English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 03/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2024/english.December03.24.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
Mary’s Song
Luke 1:46-55/ And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of
his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty
One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those
who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with
his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has
brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has
filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has
helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his
descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on December 02-03/2024
Text & Video: The Jihadist, Mullah-Controlled, and Lawless Hezbollah Sets
Standards for Social Values and Seeks to Impose Them on Lebanese Through
Terrorism/Elias Bejjani/December 02, 2024
Video & Text: Exposing Hezbollah's Sickening Rhetoric of Divine Victories/Elias
Bejjani/November 30/2024
The Terrorist Defeated Iranian Jihadist Proxy, Hezbollah Assaults Journalist
Daoud Rammal/Elias Bejjani/November 30/2024
Etienne Sakr (Abu Arz): Syrian Uprising
Letter From The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AMCD) To Amos
Hochstein calling on him to put pressure on the Lebanese government to shutdown
“Al Qard Al Hassan” operations
Daoud Rammal spoke to Daraj about what he went through and its implications
Israel has been violating terms of Lebanon ceasefire, US envoy Hochstein claims
Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon, but tense ceasefire holds
Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza
Displaced from Beit Lif in southern Lebanon, Mustafa Ibrahim al-Sayyed's son
looks at his phone, at a displacement shelter in Tyre
Lebanon Parliament Speaker Accuses Israel of 'Flagrant Violation' of Truce
Lebanese Army Says Israeli Drone Targets Military Bulldozer at Army Base
Hezbollah fires mortars into Israel for first time since cease-fire
US warns Israel it is violating cease-fire in Lebanon
The North over Gaza: Why settling in the Galilee must come first –
editorial/Jerusalem Post/December 02/2024
A New Strategic Framework for U.S. Middle East Policy/Middle East Forum/December
02/2024
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on December 02-03/2024
Pro-Iranian militias enter Syria from Iraq to aid beleaguered Syrian army
Iraq Deploys Armored Vehicles to Border with Syria
At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian
Opposition Territory
Türkiye's Erdogan Hopes Instability in Syria Will Be Solved with Agreement
Syrian Opposition Leader Says Lebanon Truce Opened Door to Aleppo Assault
Putin Discussed Syria Situation with Iran's Pezeshkian by Phone, Says Kremlin
Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration
Nearly 50,000 displaced in Syria in recent days: UN
Shin Bet uncovers widespread Iran campaign targeting Israeli officials
Iran in crisis: Battling Israel left Tehran too weak to deal with Syria,
researcher says/Maya Cohen/Jerusalem Post/December 02/2024
Khamenei’s dilemma: Syria, Assad, Takfiris, and the fight for Iran’s
influence/Alex Winston/Jerusalem Post/December 02/2024
'Murdering Kurds on the street': Syrian Druze warns of Islamist extremism
What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria's 13-year war and why it matters
Israeli Army Bombards Homes in North Gaza, Airstrike Kills 15, Medics Say
UN Chief Says Situation in Gaza 'Appalling and Apocalyptic'
Hamas Says Delegation Discussed Gaza Truce With Egypt
Trump meets Sara Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago
US Navy Destroys Houthi Missiles and Drones Targeting American Ships in Gulf of
Aden
‘Kuwait Declaration’ Demands End to War on Gaza
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on December 02-03/2024
Israel must prepare for potential emergence of Sunni jihadist threat on its
border/Ron Ben-Yishai/Ynetnews/December 02/2024
The 'Terrorists' Of Aleppo (And Those Behind Them)/Amb. Alberto M.
Fernandez/Syria | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 682/December 02/2024
The Gentle Art of Negotiating with Terrorists/Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone
Institute/December 02/2024
The West’s Glaring Blind Spot for Muslim Madness and Islamic Insanity/Raymond
Ibrahim/The Stream/December 02/2024
Syria: The Dangers of Open Conflict and the Need for the State/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq
Al Awsat/December 02/2024
Will the Markets Check Trump’s Power?/Jeff Sommer/The New York Times/December
02/2024
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published
on December 02-03/2024
Text & Video: The Jihadist, Mullah-Controlled, and Lawless Hezbollah Sets
Standards for Social Values and Seeks to Impose Them on Lebanese Through
Terrorism
Elias Bejjani/December 02, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/137492/
A shocking incident unfolded in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Duwair on
November 30, 2024, when journalist Daoud Rammal was brutally assaulted by
individuals linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist proxy. Rammal was
at the town’s cemetery reciting prayers for his deceased parents when the attack
occurred. The violence was so brutal that he lost consciousness. Shockingly, the
assailants followed him to his home, continuing their assault in front of his
family. This barbaric act underscores the alarming violence, jihadist extremism,
and authoritarianism perpetrated by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s Statement: A Deceptive Denial
Following the attack, Hezbollah’s Media Relations issued a statement claiming
the assault was (“an individual incident” unrelated to the party. It added,
“Freedom of expression is sacred as long as it does not violate social values
and applicable laws.”)
This statement is deeply troubling. By asserting the right to define “violations
of social values,” Hezbollah essentially appoints itself as the arbiter of
morality, granting itself the authority to police the Lebanese public, including
Shiites, journalists, and all citizens, according to its sectarian, jihadist,
and extremist criteria.
Imposing Guardianship on Lebanon
Rooted in its sectarian and Iranian jihadist ideology, Hezbollah is forcibly
attempting to impose its guardianship over the Shiite community in particular,
and Lebanese society as a whole. Its claim to moral authority over “social
values” blatantly contradicts Lebanon’s identity as a pluralistic nation, which
encompasses 18 religious sects and a rich tapestry of cultures and
civilizations.
In a diverse society like Lebanon, no group—particularly not a militant Islamist
organization like Hezbollah—has the right to dictate social norms or restrict
freedoms based on its denominational religious views and standards . This
approach not only undermines Lebanon’s constitutional principles and
foundational diversity, but also constitutes a flagrant assault on public
freedoms, and the broader aspirations of the Shiite community for independence
and coexistence.
Silencing Dissent and Muzzling the Media
The attack on journalist Daoud Rammal is not an isolated incident, as Hezbollah
claims. Instead, it reflects a systematic strategy to silence dissent and muzzle
the media. This violent episode highlights Hezbollah’s reliance on intimidation
and force to suppress voices that challenge its agenda or refuse to align with
its extremist ideology.
A Call for Collective Rejection
Hezbollah’s oppressive behavior requires a united and resolute response from all
Lebanese citizens, regardless of sect or affiliation. The Lebanese people must
reject Hezbollah’s dominance over public freedoms and its self-imposed
guardianship over society. Members of the Shiite community, in particular,
should recognize that this control is not in their interest. Instead, it
isolates them and fosters hostility toward their Lebanese and Arab surroundings.
Conclusion
The assault on Daoud Rammal is yet another example of Hezbollah’s tyranny
cloaked in deceptive rhetoric. In a nation founded on pluralism, no entity has
the right to impose its moral code on society or to subject the media to its
restrictive standards. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right that cannot
be compromised. Any attack on it is an attack on Lebanon’s essence and identity.
Elias Bejjani/Video & Text:
Exposing Hezbollah's Sickening Rhetoric of Divine Victories
Elias Bejjani/November 30/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137435/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-1lOs00XE&t=893s
Hezbollah’s persistent claims of divine victory, particularly following its
recent devastating 64 days of war with Israel, are a dangerous mix of delusion,
hallucinations, daydreaming, self deception and sickening rhetoric
manipulations. Despite undeniable losses, Hezbollah's leadership boldly
proclaims triumph, crafting a narrative to deceive its supporters and sustain
its destructive and endless enmity against the state of Israel and terrorism
agenda.
Hezbollah's logic—that a victory is achieved merely by preventing the enemy from
achieving its goals—distorts the essence of reality. By this flawed standard,
any resistance, no matter how devastating the toll, could be deemed victorious.
Such reasoning ignores the catastrophic consequences of war: loss of life,
societal collapse, and the destruction of infrastructure.
In its recent war that lasted for 64 days, Hezbollah’s losses were staggering.
This Iranian armed jihadist proxy suffered thousands of casualties, including
high-ranking leaders, while its weapon stockpiles and strongholds were
obliterated. Southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs
were reduced to ruins, with thousands of homes destroyed. Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s
captive Shiite community bore the brunt of this devastation—displaced,
impoverished, and left grieving.
The recent ceasefire agreement with Israel, celebrated by Hezbollah as a
victory, was in reality a humiliating concession. It came not from strength but
from desperation. Hezbollah pleaded for the ceasefire to stem its losses, yet
its rhetoric portrays the truce as a triumph. Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Commander Major General Hussein Salami amplified this lie, describing the
ceasefire as a “strategic failure for Israel.” These fabrications, detached from
reality, are designed to shield Hezbollah’s leadership from accountability while
perpetuating their propaganda.
The Broader Islamist Delusion
This delusional concept of victory extends beyond Hezbollah to other jihadist
groups like Hamas, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, and factions of the
Muslim Brotherhood. Their hollow claims hinge on Israel’s perceived inability to
achieve its goals. Yet, a closer examination of their own objectives—destroying
Israel, liberating Jerusalem, and expelling Jews—exposes their perpetual
failure. By their logic, these groups remain in a state of chronic defeat,
unable to realize even their most basic ambitions.
Comparing Losses: A Stark Reality
The disparity in losses underscores the emptiness of Hezbollah’s victory
rhetoric. During the 64-day conflict, Hezbollah lost over 5,000 individuals
mostly trained fighters, including top commanders, and more than 25,000 were
injured or permanently disabled. Entire villages and neighborhoods under their
control were decimated. In contrast, Israel’s losses were minimal, reflecting a
stark imbalance in the conflict’s outcomes.
A Culture of Denial and Manipulation
Hezbollah’s leaders remain trapped in a state of denial, refusing to confront
the magnitude of their failure. Their rhetoric, echoed by figures like Sheikh
Naim Qassem and MP Hassan Fadlallah, defies the facts, relying on fabricated
narratives of divine triumph. This denial is not just delusional—it is
manipulative, aimed at maintaining control over their captive supporters within
the Shiite community.
Conclusion
The criteria for victory among Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Brotherhood factions
and their Iranian patrons are rooted in fantasy and self-deception. Their
claims, detached from realities of capability and consequence, serve only to
perpetuate violence and suffering. By exposing these falsehoods, we can
challenge their destructive narratives and advocate for a future free from their
oppressive influence. Hezbollah’s rhetoric of victory is not just sickening—it
is a dangerous lie that continues to inflict pain and suffering on the very
people it claims to defend. It is time for the world to see through their
fabrications and confront the truth.
The Terrorist Defeated Iranian Jihadist Proxy, Hezbollah Assaults Journalist
Daoud Rammal
Elias Bejjani/November 30/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/11/137455/
The Iranian terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, has once again revealed its true colors
by brutally assaulting journalist Daoud Rammal and his family in their southern
hometown of Douer. This cowardly attack is not just an assault on a journalist
but a blatant violation of press freedom and a direct affront to the fundamental
principles of democracy and human rights. Targeting journalists is a desperate
attempt to silence voices of truth and justice, further exposing Hezbollah’s
oppressive and tyrannical agenda in Lebanon.
The Lebanese people have endured enough under Hezbollah’s stranglehold, its
illegal weapons, and its allegiance to Iran’s destructive ambitions. It is time
for the Lebanese judiciary to rise to the occasion, break free from the
influence of this armed militia, and take decisive action to hold Hezbollah
accountable for its crimes against patriotic journalists and media institutions.
Meanwhile, dismantling Hezbollah’s militia and restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty
are not just demands—they are essential steps toward reclaiming Lebanon’s
independence and securing a future of freedom and democracy.
We call on all freedom-loving patriotic Leanese to unequivocally condemn this
heinous attack and take a clear position against Hezbollah and its Iranian
sponsors. Only through collective action can we disrupt the funding and support
that fuel this terrorist organization’s crimes.
We will not be silenced. We will not bow to intimidation. We will continue to
fight for a free, sovereign, and just Lebanon—a Lebanon where the rule of law
prevails, freedoms are safeguarded, and democracy is restored. The time has come
to unite internally and internationally to end this era of oppression and
reclaim Lebanon’s rightful place as a beacon of liberty and peace.
*The author, Elias Bejjani, is a
Lebanese expatriate activist
Author’s Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Etienne Sakr (Abu Arz):
Syrian Uprising
December 2, 2024
(Free translation & summary from Arabic by Elias Bejjani, editor & Publisher of
the LCCC website)
December 02/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/137518/
Below is Statement Issued by the Commander of the Guardians of
the Cedars Party – Lebanese Nationalist Movement
In light of the profound changes sweeping the Middle East, and with the collapse
of the so-called “Resistance Axis” led by the Iranian regime, which has spread
corruption, destruction, and terrorism in this region for decades, the Syrian
people today are courageously confronting a regime of tyranny and oppression,
reaffirming that the will of the people cannot be defeated, injustice does not
endure, and righteousness does not die, and what is justice and right will
prevail, and those wronged will be vindicated.
For nearly half a century, the Lebanese and Syrian peoples have suffered under
the rule of the Assad family, which has transformed Syria into a large prison
and extended its tyranny to Lebanon, where it exercised guardianship and
hegemony and suppressed freedoms for three decades. We will never forgive or
forget the crimes and massacres of the Assad family against our people, as they
destroyed villages, towns, and cities, killed innocent people, displaced
millions, and plundered the wealth of both countries to serve their personal
interests and the expansionist schemes of the Iranian regime.
Today, the Syrian people stand with dignity and honor, declaring their rejection
of tyranny and oppression, and demanding their legitimate right to freedom and
dignity. This blessed uprising is not only a revolution against the Assad regime
but also a warning message to all oppressive regimes in this troubled region of
the world that their day will inevitably come, and that the day of the oppressed
against the oppressor is more severe than the day of the oppressor against the
oppressed.
We in the Guardians of the Cedars Party – Lebanese Nationalist Movement affirm
the following:
1-We express our full support for the heroic Syrian people who are today waging
their fateful battle to liberate their homeland from the grip of this criminal
regime and its allies.
2-We consider this revolution a historical turning point, not only for Syria but
for the entire region, as the fall of the Assad regime represents the collapse
of one of the most important pillars of the Iranian theocratic imperialist
terrorist project.
3-We call on the international community to assume its historical
responsibilities, support the Syrian people in achieving their legitimate
aspirations for peace, freedom, and prosperity, and work to hold accountable all
those responsible for the heinous crimes committed by this regime and its allies
against hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians and Lebanese, which amount to
war crimes and crimes against humanity.
4-We believe that freedom and stability in Syria are a fundamental condition for
the stability of the region in general and Lebanon in particular. Peace and
security between the Syrian and Lebanese peoples are the key to building a
bright future based on full sovereignty and mutual respect.
As we salute the heroic revolutionaries of Syria, we call on all free people in
Lebanon, the region, and the world to support this blessed revolution,
considering it a revolution for all oppressed peoples seeking to liberate
themselves from the grip of tyranny, injustice, and foreign domination, and that
it is the beginning of the end of the Iranian axis of evil, and the beginning of
building a new Middle East characterized by freedom, peace, justice, and human
dignity.
Long live Lebanon
Summary of the Statement
The statement by the Guardians of the Cedars Party expresses strong support for
the Syrian uprising against the Assad regime. It views the Syrian revolution as
a turning point for the entire region and calls for international support to
help the Syrian people achieve their goals. The statement also emphasizes the
importance of peace and stability between Syria and Lebanon.
Key points
Support for the Syrian people: The party fully supports the Syrian people’s
struggle against the Assad regime.
Regional impact: The revolution is seen as a significant turning point for the
entire Middle East, particularly in terms of countering Iranian influence.
Call for international action: The party calls on the international community to
support the Syrian people and hold the Assad regime accountable for its crimes.
