Bible Quotations For today When

English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 16/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2024/english.December16.24.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006

Click On The Below Link To Join Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام لكروب Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group

Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw

Bible Quotations For today
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit
We suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with himLetter to the Romans 08/12-18: "We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 15-16/2024
Statues of the late tyrant Hafez al-Assad are destroyed and this is the natural end of every terrorist and satanic ruler/Elias Bejjani/December 14, 2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Audio: Naeem Qassem’s Speech – An Insult to Lebanese Intelligence and Denial of Catastrophic Realities/December 14, 2024
Israel's army claims military operations in South Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure: Spokesperson
Signs positive ahead of Lebanon’s January 9 presidential election session, Egyptian ambassador tells LBCI
PM Mikati says Lebanon needs $5 billion for reconstruction, calls for international aid
Israeli Army Releases Lebanese Soldier, Continues Operations in Southern Lebanon
From Rome, Mikati Calls for an End to Israeli Ceasefire Violations
Lebanon's social affairs minister urges swift action to support 85,000 displaced amid Syria crisis
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai Urges Syrian Christians to Embrace Political and Social Role
The Metropolitan of Beirut, Elias Audi Commemorates the Assassination of Gebran Tueni: 'Only the Truth Endures'
IDF has confiscated 10,000 Hezbollah weapons across 16 districts of southern Lebanon
Mikati calls on Syrians to return home
Nasrallah's daughter: 'Israeli perception that my father spent his life in bunker is wrong'

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 15-16/2024
Trump and Netanyahu discuss Gaza hostages and Syria, Israeli PM says
UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
Israel Katz: New Syrian leaders 'pretending' to be moderate, pose danger to Israel
One week into a new Syria, rebels aim for normalcy and Syrians vow not to be silent again
Israeli troops kill 22 in Gaza, attack school sheltering displaced Palestinians
Israel plans to expand Golan settlements after fall of Assad
Netanyahu Government Approves Plan to Expand Settlements on Israeli-occupied Golan
France to Send Diplomats to Syria on Tuesday
Britain Has Had 'Diplomatic Contact' with HTS, Announces 50 Million Pounds Syria Aid Package
Albudaiwi: GCC States Continue Supporting Palestinian People's Legitimate Rights
Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000
'We just need peace': BBC speaks to Syrians watching Israel's incursion
Candid photos of Syria's Assad expose a world beyond the carefully crafted and repressive rule
Swiss court mulls closing Assad uncle war crimes case
Once a leading force, Assad’s Baath party wiped off Mideast politics: analysts
London says it will provide 50m pounds aid for Syrians
Hoping for religious harmony, Christians in a Syrian town attend Mass
Israel approves plan aiming to double annexed Golan population: statement
One week into new Syria: Rebels aim for normalcy, Syrians vow not to be silent again

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on December 15-16/2024
Israel's Biggest Enemy: How Netanyahu Is Thanked for Disabling Iran, Terrorist Groups/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./December 15, 2024
Israel name-checked a notorious WWII attack to justify sinking Syria's navy/Michael Peck/Business Insider/ December 15, 2024
Is Syria's Julani part of a rising generation of younger Middle East leaders?/Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/December 15/2024
Iran’s territorial integrity: A strategic imperative for regional and global stability/Aidin Panahi/Jerusalem Post/December 15/2024
Al-Maliki’s Shock: The Play and the ‘Sellout’/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/December 15/2024
Why chemical weapons remain post-Assad Syria’s unfinished nightmare/Jonathan Gornall/Arab News/December 15, 2024

on December 15-16/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138012/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzNFAlJfvPk&t=218s

/December 15/2024.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 15-16/2024
Trump and Netanyahu discuss Gaza hostages and Syria, Israeli PM says
Maayan Lubell and Jeff Mason/Reuters/December 15, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump about developments in Syria and a recent push to secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, he said on Sunday. Netanyahu said he spoke with Trump on Saturday night about the issue, which will loom large as one of the main foreign challenges facing Trump when he takes office if it is not resolved before he is sworn in on Jan. 20. Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and abducted more than 250, including Israeli-American dual nationals, during their Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies. More than 100 hostages have been freed through negotiations or Israeli military rescue operations. Of the 100 still held in Gaza, roughly half are believed to be alive. Israel's response has killed almost 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins. Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, warned last week during a visit to the region that it would "not be a pretty day" if the hostages held in Gaza were not released before Trump's inauguration. Trump said earlier this month there would be "hell to pay" in the Middle East if the hostages were not released before he came into office.A Trump spokesperson on Sunday declined to give further details about the call. A bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce that would also include a hostage deal has gained momentum in recent weeks. Netanyahu said he had spoken with Trump about efforts to secure a hostage release. "We discussed the need to complete Israel's victory and we spoke at length about the efforts we are making to free our hostages," he said.President Joe Biden's outgoing administration is working hard to achieve a deal. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who was in the region last week, said on Thursday he believed a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release may be close, and deputy national security adviser Jon Finer told Reuters there was momentum in the process. Netanyahu said he and Trump had also discussed the situation in Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria's strategic weapons stockpiles in the days since Assad's ouster and moved troops into a demilitarised zone inside Syria. "We have no interest in a conflict with Syria," Netanyahu said in a statement. Israeli actions in Syria were intended to "thwart the potential threats from Syria and to prevent the takeover of terrorist elements near our border," he said.

UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
AP/December 15, 2024
DAMASCUS: The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Sunday called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad. The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later spiraled into a civil war. The conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Rebuilding has been stymied to a large degree by sanctions that aimed to prevent rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution. “We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,” UN envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus. Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials with the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces who toppled Assad, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS. HTS is designated a terrorist group by the US, which could also complicate reconstruction efforts, but officials in Washington have indicated that the Biden administration is considering removing the designation. The interim government is set to govern until March, but it has not yet made clear the process under which a new permanent administration would replace it. “We need to get the political process underway that is inclusive of all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “That process obviously needs to be led by the Syrians themselves.”He called for “justice and accountability for crimes” committed during the war and for the international community to step up humanitarian aid.

