Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 22-23/2023
Lebanon’s Confiscated Independence/Elias Bejjani/November 22/2023
Lebanon border flare-up ahead of Gaza truce
Journalistic martyrdom: Farah Omar's lasting impact on Machgharah
Blinken marks Lebanese Independence Day: US pledges continued support for Lebanon's prosperity, security
Abdollahian: We are in Beirut to hold discussions with Lebanese authorities on how to achieve maximum regional security
Mikati Urges Swift Election of President and International Action Against Israeli Aggression
Nasrallah meets senior Hamas official as Iranian FM visits Beirut
Israel-Hezbollah hostilities continue as group says to abide by truce
Soldiers deployed for possible evacuation of Germans from Lebanon return home
EU urges restraint and election of president in Lebanon
Wronecka urges 'full implementation' of 1701 after 'most serious' violations since 2006
US 'concerned' over Israeli attacks that killed Lebanese civilians and journalists
US claims Wagner plans to offer air defense to Hezbollah or Iran
Samir Geagea: Majority of residents reject Hezbollah's methods in border villages
Lebanon's Permanent Mission to UN lodges complaint to Security Council in wake of Israel's killing of journalist Omar, photographer Al-Maamari ,...
Qatari Minister of Endowments welcomes Salam’s visit: We are very concerned for Lebanon and its people
Mikati patronizes Independence Day celebration, announces launch of Rashaya Citadel Museum: To speed up election of a president, rally around the army
Mikati, Abdollahian convene: To intensify efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza
Berri reviews prevailing situation with Iranian Foreign Minister, receives congratulatory cable on Independence Day from US President
Bou Habib meets with Dutch counterpart: I requested the Netherlands’ help to pressure Israel to stop its deliberate targeting of Lebanese...
Local statement on Lebanon’s 80th Independence Day - EU delegation to Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 21-22/2023
NY Governor: No sign of terrorism in US-Canada border blast that killed two on Rainbow Bridge
Niagara border crossings closed after explosion on bridge connecting New York and Ontario
Israel, Hamas agree on four-day truce, hostage release and aid into Gaza
Israel and Hamas agree on truce to free hostages in swap, raising hopes of halting war in Gaza
Israel and Hamas have reached a deal on a cease-fire and hostages. What does it look like?
Palestinian woman disfigured in attempted suicide bomb could be released in hostage deal
UK foreign secretary Cameron hosts Arab, Islamic ministers to discuss Israel-Hamas conflict
17 Filipinos among Galaxy Leader crew held by Houthis in Yemen
Opinion: The deep moral dilemma at the heart of the hostage deal/Opinion by Frida Ghitis, CNN/November 22, 2023
US hopes Gaza truce brings 'full pause' in Israel-Lebanon border clashes
South African lawmakers vote to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel, shut embassy
8 killed in US strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq
Syria’s two main airports still shut month after Israeli strikes: monitor
New AP analysis of last month's deadly Gaza hospital explosion rules out widely cited video
Pope says Israel-Hamas conflict has gone beyond war to 'terrorism'
Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General - on the agreement to release hostages in Gaza
United Nations: The agreement between Israel and Hamas is an important step, but much remains to be done
Israel must face reality in this truce - for the most part, Hamas has vanished
The West can no longer ignore Putin's murderous alliance with Iran

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 22-23/2023
Jihad on Churches in France/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute./November 22, 2023
Hateful rhetoric will remain a threat to hopes of peace/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/November 22, 2023
Energy security, regional security key to expanding GCC-EU ties/Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/November 22, 2023
Americans finally beginning to see through the pro-Israel propaganda/Ray Hanania/Arab News/November 22, 2023
Will an Iraqi Front Open in the Hamas-Israel War?/Bilal Wahab, Selin Uysal/The Washington Institute/November 22/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 21-22/2023
Lebanon’s Confiscated Independence
Elias Bejjani/November 22/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/124563/124563/
Today, November 22/2023, the Lebanese sadly remember their country’s eighty Independence Day. The Independence that actually does exist at all, by any standard, because Lebanon unfortunately is totally occupied by the Iranian Axis Of Evil through its proxy the militant terrorist Hezbollah.
Meanwhile all the current Lebanese officials, on all levels, and in all positions, especially the high-ranking ones; The President, The Prime Minister and al minister and the House Speaker, are all either Iranian puppets, or cowards who have no guts to execute their duties and national obligations.
The current Lebanese government headed by Mr. Najeb Mikati has nothing at all to do with Lebanon or its people. In reality it is Hezbollah’s puppet government no more, no less.
In the mean time, the Lebanese subservient officials are in fact mere mercenaries who have sold Lebanon, its people, and its independence to Iran and to its terrorist proxy Hezbollah.
With no shame or dignity, these Lebanese subservient officials and the majority of the politicians openly take their orders directly from Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah and from his Iranian masters.
These low class Lebanese officials and politicians must be arrested and put on trial for being actual obstacles for reclaiming the confiscated independence and sovereignty.
All sorts of gratitude, on this sad day must go to Lebanon’s martyrs and their families who offered themselves on the country’s alter so the Lebanese people can still live with dignity, and freedom.
Yes, celebrating the Independence Day is a must and surely a national obligation, but only, and only, when occupied Lebanon is again free, independent and Sovereign.
Until the Independence Day becomes a reality, all patriotic Lebanese must not succumb to Hezbollah’s occupation by all means.
In this realm of treason, sin and camouflage, it is worth mentioning that the current Lebanese governing bodies with no one exception are all under the full control of Iran and Hezbollah.
Accordingly all countries who really want to help Lebanon and the Lebanese people to reclaim their confiscated independence need to exert all available and possible pressures on Iran to dismantle and disarm Hezbollah and advocate for the implementation of all UN Resolutions related to Lebanon.
May Almighty God bless the Souls of all Lebanon’s martyrs and safeguard Lebanon and its people.

Lebanon border flare-up ahead of Gaza truce
Arab News/November 22, 2023
BEIRUT: Hostilities on Lebanon’s southern border flared on Wednesday after Hezbollah militants launched Burkan missiles at Israeli army positions just hours before a truce was declared in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. Israeli army forces also struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, while Israeli warplanes dropped phosphorous bombs, causing fires between the towns of Kafr Kila and Al-Adisa. Hezbollah said that it attacked the Yiftah barracks, and also targeted a logistical support team carrying out maintenance work at the Bayad Blida site.The militant group fired Burkan missiles at Israeli troops and vehicles at the Raheb site and Zarit barracks, while the Mitat barracks, near the town of Rmeish, were also hit. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited Rashaya Castle in western Bekaa to mark the 80th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence. The castle housed independence heroes imprisoned during the French mandate.In a speech, Mikati called for the army’s role and integrity to be safeguarded. “We are a people who want peace and love the culture of peace, but we do not and will not accept the violation of our sovereignty and the assault on our rights. Otherwise, what is the meaning of independence?” he said. Mikati called on “the international community to deter Israel from its aggression, and blatant violation of international conventions and resolutions and human rights and from its continuation of committing massacres and genocides.”
After arriving in Beirut on Wednesday for talks with Lebanese leaders, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian foreign minister, said that the fate of Gaza and Palestine “lies in the hands of the Palestinian people.”Abdollahian’s visit coincided with talks in Beirut involving Hamas’s Arab and Islamic relations official Khalil Al-Hayya, who met with the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. Lebanese flags were raised in Beirut and some regions to commemorate the independence anniversary. Large banners were also displayed on buildings in the capital, bearing the message: “Lebanon seeks to avoid war to prevent the recurrence of past events.” This initiative is part of a civil society campaign that opposes Lebanon’s involvement in the Gaza conflict. The Lebanese army and security services did not hold their customary military parade due to the absence of a president. Meanwhile, the people of Lebanon mourned the deaths of journalist Farah Omar and photojournalist Rabea Maamari, who were killed by an Israeli army drone strike near the Lebanese border on Tuesday. The EU mission and the embassies of member states represented in Lebanon said in a statement that “Lebanon’s independence anniversary falls this year in difficult regional circumstances.”The statement issued a renewed call to “all relevant parties to exercise the utmost restraint to avoid further escalation.”Herve Magro, France’s ambassador to Lebanon, marked the independence anniversary by looking forward to “a unified, open and sovereign country in the face of the challenges it faces.”

Journalistic martyrdom: Farah Omar's lasting impact on Machgharah
LBCI/November 22, 2023
Only pictures remain for Farah Omar's grandmother to embrace after losing her granddaughter's warm hug in the blink of an eye. With great sorrow and eyes worn by age and sadness, she looks at her pictures and talks to them. The pictures fill the surroundings of Farah's house and her town, Machgharah, nestled in the West Bekaa. Every corner in this neighborhood holds a beautiful memory of Farah. In this house, she grew up, and here, she spent her most beautiful days when she visited with her family on weekends before life's commitments took her away from the town she always loved.
Not far from her home, the memory of Farah will be forever immortalized. In this field, Farah planted the berries seeds she loved. Before she could see it bloom, the flower of her life withered. The news of Farah's departure did not only sadden the hearts of the elders but also the hearts of the young, who held a special place for her. The courtyard of her home bears witness to their stories. Joy was her spirit, and her personality was calm, but she was also passionate and courageous in her profession, which she loved since childhood. With Farah's absence, joy disappears from her family and all those who loved her—colleagues and friends. Today, "Machgharah's moon" has become a new martyr for journalism.

Blinken marks Lebanese Independence Day: US pledges continued support for Lebanon's prosperity, security
LBCI/November 22, 2023
In a Wednesday statement marking Lebanon's Independence Day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken extended his "best wishes" to the Lebanese people on "behalf of the United States."In the statement, he said: "We know you are marking this moment in a challenging regional security climate and that this is the second National Day that has passed without the election of a President."He added: "To the Lebanese people, whose friendship is dear to the United States: your values, hard work, and commitment to your country have helped you overcome many challenges over the last 80 years, including at the present moment." He affirmed that the Lebanese "deserve a better future," confirming that the United States will continue to promote peace, lower the region's tensions, and "realize our shared hope of security, prosperity, freedom, and good governance for the Lebanese people."

Abdollahian: We are in Beirut to hold discussions with Lebanese authorities on how to achieve maximum regional security
LBCI/November 22, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that he is in Beirut to hold discussions with the Lebanese authorities regarding how to achieve maximum security in the region and fulfill the rights of the Palestinians.
Abdollahian made the announcement upon his arrival at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, leading an Iranian delegation. "We have heard from the leaders of the resistance in the region that the hands will remain on the trigger until the full rights of the Palestinian people are realized and until the struggle against occupation in the region achieves results," he added. He emphasized that "without a doubt, six weeks of heroic resistance by the Palestinians have proven that time is not in favor of the artificial Israeli entity," noting that "six weeks of resistance in Gaza have shown that the definite losers in the global public opinion are the United States and the Zionist entity."He underscored that "there is no doubt that the Palestinian people will decide the future of Palestine."During his visit, he met the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, with the accompanying delegation. The meeting addressed the general situation in Lebanon and the region, discussing the latest field and political developments in light of Israel's continued aggression on Gaza and the Lebanese border villages with occupied Palestine. In another context, on the occasion of Independence Day, Speaker Berri received a congratulatory message from US President Joe Biden, affirming the joint commitment to stability and prosperity in the region. He assured that the United States would continue working closely with Lebanon and its partners in the Middle East to maintain peace, prevent the expansion of the conflict, and look forward to working for a safer, more prosperous, and integrated future for the region's peoples.

Abdollahian: We are in Beirut to hold discussions with Lebanese authorities on how to achieve maximum regional security
LBCI/November 22, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that he is in Beirut to hold discussions with the Lebanese authorities regarding how to achieve maximum security in the region and fulfill the rights of the Palestinians. Abdollahian made the announcement upon his arrival at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, leading an Iranian delegation. "We have heard from the leaders of the resistance in the region that the hands will remain on the trigger until the full rights of the Palestinian people are realized and until the struggle against occupation in the region achieves results," he added. He emphasized that "without a doubt, six weeks of heroic resistance by the Palestinians have proven that time is not in favor of the artificial Israeli entity," noting that "six weeks of resistance in Gaza have shown that the definite losers in the global public opinion are the United States and the Zionist entity."He underscored that "there is no doubt that the Palestinian people will decide the future of Palestine." During his visit, he met the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, with the accompanying delegation. The meeting addressed the general situation in Lebanon and the region, discussing the latest field and political developments in light of Israel's continued aggression on Gaza and the Lebanese border villages with occupied Palestine. In another context, on the occasion of Independence Day, Speaker Berri received a congratulatory message from US President Joe Biden, affirming the joint commitment to stability and prosperity in the region. He assured that the United States would continue working closely with Lebanon and its partners in the Middle East to maintain peace, prevent the expansion of the conflict, and look forward to working for a safer, more prosperous, and integrated future for the region's peoples.

Mikati Urges Swift Election of President and International Action Against Israeli Aggression
LBCI/November 22, 2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati renewed on Wednesday the call to expedite the election of a new president for the republic, aiming to restore the state's regular functioning. During the Independence Day ceremony and the announcement of the opening of the Independence Museum in the Independence Citadel in Rashaya al-Wadi, Mikati affirmed that independence is achieved when the Lebanese triumph for their constitution and national pact. He emphasized the commitment to the constitution and the national pact as the way to renew independence. He also reiterated the call to rally around the army and preserve its presence and institution, along with all the security forces for their role in maintaining the nation's security and citizens. Furthermore, Mikati called on the international community to deter Israel from its aggression and blatant violations of international agreements, decisions, and human rights and its continued commission of massacres and genocide. He highlighted recent crimes, such as the assassination of journalists Rabih Al-Maamari and Farah Omar, as well as the earlier killing of the martyr photographer Issam Abdallah. Mikati stressed that the international community should initiate a political solution that grants Palestinians their full, undiminished rights in their independent state, with its capital in Jerusalem.

Nasrallah meets senior Hamas official as Iranian FM visits Beirut
Naharnet/November 22, 2023
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has met in Lebanon with Khalil al-Hayyeh, who is Hamas’ deputy head in Gaza and its Arab and Islamic relations officer. A statement issued by Hezbollah said the two men discussed the latest events since October 7 and evaluated the stances, developments and possible scenarios on all fronts, especially in the Gaza Strip. They stressed “the importance of continuing work and constant coordination, combined with firmness and resilience, in order to achieve the promised victory,” the statement added. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meanwhile arrived in Beirut, a day before a truce in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas that is expected to also include the south Lebanon front. “Six weeks have passed of the heroic resistance in Gaza and time has proved that it is not in favor of the Israeli entity,” Abdollahian said from Beirut’s airport. “The Palestinian people are the ones who will decide the future of Gaza and the future of Palestine,” he added. “We are in Beirut to consult with the Lebanese authorities over achieving security in the region and regaining the rights,” Iran’s FM went on to say. He also warned that “the fingers of the resistance forces in the region will remain on the triggers until all the rights of the Palestinians are restored.”