Importance of peace between Syria and Lebanon: The statement highlights the need
for peace and stability between Syria and Lebanon to ensure a brighter future
for both countries.
Overall, the statement is a strong condemnation of the Assad regime and a clear
expression of solidarity with the Syrian people.
Letter From The American
Mideast Coalition for Democracy (AMCD) To Amos Hochstein calling on him to put
pressure on the Lebanese government to shutdown “Al Qard Al Hassan” operations
December 02, 2024
To: Amos Hochstein
Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security
US Special Envoy to Lebanon
US State Department 2201 C St NW
Washington, DC 20520
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/137530/
Re: Hezbollah’s re-opening its own banking (Al Qard Al
Dear Mr. Hochstein,
We are writing to urgently request your intervention with the Lebanese
government re- garding Al Qard Al Hassan, a financial institution linked to
Hezbollah, which poses serious risks to Lebanon’s national security, its
economic stability, and its global standing. Al Qard Al Hassan is under
international scrutiny for its role in financing terrorism, and the recent flyer
announcing its reopening following a devastating war with Hezbollah further
highlights its involvement in supporting militant activities.
Allowing institutions like Al Qard Al Hassan to operate unchecked, especially
after a war, sends a dangerous message to the international community. It
undermines Lebanon’s cred- ibility and invites further sanctions and diplomatic
isolation. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the European Union have
warned against such practices, recognizing the threat they pose to international
peace and security.
In light of these concerns, we respectfully request your support to put pressure
on the Lebanese government to propose the following actions, which are in line
with Lebanon’s international obligations and long-term interests:
Immediate Shutdown: Close Al Qard Al Hassan’s operations without delay. Al-
lowing this institution to continue operating is unacceptable, as it directly
supports terrorism and destabilizes Lebanon.
Full Forensic Audit: Conduct a thorough and transparent audit of Al Qard Al Has-
san’s financial activities, including all transactions linked to Hezbollah or
any other militant group. This audit must be overseen by international bodies to
ensure full compliance with anti-terrorism financing laws.
International Sanctions: Immediately implement sanctions on any financial
institution or indi- vidual connected to Al Qard Al Hassan, in line with the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guide- lines, to prevent further illegal
financial activities.
Legislative Reform: Pass strict anti-terrorism financing laws that criminalize
any form of support to groups involved in armed conflict against Lebanon’s
allies or engaged in terrorism. These laws should be enforced to ensure
Lebanon’s financial sector adheres to international standards.
Financing terrorism during a war not only endangers Lebanon’s sovereignty but
also undermines the safety of innocent civilians and Lebanon’s ability to access
vital international support. We urge you to request the Lebanese government and
Speaker of Parliament to take immediate and firm action to pro- tect Lebanon’s
future.
Yours sincerely, AMCD Co-Chairs,
Tom Harb & John Hajjar
cc: Members of the US House and Senate
=======================
Board of Directors: John Hajjar, Chairman Tom Harb, Co-Chair
Hossein Khorram, Co-Chair Rebecca Bynum, Secretary Eblan Farris
Gabriel Sawma Dr. Ashley Ansara Dr. Ali Mohseni Dr. Mali Rozbeh Ali Kimiai
Philip Abirached Khalid S. Haider Hooshang Nematzadeh Aria Salehi Pamenari
Farzad P. Farahani Ibrahim Ahmad
Mr. Karim Hindi Sal Saygin Simsek Andrew Barr Tony Khawam
Manda Zand Ervin
Advisory Board:
Dr. Walid Phares Kenneth R. Timmerman
M. Zuhdi Jasser
Daoud Rammal spoke to Daraj
about what he went through and its implications
Daraj/December 02, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p2M_ILvvLw
Two days after being assaulted when he visited his mother’s grave in his
southern hometown of Dweir, journalist Daoud Rammal announced that he would sue
those responsible for the attack and held Hezbollah accountable for the assault.
The incident sheds light once again on the restrictions and dangers faced by
those who are politically or journalistically active in Hezbollah-controlled
areas, raising the larger question of whether this approach will persist after
the devastating Israeli war that Lebanon endured.
Rammal spoke to Daraj about what he went through and its implications
Israel has been violating terms of Lebanon ceasefire, US envoy
Hochstein claims
Jerusalem Post/December 02/2024
Earlier, Lebanon's health ministry said that one person was killed in an Israeli
airstrike on Marjayoun in southern Lebanon. US special
envoy Amos Hochstein told Israel that there had been Israeli violations of the
ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, state broadcaster KAN reported on Monday.
The report came as Lebanon's health ministry said that one individual had been
killed in an airstrike on Marjayoun, near Lebanon's southern border with Israel.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar told his French
counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot in a phone call that Hezbollah terrorists who are
currently south of the Litani River are violating the ceasefire agreement with
Lebanon and must move northward. Sa'ar also reportedly told Barrot that Israel
was not breaching the ceasefire but was enforcing it in light of Hezbollah's
violations of it. On Sunday, it was reported that France had claimed that Israel
had breached the ceasefire with Lebanon, with some 52 violations being counted
on that day. Israel's ceasefire agreement with Lebanon.
Last week, a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect. The
agreement includes a 60-day period during which Israeli forces will withdraw
from southern Lebanon, where the Lebanese military would be deployed, with
Hezbollah moving north of the Litani River.
Reuters and Raquel Guertzenstein Frohlich contributed to this report.
Israeli strikes hit
southern Lebanon, but tense ceasefire holds
Reuters/December 02, 2024
BEIRUT: Israeli jets Sunday launched an airstrike over a southern Lebanese
border village, while troops shelled other border towns and villages still under
Israeli control, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
The attacks come days after a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between
Israel and Hezbollah went into effect. There were no immediate reports of
casualties. The Israeli military did not immediately
comment on the strike in the village of Yaroun, nor did the Hezbollah militant
group. Israel continues to call on displaced Lebanese not to return to dozens of
southern villages in this current stage of the ceasefire. It also continues to
impose a daily curfew for people moving across the Litani River between 5 p.m.
and 7 am. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and
the Lebanese military have been critical of Israeli strikes and overflights
since the ceasefire went into effect, accusing Israel of violating the
agreement. The military said it had filed complaints, but no clear military
action has been taken by Hezbollah in response, meaning that the tense cessation
of hostilities has not yet broken down. When Israel
has issued statements about these strikes, it says they were done to thwart
possible Hezbollah attacks.
The US military announced Friday that Major General Jasper Jeffers alongside
senior US envoy Amos Hochstein will co-chair a new US-led monitoring committee
that includes France, the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon known as
UNIFIL, Lebanon, and Israel. Hochstein led over a year of shuttle diplomacy to
broker the ceasefire deal, and his role will be temporary until a permanent
civilian co-chair is appointed. Lebanon meanwhile is
trying to pick up the pieces and return to some level of normal life after the
war that decimated large swaths of its south and east, displacing an estimated
1.2 million people. The Lebanese military said it detonated unexploded munitions
left over from Israeli strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon. Elsewhere, the
Lebanese Civil Defense said it removed five bodies from under the rubble in two
southern Lebanese towns over the past 24 hours.
The first phase of the ceasefire is a 60-day cessation of hostilities where
Hezbollah militants are supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon north of the
Litani River and Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon into northern
Israel. Lebanese troops are to deploy in large numbers in the south, effectively
being the only armed force in control of the south alongside UNIFIL
peacekeepers. But challenges still remain at this
current stage. Many families who want to bury their dead deep in southern
Lebanon are unable to do so at this point. The
Lebanese Health Ministry and military allocated a plot of land in the coastal
city of Tyre for those people to be temporarily laid to rest. Dr. Wissam Ghazal
of the Health Ministry in Tyre said almost 200 bodies have been temporarily
buried in that plot of land, until the situation near the border calms down.
“Until now, we haven’t been able to go to our village, and our hearts are
burning because our martyrs are buried in this manner,” said Om Ali, who asked
to be called by a nickname that means “Ali’s mother” in Arabic. Her husband was
a combatant killed in the war from the border town of Aita el-Shaab, just a
stone’s throw from the tense border.“We hope the crisis ends soon so we can go
and bury them properly as soon as possible, because truly, leaving the entrusted
ones buried in a non-permanent place like this is very difficult,” she said.
In the meantime, cash-strapped Lebanon is trying to fundraise as much
money as it can to help rebuild the country the war cost some $8.5 billion in
damages and losses according to the World Bank, and to help recruit and train
troops to deploy 10,000 personnel into southern Lebanon. Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri also called for parliament to convene to elect a president next
month to break a gridlock of over two years and reactivate the country’s
crippled state institutions.
Israel tells residents to
evacuate areas of south Gaza
AFP/December 03, 2024
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army called on Monday for some areas of the southern Gaza
Strip to be evacuated, warning that Palestinian militants were launching rockets
from there. It is the first such call in weeks
relating to the south of the embattled Palestinian territory after the military
turned its attention to the north in October. “Terrorist organizations are once
again firing rockets toward the State of Israel from your area,” military
spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post in Arabic on X, addressing residents of
the Khan Yunis area. “For your safety, you must
evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” he said,
sharing a map of the area in question. Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military
said in a statement that “one projectile that crossed into Israeli territory
from Khan Yunis was intercepted” by the Israeli air force. Hamas’s armed wing
later claimed responsibility, saying it had fired rockets toward southern
Israel. Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since it launched a
retaliatory military offensive following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side,
most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli
figures.
At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in
Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to
data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has acknowledged
these figures as reliable.
Displaced from Beit Lif in
southern Lebanon, Mustafa Ibrahim al-Sayyed's son looks at his phone, at a
displacement shelter in Tyre
By Hamuda Hassan and Ahmed Fahmy/HAZMIEH/TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters
When a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect last week,
Lebanese hotelier Abbas al-Tannoukhi leapt at the chance to bury a dead relative
in their southern hometown of Khiyam, battered for weeks by intense clashes.
Tannoukhi's cousin had been killed in one of the final Israeli airstrikes on
Beirut's suburbs before Wednesday's ceasefire, which stipulated an end to
fighting so residents on both sides of the border could return home. But with
Israeli troops still deployed in southern Lebanon, Tannoukhi coordinated his
movements with Lebanon's army. Last Friday, he and his relatives pulled into the
family graveyard in Khiyam, six km (four miles) from the border, with an
ambulance carrying his cousin's body. "We just needed 30 minutes (to bury her),"
Tannoukhi, 54, said. "But we were surprised when Israeli tanks encircled us -
and that's when the gunfire started."Tannoukhi fled with his relatives on foot
through the brush, wounding his hand as he scrambled between rocks and olive
groves to reach safety at a checkpoint operated by Lebanese troops.
Soon afterwards, they tried to reach the graveyard again but said they were
fired on a second time. Shaky footage filmed by Tannoukhi features sprays of
gunfire.
"We couldn't bury her. We had to leave her body there in the ambulance. But we
will try again," he told Reuters. The ordeal highlights the bitterness and
confusion for residents of southern Lebanon who have been unable to return home
because Israeli troops are still present on Lebanese territory. Israel's
military has issued orders to residents of 60 southern Lebanese towns not to
return home, saying they are prohibited from accessing their hometowns until
further notice. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal grants both Lebanon and Israel
the right to self-defence, but does not include provisions on a buffer zone or
restrictions for residents. "Why did we go back? Because there's a ceasefire,"
Tannoukhi said. "It's a halt to hostilities. And it is a natural right for a son
of the south to go to his house."The Israeli military did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
PEACE OF MIND
The ceasefire brought an end to over a year of hostilities between Israel and
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israeli military
targets in 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza. Israel went on
the offensive in September, bombing swathes of Lebanon's south, east and the
southern suburbs of Beirut. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes.
After the 60-day ceasefire came into effect last Wednesday, residents of
Beirut's suburbs returned home to vast destruction, and some Lebanese from the
south were able to return to homes further away from the border. But both sides
began accusing each other of breaking the deal, with Israel saying suspicious
movements in villages along the south constituted violations and Lebanon's army
pointing to Israeli tank fire and airstrikes as breaches.
Mustafa Ibrahim al-Sayyed, a father of 12, was hoping to return home to Beit
Lif, about two km from the border. But nearly a week into the ceasefire, he is
still living at a displacement shelter near Tyre, a coastal city about 25 km
from the border. He tried to venture home alone last week, but as soon as he
arrived, there was tank fire around the town and he received a warning on his
phone that his town was in the Israeli military's "no-go" zone.
Sayyed is still stuck in displacement and wants to get home. "I hope we
go back to our town so we can get peace of mind," he said.
(Reporting by Hamuda Hassan and Ayman Sahely in Hazmieh and Ahmed Fahmy in Tyre,
Writing by Maya Gebeily, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Lebanon Parliament Speaker
Accuses Israel of 'Flagrant Violation' of Truce
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
Lebanon's parliament speaker accused Israel of violating a ceasefire, after
authorities said two were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, the sixth day of
the truce."The aggressive actions carried out by Israeli occupation forces...
represent a flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire agreement," Nabih
Berri, who helped mediate the ceasefire on behalf of ally Hezbollah, said in a
statement. Also, France's foreign minister Monday told his Israeli counterpart
that all sides should respect a ceasefire started last week between Israel and
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, the French foreign ministry said. Jean-Noel
Barrot stressed to Israeli minister Gideon Saar in a phone call "the need for
all sides to respect the ceasefire in Lebanon", the ministry said, after several
Israeli strikes hit Lebanon since the ceasefire started Wednesday.At least two
people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanese
authorities said, as a ceasefire ending more than a year of hostilities between
Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah appeared increasingly fragile. The
truce, which came into effect early on Nov. 27, stipulates that Israel will not
carry out offensive military operations against civilian, military or other
state targets in Lebanon, while Lebanon will prevent any armed groups, including
Hezbollah, from carrying out operations against Israel.
Lebanon and Israel have already traded accusations of breaches, and on
Monday Lebanon said the violations had turned deadly. One person was killed in
an Israeli air attack on the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about 10 km
(six miles) from the border with Israel, Lebanon's health ministry said.
Lebanon's state security said an Israeli drone strike had killed a member of its
force while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 km from the border. State security
called it a "flagrant violation" of the truce. The Lebanese army said an Israeli
drone hit an army bulldozer in northeast Lebanon near the border with Syria,
wounding one soldier. The Israeli military did not
immediately respond to questions from Reuters about the incidents in Marjayoun
and Nabatieh. It issued a statement saying it had attacked military vehicles
operating near Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and
military vehicles near the border with Syria. The Israeli military acknowledged
that a Lebanese soldier was wounded in one of its attacks and said the incident
was under review.
Lebanese Army Says Israeli
Drone Targets Military Bulldozer at Army Base
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
An Israeli drone targeted a Lebanese military bulldozer while it was carrying
out fortification work inside the Al-Abbara military base near Lebanon's border
with Syria, the Lebanese army said on Monday. One soldier was wounded, it said.
Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah started implementing a ceasefire last
Wednesday as part of a US-proposed deal for a 60-day truce to end more than a
year of hostilities.The accord cleared the way for an end to a conflict across
the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was
ignited by the Gaza war last year.
Hezbollah fires mortars
into Israel for first time since cease-fire
Ynetnews/December 02/2024
Two projectiles fired from Lebanon land in an unpopulated area in the Mount Dov
sector
For the first time since the cease-fire took effect last week, Hezbollah fired
two suspected mortar rounds into Israeli territory on Monday evening. The shells
landed in open areas on Mount Dov, causing no casualties or damage. Israeli
officials described the incident as a symbolic violation, likely intended as a
warning to Israel in response to IDF enforcement actions against Hezbollah's
activities in southern Lebanon. Mount Dov, historically a flashpoint due to the
absence of a physical border fence and Israeli civilian presence, has long
served as a staging ground for such exchanges. The attack occurred amid
accusations from France and the United States that Israel is violating the
Lebanon cease-fire agreement. Foreign Minister Gideon
Sa’ar rejected the claims, stating that Israel’s actions are necessary to
counter Hezbollah violations. “Their presence south of the Litani River is the
most fundamental breach of the agreement, and we will not tolerate a return to
the pre-October 6 situation,” Sa’ar said, reaffirming Israel’s commitment to
enforce the cease-fire and respond to immediate threats.
