Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 16-17/2024
South Lebanon: Four Killed in Israeli Raid, Including Hezbollah Operative
Hezbollah shells Meron, Beit Hillel after Israeli strikes kill 2 commanders
Officials say Mossad killed Hamas financier Mohammad Srour
Berri: No Municipal Elections Without South Lebanon
The Crime Spree Continues on Lebanese Territory
Bassil suggests new UN resolution to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict
Gebran Bassil questions response to refugee crisis after Pascal Sleiman's murder: Press conference highlights
Quintet ambassadors meet today ahead of talks with Lebanese blocs
Geagea asks FPM not to attend session that would postpone local elections
Report: Hezbollah willing to accept president other than Franjieh
Israel's old Lebanese allies grapple with new Hezbollah threat
Crimes by Syrians in Lebanon prompts debate over repatriations
Gebran Bassil questions response to refugee crisis after Pascal Sleiman's murder: Press conference highlights
Airport workers in Lebanon seek fair compensation for night shifts
Foreign workers dominate Lebanese job market
A pawn in a dangerous game: Hezbollah's role as an Iranian proxy - analysis/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/April 16/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 16-17/2024
Sydney church stabbing was 'terrorist' attack, police say'
Israeli war cabinet puts off third meeting on Iran’s attack to Wednesday
Israeli tanks push back in northern Gaza Strip, warplanes hit Rafah
US will use sanctions to disrupt Iran's 'malign' activity, Yellen says
Israel pledges response to Iran strikes as allies push restraint
Israeli tanks push back in northern Gaza, warplanes hit Rafah, say residents
US Treasury preparing new Iran sanctions after Israel attack, Axios reports
US Navy warships shot down Iranian missiles with a weapon they've never used in combat before
Israel urges sanctions in 'diplomatic offensive' against Iran
Israel hopes its response to Iranian salvo will end 'exchange of blows'
Half of the missiles Iran fired at Israel failed on launch or malfunctioned and crashed, reports say
Israel must stop settler attacks on Palestinians, UN human rights office says
Turkey's Erdogan: Israel's Netanyahu solely responsible for recent Middle East tensions

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 16-17/2024
Cultural Genocide Is the Intention… Nothing Less!/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/2024
Will The Post-1920 Survive the Region’s Great Implosion/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/2024
Christians Prefer Living in Israel, Not the Palestinian Authority/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 16, 2024
Why Israel’s failure to strike back at Iran could lead to NUCLEAR WAR/Mark Dubowitz and Jacob Nagel/ Daily Mail/April 16, 2024
How Biden helps Iran pay for its terror by refusing to enforce current sanctions/Andrea Stricker/New York Post/April 16/2024
The Big Question: Will Israel Hit Back at Iran?/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Daily Beast/April 16/2024
The epic fail of Biden’s doctrine vs. Iran — no consequences/Richard Goldberg/New York Post/April 16/2024
Jordan forced to walk a tightrope over Israel-Iran showdown/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/April 17/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 16-17/2024
South Lebanon: Four Killed in Israeli Raid, Including Hezbollah Operative
This Is Beirut/April 16/2024
A Hezbollah operative was killed in an air strike targeting the car he was riding in with two other individuals, in the locality of Aîn Baal, in the district of Tyre, less than two hours before Israel carried out a second deadly raid on two cars in Chehabiyé, in the same district. In Ain Baal, Ismail Youssef, a Hezbollah commander for the coastal sector, was killed. The Israeli army announced on its Telegram account that it had liquidated him. The other two passengers were wounded. One of them, Hussein Qassem Krech, member of Amal, died later of wounds he sustained. In Chehabiyé, two persons were killed in the raid, Mohamad Hussein Moustapha Chahouri and Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah. Late in the evening, the Israeli army announced in a statement that Mohamad Chahouri was the commander of the rocket and missile unit within Hezbollah’s elite al-Radwan force in the eastern and central sectors of Lebanon. Hezbollah acknowledged earlier the death of one of its senior combatants in Aîn Baal, Ismail Yusaf Baz, code-named “Abu Jaafar.”The Israeli Army said earlier that its “air force struck and eliminated Ismail Yusaf Baz, the commander of Hezbollah’s coastal sector, in the area of Ain Ebel in Lebanon.” It said, Ismail served as a senior and veteran official in several positions of Hezbollah’s military wing. His current rank is equivalent to a Brigade Commander. As part of his position, Ismail was involved in the promotion and planning of rocket and anti-tank missile launches toward Israel from the coastal area of Lebanon. The attack occurred in the afternoon, as the exchange of artillery fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli Army intensified. Israeli media reported “a drone-suicide attack from southern Lebanon against the Galilee finger, causing casualties.” Israeli Channel 14 reported that “three Israelis were injured in the drone explosion at Beit Hillel, near Kiryat Shmona.”Hezbollah claimed responsibility for “the air attack with two rounds of drones that dropped explosives on the Israeli missile defense system at Beit Hillel.” According to the pro-Iranian group, “the Iron Dome platforms were hit directly, resulting in casualties.”Hezbollah then announced the bombing of the Israeli barracks of Zebdine in Kfarchoubva, as well as the headquarters of the air control unit in Mayrun and the headquarters of another Israeli battalion, 769, while the Israeli Army shelled Khiam as well as Alma al-Shaab, where it targeted a house belonging to the Sayyah family. The outskirts of Naqoura and Labbouneh were also bombed in the morning, while Israeli fighter jets flew at medium altitude over the north of the country. A three-story building in Hanine was completely destroyed in a Monday night raid. The strike also caused extensive damage to nearby property, infrastructure, and houses, as well as to a number of vehicles.

Hezbollah shells Meron, Beit Hillel after Israeli strikes kill 2 commanders
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/April 16/2024
Hezbollah on Tuesday fired rockets at Israel's Meron air control base and the Beit Hillel military base in response to Israeli drone strikes that killed two of its military commanders in the southern towns of Ain Baal and Shehabiyeh. The Israeli army and a source close to Hezbollah confirmed that a military commander was killed in the Ain Baal strike. Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip. Tuesday's strike came with regional tensions high after Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel over the weekend in retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus. The Israeli military said its "aircraft struck and eliminated Ismail Youssef Baz, the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector," adding he was killed in the Ain Baal area.
The official National News Agency reported one dead in an Israeli strike on a car in Ain Baal, about 15 kilometers from the border, later saying "enemy warplanes" struck two cars in Shehabiyeh, about 10 kilometers from Ain Baal, killing and wounding several people. Hezbollah announced in two statements that Baz and Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, apparently another commander, had been killed, without mentioning their ranks or roles. But a source close to the group told AFP that Baz, "the field commander in charge of the Naqura region" had been killed "in an Israeli strike."The Israeli military said Baz served as a senior and veteran official in several positions of Hezbollah’s military wing. It added that as part of his position, Ismail was involved in the promotion and planning of rocket and anti-tank missile launches toward Israel from the coastal area of Lebanon. Hezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets on a base in northern Israel's Beit Hillel "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks" on Lebanese villages, "the latest of which was in Ain Baal." Earlier Tuesday, Hezbollah claimed an attack on Beit Hillel using explosive drones, with local Israeli authorities saying three people were wounded. The Israeli military said "two armed" drones entered from Lebanon and exploded near Beit Hillel. Hezbollah had said its fighters launched an "air attack with suicide drones in two phases... striking the Iron Dome (air defense system) platforms and their crew" in the area. On Monday, Hezbollah targeted Israeli troops with explosive devices, wounding four soldiers who crossed into Lebanese territory -- the first such attack in six months of clashes. The violence has killed at least 365 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally. In Israel, the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed since hostilities began. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes on both sides of the border.

Officials say Mossad killed Hamas financier Mohammad Srour
Agence France Presse/April 16/2024
A Lebanese minister and two senior officials said preliminary findings suggest Israel's Mossad spy agency was behind the killing of a U.S.-sanctioned Lebanese man accused of sending Iranian money to Hamas. The body of Mohammad Srour, 57, was found riddled with bullets in a villa in the Lebanese mountain town of Beit Mery last Tuesday. Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told Al-Jadeed TV late Sunday that, "according to the data we have so far, (the killing) was carried out by intelligence services". Asked whether he was referring to Mossad, Mawlawi confirmed. AFP has requested comment from Israeli government officials but has received no response so far. The U.S. Treasury said in August 2019 that it had sanctioned Srour for funnelling "tens of millions of dollars" from Iran's Revolutionary Guards "to Hamas for terrorist attacks originating from the Gaza Strip", through Lebanon's Hamas-allied Hezbollah. The Lebanese group has been exchanging near daily cross-border fire with the Israeli military since October 7 when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel, triggering the war in Gaza. A Lebanese judicial official and a security source told AFP that Mossad likely masterminded Srour's killing, both speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press. "The preliminary results of the investigation indicate that the Israeli Mossad was behind the assassination," the security official told AFP. Initial findings "suggest the Mossad used Lebanese and Syrian agents to lure Srour to a villa in Beit Mery," the official said, adding that they had wiped fingerprints from the crime scene and used silenced weapons. The judicial official also told AFP that preliminary information pointed to Mossad, but that the probe was ongoing, with investigators collecting evidence "especially from communications data". The U.S. Treasury said Srour "served as a middle-man" for money transfers between the (Revolutionary) Guards and Hamas "and worked with Hezbollah operatives to ensure funds were provided" to Hamas's armed wing. Srour "has an extensive history working at Hezbollah's sanctioned bank, Bayt al-Mal", the Treasury said. In January 2019, the Lebanese army said it had arrested a suspected Mossad agent over a failed bid to assassinate a Hamas official in the country's south a year earlier. In the 1970s, Israel launched a targeted assassination campaign against Palestinian militants in retaliation for the killing of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, leaving several militants dead in Beirut.

Berri: No Municipal Elections Without South Lebanon
This Is Beirut/April 16/2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri cleared up the uncertainty surrounding the May municipal elections by declaring that the elections would not be held if it could not also be organized in South Lebanon, where artillery exchanges between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been ongoing since October 8, 2023. “There will be no municipal elections without South Lebanon,” said Berri in an interview with local channel Al-Jadeed. Commenting on the statement of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who urged the Free Patriotic Movement on Tuesday not to take part in a parliamentary session to extend the terms of municipal councils to force the government to organize the elections, while excluding regions under permanent military operations (the south of the country), the Speaker of the House and leader of the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement replied, “Geagea must understand that I have no intention of separating South Lebanon from the rest of Lebanon.” According to him, “the seriousness of the latter’s remarks lies in federalism,” thus attributing to the leader of the LF the desire to turn Lebanon into a federation, whilst in his statement on the subject of the municipal elections, Geagea warned against the persistence of a vacuum at local government level. The comments of the Speaker of the House indicate a parliamentary desire to postpone, for the second year in a row, the election of municipal councils and mokhtars. In fact, Nabih Berri seems intent on calling a parliamentary meeting to this end, as the Chamber’s office will be holding a meeting on Wednesday to discuss issues that could be placed on the agenda of a plenary session. However, this meeting can only take place if the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) bloc takes part, since the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb and independent MPs boycott parliamentary meetings on the grounds that the House’s priority, per the Constitution, should be the election of a president, not legislation. However, FPM leader Gebran Bassil remains vague about his bloc’s possible participation in a plenary session. At the end of the weekly meeting of the FPM’s political bureau, he indicated that his decision would depend on the level of preparation of the Ministry of the Interior. In his interview with Al-Jadeed, Nabih Berri did not comment on Bassil’s remarks about the municipal elections, but he did make it clear that he did not appreciate his comments on the clashes at the southern border. “In his logic, Gebran wants to dissociate the southern and Gaza fronts, but that can’t work,” he said. “The unity of the fronts is well and truly established, whether they like it or not,” added Berri, who felt that “the rules of engagement have changed.” According to him, “the Persian carpet (Iran) has shown Israel that times have changed,” alluding to Tehran’s drone and missile strike against the Hebrew state on Saturday night.

The Crime Spree Continues on Lebanese Territory
This Is Beirut/April 16/2024 
Yasser el-Koukash, a resident of Azzouniyeh in the mountainous caza of Aley, was found dead on Tuesday morning after suspected Syrian assailants “tied him up and robbed his apartment.”The spate of security incidents that have been taking place in the country for weeks has angered residents, some of whom attacked displaced Syrians and forced them to leave. However, fearing that the security situation could degenerate, the police immediately took action. An investigation has been launched to shed light on the matter.

Bassil suggests new UN resolution to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict
Naharnet/April 16/2024
Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil has sent a letter to the ambassadors of the U.N. Security Council member states, the UNIFIL countries, the members of the five-nation group for Lebanon, the Vatican, the EU ambassador, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Najib Mikati and caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib. “We again call for the instant implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 with all its terms and for acting at all international forums to condemn Israel’s continued violations,” Bassil said in his letter. “It’s about time Israel was held accountable for its hostile assault on Lebanon before the situation spirals out of control and descends into a criminal war in the vein of that which is being waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip,” he added. Reiterating his call for dissociating the situation in south Lebanon from the ongoing war in Gaza, Bassil said the international community can deter Israel’s “plots” by issuing “a new U.N. Security Council resolution based on the principles included in Resolution 1701.”He added: “Our priorities are to respect our constitution and rebuild our national institutions, starting with the election of a president, who is the head of these institutions, in addition to implementing the necessary social and economic reforms.”

