Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 03-04/2024
Elias Bejjani/Video & Text: The Terrorist, jihadist and Iranian Hezbollah was the one that targeted The UNIFIL Patrol with an explosive device last Saturday in the outskirts of the town of Rmeish/Elias Bejjani/April 04/2024
Lebanese and Israeli armies say Rmeish incident caused by bomb
Tenenti: UNIFIL peacekeepers’ activities persist despite increased tensions
Commemoration Of The Zahle City siege: Heroism and Martyrdom/Elias Bejjani/April 02/2023
UNIFIL patrols continue in southern Lebanon to ‘calm the situation’
Rai: “No Legitimacy for Any Authority That Undermines Coexistence”
The Repercussions of the Gaza War on Hezbollah
South Lebanon: Heavy Israeli Shelling Continues
‘Assets Ill-Acquired’: Mikati Contests Complaints Lodged in France
Report: Communication ongoing between Hochstein, Ain el-Tineh
Blinken says US, France 'coordinating closely' on Lebanon
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Cyprus asks EU to get Lebanon to stop migrants from leaving its shores
Tajadod on Municipal Elections: Military Situation in South Is an Unjustifiable Pretext
The Achrafieh Crime: The Housekeeper, the Mastermind of the Operation
Kataeb Warns Against Turning Beirut Into a Platform for Terrorist Organizations
Abou Faour to TIB: We Should Find a Way to Implement Resolution 1701
US provides more than $67 mn in additional humanitarian assistance in Lebanon
UNRWA launches $415.4 mn appeal for Palestine Refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan
AUB and UNIDO: Empowering Lebanon's transition to a circular economy
Assaad Hariri visits Patriarch Rahi in Bkerke, offers Easter well-wishes
One History Book for Lebanon, an Impossibility/Rami Rayess/This is Beirut/April 03/2024
Sayyed Nasrallah Addresses Al-Quds Platform: Al-Aqsa Flood Has Shaken Israeli Occupation Entity
Hezbollah Brigades threatens to train 12,000 Jordanians to battle Israel/Joe Truzman and Bill Roggio/ FDD's Long War Journal/April 3, 2024
Lebanon Is Its Own Enemy/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 03/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 03-04/2024
Israel’s War Cabinet Minister calls for election in six months
Palestinian Ministry of Health: 32,975 martyrs in ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since last October
Hamas sticking to ceasefire conditions including Israeli Gaza pullout
Palestinians should seek statehood through direct talks, not at UN, US says
Israeli AI used to identify 37,000 targets in Gaza
Return of displaced Gazans key issue blocking truce deal: Qatar PM
Jews and Muslims face rising discrimination in wake of Gaza war
U.S. Aid Experts Warn of ‘Unprecedented’ Spread of Hunger in Gaza: Report
Canadian man killed providing aid in Gaza was a military veteran with a young son
Halting arms sales to Israel would ‘send powerful message’, says former diplomat
'Outraged' Biden says Israel 'not done enough' to protect aid workers in Gaza
Strike on Gaza aid group putting Poland-Israel ties 'to the test'
UN rights council to consider call for Israel arms embargo
Bye, bye Bibi: Netanyahu branded 'traitor' in fourth night of protests
UN suspends aid movements at night in Gaza
Muslim leaders reject chance to break bread with Biden as anger over Gaza grows
Iran wants to punish Israel for the killing of its commanders. But its options are limited
Many Iranian options to retaliate against Israel, but all carry risk
Iran supreme leader says Israel will ‘be slapped’ for consulate strike
Iran’s Raisi vows response to Damascus consulate strike
‘Reckless’ Houthi Red Sea campaign harming Yemenis, Palestinians: US special envoy
Islamic State-linked fighters kill at least a dozen civilians in eastern Congo
Russia's security head says the US shares blame for a concert hall attack that killed

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 03-04/2024
Khaled Meshaal… Is Neither The First Nor The Last/Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 03/2024
Three questions about the recent attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and its implications/Dr. Elie Abouaoun/strategy International/April 03/2024
Jordan…and the Alternative Front/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 03/2024
Strike against Iran in Damascus: How Iran plans to retaliate/Mounir RabihL'Orient-Le Jour/April 03/2024
Iran-US secret backchannel talks suggest that for both sides pragmatism beats ideology/Shabnam Holliday/The Conversation/Wed, April 3, 2024
Biden Must End Qatar's Malign Role in Gaza Ceasefire Talks and Pier/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/April 3, 2024
UN Called to Respond to Sharia Violence Against Women/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/March 25, 2024
Iran’s Grand Plan: Bring Down The Jordanian Regime, Attack Israel From The East, And Thwart The Western-Sunni Normalization Project – And This Could Begin This Friday, Iran’s Qods Day/ Ayelet Savyon/ MEMRI/April 03/2024
Tehran likely to rely on proxies to respond to Damascus attack/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/April 03/2024/Dr. Abdulaziz Sager/Arab News/April 03/2024
How Israel and Its Allies Lost Global Credibility/Yasmeen Serhan/Time/ April 3, 2024
Israel-Iran: The Strategy of Patience/Michel Touma/This is Beirut/April 03/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 03-04/2024
Elias Bejjani/Video & Text: The Terrorist, jihadist and Iranian Hezbollah was the one that targeted The UNIFIL Patrol with an explosive device last Saturday in the outskirts of the town of Rmeish
Elias Bejjani/April 04/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128473/128473/
Last Saturday, the town of Rmeish fell victim to an explosive device planted by the terrorist, jihadist, and Iranian-backed Hezbollah. This cowardly act targeted innocent civilians, demonstrating Hezbollah's disregard for human life.
It is regrettable that Abdullah Bouhabib, the foreign minister of occupied Lebanon, along with other officials in the Al-Mikati government, choose to serve as mere mouthpieces for Hezbollah. Their attempts to cover up Hezbollah's crimes and hastily blame Israel are baseless and irresponsible.
In the aftermath of the incident, there were erroneous accusations against Israel by certain elements within the government and so-called "resistance" groups. However, investigations conducted by UNIFIL and the Lebanese army have revealed the truth. It was not an attack from Israel but rather an explosive device planted by Hezbollah that caused the injuries to the UNIFIL patrol.
Israel, rightfully, pointed fingers at Hezbollah for this cowardly act. Avichay Adraee, spokesman for the Israeli army, stated that the explosion in Rmeish was caused by an explosive device planted by Hezbollah. UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti reiterated the importance of peacekeeping efforts in the region and affirmed UNIFIL's commitment to reducing tensions.
It is imperative that the international community condemns Hezbollah's actions and holds them accountable for their terrorist activities. The people of Rmeish deserve justice, and Hezbollah must be brought to justice for their heinous crimes against humanity.

Background
Lebanese and Israeli armies say Rmeish incident caused by bomb
Agence France Presse/April 3, 2024
The Lebanese Army’s investigations determined that the blast that hit a U.N. military observers patrol in Rmeish on Saturday was caused by an explosive device planted underground, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday. Israel's military meanwhile said Wednesday it had obtained information that indicated a Hezbollah explosive charge caused the blast. "According to information available to the (army), the explosion that occurred on March 30... was caused after a UNIFIL patrol drove over a charge that had been previously placed by Hezbollah in the area," it said. An ongoing investigation by the Lebanese Army has meanwhile found that the three U.N. military observers and the Lebanese interpreter were wounded by a "landmine," a Lebanese judicial official said Wednesday. "Preliminary results of a Lebanese Army investigation have found that the observers were wounded by a landmine," the official told AFP, adding that the probe was continuing and the source of the mine had yet to be determined. “The patrol’s members decided to park the two vehicles and get out of them minutes before the explosion, seeing as an Israeli drone was flying at a low altitude over the patrol, which prompted the Lebanese interpreter to suggest to the Australian officer that they return and don’t advance further. However, the officer ordered the members to dismount the vehicles and continue the patrol on foot,” al-Akhbar quoted an informed source as saying, based on preliminary testimonies given by the patrol’s members. “The Australian and the Lebanese advanced towards the forest, followed by the Norwegian and the Chilean, as the Swiss officer stayed near the two vehicles. Amid the low-altitude hovering of the drone, a blast went off among the four, severely wounding the Chilean and Norwegian officers in the chest, face and eyes, while the injuries of the Australian officer and Lebanese interpreter were minor,” the source added. The source quoted the Swiss, Australian and Lebanese nationals as saying in their initial testimonies that the Israeli drone had fired a missile at them. “On the same day, a joint UNIFIL-Lebanese Army patrol headed to the blast site and the preliminary inspection determined that the blast resulted from a drone’s missile. But the field inspection carried out by the army the next day determined that the explosion was caused by an anti-personnel explosive device,” al-Akhbar added.

Tenenti: UNIFIL peacekeepers’ activities persist despite increased tensions
NNA/April 3, 2024
UNIFIL reiterated on Wednesday that the UN peacekeepers are continuing their work on the ground to de-escalate tension. “Despite increased tensions, our dedicated peacekeepers persist on the ground,” UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in remarks to the National News Agency (NNA). “We continue to carry out our activities, including patrols, and our essential work with the parties to de-escalate and reduce tension in the area,” Tenenti confirmed.

Commemoration Of The Zahle City siege: Heroism and Martyrdom
Elias Bejjani/April 02/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/117073/elias-bejjani-commemoration-of-the-zahle-city-siege-heroism-and-martyrdom/
Any country whose people are not always ready to offer themselves as sacrifices on its altar will lose its sovereignty, and they will turn into humiliated slaves.
In this context of heroism and resistance, and under the leadership of Sheikh Bashir Gemayel, the great people of Zahle city, supported by all the free people of Lebanon, uttered a loud blatant and resounding NO to the Syrian occupation Army. On April 02/1981, the Lebanese resistance stood tall like their country’s Holy Cedars and challenged the Syrian occupier’s terror, criminality, and barbarism. The Lebanese resistance did not succumb, but courageously defended Zahle City and defeated the occupier’s criminal siege.
The people of Zahle stood firm and defended their city, and its besieged residents with ferocity, pride and faith, while offering hundreds of martyrs. They heroically sad NO, to the barbaric Syrian Baathist armed attack, and because of their devotion and sacrifices Zahle City remained and is still remains free and proud.
About Christ’s salvation and crucifixion, Saint Paul wrote in his letter to the Hebrews/02/09: “But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone”.
As Jesus has tasted death for everyone, the Zahle City martyrs offered themselves on Lebanon’s alter to keep it a free, independent and sovereign holy country.
In this same realm of faith and sacrifice, and as the seeds parable teaches us in the holy Bible, John 12/24/: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”, the Zahle City martyrs died so the people of Lebanon will multiply and live in deeply rooted faith values, love pride and dignity.
In contemplating the death of Christ and its holy Godly messages, we can accept death and transcend its unjust causes, hoping for its sublime purpose. Meanwhile it enables us to understand and accept the death of our martyrs in the city of Zahle, and in all of our dear and beloved Lebanon so we can overcome its unjust causes in order to reach its honorable goal, which is maintaining a free, holy and independent Lebanon.
The martyrs of Zahle, like Christ, had to taste death, and they did so for the good of all of us, the Lebanese loving peace and freedom people. They were martyred in order for us to remain as free Lebanese, and the city of Zahle to remain, free.
On the evening of April 2, 1981, Sheikh Bashir Gemayel addressed the resistance fighters in Zahle via the phone and delegated to them the sole decision to continue the resistance or to leave the city, and he said: “Because the road is still open for only a few hours, if you leave, you will save your lives, and the fall of the city becomes an inevitable reality, and this constitutes the end of the resistance epic.” and if you stay, you will find yourselves without water, without medicine, without food, without ammunition, and your task will be to organize the internal resistance and preserve the identity of the Lebanese Bekaa, and give meaning to our six years of war. And he added: “If you decide to stay, then know one thing, which is that heroes die and do not surrender.” Everyone replied, “We will stay,” and the slogan was born, and Zahle remained free, and Lebanon remained.
In conclusion, faith, heroism and martyrdom defeated the Zahle City Syrian siege, and Lebanon remained a free country.

UNIFIL patrols continue in southern Lebanon to ‘calm the situation’
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/April 03, 2024
BEIRUT: Peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon are present on the ground in the south of the country “despite the escalation in tensions” between Israel and Hezbollah, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said on Wednesday.
He added that UNIFIL continues “to carry out its activities, including patrols, and continues its main work with the parties to calm the situation and reduce tensions in the region.” On Tuesday UNIFIL declared that its patrols in southern Lebanon would cease temporarily. The decision was made while the international forces’ command investigated an incident on Saturday in which two vehicles carrying four officers were targeted in a valley near the border town of Rmeish. The officers, who were from Australia, Switzerland, Norway and Chile, along with a Lebanese translator, suffered injuries, some of which were serious. Lebanon accused Israel of the attack. While UNIFIL said it was “still in the process of collecting evidence,” reports from Lebanon’s media on Wednesday suggested that a field investigation by the Lebanese Army indicated that the explosion was caused by an anti-personnel device, and not an Israeli drone bombing as previously thought. The investigation showed that “the package is a leftover of the Israeli enemy, as the entire area is full of enemy remnants as a result of the recent Israeli aggression.” Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper that is close to Hezbollah, reported the news citing an “informed source,” but did not explain how the device exploded. It said that “there was also a mine 15 meters (49 feet, 2 inches) away from the site of the explosion,” and pointed out that the UNIFIL patrol “did not inform the Lebanese Army of its intention to conduct a patrol within the framework of coordination between them.”
Israel has accused Hezbollah of causing the explosion. Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesperson, announced on X that “according to the information available to the (army),” the incident was caused by the detonation of an explosive device. “The device had previously been planted by Hezbollah in this area.”
Hezbollah carried out military attacks on Israeli army bases on Wednesday.  They claimed in a statement to have “targeted the Al-Rahib site and a group of Israeli soldiers nearby using missile weapons. This was in response to Israeli attacks on civilian homes, including the recent incident in the southern border town of Yarin where a woman named Alia Abdel Karim was injured during an Israeli raid.”
Hezbollah also targeted “a new command center located in the Pranit barracks.”
The Israeli media said: “A number of rockets were fired from southern Lebanon toward an Israeli army position in Har Dov.” Heavy Israeli artillery fire targeting southern towns resumed, hitting the outskirts of Naqoura, Jabal Al-Labouneh, Alma Al-Shaab, Al-Dhahira, and valleys near Shehin and Tayr Harfa.
The bombing was accompanied by reconnaissance aircraft flying over Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, while warplanes attacked the villages of Hebbariye and Kfar Hamam in the Arqoub area. The Israeli army also said that it “fired 60 phosphorus shells, 20 heavy artillery shells, and 20 (other) shells directly at the town of Aita Al-Shaab and attacked Ramyah with five phosphorus shells.” Hezbollah, meanwhile, was mourning one of its members, Hassan Ibrahim Alloul, who was from the town of Saskikiyah in southern Lebanon. Alloul died in a bombing attack on the town of Blida.

Rai: “No Legitimacy for Any Authority That Undermines Coexistence”
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai declared that any authority that does not uphold and respect the founding principles of the Lebanese state, including coexistence, equality, public freedoms and respect of the constitution, is illegitimate.
Speaking on the occasion of Annunciation Day on Wednesday, Rai denounced “the torpedoing of the Constitution for personal ends, as is the case with the presidential elections.” He lamented the fact that the presidential deadline “is being hijacked for personal and sectarian considerations, without taking into account the disintegration of the state and the rampant poverty.” “The Lebanese society is in a state of division, conflict, hostilities, and lack of trust, due to the hegemony of some, and their obstruction of the provisions of the Constitution to serve their own interests,” Rai added. He denounced practices that run counter to Article 9 of the Constitution, which guarantees respect and free exercise of all religions and confessions, provided that they do not undermine public order, stressing the separation of religion and state under the Constitution. Still referring to the Constitution, Rai said it guarantees “cultural and religious pluralism” in line with the 1943 National Pact, which was upheld by the Taif Accords in 1989 and introduced into the Constitution in 1990, stressing that “any authority that contradicts this pact is not legitimate.”

The Repercussions of the Gaza War on Hezbollah
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
A Hezbollah official has expressed “discomfort and exasperation” over the aggravating developments in South Lebanon in view of the “unimaginable damage” that the region has sustained since the pro-Iranian party opened its so-called “support front” for Gaza on October 8. The official’s frustration with what is happening in the South was conveyed to a political figure from the (pro-Hezbollah) March 8 camp. Hezbollah is reportedly preventing the media from transmitting the true extent of the destruction in the South. Close circles reveal that party officials are preparing a study and assessment of the substantial damage as a prelude to procuring the funds to assist people when they return to their homes and livelihoods. It has become clear, according to Hezbollah officials, that the party’s popularity within its environment has declined, after it has become evident that opening the southern front against Israel did not have a positive effect on the war, nor did it serve Gaza. It rather resulted in vast destruction and proved that Israel commands a military technology superior to Hezbollah’s.

South Lebanon: Heavy Israeli Shelling Continues
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
Southern Lebanon witnessed a heavy exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel on Wednesday morning and throughout the previous night. In the morning, the Israeli fired several heavy artillery shells on the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura, Jabal al-Labbouneh, Alma al-Shaab, Dhayra, Aita al-Shaab and Ramya, as well as the valleys surrounding Chihine and Tayr Harfa. Additionally, heavy reconnaissance flights flew over the villages of Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts. The Israeli army also fired around 60 phosphorus shells, 40 artillery shells, among which 20 heavy artillery shells on Aita al-Shaab. Israel also targeted Ramya with five phosphorus shells. Israeli Channel 12 announced that at least five rockets were fired from Lebanon, all of which landed in open areas. Overnight, reconnaissance aircraft flew over the villages of the western and central sectors, firing flares over the border villages adjacent to the Blue Line.
For its part, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a missile attack on the al-Raheb position, as well as for a gathering of Israeli soldiers near the area. The pro-Iranian group also announced that it had targeted a military position near the Branit barracks.
On another hand, four days after last Saturday’s explosion on the outskirts of Rmeish, which injured four members of the UNTSO (The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization), Israel denied any involvement in the incident. On Wednesday morning, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee held Hezbollah responsible. In a statement published on the platform X, he announced that “according to the information available to the Israeli army, the explosion that took place on March 30 in Rmeish was due to an explosive device that Hezbollah had previously placed in the area.”
#عاجل حسب المعلومات المتوفرة لدى جيش الدفاع فالانفجار الذي وقع السبت الماضي (30/3) في #رميش والذي أسفر عن إصابة عدد من عناصر قوات اليونيفيل الدولية ناجم عن تعرض دورية #اليونيفيل لتفجير عبوة ناسفة كان قد زرعها #حزب_الله في هذه المنطقة سابقًا pic.twitter.com/lnK4br5isc
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) April 3, 2024
Earlier last night, at around 10:15 PM, Israeli warplanes carried out an aerial aggression during which they launched an air raid targeting the vicinity of the mosque in the town of Ainata in the Bint Jbeil district. Several airstrikes also targeted the area between Aitaroun and Blida.

‘Assets Ill-Acquired’: Mikati Contests Complaints Lodged in France
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
Two associations filed a complaint on Tuesday in France to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) against caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, accusing him of fraudulently building up assets in the country, a source close to the case told AFP on Wednesday. “We—Najib Mikati and the members of the family—have always acted in strict compliance with the law,” he retorted in a statement issued by his press office, claiming to have “received information that a large-scale campaign will be launched against him as of tomorrow (Thursday), in local and foreign media.” He indicated that “the campaign has been prepared through journalistic questions received by the press office.” “The origin of our family assets is entirely transparent, legitimate and in accordance with the law,” he insisted. The complaint was filed by two French civil society groups campaigning against corruption. “Najib Mikati is believed to have acquired various real estate assets in France and abroad via multiple structures and through extremely large financial transfers with, in particular, his brother Taha Mikati,” according to the two associations. The complaint targets the offenses of money laundering, receiving stolen goods or aiding and abetting, in addition to criminal conspiracy, all committed as part of an organized group—an aggravating circumstance. The caretaker Prime Minister, who made his fortune in telecommunications, “is for the Lebanese public, along with his brother Taha and all those close to them, the embodiment of the clientelism and conflict of interest that have led Lebanon to its downfall,” write the plaintiffs, noting that “since the mid-1990s, corruption has been intimately linked to the functioning of the state.”Children of the Mikati brothers are also targeted as potential receivers of the allegedly laundered money. The Serail press release, which refutes all allegations of corruption against Mikati and his family, stresses that the latter has “not received any complaint, through the justice system or its lawyers, concerning the charges mentioned in the media.”

Report: Communication ongoing between Hochstein, Ain el-Tineh
Naharnet/April 3, 2024 
Direct and indirect communication is still ongoing between U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein and Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a diplomatic source said. The source added, in remarks to the Nidaa al-Watan daily, that “the pending point is the Israeli insistence on a step-by-step approach in the implementation of Resolution 1701, which stands for a gradual implementation.”“This means that the Israeli side wants to negotiate over the implementation of every article of the resolution’s articles, which indicates that it wants to waste time and this might take years. This is rejected by Lebanon, seeing as what’s needed is to implement the resolution in one batch and without any scheduling,” the source added.

Blinken says US, France 'coordinating closely' on Lebanon
Naharnet/April 3, 2024 
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that France and the United States are “working everyday together” to avoid a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. “A conflict about which we are convinced neither the Israelis, neither Hezbollah, neither Lebanon want, or neither Iran,” Blinken added, during a joint press conference in Paris with his French counterpart Stéphane Séjourné. “We’re coordinating closely when it comes to Lebanon and trying to prevent any spread of the conflict there, finding a diplomatic way forward,” Blinken added. Séjourné for his part said that Paris is seeking to prevent “any regional escalation.”“I have in mind Lebanon. France made proposals that were favorably received by our Lebanese partners. And I will continue to talk to all interested stakeholders, and all stakeholders shall prevent any escalation,” he added.

Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Naharnet/April 3, 2024 
The Israeli army shelled Wednesday border towns in south Lebanon after Hezbollah targeted a post in northern Israel, reportedly inflicting casualties. Hezbollah said it targeted the al-Raheb post and a group of soldiers around it, triggering a heavy shelling of the southern border town of Aita al-Shaab.
Israeli artillery and tanks shelled with more than a hundred heavy shells and phosphorus bombs the southern border towns of Aita al-Shaab and Ramia, Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar said. Later in the day, Hezbollah targeted a "clandestine command center" in the Biranit post and a group of soldiers in Khellet Wardeh while Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on al-Hebbarieh and the outskirts of kfarhamam in the Arkoub region. Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly six months ago, Hezbollah has stepped up attacks, leading to near daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel.Hezbollah, which has a powerful arsenal of rockets and missiles, says its attacks on Israel are in support of the embattled residents in Gaza and Hamas.

Cyprus asks EU to get Lebanon to stop migrants from leaving its shores
Associated Press/April 3, 2024
The president of Cyprus has said that he has personally asked the head of the European Union's executive arm to intercede with Lebanese authorities to stop boatloads of Syrian refugees from heading to the east Mediterranean island nation. President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters that Lebanon is the beneficiary of significant EU financial aid for both its own citizens and for the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees it continues to host, but that doesn't come without strings attached. "This aid can't be given while we have to deal with this issue," Christodoulides said, adding that he personally spoke with EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen. In the last 48 hours, more than 350 migrants and asylum seekers, almost exclusively Syrian nationals, arrived in Cyprus by boat, according to Cypriot government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis. It's believed more boatloads of migrants are on their way. Last month, some 450 Syrian migrants aboard six boats were spotted off the southeastern coast of Cyprus within a 24-hour span. All six boats had departed from Lebanon. "It's not only the Republic of Cyprus but the EU itself that is facing a serious problem, given these phenomena we have seen in recent days," Christodoulides said. The EU is willing to give Lebanon more money to cope with the huge number of refugees it hosts, but "for this thing to happen, Lebanon shouldn't allow migrants to leave and come to Cyprus," he added. The Cypriot president also said the recent seaborne influx of Syrian migrants has put Cyprus back into "crisis mode" despite managing in recent months to repatriate more migrants who had their asylum applications rejected than those arriving. Christodoulides chaired an ad-hoc meeting of top police and government officials Tuesday in an effort to come up with ways of dealing with the sudden migrant influx. He said his government could adopt additional, temporary measures designed to help authorities cope with the influx that may not be "liked" by Cypriots. He did not elaborate. Meanwhile, Cyprus said a government proposal to enable repatriations of Syrian refugees by designating specific areas within the country as safe zones is "gaining ground" among the island nation's fellow EU member states. Justice Minister Constantinos Ioannou said that given the potential risk of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza engulfing Lebanon and other Middle Eastern states, it's incumbent on the EU to reach a collective decision on Syria.

Tajadod on Municipal Elections: Military Situation in South Is an Unjustifiable Pretext
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
The Tajadod parliamentary bloc addressed on Wednesday “the danger posed by extending the terms of municipal and mayoral councils for the third time,” clarifying that “the military situation in the South is an unjustifiable pretext that does not prevent the holding of these elections in other Lebanese regions, with a later date set for those municipalities and cities where it is currently impossible to complete the electoral process.” “Under no circumstances should there be recourse to a third extension of municipal terms, contrary to the Constitution, which constitutes a new assault on our democratic system,” the statement added. Furthermore, it stated that the Tajadod bloc “will be at the forefront of opposing this step, demanding that the presidency of the Parliament, parliamentary blocs and MPs refrain from covering up such a crime.” The bloc called on the government “to declare a partial state of emergency in the South, as it previously did in Beirut following the August 4 explosion in the port,” adding, “In this case, local administration falls under the authority of the army. In such a situation, municipal elections can be held in other provinces, with elections in the South postponed until the state of emergency is lifted.”Moreover, the parliamentary bloc commended “the firmness expressed by the Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, and the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Rai, regarding the election of a president, the resumption of institutional work and safeguarding Lebanon’s sovereignty through the implementation of the Constitution and international resolutions, notably Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701.” “This protects Lebanon from the danger of widening the destructive war, restores the state’s sovereignty over its territory and borders and initiates the political and economic rescue process awaited by the Lebanese people, away from futile wars fought on behalf of others, which Lebanon pays a high price for, without even contributing to supporting the Palestinian cause,” the statement reads. In another matter, it condemned “the attack on a patrol of international emergency forces in Rmeish,” calling for “a transparent investigation to determine the responsible party.”

The Achrafieh Crime: The Housekeeper, the Mastermind of the Operation
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
The four suspected burglars and murderers of Monday’s crime in Achrafieh were arrested by the police in the Bekaa region on Wednesday. They are the housekeeper and her accomplices, three young men, all of Syrian nationality. Nazih Turk, a senior resident in a wheelchair, was killed and his wife severely beaten during the burglary of their apartment in the Sioufi district of Achrafieh. According to the initial investigation, the burglars had entered the apartment with the help of the housekeeper. They fled after stealing money, jewelry and gold. According to local television channel MTV, citing security sources, the domestic employee, hired in March for a one-month renewable contract through an employment agency that operated without a permit, was “the brains of the operation.” According to the same sources, the burglary had been “carefully thought out and premeditated” by the latter with the help of her accomplices, originally from Aleppo and based in the Palestinian Shatila camp in Beirut.

Kataeb Warns Against Turning Beirut Into a Platform for Terrorist Organizations
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
The Kataeb political bureau led by MP Samy Gemayel warned against Lebanon being utilized as a “platform for retaliatory operations and settling regional scores” while commenting on the ongoing war in Gaza. “Such actions could deepen Lebanon’s involvement in a conflict vehemently rejected by its people, who see it as contrary to their national interests,” the statement added after the party meeting on Wednesday. It also warned against turning Beirut into “a platform for the capitals of Iran’s axis, headquarters for terrorist organizations and a platform for leaders of Iranian-affiliated militias.”Moreover, MP Samy Gemayel highlighted that pulling Lebanon out of its current situation requires concerted international efforts, as Hezbollah’s strength comes from Iran and the funding it provides. “This confirms that Lebanon’s problem is not local and requires international solutions,” he added in an interview with Radio France International (RFI). He stressed the need for the international community to exert necessary pressure to enforce international resolutions, especially Resolution 1559, which calls for disarming militias, as well as Resolution 1701. On another note, the Kataeb party viewed with concern the security deterioration and the spread of killings and violence in many Lebanese areas, from Tripoli to Beirut, the latest being in Achrafieh. The party considered that the situation requires exceptional and stringent security measures to be taken by security services, with visible and public deployment in neighborhoods and roads to compensate for the absence of the state, which could push citizens towards arbitrary choices.

Abou Faour to TIB: We Should Find a Way to Implement Resolution 1701
This is Beirut/April 03/2024
Following Wednesday’s meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Committee, MP Wael Abou Faour reiterated the importance of the implementation of Resolution 1701 in South Lebanon, adding that Lebanon needs work out a truce agreement before looking to anyone else in the region.

US provides more than $67 mn in additional humanitarian assistance in Lebanon
Naharnet/April 3, 2024 
The United States government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing more than $67 million in additional urgently needed humanitarian assistance for vulnerable populations in Lebanon. This brings the total USAID humanitarian assistance to Lebanon to over $157 million since Fiscal Year 2023. "Lebanon’s protracted economic, financial, and humanitarian crises have led lead to acute levels of food insecurity and critical healthcare needs nationwide," the U.S. embassy in Beirut said Wednesday in a statement.
"These needs arise from highly inflated prices for food, fuel, and basic commodities; loss of livelihoods; and the departure of medical personnel," the statement said. The statement added that the regional impact of the ongoing crisis in Gaza has further exacerbated humanitarian needs in Lebanon. "Insecurity in southern Lebanon has prompted USAID partners to mobilize existing resources to meet urgent humanitarian assistance needs among the more than 91,000 individuals who have been internally displaced since October 2023."The U.S. embassy went on to say that this newly announced funding enables USAID humanitarian partners to continue providing life-saving aid, including emergency food assistance and nutritional support; emergency health care; humanitarian protection and psychosocial support; and water, sanitation, and hygiene services. "This additional humanitarian assistance enables our partner, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), to maintain monthly food assistance to vulnerable communities in Lebanon during a period of dwindling resources and persistent needs among the most vulnerable. This funding has allowed WFP to sustain the flow of vital assistance for several months, reaching over 500,000 individuals, of whom over 200,000 are Lebanese citizens. With this assistance, USAID partners -- International Medical Corps and Relief International -- will also continue to support more than 141,000 individuals through 13 primary health care clinics across Lebanon and provide home-based healthcare for patients unable to access clinics." The U.S. embassy added that the United States remains committed to delivering critical humanitarian assistance to those in need across Lebanon. However, escalating needs are outpacing the resources available to address them. While USAID support has been instrumental in saving lives and alleviating suffering among the most vulnerable, including by providing more than $202 million to WFP for food assistance to vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugees in 2022 and 2023 alone, humanitarian conditions will continue to deteriorate, the embassy said. Subsequently, relief agencies’ ability to sustain current recipient caseloads will continue to decline without additional funding. The embassy therefore urgently called on other donors to join it in stepping up efforts "to meet these pressing needs and prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon.

UNRWA launches $415.4 mn appeal for Palestine Refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan
Naharnet/April 3, 2024 
UNRWA urged Wednesday its partners to continue supporting Palestine Refugees in Syria, and those who have fled to neighboring Lebanon and Jordan as a result of the 13-year conflict in Syria. The Agency is appealing for US$ 415.4 million to support its chronically underfunded operations in these three countries. “We must continue to support Palestine Refugees affected by the 13-year-long Syria crisis. While the horror unfolding in Gaza is consuming most of our attention, humanitarian needs in other crisis-affected areas of operations should not be overlooked,” said Natalie Boucly, UNRWA’s Deputy Commissioner-General for Programmes and Partnerships, who launched the appeal in Beirut. UNRWA has a long-standing humanitarian assistance program to mitigate the worst effects of the conflict in Syria on Palestine Refugees, and to address the deteriorating socio-economic conditions of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Palestine Refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. With funds received through this appeal, UNRWA said it will continue cash and in-kind food assistance, together with health care, education, technical and vocational training. Despite the growing needs, funding for UNRWA’s emergency appeals for Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan decreased over recent years, with a dramatic fall to only 27 per cent coverage in 2023. In 2021, just over half of the funding was covered, while it went down to 40 per cent in 2022.“UNRWA’s overall funding situation remains precarious, especially given the challenges it has faced since the conflict in Gaza started. With significant funding gaps impeding its ability to implement its mandate, UNRWA will soon struggle to maintain the level of humanitarian assistance it can provide, and that level is already at minimum,” said Natalie Boucly. “As the Palestine Refugee community faces even greater existential challenges across the region, UNRWA’s role has never been more vital,” she added. Amid Lebanon’s continued economic crisis, poverty rates among Palestine Refugees there are around 80 per cent. Their pressing needs have outpaced UNRWA’s ability to respond and mitigate their lack of access to basic services. At least 168,000 Palestine Refugees in Lebanon rely on the Agency for emergency, multi-purpose cash distribution to improve food security and cover basic living expenses. Rising tensions on Lebanon's southern border are raising fears within the Palestine Refugee community, in particular for those residing in the 12 refugee camps across the country. Last year, heavy violence among Palestinian factions in Ein El Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestine Refugee camp, had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of the community, damaged UNRWA schools and forced the Agency to set up temporary facilities outside the camp for thousands of students. Palestine Refugees from Syria face even more difficult circumstances, due to expiring civil documentation and an inability to obtain residency and employment permits, leading to a near total dependency on UNRWA’s cash assistance for rent and food.
UNRWA says its appeal aims to help meet basic needs including cash assistance for food, rent and winterization for 23,200 Palestine Refugees from Syria and 144,000 other Palestine Refugees in Lebanon, as well as emergency health and education in emergencies.

AUB and UNIDO: Empowering Lebanon's transition to a circular economy
Naharnet /April 3, 2024
In a significant stride towards advancing sustainable practices in Lebanon's food industry, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the American University of Beirut (AUB) embarked on a pioneering collaboration, marked by the launch of the Private Sector Transition to Green and Circular Economy in Lebanon project. "This underscores a shared commitment to fostering resource efficiency, cleaner production, and ultimately, a circular economy in Lebanon," the American University of Beirut said in a statement.
"With the backing of key stakeholders, including national ministries, industry associations, and academic institutions, this initiative promises to be a cornerstone in Lebanon's journey towards sustainable development."
Background
In December 2023, UNIDO signed a contract with the Office of Business Development at AUB, for the provision of training and technical assistance services aimed at advancing sustainable practices within Lebanon's food industry.
Central to this effort is the application of UNIDO's methodology for the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies (TEST), a systematic approach to identifying and exploiting the most feasible opportunities for resource efficiency and continuous improvement in using materials, water, and energy within an industrial company. This set the stage for the project to kick off its first phase at AUB’s Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (MSFEA) on January 15, 2024. The first phase is set to conclude by October 2024 and two more phases are anticipated in 2025. The project is spearheaded by Professor Antoine Ghauch from the Chemistry Department at AUB; with the support of AUB Provost Zaher Dawy; MSFEA Dean Alan Shihadeh; Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Dean Fares El Dahdah; and MSFEA Associate Dean Riad Chedid, director of the Institute at MSFEA.
Since 2014, UNIDO has championed the introduction of resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) concepts in various countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon, as part of the regional EU funded SwitchMed Program aimed at fostering sustainable consumption and production practices in the south Mediterranean region. Under the SwitchMed MED TEST program, UNIDO has championed the Green Industry concept to address sustainable industrial development within the framework of global sustainable development challenges.
In Lebanon, the SwitchMed MED TEST program (2014-2024) identified 257 resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) measures in 23 industrial companies from various industrial sectors ranging from food and beverages, to chemicals, plastic, and printing. The identified measures resulted in average energy savings of 30 percent, water savings of 22 percent, and materials savings of 1 percent, leading to economic savings of €4.86 million per year with a payback period of just 1.4 years. Additionally, the resource efficiency improvement measures would allow the companies to lower their environmental footprint by reducing CO2 equivalent emissions by around 13,000 tons per year, water consumption by 82,000 cubic meters per year, and solid waste generation by 800 tons per year.
The high potential for resource efficiency in the Lebanese industrial companies, as largely demonstrated by the SwitchMed MED TEST program, has motivated the European Union to fund a new project with a budget of €3.7 million. This project, known as Private Sector Transition to Green and Circular Economy in Lebanon, or the 2Circular project, aims to significantly upscale the implementation of resource efficiency in the Lebanese industrial sector.
- The 2Circular Project: Private Sector Transition to Green and Circular Economy in Lebanon -
The multifaceted approach of the 2Circular project begins with the capacity building of 30 Lebanese engineers and service providers across different disciplines to become RECP experts. This involves various activities, starting with a theoretical workshop at MSFEA that took place in February 2024. Delivered by Green Path Solutions from Jordan, the UNIDO Training of the Trainers on the application of UNIDO's TEST methodology on the transfer of environmentally sound technologies in industry to service providers in Lebanon set the foundation. A complementary practical three-day workshop, scheduled for the end of March 2024 at the Lebanese University, will delve into food systems, utilities, and associated resource efficiency potential, led by national resource efficiency experts appointed by UNIDO.
The project's first phase targets the assessment of 15 companies in the food and beverages sector, identifying resource inefficiencies in water, energy, and materials. Recommendations will be proposed to enhance resource efficiency, lower production costs, reduce environmental impact, and foster sustainability towards a circular economy.
Upon successful completion of this phase, service providers will be awarded an RECP Expert certificate, jointly delivered by UNIDO, AUB, and the Lebanese University.
During the initial phase of theoretical training, Professor Ghauch underscored the profound implications of the project, extending far beyond the confines of training. He envisioned a collective commitment to fostering cleaner and more sustainable industrial practices, urging participants to embrace the role of ambassadors in implementing circular economy principles in Lebanon. The American University of Beirut, he emphasized, is steadfast in its dedication to ensuring the success and long-term sustainability of the project.
Professor Ghauch went on to advocate for the institutionalization of this newfound culture within the university's student body. Rather than being limited to isolated courses on resource efficiency and cleaner production, he proposed the integration of these principles into a comprehensive online diploma program. This strategic approach aims to embed sustainable practices at a foundational level, fostering a lasting impact. He also expressed optimism that such a transformative development could serve as a model for other academic institutions in the region, promoting a wider adoption of circular economy practices. The initiative has already gained momentum and is poised to catalyze positive change within the educational landscape of Lebanon and beyond.
During the launch, Dr. Nada Sabra, the liaison and resource efficiency officer of the 2Circular Project at UNIDO, expressed her support to AUB, as UNIDO’s Technical Executing Partner for the training activities on the TEST methodology, reinforcing the collaborative spirit of the initiative.
The 2Circular project is implemented by UNIDO in partnership with national stakeholders comprising the Ministries of Industry, Economy and Trade; Environment; and Finance from the public sector; as well as the Association of the Lebanese Industrialists and the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture from the private sector. Partners from academia include the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese University.
Founded in 1866, the American University of Beirut has more than 750 full-time faculty members and a student body of over 8000 students. AUB currently offers more than 120 programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s, MD, and PhD degrees. It provides medical education and training to students from throughout the region at its Medical Center that includes a full-service 365-bed hospital.

Assaad Hariri visits Patriarch Rahi in Bkerke, offers Easter well-wishes
NNA/April 3, 2024
Head of the North Lebanon Merchants Association, Assaad Hariri, on Wednesday visited Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rahi, in Bkerke, to whom he offered well-wishes on the occasion of the blessed Easter. Following the visit, Hariri highlighted in a statement “the national role played by Bkerke,” stressing “the necessity of accelerating the election of a president of the republic and returning to the principles of the constitution.”

One History Book for Lebanon, an Impossibility
Rami Rayess/This is Beirut/April 03/2024
Among the many pending Lebanese projects is the writing of a unified history book for Lebanon. Many attempts were made to that end and failed, not for the lack of competent historians who possess the required skills, but for the absence of any political decision. Another obstacle is the conflicting views about Lebanon’s history, from its creation to the long civil war period (1975-1990), a deeply divisive subject. Several initiatives have been taken in the past to tackle this sensitive issue, and almost found success, but political intervention had the better of them. Indeed, no regard was given to Lebanese national interest, or the education and training of future generations, so that they read history in the same way, away from conflict and division. While some believe that internal dissent over a unified history book is linked solely to the civil war, whose memory is still “fresh” in the minds of people, many others remain deeply convinced that Lebanon has Phoenician roots, denying its Arab identity! According to certain information, a project aiming to write a unified history book was in the works under Syrian occupation. It had reached advanced stages when the first part, titled “A Window to the Past,” was written and printed for distribution in schools and bookshops. But it was soon taken off the shelves, as the mandating Syrian authority deemed it “unsatisfactory.”The initiative was taken yet again, only to be thwarted by political will a second time. This failure was made even worse by a sizeable issue; any decree on the subject must pass through the Cabinet, in which all political parties are represented. It is therefore difficult to make such a decision without prior approval of the content of the book itself. Simultaneously, forming a committee of “politically biased historians” would not be the optimal solution. Hence, a question arises: can the country’s history be written in the present circumstances? And is there a “scientific way” to write the book in question away from political bias? How can one pick the right terminology to describe historical facts, when some view their martyrs as heroes, while others perceive these same victims as collaborators and traitors?
Presently, specific history books are being used in public schools, while private establishments choose their books regardless of Lebanese sensitivities. Some institutions even stopped teaching history to high school students, as the efforts to agree on one book seem to have stopped – or perhaps the current circumstances are not favorable for such an initiative. That being said, a certain number of people are asking deeper questions about the purpose of writing a unified history book. Worthy of note is the fact that people in favor are pro-partition and care little about Lebanese national unity, even deeming it unviable. They go as far as to suggest the partition of Lebanon into sectarian cantons. Needless to say, the implementation of such a project would inexorably lead to civil war. In Lebanon, this seldom-brought-up topic is the direct consequence of the country’s complex reality, at a time when the West is also debating better ways of teaching history. At the top of that list are the avoidance of senseless memorization in favor of analysis, as well as a better reading and social and political contextualization of historical events. Undoubtedly, Lebanon ought to follow suit.