Israel-Hezbollah hostilities continue as group says to abide by truce
Naharnet/November 22, 2023
Border skirmishes continued Wednesday between Israel and Hezbollah, as a source from the Lebanese group said that Hezbollah will abide by a truce between Israel and Hamas that will begin on Thursday. In the morning, Israeli warplanes bombed the outskirts of the southern Lebanese border towns of Naqoura, Majdal Zoun, Shihin, Yater, Siddiqin and Recheknanay. Israeli artillery also targeted the outskirts of Aitaroun, Hamoul, Kfarkila, Blida, Mhaibib, Qlayaa and al-Hamames. The Israeli army said its warplanes attacked several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including so-called military infrastructure and a military site where the group’s fighters allegedly operated. Hezbollah meanwhile issued separate statements claiming an attack with two heavy-caliber Burkan rockets on Israeli forces near the al-Raheb post, an attack with two Burkan rockets on troops near the Zarit post and other attacks on the Yiftah barracks, the Bayyad Blida post, the Mitat post and the Ramia post. The group said the attacks achieved “direct hits.”A Hezbollah source meanwhile told Al-Jazeera television that Hezbollah will abide by an extendable four-day truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip should Israel commit to it. “We were not part of the negotiations related to the truce agreement and the exchange of captives between Hamas and Israel,” the source said. “South Lebanon is a supportive front for the Gaza Strip and the halt of fighting there will entail Lebanon,” the source added, warning that “any Israeli escalation in south Lebanon or Gaza during the truce will be met with a response from Hezbollah.”Eight people, including two journalists and two civilians, were killed Tuesday in south Lebanon by Israeli shelling. Since the cross-border exchanges began on October 8, at least 100 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, according to an AFP tally, most of them Hezbollah combatants but including at least 14 civilians, three of them journalists. On the Israeli side, six soldiers and three civilians have been killed, according to authorities.

Soldiers deployed for possible evacuation of Germans from Lebanon return home
Associated Press/November 22, 2023
The German government is bringing home most of the soldiers that were deployed to the eastern Mediterranean for a possible evacuation of German citizens from Lebanon. About 1,000 German soldiers are to leave the island of Cyprus starting Wednesday, according to German news agency dpa. A small team of about 200 as well as material and equipment will remain behind. The decision was made following an assessment of the current conflict in the Middle East.“The Bundeswehr generally keeps its resources available for evacuation operations in such a way that it can react flexibly to crisis situations worldwide,” the German defense ministry and foreign office said in a joint statement. The forces brought back to Germany will be kept on call at short notice to “be able to react quickly in the event of a worsening situation,” it said. The special forces would have been deployed to evacuate German citizens from Lebanon in case the war spread there.

EU urges restraint and election of president in Lebanon
Naharnet/November 22, 2023
The Delegation of the European Union and the Embassies of the EU Member States to Lebanon have called for “restraint” in the current hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah while calling on Lebanon to elect a president and end its lengthy presidential vacuum. “On the occasion of Lebanon’s 80th Independence Day anniversary, we express our friendship and support to Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” they said in a statement. “Lebanon’s Independence Day is taking place this year within a difficult regional context. The European Union urges all actors to show utmost restraint to avoid any further escalation,” the statement said. “In this period of uncertainty, we encourage Lebanese decision-makers to set aside their differences and take long overdue decisions. This includes electing a President, forming a fully-functioning Government, and implementing necessary macroeconomic and financial reforms,” it added.
The Delegation and the Embassies also said that “more than ever, decisive leadership is needed.” “The EU firmly stands by Lebanon and its citizens in their aspirations for a brighter future. The time to act is now,” they added.

Wronecka urges 'full implementation' of 1701 after 'most serious' violations since 2006
Naharnet/November 22, 2023
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka and the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix have briefed the U.N. Security Council on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, based on the latest report of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The Special Coordinator underlined the urgent need to de-escalate the current situation along the Blue Line. “Our collective focus and advocacy must be on urging the parties to exercise restraint and calling for a return to the cessation of hostilities through the full implementation of Resolution 1701 to prevent a wider conflagration that Lebanon neither wants nor can afford,” she said. Expressing deep concern over the daily skirmishes across the Blue Line since 8 October, the Special Coordinator said the developments of the past six weeks represent the “most serious” violations of Resolution 1701 since its adoption in 2006. “This also serves as a reminder that the full implementation of Resolution 1701 is a key entry point to realize peace, security and stability in the region,” Wronecka’s office said in a statement. The ongoing exchanges of fire have resulted in numerous casualties on both sides, internal displacement of thousands as well as material and environmental damages. “Notably, the danger of miscalculation and broader conflict is ever-present. In addition to the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the Special Coordinator noted that outstanding obligations remain for both Lebanon and Israel under resolution 1701,” the statement said. The Special Coordinator reiterated the Secretary-General’s emphasis on adhering to international humanitarian and human rights law, namely obligations to protect civilians, including journalists, as well as to ensure the safety of U.N. personnel on the ground and to respect the inviolability of U.N. premises, schools and medical facilities. “The ongoing developments have also underscored the importance of a strong and well-resourced Lebanese Armed Forces in the successful implementation of Resolution 1701, the Special Coordinator said, urging continued and further international support for Lebanon’s state security institutions,” the statement added. Regretting that Lebanon has been without a president for over one year, the Special Coordinator said the best way to enhance Lebanon’s ability to address challenges was through functioning and empowered state institutions, particularly in times of crisis. She said recent developments underscore the urgent need for Lebanon’s political leaders to “set aside their differences and embrace an approach that would facilitate the election of a president and the subsequent formation of a fully empowered government.” In conclusion, the Special Coordinator reiterated “the commitment of the United Nations to continue standing by Lebanon and its people.”

US 'concerned' over Israeli attacks that killed Lebanese civilians and journalists
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2023
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has said that Washington is "concerned by the reports that civilians including two journalists were killed in Lebanon" on Tuesday. "We have made clear we don't want to see the conflict in Gaza spread to Lebanon. That has been one of our top priorities," he told reporters in Washington. Since the cross-border exchanges began, at least 100 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, according to an AFP tally, most of them Hezbollah combatants but including at least 14 civilians, three of them journalists.
On the Israeli side, six soldiers and three civilians have been killed, according to authorities.

US claims Wagner plans to offer air defense to Hezbollah or Iran
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2023
The White House said Tuesday that Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to provide an air defense system to Lebanon's Hezbollah militants or to the regime in Tehran, as part of an "unprecedented defense cooperation" between the two U.S. adversaries. "Our information... indicates that Wagner, at the direction of the Russian government, was preparing to provide an air defense capability to either Hezbollah or Iran," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. The Wall Street Journal, quoting unidentified U.S. officials, said earlier this month that Wagner was preparing to supply the Pantsir-S1, a Russian self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and missile system known as SA-22 by NATO. The Kremlin had dismissed the Wall Street Journal report, saying such talk was unfounded. The Wall Street Journal reported that American officials were allegedly monitoring discussions between Wagner and Hezbollah over the possible delivery of the SA-22. The newspaper quoted American officials as saying that the SA-22 was yet to be delivered to Lebanon, but noted that some Hezbollah and Wagner personnel were currently stationed in Syria. Wagner, which is funded by the Kremlin, has been brought back in to line after a failed mutiny in June that presented the biggest threat to President Vladimir Putin's two-decade rule. "We are certainly prepared to use our counterterrorism sanctions authorities against Russian individuals or entities that might make these destabilizing transfers," Kirby said. He added that Iran was "considering providing Russia with ballistic missiles now for use in Ukraine in return for that support."Washington has been warning of deepening military relations between Moscow and Tehran -- a burgeoning relationship that Kirby described as "obviously harmful to Ukraine, certainly harmful to Iran's neighbors, quite frankly harmful to the international community."Russian Defense Minister Sergei Choigou paid an official visit to Iran in September, described as an "important step" for military cooperation between the allies. Both countries are subject to international trade sanctions and have forged close ties in a number of sectors.

Samir Geagea: Majority of residents reject Hezbollah's methods in border villages
LBCI/November 22, 2023
Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, announced Hezbollah's refusal to implement Resolution 1701 and hand over the borders to the army and international forces to avoid a war that no Lebanese wants to be rejected. He emphasized that Hezbollah's use of some Lebanese border villages in the districts of Tyre, Bint Jbeil, and Marjaayoun as a platform to launch its missiles is unacceptable. "This endangers these villages with significant risks, as witnessed recently, and unfortunately, the majority of the residents of these villages do not support it. They also do not agree with its methods that threaten their displacement from their homes amid these extremely difficult financial and economic conditions," he added. In a statement, he affirmed, "Hezbollah's insistence on its weapons and role is by no means a consensus among the Lebanese. Therefore, it is at least reasonable for it to respect the will of those who see no benefit in what it does and refrain from using the villages and lands of the residents for its military purposes, which rebound on their lives, homes, and livelihoods."Geagea called on the current government, specifically the ministers of defense and interior, to take all necessary measures "to prevent Hezbollah from using these villages that do not constitute a conducive environment for its weapons and role."

Lebanon's Permanent Mission to UN lodges complaint to Security Council in wake of Israel's killing of journalist Omar, photographer Al-Maamari ,...
NNA /November 22, 2023
At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Lebanon's Permanent Mission to the United Nations filed a complaint before the UN Security Council on Wednesday, following Israel’s new crime of intentionally killing journalist Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih al-Ma’amari working for Al-Mayadeen Channel, in addition to the Lebanese citizen Hussein Aqil. The complaint included points that prove that the deliberate crime committed within Lebanese territory at a long distance from the Blue Line, constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an attack on civilians and journalists who are performing their media duty in accordance with internationally-recognized professional standards to ensure their security and safety. The content of the complaint also affirmed that the approach of targeting journalists and assassinating them in cold blood followed by the Israeli occupation army, aims to prevent the media from transmitting the hideous image of its crimes and to obscure the genocide it is carrying out. "Lebanon once again asks the UN Security Council to assume its responsibilities in condemning Israel as a result of committing this crime, since it was not condemned for what it committed in the previous two times when it targeted and killed journalists in southern Lebanon," the statement added. It underlined that this complaint aims to prevent Israel from remaining exempt from any international accountability and punishment, which undermines the concepts and foundations on which international peace and security are based.

Qatari Minister of Endowments welcomes Salam’s visit: We are very concerned for Lebanon and its people
NNA/November 22, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Economy and Trade, Amin Salam, held a long and fruitful meeting today with the Qatari Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ghanem bin Shaheen bin Ghanem Al-Ghanem, with whom he discussed international agreements and their impact on Lebanese youth and on Islamic and cultural upbringing and awareness in Lebanon. Following Minister Salam's presentation of Lebanon's ideas and proposals, the Qatari Minister highlighted the necessity of making frequent visits to Lebanon, as there are large areas of cooperation between both countries. In turn, Salam said: “As the State of Qatar and its people have always shown us, we felt the sincerity of brotherhood and cooperation to help Lebanon, and this is what appeared and we heard it publicly today from the Qatari Minister of Endowments.”In this connection, Salam had previously visited the Dar El-Fatwa in Lebanon on October 13, where he held a lengthy meeting with the Grand Mufti of the Republic, Abdul Latif Derian, and briefed him on the program of his visit to the State of Qatar and his expected meeting with the Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in Doha.

Mikati patronizes Independence Day celebration, announces launch of Rashaya Citadel Museum: To speed up election of a president, rally around the army
NNA/November 22, 2023
Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed today that “independence was effectively achieved when the Lebanese were victorious through their constitution and national charter,” and therefore called for “adhering to the constitution that regulates our political life and clinging to the charter of coexistence that protects our national existence” as the only way to renew Lebanon’s independence. Mikati also reiterated “the call to expedite the election of a new President of the Republic who will restore order to the cycle of life of the exhausted body of the state," and “the call to rally around the army, to preserve its presence and institution, as well as the other security forces, which we salute for the role they play in safeguarding the security of the nation and citizens.”He considered that the 80th independence commemoration comes at a time when our homeland is in the midst of raging storms, internal and external, represented by its political and economic crises, the burden of displacement weighing on the hearts of its cities and villages, and the continuing Israeli aggression against the southern border villages and towns and against Gaza, which resides in every living and honorable human conscience.
“Yet, the Lebanese people, government and people, despite all the circumstances, are determined to commemorate their independence, because they believe in the meanings of freedom, sovereignty, and national unity that it carries for them, and in the hope it inspires in their souls for a better tomorrow, God willing,” Mikati went on. He emphasized that independence is not a memory, but rather a reality that is lived every day, expressing his deep appreciation and reverence to the Lebanese army’s leadership, officers and individuals, confirming that “this institution is the fence of the nation and the protector of independence, and through it our hearts grow and our souls are reassured about the present and the future.”The Prime Minister’s words came in his delivered speech during his patronage this afternoon of the Independence Day ceremony and the announcement of the launch of the Independence Museum at the Independence Castle in Rashaya Al-Wadi. The ceremony was attended by Cabinet Ministers Muhammad Wissam Mortada, Abbas Al-Halabi, George Boushkian, Nasser Yassin, and MPs Wael Bou Faour and Ghassan Skaf, as well as Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, the Prime Minister’s wife, Mrs. May Mikati, Mrs. Mona Elias Al-Hrawi, and Vice President of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, former Minister Laila Solh Hamadeh, who was responsible for the restoration of the Rashaya Citadel and the establishment of the Independence Museum. Several political, social, judicial, spiritual, and military figures and activists were also present at the event.

Mikati, Abdollahian convene: To intensify efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza
NNA/November 22, 2023
Prime Minister Najib Mikati received at his residence this evening Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, with whom he discussed bilateral relations and the situation in Lebanon and Gaza. During the meeting, the Prime Minister underlined "the need to intensify efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire and stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza, and then move to search for a sustainable peaceful solution."He also called on "influential countries to exert pressure on Israel to stop its aggression against southern Lebanon and to stop targeting civilians and journalists in particular."
In turn, Minister Abdollahian said: "The four-day truce in Gaza is a good thing, but what is more important is working to reach a permanent ceasefire."He stressed, "If there is no sustainable ceasefire, things will get worse, and the region will not return to what it was before the war."