Israel Katz: New Syrian leaders 'pretending' to be moderate, pose danger to Israel
Jerusalem Post/December 15/2024
While speaking to the committee of former National Security Council chief Yaakov Nagel, Katz warned of being taken in prematurely by the HTS group. Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday said that the new rulers of Syria are “pretending” to be more moderate but present an increased danger to Israel.
Speaking to the committee of former national security council chief Yaakov Nagel about how they frame the future structure and budget of the IDF for the coming years and decades, Katz warned of being taken in prematurely by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which ousted the Assad regime from Syria.
Katz stated, “Israel must be capable of defending itself using its own power, from any and all threats. The immediate threats to the State have not disappeared, and the recent developments in Syria have increased the severity of the threat.” He said this is true “despite the moderate vision which the Syrian rebel leaders are presenting.”The defense minister cautioned that it is crucial “to increase the defense budget in relation to these elevated threats.” More specifically, Katz said that the IDF’s future structure and budget must allow it to act against any existential threat without needing approval from any third-party country, using its own technology and defense platforms while trying to preserve support from the US. On August 5, the Prime Minister’s Office announced the establishment of the committee led by Nagel to “review the budget and force buildup” status of the IDF. Then, on September 5, the PMO updated that the committee had already finished collecting the data it needs to start moving toward conclusions. According to a PMO statement, the committee had already met with all relevant officials from the IDF, defense ministry, finance ministry, Bank of Israel, and elsewhere and had received data and recommendations from the general public. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also met with the committee to discuss their progress and to give them updated directives regarding their work. Interim recommendations for air defense systems, ground forces. Some interim recommendations include expanding the procurement of munitions and air defense systems, improving the maneuvering capabilities of the ground forces, elevating naval superiority, and addressing manpower issues. Moreover, the report tackles the development of new weapons and upgrading the country’s border defenses. Last week, one committee recommendation went forward in a public way toward modernizing the navy.The navy signed a NIS 2.8 billion deal to acquire five advanced Reshef missile ships from Israel Shipyards. These ships are 1,000 tons lighter than the new Saar 6 ships. They are intended to replace the 40-year-old Saar 4.5 ships at the level of a maritime vehicle that can move faster and be more maneuverable. Earlier statements from the committee said that they would produce a full report which could lead to a complete reshaping of the defense establishment’s doctrine, force buildup priorities, and budget priorities by around early December, though such reports are often published months later than expected due to the complexities of national security and often also political considerations. At the same time that the Nagel committee has moved forward relatively quickly, Netanyahu has refused to allow a state inquiry of any kind to examine the failures leading to the October 7 disaster. Many observers have raised questions about how the Nagel committee will be able to reach the optimal conclusions regarding Israel’s future defense posture without a full review of the failures of October 7, including at the political level.
To date, only the IDF is working on probes of the October 7 failure, and these are limited to studying the military’s errors and do not examine the political echelon’s errors. The Nagel committee also moves forward to change the face of the military as Netanyahu competes with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi over that issue, with Halevi postponing resigning due to his part in the October 7 failure and continuing to appoint a range of military officials throughout the high command and levels close to the high command.

One week into a new Syria, rebels aim for normalcy and Syrians vow not to be silent again
Sarah El Deeb/The Associated Press/December 15, 2024
DAMASCUS (AP) — At Damascus’ international airport, the new head of security — one of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital — arrived with his team. The few maintenance workers who showed up for work huddled around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager to learn what will happen next.
They quickly unloaded all the complaints they had been too afraid to express during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, inconceivably, is over. They told the bearded fighter they were denied promotions and perks in favor of pro-Assad favorites, and that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned of hardcore Assad supporters among airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens. As Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: “This is the first time we talk.”
This was the first week of Syria’s transformation after Assad’s unexpected fall.
Rebels, suddenly in charge, met a population bursting with emotions: excitement at new freedoms; grief over years of repression; and hopes, expectations and worries about the future. Some were overwhelmed to the point of tears.
The transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence have been minimal. Looting and destruction have been quickly contained, insurgent fighters disciplined. On Saturday, people went about their lives as usual in the capital, Damascus. Only a single van of fighters was seen.
There are a million ways it could go wrong.
The country is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatized by the brutalities they suffered, tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life. But in this moment of flux, many are ready to feel out the way ahead. At the airport, al-Ahmed told the staffers: “The new path will have challenges, but that is why we have said Syria is for all and we all have to cooperate.”
The rebels have so far said all the right things, Najm said. “But we will not be silent about anything wrong again.”
Idlib comes to Damascus
At a torched police station, pictures of Assad were torn down and files destroyed after insurgents entered the city Dec. 8. All Assad-era police and security personnel have vanished. On Saturday, the building was staffed by 10 men serving in the police force of the rebels’ de facto “salvation government,” which for years governed the rebel enclave of Idlib in Syria's northwest. The rebel policemen watch over the station, dealing with reports of petty thefts and street scuffles. One woman complains that her neighbors sabotaged her power supply. A policeman tells her to wait for courts to start operating again. “It will take a year to solve problems” he mumbled. The rebels sought to bring order in Damascus by replicating the structure of its governance in Idlib. But there is a problem of scale. One of the policemen estimates the number of rebel police at only around 4,000; half are based in Idlib and the rest are tasked with maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate the insurgents' total fighting force at around 20,000.
Right now, the fighters and the public are learning about each other.
The fighters drive large SUVs and newer models of vehicles that are out of reach for most residents in Damascus, where they cost 10 times as much because of custom duties and bribes. The fighters carry Turkish lira, long forbidden in government-held areas, rather than the plunging Syrian pound.
Most of the bearded fighters hail from conservative, provincial areas. Many are hardline Islamists. The main insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has renounced its al-Qaida past, and its leaders are working to reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic communities that the future will be pluralist and tolerant.
But many Syrians remain suspicious. Some fighters sport ribbons with Islamist slogans on their uniforms and not all of them belong to HTS, the most organized group. “The people we see on the streets, they don’t represent us,” said Hani Zia, a Damascus resident from the southern city of Daraa, where the 2011 anti-Assad uprising began. He was concerned by reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings. “We should be fearful,” he said, adding that he worries some insurgents feel superior to other Syrians because of their years of fighting. “With all due respect to those who sacrificed, we all sacrificed.”
Still, fear is not prevalent in Damascus, where many insist they will no longer let themselves be oppressed. Some restaurants have resumed openly serving alcohol, others more discretely to test the mood. At a sidewalk café in the historic Old City's Christian quarter, men were drinking beer when a fighter patrol passed by. The men turned to each other, uncertain, but the fighters did nothing. When a man waving a gun harassed a liquor store elsewhere in the Old City, the rebel police arrested him, one policeman said. Salem Hajjo, a theater teacher who participated in the 2011 protests, said he doesn't agree with the rebels' Islamist views, but is impressed at their experience in running their own affairs. And he expects to have a voice in the new Syria.
“We have never been this at ease," he said. "The fear is gone. The rest is up to us.”
The fighters make a concerted effort to reassure
On the night after Assad’s fall, gunmen roamed the streets, celebrating victory with deafening gunfire. Some security agency buildings were torched. People ransacked the airport's duty free, smashing all the bottles of liquor. The rebels blamed some of this on fleeing government loyalists. The public stayed indoors, peeking out at the newcomers. Shops shut down. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham moved to impose order, ordering a nighttime curfew for three days. It banned celebratory gunfire and moved fighters to protect properties.
After a day, people began to emerge. For tens of thousands, their first destination was Assad’s prisons, particularly Saydnaya on the capital’s outskirts, to search for loved ones who disappeared years ago. Few have found any traces. It was wrenching but also unifying. Rebels, some of them also searching, mingled with relatives of the missing in the dark halls of prisons that all had feared for years. During celebrations in the street, gunmen invited children to hop up on their armored vehicles. Insurgents posed for photos with women, some with their hair uncovered. Pro-revolution songs blared from cars. Suddenly shops and walls everywhere are plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of activists killed by Assad’s state. TV stations didn’t miss a beat, flipping from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media aired the flurry of declarations issued by the new insurgent-led transitional government. The new administration called on people to go back to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces to prevent the return of “those with blood on their hands.” Fighters reassured airport staffers — many of them government loyalists — that their homes won’t be attacked, one employee said.
But Syria's woes are far from being resolved.
While produce prices plunged after Assad’s fall, because merchants no longer needed to pay hefty customs fees and bribes, fuel distribution was badly disrupted, jacking up transportation costs and causing widespread and lengthy blackouts.
Officials say they want to reopen the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance crews inspected a handful of planes on the tarmac. Cleaners removed trash, wrecked furniture and merchandise. One cleaner, who identified himself only as Murad, said he earns the equivalent of $15 a month and has six children to feed, including one with a disability. He dreams of getting a mobile phone.
“We need a long time to clean this up,” he said.
Associated Press writer Ghaith Alsayed contributed.
Sarah El Deeb, The Associated Press