Sayyed Nasrallah Addresses Al-Quds Platform: Al-Aqsa Flood Has Shaken Israeli Occupation Entity
Al-Manar English Website/April 3, 2024
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stressed on Wednesday that “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” has shaken the foundations of the Israeli occupation entity, noting that the Zionist government will fail to cope with its consequences. Addressing “Al-Quds Platform” held annually in support of the Palestinian cause, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that the annual event comes this year in light of Al-Aqsa Flood and highlighted the slogan “Flood of the Free” issued to mark Al-Quds Day. Sayyed Nasrallah hailed the Palestinian resistance fight against one of the most powerful armies in the region, underlining its innovative achievements in face of the enemy. His eminence also greeted the Palestinian people for performing the epic of steadfastness in face of the Zionist aggression, arbitrary killing as well as siege and starvation. Sayyed Nasrallah appreciated the sacrifices made by the the locals of the West Bank who confront the Zionist attacks, violations, and arrests on a daily basis, shedding light on the 7000 prisoners arrested by the Israeli enemy there. Hezbollah Leader, moreover, underscored the role of the support fronts in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen in inflicting losses upon the enemy and making sacrifices.
Sayyed Nasrallah further thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran for supporting the resistance despite all the threats and pressures, adding that Tehran has constantly borne the responsibility of the operations of the axis of resistance. Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that Syria has been facing threats, pressures and Zionist air raids which claimed numbers of martyrs who could be Syrian army soldiers, Hezbollah fighters or Iranian military advisors. Syria has not changed its attitude in support of the resistance over six months despite all this intimidation and aggression, Sayyed Nasrallah said. Sayyed Nasrallah mentioned as well the protests and demonstrations held in numerous world countries, including USA and UK, pointing out that the Israeli enemy has never bowed to the UN resolutions and the demands of the international community. Sayyed Nasrallah recommended supporting the Palestinian resistance till it emerges victorious in Gaza battle, which is secure by the divine help. Hypocrites in our region concentrate on the sacrifices and neglect the achievement made by the resistance, according to Sayyed Nasrallah who called for illustrating the strategic outcomes of Al-Aqsa Flood. Sayyed Nasrallah maintained that the “Greater Israel” scheme was destroyed upon the liberation of South Lebanon, except Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills, in 2000 and Gaza in 2005, adding that2006 war also prevented the Zionist entity from being the great power. Al-Aqsa Flood has shaken the foundations, pillars, and columns of the occupation entity and left behind dangerous and significant effects that the entity cannot repair, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed, adding that the Israeli enemy will fail to cope with the political, military, economic and psychological repercussions of the operation.After the end of the war, all the effects of this operation will appear, according to Sayyed Nasrallah. Finally, Sayyed Nasrallah noted that Al-Aqsa Flood relied on the achievements and sacrifices of all the axis of resistance, hailing the role of the martyred commander Hajj Qassem Suleimani in this regard.
Raisi
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said that the war on Gaza has proven that normalization of relations with the Israeli regime is betting on a losing horse. “Normalizing relations with the Zionist regime has turned into betting on a losing horse,” the president said on Wednesday while addressing a virtual gathering of resistance leaders. “Today, conciliatory plans have gone into the archives of history, and the implementation of any plan without the presence of Palestinians is impossible,” he added. Leaders of the resistance front from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen held a video conference ahead of International Quds Day to discuss the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and beyond. The Iranian president stressed that the atrocities in Gaza, where nearly 33,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past six months, have proven that the Israeli regime is not bound by any “moral principles.”“Thanks to the bravery of the Palestinians, today it became clear to everyone that the flimsy house of the Zionist regime is weaker than a spider’s web,” he said. “Every day of the year, as long as the occupation of Palestine continues, is Quds Day,” Raisi declared.
Haniyeh
Hamas Politburo Chief, Ismail Haniyeh said that, this year, Jerusalem (Al-Quds) will be marked by the significant battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, adding that Gaza’s relentless resistance represents a glorious chapter in the nation’s history. Haniyeh noted that the processions of martyrs across the Gaza Strip serve to bolster its strength, determination, courage, and resilience, pointing out that the people of Gaza, matching their sacrifices, are Palestine’s most precious treasure. In this battle, all the illusions that the enemy had crafted for themselves and their army were shattered, according to Hamas Chief who added that, without direct American cover and participation, the occupation would not have been able to continue its campaign of killing and aggression. Haniyeh pointed out that the heroes of Gaza and Palestine have fearlessly overcome the barriers, presenting us with a historic opportunity to achieve victory over the enemy. Haniyeh noted that the resistance has declared that we are a nation unwilling to remain silent in the face of injustice, and we refuse to allow the enemy to dominate Gaza. We deeply appreciate South Africa’s stance to hold the enemy accountable for the massacres it perpetrated in Gaza, Haniyeh said.
Haniyeh confirmed, “We adhere to our demands for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced.”
Nakhala
Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziad Nakhalah, emphasized the need to unify the resistance against efforts to fragment the countries of the region in service of ‘Israel’. Nakhalah noted that the resistance in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen has stood strong in solidarity with Gaza, adding, “Let us make Al-Quds Day a pivotal moment to strengthen the unity among our people, our resistance fighters, and our shared goals.” Nakhalah said, “Together, we will face the challenges ahead and intensify our efforts to defend Al-Quds and Palestine.”
Houthi
Yemen’s Ansarullah Leader, Sayyed Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, expressed commitment to supporting the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood from the outset, dedicating all available resources with an intent to enhance capabilities further in this regard. Sayyed Al-Houthi maintained that the Palestinian issue holds central importance to the nation, as the right to it is unequivocal, any attempts to disregard this right are destined to fail. Al-Houthi pointed out that the Palestinian issue is intricately linked to the fate of the entire nation, and the Palestinian people are at the forefront of fighting for the rights of the entire nation, assuring that the Palestinian people that Yemenis are unwavering in their support and will spare no effort to assist them.
Ameri
Secretary-General of the Iraqi Badr Organization, Hadi Al-Amiri, stated that International Al-Quds Day serves as an annual reaffirmation of loyalty, victory, and sacrifice for the Palestinian people and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Amiri emphasized that the Iraqi people stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza, offering their condolences and pledging their lives and blood in support.
Kaabi
The Secretary-General of al-Nujaba Movement in Iraq, Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi affirms that the Iraqi, Lebanese, and Yemeni resistance will steadfastly support the Palestinian resistance to the very end.Al-Kaabi criticized Washington for sending over 30,000 tons of aid to ‘Israel’, calling it an accomplice in the occupying entity’s heinous crimes. Al-Kaabi warned the Israeli enemy and its American partner that the resistance has thus far utilized only a fraction of its strength.

Hezbollah Brigades threatens to train 12,000 Jordanians to battle Israel
Joe Truzman and Bill Roggio/ FDD's Long War Journal/April 3, 2024
Abu Al-Askari, the leader of the powerful Iraq-based Iranian proxy militia, threatened to arm more than 12,000 Jordanians to attack Israel after the latter killed seven officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an airstrike in Damascus, Syria, earlier today. Al Askari’s threat is issued as relations between Israel and Jordan continue to sour as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza.
Al-Askari began by extending “condolences” to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Brigadier General Muhammed Reza Zahedi and six other IRGC officers who were killed in the April 1 strike in Damascus. Zahedi was involved in leading attacks against Israel as well as commanding IRGC operations in the region, according to reports.
“The great Mohammad Reza Zahedi was killed following the criminal Zionist-American attack on the Consulate of the Islamic Republic in Damascus,” Al-Askari said.
After noting the “martyrdom of the brother Commander” Zahedi, Al-Askari said that the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, the umbrella front organization for Iranian proxy militias such as Hezbollah Brigades, was ready to arm 12,000 members of what he calls the “Islamic Resistance in Jordan.”
“The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has prepared its equipment to equip our brothers, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Jordan, to satisfy the needs of 12,000 fighters with light and medium weapons, anti-armor launchers, tactical missiles, millions of (rounds) ammunition, and tons of explosives, so that we may be one hand in the defense of our Palestinian brothers. And revenge for the honor of Muslims that the sons of monkeys and pigs have violated,” said Askari.
Askari added that when Hezbollah Brigades is given approval from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the group will begin by “cutting off the land route that reaches the Zionist entity,” which likely refers to the land border between Jordan and Israel.
Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataib Hezbollah, is one of the most dangerous Iranian-backed proxy militias in Iraq. The IRGC and Lebanese Hezbollah formed it after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 from key elements of the Mahdi Army. They were directly involved in killing over 600 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, as well as thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians. It rose further in prominence as it helped defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria after the Iraqi military collapsed in 2014. The U.S. lists Hezbollah Brigades as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and its founder, Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, was killed along with former IRGC Quds Force leader Qassem Suleimani in a U.S airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 3, 2020.
While Jordan and its allies should take threats by Al Askari seriously, the Hezbollah Brigades commander may not have any intention of arming Jordanians, and is only attempting to foment further unrest and instability in Jordan. For nine consecutive days, protestors supporting Hamas have taken to the streets near the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital, denouncing the Gaza war and the Hashemite Kingdom’s peace treaty with Israel.
An unnamed Jordanian official denounced the protests, saying, “Hamas is inciting and trying to ignite unrest inside the kingdom. We will not allow it to achieve its goal.”
**Joe Truzman is a research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian militant groups and Hezbollah. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.

Lebanon Is Its Own Enemy
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 03/2024
The threat of the fires in Gaza engulfing Lebanon is growing, and there is now a real possibility of the mini war Hezbollah launched in support of Hamas turning into a border conflict that encompasses the entire country as the escalation continues and the target zone spreads from the south to the western and northern Bekaa. The danger of this fire spreading poses the same old-new problem as every other episode that has shaken Lebanon’s security. Here again, the question revolves around keeping Lebanon isolated from the region's political and military conflicts, as well as its capacity to govern itself. At this stage, the problem has become pressing, as Lebanon is in the eye of the storm of the war that has pitted Israel and the West against Hamas, the Iran axis, and its allies.
The repercussions of this war on Lebanon could be different from those of previous conflicts. There are several reasons, the most significant of them being that it is a regional-international conflict in one way or another. Lebanon is a core member of Iran's Resistance Axis due to the hegemony of Hezbollah and the actions it has taken. The party and its patron, Iran, have adopted the unity of fronts doctrine, turning the country from a battlefield for regional conflicts into a main player in them. The second reason is Lebanon’s domestic polarization, especially regarding Hezbollah's fully-fledged involvement in the conflict despite the fact that had happened in Lebanon that justifies the high cost that a total war could entail if it were to erupt.
Since Lebanon was founded in the early twentieth century, the affairs and concerns of the region have consistently left an impact on the Lebanese interior. Just a few years after its independence, this small country had to deal with an influx of Palestinian refugees who fled to the country following the 1948 war and the establishment of the State of Israel. Later on, this would implicate Lebanon, against the will of the majority of Lebanese at the time, especially its Christians and the majority of traditional Shiite leaders, in a conflict with Israel.
The second episode that has scared the collective memory of the Lebanese was the so-called 1958 revolution precipitated by the Arab nationalist wave led by Nasser across the region. Lebanon became involved in the politics of axes, exposing underlying disagreements among the Lebanese and resulting in an armed conflict that ended with "No victor, no vanquished," as the mantra went. A US-Egyptian settlement granted Nasser's Egypt a privileged role in the country for years, at the expense of the president at the time, Camille Chamoun, and his supporters.
The third episode was the 1969 Cairo Agreement between Lebanon and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which granted Palestinian armed groups the freedom to carry out guerrilla operations from areas in southern Lebanon, which became known as “Fatah land.” The Palestinians were politically and militarily dominant in parts of Beirut as well. These Beirut neighborhoods governed by Yasser Arafat came to be known as the Fakahani state. This state of affairs sparked new domestic disputes, with the majority of Muslims siding with the Palestinians.
The fourth episode was the outbreak of the 1975 civil war, due to Palestinian military expansion and their clashes with armed Christian militias and, at times, the Lebanese Army. The civil war, which went on for 15 extremely violent years, was also partially the result of intra-Arab and Arab-Israeli disputes being settled on Lebanese soil. After the Camp David Accords of 1979, Syria sought to tighten its grip over Lebanon, and it managed to do so after its forces remained in the country even after the other countries of the Arab Deterrent Forces gradually withdrew. The Syrian regime continued to play a dominant role in the governance of Lebanon and to ensure that Lebanese policy aligned with its interests until 2005, when its forces withdrew from the country following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. This is when the Iranian era began in Lebanon, and Hezbollah, through a series of coups, has managed to tighten its grip on key state institutions since then.
All of these crises were marked by blatant foreign interventions that exploited communal conflicts. They all reflect the fact that Lebanon is not immune to the ramifications of regional developments and that it lacks the capacity to govern itself to this day. Can the withering of the state be blamed solely on external factors and Lebanon being located in a region prone to crises and wars that seep into it? External factors have been consequential, but we cannot overlook domestic factors either, starting from the constitutional foundations upon which the country was established, such as coexistence and sectarian power-sharing, as well as the cultural-social patterns that have entrenched the image of the Lebanese as a people who adapt to all sorts of deviations from the basic norms governance, so much so that they have gone along with corruption, the evasion of accountability, and stopgap solutions for all their crises.
The country’s major problem remains what Lebanon has considered, and continues to consider, its enriching quality and the hallmark that distinguishes it from its surroundings, namely its religious and cultural diversity. That has left the Lebanese convinced of the notion that Lebanon is a bridge between the East and the West, and it has turned Beirut into a cosmopolitan city. This very diversity, because it is not underpinned institutionally, has been a major reason for the non-emergence of citizenship.
This bridge that is Lebanon has remained suspended in the air, anchored neither by the West, the East nor even to its own territory. The weak sense of citizenship is the reason for the nation’s frailty, and when the nation is weak, governance and the state vanish. Thus, even during the phases of the greatest stability and prosperity, exceptions in this country's history, the Lebanese state never managed to govern and manage the diversity and plurality that the Lebanese pride themselves on.
These reasons and factors all drew external encroachments which, in turn, have not granted us enough time to test what is called the Lebanese experiment and its crown jewel, Beirut. External and domestic factors have converged to ruin Beirut, breaking it for its uniqueness and openness, and that has had repercussions for the nation as a whole.
Today, the situation is particularly difficult and dangerous. The pretext of foreign forces - whether Palestinian, Syrian, or Israeli - has been absent since 2005. The claim that the exit of foreign forces would end Lebanon's crises has collapsed, despite Iran’s flagrant presence through Hezbollah.
Solutions for the crisis have become more complex and intertwined, and a major regional settlement, no matter how balanced, will not reflect on positively on the country and precipitate a domestic settlement, due to the magnitude of the domestic shifts, the realities on the ground, the fragmentation of the country’s social fabric, and the disintegration of the country on all levels. What's more dangerous is that faith in a unified Lebanon has collapsed among broad segments of the Lebanese population from all sects, especially among the Maronite community, which considers itself to have been behind the establishment of modern Lebanon. The convergence of Israeli-Iranian interests may save Lebanon from a devastating war, but the country needs a miracle to get its domestic affairs in order.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 03-04/2024
Israel’s War Cabinet Minister calls for election in six months
April 3 (UPI)/April 3, 2024
Israel War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz called for parliamentary elections in September and said he notified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. Gantz joined Netanyahu's governing coalition after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and said an election would keep Israel unified by renewing the trust Israeli voters have in the government, All Israel News reported. During a televised news conference Wednesday, Gantz said holding an election "will allow us to continue the military effort, while signaling to the citizens of Israel that we will soon renew their trust in us," the Times of Israel reported. Gantz said holding an election nearly a year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and its citizens would deliver "international legitimacy" to Israel. Gantz leads the National Unity Party in Israel, while Netanyahu is a member of the Likud Party. Officials for the Likud Party accused Gantz of "engaging in petty politics" due to the "disintegration" of the National Unity Party, CNN reported. "Elections now will inevitably lead to division, damage to the fighting in Rafah and fatal damage to the chances of a hostage deal," the Likud Party said in a statement. "The government will continue until all the goals of the war are achieved."Opposition leader Yair Lapid disagreed with the Likud Party and in a post on X called for the current government under Netanyahu to resign as soon as possible, saying Israel can't wait six months to "return the kidnapped, return the evacuees home, defeat Hamas and ensure that someone takes care of the Israeli middle class."Netanyahu already dismissed calls for elections despite recent public protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Palestinian Ministry of Health: 32,975 martyrs in ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since last October
NNA/April 03/2024
Palestinian Health Ministry announced that the total number of victims of the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip since October 7, has reached 32,975 martyrs and 65,577 injured. Over the past 24 hours,Israeli occupation committed 5 massacres in Gaza Strip, leaving 59 martyrs and 83 wounded, while a number of victims are still under rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them, the Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Three Palestinians were martyred, and a number of others were injured in Israeli occupation bombing of houses south of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. Five martyrs were martyred, and 10 others were injured in the occupation artillery shelling a number of houses in Khan Yunis city, south of Gaza Strip. The occupation artillery bombed several neighborhoods in Gaza City, including Sheikh Ajlin, Tal al-Hawa, and al-Zaytoun, wounding a number of Palestinians, as the occupation navy targeted, with its shells and machine guns, the houses and tents of the displaced in al-Mawasi area in the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis, south of Gaza Strip.--agencie

Hamas sticking to ceasefire conditions including Israeli Gaza pullout
Nidal al-Mughrabi/CAIRO (Reuters)/April 03/2024
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that his Palestinian Islamist movement at war with Israel was sticking to its conditions for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, including an Israeli military withdrawal. Israeli officials visited Egypt earlier this week in a renewed effort to secure a deal, but a Palestinian official close to mediation efforts said there had been no sign of a breakthrough. "We are committed to our demands: the permanent ceasefire, comprehensive and complete withdrawal of the enemy out of the Gaza Strip, the return of all displaced people to their homes, allowing all aid needed for our people in Gaza, rebuilding the Strip, lifting the blockade and achieving an honourable prisoner exchange deal," Haniyeh said in a televised speech marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day. The exchange he referred to would be a release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in return for Israeli hostages being held by militants in Gaza since a deadly Oct. 7 Hamas-led assault on Israel. Israel had said it was interested only in a temporary truce to free hostages. Hamas has said it will let them go only as part of a deal to permanently end the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israeli troops plan to thrust into Rafah at the southern end of Gaza, where 1.5 million people have been sheltering. In Doha, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Wednesday that negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire are deadlocked mainly over the return of displaced people to different parts of the Palestinian territory. A source with knowledge of the talks said the Qatari leader was referring to a Hamas demand that displaced Palestinians be free to return to their homes in northern Gaza which Israel ordered evacuated early in the nearly six-month-old war. “Hamas wants the public to be able to return to the north. This is huge for Hamas and the Israelis are giving them a hard time on that. The Israelis don’t want them (displaced Palestinians) to have freedom of movement,” said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Another sticking point, the source said, is whether Palestinian prisoners with life sentences would be part of the release. Hamas wants hundreds of long-serving detainees freed. Speaking in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, where Israel carried out one of the heaviest bombardments in many weeks, the Israeli military Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi said the forces would "press harder, as much as necessary" in Gaza in order to affect hostage release talks. "We are pressing to try to initiate movement in the negotiations, to bring about an agreement for the release of the hostages. This is a top priority," Halevi added. Of 253 people seized by Hamas during the Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the Gaza war, 134 remain in captivity and incommunicado in the Palestinian enclave.

Palestinians should seek statehood through direct talks, not at UN, US says
Humeyra Pamuk and Michelle Nichols/WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) Wed, April 3, 2024
The United States said on Wednesday that establishing an independent Palestinian state should happen through direct negotiations between the parties and not at the United Nations. The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday asked for renewed consideration of a 2011 application to become a full member of the United Nations. It currently has de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after the United Nations granted it the status of a non-member observer state in 2012. The position of the U.S., Israel's most important ally, mirrors the Israeli stance on the issue. An application to become a full U.N. member needs to be approved by the 15-member U.N. Security Council - where the United States can cast a veto - and then at least two-thirds of the 193-member General Assembly. When asked if the U.S. would use its Security Council veto to block the Palestinian bid, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "I'm not going to speculate about what may happen down the road."But he added that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel "is something that should be done through direct negotiations between the parties - it's something we are pursuing at this time - and not at the United Nations."The Palestinian push for full U.N. membership comes as the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza nears a six-month milestone and Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank. Malta is president of the Security Council for April. Malta's U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said on Wednesday that the Palestinian request had been circulated to council members."We will be consulting with each member to consider the appropriate way forward," she told reporters. Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told Reuters on Monday that the aim was for the Security Council to take a decision at an April 18 ministerial meeting on the Middle East, but that a vote had yet to be scheduled. Little progress has been made on achieving Palestinian statehood since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority  in the early 1990s.

Israeli AI used to identify 37,000 targets in Gaza
ARAB NEWS/April 03/2024
LONDON: Israel has used artificial intelligence to identify as many as 37,000 potential targets during its war in Gaza, intelligence sources have revealed.  Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call published a report by journalist Yuval Abraham that interviewed six Israeli intelligence officers who used the AI, called Lavender, which identified targets supposedly linked to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Lavender has been developed by an elite division of the Israeli military, Unit 8200, and processes huge amounts of data to identify Hamas and PIJ members and affiliates. Details of how it works are not available, but the sources said Unit 8200 determined it had a 90 percent accuracy rate in identifying people. The Israeli military used Lavender to compile a vast database of low-ranking individuals across Gaza, alongside another AI tool called the Gospel, which identified buildings and structures. The sources said Israeli military figures permitted the killing of large numbers of Palestinian civilians in the early days of the conflict after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, with airstrikes on low-ranking militants also permitted to kill 15-20 civilians using unguided bombs, often on residential areas.
“You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people — it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage (of those bombs),” one source said.  Another added: “We usually carried out the attacks with ‘dumb’ (indiscriminate) bombs, and that meant literally dropping the whole house on its occupants. “But even if an attack is averted, you don’t care — you immediately move on to the next target. Because of the system, the targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.”A third said: “There was a completely permissive policy regarding the casualties of (bombing) operations. A policy so permissive that, in my opinion, it had an element of revenge.”For higher-ranking Hamas and PIJ figures, the collateral death toll could be much higher. “We’ve killed people with collateral damage in the high double digits, if not low triple digits. These are things that haven’t happened before,” one of the intelligence sources said. “It’s not just that you can kill any person who is a Hamas soldier, which is clearly permitted and legitimate in terms of international law, but they directly tell you: ‘You are allowed to kill them along with many civilians’ … In practice, the proportionality criterion did not exist.”
Another suggested that the AI made selecting targets in Gaza easier. “I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage, and do dozens of them every day. I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval. It saved a lot of time,” the source said. Another added that the AI was more trustworthy than a potentially emotional human. “Everyone there, including me, lost people on Oct. 7. The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier.”The sources told The Guardian that previously, individual targets would be discussed with multiple Israeli military personnel and signed off by a legal advisor, but that after Oct. 7 pressure grew to speed up the identification of potential targets.
“We were constantly being pressured: ‘bring us more targets.’ They really shouted at us,” one source said. “We were told: now we have to f— up Hamas, no matter what the cost. Whatever you can, you bomb.”Another said: “At its peak, the system managed to generate 37,000 people as potential human targets, but the numbers changed all the time, because it depends on where you set the bar of what a Hamas operative is.”They added: “There were times when a Hamas operative was defined more broadly, and then the machine started bringing us all kinds of civil defence personnel, police officers, on whom it would be a shame to waste bombs. They help the Hamas government, but they don’t really endanger (Israeli) soldiers.”The testimony compiled also suggested that the Israeli military used the information it accrued to target people in their homes. “We were not interested in killing (Hamas) operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” one source said. “It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.”Before the conflict, Israeli and US intelligence estimated Hamas’s strength at 25,000-30,000 people. Gaza’s health authorities say at least 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, while the UN says 1,340 Gazan families lost multiple members in the first month of the war alone. Of those, 312 families lost more than 10 members. Sarah Harrison, a former lawyer at the US Defense Department, told The Guardian: “While there may be certain occasions where 15 collateral civilian deaths could be proportionate, there are other times where it definitely wouldn’t be. “You can’t just set a tolerable number for a category of targets and say that it’ll be lawfully proportionate in each case.”In a statement, the Israeli military said its bombing was carried out with “a high level of precision” and Lavender is used “to cross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organisations. This is not a list of confirmed military operatives eligible to attack. “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process.”It added that its procedures “require conducting an individual assessment of the anticipated military advantage and collateral damage expected … The IDF does not carry out strikes when the expected collateral damage from the strike is excessive in relation to the military advantage. “The IDF outright rejects the claim regarding any policy to kill tens of thousands of people in their homes.”