Berri reviews prevailing situation with Iranian Foreign Minister, receives congratulatory cable on Independence Day from US President
NNA/November 22, 2023
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, received this afternoon at Ain El-Tineh Palace Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and his accompanying delegation, where talks centered on the general situation in Lebanon and the region and the latest field and political developments in light of Israel’s continued aggression against the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese border villages with occupied Palestine. Meanwhile, marking Lebanon's 80th Independence Day, Speaker Berri received a congratulatory cable from US President Joe Biden in which he affirmed the shared commitment to stability and prosperity in the region, pointing out that the long-term relationship between Lebanon and the United States of America is characterized by great importance in terms of building a better future for the peoples of the two countries and for all peoples around the world. Biden also stressed that "the United States will continue to work closely with Lebanon and partners in the Middle East region to maintain peace and prevent the expansion of the conflict," while looking forward to "working to formulate a safer, more prosperous, and more integrated future for the peoples of the region.”

Bou Habib meets with Dutch counterpart: I requested the Netherlands’ help to pressure Israel to stop its deliberate targeting of Lebanese...
NNA/November 22, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib said, after his meeting in The Hague with Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins-Slot, that he requested “the Netherlands’ help to pressure Israel to stop its deliberate targeting of Lebanese journalists and the use of internationally prohibited white phosphorus.”"We agreed on the importance of the two-state solution and the danger of escalating violence in the West Bank against the Palestinians," Bou Habib added, noting that he explained to Minister Slot the risks of displacement to Lebanon and the country's declining ability to control illegal immigration to Europe in light of the deteriorating conditions in the Middle East. The Foreign Minister thanked his Dutch counterpart for her country's decision to increase support for the displaced and the Lebanese host community, and encouraged her to evaluate the benefits of supporting official Lebanese administrations, especially pertaining to social affairs issues.

Local statement on Lebanon’s 80th Independence Day - EU delegation to Lebanon
EU MEDIA OFFICE/November 22, 2023
The Delegation of the European Union issues the following statement together with the Embassies of the EU Member States to Lebanon, present in Beirut: “On the occasion of Lebanon’s 80th Independence Day anniversary, we express our friendship and support to Lebanon and the Lebanese people.
Lebanon’s Independence Day is taking place this year within a difficult regional context. The European Union urges all actors to show utmost restraint to avoid any further escalation. In this period of uncertainty, we encourage Lebanese decision-makers to set aside their differences and take long overdue decisions. This includes electing a President, forming a fully-functioning Government, and implementing necessary macroeconomic and financial reforms. More than ever, decisive leadership is needed. The EU firmly stands by Lebanon and its citizens in their aspirations for a brighter future. The time to act is now.” ---

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 22-23/2023
NY Governor: No sign of terrorism in US-Canada border blast that killed two on Rainbow Bridge
Kayla Jimenez and Kayla Canne, USA TODAY NETWORK/November 22, 2023 at 6:19 p.m. EST
A speeding vehicle on the American side of a U.S.-Canada border crossing near Niagara Falls blew up Wednesday, killing two people and causing federal authorities to shut down four border checkpoints amid international concern. The two people found dead were inside the vehicle that exploded. The FBI's field office in Buffalo said it is investigating the explosion on the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the two countries across the Niagara River. But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that, based on a preliminary investigation, there is no sign of terrorist involvement. Law enforcement was not aware of any threats to the area and the investigation is ongoing, she said. The vehicle was incinerated and pieces of the car are widely scattered, she said. "The world is watching to find out what happened here," she said. "Based on what we know at this moment, and again anything can change, there is no sign of terrorist activity.""The FBI is coordinating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation," a statement posted on X reads. "As this situation is very fluid, that's all we can say at the time."New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that, based on a preliminary investigation, there is no sign of terrorist involvement. Law enforcement was not aware of any threats to the area and the investigation is ongoing, she said. The vehicle was incinerated and pieces of the car are widely scattered, she said. "The world is watching to find out what happened here," she said. "Based on what we know at this moment, and again anything can change, there is no sign of terrorist activity."A witness, Mike Guenther, told WGRZ-TV that he saw a vehicle speeding toward the crossing from the U.S. side of the border when it swerved to avoid another car, crashed into a fence and exploded. “All of a sudden he went up in the air and then it was a ball of fire like 30 or 40 feet high,” Guenther told the station. “I never saw anything like it.”President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland have been briefed on the explosion. Biden and his team are closely following developments, according to The White House. The US Federal Aviation Administration has ordered a halt to international arriving and departing international flights at Buffalo Niagara International Airport at 3:07 p.m. Wednesday. The groundings are expected to be in effect until Friday afternoon, CNN reported. The Canada Border Services Agency in a statement on X said it is "aware of an evolving situation at Rainbow Bridge.""We are liaising with our U.S. counterparts on this matter. The FBI is leading on the ongoing investigation," the statement reads. On Wednesday afternoon, New York Assemblymember Michael Novakhov wrote on Facebook "all border crossings between the U.S. and Canada remain closed and local government offices in the immediate area have been closed and evacuated." New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his team and NYPD "have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Buffalo after an explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, and we've already sent NYPD officers upstate to support efforts on the ground."
What happened at the bridge crossing?
Photos and video taken by news organizations and posted on social media showed a security booth that had been singed by flames. American and Canadian airlines increase security, halt flights; Amtrak suspends routes. International flights were cancelled at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Southwest Airlines, which has 14 daily departures to six cities from Buffalo’s airport, issued a travel advisory for customers who wanted to alter their Wednesday flights because of potential disruptions, spokesperson Chris Perry said. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority released a statement on Wednesday afternoon to inform travelers that while Buffalo and Niagara Falls Airports are "fully operational," there will be extra security measures. "In the response to the incident that is unfolding at the Rainbow Bridge, the NFTA is increasing security system-wide," a statement from on X reads. "Cars coming into the Buffalo Airport will undergo security checks and travelers can expect additional screenings."They advised travelers "to give themselves time for these extra precautions in addition to holiday travel."
What is the Rainbow Bridge?
The Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge is an arch bridge that connects the cities of Niagara Falls, New York, in the United States and Niagara Falls, Ontario, in Canada. The bridge can be crossed by car, on foot or by bicycle.

Niagara border crossings closed after explosion on bridge connecting New York and Ontario
CBC/Wed, November 22, 2023
The Peace and Rainbow bridges connecting Canada and the U.S. are closed after an explosion on the American side on the Rainbow Bridge, an official says. Ron Rienas, general manager of the Peace Bridge, told CBC Hamilton the bridges were shut down on Wednesday afternoon. On social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the FBI Buffalo account said: "The FBI Buffalo Field Office is investigating a vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a border crossing between the U.S. and Canada in Niagara Falls. The FBI is coordinating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners in this investigation. As this situation is very fluid, that's all we can say at this time." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on X that she "has been briefed on the incident on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls and we are closely monitoring the situation. State agencies are on site and ready to assist."Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said "we have major issues happening right now at the U.S. borders in the Niagara Region. Right now we currently have the Rainbow Bridge closed in both directions in Niagara Falls. Niagara Regional Police, Niagara Parks Police as well as Canada Border Services are working on an incident in that area."Schmidt said the Fort Erie Peace Bridge is also closed in both directions and the OPP is in the process of closing Highway 405 and the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge. He said to expect heavy delays in the Niagara area and encouraged people in the area to delay travel.
PMO in contact with U.S. officials. Justin Trudeau's press secretary, Jenna Ghassabeh, said in an email that the prime minister has been briefed "by the national security and intelligence adviser about the situation in Niagara Falls."The email said the Prime Minister's Office is "in contact with the U.S officials. The minister of public safety, RCMP and CBSA are fully engaged and providing all necessary support." The Canadian Border Services Agency said on X just after 2 p.m. ET Wednesday: "We are aware of an evolving situation at Rainbow Bridge. We are liaising with our U.S. counterparts on this matter. The FBI is leading on the ongoing investigation." The Niagara Falls Canada fire department's spokesperson said they are not involved in the response and have not sent any crews out.

Israel, Hamas agree on four-day truce, hostage release and aid into Gaza
Reuters/22 November 2023
GAZA/TEL AVIV: Israel’s government and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a four-day pause in fighting to allow the release of 50 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for 150 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, and the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave. Officials from Qatar, which has been mediating secret negotiations, as well as the US, Israel and Hamas have for days been saying a deal was imminent. Hamas is believed to be holding more than 200 hostages, taken when its fighters surged into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. A statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said 50 women and children will be released over four days, during which there will be a pause in fighting. For every additional 10 hostages released, the pause would be extended by another day, it said, without mentioning the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
“Israel’s government is committed to return all the hostages home. Tonight, it approved the proposed deal as a first stage to achieving this goal,” said the statement, released after hours of deliberation that were closed to the press. Hamas said the 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children who are held in Israeli jails. The truce deal will also allow hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel aid to enter Gaza, the Palestinian group said in a statement. Israel had committed not to attack or arrest anyone in all parts of Gaza during the truce period, it added. US President Joe Biden said he welcomed the deal. “Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages, and I will not stop until they are all released,” he said in a statement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed the foreign-mediated humanitarian deal and called for wider solutions to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abbas’ administration, based in the occupied West Bank, “appreciate(s) the Qatari-Egyptian (mediation) effort”, wants an extended truce with Israel and “the implementation of a political solution based on international legitimacy,” a social media post by senior Palestinian aide Hussein Al-Sheikh said. The Qatar government said 50 civilian women and children hostages would be released from Gaza in exchange for the release “of a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.”The starting time of the truce would be announced within the next 24 hours, it said in a statement. The accord is the first truce of a war in which Israeli bombardments have flattened swathes of Hamas-ruled Gaza, killed 13,300 civilians in the tiny densely populated enclave and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless, according to authorities in Gaza. But Netanyahu said Israel’s broader mission was unchanged. “We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals. To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten Israel,” he said in a recorded message at the start of the government meeting. Hamas said in its statement: “As we announce the striking of a truce agreement, we affirm that our fingers remain on the trigger, and our victorious fighters will remain on the look out to defend our people and defeat the occupation.”
RELEASE TO BEGIN ON THURSDAY
Three Americans, including a 3-year-old girl whose parents were among those killed during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, are expected to be among the hostages to be released, a senior US official said. In addition to Israeli citizens, more than half the hostages held foreign and dual citizenship from some 40 countries including the US, Thailand, Britain, France, Argentina, Germany, Chile, Spain and Portugal, Israel’s government has said. Israeli media said the first release of hostages was expected on Thursday. Implementing the deal must wait for 24 hours to give Israeli citizens the chance to ask the Supreme Court to block the release of Palestinian prisoners, reports said. Kamelia Hoter Ishay, the grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshansky, who is believed to be held in Gaza, said she would not believe reports of a deal until she got a call that the teenager was freed. “And then I’ll know that it’s really over and I can breathe a sigh of relief and say that’s it, it’s over,” she said. Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, said that among more than 7,800 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were about 85 women and 350 minors. Most were detained without charges or for incidents such as hurling rocks at Israeli soldiers, not for launching militant attacks, he said. Qatar’s chief negotiator in cease-fire talks, Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said that the International Committee of the Red Cross would be working inside Gaza to facilitate the hostages’ release.
He said that the truce means there would be “no attack whatsoever. No military movements, no expansion, nothing.”Al-Khulaifi added that Qatar hopes the deal “will be a seed to a bigger agreement and a permanent cease of fire. And that’s our intention.”Hamas has to date released only four captives: US citizens Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, on Oct. 20, citing “humanitarian reasons,” and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on Oct. 23.The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which participated in the Oct. 7 raid with Hamas, said late on Tuesday that one of the Israeli hostages it has held since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel had died. “We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death,” Al Quds Brigades said on its Telegram channel. As attention focused on the hostage release deal, fighting on the ground raged on. Mounir Al-Barsh, director-general of Gaza’s health ministry, told Al Jazeera TV that the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza City. Israel said militants were operating from the facility and threatened to act against them within four hours, he said. On Tuesday, Israel also said its forces had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp, a congested urban extension of Gaza City where Hamas has been battling advancing Israeli armored forces. The Palestinian news agency WAFA said 33 people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on part of Jabalia. In southern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said 10 people were killed and 22 injured by an Israeli air strike on an apartment in the city of Khan Younis. Reuters could not immediately verify the accounts of fighting on either side.

Israel and Hamas agree on truce to free hostages in swap, raising hopes of halting war in Gaza
JERUSALEM (AP)/ November 22, 2023
Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day cease-fire in the devastating war in Gaza — a breakthrough that will facilitate the release of dozens of hostages held by militants as well as Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, officials said Wednesday. The truce raised hopes of eventually winding down the war, which was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel. Now in its seventh week, the war has leveled vast swaths of Gaza, fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank, and stirred fears of a wider conflict across the Middle East. The Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, which has played a key role in mediating with Hamas, announced the deal, saying a start time would be given Wednesday or early Thursday. Fifty hostages will be freed in stages, in exchange for the release of what Hamas said would be 150 Palestinian prisoners. Both sides will let go women and children first, and the supply of humanitarian aid flowing into the besieged territory will be ramped up. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would resume the war after the truce and keep fighting “until we achieve all our goals,” including the destruction of Hamas' fighting and governing abilities and the return of all hostages.
Residents in Gaza City said the fighting there had intensified overnight into Wednesday, with gunfire, heavy artillery and airstrikes in central neighborhoods.“Apparently they want to advance before the truce,” said Nasser al-Sheikh, who is sheltering with relatives in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
A DIPLOMATIC BREAKTHROUGH
The announcement capped weeks of indirect Qatari-led negotiations between Israel and Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seized Gaza from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007 and has governed it since. The United States and Egypt were also involved in stop-and-go talks to free some of the roughly 240 hostages captured by Hamas and other militants during their Oct. 7 raid. U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the deal, saying Netanyahu has committed to supporting an “extended pause” to make sure that the hostages are released and humanitarian aid can be sent to Gaza.
Qatar’s prime minister and top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said he hoped the deal would eventually lead to a permanent cease-fire and “serious talks” on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel said that the truce would be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages released by Hamas. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it can assist with any release. Israel's Justice Ministry published a list of 300 prisoners eligible for release as part of the deal, mainly teenagers detained over the past year for rock-throwing and other minor offenses. Under Israeli law, the public has 24 hours to object to any release. The Israeli military says it has detained more than 1,850 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began, mostly suspected Hamas members. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed there, frequently during gunbattles triggered by army raids.
WILL THE WAR RESUME?
The drawn-out process of releasing hostages will force Israel to rein in its offensive and could ultimately mean it ends the war without achieving its goal of crushing Hamas. The devastation has already galvanized international criticism of Israel, and even the U.S., its closest ally, has expressed concern about the heavy toll on Gaza's civilians. An airstrike overnight hit a residential building in the southern town of Khan Younis, killing 17 people, including children, said Ahmad Balouny, a relative of the deceased. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies of two children pulled from the rubble, one of them badly burned. In northern Gaza, about 60 bodies and 200 people wounded by heavy fighting were brought into the Kamal Adwan Hospital overnight, hospital director Dr. Ahmed al-Kahlout told Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday. He said the hospital is using cooking oil to keep its generator running. Despite the massive destruction across Gaza and the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians, Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar will likely present the release of the prisoners — seen by most Palestinians as heroes resisting occupation — as a major achievement, and declare victory if the war ends.
Hamas said hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid — including fuel — would be allowed to enter Gaza. It said Israeli aircraft would stop flying over the territory's south for the duration of the four-day cease-fire and for six hours daily in the north.
The war erupted in early October, when several thousand Hamas militants broke through Israel's formidable defenses and poured into the south, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores more captive. Israel responded with weeks of devastating airstrikes on Gaza, followed by a ground invasion. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli offensive, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. It does not differentiate between civilians and militants, though some two-thirds of the dead have been identified as women and minors. The ministry said that as of Nov. 11 it had lost the ability to count the dead because of the collapse of large parts of the health system, but believes the number has risen sharply since then. Some 2,700 people are missing and believed to be buried under rubble, and hospitals have continued to report deaths from daily strikes, often dozens at a time.Over 1.7 million Palestinians have been displaced in the war, and many, if not most, will be unable to return home because of the vast damage in the north and the continued presence of Israeli troops there. The war has also led to severe shortages of food, medicine and other basics throughout the territory. Israel cut off all fuel imports at the start of the war, causing a territory-wide power blackout.
DEAL COULD DIVIDE ISRAELIS
The return of hostages could lift spirits in Israel, where their plight has gripped the country. Families of the hostages — who include babies, toddlers, women and older people — have staged mass demonstrations to pressure the government to bring them home. But they could also find themselves divided as some hostages are freed and others remain in Gaza. Soldiers are likely to be the last to be released, and their families may press the government to extend the truce until they return home. Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother, sister-in-law and two nephews — aged 4 and 10 months — are among the captives, said the deal puts the families in an “inhumane” situation.“Who will be released, who won’t? Will the kids be freed? Will they be freed with their mothers or not?” she asked The Associated Press before the deal was announced. “No matter which way it happens, there will still be families that will remain worried and sad and angry.”
PAUSE COULD HELP HAMAS REGROUP
The structure of the deal could limit Israel’s ability to press its offensive, even after the truce expires.
Any pause would give Hamas a chance to regroup after suffering heavy losses, especially if it extends the truce with additional hostage releases. Israeli troops and tanks are expected to remain in place, despite the risks of being stationary behind enemy lines.Israel claims to have killed thousands of Hamas fighters and destroyed parts of the group’s tunnel system. But Israeli officials acknowledge much of Hamas' infrastructure remains intact. The military says 68 soldiers have been killed in ground operations.