Israeli troops kill 22 in Gaza, attack school sheltering displaced Palestinians
Agencies/December 15, 2024
CAIRO: Israeli troops killed at least 22 Palestinians, most of them in the northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday in airstrikes and other attacks on targets that included a school sheltering displaced Gazans, medics and residents said. They said at least 11 of the dead were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City houses, nine were killed in the towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia camp and two were killed by drone fire in Rafah. Residents said clusters of houses were bombed and some set ablaze in the three towns. The Israeli army has been operating in the towns for over two months.
The Israeli military said the three Gaza City houses belonged to militants planning imminent attacks. It said steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians beforehand, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance. The military issued a photo showing the weapons it said were seized in Beit Lahiya that included explosives and dozens of grenades. In Beit Hanoun, Israeli forces besieged families sheltering in Khalil Aweida school before storming it and ordering them to head toward Gaza City, the medics and residents said. Medics said several people were killed and wounded during the raid on the school while the army detained many men. The number killed was not immediately clear. The military said it struck down dozens of militants from the air and on the ground and captured others in Beit Hanoun. Separately, Israel said its air force struck a command and control center in a compound in the Abu Shabak clinic in northern Gaza used by Hamas to store weapons and plan attacks. The Gaza health ministry said the medical center, which also included a mental health clinic, was destroyed. Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing to depopulate the areas at the northern edge to create a buffer zone. Israel denies it and says the campaign targets Hamas militants and aims to prevent them from regrouping. The military says it has instructed civilians to evacuate battle zones for their own safety. The war began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. Israel then launched an air, sea and land offensive that has killed almost 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins. A bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce has gained momentum in recent weeks, yet there has been no news of a breakthrough.

Israel plans to expand Golan settlements after fall of Assad
Emily Atkinson & Jack Burgess - BBC News/December 15, 2024
Israel's government has approved a plan to encourage the expansion of settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was necessary because a "new front" had opened up on Israel's border with Syria after the fall of the Assad regime to an Islamist-led rebel alliance.
Netanyahu said he wanted to double the population of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered illegally occupied under international law. Israeli forces moved into a buffer zone separating the Golan Heights from Syria in the days following Assad's departure, saying the change of control in Damascus meant ceasefire arrangements had "collapsed".A map showing the Golan Heights and surrounding countries, which also shows how Israel has moved troops into a UN buffer zone. There are more than 30 Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, which are home to an estimated 20,000 people. They are considered illegal under international law, which Israel disputes. The settlers live alongside some 20,000 Syrians, most of them Druze Arabs who did not flee when the area came under Israeli control. Netanyahu said Israel would "continue to hold on to [the territory], make it flourish and settle it". The announcement comes a day after Syria's new de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa criticised Israel for its ongoing strikes on military targets in the country, which have reportedly targeted military facilities.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented more than 450 Israeli air strikes in Syria since 8 December, including 75 since Saturday evening. Al-Sharaa - also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani - said the strikes "crossed red lines" and risked escalating tensions in the region, though he said Syria was not seeking a conflict with any neighbouring state. Speaking to Syria TV, which was seen as pro-opposition during the civil war, al-Sharaa said the country's "war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations", Reuters reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not commented on his remarks, but previously said the strikes were necessary to stop weapons falling "into the hands of extremists".Abu Mohammed al-Jolani addresses a crowd inside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
President Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Russia and took up asylum when al-Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led other rebel factions in a lightning offensive on Damascus. The groups are continuing to form a transitional government in Syria, of which al-Sharaa is the theoretical head.
On Saturday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had made direct contact with HTS, which the US and other Western governments still designates as a terrorist organisation. From Syrian jihadist leader to rebel politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jolani reinvented himself
United Nations' Syria envoy Geir Pedersen said on Sunday he hoped for a swift end to sanctions on the country to help facilitate an economic recovery."We will hopefully see a quick end to sanctions so that we can see really rallying around building up Syria," Pedersen said as he arrived in Damascus to meet Syria's caretaker government and other officials. Elsewhere, Turkey's Defence Minister Yasar Guler said Ankara was ready to provide military support to Syria's new government."It is necessary to see what the new administration will do. We think it is necessary to give them a chance," Guler said of HTS, according to state news agency Anadolu and other Turkish media outlets.
Israeli army prepares to stay on border peak of Mt Hermon for winter
Syria in maps: Who controls the country now Assad has gone?
Israel seizes Golan buffer zone after Syrian troops leave positions

