80 Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. Israel said it was returning the bodies after confirming that they were not Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7. The ministry said the bodies were buried and the authorities recorded details to help with later identification. Gaza authorities were trying to figure out when and where the men were killed and who they were. Israel government says the aim of its offensive in Gaza is to destroy Hamas despite global calls for a ceasefire in the 11-week-old war. Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured 240 hostages on Oct. 7 in the deadliest day in Israeli history. An Israeli military spokesperson said that during the war, bodies have been transported to Israel "for an identification procedure as part of our effort to locate the hostages and the missing persons". "The difficulties in identifying those murdered make it necessary to transfer those bodies to Israel for forensic identification," and that it was in line with "routine analysis that complies with internationally accepted forensic standards" in order to rule out their identification as Israeli hostages, the spokesperson said.
The health ministry said the bodies were handed over by Israel through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. According to the Islamic Waqf, or religious affairs ministry, the bodies had been collected from the northern part of the Gaza Strip. It is rare for such a large number of bodies to be returned. They were buried on Tuesday in a long ditch at a Rafah cemetery in the south of the enclave. "Pictures are being taken to identify them later," a representative of the Gaza Islamic Waqf said. Palestinian health authorities say about 21,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, with thousands more feared buried under rubble. Nearly all the enclave's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, many several times. Israel says it is doing what it can to protect civilians, and blames Hamas for putting them in harm's way by operating among them, which Hamas denies.

Israel Pounds Central Gaza, Dozens More Palestinians Killed
AP/December 27/2023
Israeli forces pounded central Gaza by land, sea and air on Wednesday and Palestinian authorities reported dozens more deaths, including 20 in one attack. Reflecting Israeli resolve to wipe out Hamas despite international calls for a ceasefire amid a humanitarian crisis, Israel's military chief Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday the war would last many months. There were "no short cuts in dismantling a terrorist organization," he said. A Gaza health ministry statement said an Israeli air strike killed 20 Palestinians on Wednesday near the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. A telecommunications outage in much of the enclave hindered efforts to reach Palestinian casualties overnight but was gradually coming back online at mid-morning. In central Gaza's Al-Maghazi district, five Palestinians were killed in one air strike, medics said, while to the north in Gaza City health officials said the bodies of seven Palestinians killed overnight arrived at Al Shifa Hospital. Residents also reported heavy fighting east and north of the Al-Bureij district and in the nearby village of Juhr Ad-Deek, where they said Israeli tanks are stationed. Israel's military on Wednesday reported three more soldiers killed in action in Gaza, bringing total military losses in the enclave since ground operations began on Oct. 20 to 166. The war erupted after Hamas killed 1,200 people and captured 240 hostages in a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7, the deadliest day in Israel's history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded with an assault that has laid much of Hamas-ruled Gaza to waste. The Gaza health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 195 Palestinians and wounded 325 in the past 24 hours, bringing the recorded toll to 21,110 killed and 55,243 wounded in Israeli attacks in the coastal Palestinian territory since Oct. 7. Nearly all the enclave's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, many several times. Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, a huge clock counted the time elapsed since Hamas took the hostages as families kept up their campaign for their loved ones to be freed.
Lebanon border
Israeli has intensified its raids this week, particularly in a central area just south of the waterway that bisects the narrow coastal strip. The Israeli army told civilians to leave the area, though many said there was nowhere left to go. The Israeli military said on Wednesday its warplanes had also targeted Hezbollah military sites and other locations in Lebanon. Huge plumes of smoke were seen on the border. Security sources said Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, had fired the most rockets and weaponized drones against Israel on Wednesday that it has in a single day since the spate of daily clashes began. Further highlighting the difficulties in treating the wounded in Gaza, the World Health Organization released footage, taken mostly on Monday and Tuesday at several hospitals, with WHO emergency medical team coordinator Sean Casey saying Gaza's health capacity was 20% of what it was 80 days ago. "We're seeing almost only trauma cases come through the door and at a scale that's quite difficult to believe. It’s a bloodbath as we said before, it's carnage.”
Casey said nowhere in Gaza was safe.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday the Palestinian Red Crescent Society compound in Khan Younis was hit on Tuesday. It said on X the strike had caused damage and spread panic among those working there and displaced people sheltering in the facility. Israel says it is doing what it can to protect civilians, and blames Hamas for putting them in harm's way by operating among them, which Hamas denies. Even Israel's closest ally the US has said it should do more to reduce civilian deaths from what President Joe Biden has called "indiscriminate bombing". The Israeli military said it was continuing to strike militant targets in Gaza, at one point using its navy to hit suspects deemed to pose a threat to ground troops. In the Shejaia district of Gaza City, an Israeli attack on militant fighters on foot caused secondary explosions, indicating the area was rigged with explosives to attack soldiers, a military statement said.
West Bank
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, six youths were killed in an Israeli raid into the city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said. An Israeli military statement said Israeli forces on a counter-terrorism operation came under attack by militants who threw explosive devices at them. The attackers were struck by an Israeli air force aircraft, it said. Residents said the youths were neither fighters nor militants. "It was a sight I could not see, it was something you cannot look at," Saida Famawi, the mother of one of the youths, said. In an interview with Egyptian TV, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel intended to stay in Gaza after the war "but the whole world does not agree with it". He said the US could "order" Israel to agree that Gaza become part of a future Palestinian state.