Israel and Hamas have reached a deal on a cease-fire and hostages. What does it look like?
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/ November 22, 2023
A temporary cease-fire agreement to facilitate the release of dozens of people taken hostage during Hamas’ raid on Israel is expected bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza and a glimmer of hope to the families of the captives. Israel and Hamas agreed to the four-day halt, which was announced Wednesday and will also see the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The deal, brokered by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt, was made public as fighting intensified in central neighborhoods of Gaza City. Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV channel said the truce would take effect Thursday morning local time. It caps weeks of fitful indirect negotiations and sets the stage for a tense period that could determine the course of the war, which was set off by Hamas' Oct. 7 raid and has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities. Hamas and other militant groups abducted some 240 and killed at least 1,200 people. Israel, Hamas and Qatar have released different details of the agreement, but those details do not appear to contradict each other.
WHAT’S IN THE DEAL?
Qatar announced Wednesday that Hamas will release 50 hostages in exchange for what Hamas said would be 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Those released by both sides will be women and minors. The hostages would be released in bursts throughout the cease-fire. Once the first batch is released, Israel is expected to free the first group of Palestinian prisoners. Those up for release include many teenage boys detained during a wave of violence in the West Bank in 2022 or 2023 and charged with offenses such as stone-throwing or disturbing public order, according to a list of eligible prisoners published by Israel's Justice Ministry. Israel currently holds nearly 7,000 Palestinians accused or convicted of security offenses. Israel said the truce would be extended by a day for every 10 additional hostages released. Qatar said Israel would also allow more fuel and humanitarian aid into Gaza, but did not provide details.Hamas said hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel are to be allowed to enter Gaza every day as part of the deal. Supplies would also reach northern Gaza, the focus of Israel's ground offensive, for the first time, Hamas said.
Israel's government statement did not refer to increased aid and fuel deliveries. Israeli Channel 12 TV reported that as part of the deal, Israel will allow a “significant” amount of fuel and humanitarian supplies into Gaza, but did not specify how much. Israel has severely limited the amount of aid, especially fuel, allowed into Gaza during the war, prompting dire shortages of water, food and fuel to run generators. The fighting is expected to come to a temporary halt: Israeli jets and troops will hold their fire, while militants are expected to refrain from firing rockets at Israel.
Hamas said Israel’s warplanes would stop flying over southern Gaza during the four-day truce and for six hours daily over the north. Israel made no mention of halting flights, and it wasn’t clear if this would include its sophisticated intelligence drones, which have been a constant presence over Gaza.
WHAT’S BEEN LEFT OUT?
While several families will be thrilled to have their loved ones back, a significant number of hostages will likely remain in Hamas captivity, including men, women, older people and foreign nationals. The families who are not included in the current deal are likely to keep up the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to secure their own loved ones’ release with a future deal. The plight of the families has gripped Israelis and they have widespread support. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, under the deal, the International Committee of the Red Cross will visit remaining hostages and provide them with any medicine they need. Neither Hamas nor Israel confirmed that detail. While the cease-fire will grant Palestinians in Gaza a brief calm, the hundreds of thousands who have fled the combat zone and headed south are not expected to be able to return home. Israeli troops are expected to remain in their positions in northern Gaza.
WHAT ARE THE DEAL’S POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS?
The deal offers only a short break in the fighting. Israel, which has made destroying Hamas and saving the captives its goals, is expected to continue where it left off once the four days wrap up. Netanyahu said Tuesday that the cease-fire will allow the army to prepare for the continued fighting and will not harm its war effort. Once the truce ends, airstrikes will likely resume and troops will continue their push throughout northern Gaza before their expected foray into the south at an unknown time. Gaza residents will have to brace for a resumption of hostilities. A break in fighting would also grant Hamas time to strategize, shift around militant positions and perhaps regroup after Israel claimed it had killed large numbers of fighters and destroyed many of the group's military assets. The staggered nature of the deal also opens the door for Hamas to up its demands on the fly, in the hopes that Israel would make more concessions to release more hostages. Yehya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza and presumed mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, could also try to turn a four-day pause in fighting into a longer cease-fire by offering to release more hostages. A longer cease-fire would make it harder for Israel to restart the war, both operationally and in the eyes of global public opinion. The Israeli government would face growing domestic pressure to secure the release of more hostages. Families left out of the current deal will only become more determined to see their loved ones freed once they've seen the first groups leave captivity.

Palestinian woman disfigured in attempted suicide bomb could be released in hostage deal
Henry Bodkin/The Telegraph/November 22, 2023
Israel could release a Palestinian woman who disfigured herself in an attempted bombing as part of its deal to free hostages captured by Hamas. Israa Riad Jabes became a cause célèbre for some Palestinians following the failed attack in Jerusalem in 2015, after which the Israeli authorities refused her requests for plastic surgery for her badly mutilated face. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison after a gas cylinder she was carrying exploded at a police checkpoint, injuring a police officer. She is on a list provided by Israel of 300 Palestinians who might be released, of whom 150 are expected to walk free in return for 50 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, following Thursday’s breakthrough in negotiations. Also possibly set for release is Nafooz Jad Hammad, who was beginning a 12-year sentence for stabbing her Jewish teacher when she was 14 years old. Her victim, Maria Cohen, has already spoken out against the deal, describing it as “humiliating”. Ms Cohen is among a backlash of Israeli families angry at the agreement, some of whom were on Wednesday threatening to launch a legal challenge to prevent it. It came as police in East Jerusalem were reportedly on alert to prevent “victory” celebrations among Palestinians.
The US, Qatar and Egyptian-brokered deal will see three roughly three incarcerated Palestinians released for every Israeli or international hostage held in Gaza, as well as a four-day pause in the fighting and extra aid for the beleaguered enclave.
A similar ratio is expected to govern any further extensions of the deal. Israel has said it is willing to extend the pause in fighting in return for 10 hostages per day. Hamas said the truce with Israel will begin at 10am local time on Thursday.
It is thought that 287 of the 300 Palestinian prisoners who could be released are males aged 18 or under. A large proportion are being detained for stone-throwing and similar offences. Among the 13 women adult women on the list, most have been imprisoned for stabbing. Nafooz Jad Arad Hammad, 16, stabbed Ms Cohen in front of her five children and husband, who was also slightly injured, in 2021. “Why do my child have to see the person who tried to murder me? I am still mentally ill and so are my children. Something is not right here,” she told Ynet news website.
“I am shocked, this is great anger and contempt for my life and that of my children.”
The Israeli public has 24 hours to contest the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Families of Israeli hostages protest outside the ministry of defence in Tel Aviv calling for their release. One group of terrorist victims said on Wednesday morning that they would file a petition with the High Court of Justice at noon today against the deal on principle. In a letter to Yariv Levin, the justice minister, Meir Indoor, the founder of the Almagor Terror Victims Association, and board member Dr Aryeh Bachrach wrote that the group believes “the same landmines and surprises in the agreement were [present] in almost every other [hostage] deal in the past.” The court is expected to reject the petition, as it did with petitions against the deal to free Gilad Shalit from Gaza in 2011 in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners. Addameer, a Palestinian NGO, said that about 200 boys, most of them teenagers, were in Israeli detention as of this week, along with roughly 75 women and five teenage girls.
Before October 7, about 150 boys and 30 women and girls were in Israeli prisons, it said. James Marlow, a Middle East security analyst, said he understood that, in addition to Israa Riad Jabes, there were two other individuals on the list of Palestinian prisoners who had attempted to become suicide bombers. “It is believed that this Israel - Hamas deal, which is expected to begin Thursday morning, will raise the popularity of Palestinian Hamas in Judea & Samaria (West Bank) where the support of the Ramallah Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas is at an all-time low,” he said.
Other commentators said the population of Gaza was less interested in the identities of the prisoners, but are instead desperate for the war to end. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.

UK foreign secretary Cameron hosts Arab, Islamic ministers to discuss Israel-Hamas conflict
Arab News/November 22, 2023
LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Wednesday met with foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries in London to discuss cooperation on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, how to secure the release of all hostages, increase the amount of aid into Gaza, and reach a long-term political solution to the crisis. The ministerial committee mandated by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit was headed by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and included his counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Turkiye, Indonesia and Nigeria, as well as Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit. UK Minister of State for Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs for Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the United Nations at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Lord Ahmad also attended the talks.
The visit followed an agreement reached overnight between Israel and Hamas on coordinated hostage releases and a pause in the fighting, the UK’s FCDO said in a statement. Cameron emphasised the importance of allowing humanitarian organizations to bring in more fuel so they can carry out lifesaving work unimpeded, including powering hospitals or desalination plants, which supply 80 percent of Gaza’s water. “The foreign secretary discussed with leaders at the meeting how to reinvigorate diplomatic efforts toward a viable two-state solution, which provides security for both Israelis and Palestinians, and restated the UK’s condemnation of the rise in settler violence in the West Bank,” the FCDO said. “He committed to continued UK support to prevent wider regional escalation, including in Lebanon and Yemen,” it added. Cameron said: “Today I have chaired a meeting of leaders from Arab countries and other Islamic states on the situation in Israel and Gaza.
“The agreement reached last night is an important opportunity to get the hostages out and more aid into Gaza to help the Palestinian people. “We discussed how to use this step forward to think about the future and how we can build a peaceful future which provides security for Israel but also peace and stability for the Palestinian people.”The meeting welcomed the joint mediation efforts of Egypt, Qatar, and the US, which resulted in the truce, the timing of which will be announced within 24 hours and is extendable, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The ministerial committee stressed the importance of the members of the Security Council and the international community taking effective and urgent measures for a complete cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave, saying that this is a priority for all Arab and Islamic countries. Members of the committee called on Britain to play a balanced role consistent with international law and international humanitarian law to reach an immediate cease-fire and implement all relevant international resolutions, SPA said. The meeting discussed the need to revive the peace process, and the Arab and Islamic officials stressed the importance of ensuring a just, lasting and comprehensive peace, through the implementation of international resolutions related to the two-state solution, and enabling the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. “The members of the ministerial committee called on the international community to assume its responsibility by rejecting all forms of selectivity in the application of international legal and moral standards, and condoning the heinous crimes committed by the occupation forces and settler militias against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” SPA reported. The delegation, which was formed as a “Peace Committee” at the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit, held in Riyadh on Nov. 11, is visiting the capitals of UN Security Council permanent members, arriving in London after meetings in Beijing and Moscow, and with further trips planned to Paris and Washington. The UK has helped lead the international response to the humanitarian crisis by recently announcing £30 million ($37.4 million) in additional aid to the Palestinian territories, more than doubling the aid commitment for this year, the FCDO said.

17 Filipinos among Galaxy Leader crew held by Houthis in Yemen
Arab News/November 22, 2023
AL-MUKALLA: The Philippine government said on Wednesday that 17 of its citizens are among the 25 sailors held hostage by the Houthis in Yemen, as international pressure mounts on the Iran-backed militia to return the captured ship and release its crew.
On Sunday, the Houthis raided the vehicle carrier Galaxy Leader, which was traveling under the flag of The Bahamas in the Red Sea, and diverted it to Yemen’s western port city of Hodeidah, which they control. They said the seizure of the ship, which they claim is owned by an Israeli businessman and was carrying Israelis, was intended to put pressure on Israel to end its bombing of Gaza. “We are currently working with the Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as officials of the registered shipping and manning agency of the vessel to monitor the safety and well-being of the 17 Filipino seafarers onboard the ship, and to bring them home safely,” the Department of Migrant Workers of the Philippines said in a statement. The EU mission in Yemen said that several EU nationals were also among the ship’s crew. The capture of the ship sparked outcry in Yemen and around the world, with the Yemeni government and other nations accusing the Houthis of compromising Red Sea security and urging them to free the ship and its crew. Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak said during a meeting with EU ambassadors in Riyadh that the government opposed the act and that it would have no influence on the situation in Gaza. He accused the Houthis of operating on Iran’s behalf to weaken Red Sea security. The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the incident could threaten maritime free movement. “The ship’s seizure as it transited the Red Sea in international waters and its diversion to Hodeidah are jeopardizing safe, free shipping in the region, in violation of international law. This act also undermines the interests of the Yemeni people and neighboring countries,” it said. Despite the international outrage, the Houthis said they would only free the ship and its crew if Israel ceased its military operations in Gaza. “We can talk about the Israeli ship if the US and Israel stop killing Palestinians in Gaza and start sending in water, medicine and food,” Houthi leader Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi said on X. “The navy’s activities are consistent with the principle of reciprocity.”