Gebran Bassil questions response to refugee crisis after Pascal Sleiman's murder: Press conference highlights
LBCI/April 16/2024
On Tuesday, the President of the "Free Patriotic Movement," MP Gebran Bassil, congratulated the newly elected heads of the Engineers Syndicate.
During a press conference, Bassil addressed the issue of municipal elections, stating that the question is not whether the movement is ready for municipal elections, but whether the government is prepared and whether the Ministry of Interior is ready.
He announced several indicators of unpreparedness, stating, "No meetings were held between the governors and the Caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi [...] Three and a half weeks before the elections, no actual movements or official and unofficial nominations were recorded."He emphasized that the movement will participate and will not extend deadlines for municipalities if the ministry is ready. He questioned whether the murder of Pascal Sleiman was necessary for people to recognize the seriousness of the Syrian refugee crisis, especially when some advocated for their entry and stay in Lebanon despite the risks involved. He called for an international stance, especially European, considering most areas in Syria safe for return. He stressed that any country that does not take such a stance is considered "hostile" towards Lebanon. He urged the Parliament to take a clear position on the refugee issue, advising them to give instructions to the government and ministers to carry out legal actions needed. He also emphasized the importance of the government following through on the plan for refugee return, which involves actions like ending funding for refugees staying in Lebanon and supporting their return.

Quintet ambassadors meet today ahead of talks with Lebanese blocs
Naharnet/April 16/2024
The five-nation group for Lebanon will resume its presidential efforts today, Tuesday, following a break necessitated by the Easter and Eid al-Fitr holidays, media reports said. “The ambassadors of the quintet nations are scheduled to hold a consultative meeting today, Tuesday at the residence of the Egyptian envoy,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported. They will resume their endeavor as of Wednesday by meeting Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh before visiting some parliamentary blocs, especially Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, the daily added.

Geagea asks FPM not to attend session that would postpone local elections
Naharnet/April 16/2024 
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea blamed Tuesday the so-called "Axis of Defiance" and its allies of obstructing anew the municipal elections in Lebanon. "In addition to dragging us to the depths of hell and obstructing the presidential elections, you are working hard today to deprive the Lebanese of the local authorities as well," Geagea told "the Axis of Defiance and its allies" in a statement he posted on the X platform. Geagea called on the Free Patriotic Movement "not to participate in this crime," asking the political group not to attend a session that he said is expected to extend the terms of municipal councils and local officials. "This way, we would force the government to organize the municipal elections in all the Lebanese regions except the regions where military operations are ongoing," he said. In April last year, Lebanese MPs voted to extend the terms of municipal councils and other local officials for a year. "Anyone who contributes to a third extension of the terms of municipalities would be committing an additional crime against Lebanon and the Lebanese people", Geagea said.

Report: Hezbollah willing to accept president other than Franjieh
Naharnet/April 16/2024 
Hezbollah is “willing to accept the election of a candidate other than its declared nominee Suleiman Franjieh,” diplomatic sources said. The alternative candidate would enjoy Hezbollah’s approval, the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. “When the time comes for this exit, Hezbollah will go to an electoral session in which it will maintain its support for Franjieh, even if that leads to the election of another candidate in the same session,” the sources added.

Israel's old Lebanese allies grapple with new Hezbollah threat
Agence France Presse/April 16/2024
The looming threat of a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is reviving painful memories for former Lebanese militiamen and their families who fled to Israel, their erstwhile ally, more than 20 years ago. The South Lebanon Army was a mostly Christian militia recruited by Israel when it occupied south Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s. The Zadalnikim, as the SLA's former members are known in Israel from the group's Hebrew acronym, sought shelter south of the border in the aftermath of Israel's sudden withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, fearing reprisals from Hezbollah, whom they had fought for years in a brutal and uncompromising conflict. Iran-backed Hezbollah -- a Hamas ally with a large arsenal of rockets and missiles -- has exchanged fire with Israeli forces almost daily since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 triggering war in Gaza. In response, Israel has carried out strikes deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory, targeting several Hezbollah commanders. A strip several kilometers wide on either side of the border has become a de facto war zone, emptied of its tens of thousands of civilian residents. "They told us to prepare for two weeks in a hotel in Tiberias" in northern Israel, said Claude Ibrahim, one of Israel's more prominent Lebanese collaborators."It's already been six months. I hope it won't last 24 years," he told AFP.
'History repeating itself' -
Ibrahim, a former right-hand man of the late SLA commander Antoine Lahad, was evacuated from the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, near the Lebanese border, in October when the entire city was emptied. "It's as if history repeated itself... generation after generation," he said, referring to how the Zadalnikim had to flee their homeland after years spent moving from village to village during the Lebanese civil war of the 1970s and 1980s. Of the 6,000 to 7,000 Lebanese who fled to Israel in May 2000, around 3,500 still live in Israel, according to the authorities. They are registered with the interior ministry as "Lebanese of Israel" and were granted citizenship in 2004. Shortly after their arrival in Israel -- where authorities only partly took responsibility for them -- many moved on to Sweden, Germany or Canada. Others returned to Lebanon, where they were tried for collaboration with Israel. All former SLA members in Israel have relatives in Lebanon, mostly in villages in the south, a few kilometers from the Israeli border. Few agreed to be interviewed out of fear of reprisals against their families in Lebanon, whom they stay in touch with via third parties for the same reason.
Maryam Younes, a 28-year-old communications student at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, was five when she arrived in Israel with her parents.
'Finish Hezbollah'
When her father, a former SLA officer, died a decade ago, they were able to bury him in their ancestral village of Debel, roughly 10 kilometers as the crow flies from Ma'alot-Tarshiha, the northern Israeli town they moved to. The rest of their family remained in Lebanon, in Debel and the capital Beirut.
With fears growing that the near-daily exchanges of fire across the border might escalate into a full-scale war, Younes was worried about her relatives. "I'm very concerned for my family, for my village (in Lebanon)," said Younes, who sees herself as "half Lebanese, half Israeli". "I hope that there will be a way to protect them", she said, if there is an all-out war with Hezbollah. Ibrahim was equally worried, although he voiced hope that a new conflict with Israel would "finish off" his old enemy Hezbollah. "The only solution is a big strike on Hezbollah so that it understands that there is no way forward but through peace," he said. Ibrahim said there was no reason Israel and Lebanon should not be at peace. But Asher Kaufman, a history professor at Notre Dame University in Indiana who specializes in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, said attitudes in Israel had shifted significantly in the decades since the civil war and the cooperation between Lebanese Christian militias and the Israeli military. The vision of an alliance between "Lebanese Christians and the Israelis, which was at the root of the 1982 invasion (of Lebanon by Israel) has completely collapsed."Israel has stopped "viewing Lebanon as the Switzerland of the Middle East", a peaceful and prosperous country, and now sees it as "a violent quagmire it wants nothing to do with".

Crimes by Syrians in Lebanon prompts debate over repatriations
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/April 16, 2024
BEIRUT: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees reiterated on Tuesday “the right of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to return freely to their homeland whenever they choose to do so.” It came as the campaign against the continued presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon intensified against the backdrop of crimes committed by Syrians in recent weeks. The latest incident was the killing of an official in the Lebanese Forces Party, Pascal Suleiman, last week after his car was stolen and his body taken to the Lebanese-Syrian border. It was preceded a few days earlier by another crime committed in the Achrafieh area in Beirut against a husband and wife by their Syrian maid and other Syrians in an intended robbery. The husband died following the incident and his wife was seriously injured. On Tuesday morning news broke of the death of Lebanese man Yasser Al-Kokash in the town of Al-Azzounieh in Aley district at the hands of Syrian citizens after they tied him up and stole the contents of his apartment.
Syrian refugees started coming to Lebanon in 2011. The number of refugees registered with the UNHCR has officially dropped to less than a million people after some subsequently returned to their country. However, after the UNHCR stopped registering Syrian refugees in 2015, the rate of illegal crossings from Syria to Lebanon increased. Lebanon estimates the number of Syrian refugees on its territory to exceed 2 million people. Caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi estimated the percentage of Syrian detainees and convicts in Lebanese prisons to be about 35 percent of the total prison population.
The Lebanese General Security has organized voluntary repatriation trips for Syrian refugees, but only a few thousand refugees have returned, as the Syrian regime decides who can according to lists of names provided by the Lebanese General Security to the relevant Syrian authorities.
In a statement, UNHCR spokeswoman Dalal Harb said: “We support and respect the humanitarian right of refugees to return freely and voluntarily to their home country, whenever they choose to do so, in accordance with international principles and non-refoulement.”Harb stressed that “most Syrian refugees express their desire to return to Syria, but their decision is based on several factors, including safety, security, housing, access to basic services, and securing livelihoods.”
He added the UNHCR “will continue to cooperate with the General Directorate of General Security, which facilitates the repatriation of the refugees who want to return to Syria by registering their names.”Ahead of the Brussels Conference on Refugees on April 30, Lebanon has urged donors to secure assistance to cover the cost of the Syrian presence in the country. Minister of Information Ziad Makary said on Tuesday: “The illegal infiltration of Syrian refugees through the sea from Lebanon into Cyprus has caused a diplomatic crisis. “The crimes that have occurred made us focus more on this existential problem for Lebanon. The solution is for them to either return to Syria or go to a third country.” A plan proposed by the ministers of labor and social affairs, the Maronite League, and the General Directorate of General Security has also been addressed, which aims to repatriate Syrians and calls for the establishment of a National Emergency Authority headed by the prime minister. It will be in charge of communicating with UNHCR officials in order to assist the state in classifying Syrians into three categories. The first includes Syrians registered with the UNHCR as refugees and who can return to safe areas of their country. The second category includes Syrians who are registered with the UNHCR as refugees and work in Lebanon, while the third includes those who are registered with the UNHCR as refugees and want to travel to a third country. As for the Syrians residing illegally in Lebanon, a “ministerial committee headed by the interior minister will be in charge of putting together lists of names indicating whether those Syrians have a valid residency or an expired one, and whether they have any documentation.”The plan also stipulates that “land borders will be controlled, as it appeared that infiltration is mostly happening for economic reasons rather than security reasons.” A delegation headed by Lebanese Forces MP Sethrida Geagea met Interior Minister Bassam Al-Mawlawi on Tuesday. Geagea called for “the implementation of the interior ministry’s circulars related to handling the illegal Syrian presence.” Geagea estimated the number of Syrian refugees “in the northern Christian cities, Mount Lebanon and Jezzine to be around 830,000.”She said that “implementing these circulars allow us to reduce the number of refugees very soon,” adding: “According to the United Nations, Lebanon is not a country of asylum, but a country of transit. We’ve been tolerating this since 2011, but we cannot do this anymore.”

Airport workers in Lebanon seek fair compensation for night shifts
LBCI/April 16/2024
At Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, the struggles of the workers are no different from those of other public administrations. Although they receive wages and benefits similar to other public sector employees, the problem lies elsewhere. There are an estimated 200 employees working in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. They are distributed across various departments, including airport management, air navigation, meteorology, equipment maintenance, and other sections. More than half of them work night shifts.

Foreign workers dominate Lebanese job market
LBCI/April 16/2024
In industrial cities and other establishments, young people from Akkar and other regions work in various professions. However, they do not constitute the majority. The labor market here also heavily relies on foreign labor. Major factories, for instance, have Lebanese administrators, but most workers are non-Lebanese. Officials in these factories say they have tried to hire Lebanese workers but have not always succeeded. Despite calls to expel Syrians from Bourj Hammoud and other areas, and despite clear requests from businesses to hire Lebanese men and women, many clothing stores, for example, do not find the need to do so.For years, the agricultural sector in the Beqaa has relied on Syrian labor. Landowners depend on Syrian agricultural workshops to manage operations and handle planting and harvesting. Lebanese citizens do not work in all professions and sectors, and it is not easy for the job market to find alternatives to non-Lebanese workers. According to the International Labor Organization, Lebanon's labor market relies on more than one million non-Lebanese workers. The majority are estimated to be around 700,000 Syrian workers, in addition to approximately 70,000 Palestinian workers and about 95,000 workers from various Arab and other nationalities, such as Ethiopian, Filipino, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, and others who have obtained work permits. There is also a parallel workforce currently working illegally without permits. Seasonal workers must also be considered. All of these workers collectively contribute to more than $1.1 billion annually from Lebanon. Lebanon's job market needs more involvement from Lebanese citizens in all sectors and professions. It requires initiatives from companies and institutions to employ Lebanese workers, as well as legal protection for the rights of non-Lebanese workers, who constitute a large and essential part of the labor market.