Netanyahu Government Approves Plan to Expand Settlements on Israeli-occupied Golan
Asharq Al Awsat/December 15/2024
Israel's government approved a plan on Sunday to expand Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights it occupies, saying it had acted "in light of the war and the new front facing Syria" and out of a desire to double the Israeli population on the Golan, Reuters reported. "Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the State of Israel, and it is especially important at this time," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the statement. "We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it," he added.

France to Send Diplomats to Syria on Tuesday
AD ـ 14 Jumada Al-Alkhirah 1446 AH
France will send a team of diplomats to Syria on Tuesday to assess the political and security situation, the foreign ministry said, without specifying whom they would meet. Most EU governments welcomed Bashar al-Assad's fall but are considering whether they can work with the opposition factions who ousted him, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group that is designated a terrorist organization by the EU. "A team of French diplomats will travel to Syria this Tuesday to mark France's willingness to support the Syrian people," the ministry said, adding that they would report back to the foreign minister after a series of contacts there, Reuters reported. Since cutting ties with Assad in 2012, France has not sought to normalize ties with Syria's government and has backed a broadly secular exiled opposition and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. French officials have met representatives of such groups and Paris has said a political transition in Syria must be credible and inclusive, in line with a framework set out by the United Nations. Some diplomats say France's relations with Syria's new rulers could benefit from the fact it never sought to normalize ties with Assad.

Britain Has Had 'Diplomatic Contact' with HTS, Announces 50 Million Pounds Syria Aid Package
London: Asharq Al Awsat/December 2024
Britain has had diplomatic contact with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that swept Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power last week, British foreign minister David Lammy said on Sunday. "HTS remains a proscribed organization, but we can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact as you would expect," Lammy told broadcasters. "Using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and, of course, intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to." On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has had direct contact with HTS. Also Sunday, Britain announced a 50 million pounds ($63 million) aid package to help vulnerable Syrians. Millions of Syrians need humanitarian assistance after more than a decade of civil war that shattered much of the country's infrastructure and displaced large numbers of people. Some of the many who fled the country are returning from neighboring states.

Albudaiwi: GCC States Continue Supporting Palestinian People's Legitimate Rights
Asharq Al Awsat/December 15/2024
Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Albudaiwi reaffirmed on Sunday the commitment of GCC member states to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. He emphasized their efforts to enable the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international resolutions. Albudaiwi made these remarks during a meeting at the GCC General Secretariat headquarters in Riyadh with newly appointed Palestinian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Mazen Mohammed Rateb Ghneim, SPA reported. The meeting addressed several key issues, including the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and the ongoing and serious violations committed by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people. Albudaiwi reiterated the GCC's position as outlined in the final statement of the GCC Supreme Council during its 45th session in December 2024. The statement emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian cause, the need to end Israeli occupation, and support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all occupied Palestinian territories. He called on all countries to finalize recognition procedures for the State of Palestine and urged collective international action to achieve a permanent solution. This solution, he stressed, should ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and international resolutions.
The Secretary-General also underscored the importance of intensifying efforts by the international community to resolve the conflict in a manner that upholds the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000
Wafaa Shurafa And Natalie Melzer/The Associated Press/December 15, 2024
Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 30 people including several children.The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.” In May, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, it would recognize a Palestinian state. The Irish cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies it. “We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized,” Ireland’s deputy premier and foreign affairs minister, Micheal Martin, said in a statement. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement on the embassy closure said that “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.”Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy “deeply regrettable.” He added on X: “I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law.”
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill a journalist and children
Israeli forces continued Sunday to pound largely isolated northern Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll in the war approached 45,000. One airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the town of Beit Hanoun and killed at least 15 people, according to nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital where casualties were taken. The dead included two parents and their daughter and a father and his son, the hospital said. In Gaza City, at least 17 people including six women and five children were killed in three airstrikes that hit houses sheltering displaced people, according to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
“We woke up to the strike. I woke up with the rubble on top of me,” said a bandaged Yahia al-Yazji, who grieved for his wife and daughter. "I found my wife with her head and skull visible, and my daughter’s intestines were gone. My wife was three months pregnant.” His hand rested on a body wrapped in a blanket on the floor.
Israel's military in a statement said it struck a “terrorist cell” in Gaza City and a “terrorist meeting point” in the Beit Hanoun area. Another Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Lawh, in central Gaza, a hospital and the Qatari-based TV station said. The strike hit a point for Gaza’s civil defense agency in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital said. Also killed were three civil defense workers including the head of the agency in Nuseirat, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The civil defense is Gaza's main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-run government.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking well over 200 hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it says over half of the dead have been women and children.