Opinion: The deep moral dilemma at the heart of the hostage deal
Opinion by Frida Ghitis, CNN/November 22, 2023
Editor’s note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN. The announcement that Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to free some 50 women and children Hamas captured during its brutal October 7 rampage in southern Israel, in exchange for a 4-day truce in Israel’s ground and air operation, comes as the first positive development in six weeks for some relatives of the more than 200 people abducted by the radical Islamist group that rules Gaza. And it is certainly welcome news for Gaza civilians, who will be thankful for other elements of the deal: an increase in the amount of humanitarian aid entering the strip and the expected release of 150 Palestinians prisoners from Israeli jails – three for every one of the hostages freed, along with the possible extension of the truce of an extra day for every ten additional hostages. Israel’s Supreme Court will review any petitions against the deal. After that, some hostages, likely to be mostly children, could start coming home by Thursday. The deal, however, is hardly the stuff of unalloyed joy – for Palestinians or for Israel. The war is not over. And the deal arguably strengthens Hamas, allowing it to claim credit, catch its breath and regroup. Whatever Palestinians feel toward the organization that unleashed this round of fighting – and we will not hear many in Gaza now openly criticize Hamas – there’s little question that as long as this group remains in power, the future looks bleak for Gazans. For Israel this deal is bitingly bittersweet. Negotiating with a terrorist organization that has just slaughtered and brutalized more than 1,000 of the country’s citizens and remains committed to Israel’s destruction – repeatedly confirming that goal – is not only hard to swallow, it’s a moral and strategic dilemma of the highest order.
Israel has done this before, and paid a high price for it.
When Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit was taken hostage in 2006, the government ended up trading more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails in exchange for his freedom in 2011. When the pale, reed-thin Shalit finally left Gaza after half a decade in captivity, one of the men let out of prison in the deal was Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar is now the political head of Hamas in Gaza, and believed to be the mastermind of the October 7 operation that killed about 1,200 people in Israel – more Jews than on any day since the Holocaust. Still, the decision to trade was the correct one. Israel has a long tradition of going to great lengths to save individual citizens. Even if it ends up looking like a mistake in the arithmetic of war, with traded prisoners ultimately killing more people than the number of Israelis freed in the trade, making the painful deal is part of the nation’s core identity. The trauma of October 7 threatened to upend that tradition. Almost every Israeli knows someone who was killed or kidnapped, or someone who lost a relative or friend that day. Israelis have been learning more and more about the sheer horror of that day. It wasn’t just a massacre; it was a sadistic frenzy of murder. Hamas fighters’ own body cameras recorded its members slaughtering entire families. Israeli investigators reported seeing the bodies of small children burned alive, and corpses found mutilated. There are many reports of rapes, and Israel is compiling evidence of sexual assaults alongside Hamas’s own videotaped evidence of dismemberment and decapitation. Israelis are hearing from the victims and their families. The entire country is enveloped in anger and grief. It’s not the kind of information that compels a nation to seek negotiations with the perpetrators. Worse, Hamas leaders have repeated their pledge to continue their campaign, vowing to carry out similar missions again and again. And as Israel tries to remove Hamas from power, the suffering of the people of Gaza – trapped between Hamas and Israel – has become heartbreaking, adding to the wrenching moral choices in this conflict, the balancing of life versus security.
For some Israeli hardliners, it was time to change Israel’s hostage calculus, to keep fighting, and to deny Hamas a break during which it is sure to regroup, redeploy and strengthen itself. But their voices were drowned by the strength of the hostages’ families. In a matter of days after the attack, despite or because of their anguish, the families managed to organize themselves into a powerful political force. Keep an eye on them. After the war, they will remain the tip of the spear as the Israeli people likely demand the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under whose watch Israel suffered the worst day in its history. Netanyahu’s fate will not be eased by making this deal, even if the overwhelming majority of Israelis support the decision. They simultaneously support the government’s aim of fighting Hamas so it can no longer threaten Israel. The two objectives are clearly in conflict with one another. But that’s how it is with moral dilemmas.
The war has been brutal, because Hamas embeds itself among civilians, because Hamas did nothing to build shelters for the people, building them only for its own fighters, and because a limited number of Palestinians have been allowed to flee the fighting into neighboring countries. Egypt, which has fought extremists in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, worries about a sudden inflow of large numbers of Palestinian refugees entering and turning Sinai into a stage for launching attacks against Israel, which could destabilize it. It worries also about creating a new long-term refugee population, whose return to Israeli-controlled territory would be uncertain . Perhaps there was a way for Israel to fight Hamas with fewer civilian casualties – I would not claim to know. But there was no way for Israel to allow Hamas – armed and funded by Iran – to stay in power at Israel’s doorstep. This is not about a Palestinian state. Hamas is not interested in two states, as it tells us over and over. It wants to destroy Israel, and its charter suggests that any agreement that allows Israel to survive, “is null and void.”Even so, Israel had to negotiate. For Israel, the events of October 7 brought echoes of the Holocaust. And it wasn’t just because of the slaughter. It was also because Hamas was founded on a 1988 Covenant of genocide. Hamas leaders still proclaim their antisemitic, genocidal designs. “Oh, Allah, bring annihilation upon the Jews,” preached a Hamas official a few weeks before the attack. Imagine having to negotiate with the people who, days after the attack, when asked if their goal is “the complete annihilation of Israel,”answered “Yes, of course!” Hamas is still holding almost 80% of the hostages. This entire process of negotiating a truce is emblematic of the terrible options that have dominated this conflict since the day Israelis woke up to find thousands of Hamas terrorists breaking into their homes with orders to “kill as many people and take as many hostages as possible.”This news of the hostage release, and the pause in the fighting, and the increase in humanitarian supplies, is cause for relief for many families, and a breather for millions.
But it’s hardly cause for celebration. It’s a sign of a deep moral dilemma that will continue playing out in profound human suffering.

US hopes Gaza truce brings 'full pause' in Israel-Lebanon border clashes
Agence France Presse/November 22, 2023
President Joe Biden's administration hopes that a truce in Gaza will lead to a "full pause" in fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border, a senior U.S. official said late Tuesday.
"We also hope that this (agreed four-day truce between Israel and Hamas) will lead to a full pause in some of the hostilities in the north, on the Lebanese border," the U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

South African lawmakers vote to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel, shut embassy
CAPE TOWN (Reuters)/November 22, 2023
South African lawmakers voted on Tuesday in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations until a ceasefire is agreed in its war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. The resolution is largely symbolic as it will be up to President Cyril Ramaphosa's government whether to implement it; a presidency spokesperson said Ramaphosa "notes and appreciates" parliament's guidance on South Africa's diplomatic relations with Israel, particularly on the status of the embassy. "The president and cabinet are engaged over the matter, which remains the responsibility of the national executive," Vincent Magwenya said. Ramaphosa and senior foreign ministry officials have been vocally critical of Israel's leadership during its devastating military campaign against Hamas in the densely populated Gaza Strip, calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate them for potential war crimes. The Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, the Israeli ambassador in Pretoria was recalled to Tel Aviv for consultations ahead of the vote, which on Tuesday was resoundingly adopted by a 248-91 margin. The parliamentary resolution was brought by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party last week when the governing African National Congress pledged to support what has been a central diplomatic stance for South Africa since Nelson Mandela became the country's first democratically elected president in 1994. The chief whip of the ANC, Pemmy Majodina, amended the last point of the EFF draft resolution calling for the embassy's closure and diplomatic suspension, to include the words: "... until a ceasefire is agreed to by Israel and Israel commits to binding United Nations-facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace." South Africa has backed the Palestinian cause for statehood in Israeli-occupied territories for decades, likening the plight of Palestinians to those of the Black majority during the repressive apartheid-era, a comparison Israel vehemently denies. The EFF proposed the motion on Thursday in solidarity with the Palestinian people over the Israeli bombardment and invasion of Hamas-ruled Gaza, prompted by a deadly incursion by Hamas militants into Israel on Oct. 7.

8 killed in US strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq
Associated Press/November 22, 2023
The United States military said Wednesday that it had carried out strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq that have launched attacks on U.S. forces. Two officials with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said the strikes hit three locations in the area of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad, killing eight members of the Kataeb Hezbollah militant group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Iranian-backed militants have launched dozens of attacks on bases and facilities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. While most of the more than five dozen attacks have been ineffective, at least 60 U.S. personnel have reported minor injuries. The militant groups have said that the strikes are in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that its forces had “conducted discrete, precision strikes against two facilities in Iraq … in direct response to the attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups,” including one on Tuesday involving the use of close-range ballistic missiles.

Syria’s two main airports still shut month after Israeli strikes: monitor
AFP/November 22, 2023
BEIRUT: Syria’s two main airports are still shut a month after simultaneous Israeli strikes put them out of service — the longest such closure since the Syrian conflict began, a war monitor said Wednesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported two Israeli strikes near the capital Damascus on Wednesday, targeting Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, a Damascus ally. Flights to and from Damascus and Aleppo airports have been suspended since the October 22 strikes damaged the runways. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory, said both airports “are closed” despite the completion of repairs. Syrian authorities did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the extended closures. Since Syria’s conflict began in 2011 after the government repressed pro-democracy protests, Israel has repeatedly targeted Damascus airport, but this is the first time it has been shut for a month, Abdel Rahman added. Israel, which has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbor since 2011, primarily targeting Hezbollah fighters and other Iran-backed forces as well as Syrian army positions, has intensified attacks since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.
On Wednesday morning, the Observatory, which has a vast network of sources inside Syria, said Israeli strikes targeted a center belonging to Hezbollah in the Damascus countryside. Later in the day, it reported “new Israeli air strikes that targeted Hezbollah” on the outskirts of Damascus, without immediately reporting casualties.
Syrian state media did not report the morning attack.
But state news agency SANA, carrying a statement from a military source, later said that at around 3:10 p.m. (1210 GMT), “the Zionist enemy carried out an air attack with two missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Damascus.”“Air defenses responded to the attack and downed one of the missiles,” the statement said, reporting “material damage.”With both Damascus and Syria’s second airport Aleppo out of service, the transport ministry said flights have been re-routed to Latakia on the coast in the west.
Latakia airport, more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) from Damascus, is smaller and flights there are limited, including to Russia, Iran and Iraq. A Russian military base at the airport protects it from Israeli attack, the Observatory said. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs President Bashar Assad’s government, to expand its presence there.

New AP analysis of last month's deadly Gaza hospital explosion rules out widely cited video
MICHAEL BIESECKER/ AP/Wed, November 22, 2023
https://ca.yahoo.com/news/ap-analysis-last-months-deadly-151211465.html
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press is publishing an updated visual analysis of the Oct. 17 explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital. The AP initially assessed that the explosion was likely caused by a rocket launched from within Gaza that misfired, and that assessment has not changed. However, new images that emerged after AP’s story was published show that a key video used in the initial analysis is no longer tied to the hospital explosion.
An updated Associated Press visual analysis of last month’s deadly Gaza hospital explosion has ruled out a widely cited Al Jazeera news channel video that initially appeared to show a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory that broke up in the air and crashed to the ground.
But even without that footage, additional videos of rocket fire in the direction of the hospital, photos from the explosion site and other evidence leave unchanged AP’s original assessment that a rocket launched from Gaza the night of Oct. 17 most likely went astray and hit the medical center’s courtyard. Though AP reached its analysis independently, U.S. and French intelligence agencies have shared the same conclusion.
WHY IS THE AP RULING OUT THE AL JAZEERA VIDEO?
New video from a different angle shows the projectile seen in the Al Jazeera video was actually fired from Israel and that its remnants also fell in Israel, too far from Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital to have been a factor in the Oct. 17 explosion. AP’s initial analysis Oct. 21 leaned heavily on the footage from Al Jazeera, which was airing live coverage of the Gaza City skyline just before 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 when a volley of rockets lit up the night sky. One of the rockets appeared to veer from the others, break apart in a fireworks-like flash and leave a brief trail of sparks. While that video does not show the fragments hitting the hospital, that is what a half-dozen experts told AP they believed was the most likely scenario. But just hours after AP’s analysis published, an open-source intelligence analyst posting on the social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, highlighted an additional video of the Gaza City skyline captured by a livestream camera 38 miles (62 kilometers) away from al-Ahli hospital in the Israeli beach town of Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv. Seen from that vantage point, the projectile from the Al Jazeera footage is shown to have been much farther from the Gaza hospital than it initially appeared. When paired with other videos, the Bat Yam footage shows what appears to be a missile launched near the Israeli kibbutz of Alumim, about 2.5 miles (4 km) east of the Gaza border. AP’s analysis of the new video was backed by a range of experts in geolocation and open-source intelligence, who noted that evolving visual evidence is not uncommon in active conflicts like the Israeli-Hamas war, which make it difficult if not impossible to gather definitive forensic proof on the ground. “The video from the camera in Bat Yam suggests that the rocket seen in the Al Jazeera video was not close enough to Al-Ahli Hospital to be responsible for the explosion that occurred at the hospital,” said Andrea Richardson, a lawyer and war crimes investigator who is a consultant with the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. The Israel military did not respond to questions from the AP about whether it was firing rockets in the area Oct. 17. The military added that it did not rely exclusively on the Al Jazeera video to reach its conclusion that the explosion at the hospital was caused by the failed launch of a missile by the Islamic Jihad, a militant group that works with Hamas. The assessment, it said, was “backed by various intelligence and visual evidence, shared with multiple agencies of our partnering countries.” U.S. and French intelligence officials both also concluded last month that a stray rocket fired from Gaza struck the hospital and told the AP this past was week their assessments have not changed.
WHY IS AP STILL CONCLUDING A PALESTINIAN ROCKET WAS LIKELY TO BLAME?
AP’s updated analysis found that the most likely scenario is still that the medical facility was struck by a Palestinian rocket that went astray, with experts citing:
—Three videos that show Palestinian militants launching multiple rockets from inside Gaza on a trajectory that would have taken them in the direction of the hospital seconds before the explosion. Damage at the scene was also not consistent with Israeli air strikes or artillery. One of the videos obtained by the AP shows a barrage of at least 17 rockets being launched from inside Gaza before a large explosion lights up the horizon on the Palestinian side of the border. The camera is on a building in Netiv Ha’asara, an Israeli community footsteps from the border wall, and faces southwest, confirming that the rocket launches and a large explosion were in the direction of Gaza City.
Another video by the Israeli news station Channel 12 — taken from a camera on the upper floor of its building in Netivot, a town about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of the hospital in Gaza City — also captured the barrage of rockets fired at 6:59 p.m.
The Bat Yam camera, in addition to capturing the launch in Israel, also showed the large barrage of rockets fired from within Gaza. Within seconds of those rocket launches in Gaza, Israel’s civil defense network issued alerts to residents in multiple cities and towns of incoming militant rockets and warned them to take cover.
Israel later released evidence from its radar stations tracking rockets fired from within Gaza on the evening of Oct. 17 on trajectories that would have taken them over the Gaza City neighborhood where the hospital is located.
The Israeli military contends that roughly 1 in 10 of the rockets launched at Israel by militants in Gaza during the current war have malfunctioned and crashed in Gaza. While AP cannot independently verify that, there have been documented instances of civilians in Gaza being killed by malfunctioning militant rockets, including at least a dozen in an incident last year.
—Social media posts from Palestinian militants appeared to acknowledge rocket fire.
At 7 p.m., one minute after the explosion, Hamas’ military wing al-Qassam Brigades said in a post to its Telegram channel that it “fired at occupied Ashdod with a barrage of rockets.” Ashdod is an Israeli coastal city about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Gaza.
Minutes later, Islamic Jihad posted on Telegram that it had launched a rocket strike on Tel Aviv in response “to massacre against civilians.” Over the next hour, there were five more posts from the militant groups announcing rocket attacks against Israel.
—The hospital scene showed relatively modest blast damage, not consistent with an Israeli airstrike. And Hamas has provided no munitions debris or any other evidence to support its claim Israel was responsible.
Videos and photos reviewed by AP appear to show the explosion in the hospital’s courtyard and central parking lot, where civilians had taken refuge after orders to evacuate the city.
A video taken from a nearby balcony captured the sound of an incoming projectile followed by a large orange fireball erupting from the hospital grounds. The sound captured on the video rules out that the source of the explosion was on the ground, such as a car bomb or suicide vest.
AP photos taken the morning after the explosion also showed no evidence of a large crater at the impact site that would be consistent with a large bomb such as those dropped by Israeli aircraft in other recent strikes. The hospital buildings surrounding the outdoor area at the center of the explosion were still standing and did not appear to suffer significant structural damage, suggesting a much smaller explosive payload than the Israelis typically use.
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an intelligence researcher who studies military weapons, also ruled out artillery shells or mortar shells, which would have caused a strong blast with lots of shrapnel, but not the orange fireball and intense blaze seen in videos from the hospital explosion. Jenzen-Jones said the most likely explanation would be a failed militant rocket that was still full of highly flammable propellent, which resulted in the fireball seen in the balcony video. “We would lean towards it being a Palestinian-made craft-produced rocket,” he said, “one that probably fell short of its target and or failed shortly after launch.”U.S. and French intelligence officials also noted the “light structural damage” to the hospital’s buildings, no large impact crater and no evidence of debris from Israeli munitions, such as fragments from the metal casing of a bomb.
“If it were present, Palestinian militants almost certainly would have publicized it,” the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement. Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad told AP the group has provided no such physical evidence because nothing remained. “The rocket is vaporized,” he said. “We are ready to allow for a neutral investigation, a committee to come ... (to determine) who is responsible for this crime.”Though some details of the analysis changed with the emergence of additional evidence, open-source intelligence expert Richardson stressed that was part of the normal process for examining events unfolding in real time. “Open-source investigators are transparent concerning the evidence and processes we use to reach our findings,” said Richardson, who has worked on war crimes investigations in the Middle East. “Transparency allows others to comment on and contribute to the search for truth. Assessments evolve based on new and additional information.”