A pawn in a dangerous game: Hezbollah's role as an Iranian proxy - analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/April 16/2024
On April 14, Hezbollah showed it acts on Iranian guidance by causing its attack to coincide with the one launched from Tehran. But will it choose to be an Iranian pawn?
Hezbollah stands at a crossroads after Iran’s attack on Israel.
Tehran launched drones and missiles from multiple directions; Hezbollah is a key Iranian-backed terrorist group. However, its role in the attack illustrates how it is trying to balance its role in Lebanon with its alliance with Iran.
Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7. One day later, Hezbollah joined in from the North. Over the past six months, it has posed as a support beam for Gaza and Palestinians. On Saturday, that talking point shifted because Hezbollah clearly supported Iran’s attack on Israel, which signals to Lebanon that Hezbollah is increasingly dragging Beirut into a potential escalation it might not want to be a part of. On Friday, a day before the Iranian attack, Hezbollah escalated its attacks on the North. Now, Iran attacked using drones and missiles and mobilized the Houthis in Yemen to join. Hezbollah’s attack on Friday included dozens of launches and culminated over the next two days with attacks against the Golan: Over 150 rockets targeting military bases. This is a serious escalation, the kind, in the past, Hezbollah only did when it claimed to respond to Israeli airstrikes deep inside Lebanon. It means that the Hezbollah threat to Israel coincided with the Iranian attack, and was part of Hezbollah showing support to its patron, extending far beyond Hezbollah’s claims to be backing Palestinians or “defending “ Lebanon. What it did was more openly join Iran as an acting proxy. That night, Hezbollah no longer used force to support Palestinians, but rather was part of the Iranian response to Israel. It now becomes increasingly apparent that Hezbollah is acting on Iranian guidance. Iran backed Hezbollah for years, dating back to the 1980s; key IRGC members supported it. Now, things have changed because Hezbollah is being used as an Iranian tool, meaning that Hezbollah will have a harder time pretending that it is merely “resisting” in Lebanon. Hezbollah carried out more than 3,100 attacks on Israel since October 7. Now, it is expanding its usefulness to Iran as a proxy, but this very act could potentially harm its image in Lebanon which can put pressure on the group to change course.
It's time for Hezbollah to make a decision
As Hezbollah’s true colors as a proxy are revealed, it is worth highlighting how Hezbollah has been holding Lebanon hostage to the Iranian escalation in the region. Israel’s goal in the North is to establish enough of a secure border to allow the return of the 50,000 or so displaced citizens; this cannot be done if Hezbollah is on the border and its threats are so clear. For that to happen, Hezbollah would have to be pushed back to a depth of more than 10 miles into Lebanon, or as far back as the Litani river. This would put Israel out of range of Hezbollah's anti-tank missiles and its large short-range Burkan missiles and would make it harder for Hezbollah to conduct an October 7 type of attack. As some in Lebanon become frustrated with Hezbollah’s actions, there may be an opportunity to achieve this goal. Hezbollah is facing pressures that it hadn’t before, and now has revealed its hand as working for Iran, which makes it harder for it to spread its propaganda about backing Gaza. Many questions remain about what comes next in Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon signed a maritime deal in 2022 that was supposed to benefit both countries and ostensibly reduce tensions. Before the deal, Hezbollah threatened Israel and then escalated tensions in early 2023. This shows that it cannot be trusted. It is unclear how Hezbollah will be deterred from its attacks on Israel. Time will tell if the Iranian-backed group will change course.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-797291#google_vignette

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 16-17/2024
Sydney church stabbing was 'terrorist' attack, police say
Tiffanie Turnbull & Simon Atkinson - BBC News, Sydney/April 16, 2024
Australian police have declared Monday's stabbing at a Sydney church a religiously motivated "terrorist act". A 16-year-old boy was arrested after a bishop, a priest and churchgoers were attacked during mass at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church. At least four people suffered "non-life-threatening" injuries, police say. The attacker was also hurt. The incident was captured on a church livestream and quickly triggered unrest in the suburb of Wakeley. Australian police define terror offences as being ideologically motivated. Investigations are still under way, but they say they are satisfied this is a case of religious extremism. Authorities have repeatedly declined to state the religion of the alleged attacker. The church has named the priest as Father Isaac Royel and the bishop as Mar Mari Emmanuel. Ordained in 2011, Bishop Emmanuel is seen as a popular and controversial figure, whose sermons receive millions of views on social media. When graphic videos of the attack - and the aftermath - spread like wildfire online on Monday night, they drew an angry crowd to the Assyrian Orthodox Church, which is about 35km south-west of the city centre.
There, hundreds of people upset over the attack violently clashed with police, who were guarding the church where the alleged attacker was being held. Two officers were injured - one suffering a broken jaw after he was hit with a brick and fence palings - and 10 police cars destroyed. The violence similarly left paramedics fearing for their safety and "holed up" inside the church for more than three hours. Maria, a member of the Assyrian community, told Guardian Australia that those present outside the church following the attack were "reacting to what they were seeing on social media". "There were many inflammatory posts making the rounds, people advocating for violence and such," she said. "It was making lots of people very angry."Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened an emergency meeting of national security agencies, calling the attack "disturbing".
"We're a peace-loving nation... There's no place for violent extremism," he said. Trying to quell further violence, he urged that people "not take the law into their own hands". Questioned about the role that social media played in Monday night's events, Mr Albanese said he "remained concerned" about it. The government has told Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp - as well as X, formerly known as Twitter - to remove offensive content relating to the attack from their platforms within 24 hours or face potential fines. Screenshot of a man walking up to a bishop giving a sermon in Sydney
The bishop was reportedly stabbed while giving a sermon that was being livestreamed [Reuters] Speaking to media on Tuesday morning, New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the bishop and priest were undergoing surgery and were "lucky to be alive".Ms Webb said the teenager allegedly made comments to the bishop as he approached, which were "centred around religion". Police believe that staging the attack during a livestreamed service was intended to be "intimidating not only [to] the parishioners in attendance, but those parishioners who were watching online". She said the suspect was acting alone. While "known to police", he was not on any terror watch list. During an interview with 2GB radio, state premier Chris Minns later confirmed reports that the teenager had previous knife crime charges and had been found with a blade at school in 2020. The alleged offender has been in surgery after his fingers were injured, police said, adding it is unclear if he was hurt with his own weapon or when he was apprehended by the congregation. The incident came just days after the nation was shocked by a separate and unrelated stabbing at a popular Sydney shopping centre, which left seven people dead. "NSW is on edge and there's understandable community anxiety at the moment," said Mr Minns. He appealed for calm, echoing calls from religious and community leaders.
Sydney stabbings: Who were the victims?
'Obvious' Sydney killer targeted women - police
"Their message to their communities was universal and identical, and that is that they deplore violence in all forms, [and] that they have faith in the NSW Police to undertake their investigation," Mr Minns said. Any attempt for "tit-for-tat" violence would be "met by the full force of the law", he added. A strike force has also been assembled to find those involved in the riot, Ms Webb said: "We will find you and we will come and arrest you." The head of the NSW Ambulance also called the behaviour from crowds "outrageous". "Our people, that do nothing but go to care and help every single day, need to know that they've got the support of the community," Dominic Morgan said. Christ The Good Shepherd Church, meanwhile, urged those holding a vigil outside the hospital where Mr Emmanuel is being treated to leave and to "respect his privacy and the safety of others". The Wakeley neighbourhood is a hub for Sydney's small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom have fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria. Bishop Emmanuel is a prominent leader in that community, and is one of the "kindest, [most] authentic, genuine human beings", local MP Dai Le said. However, the bishop has had a turbulent relationship with the Assyrian Church, reportedly being suspended for disobeying canons and forming a breakaway church. In 2021, he became a vocal opponent of Covid-19 restrictions, describing lockdowns in Australia as slavery and arguing that vaccines were futile.

Israeli war cabinet puts off third meeting on Iran’s attack to Wednesday
REUTERS/April 17, 2024
JERUSALEM: A third meeting of Israel’s war cabinet set for Tuesday to decide on a response to Iran’s first-ever direct attack was put off until Wednesday, as Western allies eyed swift new sanctions against Tehran to help dissuade Israel from a major escalation. Military chief of staff Herzi Halevi had promised that Saturday night’s launch of more than 300 missiles, cruise missiles and drones from Iran at Israeli territory “will be met with a response,” but gave no details. While the attack caused no deaths and little damage thanks to the air defenses and countermeasures of Israel and its allies, it has increased fears that violence rooted in the six-month-old Gaza war is spreading, with the risk of open war between long-time adversaries Iran and Israel. Iran launched the attack in retaliation for an airstrike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 attributed to Israel, but has signalled that it now deems the matter closed. An Israeli government source said the war cabinet session scheduled for Tuesday had been put off until Wednesday, without elaborating. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the weekend that the United States, Israel’s main protector, would not participate in an Israeli counter-strike. Together with European allies, Washington instead strove on Tuesday to toughen economic and political sanctions against Iran in an attempt to steer Israel away from massive retaliation. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was “leading a diplomatic attack,” writing to 32 countries to ask them to place sanctions on Iran’s missile program and follow Washington in proscribing its dominant military force, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a terrorist group. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US would use sanctions, and work with allies, to keep disrupting Iran’s “malign and destabilising activity.”She told a news conference in Washington that all options to disrupt Iran’s “terrorist financing” were on the table, and that she expected further sanctions against Iran to be announced in coming days.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
, speaking in Brussels after an emergency video conference of EU foreign ministers, said some member states had asked for sanctions against Iran to be expanded and that the bloc’s diplomatic service would begin working on the proposal. Borrell said the proposal would expand a sanctions regime that seeks to curb the supply of Iranian drones to Russia so that it would also include the provision of missiles and could also cover deliveries to Iranian proxies in the Middle East. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said earlier on Tuesday that several EU members had promised to look again at extending sanctions, adding she would head to Israel within hours to discuss how to prevent an escalation.
’CALM HEADS’
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
told Netanyahu in a call on Tuesday that escalation in the Middle East was in nobody’s interest and would only worsen insecurity in the region, so it was “a moment for calm heads to prevail,” Sunak’s office said. Sunak had said on Monday the Group of Seven major democracies was working on a package of measures against Iran. Italy, which has the G7 presidency, suggested any new sanctions would target individuals. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV on Monday night that Tehran’s response to any Israeli counterattack would come in “a matter of seconds, as Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond.” The prospect of Israeli retaliation has alarmed many Iranians already enduring economic pain and tighter social and political controls since major protests in 2022-23. Since the war in Gaza began in October, clashes have erupted between Israel and Iran-aligned groups based in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq. Israel said four of its soldiers were wounded hundreds of meters inside Lebanese territory overnight, the first known Israeli ground penetration into Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted, although it has regularly traded fire with the heavily armed Lebanese Hezbollah militia. White House national security spokesman John Kirby declined on Monday to say whether Biden had urged Netanyahu in talks on Saturday night to exercise restraint in responding to Iran. “We don’t want to see a war with Iran. We don’t want to see a regional conflict,” Kirby told a briefing. Some analysts said the Biden administration was unlikely to seek to sharpen sanctions on Iran’s oil exports due to worries about a big spike in oil prices and angering top buyer China. In a call between the Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers, China said it believed Iran could “handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil” while safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity, according to Chinese state media. Iran’s weekend attack caused modest damage in Israel and wounded a 7-year-old girl. Most missiles and drones were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and with help from the US, Britain, France and Jordan. In Gaza itself, where more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive according to Gaza health ministry figures, Iran’s action drew applause. Israel began its campaign against Hamas, the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, after the militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Iran’s attack prompted at least a dozen airlines to cancel or reroute flights, with Europe’s aviation regulator still advising caution in using Israeli and Iranian airspace.

Israeli tanks push back in northern Gaza Strip, warplanes hit Rafah
REUTERS/April 16, 2024
GENEVA/CAIRO: Israeli tanks pushed back into some areas of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday which they had left weeks ago, while warplanes conducted airstrikes on Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge in the south of the territory, killing and wounding several people, medics and residents said. Residents reported an internet outage in the areas of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in northern Gaza. Tanks advanced into Beit Hanoun and surrounded some schools where displaced families have taken refuge, said the residents and media outlets of the militant Palestinian group Hamas. “Occupation soldiers ordered all families inside the schools and the nearby houses where the tanks had advanced to evacuate. The soldiers detained many men,” one resident of northern Gaza said via a chat app. Beit Hanoun, home to 60,000 people, was one of the first areas targeted by Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza last October.  Heavy bombardment turned most of Beit Hanoun, once known as “the basket of fruit” because of its orchards, into a ghost town comprising piles of rubble. Many families who had returned to Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in recent weeks after Israeli forces withdrew, began moving out again on Tuesday because of the new raid, some residents said. Palestinian health officials said in one strike, Israel killed four people and wounded several others in Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are sheltering and bracing for a planned Israeli ground offensive into the city, which borders Egypt. The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the central Gaza Strip and that they had killed several gunmen who attempted to attack them. “Furthermore, over the past day, IDF fighter jets and aircraft destroyed a missile launcher along with dozens of terrorist infrastructure, terror tunnels, and military compounds where armed Hamas terrorists were located,” it added. In Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, residents said Israeli planes had bombed and destroyed four multi-story residential buildings on Tuesday. Israel is still imposing “unlawful” restrictions on humanitarian relief for Gaza, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday, despite assertions from Israel and others that barriers have eased. The amount of aid now entering Gaza is disputed, with Israel and Washington saying aid flows have risen in recent days but UN agencies say it is still far below bare minimum levels. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 33,843 Palestinians have so far been killed by Israeli fire since Oct. 7, including 46 in the past 24 hours.
Israel is preventing UN investigators from speaking to witnesses and victims of the Oct. 7 attack, former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, who is chairing a three-person probe, said. The unprecedented Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Israel and the Palestinian territories. “I deplore the fact that people inside Israel who wish to speak to us are being denied that opportunity, because we cannot get access into Israel,” Pillay said. The investigation briefed diplomats at the UN in Geneva on its work and said that since Oct. 7, it had focused on the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. “So far as the government of Israel is concerned, we have faced not merely a lack of cooperation but active obstruction of our efforts to receive evidence from Israeli witnesses and victims to the events that occurred in southern Israel,” said Chris Sidoti, one of the three members of the inquiry. The Gaza war began with Hamas’s attack against Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. The militants also took about 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are presumed dead. Pillay, 82, a South African former High Court judge, said the commission was investigating alleged crimes during the Hamas attack as well as some allegedly committed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. Sidoti, speaking via video-link, said the investigation had found it difficult to collect evidence from large numbers of witnesse.