Earlier, Sa’ar held talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot,
who emphasized the importance of all sides respecting the cease-fire. Barrot
linked the Lebanon truce to broader regional stability, advocating for a
cease-fire in Gaza, the release of hostages and expanded humanitarian aid. The
two officials also discussed Syria, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and ongoing
tensions in Yemen. Israeli diplomatic sources defended
the country’s enforcement actions, citing a U.S.-endorsed side agreement that
permits immediate responses to imminent threats in southern Lebanon without
recourse to the monitoring mechanism. “In the agreement’s early stages, it is
crucial to enforce violations strongly to set the tone,” a senior official
explained, adding that Israel’s actions align with its understanding with the
U.S. Israel also addressed the International Criminal
Court (ICC) arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former
defense chief Yoav Gallant. Officials expressed confidence in U.S. support to
counter the ICC’s moves, with expectations that a future Trump administration or
U.S. legislative action might bolster Israel’s position.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have intensified operations against
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, striking targets and sending strong
deterrent messages. “We’ve inflicted significant damage, more than any coalition
has to date, and we’ll continue to act decisively if necessary,” a government
source said. The situation underscores the fragile
dynamics in the region, as Israel balances immediate security threats with
broader geopolitical challenges.
US warns Israel it is violating cease-fire in Lebanon
Ynetnews/December 02/2024
Warning comes after Paris accuses Israel of non-compliance; Amos Hochstein, who
brokered the deal, accuses Israel of violations in message to Jerusalem
counterparts; Violations include return of drones to skies over Beirut; On
Monday morning, IDF attacked 3 areas in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah
activity was detected. The United States has warned Israel that it is violating
the terms of the cease-fire agreement with Lebanon. According to sources
familiar with the details who spoke to Ynet, "there were Israeli violations of
the cease-fire agreement, mainly the visible and audible return of Israeli
drones in the skies over Beirut." The same sources said that in order for the
cease-fire to last, "we need restraint from all sides." France first warned
Israel that it was violating the cease-fire, first reported by Ynet on Sunday,
but now the United States has joined these warnings as well. According to the
sources, Amos Hochstein, who brokered the deal, accused Israel of the violations
in a message to his counterparts in Jerusalem. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on
Monday morning told his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot that Israel was not
violating the cease-fire agreement in Lebanon but enforcing it amid Hezbollah's
violations, that require a real-time response. France claimed Israel had failed
to report Hezbollah's violations to the international commission and had used
lethal force resulting in the death of civilians. "Hezbollah's presence south of
the Litani is a fundamental violation of the agreement. They must move north,"
Saar said. He called on the Lebanese government to “clearly authorize the
Lebanese army to carry out the actions required of it under the
agreement.”Meanwhile, the sources claim that France is fulfilling its role in
implementing and monitoring the agreement. It is pressuring the Lebanese
government to give a clear mandate to the Lebanese army and to postpone the
return of displaced populations to southern Lebanon, and warning Hezbollah of
violations, and a French staff was also announced to make operational the
improved supervision mechanism, as opposed to UN Resolution 1701, which ended
the 2006 Lebanon War. Since Monday morning, the IDF
has attacked at least three areas in southern Lebanon, mainly in the eastern
sector, where Hezbollah operatives were detected carrying out suspicious
movements. In at least one of the cases, in Marj Ayon, a hit was detected. The
attacks were carried out as part of the IDF's enforcement of the cease-fire
agreement. In addition, a warning shot was fired at Lebanese people who
approached the area near the border.
The North over Gaza: Why settling in the Galilee must come
first – editorial
Jerusalem Post/December 02/2024
Strengthening the Galilee must be prioritized over Gaza to ensure long-term
security, growth, and national resilience. Diaspora
Affairs Minister MK Amichai Chikli took the stage at Israel Hayom’s security
conference in Jerusalem on Sunday with a bold declaration.
“Settling in the Galilee is far more urgent than settling in Gaza.”
Speaking at the Bible Lands Museum, the Likud MK captivated the audience with
his clear-eyed focus on rebuilding Israel’s northern communities, highlighting
the stark challenges faced by towns along the Lebanese border.
His remarks stood in contrast to recent calls for resettling Gaza as a
punitive measure, instead urging Israelis to prioritize strategic, demographic,
and economic imperatives that directly impact the nation’s future. With the
October 7 attacks still fresh in the national psyche, Chikli’s pragmatic vision
demands our attention. The Galilee, located along Israel’s northern border with
Lebanon, has long been a critical region for national security. This became even
more evident during the October 2024 escalation with Hezbollah, which followed
the devastating Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
Border towns like Menara, Shtula, and Avivim faced significant challenges even
before the war, including population decline and economic stagnation. These
vulnerabilities were compounded by rocket attacks and infiltrations during the
conflict, exposing the urgent need to strengthen these communities.
The Galilee is strategically vital
Strengthening the Galilee is not just about reinforcing the border; it is about
ensuring that Israel’s northern flank remains secure against one of its most
formidable adversaries, Hezbollah, which continues to restock its arsenal that
sat at over 150,000 rockets. Resilient and thriving communities in the Galilee
act as a critical buffer zone, reducing the potential for territorial and
demographic erosion in this strategically vital area.
The Galilee is home to a mixed Jewish and Arab population, with many areas
having a Jewish minority. This demographic reality highlights the importance of
incentivizing Jewish families to settle in the region, preserving Israel’s
vision as a Jewish and democratic state. The 2022 State of the Nation Report by
the Taub Center highlighted that economic disparities between Israel’s central
and peripheral regions, including the Galilee, have led to stagnation in
population growth and economic development.
By channeling resources into developing the Galilee, Israel can address these
disparities, offering incentives such as affordable housing, employment
opportunities, and improved infrastructure. In contrast, resettling Gaza would
require vast military and political investments, diverting resources from
existing communities that need support.
The aftermath of the October 2024 war provides an opportunity to refocus
national priorities. Just as Israel rebuilt its economy and infrastructure after
the Second Lebanon War (2006), it must now invest in regions like the Galilee,
which were neglected even before the recent conflict. This is not just about
recovery but about long-term growth and stability.
Communities along the Lebanese border were already in crisis before October 7,
with limited access to quality healthcare, education, and employment
opportunities. For example, Menara saw a 15% decline in population between 2018
and 2023 as young families left in search of better prospects. Rebuilding and
revitalizing these areas will not only strengthen Israel’s northern border but
also create a sense of security and belonging for residents.Calls for resettling
Gaza, such as those made by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, may
resonate emotionally, but they prioritize symbolism over practicality.
Resettling Gaza would provoke international outrage, potentially reignite
conflict with the Palestinians, and require a permanent military presence to
sustain. The resources needed for such an undertaking would be better spent
addressing the tangible needs of the Galilee, where settlement efforts align
with Israel’s legal and strategic framework. History
can remind us of the importance of focusing on practical, achievable goals. The
Zionist movement’s success in establishing thriving communities in the Negev and
Galilee during the mid-20th century laid the foundation for Israel’s territorial
integrity. Finally, Israel’s leadership must embrace a
vision for the Galilee as a national priority. This includes allocating
significant resources for infrastructure development, creating incentives for
young families to move to the region, and investing in industries that can drive
economic growth. Programs that support agricultural innovation, eco-tourism, and
hi-tech development in the Galilee can transform the region into a vibrant
economic hub. Strengthening the Galilee is not just a
matter of regional development; it is a national imperative. By focusing on this
vital region, Israel can build a more robust, more secure, and more prosperous
future for all its citizens. These words should guide us: The Galilee must come
first.
A New Strategic Framework for U.S. Middle
East Policy
Middle East Forum/December 02/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/137526/
The challenges facing the Middle East require immediate and decisive action. The
October 7 Hamas massacre and its regional aftermath exposed critical flaws in
U.S. policy, underscoring the need for a comprehensive strategic reset. To
address these pressing issues, we are releasing Reasserting American Power in
the Middle East: A Blueprint for the Trump Administration, (PDF), a detailed
framework designed to guide the incoming administration toward meaningful
change.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on December 02-03/2024
Pro-Iranian militias
enter Syria from Iraq to aid beleaguered Syrian army
Reuters/December 2, 2024
AMMAN (Reuters) - Iranian-backed militias entered Syria overnight from Iraq and
were heading to northern Syria to beef up beleaguered Syrian army forces
battling insurgents, according to two Syrian army sources.Dozens of Iran-aligned
Iraqi Hashd al Shaabi fighters from Iraq also crossed into Syria through a
military route near Al Bukamal crossing, a senior Syrian army source told
Reuters. "These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the
front lines in the north," the officer said, adding the militias included Iraq's
Katiab Hezbollah and Fatemiyoun groups. Iran sent thousands of Shi'ite militias
to Syria during the Syrian war and, alongside Russia with its air power, enabled
Syrian President Bashar Assad to crush the insurgency and regain most of his
territory.A lack of that manpower to help thwart the rebel onslaught in recent
days contributed to the speedy retreat of Syrian army forces and withdrawal from
Aleppo city, according to two other army sources. Militias allied to Iran, led
by Hezbollah, have a strong presence in the Aleppo area. Israel has also in
recent months stepped up its strikes on Iranian bases in Syria while also waging
an offensive in Lebanon which it says has weakened Hezbollah and its military
capabilities
Iraq Deploys Armored
Vehicles to Border with Syria
Asharq Al Awsat/ December 02/2024
Iraq sent armored vehicles on Monday to reinforce its long border with Syria, in
a bid to ease concerns after a surprise offensive in the neighboring country by
opposition groups. The lightning offensive by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)
group and allied factions saw government forces lose full control of Syria's
second city Aleppo for the first time since the civil war began in 2011. The
attacks have caused unease in Iraq, which still bears the scars of decades of
conflict, including the rise of the ISIS group. "Any infiltration on the
Syrian-Iraqi border is absolutely impossible, because of the fortifications and
the combat units located there," interior ministry spokesman General Moqdad Miri
said on Monday. The defense ministry said "armoured
units of the Iraqi army" were sent to reinforce the border, from the western
border town of Al-Qaim to the border with Jordan further south. Similar forces
were deployed along the border further north in Nineveh province, it said.
The move comes after the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights reported 200 fighters from a pro-Iran Iraqi armed group being sent
into Syria to support government forces. The Britain-based war monitor, which
has a wide network of sources inside Syria, said the militants entered the
al-Boukamal region through the border at Al-Qaim in two waves.
When contacted by AFP, officials from Iraqi
armed factions Kataib Hezbollah, Al-Nujaba and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada denied
sending reinforcements. "It is still too early to take this type of decision," a
Kataib Hezbollah commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. ISIS
overran large swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate". The
group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 by local forces backed by a US-led
international military coalition. "Iraq has taken solid precautions after the
bitter experience of 2014," Qais al-Mohamadawi, Iraq's deputy commander of joint
operations, said on Friday.
At Least 25 Killed as
Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
20At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in air strikes carried
out by the Syrian government and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue
service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday. Russian and Syrian jets
struck the opposition-held city of Idlib in northern Syria on Sunday, military
sources said, as President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush insurgents who had
swept into the city of Aleppo. The army also said it had recaptured several
towns that opposition factions had overrun in recent days.
Residents said one attack hit a crowded residential area in the center of
Idlib, the largest city in an opposition enclave near the Turkish border where
around four million people live in makeshift tents and dwellings. At least seven
people were killed and dozens injured, according to rescuers at the scene. The
Syrian army and its ally Russia say they target the hideouts of insurgent groups
and deny attacking civilians. Ten children were among the dead in the air
strikes in and around Idlib and other targets in opposition-held territory near
Aleppo on Sunday, according to the White Helmets. The total death toll from
Syrian and Russian strikes since Nov. 27 had climbed to 56, including 20
children, the group added in a statement on X.The insurgents are a coalition of
Türkiye-backed mainstream secular armed groups along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,
a group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by the US, Russia, Türkiye
and other states. The insurgents seized control of all of Idlib province in
recent days, the boldest opposition assault for years in a civil war where front
lines had largely been frozen since 2020. Insurgents also swept into the city of
Aleppo, east of Idlib, on Friday night, forcing the army to redeploy. In remarks
published on state media, Assad said: "Terrorists only know the language of
force and it is the language we will crush them with".The Syrian army said
dozens of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Aleppo. Russian war
bloggers reported on Sunday that Moscow had dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general
in charge of its forces in Syria, after insurgents swept into Aleppo. Reuters
has requested comment from the Russian defense ministry.
In a joint statement, the United States, France, Germany, and Britain
urged "de-escalation by all parties and the protection of civilians and
infrastructure to prevent further displacement and disruption of humanitarian
access".
LEAVING ALEPPO
Inside Aleppo city, streets were mostly empty and many shops were closed on
Sunday as scared residents stayed at home. There was still a heavy flow of
civilians leaving the city, witnesses and residents said.
Opposition fighters waving the opposition flag drove through the city,
Yusuf Khatib, a resident, told Reuters by phone. Some of the opposition took up
positions on street intersections, he added. Ahmad
Tutenji, a merchant in the affluent New Aleppo neighborhood, said he was
surprised how quickly the army left. "I am shocked at how they fled and
abandoned us."Abdullah al Halabi, a pensioner whose neighborhood was bombed near
the central area of Qasr al Baladi, said people were terrified they would see a
repeat of the Russian-led bombing that killed thousands of people before driving
out the opposition a decade ago. Syrian troops who had
withdrawn from the city were now regrouping and reinforcements were also being
sent to help in the counter-attack, army sources said.
Aleppo had been firmly held by the government since a 2016 victory there, one of
the war's major turning points, when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and
laid waste to opposition-held eastern areas of what had been the country's
largest city. The opposition said on Sunday they had
pushed further south of Aleppo city and captured the town of Khansir in an
attempt to cut the army's main supply route to Aleppo city.
Opposition sources said they had also captured Sheikh Najjar estate, one
of the country's major industrial zones.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield accounts.
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced
many millions, has ground on since 2011 with no formal end. Most heavy fighting
halted years ago after Iran-backed militias and Russian air power helped Assad
win control of all major cities. A lack of that
manpower contributed to the speedy retreat of Syrian army forces in recent days,
according to two army sources. The opposition gains
came after Israel stepped up its strikes on Iranian bases in Syria and
Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Militias allied to Iran, led by
Hezbollah, have had a strong presence in the Aleppo area.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Damascus on Sunday, said
the situation in Syria was "difficult" but the Assad government would prevail.
Türkiye's Erdogan Hopes Instability in Syria Will Be Solved
with Agreement
Asharq Al Awsat/ December 02/2024
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he hoped the
instability in Syria would be concluded with an agreement in line with the
demands of the Syrian people. "Our greatest wish is
for Syria's territorial integrity and national unity to be preserved, and for
the instability that has been going on for 13 years to end with consensus in
line with the legitimate demands of the Syrian people," Erdogan said. Speaking
at a press conference, Erdogan also said Ankara was closely monitoring
developments in neighboring Syria and taking the necessary measures to prevent
harm to Türkiye's security.
Earlier on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the recent rapid
advance by opposition fighters in Syria shows that Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad must reconcile with his own people and hold dialogue with the
opposition. At a joint news conference in Ankara with
his Iranian counterpart, Fidan said Türkiye and Iran, which support opposing
sides in Syria’s civil war, have agreed to resume diplomatic efforts along with
Russia to restore calm days after fighters launched a lightning offensive and
captured almost all of the country’s largest city, Aleppo.