Gaza deaths surge as Israel says war to last 'many more months'
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip's health ministry said Wednesday the death toll from the war with Israel had surged above 21,000, about two thirds of them women and children. Israel again pounded Gaza with air strikes and shelling after its armed forces chief warned the war raging with Hamas since the October 7 attacks will last "many more months". Explosion lit up the sky over the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis -- a focus of heavy urban combat since the Israeli army said it had largely gained operational control over Gaza's north. Heavy firefights however also raged again around Gaza City in the north, while an air strike wounded 11 near Rafah, a far-southern city crowded with internally displaced people, witnesses said. Gaza's spiralling humanitarian crisis has amplified calls for an end to the hostilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to keep up the campaign to destroy Hamas, an Islamist group blacklisted as a "terrorist" organisation by the United States and the European Union. "This war's objectives are essential and not simple to achieve," armed forces chief Herzi Halevi said Tuesday. "Therefore, the war will continue for many more months."
The conflict erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. During the deadliest attack in Israel's history, Palestinian militants also took around 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity, Israel says.
Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and a siege followed by a ground invasion from October 27. The campaign has killed at least 21,110 people, according to the latest toll issued by Gaza's health ministry, which added that more than 55,000 people had been wounded. The Israeli army blames Hamas and its allied armed groups for the high civilian death toll, charging that fighters hide in, or in tunnels below, schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. The army said the number of Israeli soldiers killed inside Gaza had risen to 164. Israel on Tuesday returned the bodies of 80 Palestinians killed in Gaza, after checking there were no hostages among them, via the Red Cross, sources in the health ministry said. An AFP photographer witnessed a digger lowering the human remains in blue body bags into a mass grave in Rafah.
'Beyond a catastrophe'
Gaza's 2.4 million people have suffered severe shortages of water, food, fuel and medicines, with only limited aid entering the territory. An estimated 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced, according to the UN. The Gaza war "goes beyond a catastrophe and a genocide," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas charged in an interview on Egyptian television. The Palestinian Authority chief argued the war "is much uglier than what happened" during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation when 760,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes."Netanyahu's plan is to get rid of the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority," Abbas said. The UN Security Council, in a resolution last week, called for the "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale". The resolution, which did not call for an immediate end to the fighting, effectively leaves Israel with operational oversight of aid deliveries. In Rafah, hundreds turned up at the Abdul Salam Yassin water company carrying baskets, pulling handcarts and even pushing a wheelchair stacked with bottles to queue for clean water. "This was my father's cart," said Rafah resident Amir al-Zahhar. "He was martyred during the war. He used it to transport and sell fish, and now we are using it to transport fresh water." Elsewhere in the city, people split logs and stacked kindling as the lack of fuel forced them to burn wood for cooking and to keep warm. One woman who was washing her family's clothes by hand told AFP: "I've pleaded with people for water. I have absolutely nothing. I've borrowed everything, even the blankets, from others."
Mideast tensions
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Tuesday with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to discuss shifting "to a different phase" of the war, a White House official said. It was also meant as a chance to speak on "the transition to a different phase of the war to maximise focus on high-value Hamas targets," the official said. Violence has also flared across the occupied West Bank, with more than 310 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops or settlers, according to the territory's health ministry. An Israeli operation in a refugee camp in the north of the West Bank left six people dead early Wednesday, it said. The war has reverberated across the Middle East, drawing in armed groups backed by Israel's arch foe Iran in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. An Israeli air strike on a Lebanon border town killed a Hezbollah fighter, the group said Wednesday, with state media reporting two of his relatives were also killed. In Syria, an Israeli strike Monday killed Iranian general Razi Moussavi, a senior commander in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran has vowed to avenge the death of Moussavi, whose body was due to be repatriated for burial after memorial prayers at the Shiite holy sites in Iraq on Wednesday. Yemen's Huthi rebels have repeatedly fired at Israel and at passing cargo ships in the Red Sea in attacks in solidarity with Hamas. US military forces shot down more than a dozen Huthi attack drones and several missiles, the Pentagon said, reporting no casualties or damage. Israel's military said Tuesday a fighter jet over the Red Sea had intercepted "a hostile aerial target that was on its way to Israeli territory"

Former Israeli settlers yearn to return to Gaza after war
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
"A house on the beach is not a dream!" The advertising slogan by an Israeli settlement developer is music to the ears of former Gaza settlers yearning to return to the Palestinian territory after the war. Nearly two decades after Israeli settlers pulled out of Gaza, the real estate developer Harey Zahav sparked controversy when it posted the slogan on social media in mid-December as Israel wages a war on Gaza. "This campaign expresses a desire to return (to Gaza) but we have no projects in development," said Zeev Epstein, the owner of the company, which is notorious for constructing wildcat settler outposts in the occupied West Bank without Israeli government authorisation. Epstein made the comment to Israel's Channel 13 television as Palestinian supporters expressed outrage over what they saw as a proposal to build beachfront homes over the bombed-out ruins of Gaza. Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and 8,000 settlers on September 11, 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967, but maintaining near complete control over the territory's borders. Despite its withdrawal, Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the territory and is still regarded internationally as an occupying power in the Gaza Strip. All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are regarded as illegal under international law, regardless of whether they were approved by Israel. No Israeli officials had suggested plans to send Jewish settlers back to the territory following the outbreak of war on October 7. But on Wednesday, coalition lawmaker Zvika Foghel told public radio that Israel must "take control over the territory north of the Gaza River, and establish new Jewish settlement".
- 'Paradise' -
For Hannah Picard, a 66-year-old French-Israeli who lived for 16 years in the heart of the Gaza Strip, "it's obvious that we are going to go back". The ongoing war in Gaza, she said, was a prelude to her return. "Deep down, we dream of going back, because it's our home," Picard said in an interview in her three-bedroom apartment in Jerusalem, which she described as her "temporary home". Her former seaside home in central Gaza, she said, was akin to "living in paradise". The bloodiest ever Gaza war erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel and reportedly killed about 1,140 people. They took 250 hostages of whom 129 remain inside Gaza, Israel says. Israel's retaliatory bombardment and ground assault in Gaza has killed at least 20,915 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. The case for Gaza resettlement has gained some ground among Israelis.
'Govern Gaza'
Oded Mizrahi, who works at Jerusalem's Gush Katif Museum -- named after a bloc of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip -- was convinced that returning to the territory would soon be possible. "We don't know exactly how but... everyone understands that Hamas cannot stay there," he told AFP. "We have no other choice but to govern" Gaza, he said. While the Israeli authorities have not talked about the future of Gaza clearly, the United States insists it would be up to the Palestinians to decide. "We do not believe that it makes sense for Israel, or is right for Israel, to occupy Gaza, reoccupy Gaza over the long term," U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told journalists on a recent visit to Israel. "Ultimately the control of Gaza, the administration of Gaza and the security of Gaza has to transition to the Palestinians."The images from 2005 of weeping Israelis leaving their homes in Gaza settlements, soldiers in tears as they carried out evacuation orders, bulldozers razing houses and synagogues set ablaze by Palestinians are etched into the collective Israeli memory. Displayed at the Gush Katif museum were photos, maps and souvenirs from the destroyed settlements such as little bottles filled with sand from Gush Katif as well as books on Jewish history in Gaza. T-shirts emblazoned with the words "We are going home" were on sale for 35 shekels ($10). "People want to learn this story," Mizrahi said. "It's in the news."

Six killed in Israeli operation in occupied West Bank
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
An Israeli operation in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank left six people dead and several others wounded early Wednesday, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. "Six martyrs killed by the occupation (Israel) and some who were seriously wounded were transported to the Thabet Thabet government hospital in Tulkarem," the ministry said in a short statement. According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the six people were killed by Israeli air strikes on the Nur Shams refugee camp near the town of Tulkarem, where Israeli soldiers were also deployed. The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the operation. Violence across the occupied West Bank has flared since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in the Gaza Strip following the militant group's attack on Israel on October 7. More than 300 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the Gaza war erupted, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.

US downs multiple drones, missiles fired by Houthis over Red Sea
Agence France Presse/December 27/2023
U.S. military forces have shot down more than a dozen attack drones and several missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthi rebels at shipping in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said . "There was no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries," the Pentagon's Central Command said in a social media post, describing a barrage of 12 drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles and two land-attack missiles over a period of 10 hours. Houthi rebels on Tuesday claimed a missile strike on a vessel in the Red Sea and a drone attack towards Israel in solidarity with Gaza. In a statement, the rebels said they "carried out a targeting operation against a commercial ship" they identified as MSC UNITED, and launched a number of "drones against military targets" in southern Israel.