US will use sanctions to disrupt Iran's 'malign' activity, Yellen says
Andrea Shalal/WASHINGTON (Reuters)/April 16, 2024
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said Iran's attack on Israel last weekend and its financing of militant groups in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq threatened stability in the Middle East and could cause economic spillovers.Yellen began remarks prepared for a news conference by addressing what she called an unprecedented attack on Israel by Iran and its proxies, saying Treasury would use its sanctions authority and work with allies to "continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity."The United States is using financial sanctions to isolate Iran and disrupt its ability to fund proxy groups and support Russia's war in Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.Treasury has targeted more than 500 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies since the start of the Biden administration in January 2021, Yellen said.
That has included targeting Iran’s drone and missile programs and its financing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen, Hizballah in Lebanon, and Iraqi militia groups, she said.
"From this weekend’s attack to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Iran’s actions threaten the region’s stability and could cause economic spillovers," Yellen said, without giving details. She spoke at a news conference during this week's meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which bring top finance officials to Washington from around the world. Iran on Saturday launched more than 300 drones and missiles against Israel, its first direct attack on the country, in retaliation for a suspected Israeli air strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 11 killed elite military officers. Israel's military said that it shot down almost all the drones and missiles, and that the attack caused no deaths, but the situation has increased fears of open warfare between the longtime foes. In Gaza, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive launched against Hamas after the group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Yellen said Washington was continuing to use economic tools to pressure Hamas, but said Treasury was emphasizing that its sanctions should not impede life-saving aid. She called for urgent action to end Palestinian suffering in the narrow enclave, noting that Gaza's entire population of more than 2 million people was facing acute food insecurity and that most of the population had been displaced.
"It is incumbent on all of us here at these meetings to do everything in our power to end this suffering," she said. Yellen noted that Washington was also using sanctions to target extreme settler violence in the West Bank, while working to ensure a functioning banking system there and supporting IMF programs in Jordan and Egypt.

Israel pledges response to Iran strikes as allies push restraint
Agence France Presse/April 16, 2024
Israel's armed forces chief has vowed to respond to Iran's unprecedented attack against the country, even after appeals for restraint poured in from world leaders fearing wider regional conflict. During six months of war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza, Iran's proxies around the region have stepped up attacks on Israel and its allies, saying they are acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Tensions were already high before Iran launched its first-ever assault on Israeli territory, firing hundreds of missiles and drones in retaliation for a deadly April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. "This launch of so many (Iranian) missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs into the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response," Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Monday, addressing troops at the Nevatim airbase, which was hit in Iran's Saturday night barrage. The Israeli army has said the vast majority of the weapons were shot down -- with the help of the United States and other allies -- and the attack caused only minimal damage. Western governments, including those that supported Israel in its "defense", have warned against an escalation, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his war cabinet late Monday to discuss next steps, Israeli media reported. Iran has previously said it would consider the matter "concluded" unless Israel retaliated, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told his Chinese counterpart in a call on Tuesday that Iran was "willing to exercise restraint" and had no intention of further escalating tensions. China's top diplomat Wang Yi said it was "believed that Iran can handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil". The United States has repeatedly appealed to China -- a close partner of Iran and a top buyer of its U.S.-sanctioned oil -- to use its influence over Tehran to manage tensions in the Middle East.
No more 'strategic patience'
Israel on Monday issued its first official comment on the strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that prompted Tehran's weekend attack. "These were people who engaged in terrorism against the State of Israel," Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. "There was not a single diplomat there as far as I know."The strike killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals. Iran has portrayed its retaliatory missile and drone barrage as the first act in a tough new strategy. The Iranian president's deputy chief of staff for political affairs, Mohammad Jamshidi, wrote on X that the "era of strategic patience is over", and further targeting Iranian personnel and assets "will be met with a direct and punishing response". The head of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog revealed on Monday that Iran had temporarily closed its nuclear facilities over "security considerations" after launching its retaliatory attack. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the facilities were expected to reopen on Monday but his inspectors would not be returning until Tuesday, or when "we see that the situation is completely calm". U.S. President Joe Biden has told Netanyahu that Washington would not offer military support for any retaliation against Iran, according to a senior U.S. official. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French President Emmanuel Macron were also among those urging restraint. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington did not "seek escalation, but we'll continue to support the defence of Israel". U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that a vote on a fresh package of military aid for Israel could come as early as Friday. The package has been stalled in the House by right-wing members of Johnson's Republican party who oppose new military funding for Ukraine also included in the bill.
Ceasefire calls
Following the weekend's attacks, Israel's military said it would not be distracted from the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. It said troops continued to operate in central Gaza, and tanks killed "a number of terrorists identified advancing towards them".
Fighter jets destroyed "terror tunnels and military compounds where armed Hamas terrorists were located", the army said. The Hamas attack of October 7 that triggered the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,797 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Israel estimates that 129 hostages seized during the October 7 attack, including 34 presumed dead, remain in Gaza. At a White House meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, Biden said: "We're committed to a ceasefire that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conflict spreading beyond what it already has." Reflecting both the domestic pressure Biden is under, and global calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge on Monday. Israel's offensive against Hamas has triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with desperate shortages of food, medicines and drinking water. The United Nations said it delivered a four-day supply of fuel to a bakery in northern Gaza on Sunday to enable it to resume operations in an area, which "has recorded the highest levels of catastrophic hunger in the world".

Israeli tanks push back in northern Gaza, warplanes hit Rafah, say residents
Nidal al-Mughrabi/CAIRO (Reuters)/April 16, 2024
Israeli tanks pushed back into some areas of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday which they had left weeks ago, while warplanes conducted air strikes on Rafah, the Palestinians' last refuge in the south of the territory, killing and wounding several people, medics and residents said. Residents reported an internet outage in the areas of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in northern Gaza. Tanks advanced into Beit Hanoun and surrounded some schools where displaced families have taken refuge, said the residents and media outlets of the militant Palestinian group Hamas. "Occupation soldiers ordered all families inside the schools and the nearby houses where the tanks had advanced to evacuate. The soldiers detained many men," one resident of northern Gaza told Reuters via a chat app. Beit Hanoun, home to 60,000 people, was one of the first areas targeted by Israel's ground offensive in Gaza last October. Heavy bombardment turned most of Beit Hanoun, once known as 'the basket of fruit' because of its orchards, into a ghost town comprising piles of rubble. Many families who had returned to Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in recent weeks after Israeli forces withdrew, began moving out again on Tuesday because of the new raid, some residents said. Palestinian health officials said in one strike, Israel killed four people and wounded several others in Rafah, where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are sheltering and bracing for a planned Israeli ground offensive into the city, which borders Egypt. After six months of fighting, there is still no sign of a breakthrough in U.S.-backed talks led by Qatar and Egypt to clinch a ceasefire deal in Gaza, as Israel and Hamas stick to their mutually irreconcilable conditions.
GUNMEN TARGETED
The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the central Gaza Strip and that they had killed several gunmen who attempted to attack them. "Furthermore, over the past day, IDF fighter jets and aircraft destroyed a missile launcher along with dozens of terrorist infrastructure, terror tunnels, and military compounds where armed Hamas terrorists were located," it added. In Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, residents said Israeli planes had bombed and destroyed four multi-storey residential buildings on Tuesday. Israel is still imposing "unlawful" restrictions on humanitarian relief for Gaza, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday, despite assertions from Israel and others that barriers have eased. The amount of aid now entering Gaza is disputed, with Israel and Washington saying aid flows have risen in recent days but U.N. agencies say it is still far below bare minimum levels. Israel is under international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, especially northern areas where famine is expected by May, according to the United Nations. Israel's military said it had facilitated the entry of 126 trucks into northern Gaza late on Monday from the south. It also said it was working in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) to facilitate the opening of two more bakeries in northern Gaza after the first began operations on Monday with WFP help. The Palestinian health ministry said more than 33,000 Palestinians have so far been killed by Israeli fire since Oct. 7, including 46 in the past 24 hours. Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after militants of the Hamas group that has been running the territory attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

US Treasury preparing new Iran sanctions after Israel attack, Axios reports
Reuters/April 16, 2024
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is preparing fresh sanctions on Iran in response to Iran's attack on Israel, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing a copy of her remarks."Treasury will not hesitate to work with our allies to use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime's malign and destabilizing activity," Yellen is prepared to say Tuesday, as per the Axios report. "The attack by Iran and its proxies underscores the importance of Treasury's work to use our economic tools to counter Iran's malign activity," she will further say, Axios reported. Yellen said previously that Iran's actions threatened stability in the Middle East and could cause economic spillovers, adding that the U.S. would use sanctions and work with allies.

US Navy warships shot down Iranian missiles with a weapon they've never used in combat before
Jake Epstein/Business Insider/April 16, 2024
US Navy warships fired SM-3s to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles last weekend.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro confirmed the use of the SM-3 during a Tuesday hearing. It's the first time that the exo-atmospheric interceptor has been used in combat. US Navy warships used a missile interceptor for the first time in combat over the weekend as they defended Israel from an unprecedented Iranian attack. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said American forces fired the Standard Missile 3, or SM-3, to engage Iranian ballistic missiles that were fired as part of the massive barrage, which included more than 300 missiles and drones launched from Tehran and its proxies. "We've been firing SM-2s, we've been firing SM-6s, and just over the weekend, SM-3s, to actually counter the ballistic missile threat that's come from Iran," Del Toro said at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing on Tuesday.
US officials previously said that two destroyers — the USS Arleigh Burke and USS Carney — operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea had engaged and destroyed at least four Iranian ballistic missiles, although it was not immediately clear how the warships shot down the threats.
USNI News first reported Monday that the two ships fired between four and seven SM-3s to intercept the missiles, citing unnamed defense officials. Del Toro's comments to lawmakers appear to be the Navy's first public acknowledgement of the SM-3 employment. The SM-3 is an element of the Navy's advanced Aegis Combat System and uses a kinetic kill vehicle to hit and destroy short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during the midcourse phase of flight. The SM-3 has the capacity for exo-atmospheric intercepts, meaning that it can eliminate targets beyond Earth's atmosphere, unlike the Navy's other air-defense capabilities. "SM-3s are unique due to being the only Standard Missile designed to operate in the vacuum of space," the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank notes in its Missile Defense Project. There are multiple SM-3 variants, which can be fired from a Navy warship's vertical launching system, and the Block I interceptors were first fielded nearly 20 years ago. Despite dozens of tests over the past two decades, the SM-3 had not been used in combat until now.
The SM-3, however, was not the only exo-atmospheric weapon to be called into action over the weekend. Israel's Arrow 3 missile defense system, which can also eliminate enemy threats in space, was used to shoot down many of the 120 ballistic missiles that Iran lobbed at Israel on Saturday. Arrow 3 and its predecessor, Arrow 2, make up the top echelon of the country's sophisticated air-defense network. Israeli officials have said that 99% of the threats fired by Iran and its proxies — which included one-way attack drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles — were intercepted by Israel's military and its partner forces in the Middle East. US Central Command said American forces, specifically, destroyed more than 80 drones and at least six ballistic missiles. CENTCOM said in a Sunday statement that "Iran's continued unprecedented, malign, and reckless behavior endangers regional stability and the safety of U.S. and coalition forces."

Israel urges sanctions in 'diplomatic offensive' against Iran
Agence France Presse/April 16, 2024
Israel launched a "diplomatic offensive" against Iran on Tuesday, calling on 32 countries to impose sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards and their missile program. Late on Saturday, Iran carried out an unprecedented direct attack on Israel, using more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. The Israeli military said it intercepted 99 percent of the aerial threats with the help of the United States and other allies, and that the attack caused only minor damage, including to a military base in the country's south. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he had launched a diplomatic offensive to counter Iran. "Alongside the military response to the firing of the missiles and the UAVs, I am leading a diplomatic offensive against Iran," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X. "This morning, I sent letters to 32 countries and spoke with dozens of foreign ministers and leading figures around the world, calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian missile project and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be declared a terrorist organization". Katz didn't specify which governments he had asked to impose sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards, who are already blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the United States and are subject to EU sanctions. Israeli officials have vowed to retaliate against Iran, which said its weekend attack was in response to the strike on the Iranian consulate that killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals. "Iran must be stopped now - before it is too late," Katz said on Tuesday.