Return of displaced Gazans key issue blocking truce deal: Qatar PM
AFP/April 03, 2024
DOHA: Israeli objections to the return of displaced Gazans to their homes is the key issue holding up negotiations for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, mediator Qatar said on Wednesday. “The return of the IDPs (internally displaced people) to their homes, which the Israelis didn’t agree to yet... is the main point we are stuck in,” Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told a press conference. Another outstanding issue pertains to the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in exchange for each hostage freed by Hamas, Sheikh Mohammed said, noting however, that he believed this “can be bridged.” Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to secure a truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
The mediators had hoped to secure a ceasefire before the start of Ramadan, but progress stalled and the Muslim holy month is nearly over.The major sticking points remain the same as those that stymied a deal during negotiations in Paris in February, Sheikh Mohammed said.
“Unfortunately, the points that we were stuck in when in February we were negotiating in Paris are basically the same points we are (still) stuck in,” he told reporters. “We are trying our best to introduce solutions, we are trying our best to make sure that... there are some middle grounds being created,” the Qatari official said at a joint press conference with the visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. Talks were to resume in Cairo last Sunday, Egyptian TV channel Al-Qahera reported, two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave approval for fresh negotiations. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the failure of negotiations. Netanyahu on Sunday accused Hamas of “hardening its positions” in the talks, while on Wednesday Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said Israel “continues to procrastinate” in the negotiations. The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel’s military has waged a retaliatory offensive against Hamas that has killed at least 32,975 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Palestinian militants seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the October 7 attack on Israel, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.

Jews and Muslims face rising discrimination in wake of Gaza war
RAY HANANIA/Arab News/April 03, 2024
CHICAGO: Americans are seeing a significant uptick in discrimination against both the Jewish and Muslim communities, according to a survey by the PEW Research Center in Washington. The survey, which was conducted in February and released this week, followed a separate study by PEW that explored American attitudes toward the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. That showed that more younger Americans sympathized with the Palestinians, while more older Americans sympathized with Israel’s government. PEW’s Associate Director Laura Silver said the two surveys showed that the Gaza war had not only fueled anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but resulted in increased tensions between Jews and Muslims, with a measurable rise in blocking and unfriending on social media. “When it comes to the share of Americans who say Jews face a lot of discrimination, the share who say this in the United States has doubled,” Silver told Arab News. “Today, 40 percent say that, up from 20 percent who said the same in 2021. So, this is a pretty sharp increase. “At the same time, we also see a somewhat larger share of Americans saying Muslims face a lot of discrimination. That is 44 percent and that is also up slightly, 5 percentage points since 2021, when 39 percent said the same. So, by and large, Americans perceive a fair bit of discrimination against Jews and Muslims and see this rising in society today.” Silver said the survey showed that 70 percent of Muslims and 90 percent of Jews “say they have felt an increase in discrimination against their respective groups since the war began in October.”An expert in international survey research, Silver said the surveys included how Americans were dealing with “permissible speech,” including speech opposing Israelis and Palestinians rights.
“We asked for examples about speech that opposes Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state or speech that opposes Palestinians having their own state. And we see that actually large shares of Americans think this kind of speech should be allowed even if it offends others,” she said. “But then there are limits to this. The vast majority of Americans don’t believe that violence against Jews or violence against Muslims should be allowed. “You can say things that might offend others but you cannot call for violence seems to be how the majority of Americans feel.”
The survey also explores how people react to comments made on social media about the Israel-Hamas war. “We find that there are large shares, particularly of Jews or Muslims, who feel offended by something they have either seen on the news or on social media,” Silver said. “So, it is 74 percent of US Jews and 60 percent of US Muslims who felt offended by something they saw on the news or social media that they saw on the Israel-Hamas war. So that is large shares.”Silver said that about 25 percent of Jews and Muslims acknowledged that they had cut off contacts with others because of anger over the conflict. “About a quarter of both groups have stopped talking to someone or unfollowed or blocked someone because of something that they said about the war in particular. That is a high share of people who are offended to the point of cutting off ties,” Silver said.
“The Israel-Hamas war makes people, especially Jews and Muslims, feel more afraid, sad, angry and exhausted. Specifically, fear. A higher share of Jews and Muslims feel afraid when they receive news about the war than the general public.”
She continued: “A majority of Americans see that Israel has valid reasons for fighting the Israel-Hamas war, but many fewer are saying the way they are fighting is acceptable. “When it comes to the acceptability in the way Israel is carrying out its response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, 38 percent call it acceptable, 34 percent unacceptable and 26 percent not sure. “So, a large majority say that Israel has a valid reason for fighting but many fewer call its tactics acceptable. The same is true when it comes to Hamas, though smaller shares say either it has valid reasons for fighting or that the tactics of Oct. 7 are acceptable. But there is a gap there where more see kind of the reason behind it as valid than say the way they attacked is acceptable.”
Silver said younger Americans differed from older Americans.
“Younger Americans are much more likely to say they have sympathies with the Palestinian people relative to the Israeli people. Much more likely to have positive views of the Palestinian people than the Israeli people. They have very negative views of the Israeli government. “Americans by and large are much less supportive of providing military assistance to Israel than they are of providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” The survey, which was conducted between Feb. 13-25 among a nationally representative sample of 12,693 adults, includes an oversample of American Jews and Muslims. It also probed the public’s views on the limits of free speech related to the war but allowed the views of Jewish and Muslim respondents to be analyzed separately. You can view the latest survey of American attitudes on discrimination against Jews and Muslims posted on April 2

U.S. Aid Experts Warn of ‘Unprecedented’ Spread of Hunger in Gaza: Report
Rolling Stone/April 3, 2024
As pressure mounts for President Joe Biden’s administration to push Israel towards a ceasefire, a cable drafted by officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development privately warned that hunger and malnutrition in Gaza has reached levels that are “unprecedented in modern history,” according to a report from the HuffPost. The government cable, which was obtained by the outlet, was issued to the White House’s National Security Council, State Department offices, and diplomatic posts overseas. Officials stated that famine, which USAID previously said was “imminent” on March 18, is now likely happening throughout parts of the Gaza Strip and that the rate of hunger-related deaths will “accelerate in the weeks ahead.” The assessment added that “humanitarians will face considerable challenges in providing life-saving aid and specialized services to those in need in Gaza” and said “ongoing hostilities … resulted in the deaths of 196 humanitarian workers between October 7, 2023, and March 25, 2024.” The cause of death was not specified. On Monday, seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli airstrike after they delivered a crucial shipment of food to displaced civilians in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed Israeli Defense Forces forces were responsible for the deaths, and said the workers were “unintentionally hit” and that the IDF was “investigating the matter fully.” WCK said that it would be pausing their operations immediately in the region.
Last month, WCK became the first to test a new maritime corridor for desperately needed aid to northern Gaza, where the United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification previously estimated famine will reach by May and could spread throughout the rest of Gaza by July. However, Tuesday’s cable said that given “that the drivers of malnutrition … did not significantly improve between February and March, even in the best-case scenario the threshold to support a Famine determination has likely already been crossed,” noting that in Northern Gaza “famine conditions are most severe and widespread.”
The document also stated that while airdrops and the Biden administration’s plan to install a floating pier off the Gaza coast would “complement but not replace land routes,” they would not be enough to address the scale of famine.

Canadian man killed providing aid in Gaza was a military veteran with a young son
The Canadian Press/April 03/2024
A Canadian man killed along with six other aid workers in the Gaza Strip on Monday is a military veteran from Quebec who leaves behind a partner and a one-year-old son. Jacob Flickinger, 33, was one of seven people in a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as a tragic mistake. Flickinger's father, John, said in a Facebook post that his son's death is a "heartbreaking tragedy" but that he died doing what he loved. "My son, Jacob, was killed Monday delivering food aid to starving families in Gaza," John Flickinger wrote. "He died doing what he loved and serving others through his work with the World Central Kitchen."Flickinger was a dual Canadian and U.S. citizen. The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed Wednesday that Flickinger served in the Canadian military as an infantryman in Quebec’s Royal 22e Regiment.A Go Fund Me page has been started to raise funds for a funeral and a trust fund for Flickinger's son. More than $14,000 had already been raised by mid-afternoon Wednesday. The page says Flickinger had been working for World Central Kitchen in Gaza since early March.Last fall, he travelled with the charity to Acapulco, Mexico, to provide food aid after Hurricane Otis slammed into Mexico's Pacific coast. The organization Restaurantes en Acapulco changed their main Facebook photo to feature a picture of Flickinger, clad in a World Central Kitchen T-shirt and sunglasses, walking down a street with another aid worker. In a separate video posted on their feed, Flickinger is stopped by a local while handing out bottled water. He smiles and listens to the man talk for a short time before shaking his hand and thanking him. Also killed in Monday's airstrike were Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, from Australia, who shared a video less than a week before she died working at the warehouse near where the convoy was hit. Polish national Damian Sobol, 35, began volunteering for aid groups when his hometown of Przemysl became a haven for refugees fleeing Russia's bombing in Ukraine. Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25, was working for the charity as a driver. There were also three British military veterans killed, all providing security to to the team, including John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
They were in a convoy of three vehicles leaving a warehouse in Deir al-balah in central Gaza, after delivering more than 100 tonnes of food. The aid was about one-quarter of a delivery that arrived in Gaza at a makeshift pier built by World Central Kitchen out of the rubble left by earlier airstrikes around Gaza.
World Central Kitchen in mid-March became the first aid organization to get supplies in by sea to Gaza in more than two decades. Monday's delivery was part of the second sea shipment that came from Cyprus. It included rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables, and proteins as well as a special shipment of dates.The dates, provided by the United Arab Emirates, were "to provide a sense of comfort to Palestinians observing Ramadan during the darkest times imaginable," World Central Kitchen said on its website. "Dates are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast."
The jetty was built with Israel's permission and the convoy's movements were reported to Israel ahead of time, the organization said. Israel has some explaining to do about how the convoy ended up as a target, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday. Netanyahu has called the targeting inadvertent — something that "happens in war," he said. "The world needs very clear answers as to how this happened," Trudeau said. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who is in Belgium attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting, said she spoke to Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz on Tuesday night. "We're calling for a full investigation," she said. On social media, Katz offered condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to their respective countries. "The (Israel Defence Force) and decision-makers are doing and will do everything to prevent harm to civilians," he said. "The incident will be investigated by qualified authorities to ensure that necessary conclusions are drawn to guarantee the safety and security of aid workers going forward." More than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israel killing more than 1,200 people. Israel's massive military response has resulted in the deaths of more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry. In an essay published Wednesday in the New York Times, World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés pleaded with Israel to start the "long journey to peace." "We know Israelis. Israelis, in their heart of hearts, know that food is not a weapon of war," Andrés said. "Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had co-ordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces."Andrés said the deaths of his seven colleagues are "the direct result" of Israeli policy, which "squeezed humanitarian aid to desperate levels."

Halting arms sales to Israel would ‘send powerful message’, says former diplomat
David Lynch and Piers Mucklejohn, PA/ April 03/2024
The UK should halt arms sales to Israel in the wake of the killings of seven aid workers in Gaza, including three Britons, a former national security adviser has suggested. Lord Peter Ricketts, a former senior diplomat who chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee during the Blair government, said Israeli forces’ killing of the aid workers has sparked “global outrage” as he called for an “immediate ceasefire”. Aid organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) confirmed British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, who were working for the charity’s security team, were among seven of its staff killed when their convoy was struck after unloading food in Gaza. The incident has prompted condemnation from the UK and its allies. Crossbench peer Lord Ricketts, who served as national security adviser between 2010 and 2012, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think there is abundant evidence now that Israel hasn’t been taking enough care to fulfil its obligations on the safety of civilians, and a country that gets arms from the UK has to comply with international humanitarian law, that is a condition of the arms export licensing policy.
“I think the time has come to send that signal. “It won’t change the course of the war. It would be a powerful political message, and it might just stimulate debate in the US as well, which would be the real game-changer, if the Americans began to think about putting limits, restrictions on the use of American weapons in Israel.”He added: “Sometimes in conflict, you get a moment where there’s such global outrage that it crystalises a sense that things can’t go on like this. “And I think – I hope – that this awful incident will serve that purpose.”
The peer said a failure by Israel to respond appropriately and show aid workers they are able to deliver supplies to areas of conflict should prompt “further steps to increase the pressure on (Israeli prime minister) Netanyahu”, including the UK no longer supplying the country with arms. He called for “an immediate ceasefire for an extended period to open up the borders and make it safe to get aid in for those delivering it and those receiving it”, adding this could also help secure the release of hostages held by Hamas. Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey also joined calls for the UK to suspend arms sales to Israel. He said: “The deaths of these British aid workers in Gaza is an absolute disgrace. These brave people were trying to help starving families in Gaza. “Clearly, the thought that British-made arms could have been used in strikes such as these is completely unacceptable. “The Government must take swift action to suspend arms exports to Israel. We must redouble our efforts to secure an immediate bilateral ceasefire.” Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has in recent weeks come under pressure from across the political spectrum to publish legal advice he has received about UK arms exports to Israel. Export licences could not continue to be granted for UK arms heading to Israel if there is a risk weapons could be used in a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Before MPs left Parliament for the Easter recess, Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell told the Commons UK arms exports amount to “0.02% of Israel’s military imports” when questioned about the legal advice by shadow foreign secretary David Lammy. Labour’s Darren Jones suggested the UK halting arms sales would not change the course of the war. “The fact of the matter is if the UK, for example, stopped supplying arms, the war would not end. What we need to do is get the parties to a position where the fighting can stop,” the shadow Treasury minister told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme.

'Outraged' Biden says Israel 'not done enough' to protect aid workers in Gaza
Associated Press/Wed, April 3, 2024
President Joe Biden has voiced strong criticism of Israel following a strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, saying it has not done enough to protect such workers. "Incidents like yesterday's simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians," Biden said in a statement Tuesday. Biden said he was "outraged and heartbroken" by the death on Monday of the World Central Kitchen workers, adding that distributing aid in the Palestinian territory has been difficult "because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians." In a strongly worded statement Biden said Israel's investigation of the strike "must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public." Biden and other U.S. officials have expressed growing frustration with Israel as its unrelenting war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to the October 7 Hamas attack sends civilian deaths soaring. The seven staffers from the U.S.-based food aid charity were killed when a strike hit their convoy in the Gazan town of Deir al-Balah. Biden said the death of the aid workers was not a "stand alone incident." The United Nations says the war has left almost 200 aid workers dead. "This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed," Biden said in his statement.He said the United States will continue to press Israel to let more aid into Gaza and to allow "an immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage deal." Israel's army acknowledged on Wednesday it had committed a "grave mistake."Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, in a message posted on social media platform X, blamed "a misidentification -- at night during a war in very complex conditions."

Strike on Gaza aid group putting Poland-Israel ties 'to the test'
Agence France Presse/Wed, April 3, 2024
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that a deadly Israeli strike on aid workers in Gaza that killed a Polish citizen, and the government's reaction to the incident, were straining ties between the two countries. Directly addressing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's envoy to Warsaw, Tusk posted on X: "Today, you are putting this solidarity to the test." "The tragic attack against volunteers and your reaction are generating an understandable anger," he wrote. The strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and U.S.-Canadian staff, after the employees had just unloaded humanitarian food aid in the war-torn territory. Israel's defense chief said Wednesday that the strike was a "grave mistake". Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned the incident was likely to increase anti-Semitism in Poland, and called for Israel to "apologize and pay compensation to the families of the victims". "If it is true that the convoy was deliberately attacked because it was supposed to contain a terrorist, and that civilian lives were therefore sacrificed, I do not know of any (political) system in which this would be justified," he told Polish public radio Trojka. "It is obvious something is wrong with the rules on the use of weapons by the Israeli army," he said. "You cannot play down this matter by saying these things happen in war, as Netanyahu said yesterday." The attack was widely condemned, with U.S. President Joe Biden saying Israel "has not done enough to protect aid workers", and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling the strike "unconscionable".

UN rights council to consider call for Israel arms embargo
Agence France Presse/Wed, April 3, 2024
The U.N. Human Rights Council will consider a draft resolution on Friday calling for an arms embargo on Israel, citing the "plausible risk of genocide in Gaza". If the draft resolution is adopted, it would mark the first time that the United Nations' top rights body has taken a position on the war raging in Gaza. The text condemns "the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects by Israel" in populated areas of the Gaza Strip and demands that Israel "uphold its legal responsibility to prevent genocide". The text was brought forward by Pakistan on behalf of 55 of the 56 UN member states in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) -- the exception being Albania.The draft resolution is also co-sponsored by Bolivia, Cuba and the Palestinian mission in Geneva. Friday marks the last day of the current council session. The eight-page draft demands that Israel end its occupation of Palestinian territory and immediately lifts its "illegal blockade" on the Gaza Strip and all other forms of "collective punishment". It calls upon countries to stop the sale or transfer of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, citing "a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza".The draft "condemns the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects by Israel in populated areas in Gaza" and voices grave concern at the effects of explosive weapons on hospitals, schools, water, electricity and shelter in Gaza. It also "condemns the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare". The draft resolution also calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and "condemns Israeli actions that may amount to ethnic cleansing", urging all states to prevent the forcible transfer of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip. There are 47 countries serving on the Human Rights Council -- among them 18 states which brought forward the draft resolution. Twenty-four votes are needed for an outright majority, but resolutions can pass with fewer votes due to abstentions. Israel has long accused the Human Rights Council of being biased against it. The bloodiest-ever Gaza war erupted with Hamas's October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,916 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Bye, bye Bibi: Netanyahu branded 'traitor' in fourth night of protests
Agence France Presse/Wed, April 3, 2024
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Houdini of Israeli politics and its longest serving prime minister, has been written off many times before. But with thousands of protesters on the streets every night this week demanding he resign, and growing anger at his handling of the war in Gaza, many wonder how long the veteran political escapologist can survive. The usually bullish Netanyahu, 74, appears both physically and politically fragile.Deeply unpopular -- no more than four percent of Israelis trust him, according to one poll late last year -- the war in Gaza is taking its toll on the man Israelis call Bibi.
Visibly frail and sallow, he was short-tempered and distracted during a television speech Saturday which his former minister and Likud colleague Limor Livnat called "catastrophic".The left-wing daily Haaretz said he looked "like a frightened tyrant". Netanyahu was even more gaunt when he left hospital in Jerusalem Tuesday after a hernia operation only to have to face the ire of the international community after an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers for a U.S.-based group in Gaza. "It happens in war," Netanyahu said with a tact which may not have been appreciated in the White House, which said it was "heartbroken" at the deaths."Netanyahu has been buried politically many times before and bounced back," said Emmanuel Navon, a former Likud member and political science professor. "But this time is different because of October 7. It is not the same country. It's over for Bibi. "He is 74, doesn't do any exercise, has a very hard job and he had a pacemaker put in six months ago."
Blamed for October 7 'disaster'
But Navon doubts Netanyahu will be forced from office by the new wave of mass street protests despite the fury of the hostages' families. Einav Zangauker, the mother of one of the 134 still held in Gaza, branded him a "pharaoh, a slayer of first-borns" at Tuesday night's rally outside parliament in Jerusalem, the fourth consecutive night of protests. They have seen hostage families uniting with anti-government demonstrators who spent nine months on the streets last year trying to stop controversial judicial reforms pushed by Netanyahu's far-right allies. The "disaster" of October 7 would have killed off any other politician. But Navon compared Netanyahu's hold over the ruling Likud party to Donald Trump's over U.S. Republicans. "Likud lawmakers are petrified to be penalized in the next primaries by the 'Trio' -- Bibi, his wife and his son who decide everything," said the professor at Tel Aviv University.
"Peoples' political lives depend on him. He has surfed populism, his candidates now tend to be conspiracy theory wackos. It is not the same party of 20 years ago."
Divide and rule
With his coalition reeling from crisis to crisis, enemies seem to be circling as never before around the leader of Israel's most right-wing government ever. Prosecutors are pushing ahead with a corruption trial against him despite the war, and protesters tried to break through police barriers to get to his home on Tuesday for the second time in four days. Even his defense minister, Likud stalwart Yoav Gallant, is defying him over the deeply divisive issue of ultra-Orthodox Jews escaping compulsory military service even as the war in Gaza rages and another looms with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Netanyahu has long relied on the support of religious parties to govern. "Excusing a whole community when the military needs so much more manpower is unforgivable," General Reuven Benkler told AFP at an anti-government rally Monday. The 65-year-old came out of retirement to serve in the north after the Hamas attack which resulted in 1,160 deaths in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,916 people, mostly women and children. Benkler said the "hostages will not come home while Bibi is still in power", adding that Netanyahu was dragging out the war in Gaza to prolong his rule -- a claim endlessly repeated at the protests. "He doesn't give a damn about anyone else apart from himself."Netanyahu's three-decade hold over Israeli politics was based on divide and rule, Navon said. And his claim that only he could keep the country safe, October 7 shattered that. His promise of elections in 2026 was "delusional", the analyst said. "But protesters' demands for them now are also unrealistic. The end of the year when the war has been won in Gaza and the north is more likely," he added. On Tuesday night, hostage mother Zangauker accused Netanyahu of letting Israel's guard fall, declaring at a mass protest to thunderous cheers: "It's all your fault -- 240 were kidnapped on your watch.""You nurtured and raised Hamas," she added, and yet "you call us traitors (for protesting during a war) when you are the traitor."

UN suspends aid movements at night in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)/Michelle Nichols/Wed, April 3, 2024
The United Nations has suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues following the killing of staff working for the World Central Kitchen food charity, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday. He said the suspension started on Tuesday. The World Food Programme is continuing operations during the day, including daily efforts to send convoys to the north of Gaza "where people are dying," Dujarric said. "As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip," he told reporters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel mistakenly killed seven people working for World Central Kitchen in a Gaza airstrike on Monday, prompting condemnations and calls for explanations from the United States and other allies. The U.N. has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza. The U.N. has repeatedly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the six-month long war between Israel and Hamas. Israel is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza over a deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militants.