'We just need peace': BBC speaks to Syrians watching Israel's incursion
Lucy Williamson - Reporting from Hadar, Golan Heights/BBC/December 15, 2024
An hour's drive from Damascus, on a country road into the Syrian village of Hadar, we meet Israel's army.Two military vehicles and several soldiers in full combat gear man an impromptu checkpoint – a foreign authority in a country celebrating its freedom. They waved us through. It was evidence of Israel's incursion into Syrian territory – the temporary seizure, it said, of a UN-monitored buffer zone, set up in a ceasefire agreement 50 years ago. "Maybe they'll leave, maybe they'll stay, maybe they'll make the area safe then go away," said Riyad Zaidan, who lives in Hadar. "We want to hope, but we'll have to wait and see." The village chief, Jawdat al-Tawil, pointed to the Golan Heights territory Israel occupied in 1967, clearly visible from Hadar's terraces. Many residents here have relatives still living there. Now, they see Israeli forces routinely moving around their own village, parts of which jut into the demilitarized zone. On a slope above, Israeli bulldozers can be seen working on the hillside. A week after President Assad's regime fell, the sense of freedom here comes tinged with fatalism. Jawdat al-Tawil told me proudly how the village had defended itself against militia groups during the Syrian civil war, and showed me portraits of the dozens of men who had died doing so. "We don't allow anyone to transgress on our land," he said. "[But] Israel is a state – we can't stand against it. We used to stand up to individuals, but Israel is a super-power."
Israeli soldiers operating in Syria
Since the fall of Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Israel has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes on military targets across Syria. And Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced new plans to double the population of Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, saying the move was needed because of "the new front" that had opened up in Syria. Speaking before that plan was unveiled, Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa warned Israel's military manoeuvres risked unwarranted escalation in the region and said his administration did not want conflict with Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said its actions were necessary because of threats posed by jihadist groups operating along the ceasefire line with Syria, describing its military incursions there as "limited and temporary". The residents of Hadar belong mainly to the Druze community – a tight-knit, introverted group which splintered from mainstream Shia Islam centuries ago. When Israel occupied part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, and later unilaterally annexed it, some of the Druze there opted to remain and take Israeli citizenship. Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that forced President Assad from power this month, has his family roots in the occupied Golan Heights. Some here on the Syrian-controlled side fear Israel's plan is to grab more territory for itself. For years, Israel has been battling the Iran-backed militia there that supported Assad. This border region is a key weapons-supply route between Tehran and the proxy forces it maintains, including the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Assad's fall has left those groups – and Iran – weaker. But Israel has since stepped up its military campaign, taking advantage of the political vacuum to extend its reach.It has also been targeting military equipment left by Assad's forces at bases across the country, worried about who might end up using it in the future.Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said on Sunday that the "immediate risks" to Israel remained, and the recent developments in Syria had increased the threat, "despite the moderate appearance that rebel leaders claim to present". Marginalised by the Assad regime, and targeted as infidels by Sunni jihadist groups like HTS, Syria's Druze are more tolerant of Israel than many other communities here. The village used to fight against the Iran-backed groups Israel sees as a threat here, but Jawdat al-Tawil told me that alliances in the area were shifting, and that he was now talking to these groups about reaching a deal. Syria is not a place where people have relied on only one ally, or fight only one enemy. "We just need peace," resident Riyad Zaidan told me. "We've had enough war, enough blood, enough hard life – we need to stop."Religious minorities like the Druze suffered under Assad. The country's new leaders from HTS have promised tolerance and respect for Syria's diverse ethnic and religious groups. But eight years ago the group was still aligned with global jihadist groups like al-Qaeda. It was around the time HTS split from al-Qaeda in 2016 that Jawdat al-Tawil's son, Abdo, was killed by their militiamen on the outskirts of Hadar, while fighting for the Syrian Army. He showed me the path where 30-year-old Abdo died and I asked how he felt about HTS taking control of Syria now. "At first, they were gangs. Now they have got rid of the tyrant [Assad], and have come to power," he said. "They're supposed to rule with justice, provide safety and ensure people's rights.""It's not clear yet if they've changed," he said. "I hope so."
Additional reporting by Yousef Shomali, Charlotte Scarr and Mayar Mohanna
US officials in 'direct contact' with victorious Syria rebels
Skulls and body bags: Searching for Syria's disappeared
What lies ahead for Assad and his family?

Candid photos of Syria's Assad expose a world beyond the carefully crafted and repressive rule
Sally Abou Aljoud/BEIRUT (AP)/December 15, 2024
Personal photos of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad have surfaced from his abandoned residences, sparking ridicule among Syrians who until days ago were persecuted for criticizing his carefully crafted public image. The intimate and candid photos, reportedly discovered in albums from Assad’s mansions in the hills of Damascus and Aleppo, offer a stark contrast to the polished, glamorous image that Assad and his father projected as they led Syria for half a century. Syrians have been fascinated by the background glimpses of a seemingly normal family that held the country in an iron grip and bombed some their fellow citizens regarded as a threat. The sharing of photos has become an extension of the dazed first hours after Assad's ouster a week ago, when everyday Syrians wandered the presidential palace and its disheveled signs of a rapid departure. Assad has been granted asylum in Russia. For many Syrians who had endured forced imprisonment, displacement and oppression under the Assads, the photos serve as both a spectacle and a chance to exhale, even laugh. One photo shows Assad’s father, Hafez, in his underwear, striking a bodybuilder-like pose. Other images show Bashar Assad in a Speedo flexing his biceps, astride a motorcycle in his briefs and staring blankly in a kitchen, wearing underwear and a sleeveless undershirt. “What is it with the Assad family and being photographed in their underwear? Highly interested in knowing the fantasy behind,” journalist Hussam Hammoud wrote on X. In the photos, Syrians can see the ophthalmologist in Assad and not the leader. In one, he's on a balcony teasing a girl sitting on his shoulders. In another, a young Assad places a ring on his wife's finger. In a third, he's seemingly taking a selfie. Social media footage also has shown Syrians touring the Assads' opulent estates, revealing extravagant decor and possessions out of reach for many who lived through the country's civil war since 2011. Assad’s wife, once featured in Vogue, epitomized the sophistication and luxury, and Syrians have uncovered jewelry boxes and designer goods. Fueled by decades of persecution and a desire for vengeance, people have stripped the mansions of valuables and further exposed Assad’s private world.