Explosions Reported in Red Sea Shipping Lane off Yemen Coast
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2023
Explosions in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen were reported on Tuesday after sightings of unmanned aircraft and missiles in two separate incidents, a British maritime authority said. Two unmanned aircraft were observed before two explosions occurred 5 nautical miles from a vessel located 50 nautical miles west of Hodeidah on Yemen’s west coast, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations authority said in an advisory. In separate incident, explosions were heard and missiles were seen 4 nautical miles from a vessel 60 nautical miles from Hodeidah, the authority said. It was not immediately clear if the incidents involved the same vessel, which the authority did not identify. Cargo details or an indication where the vessel or vessels were sailing to or had sailed from were also not disclosed. In both incidents the vessel and crew were reported to be safe, Reuters reported. The reported incidents come a week after the United States announced a multinational maritime security initiative in the Red Sea in response to attacks on vessels by Yemen’s Houthis. The Iran-backed Houthi militia has attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea since October, a campaign the group says is in solidarity with Palestinians besieged by Israel in Gaza. The group has said it is targeting Israeli-linked vessels and those heading to Israel, warning shipping companies against dealing with Israeli ports. Several shipping lines have suspended operations through the Red Sea waterway in response to the attacks, instead taking the longer journey around Africa. The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza and warned that it would attack US warships if the militia group itself was targeted.

Guardian: US’s Extensive Weapons Stockpile in Israel Falls Under Scrutiny
Tel Aviv: Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/ 2023
Their precise location is classified, but somewhere in Israel there are multiple closely guarded warehouses that contain billions of dollars’ worth of weapons owned by the US government. The stockpile was first established in the 1980s to rapidly supply US forces for any future Middle East conflicts. However, over time, Israel has been permitted in certain situations to draw from its extensive supplies, The Guardian revealed in its reported. Long shrouded in secrecy, the warehouses are part of an extensive but previously little-known stockpile now facing scrutiny as pressure mounts on the Biden administration over its support for Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Israel now appears to be receiving munitions from the stockpile in significant quantities for use in its war on Gaza, yet there has been little transparency about transfers from the arsenal. In interviews with the Guardian, multiple former US officials familiar with American security assistance to Israel have described how the stockpile enables expedited arms transfers to the Israeli army It can also shield movements of US weapons from public and congressional oversight, they said.
“Officially it’s US equipment for US use,” a former senior Pentagon official said, “but on the other hand, in an emergency, who’s to say we’re not going to give them the keys to the warehouses?”Since the emergency of war, Israel has dropped tens of thousands of bombs in Gaza, and it has been open about its demand for large amounts of US-supplied munitions. There are widely held concerns that Israel’s bombing of Gaza has been indiscriminate. And with close to 20,000 people dead in Gaza, according to local authorities, the US is facing questions about the quantities and categories of bombs it is providing to Israel and the proportion being made available through the secretive pre-positioned stockpile. In Washington, lawmakers have raised concerns about proposals by the White House that would relax rules on the kinds of weapons placed in the stockpile, waive spending caps on its replenishment and give the Pentagon greater flexibility to make transfers from the arsenal, the report read. Josh Paul, who recently resigned from the state department in protest at Washington’s continued lethal assistance for Israel, said the proposed changes to the stockpile were part of a drive by the Biden administration to find new ways to supply Israel. After Hamas attack in October, he said, there was a press from the White House "to say essentially we need to figure out every possible [legal] authority that we could give Israel that would get it weapons as fast as possible.”The full contents of the pre-positioned stockpile – known as the War Reserve Stocks for Allies-Israel (WRSA-I) – are not publicly disclosed, though former officials say the Pentagon provides Congress with an annual breakdown of what it holds. The report may be classified, but earlier this year an unusually candid description of the stockpile’s contents emerged when a former US military chief recalled in an op-ed touring the WRSA-I warehouse. “The current stockpile is full of so-called dumb munitions [those without sophisticated guidance systems],” he said, including “thousands of ‘iron bombs’ that are simply dropped from aircraft so gravity can do its work”.
In 2020, this abundance of dumb munitions in the stockpile was highlighted by a pro-Israel thinktank, the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, which complained that WRSA-I had become “obsolete” because of its high levels of unguided bombs and shortage of precision-guided munitions (PGMs).
In its latest aerial bombardment of Gaza, however, Israel has relied heavily on these lower-accuracy unguided munitions, which weapons experts say has undercut claims by the Israeli army that it is trying to minimize civilian casualties.
The army and Israel’s defense ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Russia to Deploy Newest Howitzers Close to Finland's Border
Asharq Al Awsat/December 27/2023
Russia will soon deploy its newest howitzers to its Northern Military District which borders Finland and Norway, the head of the Rostec state defence conglomerate said in remarks published on Wednesday. The testing of the new Coalition-SV self-propelled artillery units has been completed and their mass production has already started, Sergei Chemezov, the head of Rostec told the state RIA news agency in an interview. The first pilot batch will be delivered by the end of 2023, he said, Reuters reported. "I think they will appear there (in the Northern Military District) soon, since howitzers of this class are needed to provide an advantage over Western artillery models in terms of firing range," Chemezov said. In 2021, Russia's President Vladimir Putin changed the status of the Russian Northern Fleet, whose zone of responsibility was chiefly the Russian Arctic, to the Northern Military District, incorporating into it also the Murmansk region, which shares borders with Finland and Norway. Since launching a full-scale invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has accused "the collective West" of staging a proxy war with Russia and warned that Moscow will build up forces at its western borders following Finland's accession to the U.S.-led NATO alliance. Earlier in December, Russia's TASS state news agency reported that single Coalition-SV howitzers had already been deployed to the frontline in Ukraine. The howitzers, with a range of up to 70 kilometres (44 miles), are equipped with a modern 2A88 cannon of 152 mm caliber with a firing rate of more than 10 rounds per minute, as well as a modern system for automating the processes of gun pointing, target selection and navigation, according to TASS.

Ukraine Downs 32 of 46 Russian Drones
AP/December 27/2023
The Ukraine air force said that 32 of 46 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia had been shot down. Most of the rest struck near the front line, mainly in the southern Kherson region, according to Reuters. The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region said that a 35-year-old man was killed by debris from a downed drone in a residential area. The interior ministry said four others, including a six-year-old child, were wounded. According to AFP, there were no other immediate reports of casualties. The air force said the military had shot down drones over parts of central, southern and western Ukraine.