Muslim leaders reject chance to break bread with Biden as anger over Gaza grows
Associated Press/Wed, April 3, 2024
Last year, President Joe Biden hadn't even spoken a word at the White House celebration of Ramadan before someone shouted out "we love you." Hundreds of Muslims were there to mark the end of the holy month that requires fasting from sunrise to sunset. There are no such joyous scenes during this Ramadan. With many Muslim Americans outraged over Biden's support for Israel's siege of Gaza, the White House chose to hold a smaller iftar dinner on Tuesday evening. The only attendees were people who work for his administration. "We're just in a different world," said Wael Alzayat, who leads Emgage, a Muslim advocacy organization. "It's completely surreal. And it's sad."Alzayat attended last year's event, but he declined an invitation to break his fast with Biden this year, saying, "It's inappropriate to do such a celebration while there's a famine going on in Gaza."
After rejections from Alzayat and others, he said the White House adjusted its plans Monday, telling community leaders that it wanted to host a meeting focused on administration policy. Alzayat still said no, believing that one day was not enough time to prepare for an opportunity to sway Biden's mind on the conflict. "I don't think the format will lend itself to a serious policy discussion," he said Tuesday afternoon. The refusal to break bread — or even share a room — with the president is fresh evidence of how fractured the relationship between Biden and the Muslim community has become six months after Israel and Hamas began their current war.
When the Democratic president took office three years ago, many Muslim leaders were eager to turn the page on Donald Trump's bigotry, including his campaign pledge to implement a " total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States."
But now Democrats fear that Biden's loss of support among Muslims could help clear a path for his Republican predecessor to return to the White House. This year's election will likely hinge on a handful of battleground states, including Michigan with its significant Muslim population. "There are real differences between the two," Alzayat said. "But emotionally, there may be no differences for some folks. And that's the danger." He added, "It's not good enough to tell people Donald Trump is going to be worse." Several Muslim leaders attended Tuesday's meeting with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Muslim government officials and national security leaders. The White House would not name them. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said "community leaders expressed the preference" of having a "working group meeting," which she described as an opportunity to "get feedback from them."As far as the iftar, Jean-Pierre said that "the president is going to continue his tradition of honoring the Muslim community during Ramadan."
No journalists were allowed to capture either the iftar or the meeting with community leaders, a change from previous years. Neither was listed on the president's public schedule. Some people who had attended events in previous years, such as Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of Dearborn, Michigan, were not invited.
Outside the White House, activists gathered in the rain for their own iftar on Tuesday evening in Lafayette Park. Organizers distributed dates, a traditional food for Ramadan, for people to break their fasts at sundown. The boycotting of Biden's invitation is reminiscent of a trip that White House officials took to Detroit earlier this year. They faced an icy reception from Muslim American community leaders in the swing state, where more than 100,000 Democratic primary voters cast protest votes for "uncommitted" as part of an organized showing of disapproval for Biden's approach to the war. A similar campaign was underway in Wisconsin, another political battleground. Organizers encouraged residents to vote "uninstructed," the equivalent of uncommitted, in Tuesday's Democratic primary. The fighting began on Oct. 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in a surprise attack. In response, Israel has killed roughly 33,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them are women and children. The Biden administration has continued to approve weapon sales to Israel even as the president urges Israeli leaders to be more careful about civilian deaths and encourages them to allow more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations, said he encouraged other Muslim leaders to decline invitations to the White House if they received them. The message, he said, should be "unless he calls for a cease-fire, there will be no meeting with him or his representatives." "I believe that the president is the only person in the world who can stop this," Awad said. "He can pick up the phone and literally tell Benjamin Netanyahu, no more weapons, just stop it, and Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to do so."
Awad has previously clashed with the White House over his comments on the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Gaza has spent years under an effective blockade by Israel — with help from Egypt — and Awad said he was "happy to see people breaking the siege" so they could "walk free into their land that they were not allowed to walk in." After the comments were circulated by a Middle East research organization founded by Israeli analysts, the White House issued a statement saying "we condemn these shocking, antisemitic statements in the strongest terms."
Awad called it a "fabricated controversy" and said he had criticized the targeting of Israeli citizens in his same speech.

Iran wants to punish Israel for the killing of its commanders. But its options are limited
Analysis by Abbas Al Lawati and Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN/April 3, 2024
Seven Iranian officials including two elite military commanders were killed in an airstrike on an Iranian embassy complex in Damascus on Monday that was widely believed to be Israel’s doing. Experts say the attack is the biggest of its kind on Iranian targets since then-US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander, in Baghdad in 2020. Iran may now be compelled to respond despite its unwillingness to enter war with Israel and the United States. Israel has been attacking Iranian and Iranian-allied interests in Syria for years as part of its “campaign between wars” strategy to deter and destroy emerging threats to its security. And it has increased such attacks since October 7, when Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250, prompting a devastating Israeli war in Gaza. But Monday’s attack was a major escalation, experts say, as it targeted an embassy compound and killed a top commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Iran considers it an attack on its sovereignty territory as per international law. Israel hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attack but has argued that the target was a “military building of Quds forces” — a unit of the IRGC responsible for foreign operations. “This is no consulate, and this is no embassy,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told CNN. Retaliation in the form of a direct Iranian attack on Israel is unlikely as it would invite a reciprocal attack on Iranian soil, and could drag the United States into a regional war.
Here are Iran’s options:
The Swiss chargé d’affaires in Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, was summoned by Iran’s foreign ministry early Tuesday and “an important message was relayed to the American administration as the Zionist regime’s supporter,” Amir-Abdollahian said on X. “The United States should be answerable.”“It appears that the Iranians are holding the US responsible for what Israel has done just as much as the US holds Iran responsible for what the Iraqi militias do,” Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, DC, told CNN’s Paula Newton. Iran has already been engaged in a low-level proxy conflict with the US through allied militias in Syria, Iraq. But that conflict has de-escalated since the killing of three US servicemembers in Jordan in January. The US retaliated by carrying out dozens of strikes on at least seven locations across Iraq and Syria.
Parsi said that Iran’s rhetoric since the embassy attack indicates that this “truce” with the US may be over. “That would mean that the Israeli attack on Iran has put a target on the backs of American troops in the Middle East,” he said.
US forces in the region operate in close proximity to Iran-allied militias, but an attack on the US in retaliation to Israeli action would leave Israel unpunished and potentially bring Tehran and Washington into a direct confrontation, which analysts say neither has an appetite for. The last time Iran conducted a direct attack on US interests was in 2020 when the Islamic Republic fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at a US base in Iraq in response to Soleimani’s killing days earlier. The strike was the widest scale attack on a base housing US troops in decades.
Washington has, however, tried to distance itself from Monday’s Israeli attack. A US National Security Council spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday that the Biden administration was not involved and had no advance knowledge of Monday’s strike, and that the US has “communicated this directly to Iran.”
Mobilize proxies against Israel
Iran’s most capable proxy in fighting Israel is Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The militia is said to have some 150,000 rockets and precision guided munitions in close proximity to Israel and has proven its ability to strike deep into Israeli territory. But Israel has been preparing for war with Hezbollah for months, having evacuated more than 40 communities in its north. The two sides have been engaging in skirmishes that have been confined to a few kilometers on each side of the border, although Israel last month struck as deep as 100 kilometers into Lebanon. Hezbollah said Monday’s strike will be met with “punishment and revenge,” but experts have cast doubt on its appetite to enter a devastating war with Israel. Iran could also mobilize other allied militias in the region, but their ability to cause harm to Israel is limited because of how far they are. Yemen’s Houthis have already been disrupting Israeli and global trade through the Red Sea, and have made some failed attempts to launch missiles towards Israel. Iraqi militias, which are closer in proximity than the Houthis, have also made attempts, mostly futile, at hitting Israel. Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House think tank in London, said Iran is likely to use its proxy forces along with diplomatic efforts to isolate Israel, but it isn’t likely to escalate significantly. “The Axis of Resistance can be activated,” she said, referring to the network of pro-Iran militias in the region. They aren’t likely to retaliate with massive attacks, but rather with a “cascade of responses,” she told CNN.
Attack Israeli interests abroad
After past attacks on Iran, Israel has often anticipated Iranian retaliation on its interests in foreign countries, and beefed up security at its embassies. Israel has in the past accused Iran of attempting to target its diplomatic missions abroad in retaliation to alleged Israeli killings of Iranian scientists and officials as well as attacks on its nuclear facilities. Iran has denied those charges.In 1992, a bomb at the Israeli embassy in Argentina killed 29 people. Israel blamed it on Hezbollah and Iran. In 2012, Israeli diplomats were targeted in India, Georgia and Thailand, which Israel and others blamed on Iran, which it denied. Jalal Rashidi Kochi, an Iranian member of parliament, suggested on X that Iran should retaliate by striking the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan. Vakil said that it is unlikely Iran would attack Israeli diplomatic missions abroad, adding that Tehran “likely doesn’t want to lose whatever favor” it has garnered from this attack. “Since October 7 there has been a lot of criticism that Iran has lost its deterrence capability,” she said, adding that Tehran will try to show that it maintains that capability without provoking a larger war.
Take no direct military action
Israel is believed to have increased its targeting of Iranian officials since October 7. The reaction from Tehran has so far been largely confined to fiery rhetoric, with few of its threats materializing into action. Analysts say the Islamic Republic may be compelled to act this time given the escalatory nature of Monday’s attack, but caution that Tehran may be falling into a trap. A wider war with Israel that involves Iran could draw in Western nations on Israel’s side at a time when Israel is becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage due to its conduct in Gaza. “Now the ball is in Iran’s court,” Vali Nasr, a Middle East academic and former adviser to the State Department, wrote on X. “Israel is provoking Iran into reaction. Likely Iran bides its time and not let the story on Israel change from Gaza to Syria and Iran.”Vakil of Chatham House said Iran is unlikely to respond with a direct military attack. Instead, it will likely “build on this momentum of international condemnation for the war in Gaza,” stoke up international fears of a broader, regional war and isolate Israel further.Knowing that the wider region, Israel and the US all want to avoid a larger war, Tehran will try to use these dynamics to buy itself some time and favor, she told CNN. “I think Iran is going to play multiple cards simultaneously,” she said, including cyberattacks, low-level military confrontations via proxies and diplomatic offensives. Iran has already asked for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to “categorically denounce the violation of international regulations,” according to the IRNA news agency. The lack of direct military action however “creates the major risk for Iran that Israel will have the time and space to dismantle the Axis of Resistance fronts one by one (possibly with the direct support and even participation of the next US administration) once major operations in Gaza are complete,” Farzan Sabet, a senior research associate at the Global Governance Centre in Switzerland, wrote on X. Such a change could seriously impact Iran’s capabilities in the region.

Many Iranian options to retaliate against Israel, but all carry risk
Idrees Ali and Arshad Mohammed/Reuters/April 03/2024
Iran faces a dilemma following an Israeli attack on its embassy in Syria: how to retaliate without sparking a wider conflict that Middle East analysts said Tehran doesn't appear to want. Monday's strike, which killed two Iranian generals and five military advisers at Iran's embassy compound in Damascus, comes as Israel accelerates a long-running campaign against Iran and the armed groups it backs. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge. Tehran has options. It could unleash its proxies on U.S. forces, use them to strike Israel directly or ramp up its nuclear program, which the United States and its allies have long sought to rein in. Speaking on condition of anonymity, U.S. officials said they were watching closely to see if, as in the past, Iran-backed proxies would attack U.S. troops based in Iraq and Syria after Monday's Israeli strike. Such Iranian attacks ceased in February after Washington retaliated for the killing of three U.S. troops in Jordan with dozens of air strikes on targets in Syria and Iraq linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and militias it backs. U.S. officials said they had not yet picked up intelligence suggesting Iran-backed groups were looking to attack U.S. troops following Monday's attack, which Iranian media said killed IRGC members including Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a brigadier general. The United States on Tuesday bluntly warned Tehran against attacking its forces. "We will not hesitate to defend our personnel and repeat our prior warnings to Iran and its proxies not to take advantage of the situation ... to resume their attacks on U.S. personnel," said Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood.
AVOIDING ALL-OUT WAR
One source who tracks the issue carefully and who spoke on condition of anonymity said Iran faced the conundrum of wanting to respond to deter further such Israeli strikes while avoiding an all-out war. "They have faced this real dilemma that if they respond they could be courting a confrontation which they clearly don't want," he said. "They are trying to modulate their actions in a way that shows that they are responsive but not escalatory." "If they don't respond in this case, it really would be a signal that their deterrence is a paper tiger," he added, saying Iran might attack Israel proper, Israeli embassies or Jewish facilities abroad. The U.S. official said given the significance of the Israeli strike, Iran may be forced to respond by attacking Israeli interests rather than going after U.S. troops. Elliott Abrams, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations U.S. think tank, also said he believed Iran did not want an all-out war with Israel but could target Israeli interests. "I think Iran does not want a big Israel-Hezbollah war right now, so any response will not come in the form of a big Hezbollah action," Abrams said, referring to the Lebanese group seen as Tehran's most powerful military proxy.
"They have many other ways to respond ... for example by trying to blow up an Israeli embassy," he added. Iran could also respond by accelerating its nuclear program, which Tehran has ramped up since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 abandoned the 2015 Iran nuclear deal designed to constrain it in return for economic benefits. But the two most dramatic steps - increasing the purity of its enriched uranium to 90%, which is considered bomb grade, or reviving work to design an actual weapon - could backfire and invite Israeli or U.S. strikes. "Either one of those would be viewed by Israel and by the U.S. as a decision to acquire a bomb. So ... they are really taking a big risk. Are they ready to do it? I would not think so," said the source who tracks the issue closely. Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the CSIS think tank in Washington, said he does not expect a massive Iranian response to the attack on its embassy. "Iran is less interested in teaching Israel a lesson than (in) showing its allies in the Middle East that it isn’t weak."

Iran supreme leader says Israel will ‘be slapped’ for consulate strike
AFP/April 03, 2024
TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel would “be slapped” after an air strike on the Iranian consular annex in Damascus killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals. “The defeat of the Zionist regime in Gaza will continue and this regime will be close to decline and dissolution,” Khamenei said in a speech to the country’s officials in Tehran. “Desperate efforts like the one they committed in Syria will not save them from defeat. Of course, they will also be slapped for that action,” he added. Iranian state media said 13 people were killed in the strike in which, according to Tehran’s ambassador, Israeli F-35 jets fired six missiles that levelled the five-story consular building adjacent to the embassy. Iran said the strike killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, including two commanders of the Quds Force — the Guards’ foreign operations arm — Brig. Generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Hajji Rahimi. Zahedi, 63, had held a succession of commands in the force in a Guards career spanning more than four decades. Iran’s official media said the funeral ceremony of the IRGC members would be held on Friday, coinciding with the annual Quds Day, which will see Iranian people march in support of Palestinians and against Israel. Iran’s supreme leader, who has the final say in major state policies, urged people to take to the streets for this year’s event. “If in previous years, Quds Day was celebrated only in Islamic countries, this year, most likely, Quds Day will also be celebrated in non-Islamic countries.”He also said he hoped for a day that “the Muslim world can celebrate the destruction of Israel.”Israel has long fought a shadow war of assassinations and sabotage against Iran and its armed allies, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other militant groups. Regional tensions have soared since the Gaza war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. The Palestinian militant group is backed by Tehran, although Iran has denied any direct involvement in the attack. Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 32,975 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Iran’s Raisi vows response to Damascus consulate strike
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/April 03, 2024
BEIRUT: Iran has vowed to respond to Israel’s attack on its Damascus consulate. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, speaking via video at a Hezbollah event in Beirut’s southern suburb on Wednesday, described the Israeli missile strike as “the pinnacle of failure and loss.”On the giant screen at the Jerusalem Day celebrations, Raisi added: “Washington is an inevitable partner in the Israeli crimes in Gaza. The attack on the Iranian consulate will receive a response from the brave resistance.”The celebration saw speeches from Iran-backed movement leaders broadcast live through affiliated TV stations in Baghdad, Beirut, Tehran, Damascus and Sanaa. Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh said in his speech: “The occupation government is determined to continue the aggression against the Gaza Strip, and Netanyahu and those with him only care about remaining in their chairs for the longest period.”He added: “We are adhering to our demands of a ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced, the entry of aid, the reconstruction of the strip, the lifting of the siege and the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal.”Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, condemned “the Israeli aggression that Syria is being exposed to,” adding that “Syria’s position in support of all resistance movements has not changed.”He said: “What we need today is steadfastness, and to focus on the achievements that were achieved as a result of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and not focus on the losses.
“There are great sacrifices, yes, but there are great results and achievements, especially the strategic ones, which we must explain to the people through all platforms that support the path of the resistance. “The enemy seeks to transform the image of the historical achievements of the resistance into an image of defeat by distorting the facts.”Other speeches were delivered by the head of Yemen’s Houthi movement, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi; the secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, Ziyad Al-Nakhalah; the secretary-general of the Iraqi Nujaba movement, Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi; and Iraq’s Badr Organization and Fatah Alliance chief Hadi Al-Amiri. Meanwhile, the Lebanese branch of the Islamic Jihad movement announced the killing of one of its members — Mohammad Abdulaziz Al-Rantisi, 32 — in southern Lebanon.

‘Reckless’ Houthi Red Sea campaign harming Yemenis, Palestinians: US special envoy
BENEDICT SPENCE/Arab News/April 03, 2024
LONDON: Continuing Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea are “misplaced, reckless and indiscriminate,” the US special envoy for Yemen said on Wednesday during a briefing attended by Arab News. Timothy Lenderking added that the Houthis’ activities are harming both ordinary Yemenis and Palestinians, who they claim to be acting in support of. In a briefing from Muscat following a meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Al-Busaidi, and having spent the previous day in Riyadh, Lenderking said Houthi attacks are preventing aid from reaching Palestinians, as well as disrupting global trade. He added that as well as international shipping entering the Suez Canal, traffic at the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah is also being affected, down 15 percent this year, hindering the flow of essential goods into the country.
Lenderking said ongoing military activity in the region is disrupting local industries, especially fishing, which is having an additional impact on the local economy and is having a detrimental effect on wildlife. “The Houthis claim to be helping the Palestinians but are hurting them,” he added. “We all want Yemen to be a source of stability for the region.” Houthi attacks “must stop so we can direct our attention back to the (Yemeni) peace process and to turn our attention to Palestine and the two-state solution,” he said, adding that “Houthi recklessness” is being facilitated by Iran, which is “sowing instability across the region” and “continues to enable these attacks, providing weapons and (is a) leading sponsor of terrorism.”Lenderking said both the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group and US strikes on their positions in Yemen are hampering their combat activities and fundraising, but insisted that the US, along with the likes of France and the UK, would prefer a diplomatic solution. He said his meetings in Oman and Saudi Arabia are a demonstration of Washington’s “unshakeable” commitment to the Yemeni peace process, adding: “The US has been very clear that we seek de-escalation in the Red Sea, and that the Houthi attacks can’t continue.”The Houthis “can still de-escalate and return to the peace process,” said Lenderking, who praised the Saudi role in mediating between the Houthis and the internationally recognized Yemeni government. “I continue to meet with a broad range of officials and other Yemeni officials in Riyadh,” he said. “I think all of these consultations are extremely important in narrowing the differences that may exist between the conflicting parties.” He added: “The fact that Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been able to make progress, Saudi Arabia mediating between the Houthis and Yemeni government … gives us some hope that we can use this moment to get beyond … this nine-year civil war.” Lenderking warned, though, that action would be required on the part of the Houthis to regain the trust of the international community. “Unfortunately, these attacks against international shipping have undermined the credibility of the Houthis as a good-faith actor,” he said, calling on them to release the 25 crew members of the Galaxy Leader ship, abducted in November last year, which had “no connection with Israel.”Lenderking added that the international community should not let the Gaza conflict stunt the peace process in Yemen. He defended America’s “longstanding commitment to Israel’s security,” but added: “That, of course, doesn’t mean rampant attacks on civilians, which the US has called out.”

Islamic State-linked fighters kill at least a dozen civilians in eastern Congo
KINSHASA, Congo (AP/Wed, April 3, 2024
Congo's army says extremist-linked rebels have killed at least a dozen people in a raid on a rural community in the east, in the latest violence near the border with Uganda. Allied Democratic Forces rebels with ties to the Islamic State group have long operated in the border area. The United Nations said last week that almost 200 people have been killed there this year. Capt. Anthony Mulushayi, spokesperson for the Congolese army in North Kivu province, on Tuesday said the attackers earlier that day set a local hospital on fire and took a number of civilians into the bush. He said the army responded, killing four of the attackers and rescuing four people. A local civilian leader, Kakule Mwendapeke, said the civilian toll was higher, with at least 17 killed, and others are missing after being kidnapped. Survivors fled their villages to seek refuge in nearby urban centers including Beni and Mangina. Eastern Congo has been ravaged by conflict for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for control of valuable mineral resources and some try to protect their communities. Mass killings by rebels are frequent. The violence has driven over seven million people to flee their homes, the U.N. has said. Bintou Keita, the top U.N. envoy to Congo, warned last week that violence is escalating, with thousands of human rights abuses, including rapes and gender based violence, reported this year.