Swiss court mulls closing Assad uncle war crimes case
AFP/December 15, 2024
GENEVA: Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court is considering dropping a case charging an uncle of deposed Syrian president Bashar Assad with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, newspapers reported on Sunday. Rifaat Assad is accused by Swiss prosecutors of a long list of crimes, including having ordered “murders, acts of torture, inhumane treatment and illegal detentions” while an officer in the Syrian army. His part in the notorious February 1982 massacre in the western town of Hama, which left between 10,000 and 40,000 dead, earned him the nickname of “the Butcher of Hama.”The date of the former vice president’s trial has not been announced. On November 29, just a few days before his nephew’s overthrow by militants, the Federal Criminal Court informed the victim plaintiffs that “it wished to close the proceedings” into Rifaat Assad, according to the Swiss Sunday newspapers Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung. The tribunal said that the defendant in his 80s was suffering from ailments preventing him from traveling and taking part in his trial, the papers reported. The federal public prosecutor’s office opened the criminal proceedings in December 2013 following a report by the Swiss non-governmental organization Trial International. Alerted by Syrians living in Geneva, the rights group traced Assad to a major Geneva hotel. “Trial confirms the intention expressed by the court to the parties to close the case. But the formal decision has not yet been taken,” Benoit Meystre, the NGO’s legal adviser, told AFP on Sunday. “If the case is closed, the possibility of an appeal will be examined, and it is highly likely that this decision will be contested,” Meystre said, adding that any appeal would have to be brought by the plaintiffs and not the NGO. Swiss prosecutors opened the proceedings on the grounds of universal jurisdiction in crimes against humanity and war crimes cases. Assad went into exile in 1984 after a failed attempt to overthrow his brother, the country’s then-ruler Hafez Assad. He then presented himself as an opponent of Bashar Assad, traveling to Switzerland and later France. He returned to Syria after 37 years in exile in France to escape a four-year prison sentence for money laundering and misappropriation of Syrian public funds.

Once a leading force, Assad’s Baath party wiped off Mideast politics: analysts
AFP/December 15, 2024
CAIRO: The Baath party, once a powerful symbol of Arab nationalism, has become a fading relic of authoritarian rule in the Middle East after the fall of Syria’s Bashar Assad, analysts told AFP on Sunday. The party has suspended its activities in Syria after Islamist-led rebel forces toppled Assad’s government last week, 20 years after its rival twin branch in Iraq was banned, marking the final collapse of a movement that once held sweeping power in both countries. With Assad gone, “the Baath in Syria... is bound to fully decline,” said Nikolaos van Dam, an expert on the party and author of a book about its history, “The Struggle for Power in Syria.”Van Dam said he does not believe “they will ever have an opportunity for a comeback.”The Arab Socialist Baath Party, officially, was founded in Damascus on April 7, 1947, seeking to merge socialist ideals and Arab nationalism. In its early years, the party recognized the important cultural role of religion for Muslims, who make up the majority in most Middle Eastern countries, while advocating a secular state that could unify the fragmented Arab world across sectarian divides. But in both Syria and Iraq, whose populations are multi-ethnic and multi-sectarian, the Baath party had become a vehicle for minority rule. In Iraq, Sunni Muslims ruled over a Shiite majority, while Alawites — the Assad family — ruled over Syria’s Sunni majority. Sami Moubayed, a Damascus-based historian and writer, said that both the Iraqi and Syrian branches failed to live up to their slogan of “Unity, Freedom and Socialism.” “There was never unity, let alone freedom,” he said. “Their socialism amounted to disastrous nationalizations,” added Moubayed, author of “The Makers of Modern Syria: The Rise and Fall of Syrian Democracy 1918-1958.” The Baath had evolved into authoritarianism under Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Hafez Assad, and later his son Bashar, in Syria. “Arab nationalism, particularly secular Arab nationalism, has lost much of its appeal... and thereby also the role of the Baath Party as an Arab nationalist party,” said van Dam. “State nationalism has gradually become more important than pan-Arab nationalism.”In Syria, a military junta dominated by Alawite, Druze and Christian officers seized power in 1963, adopting Marxist-inspired policies. The party’s founders, Michel Aflaq, a Christian, and Saleh Bitar, a Sunni, were sidelined and then fled to Iraq. Hafez Assad, an air force commander, emerged as the dominant figure in 1970, consolidating control over the party and leading Syria in a reign marked brutal repression. In 2000, his son Bashar took power. In neighboring Iraq, the Baath party solidified its grip in 1968 through a military coup led by General Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr. In 1970, Saddam Hussein assumed control, ruling with an iron fist until his overthrow by a US-led coalition in 2003. “Both parties only led their countries to failure,” said Moubayed.
“What victory can they claim?“
Under the Baath rule, Syria’s military lost territory to Israel in a 1967 war and suffered painful blows in another conflict six years later. The Iraqi Baath party failed against Iran in the 1980-1988 war, initiated an invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and collapsed under the US-led coalition intervention in 2003. Despite their shared Baathist roots, the Syrian and Iraqi branches were bitter rivals. Syria supported Iran during its war with Iraq in the 1980s, reflecting a persistent sectarian divide as Hafez Assad aligned with Tehran’s Shiite leadership, sidelining Sunni Saddam. Yet both Baath regimes relied on similar methods of coercion against their domestic opponents. And both shared another striking similarity. “The Baathist rulers of both Iraq and Syria became the party,” said van Dam. The parties had their own institutions, “in Iraq better organized than in Syria, but they were fully subservient to their respective presidents,” he said. Moubayed said that although the Baath’s decline was inevitable, that may not be the case for the ideals the party had claimed to champion.“There may one day be a revival of Arab nationalism,” he said. “But it is certain that it will not come from the Baath.”