Michigan Supreme Court rejects ‘insurrectionist ban’ case and keeps Trump on 2024 primary ballot
Marshall Cohen/CNN/December 27/2023
The Michigan Supreme Court has rejected an attempt to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot based on the US Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.”The outcome, which was generally expected, is a victory for the former president, though an effort to remove him could be renewed for the general election. Wednesday’s decision contrasts with the recent ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court, which kicked Trump off its primary ballot because of his role in the January 6 Capitol riot. That decision has been paused pending an appeal. With these dueling decisions, the expected appeals to the US Supreme Court become even more critical, especially as the nation races toward the start of the 2024 primaries. Unlike in Colorado, the Michigan lawsuit never reached a trial and was dismissed early on in the process. An intermediate appeals court upheld the decision to toss the case on procedural grounds.
The Michigan Court of Claims judge who first got the case said state law doesn’t give election officials any leeway to police the eligibility of presidential primary candidates. He also said the case raised a political question that shouldn’t be decided in the courts. His decision was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which said: “At the moment, the only event about to occur is the presidential primary election. But as explained, whether Trump is disqualified is irrelevant to his placement on that particular ballot.”The order from the Michigan Supreme Court was unsigned, and the court did not release a vote count. Unlike in Colorado, the Michigan courts rejected the case wholly on procedural grounds. They never reached the questions of whether January 6 was an insurrection and whether Trump engaged in it. One of the Michigan justices on Wednesday wrote why Michigan is different from Colorado. The anti-Trump challengers “have identified no analogous provision in the Michigan Election Law that requires someone seeking the office of President of the United States to attest to their legal qualification to hold the office,” Justice Elizabeth Welch wrote, comparing Michigan law to Colorado’s election code.
The lower-court rulings in Michigan kept the door open to future 14th Amendment challenges if Trump wins the Republican nomination. Welch specifically noted this dynamic in the separate opinion she wrote Wednesday.
“I would affirm the Court of Appeals’ ruling on this issue, which still allows appellants to renew their legal efforts as to the Michigan general election later in 2024 should Trump become the Republican nominee for President of the United States or seek such office as an independent candidate,” Welch wrote.
The Minnesota Supreme Court reached a similar conclusion last month, finding that an “insurrectionist ban” case involving Trump should be dismissed with regards to the GOP primary, but that the challengers could try again if he wins the nomination.
On Truth Social, Trump denounced what he said was a “pathetic gambit” to keep him off the ballot and repeated his unfounded warnings that the 2024 was at risk of being “rigged and stolen.” Ron Fein, the legal director of Free Speech For People, which filed the Michigan case, said the decision was “disappointing” but noted that it “isn’t binding on any court outside Michigan.” Another attorney for the challengers, Mark Brewer, said they would continue the efforts in Michigan. “The Court’s decision is disappointing but we will continue, at a later stage, to seek to uphold this critical constitutional provision designed to protect our republic,” Brewer said in the statement. Ratified after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment says officials who take an oath to support the Constitution are banned from future office if they “engaged in insurrection.” The provision was used to disqualify thousands of ex-Confederates. But it has only been applied twice since 1919, and the vague wording doesn’t mention the presidency. The Michigan lawsuit was filed in September by an advocacy organization, Free Speech For People, on behalf of a group of voters. It also pursued an unsuccessful 14th Amendment challenge against Trump in Minnesota, and recently filed a new case in Oregon. The Colorado lawsuit was initiated by a separate liberal-leaning group.

Jordan and Egypt condemn 'forced displacement' of Palestinians, call for global action
LBCI/December 27/2023
During a meeting in Cairo, Jordan's King Abdullah and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi affirmed the "complete rejection of all attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue and forcibly displace Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza."In a joint statement, the Jordanian King and the Egyptian President urged the world to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. They called for the "uninterrupted delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid to Gaza" to relieve the "tragic situation and the suffering of the people in the Strip." "The two leaders note the international community's immense political and ethical responsibility towards implementing UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions to maintain the integrity of these international entities," said the statement.

Netanyahu: Erdogan should not lecture us on ethics
Reuters/December 27/2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been accused of committing genocide against the Kurds and imprisoning journalists, is the last person who should preach to others about ethics. Netanyahu spoke after the Turkish president described him as no different from Adolf Hitler.

Turkey hits 70 Kurdish sites in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for soldiers' deaths
Associated Press/December 27/2023
Turkey has hit more than 70 sites allegedly linked to Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq during airstrikes launched this week in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in Iraq, the defense minister said Wednesday. At least 59 Kurdish militants were killed in the strikes as well as in land clashes, Yasar Guler said in a video message to top military officials which was posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Our pain is great, but our determination is complete," Guler said. "We avenged (the deaths) of our precious children and we will continue to do so."
There was no immediately statement from Kurdish groups and the 59 deaths could not be independently verified. On Friday, militants affiliated with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, attempted to infiltrate a Turkish base in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Turkish officials said. Six Turkish soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight. The following day, six more Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with the Kurdish militants. Turkey responded by launching strikes against sites that officials said were associated with the PKK in Iraq and Syria. A spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said at least eight civilians were killed in the airstrikes in northeast Syria on Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based war monitor, said 12 others were wounded. Turkey insists it takes utmost care to avoid civilian casualties and harm to cultural heritage. The PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, has led a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is considered a terror organization by Turkey's Western allies, including the U.S. Tens of thousands of people have died since the start of the conflict in 1984. Turkey and the U.S. however, disagree on the status of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have been allied with Washington in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Turkey urges US to keep promises on F-16 sale
Reuters/December 27/2023
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a call on Wednesday that Turkey expected the United States to act in line with their NATO alliance and keep its promises on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara, a Turkish diplomatic source said. The call came at the request of the US side, a day after a Turkish parliamentary commission voted to approve Sweden's NATO membership bid, the source added. The parliament's general assembly must also approve the bid for it to be ratified. "Fidan stated that, regarding the sale of F-16s, we expect the US administration and US Congress to act in line with the spirit of alliance and keep the promises made," the source said.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 27-28/2023
Our Lives and Culture in Gaza Are in Rubble.
The New York Times/December 27/2023
As a teenager in the 1980s, I watched the construction of the intricately designed Rashad al-Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza City, named after one of Gaza’s greatest public figures, and its theater, grand hall, public library, printing press and cultural salon. Students and researchers, scholars and artists from across the Gaza Strip came to visit it, and so did President Bill Clinton in 1998. The center was the gem of Gaza City. Watching it being built inspired me to become an engineer, which led to a career as a professor and, in the footsteps of al-Shawa, as mayor of Gaza City.
Now that gem is rubble. It was destroyed by Israeli bombardment. The Israeli invasion has caused the deaths of more than 20,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and destroyed or damaged about half the buildings in the territory. The Israelis have also pulverized something else: Gaza City’s cultural riches and municipal institutions. The unrelenting destruction of Gaza — its iconic symbols, its beautiful seafront, its libraries and archives and whatever economic prosperity it had — has broken my heart. The Gaza Zoo has been destroyed, with many of its animals killed or starved to death, including wolves, hyenas, birds and rare foxes. Other casualties include the city’s main public library, the Children’s Happiness Center, the municipal building and its archive, and the seventh-century Great Omari Mosque. Israeli forces have also damaged or destroyed streets, squares, mosques, churches and parks.
One of my major goals after the Hamas administration appointed me mayor in 2019 was to improve the city’s seafront and foster the opening of small businesses along it to create jobs. It took us four years to finish the project, which included a promenade, recreation areas and spaces for those businesses. It took Israel only weeks to destroy it. Niveen, a divorced woman I know, was supposed to open a small restaurant in November but her dream is gone. Mohammed, a disabled Palestinian, lost his small cafe.
Why did the Israeli tanks destroy so many trees, electricity poles, cars and water mains? Why would Israel hit a UN school? The obliteration of our way of life in Gaza is indescribable. I still feel I am in a nightmare because I can’t imagine how any sane person could engage in such a horrific campaign of destruction and death. The modern municipality of Gaza was established in 1893 and is one of the oldest in the Middle East. It served about 800,000 people, among the largest congregations of Palestinians in the world. Even after Israel forcibly displaced more than one million Palestinians from northern Gaza after the war began, much of the population in the city remained. When Israel began its war on Gaza in response to the deadly attack by Hamas, I was abroad. I cut my tour short to return to help our people. I head an emergency committee of municipal workers and volunteers, who have been trying to fix water pipes, open roads and clear disease-causing sewage and garbage. At least 14 members of our municipal staff have died. Almost everyone on the committee has lost a home or relative.
I, too, have lost a loved one. Without warning, a direct hit to my house on Oct. 22 killed my eldest son, Roshdi, a photojournalist and filmmaker. He thought he would be safer at his parents’ home. It made me wonder if I could have been the target. We will never know. I buried Roshdi and quickly returned to work with the emergency committee. Israel, which began its blockade of Gaza more than 16 years ago and has maintained what the United Nations and human rights groups call an ongoing occupation for far longer, is destroying life here. An unnamed Israeli defense official promised to turn Gaza into a city of tents and Israel has forcibly displaced its inhabitants. For once, Israel is keeping a promise its officials made to the Palestinians.
I call on the world’s municipalities — everyone — to pressure world leaders to stop this mindless destruction.
Why can’t Palestinians be treated equally, like Israelis and all other peoples in the world? Why can’t we live in peace and have open borders and free trade? Palestinians deserve to be free and have self-determination. Gaza’s emblem is the phoenix, which rises from the ashes. It insists on life