Pope says Israel-Hamas conflict has gone beyond war to 'terrorism'
Reuters/November 22, 2023  
Pope Francis on Wednesday met separately with Israeli relatives of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians with family in Gaza and said the conflict had gone beyond war to become "terrorism". Speaking in unscripted remarks at his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square shortly after the early morning meetings in his residence, Francis said he heard directly how "both sides are suffering" in the conflict. "This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism," he said. He asked for prayers so that both sides would "not go ahead with passions, which in the end, kill everyone". Both groups were holding separate news conferences later on Wednesday. The meetings and the pope's comments came hours after Israel's government and Hamas agreed to silence the guns in Gaza for at least four days, allow in aid and release at least 50 hostages captured by militants in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel. Israel has placed Gaza under siege and relentless bombardment since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 13,000 Gazans have been killed, about 40% of them children, according to medical officials in the Hamas-ruled territory, figures deemed reliable by the United Nations. --- Reuters

Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General - on the agreement to release hostages in Gaza
NNA/November 22, 2023 
A statement attributed to the Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General on the agreement to release hostages in Gaza said: "The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement reached by Israel and Hamas, with the mediation of Qatar supported by Egypt and the United States. This is an important step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done."The statement added: "The United Nations will mobilize all its capacities to support the implementation of the agreement and maximize its positive impact on the humanitarian situation in Gaza."

United Nations: The agreement between Israel and Hamas is an important step, but much remains to be done
NNA/November 22, 2023
The United Nations welcomed on Wednesday the agreement between Israel and Hamas to release hostages and a truce in the Gaza Strip, but said that “much still needs to be done,” according to “Agence France-Presse.”
The spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General confirmed in a statement that António Guterres “welcomes the agreement concluded between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar and with the support of Egypt and the United States,” adding, “This is an important step in the right direction,” but “much still needs to be done.”

Israel must face reality in this truce - for the most part, Hamas has vanished
Paul Nuki/The Telegraph/November 22, 2023
There could hardly be a more fragile ceasefire than that announced in Gaza, but diplomats across the Middle East, America and Europe will be working flat out to try and mould it into a longer peace. On the surface there is little cause for optimism. Despite the prospective release of 50 Israeli women and children and 150 Palestinians, the deal is shorn of the language of ideals and Israel has vowed to continue its offensive once the 4-5 day truce ends. “We are at war, and the war will continue until all our goals are achieved,” said prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the Israeli cabinet meeting which approved the deal late on Tuesday night. But the realpolitik of the war in Gaza for both sides will provide diplomats with a chink from which they may be able to carve a more meaningful ceasefire. Hamas, for its part, has taken a brutal pummelling. Forty-six days of airstrikes, artillery bombardment and close quarters combat has left its northern divisions in tatters and much of its vital infrastructure and leadership decimated. Israel, too, must face reality, military and political. At the start of the conflict, it estimated there were 30,000-40,000 Hamas fighters in Gaza.
It has since killed an estimated 14,000 people in its stated military objective of “ending” the organisation in Gaza but, of those, just 4,300 were adult males, according to the Hamas controlled Gazan health authority.
The hard truth Israeli military strategists now face is this: for the most part, Hamas, like legions of terrorist insurgents before them, have stashed their grab-bags and vanished into the general population in the south of the Gaza strip.
Most will go unnoticed for what the vast majority of combatants the world over really are: poor and uneducated boys led by cultish thugs and grasping psychopaths.
Trying to kill them within a zone that Israel itself has asked civilians to move risks collateral damage on a scale that even the cold legal logic of proportionality in war would struggle to justify. The incremental military gain will be too slight to justify the likely civilian carnage.
Israel also has a unique humanitarian crisis on its hands, and one that could yet prove its undoing.
In most wars of the type being fought in Gaza, much of the potential humanitarian fallout is mitigated by people fleeing. But in Gaza, mass migration is not possible. Some 2.3 million people are sealed into a crowded hellhole into which only a trickle of food, water and power is currently flowing.
Israel’s hardmen like to say they don’t care what the world thinks when it comes to protecting the Jewish homeland. But if Gaza’s ragged millions start to starve or succumb to infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid this winter it won’t be long before commentators like me start to recall the ghettos of Poland and Ukraine that our great grandparents died in.
Interestingly, it is from within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) itself that these and other strategic worries are being most acutely felt. The defence establishment in Israel maybe tough and disciplined but it is by no means the most right wing or reactionary of the country’s institutions.
Many of its soldiers have a deep empathy for their Palestinian neighbours. Moreover, their commanders know that there are limits to the usefulness of military action alone. It is the Israeli defence establishment that has continued, over many years, to try and keep the idea of a long-term peace alive, and many within it are now looking to the country’s politicians to start pulling their weight in the current crisis. “The military is a tool, we cannot be the only solution. We hope that in the coming days we will see more from the political and humanitarian sides,” one IDF officer told me on Tuesday. But are Israel’s politicians up to the job? It is widely acknowledged that several cabinet ministers are no more than racist thugs and the interior minister has a long police charge sheet against his name.
Can these extremists, who were only on Monday accusing the families of Israel’s hostages of aiding Hamas, be held in check long enough to allow a longer peace to be negotiated, or might the country be sucked into an counterinsurgency and humanitarian disaster in Gaza that it cannot win? In security terms alone, the Americans and many within Israel’s defence establishment will see that such an outcome would leave the country dangerously exposed to Hezbollah on its northern border.
But even that – something which without US assistance could prove genuinely existential – may not be enough for the country’s Messianic right.
We must hope that the release of so many captives in the coming days softens hearts and that cooler heads prevail.

The West can no longer ignore Putin's murderous alliance with Iran
Robert Clark/The Telegraph/November 22, 2023
Whilst the world’s attention is understandably on the potential Israeli hostage release, regional terror instigator Iran is poised to upscale its trade in supplying fellow rogue regimes with increasingly high end weapons. The extremist mullahs ruling Tehran have long been known to overtly support Russia’s brutal reinvasion of Ukraine, initially supplying hundreds then thousands of the Shahed drones, which have wrecked so much damage on Ukrainian cities and national infrastructure. In addition, Iran have supplied tank rounds and artillery shells, in what has become Russia’s most important defence partnership since the war began. Whilst this full-blown defence partnership has proven absolutely devastating to Ukrainian and European security, it is about to be similarly replicated in the Middle East. As Putin blames the United States with one hand for increasing tensions in the region and magnanimously offering to help solve the current crisis himself, in a move straight out of the classical Kremlin playbook, with the other hand he is reportedly offering Tehran unprecedented defence cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defence.
And what is Russia to receive in return for such generosity shown to their Iranian partners in crime? Potentially, a desperately-needed halt in the Ukrainian advances in the south and east of Ukraine, as thousands of Iranian ballistic missiles are up for discussion to help turn the tide back in to Russia’s favour.
These new heightened fears concerning the increasing the Russian-Iranian defence partnership were recently confirmed this week by the White House administration, coming on the back of a September meeting when Iran hosted Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, showing off a range of new ballistic missile systems to wet the Russian palette.
The US intelligence community is additionally concerned that Russia will supply Iran with attack helicopters, radars, combat-trainer aircraft and even fast jets. Whilst Russia’s long-vaunted ‘friendship without limits’ with Chinese premier Xi Jinping has resulted in some limited defence collaboration during Moscow’s war in Ukraine, this would pale in comparison to what we are seeing taking place between Tehran and Moscow.
The ramifications for regional security across the Middle East and in Europe are profound. The US and Britain maintain extensive security interests and partnerships across the Arabian Gulf, with around 45,000 US personnel and contractors and around 5,000 British routinely coming under drone and missile attacks from Iranian-directed proxies. Indeed, attacks against US and UK bases in Iraq and Syria have peaked this year, as Iranian weapons continue to proliferate the region’s terror organisations, resulting in suspected attempted ballistic missile attacks against Israel – only prevented by superior US air defence systems. Whilst this trend of attacks against American, British, and Israeli targets can continue to rise substantially should the Russian-Iranian defence relationship continue to develop unabated, it poses even more worrying threats to Ukrainian and thus broader European security.
Russia, whilst suffering enormous casualty figures and almost irreplaceable battlefield losses, can still churn out conscripts and Soviet legacy-era equipment at a rate which Ukraine simply cannot match. In this industrialised war of attrition, mass has a quality entirely of its own.
The now likely promise of thousands of Iranian ballistic missiles heading their way to Moscow could cause the already limited and overworked Ukrainian air defences to be overwhelmed, causing untold further destruction to Ukrainian infrastructure and cities, just at a time when Ukrainians are already bracing for this war’s second long harsh winter.
The West must act. It seems almost weekly that we must utter these words, such is the state of disorder in which the international system currently finds itself – but act, we must. As the US’ attention has partly pivoted back to long-term ally Israel, Europe must now finally be prepared to pick up the mantle, and come to Kyiv’s aid in a manner which politically it has often been left found wanting. Air defence systems, sensors, intelligence and counter-missile batteries are going to be at an absolute premium, should the battlefields of the Donbas, and indeed cities and towns across Ukraine, be subjected to this likely flooding of Iranian missiles. The expanding defence alliance between Iran and Russia has already caused destruction in Europe, and will very likely lead to increased threats in the Middle East too. This is a menace to global security which we can ill afford to ignore.
*Robert Clark served in the British Army, including active operations in Afghanistan