The swift advance by fighters that Türkiye supports was a huge
embarrassment for Assad and it comes at a time when his allies — Iran and groups
it backs and Russia — are preoccupied with their own conflicts.
The push is among the opposition’s strongest in years and raises the
prospect of another violent front reopening in the Middle East when US-backed
Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied
groups.
Fidan, whose country has backed forces opposed to Assad, blamed the recent
flare-up of the conflict on the Syrian government’s refusal to enter a dialogue
with the opposition that Türkiye supports. “Recent developments show once again
that Damascus must reconcile with its own people and the legitimate opposition,”
the Turkish minister said. “Türkiye is ready to make all the necessary
contribution toward this.”Fidan’s comments emerged amid Turkish frustration that
recent efforts toward a reconciliation with Assad have fallen flat. The comments
indicated that the shock offensive launched by opposition fighters could be
aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to engage in political talks. Türkiye has
been seeking to normalize ties with Syria to address security threats from
groups affiliated with Kurdish militants along its southern border and to help
ensure the safe return of more than 3 million Syrian refugees. Assad has
insisted that Türkiye’s withdrawal of its forces from northern Syria be a
condition for any normalization between the two countries.Iranian Foreign
Minister Abbas Araghchi, who visited Assad on Sunday before traveling to Ankara,
reiterated Tehran’s full support for the Syrian government. Iran has been one of
Assad’s principal political and military supporters and has deployed military
advisers and forces after 2011 protests against Assad’s rule turned into an
all-out war. Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have
deployed in Syria to back the government’s counteroffensive against the
opposition, an Iraqi militia official and a war monitor said Monday. According
to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war
monitor, some 200 Iraqi militiamen riding on pickups crossed into Syria
overnight through the strategic al-Boukamal crossing. They were expected to
deploy in Aleppo to support the Syrian army’s pushback against the opposition
fighters, the monitor said. The opposition offensive in Syria has caused concern
among neighboring countries that the conflict could spill over. In Iraq,
Interior Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Miqdad Miri said security forces have
deployed in greater numbers to protect their large border with Syria. Fidan
reiterated Türkiye’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity, but suggested
that Türkiye would not hesitate to intervene against Syrian Kurdish militia
groups that Ankara considers to be terrorists if they “exploit the environment
of instability.”
“It was a mistake to ignore the legitimate demands of the opposition and for the
(Syrian) regime not to sincerely engage in the political process,” Fidan said.
“Türkiye will never, ever allow terrorist organizations that seek to exploit the
environment of instability, Fidan said. “We will eliminate any threat to our
national security and our people wherever it emerges.”Both Fidan and Araghchi
said Türkiye, Iran and Russia would convene a new three-way meeting to address
the conflict in Syria. "We have decided to hold closer
consultations and dialogue, and with God’s permission, we will cooperate to
further improve the situation toward peace and stability in our region,”
Araghchi said. Russia, whose intervention in Syria’s civil war on behalf of
Assad was crucial in turning the conflict in his favor, has said it will
continue to support him. “We continue our contacts at
the appropriate level and analyze the situation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov told reporters Monday. “A position will be formed regarding what is
needed to stabilize the situation.”As Syrian and Russian jets continued pounding
targets, two airstrikes hit a group of four hospitals and the health directorate
building in Idlib city, the Syrian Civil Defense force that operates in
opposition-held areas, known as the White Helmets, said. Two people in Idlib
University Hospital died after their oxygen machines turned off following the
strikes. Ceiling panels and doors at the hospital were blown off, while
ambulances and vehicles outside were severely damaged according to footage taken
by journalist with The Associated Press at the hospital.
At least 15 civilians were Syrian Kurds were fleeing
the fighting in large numbers after Turkish-backed fighters seized Tel Rifaat
from rival US-backed Kurdish authorities. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic
Forces largely withdrew and called for a humanitarian corridor to allow people
to leave safely in convoys toward Aleppo and later to Kurdish-led northeast
regions.
Syrian Opposition Leader Says
Lebanon Truce Opened Door to Aleppo Assault
Asharq Al-Awsat/December 02/2024
Syrian opposition fighters began preparations to seize Aleppo a year ago, but
the operation was delayed by war in Gaza and ultimately launched last week when
a ceasefire took hold in Lebanon, the head of Syria's main opposition abroad
told Reuters. The factions were able to seize the city and parts of neighboring
Idlib province so quickly in part because Hezbollah and other Iran-backed
fighters were distracted by their conflict with Israel, Hadi al-Bahra said in an
interview on Monday. The Turkish military, which is allied with some of the
opposition and has bases across its southern border in Syria, had heard of the
armed groups' plans but made clear it would play no direct role, he added. The
assault in northwestern Syria was launched last Wednesday, the day that Israel
and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began a truce ending more than a year of
fighting. "A year ago they started really training and
mobilizing and taking it more seriously," said Bahra, president of the National
Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, the
internationally-recognized Syrian opposition. "But the war on Gaza ... then the
war in Lebanon delayed it. They felt it wouldn't look good having the war in
Lebanon at the same time they were fighting in Syria," he said in his Istanbul
office, in the first public comments on the fighters’ preparations by an
opposition figure."So the moment there was a ceasefire in Lebanon, they found
that opportunity ... to start."The opposition operation is the boldest advance
and biggest challenge to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in years in a civil
war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.
Syrian and allied Russian forces have launched counter attacks, which
Bahra said are "destabilizing" Aleppo and Idlib and pose the biggest risk to
civilians, given the earlier opposition advances had sought carefully to avoid
such casualties.
IRAN, RUSSIA
The opposition retaking of Aleppo also paves the way for hundreds of thousands
of Syrians displaced elsewhere in the country and in Türkiye to return home,
Bahra said.
"Due to the Lebanese war and decrease in Hezbollah forces, (Assad's) regime has
less support," he said, adding Iranian militias also have less resources while
Russia is giving less air cover due to its "Ukraine problem". Damascus, which is
also backed by Iran, did not immediately comment on whether the opposition
sought to avoid casualties and whether it risks destabilizing the region with
air raids. Assad has vowed to crush the fighters and has launched air raids.
Iran-backed Hezbollah did not immediately comment on whether its war with Israel
opened the door to Syrian opposition advances in Aleppo, where it also has
personnel. Tehran has pledged to aid the Syrian government and on Monday
hundreds of fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias crossed into Syria to help
fight the factions, Syrian and Iraqi sources said. A Turkish defense ministry
official said last week that Ankara was closely monitoring the mobilization and
taking precautions for its troops. The opposition fighters are a coalition of
Türkiye-backed mainstream secular armed groups spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by Türkiye, the US,
Russia and other states. Bahra's coalition, which does not include HTS,
represents anti-Assad groups including the Türkiye-backed Syrian National Army
or Free Syrian Army, which took territory north of Idlib over the last week. It
holds regular diplomatic talks with the United Nations and several states.
Putin Discussed Syria Situation with Iran's Pezeshkian by
Phone, Says Kremlin
Asharq Al Awsat/ December 02/2024
Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the escalating situation in Syria
with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by phone, the Kremlin said on Monday.
"The focus was on the escalating situation in the Syrian Arab Republic," the
Kremlin statement said.
"Unconditional support was expressed for the actions of the legitimate
authorities of Syria to restore constitutional order and to restore the
political, economic and social stability of the Syrian state."Pezeshkian said
his country was ready for any cooperation with Russia to control the regional
situation and help resolve the crisis in Syria, according to the Iranian
government's website. "We believe that the recent events are part of a dangerous
plan by the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel) to disrupt the
geopolitical landscape of the region in favor of Zionists, but this plan will
fail thanks to the unity and cooperation of regional countries," Pezeshkian
added. Earlier, the Kremlin said Russia was continuing to support Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad after his forces lost territory to opposition groups
and would see what help was needed to stabilize the situation. A statement from
the Syrian Prime Minister's office on Monday said that Russian and Syrian
aircraft were striking opposition-held positions in Aleppo's eastern
countryside, killing and wounding dozens of fighters. Russia, a staunch Assad
ally, intervened militarily on his side against anti-government factions in 2015
in its biggest foray in the Middle East since the Soviet Union's collapse, and
maintains an airbase and naval facility in Syria. The Kremlin said on Friday it
wanted the Syrian government to restore constitutional order as soon as possible
and regarded the opposition attack as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. Asked
on Monday whether Russia planned to increase its support for Assad, Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We continue to support Bashar Al-Assad. Contacts
are continuing at the appropriate levels. "We are
analyzing the situation and a position will be formed on what is needed to
stabilize the situation."Russian military bloggers said on Sunday that Moscow
has dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, and
replaced him with Colonel General Alexander Chaiko. There was no official
confirmation from the Russian Defense Ministry of such a change. Assad has vowed
to crush the opposition fighters - a coalition of Türkiye-backed mainstream
secular armed groups along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The opposition seized control of all of Idlib province in recent days, the
boldest assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been
frozen since 2020. They also swept into the city of Aleppo, east of Idlib, on
Friday night, forcing the army to redeploy.
Trump warns ‘hell to pay’
if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration
Arab News/December 02, 2024
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned Gaza militants of
massive repercussions if hostages are not released by the time he takes office.
The threat comes after exhaustive diplomacy by outgoing President Joe
Biden’s administration that has so far failed to secure a deal that would both
end Israel’s war in Gaza and free hostages seized 14 months ago. “If the
hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly
assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY
in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities
against Humanity,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Those responsible
will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of
the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!“Trump has vowed staunch
support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism, but has
also spoken of his desire to secure deals on the world stage.
Hamas staged the deadliest ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The
assault resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of
Israeli official figures. Militants seized 251
hostages during the attack, some of whom were already dead. Of those, 97 are
still held in Gaza, including 35 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,429 people in Gaza, according
to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations
considers reliable.
Nearly 50,000 displaced in Syria
in recent days: UN
AFP/December 03, 2024
UNITED NATIONS, United States: Nearly 50,000 people have recently been displaced
in Syria, where an Islamist-led militants alliance has wrested swathes of
territory from control of President Bashar Assad’s government, the UN’s
humanitarian agency reported Monday.
“The displacement situation remains highly fluid, with partners verifying new
figures daily,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) said in a statement. “Over 48,500 people have been displaced as of 30
November.”
Shin Bet uncovers widespread Iran campaign targeting Israeli officials
Ynetnews/December 02/2024
Security agency says uncovered 200 attempts to target Israelis including
security officials, politicians, journalists and others in effort to obtain
access to their devices for the purpose of launching attacks
The Shin Bet on Monday said it exposed 200 attempts of cyber attacks by Iranian
operatives, targeting Israelis including public figures. "The
Shin Bet uncovered an Iranian phishing campaign aimed at Israeli citizens, some
senior members of the security echelons, politicians, members of academia,
journalists and others," the Shin Bet said in a statement. "The
aim of the Iranian campaign was to get access to computerized media systems:
e-mail, computers, smartphones) of Israelis the Iranians planned to attack, in
order to access personal information such as home addresses, contacts and places
where they regularly stay. This information is then to be used by the Iranians
to attack Israeli officials using enlisted operatives. Nine such local cells
enlisted by Iran to carry out missions on its behalf, were discovered in recent
months." The security agency said most Israelis targeted in the campaign are
approached over WhatsApp, Telegram or email with an appropriate cover story
prepared for each target, to avoid suspicion. The method is to cause the target
to download an app containing malware on to his computer or phone, or to refer
the targets to an internet site that poses as a legitimate service, but requires
personal information to be given, such as a private or professional email
address. After the target reveals the address
and a password, the Iranian operatives then take that information and through it
accesses the target's devices. After the Shin Bet identified the malicious
campaign, an investigation was launched which revealed the extent of the attacks
and identified its targets. They were informed and were advised what steps must
be taken to avert danger and bolster their online security systems.
"This is an additional significant threat from
Iran aimed at carrying out attacks and assassinations," a Shin Bet official
said. "We ask for increased alert because such cyber strikes can be avoided by
proper awareness, and cautions behavior online.
Iran in crisis: Battling Israel left Tehran too weak to deal with Syria,
researcher says
Maya Cohen/Jerusalem Post/December
02/2024
"The Iranians have paid a very high price for operating all their proxies
against Israel over the past year," explained Sabati.
The surprising offensive by Sunni rebels in Syria reveals a deep crisis in
Iran's strategy, Institute for National Security Studies researcher Benny Sabati
said in a recent interview with Maariv, arguing that Tehran's efforts in
combatting Israel left the Islamic Republic depleted.
"The Iranians have paid a very high price for operating all their proxies
against Israel over the past year," explained Sabati.
Iran finds itself significantly weakened. "Their
command has been eliminated, their soldiers and field commanders - many of whom
are in Hezbollah, Hamas, and other groups," Sabati noted. As a result, "Iran is
entering the campaign in Syria in a very weak state; it has no means to help
Assad's regime at all."
This double blow is not only about the inability to provide assistance but also
about inflicting harm. "They targeted a general and several IRGC members, killed
them, and captured the Iranian consulate. On one hand, Iran is unable to assist;
on the other, it has become a target itself.”Struggling with parallel fronts
According to Sabati, Iran’s problem is compounded by its inability to manage
simultaneous fronts. "The Iranians have an issue. They neither like nor believe
in fighting on two fronts. When they’re focused on the Israeli front, that’s all
they deal with," Sabati said. "They likely had
to neglect this front of the extremist Sunnis," Sabati added. "They’ve abandoned
it for the past two or three years in favor of focusing on Israel." The
consequences of this neglect are now becoming evident, the researcher argued.
"Now the genie is out of the bottle."
Turning to Russia for help
In search of a solution, Iran turned to Russia, he continued. "Iran's foreign
minister spoke last night with Russia's foreign minister, asking for help."
However, even the Iranian foreign minister's visit to Damascus seemed futile,
Sabati added. "He can come to encourage - that’s all he can do. They don't have
much in their pocket."Domestic criticism and regional implications.
The situation is escalating amid internal criticism in Iran, as "the
public is very angry about the aid provided to regional countries and all the
terrorist organizations," said Sabati. Meanwhile,
the regional implications largely depend on Russia's response. "If the Russians
intervene and suppress this rebellion, it's a different story. If they don’t, we
will witness a significant weakening of both Iran and the Syrian regime."
Khamenei’s dilemma: Syria, Assad, Takfiris, and the fight for Iran’s influence
Alex Winston/Jerusalem Post/December
02/2024
“Takfiri groups are good news for enemies of the world of Islam," Iranian
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote on X. At a time when Hezbollah and
Israel have signed a shaky ceasefire, and Hamas is seriously weakened in Gaza,
one of Iran’s other proxy strongholds in the Middle East is causing increasing
concern for the ayatollahs of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Syria. Dozens of
Syrian army soldiers have been killed as rebels of the Islamist terror group
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept into the major city of Aleppo, forcing the army to
redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.
Russia, a major Assad ally, said its air force had carried out strikes on Syrian
rebels in support of the country's army and followed what was the boldest rebel
assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since
2020. Iranian-backed militias also entered Syria on Sunday night from Iraq to
support Assad and were heading to northern Syria to reinforce the beleaguered
Syrian army forces battling insurgents, according to Syrian army sources. Dozens
of Iran-aligned Iraqi Hashd al Shaabi fighters from Iraq also crossed into Syria
through a military route near the Al Bukamal crossing.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, once known as the Nusra Front, is designated a
terrorist group by the US, Russia, Turkey, and other states. Most Syria-
watchers, whilst appreciating the need for the Syrian Civil War to finally be
ended, would be worried at the sudden military rise of a terror group similar in
beliefs to ISIS or al-Qaeda. To throw his opinion into the mix, Iranian Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent out a post on X on Sunday evening addressing
the current situation in Syria, stating, “Takfiri groups are good news for
enemies of the world of Islam. Exactly at a time when all Islamic Ummah’s
attention is focused on the issue of Palestine, Takfiri groups, instead of
concentrating on Zionist regime’s malevolent nature, draw the attention to other
places. Khamenei’s tweet criticizes takfiri groups, a term often used to
describe extremist Sunni factions that declare other Muslims apostates (Takfir).