Why Don’t We Call Things as They Are?
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 27/2023
The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan declared that the “security of marine navigation in the Red Sea is indivisible from the national security of the two countries.” The truth is it is indivisible from the security of the entire region and international marine navigation and therefore, the global economy.
Economic experts know that the damage the Houthi group is causing in Yemen means nothing to Israel as much as it harms the entire region and international community. The greatest damage is inflicted on our countries. Politicians know that the harm done to our region impacts everyone.
So, this is what is happening: Israel strikes Gaza, Syria and southern Lebanon. The Iranian response takes place through the Houthis militias that attack our security. The Muslim Brotherhood retaliates by demonizing moderate Arab countries, specifically Saudi Arabia and Egypt. We are being confronted with a real attempt by sponsors of militias to target the countries of the region and their stability. This means that whatever losses Iran’s militias are incurring on the ground, it is trying to achieve through targeting the economies of regional countries and, of course, the world.
We are today demanded to call things as they are, just as the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan did. We need rhetoric that accurately describes the situation on the ground, as well as its dangers. This will help facilitate in taking internal measures and even mobilize international resolutions.
Yes, the war in Gaza is deadly, destructive and rejected. However, the fate of Gaza and its people must not be held hostage for the safety of some factions and their survival. It is unacceptable for everyone to be at a loss. The Palestinian Authority has not even risen up to the occasion and its dangerousness. The whole of Lebanon must not be held hostage by a terrorist group, like Hezbollah, under the pretext of no voice can rise above the sound of the battle. So, we must call things as they are to protect the people of Gaza and for the factions to assume their responsibilities. Do they truly want to save the people of Gaza or serve the Iranian project? We must name things as they are so that the Arab public opinion can realize the extent of the dangers lurking in the region.
The Arabs have done everything they can on the international arena in search of solutions. They made all possible condemnations and now it is time that they do the same again, but from the region. The region must not be held hostage by Israel and Iranian militias.
It is time for statements that carry an initiative that shows real seriousness in stopping the bloodshed and war in Gaza. The statements must also hold Iran to account so that it can in turn demonstrate whether it is serious about the region or not.
This is not a lax approach, but a call for accountability, just as what happened with Hezbollah in the 2006 war. At the time, the party took a gamble and it cost Lebanon dearly. The country has still not recovered from that war. The developments have demonstrated that Iran’s statements are nothing but slogans. The target is the security and economy of the region and in service of Netanyahu’s madness. He will reap political gains the longer the war persists and expands in the region. So, we are saying that it is time to call things as they are.

On Being Anti-Israel and Not Pro-Hamas
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 27/2023
The theory of an absolute "anti" that corresponds to an absolute "pro" is based on a way of seeing things that sums up the problems of the universe by attributing them to a single cause. However, this theory, which is founded on the view that one side is totally innocent and the other is totally evil, only holds true for Palestinians who are killed by the Israeli killing machine despite their being civilians. Here, and only here, you find yourself committed to being absolutely "anti" the Israeli army and an absolute "pro" its victims, the non-combatants in Gaza.
As for this view that extends the "anti" and "pro" to everything else and sees in itself a guide to solving all our region's problems, if not the entire world's, it is driven by a tribal mindset that a distorted form of modernity has rendered totalitarian.
With this approach, it is no longer possible to combine the just demand for Palestinian state and a conclusive peace settlement in the region into a single stance, nor to combine the condemnation of Islamophobia with condemnation of anti-Semitism and vice versa, nor to point to the setback that democracy has suffered in the West because of its blatant bias in favor of Israel without coming to a nihilistic conclusion, like that these democracies are being eroded or became a thing of the past, or that democracy is a mere ruse Westerners use to numb us.
In addition, this view prevents us from seeing countless other problems in our society, politics, culture, and economy that are of crushing concern for our region.
This tendency to simplify and come to definitive conclusions is fueled by many different ideas and ideologies that have successively violated our consciousness, as well as the world's. While we find in this category snippets derived from populist Marxisms, which we coupled with snippets from political Islam and Arab nationalism, the noisiest of them today is a blend of "social movements" culture, its civil society, and the teachings of what is known as postcolonial studies. Here, the scene is monopolized by closed binaries of "victimizer and victim,colonizer and colonized,whites and people of color," which suits easy and lazy summaries...While these binaries hold some truth, their oversimplification, penchant for the unequivocal, and transformation into a contemporary religion undermine the truth they contain. We are faced with a view of the world that comes from outside and above it - a view that destroys our capacity to see domestic issues particular to every society. Thus, one task currently required of us is to combine this view (carried by a "sympathizer," an almost abstract human in London or New York who does not speak to the specificity of a particular place) with another view from the inside, from below, that the inhabitants of these countries came to hold through their diverse experiences.
In this sense, we are required to undertake the difficult but urgent task of coupling the rights of the Palestinian people and the defense of those rights, with legitimate concerns regarding the Hamas mindset, as a form of consciousness and behavior, if not as ideals inspired by leaders whose only exemplary quality is that they fight.
We must always think of freedoms of all kinds, the requisites for their development and flourishing, the optimal means for averting fanaticism and civil wars in a region being thrown around by the fears of its communities, what climate is suitable for ensuring the stability of our states and societies (we are states and societies at the end of the day), the status of women and the sort of ideas and relationships that contribute to ensuring that they enjoy the freedoms they are entitled to, and our relationship with the external world, our disconnection from which, regardless of its politics, can only leave us drowning in isolation and perhaps decay. In turn, emphasizing Israel's brutality should not conflict with pointing out our long history of killing political settlements in the region, and thus with holding those responsible for killing them accountable.
Naturally, differing with Hamas and their friends with regard to the conflict and the interests of the Palestinian people, to say nothing about major disagreements with them regarding social issues, is very legitimate because it is very concerning and fundamental.
We don't need astronomical intelligence to know that Hamas's ideology is incompatible with women's freedoms, demands for pluralism, the prosperity of our societies, the reinforcement of states, openness to the world, or stable relations between the sects and ethnicities of the region... These matters are no less important and "central" than any "primary contradiction." Indeed, a contradiction is "primary" to the extent that it reconciles with and compliments them.
What awaits us, especially after the guns fall silent, but also before that, are complex tasks that a binary, external, and simplistic consciousness does not take notice of. And after all, who says that a person cannot suffer from two illnesses, or several illnesses, or face two threats, or many threats, at the same time?
Israel’s brutality is now a close ally of our inclination to simplify, and the more this brutality intensifies, the more our narrowest, poorest, and darkest ideas flourish. However, we would be better off if, just once, we did not give this brutality the opportunity to kill us twice!