Israel hopes its response to Iranian salvo will end 'exchange of blows'
By Dan Williams/JERUSALEM (Reuters)/April 16, 2024
When Israel responds to the unprecedented weekend Iranian drone and missile salvoes, its aim will be to send a message of deterrence to Tehran while drawing a line under this round of hostilities, a senior Israeli lawmaker said on Tuesday. Among Israeli considerations in planning a counter-strike are the war-wariness of Westerns powers, the risk to air crews from any sorties against Iran and the need to keep focus on the more than half-year-long Gaza offensive, Yuli Edelstein said. "We'll have to react. Iranians will know we reacted. And I sincerely hope that it will teach them a lesson that you can't attack a sovereign country just because you find it doable," said Edelstein, who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. But he added: "I sincerely hope that they will understand that the it's not in their interest to continue this kind of exchange of blows. We are not interested in a full-scale war. We are not, as I have said, in the business of revenge."Israeli officials say the response to the Iranian attacks will be agreed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet. Edelstein, a former cabinet minister from Netanyahu's Likud party whose role now involves reviewing government decisions, did not make clear to what extent he had been briefed on operational plans. The launch of hundreds of pilotless kamikaze planes, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles on Saturday night marked the first direct assault on Israel by Iran. Most of the threats were downed by Israeli, U.S., British, French and Jordanian forces.
Iran called the barrage retaliation for an Israeli strike that destroyed a building in its embassy compound in Damascus and killed two of its generals and several other officers. Israel - which has not taken responsibility for the April 1 attack - says it cannot allow an open front with the Iranians, especially as it battles Tehran-backed militias in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. A Channel 13 TV poll found 29% of Israelis support an immediate strike on Iran, 37% support attacking at a later date and 25% oppose such action. The Iranian barrage wounded an Israeli girl and caused limited damage to an airbase. Asked if the Israeli response would seek to avoid greater casualties, Edelstein said targets were still being discussed but "we always take always take into consideration the international norms" and Israel did not intentionally target civilians. Israel used warplanes and high-altitude interceptors to fend off the Iranian salvoes, which Edelstein said cost "a huge amount of money" that was worth investing on self-defence. Among his committee's duties was ensuring Israel had steady supplies of interceptor missiles. He said rumours that Israel was running short of interceptors were untrue.

Half of the missiles Iran fired at Israel failed on launch or malfunctioned and crashed, reports say
Mikhaila Friel/Business Insider/Mon, April 15, 2024
Iran's missile and drone attacks on Israel largely failed, with many intercepted or malfunctioning. Around 60 of Iran's missiles failed on their own, multiple reports say. Iran appears to remain confident about possible future conflict with Israel.
Half of the missiles Iran fired at Israel over the weekend failed on launch or malfunctioned and crashed, according to reports. More than 300 missiles and drones were fired toward Israel from Iran on Saturday evening in retaliation for an airstrike on the country's consulate in Syria. Around 99% of the missiles launched were intercepted by Israel, the US, the UK, France, and Jordan. Iran had warned for weeks that the attack was coming. That gave Israel's allies time to prepare — and avoided targeting civilian locations. Israel praised the defense effort as a "significant strategic achievement." But around 60 of Iran's missiles failed on their own, according to several reports. An estimated 50% of Iran's 120 ballistic missiles failed to launch or crashed in flight, unnamed US officials told CBS News and The Wall Street Journal. The attack also consisted of 170 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 30 cruise missiles, none of which crossed into Israeli territory, according to an online statement shared by a spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Speaking to CBS News, two US officials said five ballistic missiles made it through air defenses and impacted Israeli territory. Four landed at Navatim Air Force Base, which was thought to be Iran's primary target. One hit a runway, one hit an empty hanger, and another hit a hanger that wasn't in use, the publication said. Meanwhile, another missile appeared to be aimed at a radar site in northern Israel but missed, the outlet added. At the time of writing on Monday, one person — an unnamed 10-year-old girl — was reported as "severely injured" by shrapnel, the IDF confirmed. The details of her condition have not been released. Though Israel has not yet said how it plans to respond, the IDF spokesperson said it is "prepared and ready for further developments and threats." "We are doing and will do everything necessary to protect the security of the civilians of the State of Israel," they added.
Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador to the UN, told Sky News that reports of Israel's forthcoming response are a "threat" and "talk, not an action." He said Israel "would know what our second retaliation would be" and that they "understand the next one will be most decisive."Iran ignored warnings from the US before it launched its attack. President Biden said on Friday that he expected Iran to attack Israel "sooner, rather than later." His message to Iran was short and simple: "Don't."Sean McFate, a national security and foreign policy expert at Syracuse University, previously told BI that the Biden administration is losing its authority as its military support for Israel and simultaneous humanitarian aid for Gaza is sending mixed messages. "The fact that the Biden administration is both arming Israel and sending aid to Gaza shows the world that the Biden team has no strategic competence," McFate said. "They've already lost control." Representatives for the IDF, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the US Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel must stop settler attacks on Palestinians, UN human rights office says
The Associated Press/Tue, April 16, 2024
Israeli security forces “must immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks on Palestinians,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday. The statement follows a wave of settler attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank triggered by the killing of a 14-year-old Israeli boy in what authorities say was a militant attack. The Palestinian Health Ministry says seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the attacks began Friday, and another 75 have been wounded. Israeli authorities have urged people not to resort to vigilante attacks as tensions soar. But rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of routinely ignoring settler attacks or even taking part in them.
Tensions in the region have ramped up since the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, when Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,800 people, according to local health officials. World leaders have urged Israel not to retaliate after Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles over the weekend in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a regionwide war. The attack happened less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.
Currently:
— Iran's direct attack on Israel upended decades of shadow warfare.
— Biden hosts Iraqi leader after Iran’s attack on Israel throws Mideast into greater uncertainty.
— Israeli military renews warnings to Palestinians not to return to war-torn northern Gaza.
— Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shut down airport highways and key bridges in major U.S. cities.
— Israel’s military chief says that Israel will respond to Iran’s weekend missile attack.
Here is the latest:
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE CALLS ON ISRAELI FORCES TO STOP SETTLER ATTACKS ON PALESTINIANS
GENEVA — Israeli security forces “must immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks on Palestinians," according to a Tuesday statement from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights after a wave of settler attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank triggered by the killing of a 14-year-old Israeli boy in what authorities say was a militant attack.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the attacks began Friday, and another 75 have been wounded.
Israeli authorities have urged people not to resort to vigilante attacks as tensions soar. But rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of routinely ignoring settler attacks or even taking part in them. The U.N. statement said “Palestinians have been subjected to waves of attacks by hundreds of Israeli settlers, often accompanied or supported by Israeli Security Forces.” It said that in addition to deaths and injuries, the attacks have also included the torching of hundreds of homes and other buildings, as well as cars. “Israel, as the occupying power, must take all measures in its power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety in the occupied West Bank,” it said.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built scores of settlements there that are now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers. The Palestinians want the West Bank, which is home to some 3 million Palestinians, to form the main part of their future state. Violence has surged in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack out of Gaza that triggered the war. The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 468 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza. Most were shot dead by Israeli security forces during arrest raids or violent protests.
DEATH TOLL IN GAZA SURPASSES 33,800, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Health Ministry says the bodies of 46 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the Past 24 hours. That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 33,843, the ministry said Tuesday. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies but has said that women and children make up most of those killed.Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, urban neighborhoods. The military says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence. Israel withdrew more forces from Gaza earlier this month after wrapping up its offensive in the southern city of Khan Younis. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to invade the southernmost city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. The war erupted when Hamas launched a wide-ranging attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people that day and took around 250 hostage. Israel’s offensive has driven some 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and pushed the besieged territory to the brink of famine.

Turkey's Erdogan: Israel's Netanyahu solely responsible for recent Middle East tensions
ANKARA (Reuters)/April 16, 2024
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership are solely responsible for the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. "Israel is trying to provoke a regional conflict, and its attack on Iran's embassy in Damascus was the last drop," he told a press conference in Ankara after a cabinet meeting. He added that new regional conflicts were possible as long as the "cruelty and genocide" in Gaza continued, and called on all parties to act with common sense. He also slammed the West for condemning Iran's attack but not Israel's strike on Iran's embassy. Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of explosive drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched on Saturday night, to which Israeli officials have vowed to respond. Iran called the barrage retaliation for an Israeli strike that flattened a building in its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 and killed two of its generals and several other officers.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 16-17/2024
Cultural Genocide Is the Intention… Nothing Less!
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/2024
It is perhaps acceptable, during national wars, to calibrate cultural life to wartime necessities. Accordingly - and only as an exception and for a limited period of time - some expressions seen to potentially benefit the side fighting the nation and its people could be banned.
However, it is very clear that Lebanon is not currently engaged in a national war. The war is being waged by a particular segment of the population. Other segments oppose it, and they are skeptical of its utility, objectives, and the force fighting it. Moreover, these critics see the war itself as a dubious effort to target and subjugate them under the pretext of clashing with Israel.
It is not only a small and isolated segment of the population, who could be accused of being traitors and foreign agents, that breaks with this consensus; nor is it a reflection of an ideological divide like that seen in France when the Nazis occupied the country, with ideas and interests (which are inherently contingent and subject to change) central to the split.
In Lebanon, we are looking at a chasm between communities, in which constant variables far outnumber contingent ones. This split can only be addressed in one of two ways: either through a compromise, which has become highly unlikely with the armed group and its affiliates emphatically consolidating their power, or through a war on the other communities (religious, sectarian, or ethnic) that are not armed - if not a material war then against their collective will and the way of life they have chosen.
In this sense, the tendency to impose a particular viewpoint on the rest of society indeed suggests genocidal intentions, or at the very least, the intention to eradicate a way of life. In turn the genocidal party’s capacity to act depends on circumstance.
Given this state of affairs, it is not strange for two developments indicative of how deep the country's civil strife has become (and by extension of the superficiality and mendacity of the talk about a unifying national battle) to unfold at the same time:
- A practical ban, through intimidation, on the performance of Wajdi Mouawad's play "Wedding Day At The Cro-Magnons," which had been scheduled by a theater located in a neighborhood opposed to Hezbollah's war. As for the pretext for this band, it is that Mouawad is a "normalizer." That is, he refuses to see the world as a perpetual total war. It was supplemented by another equally ridiculous pretext: Germany's stance on the war on Gaza and its repercussions!
- The rise of a climate of communal tensions in Lebanon, its most recent manifestation being, if not the murder itself, the rhetoric that we heard following the murder of the Lebanese Forces' official, Pascal Sleiman. It's worth noting that, for some time now, Lebanese Forces circles have been the targets of accusations of treason and acts of assassination.
The total lack of consensus has not precipitated a push for compromises with "national partners." Instead, it has fueled the drive to humiliate them through the imposition of choices that they had had no say in and which they see as a threat and an assault on their decisions. This course of action follows the mindset of civil war and the intention to subjugate that stands behind it.
In such a context, the armed party expands and gnaws away at cultural life, and mind you, past experiences show that the scissors of militant censorship will not stop with Mouawad. It could become unacceptable, going forward, for the Lebanese to watch a movie directed by Steven Spielberg or read a book written by Jurgen Habermas, not to mention the hundreds of philosophers and creators whom the Axis of Resistance orbit is not fond of.
Currently, the broad segment of the Lebanese population being repressed believes, and says, that unlimited openness to cultural works is part of its culture and identity, rather, that it is part of its conception of what this nation stands for. This is an extension of a tradition that goes back decades, to Lebanon's best days, a time when the Lebanese people got to know the world and cultivated individuals, such as Wajdi Mouawad, some of whom became globally renowned artists.
As for the broad segment of the population behind the repression, its spokesmen have never defended a book that had been banned or a play or movie that had been stifled. While this passion for censorship is part of its mental and psychological makeup, the fervor is also an extension of a tradition that sees so-called “national liberation”- police states, informants, prisons, and assassinations - as a “beacon.” This heavily armed tradition is known for being terrified of every cultural activity that goes against its preferences and does not parrot its boring, barren narrative.
It seems that, regrettably, these genocidal intentions and attempts against a particular culture are reinforced by the disgraceful racist attacks of some Lebanese groups against Syrian refugees, groups that claim loyalty to the Lebanon which is being subjugated and degraded. It is as though some of the oppressed have spitefully and cowardly chosen enemies weaker and more oppressed than they are.
In any case, it is becoming clear that those who want a free country, be it communities or intellectuals and creatives, are under siege, just like the idea of their country. It is advisable for the intellectuals among them who do not want the confrontation to be limited to a “sectarian party,” to be kind enough to also defend cultural freedoms themselves. Indeed, it is not just a play or a book that is likely to be erased, but the choices that make Lebanon rich, its diversity, and its freedom.