He accused these groups of serving the interests of Islam’s enemies, such as the
United States and Israel, by diverting attention away from the Palestinian cause
and the "malevolent nature" of the Zionist regime (Israel).
This perspective aligns with Khamenei’s long-standing belief in the umma - that
unity among Muslims is essential to resist external threats, particularly
Israel. By engaging in internal conflicts—like those in Syria—takfiri groups
weaken the Islamic world and shift focus from what Khamenei views as the central
issue: Palestinian liberation and opposition to Zionism. Khamenei, while
embodying the Shia theocratic model, often invokes the concept of the umma, or
Muslim community at large, to assert Iran’s leadership in a broader Islamist
struggle.
A relationship worth saving?
Iran and Syria's alliance began in the aftermath of Iran's 1979 Islamic
Revolution. Syria, under former president Hafez al-Assad, was one of the first
Arab nations to back Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. The shared hostility toward
Israel and opposition to Western influence in the Middle East cemented their
ties. Syria also provided critical logistical support to Iran, allowing the
passage of arms and supplies to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon
- something Israel has spent years trying to disrupt but amped up its pressure
since the war against Hezbollah erupted after October 7. The Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), particularly its Quds Force, has been the
primary actor managing Iran's relationship with Syria. The Quds Force, tasked
with overseeing Iran’s extraterritorial operations, established a significant
presence in Syria to support both strategic goals and ideological ones, such as
exporting the Islamic Revolution's principles. Iran’s support for Syria includes
arms supplies, economic aid, and the training of pro-Assad militias.
The onset of Syria's civil war in 2011 marked a turning point in the
relationship. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, like his father Hafez,
positioned himself as a key ally of Iran. When anti-Assad protests escalated
into a violent conflict, the IRGC intervened decisively to ensure Assad's
survival, as losing Syria would have been a strategic blow to Iran’s regional
influence. Iran has since poured billions of dollars into Syria, supplying arms,
deploying IRGC officers, and recruiting militias from across the region,
including Afghan, Pakistani, and Iraqi fighters. This intervention helped Assad
regain control over much of the country. Iran also viewed the war as a chance to
expand its "axis of resistance" against Israel, consolidating a land corridor
from Tehran to the Mediterranean. The Assad family’s secular Ba'athist ideology
contrasts with Iran’s theocratic Shi’a governance, but their partnership endures
due to shared goals. Both regimes oppose US policies in the region, support
Palestinian resistance groups, and resist Sunni-dominated powers like Saudi
Arabia and Turkey. For Iran, Syria acts as a critical bridge to Hezbollah in
Lebanon and provides access to Israel's borders, enhancing its deterrence
strategy. While the Iran-Syria alliance remains strong, it faces challenges,
including economic pressures and differing priorities in post-war
reconstruction. Syria's dependence on Russia has introduced a new player into
the dynamic, sometimes complicating Iran’s influence. However, the IRGC’s deep
entrenchment in Syrian security and economic structures ensures its continued
leverage. The relationship between Iran, the IRGC, and Syria is a multifaceted
alliance defined by strategic necessity, ideological convergence, and mutual
survival against shared adversaries. The IRGC’s role as Iran’s external arm
ensures that Syria remains central to Iran’s regional ambitions.
Missing friends
Over the course of 2024, Khamenei has lost some of his closest allies. The
elimination of figures like Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas political
chief Ismail Haniyeh (killed in Tehran itself), and Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya
Sinwar will have led the Iranian leadership to be desperate to keep Assad, their
closest ally in the region, in power. No matter what the cost. In Khamenei’s
eyes, the umma is not just a concept but a mission embodied in the jihadist
groups that Iran backs and the IRGC's extensive reach. His post, accusing HTS of
drawing attention away from Israel’s wars and the Palestinian issue is merely a
pretense diverting away from the real issue and his real message: Assad must
stay in power, or Iran’s influence will be critically wounded in Israel’s
periphery.
'Murdering Kurds on the street': Syrian Druze warns of Islamist extremism
Jerusalem Post/December 02/2024
"The factions that took over Aleppo destroyed Christmas trees that were set up
for the holiday; they are murdering Kurds in the streets," he noted. The rebel
factions that took over Aleppo do not accept other religions than Islam, a
resident of the Druze city of Suwayda in southwestern Syria told Israeli state
broadcaster KAN on Monday. "The factions that took over Aleppo destroyed
Christmas trees that were set up for the holiday. They are murdering Kurds in
the streets," he noted, adding, "Their slogans are 'Jihad' and 'Allahu
Akbar.'"While he noted that the "current regime is dictatorial," the citizen of
Suwayda added, "It allows freedom of religion and does not interfere in that
domain, whereas the Islamists do not accept other religions in Syria. This is
fundamentally different." "The Syrians did not sacrifice what they sacrificed
just to move from bad to worse. That is the source of concern," he told KAN. "We
want the situation in Syria to improve, not deteriorate further."With regard to
Israel, he reportedly affirmed, "Our expectation from the State of Israel and
the Druze in Israel is that their interest in Suwayda will be significant, as
we, as Druze, do not want to be drawn into sectarian fighting. If we are
attacked, we will fight with fierce determination."
Situation in Syria
On Friday night, Syrian rebels, led by the Salafi-jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
(HTS), captured significant parts of Aleppo, east of Idlib, coercing the Syrian
Army to redeploy.
President Bashar al-Assad's regime has presented itself as a defender of
minorities in the country, such as Alawites, from which Assad's family
originates, Christians, and Druze.
As such, many minority groups are perceived by the rebels as "pro-Assad."
Reuters, Yuval Barnea and Seth J. Frantzman contributed to this report
What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria's 13-year war and why it matters
Ellen Knickmeyer/WASHINGTON (AP)/December 2, 2024
The 13-year civil war in Syria has roared back into prominence with a surprise
rebel offensive that captured Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities and an
ancient hub of Middle East culture and commerce. The push is the rebels'
strongest in years in a war whose destabilizing effects have rippled far beyond
the country's borders. It was the first opposition
attack on Aleppo since 2016, when a brutal Russian air campaign retook the
northwestern city for Syrian President Bashar Assad after rebel forces had
seized it. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other
groups has allowed Assad to remain in power within the 70% of Syria under his
control. Insurgents led by the jihadi group Hayat
Tahrir al-Sham launched the two-pronged attack on Aleppo last week and moved
into the countryside around Idlib and neighboring Hama province. The Syrian
military and its foreign allies have rushed reinforcements and launched
airstrikes as they attempted to stall their momentum.
The surge in fighting has raised the prospect of another violent front reopening
in the Middle East, at a time when U.S.-backed Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza
and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both Iranian-allied groups.
Robert Ford, the last-serving U.S. ambassador to Syria, pointed to months of
Israeli strikes on Syrian and Hezbollah targets in the area, and to Israel’s
ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon last week, as factors providing Syria’s
rebels with the opportunity to advance. Russia, Assad's main international
backer, is also preoccupied with its war in Ukraine.
Here's a look at some of the key aspects of the new fighting:
Why does the fighting in Aleppo matter?
The long war between Assad and his foreign backers and the array of opposition
forces seeking his overthrow has killed an estimated half-million people and
fractured Syria. It started as one of the popular uprisings against Arab
dictators in the 2011 Arab Spring, before Assad's crushing of what had been
largely peaceful protests turned the conflict violent. Some 6.8 million Syrians
have fled the country since then, a refugee flow that helped change the
political map in Europe by fueling anti-immigrant far-right movements.
The roughly 30% of the country not under Assad is controlled by a range
of opposition forces and foreign troops. The U.S. has about 900 troops in
northeast Syria, far from Aleppo, to guard against a resurgence by the Islamic
State. Both the U.S. and Israel conduct occasional strikes in Syria against
government forces and Iran-allied militias. Turkey has forces in Syria as well,
and has influence with the broad alliance of opposition forces storming Aleppo.
Coming after years with few sizeable changes in territory between Syria's
warring parties, the fighting “has the potential to be really quite, quite
consequential and potentially game-changing,” if Syrian government forces prove
unable to hold their ground, said Charles Lister, a longtime Syria analyst with
the U.S.-based Middle East Institute. Risks include if
militants with the Islamic State extremist group see the renewed fighting as an
opening, Lister said. The Islamic State, a violently anti-Western and repressive
organization, in 2014 notoriously declared a self-styled caliphate that seized
parts of Syria and Iraq, until the U.S. military intervened to help roll it
back. The Islamic State's Syria and Iraq branch no longer controls any territory
and is not known to be playing a role in the current fighting. But is still a
lethal force operating through sleeper cells in the two countries.
Ford said the fighting in Aleppo would become more broadly destabilizing if it
drew Russia and Turkey — each with its own interests to protect in Syria — into
direct heavy fighting against each other. What do we know about the group
leading the offensive on Aleppo?
The U.S. and U.N. have long designated the opposition force leading the attack
at Aleppo — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known by its initials HTS — as a terrorist
organization. Abu Mohammed al-Golani emerged as the
leader of al-Qaida's Syria branch in 2011, in the first months of Syria's war.
It was an unwelcome intervention to many in Syria's opposition, who hoped to
keep the fight against Assad's rule untainted by violent extremism.
Golani and his group early on claimed responsibility for deadly bombings,
pledged to attack Western forces, confiscated property from religious minorities
and sent religious police to enforce modest dress by women. Golani and HTS have
sought to remake themselves in recent years, focusing on promoting civilian
government in their territory as well as military action, researcher Aaron Zelin
noted. His group broke ties with al-Qaida in 2016. Golani cracked down on some
extremist groups in his territory, and increasingly portrays himself as a
protector of other religions. That includes last year allowing the first
Christian Mass in the city of Idlib in years. By 2018,
the Trump administration acknowledged it was no longer directly targeting
Golani, Zelin said. But HTS has allowed some wanted armed groups to continue to
operate on its territory, and shot at U.S. special forces at least as recently
as 2022, he said.
What's the history of Aleppo in the war?
At the crossroads of trade routes and empires for thousands of years, Aleppo
with its bustling neighborhoods and ancient landmarks in the 2010s saw some of
the fiercest fighting of Syria's civil war. Aleppo was home to 2.3 million
people before the conflict. Rebels seized the east side of the city in 2012, and
it became the proudest symbol of the advance of armed opposition factions. In
2016, government forces backed by Russian airstrikes laid siege to the city.
Russian shells, missiles and crude barrel bombs — fuel canisters or other
containers loaded with explosives and metal — methodically leveled
neighborhoods. Starving and under siege, rebels surrendered Aleppo that year.
The Russian military's entry was the turning point in the war, allowing Assad to
stay on in the territory he held. This year, Israeli airstrikes in Aleppo have
hit Hezbollah weapons depots and Syrian forces, among other targets, according
to an independent monitoring group. Israel rarely acknowledges strikes at Aleppo
and other government-held areas of Syria.
Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press
Israeli Army Bombards Homes
in North Gaza, Airstrike Kills 15, Medics Say
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
Israeli forces bombarded houses in overnight attacks in the northern Gaza Strip,
killing at least 15 people in one of the buildings in the town of Beit Lahiya,
Palestinian medics said on Monday. Several others were wounded in the attack and
others were missing after a house providing shelter to displaced people was
struck, with rescue workers unable immediately to reach them, the Palestinian
Civil Emergency Service said. The three barely
operational hospitals in the area were unable to cope with the number of
wounded, they added. Clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in
Jabalia and in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where the Israeli army has been
operating for several weeks, residents said. They said Israeli drones had
dropped bombs outside a school sheltering displaced families, suggesting this
was intended to scare them into leaving. The
Palestinians say Israel's army is trying to clear people out of the northern
edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone.
The Israeli army denies this. The Israeli military, which began its offensive
against Hamas in Gaza after the group's attack on southern Israeli communities
on Oct. 7, 2023, has said its latest operations in northern Gaza are meant to
prevent militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas. Israel's
military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,400 people and displaced most
of the population, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the enclave lie in ruins.
About 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage in the Hamas
attack on the October 2023 attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
NEW CEASEFIRE PUSH
Israel agreed a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week, but
the conflict in Gaza has continued. Officials in Cairo have hosted talks between
Hamas and the rival Fatah group led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on
the possible establishment of a committee to run post-war Gaza. Egypt has
proposed that a committee made up of non-partisan technocrat figures, and
supervised by Abbas's authority, should be ready to run Gaza straight after the
war ends. Israel has said Hamas should have no role in governance. An official
close to the talks said progress had been made but no final deal had been
reached. Israel's approval would be decisive in determining whether the
committee could fulfill its role. Egyptian security officials have also held
talks with Hamas on ways to reach a ceasefire with Israel. A Palestinian
official close to the mediation effort told Reuters Hamas stood by its condition
that any agreement must bring an end to the war and involve an Israeli troop
withdrawal out, but would show the flexibility needed to achieve that.
Israel has said the war will end only when Hamas no longer governs Gaza
and poses no threat to Israelis. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on
Sunday there was some indication of progress towards a hostage deal but that
Israel's conditions for ending the war had not changed. White House national
security advisor Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and
hostage deal were now more likely.
UN Chief Says Situation in Gaza 'Appalling and Apocalyptic'
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
The UN chief said on Monday the situation in Gaza is "appalling and
apocalyptic", as he called for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. "The
catastrophe in Gaza is nothing short of a complete breakdown of our common
humanity. The nightmare must stop,"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in
remarks read out by his deputy at a Cairo conference aimed to accelerate aid to
the Gaza Strip. "We cannot continue to look away," he stressed.
He also revealed cthat Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees
per capita in the world. "Gaza now has the highest number of children amputees
per capita anywhere in the world —- many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries
without even anaesthesia."
Hamas Says Delegation
Discussed Gaza Truce With Egypt
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
A Hamas delegation discussed a ceasefire in Gaza with Egyptian intelligence
officials, two officials from the Palestinian group told AFP on Monday.
The "delegation met with the head of the Egyptian general intelligence,
Major General Hassan Rashad, and a number of Egyptian intelligence officials,
and discussed ways to stop the war and aggression, bring in aid, and open the
Rafah crossing" at Gaza's border with Egypt, said a senior Hamas official who
was part of the Cairo meeting on Sunday evening. A
second Hamas official also present in Cairo told AFP that "Egypt, Qatar and
Türkiye are making great efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and
prisoner exchange". "Our Palestinian people are
waiting for American and international pressure on (Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin) Netanyahu to stop the war and reach an agreement as happened in
Lebanon," the official said. The meeting came shortly after Israel and Lebanese
armed group Hezbollah agreed on a ceasefire in Lebanon with mediation from the
United States and France. US President Joe Biden would launch a renewed drive
for a ceasefire, his national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week,
adding Biden told his envoys to engage with Türkiye, Qatar, Egypt and other
actors in the region. Egyptian authorities did not publicly comment on any
meetings with Hamas on Sunday. The first official said any deal Hamas agrees to
should include the conditions the movement has brought forward since the start
of the war. These include a full ceasefire, complete Israeli military
withdrawal, unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the return of
displaced Palestinians to their homes, "a serious deal to exchange prisoners in
one go or in two stages", and reconstruction of the war-ravaged Palestinian
territory. Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of delaying talks and not
sincerely wanting to reach a deal. The Hamas senior official also told AFP that
"under Egyptian sponsorship" the Hamas delegation met Sunday evening with a
delegation from the Fatah movement, Hamas's long-term rival currently in power
in the occupied West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. He said that the
meeting focused on "arrangements for the internal Palestinian situation and the
management of the Gaza Strip once the war ends". The
talks aimed to agree on the shape of "an independent administrative committee to
manage the strip and supervise aid, crossings and reconstruction, in agreement
with all Palestinian factions". Jamal Obeid, a member of Fatah's leadership in
Gaza, told AFP that Egypt was making intensive efforts to stop the war.