Egypt’s Gaza Dilemma
Jonathan Schanzer/Commentary/December 27/2023
Egypt has denied requests to solve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and take in refugees. Several countries have offered cash incentives to Cairo in the hopes it reconsiders, but Cairo has rebuffed them. It has also denied that there is smuggling between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Denial, as they say, is a river in Egypt. As the war to eliminate Hamas drags on, and with continued American pressure to address the humanitarian situation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to get Egyptian strongman Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to take in Gaza refugees. Sisi has so far emphatically refused Bibi’s request. The Egyptians have stated repeatedly that they will not take part in the displacement of Gazans. They say this is a red line for the Palestinian cause. There is something very old-school Arab nationalist about the Egyptian position. The government of Egypt is so committed to the Palestinian cause that it seems ok with allowing more Palestinians to die in this war. Cairo can probably get away with this, given that it is also the policy of every other Arab state right now—including the sponsors of Hamas, such as Qatar, Turkey, and Iran, that helped the terrorist organization prepare for this war.
However, there may be another Egyptian policy challenge brewing. The Israelis have just requested that the Egyptian military evacuate from the Gaza-Egyptian border. The Israelis certainly don’t want any Egyptians caught in the crossfire as they battle Hamas on Gaza’s southern border. The Egyptians are already voicing discomfort.
And for good reason. Israelis will soon begin to discover tunnels connecting Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula. There may be dozens of them. The Egyptians have downplayed the problem. But it’s likely going to become a source of friction.
Despite some early Sisi regime successes in dismantling those tunnels (including by flooding them), the Gaza-Sinai border has become a major zone for Hamas smuggling activity. Weapons and cash move all too freely beneath what is known as the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Sinai border. In recent years, these tunnels have also enabled Hamas leaders and fighters to come and go as they please. Once we understand that, we begin to understand how Hamas was able to re-arm and replenish after multiple rounds of fighting over the years. We can also begin to understand how Hamas leaders and fighters have been able to get training and advice from the outside. In other words, Egypt is very much a part of the current crisis in the Middle East. It’s highly unlikely that ideological affinity explains all of this. If anything, it’s the opposite. The Sisi regime would be content to destroy Hamas because of its longstanding connection to the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi toppled the Brotherhood government under Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The Egyptian leader still sees the group as a threat.
But the Sinai Bedouins have a lucrative system of smuggling. Historically, the Egyptian military has been incentivized to turn a blind eye to their activities. Today, however, the lax border situation may boil down to a scarcity of resources. The Egyptian government is cash strapped. The country was in an economic tailspin well before the Gaza war erupted. Things may be even worse now that the Houthis have deterred multiple international shipping companies from transiting the Red Sea. Under the circumstances, it is unlikely that Israeli security concerns will top the list of Egyptian military expenditures.
There are reports that Israel, the United States, and even some Gulf Arab states have offered Egypt billions of dollars to take in refugees. And Cairo has still refused. It’s not clear whether cash incentives might convince Egypt to handle the tunnel problem.
Separately, the Egyptians continue to coordinate closely with the United States and Qatar in an effort to hammer out another ceasefire deal that might lead to the release of an estimated 40 Israeli hostages currently in Hamas custody. The Israelis appreciate these efforts, and they trust the Egyptians far more than the Qataris, who have been financial sponsors of Hamas for more than a decade. In this way, Cairo has carefully crafted its image as an honest broker. However, the tunnel problem may complicate the current arrangement. The very existence of these tunnels creates an optics crisis for Egypt and will raise questions that the Sisi regime would prefer not to answer. Domestically, Egypt’s working with Israel to destroy the tunnels will also be challenging, given that the anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt has grown (it’s a longstanding problem). But Egypt may have little choice, given that Cairo still greatly values it alliance with the United States.Both sides of the Rafah crossing are likely to see changes in the coming weeks. Whether Egypt cooperates with Israel to implement those changes remains to be seen.
*Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Follow him on X @JSchanzer.

How the US can push back against authoritarianism in China and beyond
Elaine K. Dezenski and Nate Sibley/Washington Examiner/December 27/2023
Government officials and anti-corruption activists from more than 180 countries met this month in Atlanta for the 10th annual conference on the U.N. Convention Against Corruption. With the world’s anti-corruption attention focused on the U.S., America must demonstrate anti-corruption leadership to counter the rise in authoritarianism, especially in China. Much of the U.N.’s anti-corruption framework emanated from America’s leadership and a clear objective to globalize efforts to end foreign bribery. But much of the geopolitical conversation on corruption, transparency, integrity, and good governance has been ceded to kleptocratic and authoritarian regimes that seek to gaslight the world into disregarding their own egregious corruption. Unfortunately, U.N. meetings can be leveraged to amplify their propaganda. As a prime example, officials from Russia, the archetypal kleptocracy, organized a side event at the U.N. anti-corruption conference titled “Together Against Corruption!” China, meanwhile, hosted its own presentation on how its notoriously corrupt Belt and Road Initiative has boosted “good practices” and commitments to “upholding integrity” among 140 partner countries. That’s a rather tricky narrative to back up when a steady stream of Belt and Road Initiative projects happens to be linked to specific instances of corruption and undue influence. Put bluntly, it’s complete nonsense.
Beyond the endemic corruption of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing has engaged in its own pernicious forms of gaslighting, boldly redefining sacred terms such as human rights and democracy for the benefit of a narrative that supports China’s dominance in global affairs and a new global order.
In the face of Chinese efforts to claim the mantle of global governance leadership, the U.S. needs to demonstrate that its own approach can deliver tangible prosperity gains for populations wary of Western promises about democracy. Now U.S. officials have an unexpected ace up their sleeve — if they know how to use it. The bipartisan Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, which Congress has just passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, promises to become the most globally consequential U.S. anti-corruption legislation since the landmark Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. It would effectively criminalize the solicitation of bribes by foreign officials worldwide under U.S. law, addressing a long-standing criticism that the FCPA unfairly burdens U.S. firms without holding those who demand illicit payments from them accountable.
The primary purpose of FEPA is to protect American businesses from predatory foreign officials, especially in Belt and Road Initiative partner countries where crooked leaders often collude with Chinese state-owned companies to cut out competition in return for kickbacks. Under the law, foreign officials who receive or demand a bribe from a U.S.-listed company would be subject to American criminal prosecution — creating a powerful incentive for foreign officials to engage in fair and open business practices. That is why FEPA has been backed by a broad coalition including not only governance and national security experts but also pro-business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
While the threat of prosecution on its own will likely improve business conditions and reduce private sector risk, FEPA could also be leveraged by the U.S. government to supplement the law enforcement capacities in allied countries with a weak rule of law or insufficient prosecutorial resources or those whose judicial system is compromised by the very corruption that honest leaders are seeking to root out. In a sense, FEPA could act as a surrogate criminal enforcement mechanism that leverages America’s substantial expertise and capacity for prosecuting corruption. Utilizing FEPA in this way could also be a critical tool to push back against China and other autocratic regimes that have weaponized corruption to entrench favorable political regimes via political and financial assistance, including through the Belt and Road Initiative.
In Malaysia, Chinese officials used Belt and Road Initiative funding to help former Prime Minister Najib Razak embezzle more than a billion dollars, while simultaneously offering to tap the phones of Wall Street Journal reporters who were investigating the scandal. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chinese bribes and empty promises of infrastructure that was never built helped prop up a dictatorship in exchange for Beijing being given a green light to extract massive amounts of valuable critical minerals such as cobalt and copper.
To counter the corrupting influence of China and other authoritarian regimes, America must assist those honest officials who are fighting corruption domestically without resources to prosecute cases or the political capital to dislodge the influence purchased by Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, and other regimes that seek to undermine the rule of law. The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act could be a critical tool in that fight if only America is brave enough to use it effectively — and promote a fact-based counternarrative that calls out the malign behaviors of regimes that employ corruption as a state weapon.
*Elaine Dezenski is senior director and head of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Nate Sibley is a research fellow for Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative.