Russia's security head says the US shares blame for a concert hall attack that killed
TALLINN, Estonia (AP)/April 03/2024
The head of Russia's national security council on Wednesday contended that the United States shares blame for the attack by gunmen on a Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, even though a branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. Since the March 22 attack at the Crocus City Hall, the deadliest on Russian soil in two decades, Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin have repeatedly claimed, without presenting evidence, that it was organized by Ukraine, which has been fighting a Russian invasion for more than two years. An affiliate of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and Kyiv has consistently denied involvement. “They are trying to impose on us that the terrorist act was committed not by the Kyiv regime, but by supporters of radical Islamic ideology, perhaps members of the Afghan branch of IS,” security council head Nikolai Patrushev said at a meeting in the Kazakhstan capital Astana of security councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The SCO is a nine-country regional security and economic bloc that includes China, India and Iran. “However, it is much more important to quickly establish who is the customer and sponsor of this monstrous crime. Its traces lead to the Ukrainian special services. But everyone knows that the Kyiv regime is not independent and is completely controlled by the United States," Patrushev said. Four suspected gunmen were captured the day after the attack in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine. Putin and other officials claim that the gunmen had arranged for passage into Ukraine. Six other suspected accomplices have also been arrested. The attack came two weeks after the United States Embassy in Russia issued a warning that it was monitoring reports of planned terrorist attacks on public targets. The U.S. State Department said information about the planned attacks was passed on to Russian officials. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday declined comment in a conference call on a report in the Washington Post that U.S. officials had specifically identified Crocus City Hall as a potential target, saying that was a matter for security services. Also Wednesday, the Russian prosecutor-general's office sent information requests to the U.S., Germany, France and Cyprus over Western countries’ potential involvement in terrorist attacks on Russia, state news agency Tass reported.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 03-04/2024
Khaled Meshaal… Is Neither The First Nor The Last
Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 03/2024
Instead of seeking more blood in Gaza and giving up on his pursuit of an illusional victory by raising the number of Palestinian casualties, Khaled Meshaal, the head of the Hamas's office in the diaspora, wants to expand the scope of war and death.
In a video recording, Meshaal addressed his “Jordanian brothers," calling on the "masses of the nation to engage in the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood" and stressing the need for "blending blood of this nation with the blood of the people of Palestine, so that it can attain honor and decide this conflict in our favor, Inshallah." Meshaal's remarks, which Amman considers dangerous incitement, were made around 6 months into the Gaza war instigated by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the displacement of Gazans to Rafah on the border with Egypt, and the total destruction of the Strip.
Notably, Iran did not engage in this war, which, according to Meshaal, is a major step towards a glaring victory. According to Reuters, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei asked Chairman Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, during their first meeting in Tehran, to silence the voices calling on Iran to support Gaza and open fronts against Israel. Khamenei bluntly told Mr. Haniyeh that Hamas had not consulted anyone before launching the attack and that Iran would not fight for them.
For its part, Hezbollah contented itself with skirmishes with Israel and retaliations that have not at all been proportional to the unprecedented Israeli assault that has violated all of Lebanon, as well as making significant progress in weakening the party on the ground.
As for the role that Iraqi militias have played in this war of support, it diminished around a month ago following a painful US drone strike in Baghdad that took out prominent Iraqi Hezbollah leaders: head of logistics Abu Baqir al-Saadi, and Arkan al-Alayawi, who runs the group’s information system.
In parallel, the Houthi militia has waged its own conflict in the Red Sea in the name of the Gaza war. While the militia claims its actions are meant to support Gaza, they have had no real impact on the course of the disaster befalling the Strip and its inhabitants.
Iran behaves like a partner in profits only, while refusing to be a partner in losses. It is striving to discourage Hezbollah from taking risks that could leave the party meeting the same fate that has befallen Hamas in Gaza, as Iran is aware that the party had raised expectations with its rhetoric and bravado before the war to a degree that makes merely standing aside untenable.
Meshaal made his perverse attempt at inciting Jordanians against their state, security, and stability against the backdrop of the Resistance Axis’s inaction, while he has yet to really criticize the limited support that Iran and its proxies have provided.
On the surface, his incitement seems to be the result of the despair within the Movement following the unprecedented war that has been waged against it and the shock of being abandoned by its allies. The sources of this despair are many. Hamas made several losing bets - from the theory of the “unity of fronts” being put into action to exploiting the sentiments of Muslims during Ramadan - that it thought would allow for expanding the war, as well as imposing suicidal realities and destroying the overall security and stability of the Middle East.
It is as though Hamas, after having failed to drown Israel in the blood of Gaza's people, now seeks to drown it with more blood, starting with that of the Jordanians.
However, the incitement is rooted in different considerations as well. It seems that some elements of the Muslim Brotherhood seek to resume their war against the Arab political system. Jordan is the first target in their sights, but they are looking further as well. Following the Brotherhood’s fall from power in Egypt and Tunisia, its decline in Morocco, its collapse in Sudan, and its Turkish patron's shift towards reconciling with the Arab political system, the Gaza war has opened as a new window from which the Brotherhood - now armed with the discourse of resistance and the theory of "unity in collapses" rather than unity of battlefields - can rear its head.
Khaled Meshaal is no fool. He was aware of the consequences that the October 7 operation would give rise to. However, he sees, in the tragedies of his people in Gaza, a political opportunity to traffic in resistance and invest in disaster. If that were not the case, why haven't we heard Meshaal call on the people of the West Bank to join the glorious holy war that his organization has waged? Why is he not bewildered by the fact that the West Bank and its sensible people are trying to preserve what remains of their land in order to build their national project over it? Why would Iran try so hard to turn the tables in the West Bank, and why would it have to resort to smuggling arms as - as was revealed last week - if the West Bank's people were in favor of the military option?
The attempts to destabilize Jordan have been relentless, taking many forms, from suicide drones and border skirmishes through organizations and smugglers linked to Iran, to "Captagon incursions," to Iraqi militias targeting US bases on the Iraqi-Jordanian border. We have now seen the most dangerous step to date following Khaled Meshaal's call for engagement in the Gaza war, through a clash between the Jordanian people and their state!
Hamas's attempt to force the Jordanian front open is a dangerous game that goes beyond a military strategy aimed at expanding the scale of its confrontation with Israel. This is an effort to mobilize Islamists under the guise of supporting Gaza which undermines Jordan's unity and prosperity. It is the abhorrent resumption of the ideological struggle in the Arab world, a systematic battle against the peace camp in the region, and an effort to ensure that the Arab world remains an alternative that can be exploited by Iran.
Unfortunately, defending the legitimate grievances of Palestinians has long been accompanied by policies that exploit these grievances to incite internal Arab conflicts and to get ahead in broader struggles for influence. Meanwhile, immediate and long-term consequences for the stability of the region and the lives of millions are neglected. This dangerous feature, which has characterized much of Palestinian national action, is not new to Hamas. What is new is that this time, the Palestinians alone will bear the costs of undermining prospects for peace and the manipulation of their basic interests by those purporting to speak on behalf of their future.

Three questions about the recent attack on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and its implications
Dr. Elie Abouaoun is peace & conflict expert and a visiting lecturer at Saint Joseph University in Beirut/strategy International/April 03/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128444/128444/
Why is this attack different?
This attack differs from its predecessors in a several ways. Firstly, the fact that it targeted an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus is quite meaningful. Israel is making it very apparent that it will cross any boundaries—real or imagined—when it comes to pursuing high-value targets. Furthermore, this time around, the seven officers that were killed had a different profile. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, according to Iranian media and observers, is the most senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Lebanon and Syria. He was also the second most senior IRGC commander to be assassinated since Qasim Sulaimani was killed in January 2020 by an American drone attack in Baghdad. The Iranians suffered severe moral, political, and tactical losses as a result of this attack. It confirms Israel’s superior intelligence capabilities and its capacity to launch strategic strikes against vital sites and targets around the region. But Iran’s capabilities and operations in Syria and Lebanon won’t be much impacted by this assassination. The Iranians have long since come to realize that they cannot have an irreplaceable commander. To prevent operations from being disrupted, they constantly have procedures in place to fill the vacancies in commander posts.
What form of retaliation can be expected from Iran following the recent attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus?
Iran is more likely to adopt a multi-tiered strategy than to immediately engage in a large-scale retaliation. The first tier will probably take the form of a theatrical and highly symbolic attack reminiscent of the rocket attack on the Ain al-Asad U.S. military base in Iraq after the assassination of Qasim Sulaimani in January 2020. This will aim at restoring an appearance of strength without triggering a conventional war, which Iran perceives as disadvantageous. This is also necessary to appease certain influential Iranian politicians who have been criticizing Iran for what they see as its lax policies toward the United States and Israel, especially post October 2023.
At the same time, Iran will carefully prepare a more profound and effective retaliation to set limits on its behalf. This essential part of the counterattack will be carried out at the time and in the way determined by Iran. The Mullah regime in Tehran despises being drawn into a conflict over which they have no control. They systematically take measures to guarantee that they have the final say in all decisions on the nature, scope, venue, and timing of any action they take. Finally, Iran will consider using its proxies to send a strong message to its neighbors in the region.
What concerns do the U.S. and GCC countries have regarding the recent attack in Damascus, and how might Iran respond to these concerns?
The U.S. and GCC countries are, rightly so, concerned that the recent attack in Damascus may lead to a potential escalation of conflict with Iran, requiring their direct involvement at a time when they believe that going to an upfront war with Iran is counterproductive and unnecessary for the time being. They are sending a strong statement to that effect by formally denying any knowledge of or support for the attack. Nonetheless, Iran will take this as a chance to demonstrate its might and remind its neighbors—especially those in the Gulf Cooperation Council—of its potential. More crucially, by utilizing its numerous proxies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, Iran will once again demonstrate the applicability of their strategic concept, the “Unity of War Fronts.”
From an Israeli perspective, the South Lebanon/Hezbollah issue is completely distinct from what is happening in Gaza.
The risks of a regional escalation including more intense military operations in Lebanon will persist as long as the Israeli government cannot secure the return of displaced persons to their homes in northern Israel.
The Americans consider that this war has harmed the administration and the United States, so the priority is to prevent the war from spreading beyond Gaza.
The ask for Hezbollah to “withdraw” from Southern Lebanon is absurd because the party’s operatives are hybrid civilians and fighters at the same time. A better idea is to negotiate a “redeployment” of the party’s arsenal and security guarantees that the party will not target civilians in Northern Israel.

Jordan…and the Alternative Front
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 03/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128448/128448/
The organized and systematic campaigns to create chaos in Jordan, under the guise of demands to defend Gaza, have been intensifying since last week. These campaigns, which are clearly visible on social media, remind us of what was mendaciously called the "Arab Spring."
Regional figures and online platforms affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the region, and of course Hamas and the Al-Qassam Brigades, have taken part and continue to part in these campaigns. Some regional media outlets that had been presumed to have learned something from the lessons of the past have contributed to these campaigns as well, but that's another story. Well, why is Jordan being targeted now? I will give a straightforward response. First, what is being done to Jordan is not new. It is the extension of a clear plan that began on October 7, 2023. And Jordan is not the only target; Egypt is another.
Of course, campaigns have also targeted Saudi Arabia. However, the schemes to incite against Egypt and Jordan are different. They are linked to a longstanding aspiration to create chaos in both countries and drag them into Iran’s sphere of influence, with the cause once again being used as the pretext. The goal of the campaigns against Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is to demonize Riyadh, and these campaigns have never stopped.
In Jordan, we are seeing preparations for a post-Hamas Gaza following the losses that the Islamist group has incurred on the ground. Both Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood are apprehensive of the implications of losing a significant front for their bid to exploit the cause for their own ends.
Both Iran and the Brotherhood are facing a real threat. Even if they were to return to a devastated Gaza that needs international and Arab support for reconstruction, this process would not mirror that of previous Gaza wars. The Palestinian Authority would have to be present, and the supporters would demand genuine guarantees that there will not be a repeat of what happened. Moreover, with Iran fearing that it could potentially lose its Hezbollah front, which Israel has dealt several severe blows, whether in Lebanon or Syria, Tehran is looking to secure an alternative front, namely Jordan, even if creating chaos is required to achieve its numerous crucial objectives. Should they manage, God forbid, to undermine the security and stability of Jordan Iran and its militias would be presented with an opportunity they have been seeking for a long time: to extend the supply lines from Iran to the Mediterranean through Iraq, Jordan, and Syria, and to ensure that the regime in Damascus is covered from behind.
It would also grant them a foothold on the Saudi and Egyptian borders, which is of paramount importance to Iran. That is their central objective, not opening a front against Israel. Indeed, Tehran uses its militias in the region like pawns in a chess game. It wants to surround and exhaust the moderate states through these militias, which also facilitate the smuggling of drugs and other activities. Iran has consolidated its influence in Lebanon through the southern suburbs of Beirut and then did the same in Syria through the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab. According to Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, it seeks to replicate this model and establish other regional strongholds bordering moderate states. Moreover, if Jordan were destabilized, God forbid, Hamas and other factions would have an opportunity to reestablish themselves within Jordan, potentially bringing it to ruin, as had happened in Lebanon in the past, and even Jordan itself. In summary: This is the plan, and anyone who thinks otherwise is mistaken. There is no space for good intentions here, as the road to hell is paved with them. Thus, standing with Jordan and supporting it unconditionally is crucial. In matters of national security, neutrality is a weakness.

Strike against Iran in Damascus: How Iran plans to retaliate
Mounir RabihL'Orient-Le Jour/April 03/2024
After the Supreme National Security Council’s meeting, Ali Khamenei made his decision.
The prestige of the Iranian regime was struck in the heart. The Israeli attack Monday on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus was as serious as it was symbolic because it targeted an area under the sovereignty of Iran, not Syria. This was enough to force the Islamic Republic to respond appropriately.
However, Iran does not want this retaliation to serve as a casus belli for the Israelis. Is the answer to this dilemma found in Lebanon? In the past, the Islamic Republic has “hidden” behind its regional allies to wage war at a minimum cost. If we follow this logic, Hezbollah — a key Iran-aligned movement that lost a member in the attack — is the ideal candidate to avenge such an affront. Mohammad Reza Zahedi — one of the two senior officers of the al-Quds Force killed along with five other Pasdaran members — had a long history with Hezbollah, dating back to 1998. At the time, the young general was involved in building up Hezbollah’s military capabilities and established a bridge between Damascus and Haret Hreik neighborhood [Hezbollah’s stronghold] in Beirut’s southern suburb, which enabled Hezbollah to secure its supplies through Syria. He was also a non-Lebanese member of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, contributing to its most important decisions. In practice, he was one of Hezbollah’s most influential figures on the ground, after the assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief Imad Mughniyeh. In the wake of the Syrian war in 2011, Tehran appointed him military commander for Lebanon and Syria.
Khamenei decided
According to corroborating sources, the meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council that followed the strike was marked by a divergence of opinion on how to react. The Foreign Ministry believes that it was an Israeli attempt to push Iran towards war and that Iran must not allow itself to be drawn into this trap. On the other hand, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) felt that without a strong response, Iran’s image in the region would be extremely weakened. They also spoke of the frustration they felt within the “Axis of Resistance” military branches, most notably the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi factions, with not responding strongly to the continuing Israeli strikes. Iran’s Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei decided that the Iranians themselves would retaliate explicitly and strongly, but this response would not be synonymous with a declaration of war. According to the same sources, he also asked for political and security assessments on retaliating by targeting Israeli embassies or consulates, as well as the repercussions and damage this could have in Tehran. He also requested a study on the possibility of carrying out assassination operations inside Israel to undermine Israeli authority and avenge slain officials. In the discussions that followed the strike, some pointed out that Caliph Ali bin Abi Talib —whom the Shiites consider to be the true successor of his cousin, the Prophet Mohammad — stayed out of power for over 20 years and did not resort to escalation or war to preserve the lives of Muslims. Similarly, his son, Imam Hassan, opted for reconciliation after his father’s death to spare his people a bloodbath. His brother, Imam Hussein, chose to revolt only when he felt that Islam was in danger. According to this reading, it is now up to the Supreme Guide, the representative of the Imams on earth according to the velayat-e faqih doctrine, to make the appropriate decisions. He does not want to go to war, believing that the time for the “great revolution” has yet to come.
‘100 percent Iranian’
The Islamic Republic is concocting its response. For Iran and Hezbollah, it’s a question of striking the right balance between retaliating violently enough without triggering a regional conflict. What is certain, according to the above-mentioned sources, is that those who will pull the trigger will be “100 percent Iranian.”The operation will therefore not be led by Hezbollah. However, the latter will be part of the response as per the “unity of fronts” strategy. No information has been leaked on the approach that will be adopted, but the response could once again be directed at Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, already targeted in January and long regarded by the Iranians as a stronghold of the Israeli Mossad. The attack on the Iranian consulate is further proof that Israel is targeting all military commanders — be they Iranian, Iraqi, or Lebanese — linked to Qassem Soleimani, who was in charge of the IRGC’s extraterritorial external operations and was killed in Baghdad in 2020. It is responding to the “unity of the fronts” principle to weaken Iran and its regional allies. In this vein, the strikes that targeted the leaders of Hezbollah’s elite al-Radwan unit are seen as a heavy blow since it will not be easy to quickly replace these experienced commanders. According to sources close to Iran, information from Tel Aviv indicates that the Israelis are ready for a major war. Tehran and its allies are preparing for it, but will not be the ones to cross the Rubicon. “However, the Iranians and Hezbollah have set a red line: A ground operation [in Lebanon],” said a source close to Hezbollah.
**This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translated by Joelle El Khoury.

Iran-US secret backchannel talks suggest that for both sides pragmatism beats ideology
Shabnam Holliday, Associate Professor in International Relations, University of Plymouth/The Conversation/Wed, April 3, 2024
Recent revelations that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US have held secret talks as a way of resolving months of attacks by Tehran-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea have raised eyebrows. Surely the two countries have been implacable foes for decades? How could they be engaged in constructive negotiations?
On first glance this seems unlikely. Since its establishment following the 1979 revolution in Iran, the ideology of the Islamic Republic established in its wake has played heavily on anti-imperialism and the rejection of what is seen as “US hegemony”.
Tehran has tended to divide the international system in terms of what it sees as the “oppressed” and the “oppressors” with the US as the chief oppressor and the Islamic Republic the defender of the oppressed.
These ideas were an important part of political culture and debates among many Iranians before 1979 in response to what many people felt had been excessive foreign interference. Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic’s first supreme leader, co-opted these ideas.
In practical terms, this meant a rejection of the Carter administration’s close involvement in Iranian affairs, despite human rights abuses under the Shah of Iran.
The desire to reject US influence was perhaps evident in the takeover of the US embassy in 1979 and the subsequent hostage crisis. With the Iran-Iraq War which broke out after Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, defence against the US also became an integral part of the Islamic Republic’s ideology because it was perceived that Iraq had US support.
But to view the Islamic Republic’s relationship with the US simply in terms of Khomeini’s ideology – or without appreciating different approaches from within the Islamic Republic over the years – provides an inaccurate picture. Historically, pragmatism and dialogue have also played an important role.
Mohammad Khatami, who was elected president of Iran in 1997, was pragmatic, and considered dialogue integral to the Islamic Republic’s ideology. He sought to bring Iran out of the isolation from the international system that had been characteristic since the 1979 Revolution.
Khatami’s Dialogue Among Civilisations speech to the United Nations in 1998 drew on intellectual debates about the aims of the Islamic Revolution and reforming the Islamic Republic. His speech recommended designating 2001 as the year of dialogue among civilizations, a proposal that was unanimously adopted by a vote of the UN general assembly.
In 1998, Khatami addressed the American people on CNN, as a part of this dialogue. He drew parallels between the American war of independence and Iran’s search for a national identity, declaring: “We feel that what we seek is what the founders of the American civilisation were also pursuing four centuries ago. This is why we sense an intellectual affinity with the essence of the American civilisation.”
In 2001, Khatami condemned the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Under his direction, Iran also signed a secret deal to provide assistance to US forces in their campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan that year.
‘Axis of Evil’
But a combination of factors, including being labelled as a key member of George W Bush’s “axis of evil”, contributed to more strained relations with Washington under Khatami’s successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Considered by many as a populist leader, Ahmadinejad’s policy towards the US (and Israel) was aggressive, ideological, and less pragmatic. With a dramatic rise in human rights abuses under Ahmadinejad, western concerns centred on Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and Bush’s “war on terror” rhetoric prompted a steady deterioration in the Islamic Republic’s relations with the US.
After Barack Obama took office as US president in 2009, reports of fraud in the Iranian presidential election of that year brought Iranians in big cites on to the streets. Obama condemned what he called the “unjust” violence against protesters. Meanwhile EU, UN and US sanctions hardened as a response to Iran’s developing nuclear programme.
Nuclear deal
At this stage Iran’s political establishment could see the need to restore the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy both with the Iranian people and internationally. The election of Hassan Rouhani as president in 2013 went some way to resolving both of these issues.
In contrast to Ahmadinejad, Rouhani promoted a policy of “constructive engagement”. A series of secret meetings between the Obama and Rouhani administrations contributed to the signing of the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA) – the Iran nuclear deal – in July 2015. This restricted Iran’s nuclear programme in return for a promised easing of sanctions.
The JCPOA was just one sign of this pragmatism between Tehran and Washington. The US and the Islamic Republic also cooperated in response to the rise of Islamic State (IS). The removal of Saddam Hussein in 2003 with the subsequent de-Ba'athification policy created a security vacuum in Iraq which allowed IS to grow.
Despite different priorities and their ongoing rivalry, the Islamic Republic and the US needed to cooperate against what each saw as the greater enemy. This sort of backchannel communication was seen again recently when the US secretly warned Tehran it had intelligence of a planned IS attack in Iran in January.
Ultimately, the Islamic Republic’s priority is its own survival. This is all the more pertinent following the massive “woman, life, freedom” protests.
The death in custody in September 2022 of the Kurdish-Iranian woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, for what the Islamic Republic’s morality police said was improper wearing of her hijab, sparked the largest protests since the 1979 revolution drawing horrific violence from authorities. An upshot was that many ordinary Iranians questioned the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic.
Given this crisis of legitimacy at home, it makes sense for the Islamic Republic to balance its ideological fervour with a degree of pragmatism in its relations with the outside world. Hence the indirect secret talks with the US – conducted with an Omani diplomat as the go-between – over the Red Sea attacks.
If pressure applied by the Islamic Republic and Washington on the Houthis and Israel respectively can bear fruit in some way, both sides increase their chances of coming out with a political win when they most need it.
*Shabnam Holliday does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Biden Must End Qatar's Malign Role in Gaza Ceasefire Talks and Pier
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/April 3, 2024
In one of the more high profile cases involving Qatar's financing of terrorism, the family of murdered American journalist Steven Sotloff claimed in a federal lawsuit in 2022 that prominent Qatari institutions wired $800,000 to an Islamic State "judge" who ordered the murder of Sotloff and another American journalist, James Foley. The two were beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and published in grisly propaganda videos.
The US moved its forces to Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base from Saudi Arabia in 2003, after the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001. There seems no reason why it could not be moved once again to a country in the region that does not support terror groups.
Of even greater concern [than Qatar contributing $5.1 billion to US campuses since 1986], though, is the Biden administration's willingness to allow Qatar to play a prominent role in negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and manage humanitarian aid delivered to a new pier being built in Gaza, even though Doha's negotiating status and that of a potential caretaker have been thoroughly compromised through its involvement in creating Hamas's terrorist infrastructure.
Given Qatar's well-documented support for Hamas, it is clear that no meaningful resolution of the Gaza conflict is possible so long as Doha is continuing with its efforts to negotiate a settlement that is favourable to Hamas, one that would enable the terrorist movement to remain in control of Gaza, or that Qatar should operate, or indeed have anything to do with, the delivery of "humanitarian aid" to what seems planned as Hamas's new beachhead.
Rather than allowing Qatar to continue playing its double game, where Doha pretends to be a close ally of the West while at the same time sponsoring terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Taliban, the Biden administration needs to wake up to the real threat Qatar poses to the security of the Middle East, and concentrate its efforts on negotiating a ceasefire deal and finding a custodian for Gaza and its new pier that do not require Qatar's malign involvement.
Given Qatar's well-documented support for Hamas, it is clear that no meaningful resolution of the Gaza conflict is possible so long as Doha is continuing with its efforts to negotiate a settlement that is favourable to Hamas, one that would enable the terrorist movement to remain in control of Gaza. Pictured: US
After the success the Gulf state of Qatar achieved in helping restore the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, Doha is now investing all its energy in seeking to keep Hamas in power in Gaza.
For more than a decade, the tiny Gulf emirate has been using the massive profits it derives from its vast energy resources to sponsor radical Islamist ideology that underpins terrorist organisations such as Hamas.
Qatar was an enthusiastic supporter of the disastrous Muslim Brotherhood regime that briefly ruled Egypt, a period that is mainly memorable for the murderous attacks carried out against Christian in communities and Cairo's diplomatic overtures to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Qatar has also been an enthusiastic financial and military backer of radical Islamist groups in Libya, Tunisia and Syria, where some of the groups backed by Doha during the Syrian civil war were almost indistinguishable, in terms of their brutality and ideology, from terror groups such as al-Qaeda.
Despite the Gulf state's well-documented support for Islamist terrorist groups, and its willingness to use its state-funded Al-Jazeera news network to promote Islamist propaganda, Qatar has managed to achieve the questionable feat of maintaining good diplomatic relations with the West.
The maintenance of these diplomatic ties exists mainly because many European countries are heavily dependent on Qatar, which boasts one of the world's largest natural gas reserves, for their energy needs.
The mainstay of Qatar's diplomatic ties with the US, meanwhile, is that it hosts the US military's Al Udeid Air Base, which is home to the forward headquarters of US Central Command, and was used as the command hub for recent campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
Qatar financed the building of the base and continues to fund its maintenance and, under the terms of an agreement negotiated with Washington, allows the US to operate the facility under de facto extraterritorial jurisdiction, meaning it is in effect sovereign American territory, and not Qatari.
The base is regarded as a vital strategic asset by the Pentagon, which explains why the State Department has continued to maintain diplomatic ties with Doha, even when the Gulf state has faced accusations that it is funding Islamist terror groups.
In one of the more high profile cases involving Qatar's financing of terrorism, the family of murdered American journalist Steven Sotloff claimed in a federal lawsuit in 2022 that prominent Qatari institutions wired $800,000 to an Islamic State "judge" who ordered the murder of Sotloff and another American journalist, James Foley. The two were beheaded in Syria in 2014, their killings filmed and published in grisly propaganda videos.
The US moved its forces to Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base from Saudi Arabia in 2003, after the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001. There seems no reason why it could not be moved once again to a country in the region that does not support terror groups.
More recently Qatar has come under fire for its funding of the Hamas terrorist organisation in Gaza, with the billions of dollars it has provided to the terror group over the past decade being used to fund the development of its extensive terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave.
This infrastructure was used to deadly effect on October 7, when Hamas carried out the worst terrorist attack Israel has suffered in its history, by murdering an estimated 1,200 Israeli civilians in cold blood and abducting around 240 more as hostages. Of these, at least 130 still remain captive in Gaza; 32 have been confirmed dead.
Perhaps the most damning indictment of Qatar's role in the attacks is that senior Hamas leaders, such as the terror group's political chief Ismail Haniyeh, were living in luxury as billionaires in Qatar's capital, Doha, while they planned their devastating attack.
Disturbingly, Qatar's prominent role in funding Hamas's terrorist operations does not appear to have affected its relations with Western powers, such as the US, that have condemned Hamas's role in the October 7 attacks, and claim to support Israel's right to self-defence.
Qatar's cosy relationship with Washington has even resulted in it providing funding to US universities, with a recent report revealing that the Gulf state has contributed $5.1 billion to US academic institutions since 1986.
There are now concerns that this funding has been used to radicalise students in the US, which would certainly help to explain the recent upsurge in anti-Israeli protests at a number of prominent American universities. Part of this funding is used to support foreigners studying in the US on student visas, some of whom are suspected of inciting hatred of Israel.
Of even greater concern, though, is the Biden administration's willingness to allow Qatar to play a prominent role in negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and manage humanitarian aid delivered to a new pier being built in Gaza, even though Doha's negotiating status and that of a potential caretaker have been thoroughly compromised through its involvement in creating Hamas's terrorist infrastructure.
It was a result of Qatar's involvement in recent ceasefire talks that the US tried to persuade Israel to accept ceasefire terms that were heavily weighted in Hamas's favour.
Hamas had stipulated that the deal should see the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, among other conditions, in exchange for freeing the remaining Israeli hostages abducted on October 7.
Such an arrangement would have effectively gifted Hamas victory, as it would have ended Israel's military effort to destroy the organisation's terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted when he announced that he would not accept the ceasefire terms, agreeing to the terrorists' demands would "invite another massacre".
Given Qatar's well-documented support for Hamas, it is clear that no meaningful resolution of the Gaza conflict is possible so long as Doha is continuing with its efforts to negotiate a settlement that is favourable to Hamas, one that would enable the terrorist movement to remain in control of Gaza, or that Qatar should operate, or indeed have anything to do with, the delivery of "humanitarian aid" to what seems planned as Hamas's new beachhead.
Rather than allowing Qatar to continue playing its double game, where Doha pretends to be a close ally of the West while at the same time sponsoring terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Taliban, the Biden administration needs to wake up to the real threat Qatar poses to the security of the Middle East, and concentrate its efforts on negotiating a ceasefire deal and finding a custodian for Gaza and its new pier that do not require Qatar's malign involvement.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2024 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.