Will The Post-1920 Survive the Region’s Great Implosion
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 16/2024
I know in advance, given the tense— if not explosive— current political circumstances, that this article will be condemned in some quarters, and be met with bewilderment and discomfort in others. Nonetheless, anything less than a blunt conversation would be inappropriate.
The region finds itself in an extremely dangerous position today. Its people do not fully appreciate the risks and the "international community," which has been losing credibility with every day that passes by and after every juncture, does not care about the repercussions.
Of course, some consider our countries powerless and incapable of making a difference or having an impact on the current course of events, seeing their proliferation in nearly every corner of the Arab world as proof. In fact, as soon as we resolve one issue, it spawns a crisis, and once any crisis emerges, one faction or other tries to exploit it before its ramifications impact them.
I believe that there is no need to waste time addressing each of these crises. Still, there is no harm in discussing particular cases... Both major and minor polities, as well as mature and newly emergent political identities, are now feeling the repercussions of the region-wide collapse. "Failed states" are waving hello as far as the eye can see.
Lebanon was rocked by two murders over the past three days. The first victim was Pascal Suleiman, the coordinator of the Lebanese Forces in the Jbeil (north of the Mount Lebanon Governorate). The second was a money changer named Mohammad Surur, who had been sanctioned by the US for facilitating financial operations by Hezbollah, Iran, and Hamas.
According to the "official" narrative, Suleiman was assassinated during a car robbery. However, details of the incident, even those that emerged before his body was found, as well as the fact that his corpse was taken from Lebanon to Syria, suggest that this was anything but a robbery.
Many Lebanese factions have linked Suleiman's killing to Syrian refugees and displaced persons, as well as to "illegitimate" arms. The latter is an obvious nod to Hezbollah, and this rhetoric comes amid talk that it could potentially be embroiled in a clash with Israel within the framework of the "united fonts" surrounding Israel and in solidarity with Tehran as it promises retaliation for the strike on its consulate in Damascus.
For context, Jbeil is a mixed region predominantly inhabited by Maronites and Shiites. It has seen a litany of disputes and controversies over land ownership and political and partisan mobilization in recent months.
We have seen a consistent rise in violent incitement against Syrian refugees and displaced persons within the Christian community in Lebanon. Thus, the murder of Suleiman hit several birds with one stone, most notably:
1. Creating "some sort of link" between Syrian territory and Syrian individuals and the incident.
2. Fuelling the fears of Lebanese Christians regarding the presence of Syrian refugees and displaced individuals in the country, thereby strengthening calls for their return (even though the main reason Syrian refugees have remained here is that the Damascus regime now refuses to allow them to return after having deliberately displaced them).
3. Creating a climate of fear in Lebanon that ends with acquiescence to the logic of armed force, and leaving those with arms, either through war or deals in which Iran plays a major role, to decide Lebanon’s fate.
4. Sending an indirect message to other Lebanese sects: accept that decisions of war and peace will remain in the hands of Hezbollah and the armed groups under its command that it is now creating within other sects.
Questions remain regarding the murder of the money changer, Surur. A woman claiming she wanted his help completing a financial transaction asked Surur to come to her villa outside Beirut, and he left her villa a corpse!
The precise and calibrated manner in which the assassination was carried out reaffirms what we already know... Regional intelligence agencies, particularly Mossad, are extremely active in the country. The Mosddad has shown, as it did with the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, that it can reach targets inside Lebanon, as well as in Syria and Iraq, with confidence and ease.
Mossad is operating in Lebanon, and its arm is long, to borrow a phrase from the Lebanese dialect. Israel understands the implications of potentially displacing tens of thousands of Shiite southerners to the Lebanese interior in the event of an escalation, especially in ethnically and religiously sensitive regions. Thus, we should not discount the prospect of domestic sectarian strife being stirred... If Israel seeks it, and the Americans and Europeans are complicit.
In any case, this “scenario” naturally applies to Jordan and Syria as well.
The maps of 1920, drawn after World War I, determine the contemporary borders of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. Iran has effectively erased these borders since 2003, first through hegemony in Iraq and then Syria, which has been transformed into a "bridge" connecting the Iranian proxies in control of Iraq and Lebanon. Moreover, after the world remained silent as Tehran and Moscow suppressed the Syrian mass uprising of 2011, Tehran began working on an extensive and ongoing settlement project in various regions of Syria.
Meanwhile, Tehran has also tightened its grip on Iraq, and it is currently escalating. Some Iraqi factions under Iran's control set their sights on Jordan, targeting it directly from the east. In this regard, the emotional and nationalistic reactions seen in many quarters are understandable and even predictable. Nonetheless, as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details." I have no doubt that the extremist "transferist" Israeli leadership would not mind if Jordan were to collapse as a political entity, as that would facilitate the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank.
The same "scenario" applies to the reconfiguration of Lebanon after the majority of the Shiite population on the "border" is forced to go north, into the Lebanese interior... to confuse the situation and stir primal instincts.
Indeed, the same approach can be also applied in Syria, which has essentially ceased to be a sovereign state. Various powers have established spheres of influence within it: the Russians in the northwest (the Alawite mountains, Wadi al-Nasara, and the coastal cities), the Turks in the region from Idlib to Aleppo and the Euphrates, the Americans and Kurds in the areas east of the Euphrates (the governorates of Hasakah, Raqqa, and north Deir ez-Zor), and finally the "Iranian corridor" stretching from Baghdad through Abu Kamal to Beirut via Damascus. Currently. The only areas that are not controlled by foreign powers are in southern Syria, namely the Hauran Plain (Daraa) and Jabal al-Druze (Suwayda).
These are difficult times, and anything can happen. Arabs lack the capacity to shape developments, Israel's fanaticism is not being restrained, and international institutions have become incapacitated as complicit, inadequate, or populist leaders rule. All of this is happening as the US prepares to hold a presidential election that will be like no other!