China's Increased Bullying of Philippines to Test US Resolve
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute./December 27, 2023
Despite the allegedly warm atmosphere of the San Francisco Summit between China's Communist Party leader Xi Jinping and US President Joseph Biden, the Chinese dictator reportedly told Biden, "that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided," and "that China's preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force."It is clear that Xi is doubling down on his claim of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, starting with Taiwan, and understands that he might have only a few "good" months left.
The latest aggressive move by the Chinese Communist Party took place when a Chinese Coast Guard ship deluged three Philippine vessels with water cannon on December 9 and 10.
American and Chinese military leaders have communicated by video link on December 21, after a hiatus of more than a year. Hopefully, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown took the opportunity to raise the issue of China's bullying of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea with his Chinese counterpart, General Li Shang-fu. The latest aggressive move by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took place when a Chinese Coast Guard ship deluged three Philippine vessels with water cannon on December 9 and 10. This assault resulted in severe engine damage to one of the Philippine vessels necessitating it to be towed to home port. Another vessel found itself rammed by a Chinese boat. That incident took place near the Second Thomas Shoal, an island in waters also claimed by China. CCP bullying in 2023 also included threatening maneuvers by Chinese ships against Philippine maritime exploration for hydrocarbons and natural gas, as well as frequent harassment of Filipino fishermen. In a more serious encounter in February 2023, a Chinese patrol boat lasered Filipino sailors. China's maritime aggression against Philippine efforts to resupply a military contingent on a marooned vessel on an island in disputed waters of what Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
China's repeated targeting of the Philippines appears possibly related to Manila's decision to grant the US expanded military presence in the Philippines, by granting the US military access to four additional air and naval facilities, raising the number to nine. The newly installed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reversed his predecessor's policy: appeasing China.
These additional US facilities will house pre-positioned military equipment, fuel storage and housing for American troops. The bases include Lal-lo Airport and Camilo Osias Naval Base in Cagayan Province and Camp Melchor in Isabella Province. For sure, it is not lost on the Chinese Communist regime that these three new US bases are close to Taiwan. The fourth base is on Palawan Island, near Philippine's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which according to the United Nations, is 200 nautical miles off the coasts of nation states.
The Chinese game plan seems crafted to test the resolve of the US commitment to defend Philippine sovereignty. If the US appears to be unwilling to risk a clash with China over its repeated intrusions into the waters of the Philippines' EEZ, the CCP will exploit any appeasement by the Biden administration to weaken confidence of other American Pacific-based allies, thereby shredding the integrity of any Indo-Pacific Alliance of democracies to contain China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is probably testing the vitality of the US pledge to defend Philippine interests in light of similar Biden administration promises to defend Taiwan. A failure of the US political and military leaders to mount a robust defense of Philippine sovereignty will doubtless increase the likelihood of a Chinese decision to invade or blockade Taiwan.
The US should immediately deploy armed escorts to accompany Philippine vessels the next time our ally needs to resupply Filipino Marines in waters claimed by China.
Despite Communist Chinese media ridiculing the President Marcos's decision to challenge China's exorbitant claims to roughly 85% of the South China Sea, the Philippine president took the significant step of seeking an alliance with its World War II enemy Japan for an expanded defense treaty during his December 16-18 visit to Tokyo. Reportedly, Marcos is also asking France to increase defense ties.
China appears equally determined to continue this game of "chicken" on the high seas. China's aggressive moves against Philippine sovereignty will continue despite the 2016 decision by the UN's Permanent Court of Arbitration that the disputed waters are clearly in the Philippines' EEZ. No one has so far been killed, but if Beijing escalates by, say, more forcefully ramming or attempting to board a Philippine boat, casualties are likely.
"If the Chinese attempt to board our vessels," the head of Philippines Western Command Alberto Carlos declared, "that is not something that we will allow them to do."
Manila might initiate a diplomatic maneuver by hosting other regional states -- such as Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan -- which have conflicting claims with China in the South China Sea. Such an action might have the effect of diplomatically swaying China to temporarily tone down its belligerency. Despite the allegedly warm atmosphere of the San Francisco Summit between China's President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden, the Chinese dictator reportedly told Biden, "that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided," and "that China's preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force."
It is clear that Xi is doubling down on his claim of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, starting with Taiwan, and understands that he might have only a few "good" months left.
*Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
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Red Sea shipping attacks threaten global economy
Afshin Molavi/The Arab Weekly/December 27/2023
To understand the implications for international shipping of the Yemen-based Houthi militant attacks in the Red Sea, it may be useful to start thousands of kilometres away, in the Port of Singapore. One of the busiest container shipping ports in the world, Singapore is a regular stop for all of the world’s leading shipping companies and a key hub for Asia-Europe trade. Now, let us imagine a major container ship sailing the 17,000 kilometres from Singapore to Rotterdam. After exiting the port, it heads for its first major choke point, the Malacca Strait. Once through that vital waterway, it finds open seas, traversing the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. As it approaches the coast of Yemen, it faces the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, another key choke point, before it enters the Red Sea onward to the Suez Canal.
If everything goes according to plan, and it usually does, the container ship passes through the Suez Canal and will find itself sailing the Mediterranean headed for the Gibraltar Strait, another key choke point, between Morocco and Spain. Then, it will be on an Atlantic Ocean run north to the key Dutch port that is a major hub of northern Europe. Everything is timed, synchronised, planned and mapped for smooth sailings. After all, the global economy, and the bottom line of the shipping company, depends on it. Roughly 80-90 percent of world trade by volume is shipped by sea, according to the UN.
So, when something goes wrong in any part of that journey, it is not just individual ships or shipping companies that feel the pain. We all do. The recent attacks by the Houthi militants on international shipping in the Red Sea has scrambled supply chains, pushed up oil and natural gas prices and raised geopolitical tensions far beyond the states surrounding the Red Sea. Some of the world’s largest shipping companies, MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM Group and Hapag-Lloyd, have suspended their sailings in the Red Sea. Energy giant BP has also declared it will avoid the Red Sea until further notice.
The implications for world trade are serious. Roughly 15 percent of global trade and 30 percent of container traffic passes through the Suez Canal. The Red Sea and the Suez Canal are vital links in the global economy, playing a pivotal role in the global supply chain of oil, natural gas, food, manufactured products and more. Some 40 percent of Asia-Europe trade passes through the Suez Canal, including vital liquid natural gas supplies. In 2021, when a ship became lodged across the canal, blocking it completely, economists estimated that some $10 billion of trade was affected for each day the waterway was blocked.
The US military has announced an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping lanes and provide security for the some 400 ships that are traversing the Red Sea at any given time. The US plan has not entirely soothed insurers, who have raised prices on Red Sea passages and expanded the areas considered high-risk. The prospect of US strikes against the Houthi militants, who are backed by Iran, has risen. Oil prices are inching upward after several weeks of decline.
The Houthis, who control parts of north and west Yemen, have declared their attacks are in response to Israel’s war in Gaza and that they are targeting ships linked to Israel or using Israeli ports. Most of America’s regional allies have been cautious about joining the coalition. Across the Arab world, even in capitals where the Houthis are seen as a serious threat to regional stability, aligning with the US at a time of rising public anger over the Israel-Gaza war has made several countries uncomfortable. As a result, the US may be required to lead this operation without a large Middle East contingent to its coalition.
Meanwhile, the role of China will also be closely watched. Chinese shippers regularly traverse the Red Sea. China is also the only major purchaser of Iranian crude oil, giving it a degree of leverage over Tehran. Iran’s links with Houthi militants are clear, but it remains to be seen if Beijing will seek to exert pressure on Tehran to rein in the Houthi attacks, or, at least, to keep them targeted at non-Chinese vessels.
Egypt, too, should be watched. The country faces an economic quandary. The Suez Canal Authority reported a record $9.4 billion generated in the 2022-2023 financial year. A serious dent in those revenues would further squeeze an Egyptian economy that is already reeling from a foreign exchange crunch and soaring inflation. Concerns mount that Egypt could default on its roughly $165 billion of foreign debt, one of the highest levels in emerging markets.
Meanwhile, some 100 container ships are actively avoiding the Red Sea route, according to logistics giant Kuehne+Nagel, and many more are likely to follow. The Singapore-Rotterdam route will now sail all the way around the coast of southern Africa and back up toward the Atlantic Ocean and Europe, adding weeks and rising costs to the journey.
At a time of precarious recovery in the global economy and razor sharp geopolitical tensions, the Red Sea attacks are a reminder of how connected we are and how dangerous it can be when those vital connections are severed.
**Afshin Molavi is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and editor and founder of the Emerging World newsletter.