UN Called to Respond to Sharia Violence Against Women
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/March 25, 2024
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20514/sharia-violence-against-women
On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2024—which, among other things, brings awareness to violence against women—a formal complaint on how Sharia (Islamic law) is inherently abusive of women was submitted to the United Nations under the title, “Thematic Complaint to the Human Rights Council, United Nations On the Worldwide and Consistent Patterns of Gross, Reliably Attested, and Continuing Violations of Women’s Human Rights Caused by Sharia.”
Oxford defines Sharia as follows:
Islamic canonical law based on the teachings of the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet (Hadith and Sunna), prescribing both religious and secular duties and sometimes retributive penalties for lawbreaking. It has generally been supplemented by legislation adapted to the conditions of the day, though the manner in which it should be applied in modern states is a subject of dispute between Islamic fundamentalists and modernists.
The complaint contains the signatures of Muslim and non-Muslim men and women from around the world, including victims of Sharia and terrorism, human rights defenders, professors, journalists, activists, and other concerned professionals from all walks of life. (Because it was submitted on a UN portal, no more signatures can be added to the complaint at this time.)
According to one of its press releases,
Sharia-linked violence is inflicted upon women in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia. This includes the recent extreme sexual violence committed against Israeli women in October 2023 by Hamas proven by the UN; the infliction of sexual slavery on Yezidi women by the Islamic State (IS); killing of Iranian women for not wearing the hijab; the trafficking, kidnapping, and conversion of Coptic Christian girls in Egypt; kidnapping of girls and women in Nigeria by Boko Haram; mass attacks on women in Germany in 2015; the rape of girls in the UK by the so-called ‘grooming gangs’; the forced conversion, kidnapping and murder of Hindu girls in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to name a few.
By way of demonstrating that Sharia is the root source of all this misogyny, the complaint quotes extensively from the building blocks of Sharia, primarily the Koran, such as 4:34:
Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart, and beat them [Dawood translation].
The complaint also addressed the sexual enslavement of women, which Sharia—again, based on the Koran—permits. Verses 4:3, 4:24, and 33:50, for instance, permit Muslim men to have sexual relations with as many women as “their right hand possesses,” meaning as many “infidel” women as they are able to take captive in a jihad. During the October 7 raid on Israelis, the terrorists can be heard referring to some of their female captives by this and other Sharia terms, such as sabiya.
The complaint also did some useful number crunching:
One basic feature of Sharia is the lower status it accords to women. Statistical analysis has demonstrated that 71% of the Qur’an’s text about women states that a woman has a lower status than a man. In the Hadith, 91% of the text about women states that a woman has a lower status than a man. Sura 2: 282 makes a woman’s testimony worth half that of a man; under Sura 4:11 women inherit less than men; under Sura 4:34 a Muslim may have four wives, but a Muslim woman marrying a non-Muslim is impermissible under Sura 2: 221.
The complaint is also notable for showing how Islamic culture, itself an offshoot of Sharia, abuses women:
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is widespread in parts of the Islamic world. Immigration from Muslim countries has increased FGM in the West. Islamic culture compels Muslim women to undergo unnecessary surgery to restore their hymen. UN reports show how Islamic culture demeans women. Islamic culture impedes women’s education in some parts of the world and blocks advancement for educated Muslim women. Muslim women do not have equal opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education and have poorer access to mosques as compared to Muslim men.
Head coverings for Muslim women are linked to complex security, health, educational, cultural, and civilizational issues. Muslim leaders have also violated Muslim women’s reproductive right to choose the number of children by advocating the use of Muslim birth rates as a non-military strategy to conquer non-Muslim lands.
In order to redress these abuses, the complaint asks the UN’s Human Rights Council to do several things, such as requesting that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which claims to represent the Muslim world at the UN, provide a “single consolidated response” as well as “one standardized, worldwide codification of the Sharia and an explanation as to why Sharia should not be considered a fundamental cause of violation of women’s human rights.”
It also requests the appointment of “two non-Muslim rapporteurs, one who is a Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the second, a Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, to mandate them to work in a coordinated manner and report to the Human Rights Council.”
The complaint also requests,
[O]ngoing discussions towards a universal treaty on crimes against humanity and the need to include specific elements of the Sharia as risk factors that heighten the likelihood of such crimes against women…. The Human Rights Council should request the International Law Commission to determine the extent to which elements of Sharia should be classified as harmful practices and therefore null and void as being contrary to international human rights law.
There is much to recommend this complaint. As the first ever thematic complaint to be submitted to the UN, it makes the case that women are abused wherever Sharia or elements of it predominate, and documents “the consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women of all religions and those without any faith in many parts of the world.” Examples it lists come from numerous countries around the globe. In short, it makes clear that Sharia—not this or that nation, regime, or political circumstances—is behind the abuse of women.
Of especial importance is that the complaint shows how many aspects of Sharia directly contradict what the UN claims it stands up for. By relying heavily on UN documents, and quoting from the UN conventions that back them, the complaint essentially asks the UN to do what it should be but is not doing.
After, for example, quoting Koran 4:34, which permits the beating of women, the complaint says “This violates extensive UN norms prohibiting violence against women,” and then cites or quotes from several of them, including “The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.”
Similarly, after citing Koran 4:3, 4:24, and 33:50—which “allow non-Muslim women captured in battle to be forced into sexual slavery”—the complaint adds, “This violates Article 1 of the Slavery Convention,” and elaborates.
After pointing out that female head coverings are widely seen as an unwelcome addition to Western nations—one that further facilitates crimes and terrorism—the complaint reminds the UN of the UN’s own General Assembly resolution of 1985, which states, “Aliens [Muslims] shall observe the laws of the [Western] State in which they reside or are present and regard with respect the customs and traditions of the people of that State.”
The complaint further shows that, according to the UN’s own definitions, the issues it raises cannot be deemed “Islamophobic”:
This complaint is not “Islamophobic, hate speech, or racism” as (a) according to the UN, “criticism of the ideas, leaders, symbols or practices of Islam,” is not in of itself Islamophobia, and that “international human rights law protects individuals, not religions” (b) UN leaders have admitted that a thematic issue exists concerning the rights of Muslim women (c) the UN has appointed a Special Rapporteur who dealt only with one religion (Islam and Muslims) thus setting a precedent (d) the Islamic countries of the world, by organizing themselves through the OIC into one entity that is the “collective voice of the Muslim world” establishes that it is valid to raise a cross-cutting [and thematic] issue whose roots exclusively lie in Islam…
In short, the complaint meticulously documents how Sharia directly contradicts so much of what the UN claims to stand for—and asks the UN to respond on behalf of the millions of women abused all around the world in the name of Sharia. Should, as is likely, the UN not respond, it will have, once again, proven itself a defunct and corrupt organization.

Iran’s Grand Plan: Bring Down The Jordanian Regime, Attack Israel From The East, And Thwart The Western-Sunni Normalization Project – And This Could Begin This Friday, Iran’s Qods Day
By: Ayelet Savyon/ Director of the MEMRI Iran Media Studies project//MEMRI/ April 03/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128459/128459/
Introduction
In recent days, the grand Iranian plan is emerging – the plan with which the Islamic revolutionary regime is continuing despite the killing, in Israeli air strikes, the senior command of its IRGC Qods Force in Syria and Lebanon. The upcoming stage of this plan involves bringing down the regime in Jordan, attacking Israel from the east while Israel is kept busy by Iran-backed resistance forces in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. The political aim of this plan is to thwart the Saudi-American project of normalization with Israel.
Next in Iran's sights is the expulsion of American forces from Iraq, and the undermining of the Saudi kingdom and the Egyptian regime, as Iran actualizes the vision of its Islamic Revolution.
It is not clear whether the U.S. administration, which is currently preoccupied with the IDF's tragic mistaken killing of World Central Kitchen charity workers, is aware of events that could impact the continued U.S. presence in the region as well as America's international standing.
Iran's Messianic Vision: Exporting The Revolution, Eliminating Israel
Since its establishment, the Iranian revolutionary regime has been operating according to an systematic messianic ideological plan.[1] According to the regime's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the seizure of power in Iran in 1979 was the starting point of Iran's "comprehensive Islamic Revolution" and of the concept of "exporting the revolution" – that is, spreading and instilling the Islamic Shi'ite revolution and its values across the regions of Sunni Arab hegemony in the Middle East – and that this will be the instrument for achieving Islamic unity.
The regime in Iran has never concealed its aims and aspirations: to have the Iranian Islamic Revolution take over the region, to bring down the West-facing moderate Arab Sunni regimes by "exporting the revolution," and to eliminate Israel, the "Little Satan" and the "cancerous growth," and liberate Jerusalem from it.
To achieve this, the Iranian regime uses its array of resistance axis militias, from Yemen to Lebanon and from Iraq to Azerbaijan, as an effective military arm for establishing its messianic vision. Iran's messianic revolutionary vision is embodied by the concept of Umm Al-Qura, "the Mother of the Villages," developed by Iranian thinkers (see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1286, The Regional Vision Of Iran's Islamic Regime And Its Military-Political Implementation, Part I – The Ideological Doctrine: Exporting The Revolution; Iran As 'Umm Al-Qura') This vision camouflages Iran's efforts to expand Shi'ite hegemony in the Islamic world at the expense of the Sunni hegemony that has prevailed in the region for the past 14 centuries.
In effect, the Iranian regime uses each of its two aims to justify and achieve the other. For example, the Palestinians are, for the regime a means of achieving the aims of Iran's Islamic regime: a means for eliminating Israel and for "exporting the revolution," i.e. consolidating Shi'ite Iranian control of the region to replace the Sunni Arab dominance.
Likewise, the regime uses International Qods Day, a day of solidarity with the Palestinian cause established as the last Friday of the month of Ramadan (April 5 this year) by Ayatollah Khomeini, both to conceal its main goal and to mobilize Sunni Muslims for the Palestinian cause in a way that serves Iran's struggle for regional hegemony. This intention is most clearly expressed by Ayatollah Khomeini's motto, "the road to Jerusalem goes through Karbala [in Iraq, the historic center of the Shi'a]." That is, the struggle to liberate Jerusalem involves Iranian control of historically Sunni-controlled areas, such as Karbala.
Iran depicts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a religious one – Islam vs Judaism – and thus presents its particular aim to eliminate Israel as pan-Islamic.
It should be noted that as early as Qods Day 2014, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered the arming of the West Bank (see MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No 1107, Qods Day In Iran: Tehran Calls For Annihilation Of Israel And For Arming The West Bank). In recent years, Iran has been working to upgrade West Bank warfare capabilities to fight the Israeli army, by smuggling in anti-tank missile launchers and handguns.
On March 25, 2024, IRGC Coordination Department commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi said: "The Zionists have shortened the path to their destruction and prepared the ground for an event more terrible than the Al-Aqsa Flood [the Hamas October 7 attack]."[2]
Moreover, Iran's intelligent use of its resistance axis proxies is aimed at distancing itself from any responsibility for dragging the region into war, and at allowing it to present itself to the superpowers, particularly in the West, as a legitimate political partner.
Israel's New "Concept": Israeli Airstrikes In Syria And Lebanon Are Aimed At Deterring Iran From Acting Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's security apparatuses maintain that Israeli airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon will prevent Iran from consolidating its presence in Syria. But this concept is wrong, and this is because Iran's operations against Israel have two dimensions: The first is direct Iranian action against Israel, which Tehran is currently avoiding – not because it is deterred but because it is not deviating from its grand plan that prioritizes undermining pro-West Arab regimes. The second is its use of its proxies, i.e. the "popular resistance" organizations in the various Arab countries, which has been Iran's modus operandi since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and particularly in recent years.
The Israeli airstrikes are not deterring Iran from using its proxies, since this Iranian approach has been a cornerstone of its political-military and religious strategy since the Islamic Revolution. This strategy's two main aims are consolidating its presence in the region and eliminating Israel, without getting dragged into a regional war before its preparations to do so are completed.
At this point, Iran will not be dragged into a direct war with Israel because this contradicts the current phase of its strategy, which would in fact be thwarted by such a war. In Iran's view, Israel itself is the element that is trying to drag it into such a direct war with it before it is ready. This is why Iran will attempt to prevent the situation on Israel's northern border from escalating into an Israeli war with Iran's most powerful proxy, Hizbullah.
Iran's grand plan is now focused on the immediate aim of bringing down the Jordanian regime, just as soon as Iran has gained the maximum benefit on the Lebanon front via Hizbullah. At the same time, it is refraining from sparking all-out war with Israel, since it does not yet have Israel fully surrounded.
It is important to note that Iran's current behavior and the fact that it is avoiding getting involved in a regional war is not because of Israeli deterrence, but because of Iran's caution and its clever implementation of its strategic-messianic-religious vision.
Recent Developments In The Iraqi And Jordanian Arenas, In The Palestinian Authority's Position, And In The Saudi Arena
The Iraqi Arena: The Establishment Of A Pro-Iran Militia In Jordan
Elements in the Iran-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq welcomed the escalation of the pro-Palestinian protests in Jordan in recent days, and expressed their desire for a new front against Israel from the Jordanian border. These elements are not settling for merely protesting; an Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades militia official revealed operative plans to establish a Jordanian militia with 12,000 armed members that would be subordinate to the Iran-led resistance axis.[3] Jordanian sources reported on recent Iraqi-Iranian efforts to infiltrate Jordan via the Iraqi convoys delivering aid to the Palestinians.[4]
The Jordanian Arena: Igniting The Anti-Israel Protests
Since the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel, and against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war that has been ongoing for nearly six months, there is a growing trend in Jordan of popular support for Hamas, and greater anti-Israel sentiment. The latter is reflected in the many anti-Israel protests and in explicit calls in the country to confront and wage jihad against Israel,[5] to expel the U.S. ambassador, and to bring down the Jordanian regime. In the past few days, the protests have ramped up, in both magnitude and intensity, particularly near the Embassy of Israel in the capital Amman; thousands of young Jordanians are gathering there every evening after the iftar (the meal ending the daily fast during Ramadan) to "besiege the embassy." Hamas officials have expressed support for these protests, and have called on the Jordanians to escalate them and to join in the war against Israel.[6]
According to Jordanian sources, these protests are backed and directed by Iran and by pro-Iran Palestinian elements in Jordan and the region – i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas – with the aim of bringing down the Jordanian regime. In recent months, fears have grown in Jordan about Iranian subversion activity there amid increasing attempts by Iran-controlled elements to smuggle drugs and weapons into Jordan via Syria. The pro-Iran Iraqi militias' January 28 attack on the U.S. Tower 22 military outpost in Jordan, that killed three U.S. servicemembers, intensified these fears.[7]
The Palestinian Authority's Position
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is also aware of the full scope of Iran's grand plan to bring down the Jordanian regime, and of the regional dimensions of the current crisis. Thus, in a phone conversation on April 2, which was initiated by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, the latter expressed "the Palestinian people's and leadership's support for the Jordanian kingdom." He went on to underline their "opposition to all the attempts to harm [Jordan's] security and stability or to use the suffering of the Palestinian people in the [Gaza] Strip to harm the Jordanian arena, [and their opposition also to] any external [i.e. Iranian] interference in Jordan's internal affairs."[8]
The Saudi Arena: "Jordan Is A Red Line"
The Saudi media have mobilized in Jordan's defense in the face of the protests in Jordan, accusing Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood of fanning the flames there. Khaled bin Hamed Al-Malek, editor of the Saudi Al-Jazira daily, wrote: "The Saudi leadership, government, and people will not hesitate to stand alongside Jordan, as long as the developments in the situation demand it. This is because they [the Saudis] see Jordan's stability and security as integral to the stability and security of Saudi Arabia."[9]
Additionally, Saudi writer Khaled Al-Ghanami wrote, in an article headlined "Jordan Is A Red Line": "The moderate axis that is represented by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE will not sit idly by if it sees any harm to Jordan such as a declaration of war..."[10]
* Ayelet Savyon is Director of the MEMRI Iran Media Studies project.
[1] The concept of "exporting the revolution" is anchored in the thought of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and especially in his book, Al-Hukuma Al-Islamiyya ("The Islamic Government," Beirut 1979), in which he presented his view that contradicts the view that in Islam there can be separate peoples and states, and strives for Islamic unity.
[2] Tasnim (Iran), March 25, 2024.
[3] Telegram.me/abualaskary, April 1, 2024.
[4] Independentarabia.com, April 2, 2024.
[5] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11226, Calls For Terrorist Operations Against Israel From Jordanian Territory – Hamas And Muslim Brotherhood Officials, Clerics Close To Qatar: Jordanians Must Buy Arms And Undergo Military Training; Fighting Jews Is 'Islamic Duty', March 25, 2024.
[6] Details on this will be presented in a separate MEMRI report.
[7] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1746, Jordan Is Increasingly Concerned About Iran Amid Activity Of Iran-Backed Militias On Its Northern Border, February 20, 2024.
[8] Wafa.ps, April 2, 2024. It should be noted that Fatah Revolutionary Council member Muwaffaq Matar wrote on April 2 in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: "The conspiracy of the leaders of Tehran has been exposed, as well as the shame of their pawns who do their bidding: the Muslim Brotherhood and their armed branch in Palestine, Hamas, as well as the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad. [The conspiracy was exposed] after their public announcement in the operations room of their general headquarters in Tehran [this is a reference to the meetings between Hamas political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh and PIJ secretary-general Ziad Al-Nakhaleh with Iranian regime heads] that the ultimate goal of the [IRGC's] so-called 'Qods Force' is to take over [Amman], the capital of the Hashemite Jordanian Kingdom, invade the East Bank of the Jordan and eliminate the Palestinian national enterprise..." Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), April 2, 2024.
[9] Al-Jazira (Saudi Arabia), April 2, 2024.
[10] Majallah.com, April 3, 2024.
https://www.memri.org/reports/irans-grand-plan-bring-down-jordanian-regime-attack-israel-east-and-thwart-western-sunni