London says it will provide 50m pounds aid for Syrians
AFP/December 15, 2024
LONDON: The British government said it will release 50 million pounds ($63 million) of humanitarian aid for “the most vulnerable” Syrians in Syria and in neighboring Lebanon and Jordan, the foreign ministry said Sunday. “We’re committed to supporting the Syrian people as they chart a new course,” Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement. The funds, which for the most part will be sent to UN agencies, “will enable an urgent scale-up of humanitarian assistance when needs are at their highest, and support delivery of essential public services in Syria.” Lammy said Britain will also work “diplomatically to help secure better governance in Syria’s future,” adding that “it is vital that the future Syrian government brings together all groups to establish the stability and respect the Syrian people deserve.”Separately, Britain said it will give 120,000 pounds to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Hoping for religious harmony, Christians in a Syrian town attend Mass
Reuters/December 15, 2024
LATAKIA: In Syria’s northwestern port town of Latakia, Christian worshippers attending Mass on Sunday at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral were hopeful that the country’s new largely Sunni Muslim leadership would respect their religion. Like other Christians around the country, they were attending the first Mass since militants overthrew President Bashar Assad a week ago. Last Sunday, Church authorities warned people to stay away from worship amid the upheaval as militants — led by former al Qeada offshoot Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham — swept into Damascus and ended 50 years of brutal rule by the Assad family. Athanasios Fahed, the Metropolitan of Latakia and its dependencies for the Greek Orthodox Church, led Sunday’s service in Latakia and the cathedral filled with people in brisk morning weather. “Last Sunday, we were surprised just like all Syrian people, of the change that happened. Of course, we had many fears, especially for those who are called minorities,” Fahed told Reuters, although he added he did not consider Christians minorities since they were “part of this country.” “But of course, a lot of questions rose because obviously there was chaos in the street due to the fall of the state and its security, military, official and civil institutions,” Fahed said. Fahed said that while many Christians were displaced to other regions under Assad’s rule, the coastal regions such as areas around Latakia were unaffected. Latakia was a stronghold of Assad’s rule. Syria’s population includes historic ethnic and religious minority communities including Christians, Armenians, Kurds and Shiite Muslims, who like many other Syrian Muslims had feared during the 13-year civil war that any future Islamist rule would imperil their way of life. Lina Akhras, a parish council secretary at the church, said Christians had been “comfortable” under Assad in terms of their freedom of belief. “It happened all of a sudden, we didn’t know what to expect. So in order to protect everybody, we stopped (worship) until we saw how it will develop,” she told Reuters. “Thank God, we received a lot of assurances and we saw that members of the (HTS) committee reached out to our priest... God willing we will return to our previous lives and live in our beautiful Syria,” she told Reuters.“Your religion is yours, but our country is for all of us.”

Israel approves plan aiming to double annexed Golan population: statement
AFP/December 15, 2024
JERUSALEM: The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to double the population of the occupied and annexed Golan Heights, following the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria, the prime minister’s office said. The government had “unanimously approved” the 40 million shekel ($11 million) “plan for the demographic development of the Golan... in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights since 1967 and annexed that area in 1981 in a move recognized only by the United States. “The immediate risks to the country have not disappeared and the latest developments in Syria increase the strength of the threat — despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present,” Defense Minister Israel Katz told officials examining Israel’s defense budget, according to a statement.
The Golan is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam, Levine said. Most identify as Syrian.