The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 22-23/2023
Jihad on Churches in France
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute./November 22, 2023
A map, published by Christianophobie.fr, which marks with a red pin every spot where a church in France was attacked between just 2017-2018, looks like a war zone. Virtually the entire map of France is covered in red. Even Snopes, which presents itself as the final arbiter on what is real or fake news, admitted the accuracy of the map, while trying to minimize its findings...
One wonders if [Snopes] would be so casual if a Christian vandalized a mosque, or broke into a mosque while screaming Christian slogans?
In July 2023, Muslims torched the 12th century Saint-Georges De La Haye church in Descartes, France. (Image source: Joël Thibault/Wikimedia Commons)
Christian churches are under attack throughout Western Europe, with very recent examples from Austria, Germany, Italy and Sweden.
No Western nation, however, seems to experience as many attacks on its churches as France, once known as the "Eldest Daughter of the Church."
Investigative journalist Amy Mek tweeted on July 1, 2023:
"Attacks on Churches are the norm in France; two Churches a day are vandalized — they are being burned, demolished, and abandoned, and their adherents are being sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. Priests are under constant threat. At what point will France's open border politicians be held responsible?"
That last question inadvertently identifies the culprits — namely, migrants from the Muslim world, where attacks on churches are not abnormal.
In July 2023, for instance, Muslims attacked and desecrated several churches in France, by breaking the doors and windows of one church and spray-painting anti-Jesus and pro-Muhammad graffiti on its walls. The men also torched at least two historic churches — a 16th century church in Drosnay, and the 12th century Saint-Georges De La Haye-Descartes church — after general riots prompted by the June 27 police shooting of Nahel Merzouk, a Muslim criminal.
Not only did French authorities pretend that these two heritage churches simply "caught fire" — "probably due to a storm" — but they insisted that it was the police killing that prompted otherwise peaceful Muslims to riot at all.
If this was the case, what does one make of the fact that Muslims have been attacking churches in France for decades? Below is a recent sampling of attacks that occurred before the June 27 shooting of Merzouk:
June 26: Saint-Lazare church, which stands near another church that was heavily vandalized by Muslims on July 5, was desecrated and robbed.
June 20: A "gang of college students" stormed into the Saint Roch Church in Nice, mockingly doused themselves with holy water, and began shouting "Allahu akbar," which, the report notes, is "regularly heard during Islamist attacks." The first deputy mayor of Nice, Anthony Borré, responded in a letter to his apparently indifferent higher ups, urging them to take such matters seriously:
"Since October 29, 2020 and the Islamist attack on the Notre-Dame Basilica in our city [when another "Allahu akbar" yelling Muslim slaughtered two French women—one by beheading—and a man inside a church], you are not unaware of how traumatic it can be for our fellow citizens to hear such remarks within a church and the painful memories that they can revive. Faced with these attempts to destabilize society and with the attacks on our secular Republic, we must provide a strong and collective response."
June 23: Three Muslims, aged between 12 and 13, barged into Saint Joseph Church in Nice, during an afternoon mass, and also began shouting "Allahu akbar." Nice, it bears remembering, is also where another Muslim murdered 84 people in 2016.
June 12: After breaking into church property, a gang of Muslims — described only as a "group of young people" — savagely beat Fr. Joseph Eid of Notre-Dame-du-Liban parish and called him a "dirty Christian." While fleeing intervening passersby, they spewed other "anti-Christian insults."
Muslims also thrashed the 80-year-old Catholic priest of Saint Vincent de Paul in Saint-Étienne. After knocking Fr. Francis Palle to the ground, they continued beating and kicking the octogenarian, until he fell unconscious (last reported he was in critical condition). Although this attack occurred on June 30, three days after the police killing of Nahel Merzouk, the diocese said that it had nothing to do with the riots, but was, rather, standard fare.
June 3, The Church of Mailhac was heavily vandalized.
May 28: Several "unidentified" people broke into and vandalized the Saint-Laurent church in Cugnaux, which has a large Muslim presence: they defaced a crucifix, overturned candles onto the ground, and damaged icons — before setting the church aflame. A passerby, however, quickly intervened, including by calling the fire department which arrived swiftly and put out the flames. In response, Albert Sanchez, the mayor of Cugnaux, called for more "dialogue and understanding between the different religious and cultural communities of our city," since "diversity is our strength and our pride."
May 4: "Long live Islam," as well as Arabic writing, were found spray-painted on the walls of a church in Lieusaint in Seine-et-Marne. The report adds that "This is not the first time this church has been vandalized... Several statues had been damaged and knocked over."
March 16: A man, previously "on file for his Islamist radicalization," stormed the Saint-Hippolyte Church in Paris and disrupted its service. He also stole the church's six-foot-tall Plexiglas cross, which had supported a 400-year-old wooden Christ. It was later found nearby "smashed into many pieces," said police.
March 8: A Muslim migrant entered into the Saint-Louis church cemetery in Évreux and proceeded to break off and desecrate the crucifixes affixed to some 30 graves.
March 2: A man described as of an "African type," vandalized Saint-Eustache, one of the largest churches in Paris, in part by smashing the protective glass of an altar with a fire extinguisher. The report notes that "The suspect's modus operandi ... [is] comparable to that of the Saint-François-Xavier church [vandalism], where damage had been committed on Tuesday, February 28."
While discussing these Paris church attacks, a March 17 report noted that a total of eight Parisian churches were vandalized or set on fire during the ten weeks between January and mid-March of 2023.
The above, as mentioned, are just a few examples: most attacks on churches in France are not even reported by local media. Investigative journalist Sonja Dahlmans offers more details:
"Crucifixes, organs, altars and other religious symbols are regularly destroyed or stolen [from the churches of France]. Statues of saints also suffer. In the church of Angers, seven statues of saints were beheaded or amputated in April this year. A statue of Mary was beheaded in the St. Martin's Church in Choicy-le-Roi. Stained glass windows of old churches are also regularly smashed by vandals, such as in Guerlesquin. Extreme violence was used last October in the Saint-Joseph Chapel in Saint-Pol-de-Léon. There, vandals smashed the church doors with an ax and smashed all the church windows. All crucifixes and other religious symbols were destroyed by the perpetrators.
"Church cemeteries and graves cannot escape vandals. In Velsy, this involved damaging and robbing 150 graves in June 2022. The crosses on the graves and other religious symbols were taken or destroyed by the perpetrators. Eighteen graves of the church in Rocquemont were destroyed in May of the same year. A statue of Mary at the Guignicourt-sur-Vence cemetery was stolen in August 2022."
It would seem that a full blown jihad has been declared on the churches of France, and the country's leadership is looking the other way.
A map, published by Christianophobie.fr, which marks with a red pin every spot where a church in France was attacked between just 2017-2018, looks like a war zone. Virtually the entire map of France is covered in red. Even Snopes, which presents itself as the final arbiter on what is real or fake news, admitted the accuracy of the map, while trying to minimize its findings:
"While this image [the map] is often shared as if it shows all of the churches that were 'destroyed' in France, this map actually documents a wide range of nefarious activity, such as vandalism, theft, and arson, that occurred at both churches and cemeteries over an apparent span of two years (not four), covering 2017 and 2018.
"It should also be noted that while this map does document some relatively serious crimes, such as arson or the toppling of church statues, many of these pins correspond to graffiti-related incidents. We also found one pin related to a person's simply interrupting a church service."
In other words, according to Snopes, having jihadist, anti-Christian graffiti spray-painted on a church, or having a church service interrupted by a Muslim intruder screaming "Allahu akbar," is not sufficiently "serious."
One wonders if they would be so casual if a Christian vandalized a mosque, or broke into a mosque while screaming Christian slogans?
It should, incidentally, be unsurprising that the official mainstream response to the jihad on French churches is one of feigned ignorance, as captured by one somewhat surreal Newsweek title: "Catholic Churches Are Being Desecrated Across France—and Officials Don't Know Why."
While this report does a decent job of summarizing the "spate of attacks against Catholic churches" — including through "arson," "vandalism," and "desecration" — the words "Muslim," "migrants," or even "Islamists" appear nowhere in the report. Rather, "anarchist and feminist groups," angry at churches because they are "a symbol of the patriarchy that needs to be dismantled," are alluded to.
Meanwhile, even deductive reasoning makes clear that Muslims perpetrate the lion's share of attacks on churches. Dahlmans reports:
"[A]ccording to a 2022 OSCE report, France is in the top five European countries with the most recorded anti-Christian hate crimes. The other countries in the top five are Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden."
There is something else that these top five nations have in common: significantly large Muslim populations. Put differently, while Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European nations have their share of "anarchist and feminist groups," they have very few attacks on churches — and even fewer Muslims.
There are, of course, "practical" reasons why all of these Muslim attacks on French churches are massively obfuscated and dissembled. Imagine, for instance, how the tragic burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019 might be understood if it was common knowledge that countless churches in every corner of France have been and continue to be under constant attack, including through arson, by that nation's significant Muslim population (hundreds of whom made it a point to gloat as Notre Dame went up in flames)?
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Hateful rhetoric will remain a threat to hopes of peace
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/November 22, 2023
Could the Hamas-Israel conflict finally enter a new phase as a result of Wednesday’s deal to release 50 civilian hostages held by Hamas in return for 150 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel during a four-day truce brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US? One would hope this agreement will pave the way for reason to triumph over the flood of hate that has been pouring out ever since Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, during cross-border raids on Oct. 7 — the deadliest attack on Israel in its 75-year history. In retaliation, Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, the enclave ruled by Hamas, killing more than 14,000 people, many thousands of them children. Such deals are usually riddled with uncertainties, especially in the case of Hamas and Israel. The cross-border attack and subsequent retaliation have added a new dimension to this existential conflict, namely the hateful rhetoric, extreme name-calling and inciteful references leveled against each other since Oct. 7. This has not previously been seen or heard of, at least publicly.
References by Israeli officials, journalists and influencers have crossed a Rubicon that threatens to make impossible any future climbdown that would allow the two peoples to coexist. “We are fighting human animals,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “We are fighting Nazis,” said Naftali Bennett, the former prime minister. Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew on the Bible to remind of ancient threats to the “Israelites,” when they faced calls to exterminate “men, women and infants.”
The cross-border attack and subsequent retaliation have added a new dimension to this existential conflict
Hamas’ narrative and rhetoric has been no better, as for years it has called for Israel to be wiped out and to “throw Israelis into the sea,” even justifying its violence, though this never reflected the mindset of all Palestinians. The fear is that, this time around, inflammatory rhetoric will take root and become mainstream. If that were to happen, it would need several generations to weed it out of hearts and minds and to pave the way for any possible peace settlement, which is the only way for Israel to ensure security for its citizens and for the Palestinians to have their right to a state and peaceful coexistence.
The inflammatory language could normalize the discussion of ideas that would have been off limits before Oct. 7. It risks becoming the new normal and further tearing apart peoples that have been condemned by geography to always live alongside each other. On one side, a right-wing and increasingly ultrareligious Israel talks of erasing the people of Gaza, the nuclear annihilation of the Strip and even ethnic cleansing. This is met with an equally hateful narrative from Hamas that celebrates the barbaric acts its militants carried out last month.
In times of crisis, experts often claim that people on both sides of a conflict feel the need to see matters in clear black and white, either “with us or against us” or “good guys versus bad guys.” This is because the masses often do not have the luxury of seeing things in all their multilayered complexities. Hence, leaders tend to up the tempo in order to rally the people and prepare them to make sacrifices. This often leads to dehumanizing the “other” — in Israel’s case, that is the people of Gaza, along with the further mistreatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and even Palestinian citizens of Israel, who could face mistreatment in the long run. Legitimizing hateful rhetoric will be a major obstacle that makes turning the wheels back nearly impossible.
Language is, unfortunately, a double-edged sword: it could help to relieve and contain the anger today, but become an obstacle tomorrow. And while the international community continues to try to grapple with ways of ending the conflict, starting with the hostage exchange and humanitarian truce, many have been hard at work discussing ideas about the day after a ceasefire. They have raised the possibility of forming a multinational force, rehabilitating the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and enabling it to govern Gaza, tabling a plan for a UN-type protectorate in Gaza, or simply re-imagining a formula for a new two-state solution. While the actual war and the accompanying war of words, propaganda, fake news and manipulated or doctored “realities” continue to be waged on all actual and virtual fronts, major fears remain about the possibility of the conflict further inflaming the volatile situation in the West Bank and dragging in other actors in the Middle East. The best way to ensure Israel’s security is through the establishment of a Palestinian state, as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said this week.
My fear remains that legitimizing hateful rhetoric will be a major obstacle that makes turning the wheels back in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nearly impossible. It will likely require a reeducation that might yield fruit for future generations, but only if done properly.
One can only hope, therefore, that the initial truce and hostage exchange will instigate a reimagining of the peace process. An internationally brokered formula to help impose a cessation of violence, temporarily, is maybe the easy part, however difficult it might seem at the moment. But the damage caused by the inciteful rhetoric in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack is likely to plague both peoples for the foreseeable future.
*Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.

Energy security, regional security key to expanding GCC-EU ties
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/November 22, 2023
Bahrain this week hosted the seventh GCC-EU Business Forum, right after the conclusion of the annual Manama Dialogue. Both stressed the intertwined connections between the energy transition, climate change and energy security.
The business forum started in 2016 and has developed into an important annual event that allows the exchange of views between the business communities and officials from the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
A lot has changed since 2016. The GCC’s economic growth has been phenomenal, with its gross domestic product rising by about 70 percent since then to reach $2.3 trillion in 2023, making it the fastest-growing region globally. The GCC also has a sharper focus on diversification, climate change mitigation and renewable energy. The EU too has changed; its GDP has grown to $18.4 trillion, up 32 percent since 2016, and it has adopted the comprehensive European Green Deal, which aims for carbon neutrality and commits sizable funds to finance multiple policies to reach that objective by 2050. A partnership with the GCC is essential to meet that goal, since this region can produce renewables on a massive, low-cost scale, just as it has traditionally been key to conventional energy.
Besides oil and gas, the GCC region is best suited to solar and wind energies and has favorable conditions for green and blue hydrogen production too. This means that the GCC region will remain very much relevant to the energy markets, even if oil becomes less important in the future.
The GCC region will remain very much relevant to the energy markets, even if oil becomes less important
This year has witnessed remarkable growth in investments in the energy transition in GCC countries. For example, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Green Hydrogen Project, one of the world’s largest commercially based hydrogen facilities, is expected to produce 600 tons of clean hydrogen daily in 2026 and 1.2 million tons of green ammonia annually. When complete, the project will mitigate the impact of 5 million tons of carbon emissions per year. Meanwhile, Oman this year awarded a $6.7 billion contract for one of the world’s largest green hydrogen plants in Duqm, which is expected to come online in 2028. And Qatar last year started work on a $1 billion hydrogen plant.
Saudi Arabia, a regional pioneer in solar energy for decades, is now building some of the largest solar farms in the world. This year, it started another one in Makkah province that is expected to begin operations by the end of 2025, with a generation capacity of more than 2 gigawatts. Qatar last year opened Al-Kharsaah solar power plant with an 800 megawatt capacity.
And, just a few days ago, the UAE announced that the Al-Dhafra solar farm — believed to be the world’s largest operating single-site solar power plant — had come online ahead of the COP28 climate change conference, which opens in Dubai on Nov. 30. The 2 GW facility will power nearly 200,000 homes and eliminate more than 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions annually. It created 4,500 jobs during construction. The UAE’s solar power production capacity has now reached 3.2 GW and it is aiming to increase its renewable energy capacity to 14 GW by 2030.
Unfortunately, the energy transition is costly in the short term and probably the medium term too, putting it beyond the reach of many developing countries and making it necessary to manage energy transitions. When GCC and EU foreign ministers met last month in Muscat, they agreed to work together toward a sustainable, just, affordable, inclusive and orderly energy transition. They stressed the principles of “fairness and equity,” which mean common but differentiated responsibilities, taking into consideration different national circumstances and capabilities in implementing climate agreements. For the same reasons, it is equally important to continue to invest in oil and gas production to meet global demand, including from developing countries, which may not be able to afford state-of-the art renewables during the energy transition.
The ministers also called for the successful conclusion of the “Global Stocktake” as the backbone of the ambition cycle of the Paris Agreement and the speedy implementation of commitments previously made. Just as importantly, they agreed on joint GCC-EU action to mitigate climate change and adaptation, develop renewables and improve energy efficiency. They also called for more climate investments by private investors.
The GCC region has significantly contributed to the achievement of climate change mitigation, including Saudi Arabia’s Middle East Green Initiative, with a budget of $2.5 billion to support its governance and projects, and the establishment of an international water organization in Riyadh. The UAE has also launched a water initiative to address global water scarcity, in addition to the joint UAE-EU initiative on the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, which aims to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency and is expected to be announced at COP28.
Israel’s war against Gaza has put energy security in jeopardy, as the war in Ukraine did before
The EU and GCC have also agreed to further engage on a joint agenda to decarbonize energy systems by deepening technical cooperation in this area, including on hydrogen, energy efficiency, the integration of renewables and the development of electricity interconnections, with the ultimate goal of achieving climate neutrality. The Joint Action Program the two sides adopted in 2022 includes important provisions on the modalities of such cooperation.
For GCC-EU cooperation to happen at the required scale, especially for the private sector to invest significantly in energy transition and climate change mitigation projects, more work needs to be done to enhance energy security and regional security as a whole. Energy security involves the security of supplies, protection of production and export infrastructures and safeguarding of international shipping lanes. Regional security covers more, including cybersecurity, fighting terrorism, tackling organized crime and more. In addition to its unspeakable humanitarian toll, Israel’s war against Gaza has put energy security in jeopardy, as the war in Ukraine did before. The longer the war goes on, the more harm it is inflicting on energy security. Energy production and transport capacity have been affected, as has international shipping. There is also some evidence of capital flight. To maintain energy security, greater international cooperation is needed, including through the Combined Maritime Forces umbrella. Energy security also requires managing the energy transition toward a fully renewable future, so that investment in conventional energy keeps pace with demand. If we fail to do so and renewables are unable to meet the energy needs of consumers, shortages and higher prices will make it difficult to afford energy costs, especially in poor countries and vulnerable communities.
One of the new developments in the GCC-EU partnership is a decision to upgrade security cooperation. The EU has appointed Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s former foreign minister, as its representative to the region, with a focus on regional security and political dialogue. The instruments for this heightened engagement are currently being developed and should help the two sides carry out their joint commitments toward regional security and energy security.
*Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent the GCC. X: @abuhamad1