Tehran likely to rely on proxies to respond to Damascus attack
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/April 03/2024
Could this week’s targeting of the Iranian consulate in Damascus be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and finally removes the mask that has covered the Israeli-Iranian proxy war in the Middle East? Or is it just another chapter in the ongoing redrawing of the lines of confrontation between Israel and the so-called axis of resistance led by Iran?
The attack on the Iranian consulate could undoubtedly be a game-changer. It could be seen by Tehran as a direct attack on its sovereignty. However, although international laws, specifically the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, have set certain obligations regarding the sanctity of diplomatic missions, they fall short of calling such sites foreign territories. Israel and Iran have, over the years, mastered the art of asymmetric warfare, or “ghost wars.” Israel has never wanted a direct war with Iran. And Iran has long avoided becoming embroiled in any conflict that might threaten its territories or its regime. Iran has warned its archrival that it will retaliate for the airstrike that destroyed the five-story Iranian consulate building adjacent to its embassy in the Syrian capital. Iran’s state media claimed that Israeli F-35s launched six missiles at the consulate building, levelling it and killing 13. Seven of the victims were from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force foreign operations arm, including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, the group’s commander for Syria and Lebanon, his deputy Mohammed Hadi Haji Rahimi and Hossein Aminullah, the chief of the general staff for Lebanon and Syria. Iran has long avoided becoming embroiled in any conflict that might threaten its territories or its regime
As usual, Israel has remained silent, not confirming or denying its actions in Damascus, but a senior Israeli government official told Reuters that the Iranian generals who were killed “had been behind attacks on Israeli and American assets and had plans for additional attacks,” while claiming that the embassy itself “was not a target.”
The attack represents a serious test for Iran, which will feel that it needs to respond even though it remains keen to avoid dragging itself into an all-out open conflict with Israel.
Israeli strikes against Iranian or Hezbollah assets in Syria are not new; they have been ongoing since long before Oct. 7. They maybe intensified after Hamas’ attacks on Israel nearly six months ago, as numerous strikes have since focused on weapons transfers in Syria, with high-level IRGC personnel often caught up in the attacks. Monday’s attack was an exception to the rule, as it directly targeted an official Iranian installation and the military figures that operated within it.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed that Israel “will be punished” and President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the attack, considering it a violation of international law that “will not go unanswered.” But the long-term significance of the strike may lie in Tehran regarding it as an attack on Iranian soil — and that might tip the Iranian leadership into thinking that it warrants an escalation beyond the confines of the finely calibrated rulebook of reprisals that are often carried out by Tehran-backed armed groups.
However, in keeping with its tradition of adopting strategic patience, Tehran is unlikely to rush into any reprisal and will most probably wait to ascertain the US’ response and find out whether the White House approved the attack or was simply notified as it took place. Washington has classified the IRGC as a terrorist group, but the US has been working hard diplomatically to prevent the Gaza war from spilling out into a wider conflict fought directly between Iran and Israel.
Iran’s strategic response, I am inclined to believe, could take many forms or shapes but will stop short of an all-out conflict. In the past, Israel has managed to neutralize key workers on Tehran’s nuclear program, including its chief scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020, in addition to many cyber and physical attacks (that Israel denied) on installations related to Iran’s nuclear development program. In such cases, reprisals were limited and often carried out by Iranian proxy forces or agents.
Terror cells or groups affiliated with Iran have carried out attacks against Western assets across the world.
Even the assassination of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani by the US near Baghdad airport in January 2020 warranted only a very finely calibrated retaliation against American forces stationed in Iraq. This is not to say that Iran lacks the capability or options to cause damage to Israel and its allies in the West, which Tehran deems complicit in the oppression of the Palestinians and Muslims across the world. Ever since its inception in 1979, many believe that the Iranian regime has resorted to forms of hybrid, deniable operations to hold its enemies accountable.
Attacks on Western and Israeli interests have dotted the pages of history since the early 1980s. Terror cells or groups affiliated with Iran have carried out attacks against Western military and diplomatic assets across the world, with their bombing and kidnapping campaigns taking place from Lebanon to Argentina. Examples include the Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the killing of 86 people in a bombing at a Jewish center also in the Argentine capital in 1994. Of course, Tehran always denies it is responsible.
Iran has even resorted to arresting dual nationals on manufactured charges to blackmail Western countries into releasing frozen Iranian assets. And Iran remains the only state to have openly stormed an embassy on its soil, as it held more than 50 US citizens and diplomats hostage for more than 400 days between 1979 and 1981.
More recently, Iran has not denied its axis of resistance’s attacks on cargo vessels and US and UK naval assets in the Red Sea, apparently carried out in solidarity with Gaza. Nor does Tehran deny controlling four Arab capitals — Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa — or funding, training and arming various groups that have been launching missiles and drones against Israeli and US troops in the Middle East, also in solidarity with Gaza. The deaths of the three Quds Force generals in Damascus was a decisive blow against Iran and the attack showed how badly its assets have been exposed, with the Israeli air force able to bomb them in broad daylight. And in view of their public brief, those generals were not mere diplomats undertaking consular work; instead, they were most likely carrying out military planning and logistics work with the aim of aiding their nation’s many proxy operations on foreign soil.
**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.

Concerns over Jordan’s stability — the view from Riyadh
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager/Arab News/April 03/2024
Since last week, tens of thousands of people have protested at the Israeli Embassy in the Rabieh neighborhood of Amman in Jordan. Tensions have mounted as demonstrations have continued to rock the capital over the past 10 days, with authorities expressing growing concerns over a potential Hamas influence in encouraging people’s participation in these protests, after the former leader of the group’s political wing, Khaled Meshaal, incited discord among Jordanian and Palestinian citizens in Jordan.
The protests in Jordan feature slogans supporting Hamas and its Al-Qassam Brigades military wing, with speeches from their leaders urging the people of Jordan to take action being played. This is despite the Jordanian leadership making increased diplomatic efforts for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid. Saudi Arabia has been following these developments closely.
There is a unique geographical and deeply human connection between Palestine and Jordan, making the latter’s security and stability essential for maintaining security in the Occupied Territories. However, external communications and calls have provoked the public into spreading chaos and contributing to disorder in the countries surrounding Palestine, including Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Some extremist Palestinian leaders, including some from Hamas, have unfortunately incited instability in Jordan, driven by misguided, dangerous and short-sighted calculations.
External calls have provoked the public into spreading chaos and contributing to disorder in the countries surrounding Palestine
Jordan is particularly sensitive because it represents, according to Israeli extremist calculations, an “alternative homeland” that the forces of Israeli extremism hope to target in facilitating the goal of the displacement of Palestinians and the seizure of their land. Furthermore, Israel has an interest in a destabilized Jordan as the current Jordanian position stands firmly against its plans.
Saudi Arabia is concerned about Jordan’s security first and foremost due to its geographical location on the northern border of the Kingdom — volatility in Jordan would pose a direct threat to Saudi Arabia’s own national security. Secondly, the Kingdom wishes to maintain Jordan’s independence and integrity, while avoiding any change or shift in the leadership in Amman that may provide an opportunity for any Islamist movement to take over. Overall, there are two main threats to stability in Jordan: Israel’s ambitions encompassing its territory and the mobilization of Islamist movements such as Hamas.
Saudi Arabia supports all measures already taken and to be taken by Jordan, particularly those aimed at preserving its security and territorial sovereignty from anyone attempting to seize the state, exert pressure or influence its decisions. The Kingdom’s stance is clear: any harm to Jordanian stability or threat to its security is a red line. Riyadh will not tolerate any attempt to turn Jordan into an arena for exporting tensions or fostering chaos and instability in the Arab world under the pretext of supporting resistance in Gaza.
The Kingdom’s stance is clear: any harm to Jordanian stability or threat to its security is a red line. Saudi Arabia, as a religious, political and ethical authority exerting substantial influence over the Arab world, is dedicated to maintaining Arab national security, including in Jordan. This is not a new development. In the past, Saudi Arabia has backed Jordan and supported any steps taken to uphold its security and stability. Notably, King Salman organized a summit in 2018 that extended an economic aid package to Jordan amounting to $2.5 billion. This support highlighted Saudi Arabia’s commitment to assisting Jordan in times of crisis. King Abdullah of Jordan has repeatedly expressed gratitude for the Kingdom’s support and acknowledged its role in addressing various challenges, including those that could potentially destabilize Jordan.
In conclusion, the Kingdom’s concern for the security of Jordan amid the rise of extremist movements stems from its recognition of the intricate interplay between regional dynamics and national security. As a neighboring country, Jordan’s stability is not only vital for its citizens but also holds significant implications for the broader regional security landscape. Saudi Arabia’s proactive approach to addressing these challenges underscores its commitment to fostering peace and stability within the region. By engaging in strategic partnerships and diplomatic initiatives and implementing robust security measures, the Kingdom endeavors to both safeguard its own interests and contribute to the collective security of the region. Saudi Arabia remains poised to navigate the complex security environment and mitigate potential threats to Jordan’s sovereignty and stability through continued vigilance, cooperation and a steadfast commitment to upholding shared values.
*Dr. Abdulaziz Sager is Chairman of the Gulf Research Center.

How Israel and Its Allies Lost Global Credibility
Yasmeen Serhan/Time/ April 3, 2024
Israel’s war on Gaza, which soon enters its sixth month, has done untold damage to the enclave and its people, more than 32,000 of whom have been killed and millions of whom have been displaced. But the damage also extends to Israel’s global reputation—one that its closest allies fear could become permanent. Such, at least, was the conclusion of the Biden administration, which in a recent State Department memo obtained by NPR warned that Israelis are “facing major, possibly generational damage to their reputation” as a result of its military’s conduct in Gaza—comments that echoed Biden’s December warning that Israel was losing support over its “indiscriminate bombing” of the Strip.
There is very little that Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree on. But the former President (and presumptive Republican presidential nominee) expressed similar concerns in a recent interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, during which he warned that Israel is “losing a lot of support” over its handling of the war in Gaza. “I think Israel made a very big mistake,” Trump said, adding that the images of bombardment coming out of the Strip create “a very bad picture for the world.”
These kinds of concerns have been voiced ad nauseum by analysts and observers for months. That they are now being echoed by past and present—and, depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November, future—leaders of Israel’s most important ally, each of whom has staunchly defended the country’s right to retaliate against Hamas over the group’s Oct. 7 massacre, suggests that the tide of public opinion is turning faster than perhaps they or their Israeli counterparts anticipated.
There were signs. The chasm between Israel’s western allies and the rest of the world became apparent in the early months of the war, during which time Israel’s net favorability in places such as Brazil, China, Mexico, and South Africa flipped from positive to negative, according to survey data by the decision intelligence company Morning Consult. In countries that already held net negative views of Israel, such as Japan, South Korea, and the U.K., perceptions declined even further. By December, the U.S. was the only major developed market in which public sentiment toward Israel remained solidly positive.
This chasm has been perhaps most apparent at the U.N., where multiple ceasefire resolutions put forward by Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, and Algeria and backed by most other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (barring the U.K., which mostly abstained) were repeatedly quashed by the U.S., citing insufficient language condemning Hamas or demanding the simultaneous release of Israeli hostages. When the U.S. put forward its own ceasefire resolution last month, Russia and China were the ones to veto it, along with Algeria. A breakthrough finally came on Mar. 25, when a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages was passed with a sole U.S. abstention. While U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding (Washington claims otherwise in this case), it has yet to be enforced.
But as the war has ground on, and as increasingly dire reports of death, destruction, and man-made famine have made their way out of the Strip, even countries where support for Israel’s military offensive has been highest now appears to be diminishing. According to a March survey by the pollster Gallup, American support for Israel’s war in Gaza has flipped from a narrow majority in favor (50% approved and 45% disapproved in November) to a majority against (36% approve and 55% disapprove in March). While disapproval is highest among Democrats, Republicans and Independents also saw declines in support. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a leading Democratic lawmaker on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tells TIME that Washington’s steadfast support for Israel amid allegations of possible war crimes has invited widespread criticism that the U.S. only selectively chooses to defend the international rules-based order—in Ukraine, for example, but not in Gaza. “We know that countries around the world, especially in the Global South, believe that the United States is applying a double standard here, and that is obviously having an impact on our own standing in the world,” he says.
While Van Hollen makes no apologies for Washington’s continued support for Israel’s right to take military action against Hamas, he notes that this support cannot be unconditional. “Even just wars have to be fought justly,” he says. “With the very high civilian death toll and with the humanitarian disaster that we’re witnessing in Gaza, and the way the Netanyahu government has conducted and expressed themselves, Israel has in many ways lost that goodwill with other countries around the world.”
Dylan Williams, the vice president for government affairs at the U.S.-based Center for International Policy, says “In five and a half months of war, Israel has done more damage to its global standing than the preceding five and a half decades of occupation,” referencing Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967. Much like the U.S. in the aftermath of 9/11, Israel received near-universal global sympathy and support in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and hundreds more taken hostage in Gaza. “But rather than leverage that for near-universal backing for a targeted military campaign and diplomacy with global powers and new Arab partners on their side,” Williams adds, “Israel instead chose to decimate Gaza with indiscriminate bombardment and siege.”
That loss of goodwill extends beyond Israel. Indeed, lawmakers in countries considered to be among Israel’s closest allies have expressed concerns about the impact that the war stands to have not just on Israel’s credibility, but on their own.
This includes countries such as Germany, which among Israel’s European partners has been perhaps one of the most staunch defenders of the country. That position is informed in large part by Germany’s own guilt for perpetrating genocide against European Jews during the Holcoaust, and it drives what Germany regards as its “special responsibility” to defend Israel today. “We feel because of our historical responsibility that we should not be the first to come up with public criticism of any Israeli government,” Nils Schmid, a German lawmaker and foreign affairs spokesperson for the Social Democrats, the center-left party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the country’s three-way coalition, tells TIME. But that sensitivity has given way to more vocal concerns in recent weeks, during which time Chancellor Scholz has cautioned Israel about the “terribly high costs” of Israel’s military offensive, including a high civilian death toll and the lack of sufficient humanitarian aid.
Isabel Cademartori, a German lawmaker who in January penned a letter alongside dozens of German, Canadian, and American lawmakers calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, tells TIME that a failure to condemn clear breaches of international humanitarian law—or, worse yet, being seen to actively supply and fund actions that undermine it—risks undercutting the West’s moral stance, particularly when it comes to galvanizing greater support for Ukraine beyond Europe. “I felt that we have made a lot of progress in that area, and I feel that what we’re doing now is really counteracting that,” she says, noting that Israel’s conduct in the war “is not only hurting them; it’s hurting us too.”
“It really is difficult to argue in favor of respecting international law or the rules-based order while Israel clearly is acting in violation of it,” she said.
This is particularly true amid recent events, including the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza as well as the Israeli government’s decision to seize 800 hectares (1977 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank. “I think that no democratic country at this moment can defend Israel’s military action in Gaza, the withholding of humanitarian aid and potential invasion of Rafah.” As Cademartori sees it, Israel’s allies in the U.S., Germany, and elsewhere stand to lose international credibility “if they keep defending the indefensible.”
If Israel is concerned about the implications its war in Gaza will have on its long-term standing, or that of its closest friends, it hasn’t shown it. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has repeatedly rebuffed calls for a ceasefire as well as pleas by the U.S. and others to reconsider Israel’s planned invasion of Gaza’s southernmost and densely-populated city of Rafah. Israeli officials continue to deny the existence of starvation in Gaza, which international aid groups warn is on the brink of famine.
The Israeli public “are in a bubble right now,” says Williams, but adds that the more Israeli leaders speak out about the reputational damage of the war, and the more information of what is happening in Gaza permeates Israeli society, the sooner Israelis will realize “that they’ve lost a tremendous amount of good will based on how they conducted this war.” At that point, however, it may already be too late.
*Write to Yasmeen Serhan at yasmeen.serhan@time.com.

Israel-Iran: The Strategy of Patience
Michel Touma/This is Beirut/April 03/2024
One episode follows another… In recent days, speculation has been rampant within various media and political circles regarding the tensions, and even significant divergences, that have surfaced between the United States and Israel regarding the management and long-term geopolitical implications of the Gaza conflict. These speculations stemmed from the US decision to abstain during the Security Council vote on Resolution 2728, which called for a ceasefire between Hamas and the Israeli army. It marked a departure from Washington’s usual stance of vetoing resolutions that did not serve Tel Aviv’s stance which opposes halting the Gaza conflict under present conditions. The US abstention was seen as further evidence of the increasingly visible discord between Joe Biden’s administration and Benjanmin Netanyahu’s extreme-right government.
However, the momentum of those who swiftly capitalized on this disagreement was soon tempered by the recent US decision, announced at the end of March, to deliver 25 ultra-sophisticated F35-A warplanes to Israel, 1,800 MK84 bombs and 500 highly potent MK82 bombs capable of hitting underground facilities. Once again, the United States underscored its unwavering support for Israel as a constant strategy, despite occasional signs of “impatience” or disagreements between the two steadfast allies, as has been observed more than once in the past.
But the tense situation that has marked Israeli-US relations in recent days was quickly overshadowed by another, much more serious and consequential event: the Israeli airstrike on Monday afternoon targeting an annex building of the Iranian consulate in Damascus. The head of the Jerusalem Brigade in Syria and Lebanon (the foreign arm of the Pasdaran), Mohammad Reza Zahedi, his deputy, and five “advisors” of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed in the strike.
Numerous observers and analysts promptly delved into various speculations regarding Tehran’s potential retaliation. Beyond the symbolic significance of the Israeli airstrike’s target (a consulate building), the gravity of the raid is underscored by the identity and high-ranking positions of the victims. Indeed, the Jerusalem Brigade in Syria and Lebanon, in charge of backing up and sponsoring the allies of the mullahs’ regime in the two nations, suffered a painful blow.
What could Tehran’s response be? The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly echoed the familiar refrain, “We will retaliate at the place and time we deem appropriate.” Beyond this well-worn rhetoric, a brief review of the extensive series of spectacular operations conducted in recent years by Israel against senior Iranian officials illustrates the consistent passivity exhibited by the mullahs’ regime in such circumstances.
This passivity is very “elegantly” referred to in Tehran as “the strategy of patience,” a “clever” innovation that justifies the absence of retaliation. Let’s refresh our memory on this matter: the assassination of Imad Moghniyeh in the heart of Damascus, as he exited the Iranian cultural center on February 12, 2008; the killing in Baghdad (by the United States) on January 3, 2020, of the leader of the Jerusalem Brigade, Qassem Soleimani, who was the all-powerful leader of the Iranian military-security apparatus and the driving force behind the Revolutionary Guards’ expansionist strategy in the Middle East; the assassination on the outskirts of Tehran on November 27, 2020, in an operation worthy of a Mission Impossible movie, of the father of the Iranian nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh; the theft by Mossad (another operation entirely surreal) in a nearby suburb south of the Iranian capital of the archives… of the Iranian nuclear program (!) which were transported by truck, without any further ado, to Israel on a moonless night; to this we must add the recent assassinations in Damascus of several senior officials of the Revolutionary Guards…
In the aftermath of all these dramatic operations, Iranian leaders echoed the familiar refrain, “We will retaliate at the time and place of our choosing.” Yet, responses to this string of major events are still conspicuously absent.
Will the mullahs’ regime today once again resort to the strategy of “strategic patience” to avoid a direct response to Monday’s raid, or will it view Israel’s actions as crossing a red line? In the latter case, the Islamic Republic might opt to retaliate itself, but in a manner carefully calibrated and targeted to prevent a full-scale conflict with Israel. Alternatively, considering its internal challenges and calculated approach, it could persist with its malevolent tactic of conducting battles through proxies. This might involve urging one of its allies to carry out a targeted attack or engage in a well-measured “escalation,” all while carefully avoiding a misstep that could escalate into a direct military confrontation with Israel.
As we await Iran’s response, speculations abound – as is customary in such situations – about the political repercussions of the raid, especially regarding any local complicity that may have enabled its meticulous execution. On the political front, American media reports suggest that the Biden administration was only informed of the attack minutes before its execution, and Washington hastened to assert directly to Tehran that it was in no way involved in this operation and had not been informed beforehand. If these reports are confirmed, the Biden administration’s stance would align perfectly with that of former President Barack Obama, who, during his tenure, opted for a policy that effectively handed over the Middle East to the power of the mullahs.
From the Israeli perspective, it’s notable that the sequence of operations over recent years indicates a strategic focus. Israel aimed its actions either at senior figures within the Revolutionary Guards or at the Iranian nuclear program. However, it avoided targeting conventional state infrastructure, seeking to distinguish between Iran as a regional power and the Revolutionary Guards and the nuclear program. Such approach has contributed to perpetuating a state of disorder and chronic instability throughout the wider Middle East.