"The first priority (is) the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of
the displaced, the opening of the crossings, relief for our afflicted people,
and reconstruction under the management and supervision of the Palestinian
National Authority," he said. Obeid said meetings in Cairo between Fatah and
Hamas were crucial in order "to stop the war and put the Palestinian house in
order", and agree on what shape governance will take in Gaza after the war ends.
Trump meets Sara Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago
Ynetnews/December 02/2024
President-elect's press secretary posts photo on social media showing the two
during a dinner at the Florida golf club during Sara's weeks-long stay visiting
her son in Miami .The wife of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, Sara, met with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago
Gulf Club late on Sunday. Trump's media advisor posted a photo of the two on X.
Sara Netanyahu was in Miami for a 20-day visit with her son Yair, who has been
living there. She is not expected to be in Israel when her husband testifies in
his criminal trial for corruption, scheduled for next week. "I raised the
suffering of our country since October 7, the inhumanity of the Hamas terrorists
who have been holding our citizens hostage under difficult conditions. I
stressed the urgency to act for their release and quick return," she said in a
post. "We discussed the strategic importance of Israel's victory in the war
against the axis of evil, for a stable and secure future in the Middle-East and
the entire world." The prime minister met with Trump last August after Trump had
expressed is dissatisfaction with the prime minister for congratulating Joe
Biden for his win in 2020. "We've always had a great relationship," Trump then
said, after journalists inquired if they two were now on good terms. "It was
never bad," he said adding that if it were, Sara Netanyau was his secret weapon.
In April Trump said Netanyahu bore
responsibility for the Hamas massacre. “I had a bad experience with Bibi"
[Netanyahu’s nickname], alleging that the assassination of Iranian Quds Force
commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020 was supposed to be a joint U.S.-Israel
operation which the prime minister pulled out of two days before it was carried
out by American forces in Iraq. “That was something I never forgot,” he said.
US Navy
Destroys Houthi Missiles and Drones Targeting American Ships in Gulf of Aden
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
US Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi
group at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting
through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported. US Central
Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot
down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one
anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified, reported The
Associated Press.The Houthis claimed the attack in a statement and said they had
targeted the US destroyers and "three supply ships belonging to the American
army in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.” Houthi attacks for months have
targeted shipping through a waterway where $1 trillion in goods pass annually
over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A
ceasefire was announced last week.
The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on Nov. 12.
‘Kuwait
Declaration’ Demands End to War on Gaza
Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries demanded on Sunday
an end to Israel’s war on Gaza. Meeting at the 45th session of the Supreme
Council in Kuwait, they called for an end to the killing of Palestinians,
"collective punishment in Gaza, the displacement of residents, and the
destruction of civilian facilities and infrastructure, including health
facilities, schools, and places of worship, in clear violation of international
law and international humanitarian law."The meeting was held in wake of the
ongoing war on Gaza and the recent ceasefire declared in Lebanon between Israel
and Hezbollah.
The gatherers called for an end to Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank and
violations in the city of Jerusalem and against Islamic and Christian holy
sites. They called for international efforts to negotiate sustainable solutions,
reiterating their firm stances on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, ending the
occupation, and supporting the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all
occupied Palestinian territories since June 1967. They renewed the demand for
the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its
capital, and guaranteeing the rights of refugees, in line with the Arab Peace
Initiative and international resolutions. The leaders welcomed the resolutions
of the extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia on November 11,
aimed at boosting international action to stop the war on Gaza, achieving
lasting and comprehensive peace and implementing the two-state according to the
Arab Peace Initiative. They welcomed the efforts in mobilizing support for the
recognition of the State of Palestine and leading the international coalition to
implement the two-state solution. They commended Qatar’s efforts reach a
ceasefire in Gaza and exchange detainees. Moreover, the GCC leaders condemned
the continued Israeli attacks against Lebanon, warning that they may undermine
the ceasefire and risk expanding the conflict, "which would lead to dire
consequences for the peoples of the region and for international peace and
security."They hoped the ceasefire would lead to Israel’s withdrawal from
Lebanese territories, the implementation of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1701, and the return of displaced to their homes.
The leaders expressed "full solidarity with the brotherly Lebanese people",
recalling the efforts of Kuwait and the GCC initiative. They urged the Lebanese
people "to prioritize the supreme national interest, turn to political solutions
to resolve differences and to strengthen Lebanon's historical role in preserving
Arab national security and culture, as well as its deep fraternal relations with
the GCC states."The leaders also welcomed the continued efforts exerted by Saudi
Arabia and Oman with all Yemeni parties to revive the political process. The
leaders commended the growing role of the GCC states in addressing political,
security, and economic challenges in the region and beyond. They underlined
their contribution to resolving issues that threaten peace, security, and
stability, promoting international dialogue and communication between peoples,
and fruitful strategic partnerships with other countries and groups. Turning to
the Gulf, the GCC leaders called for intensifying efforts to boost the region's
position as an international hub for business and the economy. They underlined
the continued efforts aimed at achieving sustainable economic diversification,
stability in energy markets, and successfully dealing with climate change.
They underscored the strategic importance of the digital economy as a main
pillar supporting the future of development in the region. Digital economy is a
historical opportunity to bolster economic growth and achieve integration among
the GCC states. They praised the advanced and flexible digital infrastructure
that characterizes the GCC states, considering it a key factor supporting
digital economic aspirations. The leaders pointed to the importance of strategic
investments in information technology fields, such as artificial intelligence,
big data analysis, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. This technology and these
investments have placed the GCC states in a leading position, enabling them to
benefit from the global digital transformation process, focusing on developing
innovative applications in the fields of renewable energy, healthcare,
education, transportation and financial services.
The leaders stressed the need to boost cooperation among the GCC states to
develop joint digital strategies that help in achieving digital integration
among their economies, including facilitating e-commerce, developing digital
payment systems, and supporting cybersecurity. They also called for accelerating
work on establishing unified digital markets that boost regional economic
integration. The GCC states, thanks to their diverse resources and advanced
human and technological capabilities, are increasingly contributing to
supporting the global economy, they remarked. They stressed that the GCC states'
digital initiatives are not limited to achieving national goals only, but extend
to boosting innovation and global economic growth, consolidating the region's
position as an influential digital economic force capable of facing future
challenges and providing sustainable solutions.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on December 02-03/2024
Israel must prepare for potential emergence of Sunni
jihadist threat on its border
Ron Ben-Yishai/Ynetnews/December 02/2024
Analysis: Turkey-backed offensive against Assad and Shiite militias in Syria
appears to be direct consequence of Lebanon cease-fire deal, leaving Damascus
isolated without robust support it once relied on from Hezbollah, Iran and
Russia
The surprise attack by Sunni rebels in Aleppo is likely strongly tied to the
cease-fire between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah terror group. The rebels,
supported by Turkey, have maintained control of Syria's northern Idlib province
after the Assad regime, with help from Russia and Iran, expelled them from most
of the country. In Idlib, they regrouped, united splinter Sunni factions, and
continued their fight. The turning point came when Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah launched his war against Israel on October 8, 2023, prompting Iran to
intensify its support for its proxy, especially in recent months. To disrupt
Iranian assistance to Hezbollah, the IDF reportedly carried out approximately 70
airstrikes in Syria, targeting not only arms routes along the Lebanese border
but also warehouses and installations belonging to Hezbollah and other Shiite
militias across the country.
These militias, alongside Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have been
instrumental in propping up the Assad regime and fighting the insurgents in
Idlib. While Russia is considered Assad's primary military ally, its forces
primarily provide air support, which has proven insufficient to push the
insurgents back or inflict significant casualties on them. Damascus needs ground
forces, a role traditionally filled by the IRGC and Syrian Shiite militias
commanded by Hezbollah. However, Hezbollah is currently severely weakened and
unable to assist Assad's small and poorly armed military. Over the past year,
these forces have been preoccupied with aiding Hezbollah in Lebanon and
launching attacks on Israel from within Syria.The repeated Israeli strikes have
likely enabled the rebels to regroup, and with Turkish support, they launched
their offensive. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an ardent Sunni
Islamist, controls territory bordering Idlib province and supplies the rebels
with arms.
While Turkey has sought to repair relations with Assad’s regime, Erdoğan appears
unwilling to miss the opportunity presented by Damascus’ weakness following the
war in Lebanon. For Erdoğan, religious motivations seem to outweigh Turkey’s
national security considerations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
consulted with security officials to assess the implications of the surprise
attack in northern Syria. Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, holds immense
economic significance, potentially rivaling Damascus. The region is also home to
Syria’s largest military-industrial facilities.
In the short term, the attack may have a positive impact on Israel's security.
Assad, in his weakened state, is likely to avoid confrontation with Israel,
recognizing that Hezbollah cannot come to his aid. Should the IRGC deploy forces
in Syria, they would likely become targets for IDF strikes, further weakening
Assad's regime and military capacity.
Assad, therefore, will be in no rush to bring Iranian forces into Syria or allow
his territory to be used extensively for transferring military equipment and
logistical support to Hezbollah in Lebanon. He is focused on preserving his
regime, and a military confrontation with Israel could further weaken his
already fragile armed forces. Netanyahu explicitly warned Assad of such
consequences in a recent interview. Russia’s primary interest is to stabilize
the Assad regime to enable its companies to profit from reconstruction projects
after Syria’s devastating civil war. However, as long as the insurgency
persists, such rebuilding efforts cannot proceed, making an escalation with
Israel counterproductive to Moscow's goals. Additionally, Russia’s involvement
in the war in Ukraine limits its capacity to assist Assad as it once did. n the
short term, Assad is likely to tread carefully. He will aim to maintain ties
with Iran, which he still relies on, while avoiding actions that could provoke
devastating Israeli strikes on his military. For now, he may permit limited
assistance to Hezbollah to pass through Syria, though not on the scale of
previous years.
Looking ahead, Israel must remain vigilant. While Assad’s weakening benefits
Israel in some respects, the Sunni insurgents also pose a significant threat.
Hamas exemplifies the dangers of Sunni jihadism, and if Assad's regime collapses
and Sunni insurgents gain control of Syria, Israel could face an even greater
security challenge.For now, the insurgents' offensive appears to weaken not only
Assad but also Iran and Hezbollah. This dynamic may even push Assad toward
seeking renewed ties with the West and moderate Sunni Arab nations, including
Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Nonetheless, Israel must prepare for the potential
emergence of a Sunni jihadist threat on its northeastern border.
The 'Terrorists' Of Aleppo (And Those Behind Them)
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/Syria | MEMRI Daily Brief
No. 682/December 02/2024
There was a time, not so long ago, when Syria – the conflict that became the
Syrian Civil War – seemed like the center of the world. I was still in
government at the State Department in August 2013 when we were told to prepare
for direct U.S. military intervention in Syria, as a result of Obama's infamous
"redline" in the sand in response to Assad's use of chemical weapons. Then he
went for a walk in the White House Rose Garden and changed his mind. Obama
decided that a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime was more important than
Syria.
Those same years saw tens of thousands of young people, especially young
Muslims, flock to Syria in search of a Jihadist utopia. Syria was the first
full-blown social media war. It was where – 12 years ago – the original online
space for a lot that came after: Hashtag Fridays, media swarms, "Knights of the
Uploading," snuff videos, fake videos, citizen journalism. Stuff pioneered in
the heat of war and revolution in Syria would be copied by terrorists, regimes,
and intelligence agencies, east and west.
Bashar Al-Assad, who had once bused thousands of foreign jihadists to the Iraqi
border so that they could kill Americans, almost lost his throne to Syrian rebel
action. He was saved by direct Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah intervention with
an assist from the Obama Administration. The agony of the Syrian people
continued but jaded Western attention faded, especially after Assad regime
successes against Islamist rebels culminating in the fall of rebel-held parts of
Aleppo in 2016 and other triumphs later.[1]
But an unfinished, "frozen" conflict suddenly got hot again when a well-planned
Syrian rebel offensive – "Operation Deterrence of Aggression" – launched on
November 27, 2024, from their enclave around Idlib caught the Assad regime
napping. Led by the Salafi-Jihadist Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the offensive
conquered the city of Aleppo and surrounding areas in less than four days, a
feat that had taken Assad and his backers four long years to accomplish.[2] And
HTS had succeeded with a lot less fighting.[3]
Rural regime militia office captured by Syrian Islamist rebels, November 2024
While many have focused on the current travails of Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah –
Assad's military backers and all of them busy elsewhere – the main reason for
the HTS victory, aside from excellent operational security and new weapons and
tactics, seems to have been that much of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is a
hollowed-out shell, far weaker than its ostensible numbers and weapons would
indicate. Syria is an economic basket case. Officers supplement their meager
salaries by taking bribes for soldiers to take extended leave and work at other
jobs back home. Some units seem to have broken and fled after losing their
officers.
In any case, a city of over two million people and a wealth of military booty
fell into rebel hands with relative ease, drawing comparisons with the conquest
of Mosul in Iraq by ISIS in June 2014. The rebels continued to consolidate their
conquests in the north of the country while heading south on the road to
Damascus. And who are these rebels? Neo-Con Democrat
William Kristol tweeted that he hoped that "the Biden Administration is doing
everything it can to help the anti-Assad fighters in Syria." In the deeply
politicized and partisan online space discussing Syria, these rebels are often
depicted as either head-cutting Jihadist mad dogs or freedom fighters just
wanting to go home. Both in English and Arabic, there are a wealth of voices and
accounts, seemingly reactivated from their years-long slumber, that have gone
back to their old tricks – exaggeration, falsehoods, fake or mislabeled videos,
guilt by association – in talking about the rebels, Assad, and the conflict.
Syria's Sunni Muslim Arab Islamist rebel groups are not one thing. They are
survivors, the product of 13 years of brutal war, infighting, and revolution, a
hodgepodge of factions, absorbed, reshaped, purged, and rehabilitated over time.
Almost all of them are various shades of Islamist or Salafi-Jihadist. Some are
no better than bandits or mercenary guns for hire. All of them are connected or
influenced, to a greater of lesser extent, to the Islamist Erdoğan regime in
Turkey.
A Man Of Destiny
The most powerful and disciplined faction – HTS – is, according to U.S. law, a
designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). HTS's leader is a remarkable
figure in the annals of Jihad. Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani (that is his pseudonym,
his real name and even his birth place were not clear for years) was only in his
early 30s when he was sent in August 2011 by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, then the head
of the Al-Qaeda branch in Iraq – the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) – into Syria to
establish a branch there as the Syrian Civil War began. Al-Joulani was already a
veteran Jihadist with a decade of militancy.[4] He had risen through the ranks
of ISI to become a senior official, wali of Nineveh province, a rare feat for a
Syrian in an organization dominated by Iraqis and fatally obsessed with loyalty.
"The Leader" – smiling Sheikh Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani
Al-Joulani was sent in with a brief to assassinate some rival Jihadists in Syria
and to establish a secret organization there. He ignored the first task and
carried out the second with his group, then called the Al-Nusra Front, first
appearing in public in January 2012. Its first known attack was a double suicide
bombing against a military target in a Damascus suburb.
It would become an FTO in December 2012, but that would not stop the
organization's growth. I remember meeting with Syrian opposition figures,
secularists and moderates, in summer of 2012 and they expressed the fear that
the Jihadists were better fighters, less corrupt, more professional and
seemingly more dedicated than the regular ranks of what was then called the Free
Syrian Army. They were concerned that sanctioning Al-Joulani's group would make
it even more popular.