Americans finally beginning to see through the pro-Israel propaganda
Ray Hanania/Arab News/November 22, 2023
Israel’s government has always enjoyed preferential treatment in the US, despite its many war crimes, its violence and even its killings of American citizens.
The Israeli lobby has managed to dominate the US Congress through decades of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into congressional election campaigns and targeting any voice that not only challenges Israel’s propaganda lies, but also those that try to look at Palestinians and Israelis in a balanced way. It has spent millions funding elaborate trips to Israel for politicians and journalists alike.
The Tel Aviv government’s propaganda machine is relentless in squashing anyone who challenges its biased, one-sided and exaggerated portrayal of the Israel-Palestine conflict, in which it is always the innocent victim while anyone who criticizes Israel is a terrorist.
People who criticize Israel’s government policies are often declared to be antisemitic. Israel has weaponized this term to only narrowly refer to a pernicious hatred of Jews, even though Arabs are Semites themselves. Antisemitism against Arabs is even more frequent in America than it is against Jews but the mainstream news media, which has an affinity-driven bias for Israel, marginalizes antisemitism against Arabs.
The antisemitism weapon has been institutionalized in the US, as it is embedded in laws adopted in nearly 30 states that brand anyone who criticizes Israel as an antisemite and punish them by imposing harsh consequences.
The anti-boycott pledge is one way in which pro-Israel activists ensure that the average American never sees the truth
In many states, such as Arkansas, anybody invited to address students on the Israel-Palestine conflict is required to sign a letter pledging that they do not support a “boycott” of Israel. If they refuse to sign because such a demand is a clear violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which prohibits the passing of any law that abridges the fundamental right of every American to free speech, they are not paid for speaking or reimbursed for their travel or accommodation.
The anti-boycott pledge is one way in which pro-Israel activists ensure that the average American, who has experienced decades of brainwashing and one-sided propaganda, never sees the truth.
What is the truth? That Israel has killed 10 times more civilians during this war than Hamas has. That Israel has killed 400 times more children and babies than Hamas is alleged to have killed on Oct. 7. I say alleged because no independent third-party investigative agency has been allowed to challenge the Israeli government’s assertions.
Israel puts out its “facts” and they are then reported without challenge by the mainstream American news media. When Palestinians issue statements, the media couches them with the caveat that the “claims cannot be verified.”
The Israel-Gaza conflict is not a war. It is a war crime similar to those committed by the US during the Vietnam war, when America’s government lied about the threats it faced in order to justify its conduct, including carpet-bombing the Southeast Asian country.
The fact we are less than a year away from presidential and congressional elections has increased the volume of the anti-Arab lies from candidates who hope to win the support of brainwashed American voters. For example, Nikki Haley, who aims to win the Republican nomination for president, openly called on Israel to continue the carnage and to “finish Hamas.” “Hamas” frequently appears to be used to describe all Palestinians in Gaza. Haley’s rival Ron DeSantis said that not all Palestinians in Gaza are Hamas, but they are “all antisemitic.”
They cannot stop videos and images of their carnage, of dead civilians, from reaching the American public
Other presidential contenders have urged that the US give Israel “whatever it needs” during the war in Gaza — meaning a blank check. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives even voted to give Israel an additional $14.3 billion on top of the nearly $4 billion in funding it gets from the US annually.
The Republicans see Gaza as President Joe Biden’s political Achilles’ heel. Biden’s policy on Gaza and the civilian carnage has been muddled by politics and morality. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is Jewish and whose stepfather was a Holocaust survivor, has acted more like Israel’s secretary of state rather than America’s.
Arab Americans who championed Biden over the anti-Muslim policies of former President Donald Trump are fleeing Biden’s reelection bid. Losing Arab Americans’ support would have the most impact in states where their vote helped defeat Trump, such as Michigan, where the Arab American community has now openly denounced Biden and vowed not to vote for him.
But while Israeli activists dominate the halls of Congress, they are slowly losing the public relations war. Despite all their expensive strategies, lobbying, campaign donations and name-calling, they cannot stop videos and images of their carnage, of dead civilians, from reaching the American public.
Such videos also expose the lies of Israeli military spokespeople, such as when they tried to convince Americans that a calendar written in Arabic and posted on a hospital wall was a schedule for terrorists overseeing the handling of Israeli hostages. And the images of Palestinian children and babies killed or severely injured have shocked the public. While the mainstream American news media only shows videos of Israelis being killed and counters with images of Palestinian buildings being destroyed, social media platforms like TikTok are inundated with more graphic images of Israeli brutality.
Pro-Israel activists have reverted to calling TikTok antisemitic. They have used the same weapon to pressure Elon Musk to censor pro-Palestinian posts on his X platform. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company and, despite calls to shut it down by pro-Israel members of Congress, the platform continues to grow in popularity.
Those TikTok videos seem to be having an impact. Recent polling shows that, while Americans support Israel over the Palestinians, which is natural considering the last 75 years of pro-Israel propaganda, they are also becoming increasingly disgusted by the humanitarian crisis Israel’s assault is causing for civilians.
*Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. Twitter: @RayHanania

Will an Iraqi Front Open in the Hamas-Israel War?
Bilal Wahab, Selin Uysal/The Washington Institute/November 22/2023
The risky tit-for-tat strikes between U.S. and militia forces are one symptom of a wider competition between rival actors in Iraq—one that American and European officials should work together on containing.
Earlier today, an AC-130 gunship reportedly struck Iraqi militia elements near Baghdad after U.S. forces at al-Asad Air Base came under attack, the latest in a series of exchanges since war erupted in Gaza. Both the Biden administration and Iran-backed militias have deliberately limited the scope and lethality of their strikes thus far, and today’s salvo likewise seems aimed at messaging and deterring rather than escalating. Yet the situation still holds significant risk of exploding into something more, whether intentionally or due to errant fire or other miscalculations. The near-daily attacks also highlight the complex domestic political dynamics behind Iraqi responses to the Hamas-Israel war, with many competing actors seeking to exploit the conflict in a way that advances their standing without jeopardizing the power and income they have already acquired.
Reasons for Militia Restraint
Numerous Shia militias are part of the current Iraqi government—a status they reached after years of using their guns, their patronage from the Shia regime in Iran, and their record on fighting the Sunni jihadist forces of the Islamic State to obtain government seats. As with most other Shia militias in the Middle East, they have declared themselves part of Iran’s anti-American, anti-Israeli “axis of resistance,” recently rebranded under the local umbrella name “The Islamic Resistance of Iraq” (a rebranding that, not coincidentally, gives their formal parent organization—the Popular Mobilization Forces, an official Iraqi state organ—more protection from sanctions and legal actions). Since October 18—the day after an explosion at Gaza’s al-Ahli Hospital spread outrage throughout the Arab world—members of the “resistance” have carried out more than sixty drone, rocket, and missile attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq and Syria, including a roadside bombing against a coalition convoy. (For a comprehensive list of these attacks, see The Washington Institute’s regularly updated strike tracker, a product of Militia Spotlight.)
Yet Iraqi militias also have good reason to show restraint. Like their Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, they have become dominant players in the country’s politics, and a full-scale war with the United States would jeopardize their grip on power. Hence, they typically prefer to keep their military activity (if not their rhetoric) against American interests either quiescent or at a low simmer while they continue entrenching themselves in the state and reaping the benefits it provides. This logic long guided the Iran-backed Badr Brigades (rebranded as the Badr Organization) and now seems to apply to Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), one of Iraq’s most radical and politically powerful militias. But not all Iran-backed groups share this view. Most prominently, the U.S.-designated militias Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada believe that attacking American targets more frequently is an effective way to gain an edge over their rivals—though they too are careful about calibrating the intensity and timing of their actions to avoid major retaliation.
Militia restraint also stems from the fact that Shia religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani did not urge armed action when publicly declaring his support for Palestinians on October 11. He is still highly revered by the militias, even though some of them are more likely to follow the diktats of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Moreover, relations between Palestinians in Iraq and pro-Iran militias have a complex and often contentious history, raising questions about the latter’s willingness to take risks for the wider Palestinian cause. The progenitors of today’s militias harassed and attacked Palestinian refugees in the past, seeing them as loyalists to Saddam Hussein. Between 2003 and 2008, the local Palestinian population dropped from 34,000 to about 9,000, partly reflecting this violence.
Reasons for Alarm
The greatest risk of a full-blown Iraqi front lies in the domestic rivalries between Shia groups—not only pro-Iran factions, but also the populist movement headed by Muqtada al-Sadr. Unlike in Lebanon, Iraq’s pro-Iran factions lack a clear leader and have increasingly splintered since 2020, when a U.S. strike killed militia chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and his Iranian handler, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. Today, many of these factions hold key posts in the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. Yet various newer, smaller groups want more power and resources, envying AAH’s rise from a radical armed group to a key political player.
As noted above, these rivalries periodically lead certain groups to carry out more attacks on U.S. targets, and even if the perpetrators do not intend to kill Americans, slip-ups are an ever-present danger. In December 2019, for example, an American was killed by a militia strike on a base in Kirkuk, leading to the cycle of escalation that ended with the United States killing Soleimani and Iran firing missiles at Iraq.
Sadr is another key actor in this competition, which was already heating up before the Gaza war due to Iraq’s upcoming December 18 provincial elections. The raucous cleric has long relied on anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment for political gain. In 2022, for example, his movement pushed to reinforce an existing anti-normalization law by imposing the death penalty on Iraqis found guilty of “collaborating with Israel.”
The current crisis has prompted a comeback of sorts for Sadr, who withdrew from the political scene last year after he won a plurality of seats in parliament but failed to form a government. He remains the only national figure to lead a mass political movement, and he often uses this public sway to issue maximalist demands—more to embarrass Sudani’s government and challenge radical groups on their own ideological turf than to actualize these demands. For instance, he has repeatedly called for an end to the U.S. military presence and the closure of the American embassy, even asking his supporters to take to the streets amid Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s November 5 visit to Iraq. Both he and the militia leadership also issued separate calls for mass protests last month near the border with Jordan, meaning “as close to Israel as possible.” Sadr’s followers did gather a large crowd; the militias, not so much (though both apparently achieved their side goal of unnerving Amman). Previously, Sadr’s followers stormed the Swedish embassy this summer to protest a Quran burning incident in Stockholm, essentially bullying Sudani’s government into saving face by expelling the Swedish ambassador.
Indeed, in this environment of factions trying to “out-radical” each other, the pro-Iran establishment governing the country may have no choice but to adopt tougher rhetoric. On October 30, Hadi al-Ameri of the Badr Organization issued a statement calling for the withdrawal of the global coalition against the Islamic State, contending that the threat no longer justified a foreign military presence. Although such statements may not lead to any practical steps by the government, they could create a more permissive environment for anti-Western violence.
Policy Implications
The Biden administration has taken a mixed approach to the current upsurge in militia attacks. Prior to today’s AC-130 strike near Baghdad, each of Washington’s responses to attacks on U.S. facilities occurred in Syria, not Iraq, in line with the administration’s desire to avoid destabilizing a U.S. partner. This approach mirrored the militias’ own strategy—realizing the higher stakes of conducting attacks at home, they have focused most of their recent strikes in Syria, where they are far more keen on actually bringing about a U.S. withdrawal.
On November 17, the United States issued new sanctions against Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and several Kataib Hezbollah figures, in a largely symbolic move that was widely anticipated after weeks of attacks. Besides sending a pointed message to the militias, however, such sanctions will have little practical effect. These groups and their leaders have little exposure to the American financial system, and sanctions do not prevent them from participating in the Iraqi political system either, as shown by AAH’s prominent role in the current government.
Perhaps as a nod to Sudani’s restraint, Washington also recently issued waivers allowing the government to purchase Iranian natural gas and electricity. These are extensions of existing waivers, under which Baghdad can deposit payments into an Iranian account at the Trade Bank of Iraq. The sum accrued since the relevant sanctions were imposed stands at $10 billion; whether or not Iran will be permitted to actually access the deposited funds is a different story. (Notably, the Trump administration issued these waivers as well, albeit often shortened to thirty days instead of sixty—a limitation that did little to break Iraq’s dependence on Iranian energy supplies.)
Closer coordination with European countries is critical as well—the Iraqi bases being targeted include troops from other coalition member states, and French Special Forces sergeant Nicolas Mazier was tragically killed during an operation against Islamic State elements in Kirkuk just a few weeks ago. Greater intelligence sharing about the complex Iraqi militia scene would be particularly welcome. Moreover, some of these countries have active embassies in Tehran and greater access to key figures in the pro-Iran establishment who are shunned by the U.S. government. All of these outlets can be used to complement Washington’s diplomatic and deterrent messages. During the current crisis, for example, France has publicly stepped forward via engagement with Hezbollah, the principal proxy in Iran’s “axis of resistance.”
Ultimately, however, the pragmatism and restraint exhibited by various Iraqi actors should not be viewed as anything more than tactical and short term. Washington’s main strategic goal remains the same: to strengthen the Iraqi state and weaken the militias.
*Bilal Wahab is the Wagner Fellow at The Washington Institute. Selin Uysal is a 2023-24 visiting fellow at the Institute, in residence from the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.