Christians Prefer Living in Israel, Not the Palestinian Authority
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 16, 2024
Among the top 50 countries in which Christians were persecuted in 2023 were Yemen, Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and other Middle Eastern and Muslim-majority countries. Israel, needless to say, was not on the list.
Despite these disturbing statistics, US television personality Tucker Carlson, in his interview with the Bethlehem pastor, chose to single out Israel, the only country where Christians feel safe and where their number is increasing every year. Carlson did not bother to ask the pastor about the persecuted Christians of Egypt.
Carlson chose to interview Isaac, who has long history of promoting falsehoods about Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict in his roles as pastor, academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College (a self-identified "Palestinian Christian Evangelical university college" that promotes a "Palestinian Christian theology"), and director of the "Christ at the Checkpoint" conferences -- the infamous venue where anti-Israel libels are proclaimed in the name of Christian love, justice and peace.
"[T]hose of us who track these things know that Munther Isaac has long been the high priest of antisemitic Christianity; sadly, he spreads his hate from the city of Jesus' birth." — Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, jewishinsider.com, April 11, 2024.
"We have a mafia here that is seizing Christian-owned lands. I protested against this Muslim mafia, and I even called a large gathering. I invited 80 people to my home. That same night, fliers were distributed in Bethlehem threatening to kill me. Of course, I am worried about the future of Christians here. Looking at the facts on the ground, you can see that there is no future for the Christians here. We are melting; we are disappearing. I fear the day will come when our churches will become museums. That is my nightmare." — Samir Qumsieh, prominent Christian leader near Bethlehem, to Gatestone, April 2024.
Since the Palestinian Authority (PA) assumed control of Bethlehem in 1995, the Christian share of the population has dropped from 65% to only 12% today. By contrast, the Christian population in Israel has been on the rise in recent years. "Most of us 180k Christian Israelis prefer to live under Israel freely rather than under a Palestinian Islamic Authority regime controlling Bethlehem. Israel gives us freedom while living under Arabs has been genocidal for Christians all across the Middle East," says Shadi Khalloul, a Christian Maronite who describes himself as a "patriotic Israeli." Pictured: PA policemen stand in Manger Square, Bethlehem, in front of the Church of the Nativity. (Image source: iStock)
On the same day that US television personality Tucker Carlson interviewed a pastor from Bethlehem who falsely accused Israel of mistreating Christians, Israel's University of Haifa announced the appointment of Professor Mona Maron as Rector. A Maronite Christian from the village of Isfiya, near Haifa, Maron has been a trailblazer for the integration and advancement of women in the sciences, particularly within the Arab community. She was the first Arab woman from her village to earn a doctoral degree and Israel's first Arab professor of neuroscience.
"I am grateful for the trust I received from the members of the University senate and look forward to taking up the position," Maron said.
"First and foremost, the University of Haifa is a home for me. A home that welcomed me into its ranks more than 30 years ago, as an undergraduate student, then as a faculty member in the neurobiology department and now with the Rector's role."
Unlike Maron, the Bethlehem pastor, Munther Isaac, does not live in Israel and is not an Israeli citizen. Isaac lives and works in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which has been controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the past three decades. Yet, the fact that Isaac does not live in Israel did not stop Carlson from providing him with a platform to flood Israel with hatred.
In 1948, Christians made up 85% of Bethlehem's population. Under Jordanian occupation between 1948 and 1967, the Christian share of the population declined to 40%. Israel then assumed control of Bethlehem from 1967 to 1995. By 1993, the Christian share of the city's population rose from 40% to 65%. Since the Palestinian Authority assumed control of Bethlehem in 1995, the Christian share of the population has dropped, to only 12% today.
By contrast, the Christian population in Israel has been on the rise in recent years. According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), about 187,900 Christians live in Israel, making up 1.9% of the population. In 2021, the population grew by 1.4% to 182,000, and in 2022, there was about 2% growth to 185,000, according to the CBS. This contrasts not only with Bethlehem, but most countries in the Middle East, where Christian populations are declining due to the "horrifying growth" of the persecution of Christians, according to the organization Open Doors, which puts out an annual "World Watch List" of places that Christians suffer very high or extreme levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith.
Among the top 50 countries in which Christians were persecuted in 2023 were Yemen, Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and other Middle Eastern and Muslim-majority countries. Israel, needless to say, was not on the list.
According to the Open Doors:
"More than 365 million (one in seven) Christians face high levels of persecution for their faith – and persecution is becoming dangerously violent in countries on the World Watch List.
"Attacks on churches and Christian properties sky-rocketed in 2023, as more Christians than ever reported violent attacks."
Last year, the organization revealed, 4,998 Christians were murdered in several countries around the world. Nigeria remains the deadliest place to follow Jesus; 82% of the murders occurred there. In addition, 14,766 churches and Christian properties were attacked last year, especially in India, China, Nigeria, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia.
Despite these disturbing statistics, Carlson, in his interview with the Bethlehem pastor, chose to single out Israel, the only country in the Middle East where Christians feel safe and where their number is increasing every year. Carlson did not bother to ask the pastor about the persecuted Christians of Egypt.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported on January 10, 2018:
"Christians in Egypt are facing unprecedented levels of persecution, with attacks on churches and the kidnap of girls by Islamist extremists intent on forcing them to marry Muslims, a report says.
"In the past year, Egypt has moved up an annual league table of persecution of Christians compiled by the charity Open Doors. According to its World Watch List, North Korea is still the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a Christian, and Nepal has had the biggest increase in persecution.
"But Egypt, home to the largest Christian community in the Middle East, is of particular worry. Officially about 10% of the 95 million population are Christian, although many believe the figure is significantly higher."
Carlson also did not bother to ask about the Christians of Syria, whose number has dropped from 1.5 million to 300,000. On November 18, 2022, The Syrian Observer reported:
A report published by the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, revealed that Christians in Syria are suffering more repression and persecution now than when the Islamic State (ISIS) took control of large areas of the country in previous years.
The organization's director in the Netherlands, Peter Broders, lamented the recent increasing persecution of Christians, saying: 'What struck me the most was that our Christian brothers in the Middle East (Syria, Palestine and Iraq), the birthplace of Christianity, are now suffering worse than they were in the days of ISIS.'"
Here's another inconvenient truth that Carlson and the Bethlehem pastor did not discuss: The Christian population in Iraq has been steadily declining for decades, from around 1.4 million in 2003 to about 250,000 today. Archbishop Michale Najeeb of Mosul, Iraq, said that Christians in the country continue to endure intimidation and violence from local militias and that most of their houses, which were destroyed by ISIS, remain in rubble.
If Carlson really wanted to learn about the situation of Christians in Israel, he should have interviewed Christian citizens of Israel, and not a pastor living under the Palestinian Authority, whose Basic Law stresses that "Islam is the official religion... The principles of Islamic Shari'a shall be a principal source of legislation."
Carlson could have interviewed, for example, Shadi Khalloul, a Christian Maronite who describes himself as a "patriotic Israeli."
Here is what Khalloul had to say about Carlson's interview with the Bethlehem pastor:
"I am Native Christian living in Israel who speaks the language of Jesus Christ.
"Most of us 180k Christian Israelis prefer to live under Israel freely rather than under a Palestinian Islamic Authority regime controlling Bethlehem. Israel gives us freedom while living under Arabs has been genocidal for Christians all across the Middle East.
"Tucker, I invite you to visit our Aramaic Christian Galilee center. Don't be deceived by collaborators of the Satan."
Instead, Carlson chose to interview Isaac, who has long history of promoting falsehoods about Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict in his roles as pastor, academic dean of Bethlehem Bible College (a self-identified "Palestinian Christian Evangelical university college" that promotes a "Palestinian Christian theology"), and director of the "Christ at the Checkpoint" conferences -- the infamous venue where anti-Israel libels are proclaimed in the name of Christian love, justice and peace.
For many years, the Committee For Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) has exposed the deceptiveness in Isaac's teachings, as well as the fallacious theological and historical foundation of the narrative promoted by Bethlehem Bible College and Christ at the Checkpoint. Examples of that documentation can be seen here here, and here.
"In light of the blatantly anti-Jewish activism of Isaac and these institutions, it is appalling that Carlson would provide a platform for such thinly-veiled hatred," CAMERA noted.
"Carlson's conversation with Isaac promoted multiple false claims including the alleged mistreatment of Christians by Israel, the cause of the significantly diminished Christian population of Bethlehem, and reasons behind the current suffering of Gazan civilians. The obvious agenda behind Carlson's line of questions and Isaac's libelous answers was the demonization of Israel and all elected officials and Christians who dare to support the Jewish State.
"Thanks to Carlson, anti-Israel Christian Palestinians have found a new outlet through which to propagate their deceptive propaganda, rooted in theological, historical and geo-political error. It is irresponsible, and in fact dangerous, for Carlson to facilitate the presentation of blatant lies and antisemitic libels when there is an unprecedented rise in Jew-hatred worldwide and Israel is in the midst of an existential war initiated by terrorists who seek its annihilation."
On October 8, 2023, Isaac gave a sermon in which he said that Hamas' attacks on Israel the day before – in which 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered, was a logical outcome.
"What is happening is an embodiment of the injustice that has befallen us as Palestinians from the Nakba until now," Isaac said, using the Arabic word for "catastrophe," that Palestinians use to mark the creation of Israel in 1948.
On Christmas Eve last year, Isaac said that "if Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza."
Isaac is a board member of Kairos Palestine, an organization launched in 2009 whose founding document makes antisemitic statements, such as engaging in Replacement Theology -- which "basically sees the Church replacing Israel" -- to deny the Jewish people's historic connection to Israel. The Kairos Document calls the Torah a "dead letter... used as a weapon in our present history in order to deprive us of our rights in our own land." The document also states that "Christian love invites us to resist," and describes the First Intifada, a campaign of bloody attacks on Israelis, as a "peaceful struggle."
Isaac is also the director of the Bethlehem Bible College's biannual "Christ at the Checkpoint" annual conferences, meant to promote Palestinian nationalism among Christian leaders, or as they put it, "challenge evangelicals to take responsibility to help resolve the conflicts in Israel-Palestine by engaging with the teaching of Jesus." Its manifesto states that "the occupation is the core issue of the conflict."
Among the antisemitic statements made at the conference over the years, collected by NGO Monitor, an organization that researches the activities and funding of nonprofits relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict:
"If God wanted the Jews to have the land... I didn't want that God anymore!"
"If you put King David, Jesus and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu [through a DNA test], you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages."
"Jews who reject Jesus Christ are outside the covenant of grace and are to be regarded as children of Hagar," as opposed to Abraham and Sarah. This final quote is from Stephen Sizer, a British pastor who has engaged in Holocaust denial and blaming Israel for 9/11.
"[T]hose of us who track these things know that Munther Isaac has long been the high priest of antisemitic Christianity," said Reverend Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, "sadly, he spreads his hate from the city of Jesus' birth."
"Since Oct. 7," Moore added, "Isaac seems to have graduated from being an anti-Zionist Lutheran preacher to a terror sympathizer. There's really just no other way to describe him."
Jonathan Elkhoury, a Christian refugee from Lebanon granted Israeli citizenship, said he was "appalled and ashamed" at Carlson's choice to invite Isaac onto his show, preferring "rhetoric of lies and misinformation about Israel or its treatment of minorities" rather than "a voice that speaks about Christian life in the Holy Land."
"Tucker Carlson should have taken his platform more seriously, and not invited political activists, in the disguise of a religious robe, to support the ongoing dehumanization of Israelis and the denial of the right of Israel to exist...
"Hamas prevented Christians [from] celebrat[ing] their holidays freely under its control since taking power, and Christians under the PA have faced many ongoing threats and attacks. The last one of them was an attack on the Jacob's Well monastery in Nablus by a Palestinian mob last January."
Finally, if Carlson really wanted to learn about the plight of Christians in Bethlehem, he should have interviewed Samir Qumsieh, a prominent and brave Christian leader from the town of Bet Sahour (near Bethlehem).
Unlike Isaac, Qumsieh speaks the truth about the challenges facing Christians living under the Palestinian Authority.
In an interview with Gatestone Institute, Qumsieh said:
"We have a mafia here that is seizing Christian-owned lands. I protested against this Muslim mafia, and I even called a large gathering. I invited 80 people to my home. That same night, fliers were distributed in Bethlehem threatening to kill me. Of course, I am worried about the future of Christians here. Looking at the facts on the ground, you can see that there is no future for the Christians here. We are melting; we are disappearing. I fear the day will come when our churches will become museums. That is my nightmare."
**Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
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Why Israel’s failure to strike back at Iran could lead to NUCLEAR WAR
Mark Dubowitz and Jacob Nagel/ Daily Mail/April 16, 2024
The three targets the Jewish State should hit right now... starting with Tehran's nuke weapons lair buried under a mountain
There is no going back to the days before October 7, 2023 – before Hamas stormed across Israel‘s borders to murder, rape, maim and kidnap innocent civilians.
Now, there’s no going back to a time before April 13, 2024, either.
The world irrevocably changed on Saturday when Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei unleashed, for the first time, a direct attack on the Jewish State from Iranian territory.
Israel has now proven, in the most significant way yet, the superiority of its missile defensive systems by intercepting over 95 percent of the hundreds of armed drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched by Tehran.
However, pride in this technological wizardry mustn’t lull Israel or its allies into a false sense of security or diminish the severity of this change in the Middle East’s savage rules of engagement.
Make no mistake – the threat to Israel’s existence is greater today than it has ever been before.
For decades, Tehran has acted as the head of a terrorist octopus, lashing out at its Western foes with long tentacles in the form of proxy armies arrayed in a ring of fire around Israel (Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and militias in Yemen, Syria and Iraq).
But these new attacks raise the stakes dramatically.
Iran’s assault came in response to an Israeli Air Force strike in Damascus earlier this month, which killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
Zahedi was a big fish. He was responsible for numerous terrorist attacks on Israel and participated in an Iranian-backed militia attack that killed three American troops in Jordan in January. There is also evidence that he participated in the planning and execution of the October 7 attacks – and at the time of his assassination, Zahedi was planning other terror plots.
Israel was acting well within the rules of its dangerous neighborhood by taking him out. But the Ayatollah responded with a potentially catastrophic barrage on Israeli civilians, military bases and government facilities.
If Iran walks away from this moment without paying a severe price, Tehran may be emboldened to deploy its weapons again. And the next time, these drones and missiles may be armed with nuclear or chemical payloads.
Yet today, some are arguing that Israel’s response must match the actual damage, not the potential devastation, caused by the Iranian attack.
Only a few of Iran’s deadly drones and missiles actually penetrated the Israeli ‘Iron Curtain’ of incredible air defenses, and those that did scarcely caused significant damage or causalities, save for the serious injury of a seven-year-old Israeli Bedouin girl who remains in hospital. ‘You got a win. Take the win,’ President Biden reportedly advised Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while warning the U.S. would not support an Israeli counterattack on Iran.
It would be a mistake for Israel to heed Biden’s advice.
The concept of ‘deterrence by denial’, where Israel uses its military and technology to limit the cost of attacks on its civilians, is a fatally flawed strategy. Indeed, ‘deterrence by denial’ failed spectacularly on October 7, when Israel failed to foresee and foil the attack from Hamas. Israel must now adopt a doctrine of ‘deterrence by punishment’ where it inflicts disproportionate costs on its enemies and focus its response on a few priority targets.
The Israeli military could destroy the weapons deployed against them, including unnamed aerial vehicle development and production plants, as well as cruise missile and drone storage facilities inside Iran. Israel could also hit Iranian ports, oil and gas refineries, pipelines, and other infrastructure that finance the regime. Other targets could include leadership assets. Such strikes have the added deterrent effect of demonstrating the long arm of Israel’s intelligence and military capabilities.
But the Israeli military’s most important strategic target should be Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Israeli attention, which in recent decades has focused on delaying Tehran’s progress in fissile material production, must now shift to neutralizing Iran’s nuclear scientists and their ability to build an actual weapon.
Right now, Tehran is building a new heavily fortified facility near Natanz in central Iran that is reportedly designed to extend over 100 meters underground and is buried under a mountain.
It is here that Iran could develop an enrichment plant powered by advanced centrifuges capable of producing multiple nuclear weapons without detection.
If completed, the Natanz facility could be impervious to Israeli and even American bombs. Though, in contrast to Israeli ‘deterrence by punishment’, President Biden will dangle new weapons sales, political support and continued intelligence and defensive cooperation in front of Netanyahu in exchange for quiet in the Middle East before the November elections.
Biden’s thinking right now is short-term.
His political advisers don’t want to risk a widening conflict threatening the flow of oil supplies and causing domestic gas prices to rise, or making Biden appear to be a feckless observer to an international crisis.
Israel must think long-term.
Biden’s supposedly steadfast support for Israel after October 7 has diminished as he faced political pressure from the extreme left of his party. There’s no reason Biden’s will won’t weaken again. Israel’s enemies will also interpret the lack of any meaningful response as weakness and capitulation to American demands. This will immediately influence their behavior in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, and reduce the chances that Hamas releases its hostages.
After this weekend, the threat of a nuclear weapon being deployed from inside Iran toward Israel is a step closer to reality. Israel must decide for itself the nature and timing of its response, but it must inflict serious damage on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his regime to restore Israeli deterrence.
**Brig. Gen. (res.) Jacob Nagel is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a professor at the Technion. He served as National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu and as acting head of the National Security Council. Mark Dubowitz is FDD’s chief executive and an expert on Iran’s nuclear program and sanctions. In 2019, he was sanctioned by Iran.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13311865/israel-iran-drone-iron-dome-nuclear-dubowitz.html

How Biden helps Iran pay for its terror by refusing to enforce current sanctions
Andrea Stricker/New York Post/April 16/2024
President Biden has spent his three years in office making it clear to Tehran’s terrorist regime that America won’t make it pay a price for attacking our allies, bankrolling Hamas and expanding Iranian nuclear capabilities.
In fact, by refusing to enforce sanctions already on the books, Biden is helping Iran foot the bill for its aggression, including the first direct attack on Israel in the regime’s 45 years in power.
Each year since Biden took office, Iran has steadily increased oil exports — its most lucrative revenue source — following a historic collapse of sales during the Trump administration’s maximum-pressure campaign.
The increase is no accident. “U.S. officials privately acknowledge they’ve gradually relaxed some enforcement of sanctions on Iranian oil sales,” Bloomberg revealed last year.
This month, Iran boosted oil production to an estimated five-year high of 3.4 million barrels per day — primarily for China, which buys the commodity at a discount. Another source of Tehran’s revenue is liquified petroleum gas, which the regime has started to export in record quantities, rendering it the top seller in the region.
In public, the administration denies it is going easy on Iran. Accordingly, the sanctions it should be enforcing are still on the books: specifically, regulations requiring the administration to sanction individuals and foreign financial institutions that trade in Tehran-origin commodities. Another source of Tehran’s revenue is liquified petroleum gas, which the regime has started to export in record quantities, rendering it the top seller in the region.
In public, the administration denies it is going easy on Iran. Accordingly, the sanctions it should be enforcing are still on the books: specifically, regulations requiring the administration to sanction individuals and foreign financial institutions that trade in Tehran-origin commodities. Indeed, there’s also a striking correlation between increased regime misbehavior during times of US appeasement versus economic pressure.
During Biden’s term, according to National Union for Democracy in Iran data, trendlines for Tehran’s oil exports, military expenditures and nuclear advances all surged upward compared with relative restraint by the regime during the height of Trump sanctions from 2018 to 2020. The implication is clear: US sanctions deprive Iran of resources. The regime then must carefully calibrate its provocations against potential economic ramifications.
Biden can still get serious about penalizing Iran, but he must dramatically increase sanctions on the shippers, insurers, middlemen and so-called “dark-fleet” tankers involved in the petroleum trade.
But the most important action Biden could take is sanctioning the Chinese and Asian banks and financial institutions that facilitate Tehran’s illicit trade.
In the past, even a hint from the Treasury Department that those banks could be cut off from the US financial system led them to clamp down on trade, serving to drive Iranian exports downward.
It should be clear after the weekend’s dramatic attack — thankfully foiled by US, Israeli and partners’ military ingenuity — the consequences of continued US appeasement of Iran are a matter of life and death.
Washington must rectify its failed Iran policy and curb Tehran’s funding sources before the regional conflict spins out of control.
**Andrea Stricker (@StrickerNonpro) is a research fellow and deputy director of the Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
https://nypost.com/2024/04/15/opinion/how-biden-helps-iran-pay-for-its-terror-by-refusing-to-enforce-current-sanctions/