Al-Nusra Front, which would become HTS in 2017, would continue to grow,
absorbing smaller groups and contingents of foreign fighters as well – Chechens,
Uyghurs, and Western Muslims among others. The group was a successful and deadly
player in Syria's bloody war but as time went on, Al-Joulani would demonstrate
rare political skills.
In April 2013, Al-Baghdadi would formally announce the creation of the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and publicly admit that he was behind the
creation of Al-Nusra and Al-Joulani's sojourn into Syria. That bombshell
statement was followed 36 hours later by Al-Joulani rejecting Al-Nusra's
incorporation into ISIS and instead claiming loyalty to Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahiri,
the distant head of Al-Qaeda. Al-Joulani in a sense appealed to a surprised
Al-Qaeda to prevent his group from being absorbed by ISIS. Open civil war had
come to the global Jihadist movement.
Al-Joulani's group would become bitter enemies of his old comrades in ISIS or
"the Islamic State," the two groups clashing, killing each other, and declaring
each other "infidels' worthy of death (the process called takfir). Instead of
gloating in public slaughter like ISIS did in its extravagant video productions,
most of the killings carried out by Al-Joulani's group would be done discretely,
away from the camera. Al-Joulani would not only demonstrate pragmatism on the
battlefield and in ideological struggle but also show a keen sense of media
savvy in a series of interviews he would give on the widely-watched Islamist
Qatari Al-Jazeera Television, beginning in 2013.[5] These were hour-long
infomercials for Al-Joulani and his organization, portraying them in the most
positive and reasonable light possible.[6] In 2021, Al-Joulani gave his first
interview to a Western journalist.[7]
Al-Joulani's organization would continue to grow even as Assad, with the help of
the Iranians and Russians seemed to turn the tide in Syria. By July 2016, it had
a name change (first JFS – the Front for the Conquest of the Levant – and then
later HTS – the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant) and formally
broke ties with Al-Qaeda. This would cause splits within the organization as
Al-Joulani sought to nationalize or Syrianize the group. HTS would go on to
defeat and destroy a new Al-Qaeda branch and drive out other rival Jihadist,
Islamist, and nationalist groups, many of whom would become part of another
umbrella organization more formally tied to Turkey, the Syrian National Army
(SNA).[8]
The SNA would serve as Turkish mercenaries in Libya and against the Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh. They would be used to fight Syrian Kurds in Afrin and other
sites along Syria's northern border in Turkey while sidelining in various
criminal activities.
So, Syria's advancing Islamist rebels in 2024 are not all one thing.
Al-Joulani's HTS in 2024 is not exactly the same as Al-Joulani's Nusra Front of
2012. Turkish-influenced HTS is very different from the Turkish-controlled SNA.
Al-Joulani's organization is still Islamist, still (relatively) professional and
disciplined, it has purged or killed many of its extremists and loose cannons
while still remaining – to our eyes – an extremist organization. It is perhaps
particularly striking that as Aleppo fell, the SNA, responding to Turkey's
priorities, moved east to fight Syrian Kurds, while Al-Joulani's HTS moved south
to fight Assad.
Learning to play the propaganda game and to manipulate Western expectations,
Al-Joulani over time softened the initial harsh treatment Jihadists in Idlib had
inflicted on Christian and Druze minorities, a process that has taken years and
seems to have produced some tangible results for these minorities. One of the
first things HTS has done in Aleppo is to make several public statements
reassuring the city's non-Muslim, especially Christian, minorities about their
safety under the new order. Another statement was issued urging reconciliation
with Syria's (well-armed) Kurds. "The leader" Al-Joulani's more general
statement to the Syrian people issued on November 30, 2024, was an object lesson
in diplomacy.[9] Many Syrians were also moved by heartwarming propaganda videos
showing HTS fighters returning home to Aleppo after seven or eight years and
surprising their mothers at home. Many Syrians who may have no particular liking
for HTS are delighted by the surprising turn of events.[10]
I have dwelt at length on the charismatic Al-Joulani and HTS because he and it
are rather unique. This is a hardcore Jihadist, a dropout from Damascus medical
school, who joined the ranks of Jihad in his early 20s, and has learned not only
to survive in an extremely dangerous region but to flourish and who seems to be
on the verge of even greater things. This is a capable, dangerous man, one who
may combine the ruthlessness and organizational skills of a Yahya Sinwar with
real pragmatism and a winning smile.[11] His organization has been refashioned
several times, leadership purged, and emerged stronger at each opportunity. He
has gone from promising to "conquer" Syria (although the word used, Al-Sham,
refers to both Syria and the Levant) to promising to "liberate" her.
Is there any real case to be made that Al-Joulani and his organization are any
different than other Salafi-Jihadist or armed Islamist group? That their
trajectory will not lead to similar dark alleys and not end in tears as have
ISIS and Al-Qaeda (both groups abandoned by Al-Joulani), or Hamas and the
Taliban? Nothing is certain or set in stone. The hope is that the Syrian
experience is different and that it has somehow tempered and moderated HTS and
its leader through the years. There is some evidence of that, for example, in
the treatment of religious minorities or in the civilian Syrian Salvation
Government that ostensibly rules Idlib.[12] But there is also evidence of
ambition, extremism, and the thirst for power.[13] So trusting Al-Joulani and
HTS is very much like Oscar Wilde's famous quip about second marriages, "the
triumph of hope over experience."
A New Regional Chessboard
Al-Joulani's victory in Northern Syria has also ripped the diplomatic fabric
across the region. It seems, and should be interpreted as, a major Turkish
victory expanding Turkish influence over Aleppo, a city and region long coveted
by Turkish nationalists, the old Ottoman Vilayet of Halep.[14] But it was
carried out, mostly, by a man capable of ultimately betraying Erdoğan just like
he betrayed Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi or Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The possibility that
someone – not just Assad – will try to kill Al-Joulani seems high. The victory
in Aleppo also exposed tensions and fissures in Turkey's fraught relations with
Iran and Russia.[15] It also frays Qatar's – allied to Turkey and longtime
supporter of Al-Joulani – ties with Iran. It used to be that Qatar could posture
as an ally of Turkey and Iran, now it is exposed as favoring the former over the
latter.
While the fate of HTS heading south into the Syrian heartland is unclear, on the
surface it will be difficult for Assad to quickly recover Aleppo and its
environs. He was only able to take the city – the half the rebels controlled in
2016 – with the help of Hezbollah fighters, Iraqi militias, Iranian generals,
and Russian firepower. Soleimani and Nasrallah are dead and Russia has its hands
full. Iran would need to recruit new infantry cadres in Iraq and Iran, Assad
would need to remobilize and retrain troops (this seems to be already
beginning).[16] This will take time. And they would have to be reassured that
Turkey would not intervene militarily to keep its prize. Turkey may also want to
secure a new deal with Russia and Iran to freeze the newest battle lines in
place, thereby pocketing the gains won by HTS and its allies.
Iranian General Kiumars Poorhashemi, killed in Aleppo, November 27, 2024
But it does seem that Iran and Russia will try to assist Assad. Russia has
appointed a new commander in Syria and unconfirmed reports say that Iran is
sending its General Jawad Ghafari, "the Butcher of Aleppo," back to Syria.[17]
If the past is any guide, a regime offensive orchestrated by Iran and Russia
would seek to overwhelm the rebels by sheer weight of numbers. But that will
take some time to prepare. And HTS has probably now more than doubled the Syrian
population it controls.
There is a very real rivalry between allies Russia and Iran in Syria but that
may be shelved for now. The Syrian Arab Army unit, the 30th Syrian Republican
Guard (SRG) Division, charged with the main defense of Western Aleppo, was a
Russian product. Assad himself – as opposed to the regime he heads – has not
looked so weak in a decade.
Faustian bargains are not impossible and perhaps Turkey could be compensated
elsewhere, particularly if it includes a final reckoning with Syria's Kurdish
region. But sacrificing too much would dent Turkey's symbiotic relationship with
its Syrian Islamist allies. Some of the Arab Gulf states are deeply uneasy at
the prospect of Assad falling to Syrian Islamists, especially to a movement led
by a leader who seems to be both genuinely popular and connected to their rival
Qatari neighbors.[18] They will open their pocketbooks once again to promote
their preferred outcomes. Israel meanwhile looks on with both interest and
concern, their main goal will be to make sure that Syria's border with Israel
remains free of potential threats, whether from Sunni or Shia Jihadists with
ambitious delusions of grandeur.
Still another wild card is the United States at the cusp of new leadership.[19]
It is not impossible that a new Trump Administration could conclude that America
has no compelling national interests in Syria at all and that the best thing is
for this cornucopia of bad actors – Al-Joulani, Turkey, Iran, Assad, Russia, the
Gulf states – to fight it out among themselves. Currently the United States is
allied most closely with the leftist/nationalist Syrian Kurds (SDF/YPG), who are
bitter enemies of Turkey and maneuver between America, Russia, and the Assad
regime in a desperate bid to maintain their hard-won autonomy. It is not at all
clear if the Trump Administration, rightly concerned about imperial overreach
overseas, will continue with these policies.
With or without American involvement, this deadly minuet of war and diplomacy
will continue. Some (Al-Joulani, Turkey) are winning today and some others are
clearly on the defensive (Assad, Iran) but it is not at all clear who will be
the ultimate winner in the end. And when that end will arrive.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
The Gentle Art of Negotiating with Terrorists
Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute/December 02/2024
Offering to negotiate with Islamic terrorists is a statement of weakness.
Jihadists only offer to negotiate out of fear, weakness or to entrap us, and
they assume we do the same thing. Nothing would ever convince them that we
genuinely want to live in peace with them, or that we prefer alternatives to
violence. So any time we offer to negotiate, they see it as weakness or a trick.
If our diplomats ever understood this cultural reality, they would stop being
baffled when the negotiations fall apart.
Western liberals believe that peace will be achieved when all the wars end, but
peace in the Muslim world is not a permanent state; rather it is a temporary
truce in an endless war. Liberals tell us that the problem is a lack of
understanding, but the lack of understanding is coming from them.
Offering to negotiate with Islamic terrorists is a statement of weakness.
Jihadists only offer to negotiate out of fear, weakness or to entrap us, and
they assume we do the same thing. If our diplomats ever understood this cultural
reality, they would stop being baffled when the negotiations fall apart.
President Barack Obama told his nuclear deal negotiators that Iran had good
reason to fear us, and that it was their job to relieve the fears of the
ayatollahs. Pictured: Iran's then Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has a
laugh while meeting with then US Secretary of State John Kerry, at the United
Nations on April 27, 2015, in New York City. (Photo by Jason DeCrow-Pool/Getty
Images)
The first rule of negotiating with Islamic terrorists is don't. The second rule
is if you do it, do it with heavy artillery.
Islamic terrorists don't negotiate. They make demands in hopes of securing
concessions without actually giving up anything. Only the most dedicated
historian could find an example of a negotiation process during which the
Islamic terrorists made an actual concession, followed through on it, and did
not later take it back or turn right around and go back to terrorism.
The most prominent counterexamples are the three decades of negotiations between
Israel and Islamic terrorist groups, which initially won a round of Nobel Peace
Prizes and then degenerated into an endless war during which the terrorists took
back every concession they ever made, did not follow through on any of them, and
used Israeli concessions to become a much worse threat.
Negotiating with the Taliban, Hezbollah and Iran all had the same end result.
Offering to negotiate with Islamic terrorists is a statement of weakness.
Jihadists only offer to negotiate out of fear, weakness or to entrap us, and
they assume we do the same thing. Nothing would ever convince them that we
genuinely want to live in peace with them, or that we prefer alternatives to
violence. So any time we offer to negotiate, they see it as weakness or a trick.
If our diplomats ever understood this cultural reality, they would stop being
baffled when the negotiations fall apart. And after generations of the same
thing, they refuse to learn.
Terrorists start negotiations with maximalist demands to probe for weakness, and
then switch between false promises and threats. If any of our diplomats had
bought a rug at a good price in the Middle East or a used car at a good price in
Chicago, they would respond by walking out. Instead, they try to find a way to
meet their demands. And then the terrorists have them.
The terrorists become the ones to walk out. They throw Bobby Fischer-style
tantrums over every minor detail. They invent a constant stream of new
grievances to be outraged by. What are typical tactics for small children,
sociopaths and Egyptian merchants utterly baffle our best and brightest, who
can't figure out how to cope with opponents who don't play by UN rules.Now the
terrorists start extracting concessions in exchange for taking part in the
negotiations. The process becomes a substitute for the outcome. Peace, an end to
violence and the survival of the hostages hinge not on the defeat of the
terrorists, but our ability to win them over.
Instead of negotiating the terms of a peace agreement, the negotiations
themselves become the subject of negotiations and civilized nations begin
bribing the terrorists to stay and talk. Iran got billions in sanctions relief,
and the PLO got to spring terrorists from prison. The Biden administration
pushed Israel to give Hamas a ceasefire as a prelude to negotiating the release
of hostages. The Israeli government wisely refused to fall for the same trick
yet again.
And then the negotiations blew up anyway, because the terrorists had killed
their "hostage".
Islamic terrorists, from Iran to the PLO, from Hamas to Qatar, take the
negotiating process itself hostage and warn that they will blow it up unless
their demands are met. Hopeful peace negotiators who allow the terrorists to
hold the process hostage become their useful idiots. From the Oslo Accords to
the Iran nuclear deal to the Hamas hostage negotiations, it ends the same way.
The only way to negotiate with terrorists is through strength. Not just a
position of physical strength, because terrorists know how to turn a strength
into a weakness, but through strength in negotiations. In Islam, posture is
reality and reality is malleable. If you are going to negotiate with terrorists,
it's more important to have a strong posture than the world's strongest
military.
A mighty war machine is an asset, but posture is a willingness to actually use
it. That's why the Carter, Clinton and Biden administrations became
international laughingstocks. It's why the Bush administration, after initially
terrifying the Muslim world, came to be seen as a foolish foe.
Western liberals believe that peace will be achieved when all the wars end, but
peace in the Muslim world is not a permanent state; rather it is a temporary
truce in an endless war. Liberals tell us that the problem is a lack of
understanding, but the lack of understanding is coming from them.
Liberals are obsessed with understanding the other side, but rather than
understanding it, they adopt its grievances as their own, label them as
"anti-colonialism" or some other leftist buzzword, and then take on the job of
scourging their own country over the enemy's grievances. After generations of
this indoctrination, some at academic institutions funded by Muslim monarchs,
most of our diplomats have internalized enemy propaganda as factual history and
moral reality.
This makes the average State Department girl or Foreign Service lad as able to
negotiate with Islamic terrorists as Vidkun Quisling was at negotiating Norway's
independence with the Nazi Germany.
President Barack Obama told his nuclear deal negotiators that Iran had good
reason to fear us because of our support for the Shah, and that it was their job
to relieve the fears of the ayatollahs. Such kindly understanding permeates our
diplomats, who spend a lot of time "understanding" the enemy's position through
the rants of western radicals like Noam Chomsky and John Mearsheimer.
The State Department doesn't understand our national security. It doesn't
understand the fears of non-Muslims and Muslim governments worried about Islamic
terrorists. But it's entirely up-to-date on whatever orientalist nonsense
Marxists use to prop up the third world terrorists they hope will bring western
civilization crashing down after the Bolsheviks proved unfit for the job.
But booting every Georgetown grad who has read Chomsky doesn't fix the problems
of applying a process meant for civilized countries trying to reach an amicable
solution to terrorists who see negotiations as a means of gaining an advantage
before their next attack. The international community, flawed as it is,
maintains a level of trust that makes agreements possible.
There is no trust to be had within the Islamic ummah, where all agreements are
temporary, everything is subject to revision based on force and trickery, and
all oaths are fatally false. Muslim factions cannot trust each other beyond the
mutual interests of the moment. Even when bound by kinship and a common
religion, they turn on each other in the blink of an eye.