In Syria, the politics of climate and conflict coalesce
Haid Haid/The Arab Weekly/December 27/2023
Given the technical and political challenges of coordinating with the Syrian regime, climate funding to Syria should target societal and civil society structures at the local level. These entities possess the skills and genuine interest in improving conditions in their areas.
As the COP28 climate conference wrapped up in the United Arab Emirates last week, international observers were focused on the outcome of the talks, with good reason. The fate of humanity hangs in the balance.
But just off stage, regional analysts were absorbed in a related issue that will hinder efforts to implement any plan to save the planet. Call it the geopolitics of climate action, and Syria was exhibit A.
With Syrian President Bashar Al Assad absent from the proceedings, Prime Minister Hussein Arnous was tasked to lead the delegation in Dubai. Syrian officials underscored their primary focus was on securing funding for climate adaptation in the war-torn country, a concern other conflict-ridden states share.
While it is imperative to address Syria’s environmental challenges, it is crucial to consider them in the wider context. Channelling climate funds to a regime that has exacerbated old environmental woes while creating new ones will undermine efforts to hold those responsible to account. Worse, it creates an opportunity for climate funds to be misused.
The regime’s extensively documented corruption and manipulation of aid and development funding pose a significant risk to mitigation efforts. Any climate funding allocated to Syria must come with assurances that the money will not be redirected.
For more than 12 agonising years, the Syrian conflict has inflicted brutal violence, economic turmoil and widespread suffering. Concurrently, recent years have brought a surge in extreme weather events in Syria, scorching temperatures, devastating wildfires, relentless droughts and ceaseless sandstorms.
These escalating calamities, both in frequency and ferocity, have heightened Syria’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Ranked 146 out of 181 countries on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative index, Syria stands among the countries most severely affected by the climate crisis. This ranking underscores Syria’s acute vulnerability and limited resilience against the impacts of severe weather.
However, these dire circumstances must not eclipse the accountability of the Syrian regime in reaching this critical juncture. For decades, the regime’s policies directly aggravated a range of environmental challenges, including water scarcity, soil degradation and air pollution.
The situation deteriorated further following the peaceful uprising in 2011. A November 2023 report by former International Criminal Court judge Howard Morrison echoed these concerns, placing blame on the Assad regime for Syria’s extensive environmental devastation.
For instance, relentless bombing campaigns and the regime’s repeated use of chemical weapons have added to the ecological destruction. Today, cities remain buried under hazardous rubble that poses significant environmental and health risks.
Morrison’s report, which was released in the run-up to COP28, also underscores Assad’s targeting of the oil industry. Intentional strikes have created large oil fires and spills that ravaged cultivated land and triggered health crises, notably increased respiratory issues among affected populations.
The report also delineates how Assad’s war tactics have decimated clean drinking water supplies and polluted groundwater sources. The ravages of war have also rapidly diminished Syria’s forests, increasing flooding risks and contributing to a steep decline in biodiversity.
Extending climate financing to the Syrian regime would not only undermine efforts to hold Assad accountable but also risks yielding minimal impact.
Syria is not alone in this climate contradiction. Other countries in dire need of climate adaptation and mitigation funding, Sudan, for instance, are also embroiled in war. Indeed, climate-related challenges, such as water shortages and soil degradation, are often contributing factors to conflict.
Still, Syria’s funding track record is particularly egregious. The regime has been accused of selectively directing aid to loyalist areas, manipulating exchange rates for aid transfers and compromising procurement procedures. Furthermore, the regime’s constraints on the operational freedom of international agencies impedes independent needs-assessment and monitoring, leaving these bodies heavily reliant on data provided by regime-affiliated entities.
Even if funders could look beyond past transgressions, structural corruption within Syrian state institutions will complicate climate financing. Entrenched corruption not only undermines the effectiveness of climate financing but also detracts from essential reforms needed to address Syria’s governance challenges.
The heightened focus on conflict and climate at this year’s COP summit, while sorely needed, will only yield results if the entities receiving support are properly vetted. Climate-related financing, like any funding directed to regime-held areas, must include assurances that mitigate corruption risks and ensure climate action without exacerbating Syria’s existing problems.
Given the technical and political challenges of coordinating with the Syrian regime, climate funding to Syria should target societal and civil society structures at the local level. These entities possess the skills and genuine interest in improving conditions in their areas.
Engaging directly with the Syrian regime, on the other hand, should be avoided whenever possible. A blank cheque from the international community would enable Assad to exploit yet another critical cause to secure his own political survival. We have already seen what Assad can do with the slightest opening of support. But this time, the repercussions of engagement have planetary consequences.
*Dr Haid Haid is a consulting associate fellow of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa programme.