The Big Question: Will Israel Hit Back at Iran?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Daily Beast/April 16/2024
Iran wanted to impress on its partisans that it had stood up to Israel and fought back, and has restored deterrence. But not so fast.
Tehran did not heed President Joe Biden’s warning to not “strike Israel” and launched 200 explosive drones and ballistic missiles against the Jewish state on Saturday. The attack was the only direct Iranian offensive on Israel ever, and the first by a state since 1991.
Yet despite hours of live media coverage, the damage that Iran has inflicted on Israel seems to have been insignificant. The question has thus become: Will Israel now grasp an opportunity it has long waited for and respond?
Iran’s attack came to avenge an air strike—widely acknowledged to be from Israel—on Damascus that killed seven senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) generals, including Mohamed Zahedi. Israel believes that Zahedi helped mastermind the October 7 Hamas attack, which led to the murder of 1,200 Israelis. Hamas confirmed the Israeli claims when it eulogized Zahedi, crediting him with building Hamas’s military wing and helping plan the October 7 attack.
Zahedi was not the first of the senior IRGC generals killed by Israeli airstrikes on Syria. But this time, Iran’s proxies—such as Hezbollah in Lebanon—voiced their expectations that the Islamic Republic would respond. The Lebanese saw no reason why they engage Israel in battle to help Hamas, but Iran does not, even after Israel had taken out a top Iranian general.
Tehran, for its part, feared that launching a first-ever attack from its territory on Israel would give the Jewish state a license to respond and take out strategic Iranian assets, including nuclear facilities that Israel believes Tehran is using to develop a nuclear weapon. After a week of chest thumping, Iran finally attacked Israel from Iranian territory. At face value, the attack looked big. To put it in perspective, consider that on a “hellish night” in Ukraine, Russia attacks Kiev with 50 Iran-made Shahed kamikaze drones. Iran fired over 100 of these. Tehran then “layered” its attack, in military lingo, with ballistic missiles that flew at much higher speed.
Once the Iranian drones were reportedly airborne, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seemed at ease, with its spokesperson Daniel Hagari finding enough time to hold a presser, during which he did not ask Israelis to head to bomb shelters.
Despite the sheer number of Iranian drones and missiles, the military value of the Iranian attack on Israel seems to have been insignificant, injuring one child and causing minor damage at a military base. Fighter jets from Israel, the U.S., the U.K., and Jordan helped shoot down most of the drones and missiles before they even reached Israeli airspace.
The attack’s political value, however, seemed significant. Since it took the Iranian drones some two hours to reach Israel, global media covered the attack live, with pundits analyzing the situation. Dozens of official statements were aired as breaking news. Meanwhile, citizens of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon captured footage of the explosive drones cruising at high altitude and shining like comets in the dark night’s sky. In Jordan, citizens captured images of their air force scrambling to prevent Tehran’s drones from crossing its airspace, shooting down dozens of them.
Over the course of a few hours of live TV coverage, Iran announced to the world that it was not scared of striking Israel. But the slow motion attack also made the Islamic Republic the butt of jokes, especially with videos showing that some drones fell in Iranian territory.
Meanwhile, Iran telegraphed—through its UN delegation—that its “revenge” for Zahedi’s death had been exacted, and that it was not willing to carry the military confrontation further. Iran’s UN delegation warned of harsher punishments should Israel repeat its offense in the future.
In other words, Iran wanted to impress on its partisans that it had stood up to Israel and fought back, and by doing so, it has restored deterrence. But not so fast.
As the Iranian attack unfolded, Israeli officials were huddling and issuing statements to the effect that Tehran should expect an Israeli response.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden spoke over the phone. The U.S. President, who had earlier said that America’s commitment to Israel’s defense was ironclad, seemed to have meant what he said—defense—verbatim. In his call, Biden told Netanyahu that America, which helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles, did not support an Israeli counterattack.
Netanyahu might grasp the opportunity and hit the Iranian “octopus” on its head, instead of fighting with its proxy arms. Alternatively he might let the Iranian attack pass without an Israeli response for fear of aggravating his already strained relationship with Biden. Which direction the Israeli leader will go is anybody’s guess.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/will-israel-hit-back-at-iran-after-its-massive-drone-attack?ref=home?ref=home

The epic fail of Biden’s doctrine vs. Iran — no consequences
Richard Goldberg/New York Post/April 16/2024 |
President Biden needs to face reality: His policies of appeasing Iran while waging political warfare against Israel led Tehran to conclude it could launch a massive attack on Israel and face no consequences. As Biden again tries to hold Israel back from defending itself while maintaining both United States and United Nations sanctions relief for Iran, he risks confirming the ayatollah’s calculation — and guaranteeing a more dangerous future for America and our democratic allies.
Iran’s weekend attack against Israel was not symbolic or performative — it was an unprecedented and unacceptable act of war. There’s no other way to characterize the launch of 120 ballistic missiles, alongside 30 cruise missiles and 170 suicide drones, against a country the size of New Jersey — especially when the attack was committed by the state sponsor of terrorism already waging a multifront proxy war against that country. Two questions now loom largest: Why did this happen and what is to be done? Over the past six months, Washington has pressured Jerusalem not to escalate against Iran’s terror proxy in southern Lebanon, despite the daily launch of missiles, rockets and drones that has forced towns across northern Israel to evacuate.
Hezbollah’s war on Israel has been normalized due to the lack of severe consequences imposed on the group and its sponsor.
The same can be said for the near-daily missile and drone attacks on the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, where the US won’t even put the group on an official terror list let alone impose true military costs on its leaders.
All the while, the White House has been showering Tehran with access to cash in hopes of incentivizing better behavior — a policy more commonly known as appeasement. America today does not enforce its oil sanctions on Iran, allowing Iranian crude to freely flow to China and other Asian destinations.
Just last month, Biden renewed a sanctions waiver giving Iran access to upwards of $10 billion to be used as budget support. Biden’s desperation for a renewed nuclear deal was never clearer than in October, just days after the Hamas massacre, when he allowed the UN’s missile embargo on Iran to expire rather than work with European allies to trigger the “snapback” of UN sanctions — a mechanism to restore all multilateral restrictions on Iran without a Russian or Chinese veto.
Oct. 7 accountability
Iran has faced no consequences from the US for Oct. 7, despite years of funding, training and arming Hamas. Nor has Iran faced consequences for directing missile attacks against Israel from Lebanon, missile attacks against the US Navy from Yemen and missile and drone attacks on both Israel and US forces from Iraq and Syria — even after the murder of three American soldiers. Instead, the president’s public wrath in recent weeks has been aimed at Israel: pressuring Israel to halt its campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, threatening a cutoff of US support, doing nothing to stop Canada from halting arms sales and emboldening Democrats in Congress to call for conditioning American aid.
It’s quite logical for the mullahs to examine the record and conclude a strategic-level strike on Israel would end in two results: zero consequences for Tehran and pressure on Israel not to respond. As of this moment, they are being proven right.
Israel, however, has no choice but to respond forcefully to this attack — imposing costs high enough on Tehran to turn the ayatollah’s calculation into a miscalculation.
Normalizing ballistic and cruise missile strikes from Iranian territory — whether they succeed in breaking through Israeli missile defenses or not — will establish a new and outrageously high baseline for future escalation. It may also inform the regime’s calculus on whether and when to pursue a nuclear breakout, doubting there is any level of misbehavior that could break Western appeasement policies.
Stop Tehran cash flow
The president reportedly wants Israel to hold off on a military retaliation so he can pursue diplomatic options instead. But if those options exclude economic and political costs for the regime, Biden will simply be putting lipstick on a policy of accommodation. The president should immediately freeze the $10 billion made available to Iran through his own sanctions waiver — money that’s accessible right now in bank accounts in Iraq, Oman and Europe.
He should order a crackdown on Chinese imports of Iranian crude, too. If he refuses, the Senate should finally vote on two House-passed bills that would force his hand on both matters. On the multilateral stage, the White House should join with the United Kingdom, France and Germany in triggering the snapback of UN sanctions and press Britain, Canada and the European Union to finally designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. Canada should be pressured to lift its arms embargo on Israel, too.
Both the US and Israel must recognize Iran carried out its attack despite a week of warnings from both countries. That is not a “win” — that’s a national-security failure, which should compel an immediate change in strategy.
*Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is a former National Security Council official and senior US Senate aide.
https://nypost.com/2024/04/14/opinion/the-epic-fail-of-bidens-doctrine-vs-iran-no-consequences/

Jordan forced to walk a tightrope over Israel-Iran showdown
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/April 17/2024
Iran’s attack on Israel at the weekend has underlined once more Jordan’s delicate geopolitical position, now acting as a buffer between Tehran and its proxies on the one hand and Tel Aviv on the other. An unknown number of Iranian drones and ballistic missiles crossed Jordan’s night skies — hours after the kingdom closed its airspace to all flights — on their way to Israeli targets. Later, Amman announced that its air force had intercepted “flying projectiles” and shot them down. Officials said Jordan had acted to defend its people and sovereignty, brushing aside Iranian warnings and ultimatums.
Video footage showed such projectiles being intercepted and shot down across Amman’s skies in the early hours of Sunday. Debris of what is believed to be the wreckage of Iranian drones was filmed in the capital’s neighborhoods.
This was not the first time that missiles heading to Israel had flown over Jordan. During the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein fired Scuds from the eastern Iraqi desert toward Tel Aviv. And since Oct. 7, Jordan has intercepted several drones and missiles fired from Iraq and Yemen against Israeli targets. The Jordanian air force has defended Jordan’s airspace in collaboration with the US and other Western allies, which have previously deployed advanced air defense systems in the kingdom.
Jordanian officials have justified the country’s decision to intercept Iranian missiles. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Jordan must protect its sovereignty and will do so again, regardless of where the rockets come from and where they are heading, even if Israel decides to launch them. But he was careful to point out that it was Israel’s bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier this month — an attack that killed seven senior Iranian military officials — that caused the recent escalation.
King Abdullah clearly pointed out that Jordan would not allow a regional war to unfold on its land
In a Sunday call with US President Joe Biden, King Abdullah clearly pointed out that Jordan would not allow a regional war to unfold on its land.
Also on Sunday, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador in Amman to protest Iranian media reports, which included a direct warning to Jordan. On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement underlining its keenness to maintain good ties with Jordan.
But Jordanian officials were quick to point out that, despite the Iranian reprisal attack, the pressing issue remains Israel’s war on Gaza, the dire humanitarian situation there and the need to end the occupation of Palestinian territories through a two-state solution. For Amman, bringing attention back to the Gaza debacle remains a priority. Jordanian officials hope that US pressure on Israel not to retaliate against Iran will bring an end to this episode and redirect global attention to the war on Gaza.
Safadi told local media that Netanyahu was seeking to ignite a regional war with Iran to deflect attention from the war in Gaza. Such statements appear to ameliorate Jordan’s position both locally and regionally.
By underlining that Amman will not tolerate its airspace being violated by any party, including Israel, it is hoping to absorb local criticism of its interception of Iranian projectiles. The popular mood in the country has been openly hostile toward Israel and the US over the Gaza massacres. Jordanians have taken to the streets in protest for the last six months and emotions have been running high.
In recent weeks, Jordanian officials and pro-government commentators have criticized Hamas’ leadership and the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan for seeking to incite Jordanians. Some even pointed the finger at Iran for interfering in the country’s domestic affairs. Israeli and Western media outlets have accused Iran of overseeing the smuggling of weapons to the West Bank through Jordan. At least one pro-Iran proxy in Iraq claimed last month that it was ready to arm thousands of Jordanians to fight Israel.
Jordanians have taken to the streets in protest for the last six months and emotions have been running high
To be clear, while ties between Jordan and Israel have gone from bad to worse since the latter launched its war on Gaza, coordination at the military and counterterrorism intelligence levels has remained intact. While Jordan has been openly and vehemently critical of the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu, even before the Oct. 7 attacks, both sides have been careful not to push ties to the point of no return. Jordan is aware of the need to preserve the peace treaty to protect the kingdom’s national security in light of the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank, and most recently in Gaza and what that could lead to.
Still, the king and senior officials have led regional and international criticism of Israel’s reckless war in Gaza and warned of the impending humanitarian disaster there. Jordan was the first country to conduct food airdrops over northern Gaza, opening the way for other countries to do the same.
The kingdom’s position on Gaza brought about an unprecedented rhetorical attack by extremist Israeli officials. Relations between the two countries had reached a historic low point. But while some in the Israeli media praised Jordan’s role in downing Iranian drones and missiles, officials in Amman made sure to point out that they were acting in Jordan’s best interests and were not doing Israel any favors. Jordan is skeptical of Netanyahu’s prevarications on key issues such as the custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the two-state solution.
Jordan’s relations with the Islamic Republic have always been strained. Amman stood with Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and refused to join a US-led international coalition against Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. Still, the two countries have maintained diplomatic ties for most of the past 40 years, as Jordan always realized that turning Tehran into an enemy would not serve its national interests. At one point last year, the two countries’ foreign ministers exchanged calls and met to normalize relations. Amman is yet to send an ambassador to Tehran. Now, such a move will remain on hold.
Jordan, a key US ally, has tried to chart a seemingly independent regional foreign policy despite its growing dependence on Washington. It did so with Syria’s Bashar Assad and with various Iraqi premiers following the US invasion of Iraq.
Jordan has learned to walk a precarious political tightrope with the outer neighborhood. The fast-changing geopolitical terrain, especially under former US President Donald Trump, has forced the kingdom to adapt quickly while still maintaining this delicate balancing act.
With Tel Aviv and Tehran moving from their shadow war toward a more open one, Jordan once again finds itself in an uneasy place. With one eye focused on Gaza and the West Bank, it is also keeping track of a possible regional conflagration. Jordan’s utmost priority is to cushion itself against any harmful fallout from both simmering conflicts. It is not an easy task — it never is — but it is one in which Jordan has an impressive track record.
**Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010