We cannot even count on that much. Without family ties and religious bonds,
there is no moral or personal obligation we can expect them to have toward us.
Not just their inclinations, but honor and religion demand that they lie to us,
cheat us and harm us whenever they can.
That's why the first rule of negotiating with Islamic terrorists is don't. It
achieves nothing, The only point of such negotiations is to state firmly and
clearly what our intentions are. That is why they are also best conducted with
heavy artillery. Terrorists will not end their attacks in response to
concessions or negotiations. They will temporarily end them in response to
successful attacks, or permanently in response to their total destruction. That
is how you negotiate with terrorists.
The gentle art of negotiating with terrorists demands that we know who they are
and who we are. As Sun Tzu observed:
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory
gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor
yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
We have been losing the war on terror because we do not know the enemy. But
worse still, we have forgotten who we are. And unless we remember, we will lose.
*Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom
Center.
Reprinted by kind permission of the author and Front Page Magazine.
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© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The West’s Glaring Blind Spot for Muslim Madness and Islamic Insanity
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/December 02/2024
How does one understand violent crimes that are presented as being “without
motive”? Or better yet, how does one understand violent crimes if one cannot
begin to comprehend their openly stated motive?
For example, the secular and materialistic West increasingly only understands
motives prompted by material needs or desires. Thus theft and rape make perfect
sense as they are both materially “gratifying.” The West also still understands
generic human “passions,” such as violence and even murder for personal revenge
and so forth. But what to make of a man who suddenly
decides to stab a random group of people or children? What could his motive
possibly be? Or what about a woman who randomly enters a church during a service
and starts shrieking unintelligibly?
Because the West cannot understand what would prompt such ostensibly
inexplicable behavior or categorize them according to its own paradigms, all too
often those who commit these “bizarre” crimes are dismissed as “crazy.” They
seem to have no motive, and therefore need medical and/or psychiatric care.
Enter Muslim criminality in the West. I cannot begin to tell you how many
hundreds of reports I’ve read over the last two decades concerning Muslim acts
of violence and intolerance that end with the authorities concluding that the
culprits acted without any motive and must therefore be suffering from a mental
disorder and in need of treatment.
Standard Practice
Here are just a few recent examples, mostly from those two European bastions of
Muslim migration, France and Germany:
USA, Nov. 25: A Muslim man, described in the report’s headline as a “crazed NY
knifeman,” stabbed a police officer in the neck. The report ends by saying
“Investigators are examining the suspect’s background, including his mental
health history.”
France, Oct. 18: A woman who had “dedicated her life to” Islam decapitated her
daughter. Official diagnosis: “mental health problems.”
France, Sept. 26: After noting that an unknown man hurled excrement at two
churches — an old Islamic tactic — the report concludes that the “man could be
suffering from mental health problems.”
USA, Sept. 23: Although a jury found a Muslim man who murdered 10 people in a
Colorado supermarket guilty, the Associated Press describes him in its opening
sentence as “a mentally ill man.”
Germany, Sept 16: After a Muslim migrant from Syria with a history of criminal
behavior stretching back to his arrival in 2017 spotted a 79-year-old German man
wearing a cross, he tore it off and punched the septuagenarian in the face. News
reports at the time stated that “the Syrian is now in a psychiatric facility.”
Germany, Aug. 16: Mursal Mohamed Seid, a Somalian Muslim migrant, savagely
murdered a German man. According to news reports, “He stabbed his victim 111
times with a knife before beheading him … The attack was so violent that the
victim’s intestines spilled out while he was still alive … Seid is said to have
committed the crime in a schizophrenic delusion and was therefore placed in the
high-security ward of the district hospital in Mainkofen, Bavaria.”
France, July 24: “An individual” entered a church, “threw water on the candles,
then on the sacristan who was coming towards him, performed prayers in Arabic,
recited verses from the Koran and shouted ‘Allah will judge.’” The report
concludes that the individual is “suffering from psychiatric disorders.”
Why were all these Muslim criminals — who again represent only a drop in the
bucket of similar examples I’ve encountered over the last two decades — deemed
to be insane?
Because the West cannot understand Muslim — specifically jihadist — motives. And
it can’t understand them because it is prevented from understanding them by the
powers-that-be, which have done everything possible to suppress and censor the
truth about Islam from reaching the average person in the West.
Unrestricted Warfare
The truth is that Islam engenders hatred for non-Muslims. It calls for
intolerance, violence, and even the outright slaughter of non-Muslims simply
because they are non-Muslims. As such, past and present, Muslims have repeatedly
done what may seem unintelligible — and therefore “crazy” — from a secular
Western perspective, from desecrating Christian cemeteries and beheading
Christian statues to randomly stabbing and slaughtering non-Muslims (a regular
feature of Western European cities with large Muslim populations).
Indeed, one need only consider two interrelated facts to make sense of it all.
First, global jihadist groups regularly issue statements calling on Muslims to
assault and kill non-Muslims, especially in the West. Earlier this year, for
example, ISIS, in keeping with Koran 9:5, called on Muslims to kill non-Muslims
everywhere, including
on the streets and roads of America, Europe, and the world. Break into their
homes, kill them and steal their peace of mind by any means you can lay hands
on. … detonate explosives, burn them with grenades and fiery agents, shoot them
with bullets, cut their throats with sharp knives, and run them over with
vehicles. … Come at them from every door, kill them by the worst of means, turn
their gatherings and celebrations into bloody massacres, do not distinguish
between a civilian kaffir [infidel], and a military one, for they are all kuffar
and the ruling against them is one…. Intentionally seek easy targets before hard
ones, civilian targets before military ones, religious targets like synagogues
and churches before others, for … our battle with them is a religious one and we
kill them wherever we come upon them in response to Allah Almighty’s command.
And now for the really disturbing part of this equation: A Pew poll revealed
that, in 11 countries alone, at least 63 million and as many as 287 million
Muslims support ISIS. Similarly, 81% of respondents to a recent Al Jazeera poll
said they support the Islamic State.
So let us add up all the facts: 1) Islamic groups like ISIS regularly call for
the outright slaughter of non-Muslims; 2) a significant percentage of the
world’s 1.8 billion Muslims are sympathetic to these sentiments because — and
here is the grand point — ISIS is not the source of these sentiments, the Koran
and Hadith are; 3) Muslims go on to engage in murderous attacks and other savage
behavior; but 4) because the second point has been devotedly hidden from the
people of the West— that hate and violence are a product of Islam — such
behavior becomes inexplicable, and must therefore be allotted to “mental
disorders.”Incidentally, it appears that we are being primed for another Muslim
murderer to be sheltered behind the “psychiatric disorder” shield. According to
a recent report, Axel Rudakubana, the African son of migrants who randomly
stabbed three small girls to death in England this summer, is apparently not
being charged under the Terrorism Act. “For a matter to be declared a terrorist
incident, motivation would need to be established,” said Serena Kennedy, the
chief constable of Merseyside police.
Does that mean that, in the authorities’ minds, randomly killing three innocent
children can have no motive, and must therefore be … wait for it… crazy?
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is the
Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith
Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum
Syria: The Dangers of Open Conflict and the Need for the
State
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/December 02/2024
It is as if this difficult part of the world is destined to live with constant
bloodshed. Countries break apart, wars are never really resolved, and peace is
only really just a truce. We have witnessed the horrors in Gaza and later,
Lebanon.
The barbarity of the Israeli attacks demonstrated that the Al-Aqsa Flood
Operation was greater than what Gaza can bare. The “support front” in Lebanon
also had consequences that were too great for the country to bare.
Then came the surprise in Aleppo that will pave the way for more bloodshed in
Syria. “Surprise” may not be the right word here given reports that said the
forces in control of Idlib would rather go on the offensive than wait for the
Syrian army to attack.
The relative calm in Syria achieved through the Sochi and Astana processes was
never meant to last. It was difficult for Damascus to admit that the borders
drawn between the various statelets in Syria would be permanent. It was clear
that Syria was victim of wars that are greater than it and that changing these
borders would pit it against major players inside the country.
The Syrian state started to break apart in the 2010s. It turned into an arena
for delusions, dreams and regional and international meddling. Setting aside
Israel’s well-known ambitions and America’s ever-changing policies, let us
examine the roles played by each of Russia, Iran and Türkiye.
In 2014, Russian President Vladimi Putin revealed his long-hidden intentions and
reclaimed Crimea, saying it was just an unjustified Soviet gift to Ukraine. The
tepid international response to his move encouraged him to pursue more
ambitions. A year later, the world awoke to Russia’s military intervention in
Syria, which was said took place after then Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem
Soleimani warned the Russian leader of the risk of Syria falling in the hands of
extremists and the region in the hands of America.
The Russian-Iranian cooperation altered the course of the war in Syria and
survival of the Syrian regime became a fact that could not be ignored when
discussing solutions to the conflict there. However, those banking on the rise
of a “Russian Syria” at the expense of an “Iranian Syria” were left disappointed
after a few years. Russia failed in leading a major
political solution that would pave the way for a broad reconciliation that would
ensure the return of the displaced and rebuild the country. The Russian
intervention in Syria was just one step because Putin had set his sights on
launching a major coup a decade later in Ukraine and on European soil.
The Russian-Iranian-Turkish triangle in Syria is formed of wounded
countries haunted by memories of their respective fallen empires. Russia dreams
of its former Soviet glory and wants to expand its influence beyond its own
borders. Ankara and Tehran also dream of winning something of the legacy left
over from the Soviet collapse.
Over the past decade, Türkiye tried to lead a major coup in the region through
the so-called “Arab Spring”. It believed that it boasted an ideal model that
could be replicated in or inspire other countries. Its warm relationship with
Bashar al-Assad's regime turned into an attempt to overthrow him. This was no
secret. Years later, I met with ISIS fighters imprisoned in Iraq who spoke
frankly of how they entered Syria through the Turkish borders.
Türkiye's ambitions, however, collided with the Russian-Iranian cooperation in
Syria. The Arab Spring ended in failure and Ankara shifted its focus in Syria to
combating the “Kurdish threat”. Now, its forces are still in Syria and in some
areas of Iraq.
For its part, Iran grew restless within its own borders. It has waged a major
coup in the region, allowing it to play a decisive role and have the final word
in Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Sanaa. Syria was vital for Iran, especially
with the route from Tehran to Beirut now open and passing through Baghdad and
Damascus, which was made possible after the ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime in
Iraq.
Syria is of vital importance for the great Iranian project, amid talk of the
so-called “major strike” it may deal Israel. Hamas’ late leader Yehya al-Sinwar
was probably banking on this strike when he launched his Al-Aqsa Flood
Operation.
We are now confronted with a new reality in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Israel’s
war on Lebanon and its strikes on Syria have weakened Hezbollah and pro-Iran
militias in Syria. This new reality may have been among other factors that
prompted the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to launch its offensive on Aleppo and beyond.
The Syrian authorities will in no way agree to this new reality. Neither will
Russia. Türkiye, meanwhile, has little room to maneuver in Syria.
Syria is not an island. It is located in the heart of the region. Its
stability will undoubtedly ensure the stability of its neighbors without
exception. Syria’s stability is a unanimous Arab demand. It is demanded by Iraq,
Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and the Gulf. It is not in any Arab country’s interest
for Syria to be plunged again in the horrors of the not-so-distant past.
An imperiled Syria is a danger to itself and the region. It cannot afford
to drown again in its own wars and the wars of others as the world waits on
Donald Trump to be sworn in as US president. An “Iranian Syria” and “Turkish
Syria” are no longer possible, while the “Russian Syria” is not high on the
Kremlin’s list of priorities as it focuses on Ukraine and Trump’s return to
office.
Syria has no choice but Syria itself. It needs a normal state to be established.
A political solution that isolates the “terrorist” groups and rebuilds bridges
between various communities is necessary. The solution will pave the way for the
return of the displaced and launch a reconstruction process that will be
embraced by the Arab world.
Will the Markets Check Trump’s Power?
Jeff Sommer/The New York Times/December 02/2024
The president-elect follows the markets closely. He bragged frequently about how
well stocks performed in his first term in office, and said they had boomed this
year in anticipation of his return to the White House.
Since Election Day, a great deal of financial analysis has been devoted to one
central question: How will the new Trump administration affect the markets?
But another important question isn’t being asked as frequently: To what
extent can the markets serve as a check on the power of the president? With
Republican control of the House and Senate and a conservative majority on the
Supreme Court, Donald J. Trump will face fewer curbs from the nation’s political
institutions than he did in his first term. Given this vacuum, it’s reasonable
to wonder whether the markets will play an outsize role.
I’d say that in this stage of the presidential transition, the evidence is
mixed. Yes, in a tenuous and unpredictable way, the markets are likely to
influence the next administration’s decision-making and, occasionally, serve as
a check on some of Trump’s most immoderate behavior.
But I wouldn’t go far with this. For one thing, financial markets have come to
discount — you might say “normalize” — actions and statements that would set off
strongly negative reactions if made by other public figures. And Trump’s more
pugnacious statements are often viewed as initial bargaining positions. Still,
from the standpoint of the markets, Trump can probably go quite far in enacting
his campaign promises as long as corporate profits rise and the economy grows.
The events of the last week or so are a case in point. Trump set out to
calm the markets with appointments of urbane experts known for a nonideological
approach to finance, but also unleashed a global storm with the announcement
that he planned to impose new 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and add a
10 percent tariff on China. Trump seems intent both on mollifying the markets
and on disregarding their message when it is inconvenient. So far, this tactic
is working.Late last Friday, Trump designated Scott Bessent, a familiar figure
in finance, as his choice for Treasury secretary. Stocks and bonds rallied on
the news on Monday. But later that day, Trump declared
on social media that he would impose the new tariffs as soon as he returned to
the White House. These measures, as well as deeper and broader levies promised
during his campaign, are a negative development in the estimation of most
economists. All else equal, tariffs tend to raise prices, hurt consumers, impede
economic growth and disrupt global trade and foreign currency markets.
But the markets weren’t troubled. The S&P 500 hit another record on
Tuesday.
It’s calm on Wall Street right now, yet investors will need to hedge their bets.
Bessent is a hedge fund billionaire and a Yale graduate who speaks the
pragmatic, nonideological language of the markets. He once ran money for George
Soros, the Republican bête noire. Of course, Bessent says he supports Trump’s
policies. Such fealty is a prerequisite for a high-level administration post.
In manner, he is being compared to Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary in the
first Trump administration. Despite chaotic conditions elsewhere in the
executive branch and criticism from both the left and right, Mnuchin, a veteran
banker and film financier, and also a Yale graduate, was generally esteemed in
financial markets.
Similarly, the markets have greeted Bessent with undisguised appreciation.
Take “In Bessent We Trust,” a brief note to the clients of Yardeni Research, an
independent financial markets research firm headed by the veteran economist
Edward Yardeni. The note quoted Bessent extensively because Bessent agrees with
Yardeni’s optimistic outlook. In January, Bessent wrote to his hedge fund
clients that a great economic boom was probably ahead of us.
This is a positive gloss on the outlook for Trump’s economic proposals,
which I think are likely to swell the budget deficit and disrupt the economy if
higher tariffs and mass deportations of undocumented immigrants actually take
place. But if you accentuate the positive side of Trump’s promises of lower
taxes and a lighter regulatory hand on businesses, and minimize the negatives,
then the current bull market, which began under President Biden, could well
continue under President Trump.No doubt, Kevin Hassett, whom Trump has chosen to
head the National Economic Council, will do what he can to ensure that the stock
market rises. Hassett is a traditional, credentialed economist who served in the
first Trump administration. Yet he has said that tariffs can be negative for
economic growth and that, by expanding the labor supply, immigration tends to
help the economy. I expect the new administration to
try to help the markets rise. And if Trump’s policies interfere with the ability
of companies to make profits and of investors to prosper, I expect course
corrections.