One week into new Syria: Rebels aim for normalcy, Syrians vow not to be silent again
Associated Press/December 15/2024
At Damascus' international airport, the new head of security — one of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital — arrived with his team. The few maintenance workers who showed up for work huddled around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager to learn what will happen next. They quickly unloaded all the complaints they had been too afraid to express during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, inconceivably, is over. They told the bearded fighter they were denied promotions and perks in favor of pro-Assad favorites, and that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned of hardcore Assad supporters among airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens. As Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: "This is the first time we talk."This was the first week of Syria's transformation after Assad's unexpected fall. Rebels, suddenly in charge, met a population bursting with emotions: excitement at new freedoms; grief over years of repression; and hopes, expectations and worries about the future. Some were overwhelmed to the point of tears.The transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence have been minimal. Looting and destruction have been quickly contained, insurgent fighters disciplined. On Saturday, people went about their lives as usual in the capital, Damascus. Only a single van of fighters was seen.
There are a million ways it could go wrong.
The country is broken and isolated after five decades of Assad family rule. Families have been torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatized by the brutalities they suffered, tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is wrecked, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption seeps through daily life. But in this moment of flux, many are ready to feel out the way ahead. At the airport, al-Ahmed told the staffers: "The new path will have challenges, but that is why we have said Syria is for all and we all have to cooperate."The rebels have so far said all the right things, Najm said. "But we will not be silent about anything wrong again."
Idlib comes to Damascus
At a torched police station, pictures of Assad were torn down and files destroyed after insurgents entered the city Dec. 8. All Assad-era police and security personnel have vanished. On Saturday, the building was staffed by 10 men serving in the police force of the rebels' de facto "salvation government," which for years governed the rebel enclave of Idlib in Syria's northwest. The rebel policemen watch over the station, dealing with reports of petty thefts and street scuffles. One woman complains that her neighbors sabotaged her power supply. A policeman tells her to wait for courts to start operating again. "It will take a year to solve problems" he mumbled. The rebels sought to bring order in Damascus by replicating the structure of its governance in Idlib. But there is a problem of scale. One of the policemen estimates the number of rebel police at only around 4,000; half are based in Idlib and the rest are tasked with maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate the insurgents' total fighting force at around 20,000. Right now, the fighters and the public are learning about each other. The fighters drive large SUVs and newer models of vehicles that are out of reach for most residents in Damascus, where they cost 10 times as much because of custom duties and bribes. The fighters carry Turkish lira, long forbidden in government-held areas, rather than the plunging Syrian pound. Most of the bearded fighters hail from conservative, provincial areas. Many are hardline Islamists. The main insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has renounced its al-Qaida past, and its leaders are working to reassure Syria's religious and ethnic communities that the future will be pluralist and tolerant. But many Syrians remain suspicious. Some fighters sport ribbons with Islamist slogans on their uniforms and not all of them belong to HTS, the most organized group. "The people we see on the streets, they don't represent us," said Hani Zia, a Damascus resident from the southern city of Daraa, where the 2011 anti-Assad uprising began. He was concerned by reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings.
"We should be fearful," he said, adding that he worries some insurgents feel superior to other Syrians because of their years of fighting. "With all due respect to those who sacrificed, we all sacrificed."Still, fear is not prevalent in Damascus, where many insist they will no longer let themselves be oppressed. Some restaurants have resumed openly serving alcohol, others more discretely to test the mood. At a sidewalk café in the historic Old City's Christian quarter, men were drinking beer when a fighter patrol passed by. The men turned to each other, uncertain, but the fighters did nothing. When a man waving a gun harassed a liquor store elsewhere in the Old City, the rebel police arrested him, one policeman said. Salem Hajjo, a theater teacher who participated in the 2011 protests, said he doesn't agree with the rebels' Islamist views, but is impressed at their experience in running their own affairs. And he expects to have a voice in the new Syria."We have never been this at ease," he said. "The fear is gone. The rest is up to us."The fighters make a concerted effort to reassure. On the night after Assad's fall, gunmen roamed the streets, celebrating victory with deafening gunfire. Some security agency buildings were torched. People ransacked the airport's duty free, smashing all the bottles of liquor. The rebels blamed some of this on fleeing government loyalists.
The public stayed indoors, peeking out at the newcomers. Shops shut down. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham moved to impose order, ordering a nighttime curfew for three days. It banned celebratory gunfire and moved fighters to protect properties.
After a day, people began to emerge.For tens of thousands, their first destination was Assad's prisons, particularly Saydnaya on the capital's outskirts, to search for loved ones who disappeared years ago. Few have found any traces. It was wrenching but also unifying. Rebels, some of them also searching, mingled with relatives of the missing in the dark halls of prisons that all had feared for years. During celebrations in the street, gunmen invited children to hop up on their armored vehicles. Insurgents posed for photos with women, some with their hair uncovered. Pro-revolution songs blared from cars. Suddenly shops and walls everywhere are plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of activists killed by Assad's state. TV stations didn't miss a beat, flipping from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media aired the flurry of declarations issued by the new insurgent-led transitional government. The new administration called on people to go back to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces to prevent the return of "those with blood on their hands." Fighters reassured airport staffers — many of them government loyalists — that their homes won't be attacked, one employee said.
But Syria's woes are far from being resolved. While produce prices plunged after Assad's fall, because merchants no longer needed to pay hefty customs fees and bribes, fuel distribution was badly disrupted, jacking up transportation costs and causing widespread and lengthy blackouts. Officials say they want to reopen the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance crews inspected a handful of planes on the tarmac. Cleaners removed trash, wrecked furniture and merchandise. One cleaner, who identified himself only as Murad, said he earns the equivalent of $15 a month and has six children to feed, including one with a disability. He dreams of getting a mobile phone."We need a long time to clean this up," he said.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on December 15-16/2024
Israel's Biggest Enemy: How Netanyahu Is Thanked for Disabling Iran, Terrorist Groups
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./December 15, 2024
[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] has not earned the title "The Churchill of the Middle East" for nothing.
What is lethal for the country is that the judges ruled that Netanyahu must appear in court three times a week for at least six consecutive hours each time. All this when the prime minister is preoccupied with the multi-front war against Israel by Iran, its terror proxies, and now Turkey, which no doubt sees its proxy-invasion of Syria as a pathway to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's long-term dream to "liberate Jerusalem from the Jews."
Some might view this judicial escapade, in cases of trumped-up charges, as political payback for Netanyahu's having tried to reform the judicial system after he was last re-elected in 2022. The judicial reforms are desperately needed, but would diminish the absolute power that Supreme Court judges arrogated to themselves starting in the 1990s, and which they appear autocratically determined to keep.
Do these seemingly vindictive judges really think that Netanyahu's cigars and champagne are not more important than Israel's war against Iran's "Axis of Resistance"?
There is no reason for the prime minister to spend several hours a day in court now, when Israel is at war and he is successfully protecting his people from enemies seeking his country's destruction and the murder of all Jews.
Do these judges actually want Israel to lose the war just so they can keep their absolute power?
Some might view the judicial escapade against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in cases of trumped-up charges, as political payback for the prime minister's having tried to reform the judicial system after he was last re-elected in 2022. The judicial reforms are desperately needed. Do these judges actually want Israel to lose the war just so they can keep their absolute power? Pictured: Netanyahu enters the district court in Tel Aviv at the start of his hearing on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves an award for successfully leading the war against Iran's "Axis of Resistance" in the Middle East. He has not earned the title "The Churchill of the Middle East" for nothing.
Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, during which 1,200 Israelis were murdered and thousands injured, Israel has destroyed most of the terror group's military capabilities in the Gaza Strip and eliminated its top political and military leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
In Lebanon, Israel has also dealt a severe blow to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, which unleashed a wave of rocket and drone attacks on communities in northern Israel starting the day after the October 7 atrocities. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) -- in defiance of threats from the Biden administration to withhold badly needed military supplies if Israel tried to neutralize threats against it (such as here, here, here, here and here) -- succeeded in eliminating most of Hezbollah's political and military leaders, including the group's secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah.
Similarly, Israel launched two successful air strikes against Iran over the past few months. The attacks came after Iran had fired hundreds of missiles and attack drones at Israel.
Israel also carried out similar air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Yemen.
In the West Bank, the Netanyahu government declared war on various Iran-backed armed groups affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In the past year, the IDF killed or arrested hundreds of Palestinian terrorists, especially in the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus and Tubas.
It was thanks to Netanyahu's relentless war against the Iranian regime and its proxies that the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad collapsed in early December. In the past, Iran and Hezbollah had helped Assad to crush his opponents. This time, Iran and Hezbollah were not able to do anything to save the Syrian dictator. The mullahs in Tehran seem to have absorbed the lesson that provoking Israel comes with a heavy price.
Hezbollah, as a result of its war against Israel, was weakened to the point that it was unable to dispatch its men to fight the anti-Assad rebels as it had been able to do in the past. During its 14-month war on Israel, Hezbollah lost thousands of its men and most of its military infrastructure.
Israel's efforts to defend itself from Iran's "Axis of Resistance," however, are far from over. Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and Jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq continue to pose a serious threat. The IDF remains on high alert and Netanyahu continues to work around the clock to remove this threat once and for all.
Since the Turkish-backed Jihadist takeover of the Syrian regime, the dangers Israel faces have not diminished. As initially the greatest fear in Israel was that Assad's weapons would fall into the hands of Syria's new rulers, most of whom are Jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS), Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to take immediate preemptive measures, including destroying Syrian military bases and chemical weapons labs. He also instructed the IDF to enter the buffer zone along Israel's border with Syria to prevent Jihadists from carrying out another October 7-type of invasion of Israel. So far, at least, these measures have proven effective.
Netanyahu is now facing a grotesque challenge that could derail Israel's war against Iran, Turkey and their terror proxies. The attempted sabotage is coming not from them, but from Israel's own judicial system.
Recently, Israeli judges turned down Netanyahu's request to delay his testimony in court, where he is standing trial for charges including breach of trust, accepting bribes (cigars and champagne) and fraud. The Israel Police began investigating Netanyahu in December 2016 and subsequently recommended indictments against him. Despite the charges, Netanyahu has since been re-elected as prime minister more than once, an indication that a majority of Israelis continue to view him as their preferred candidate for the job.
What is lethal for the country is that the judges ruled that Netanyahu must appear in court three times a week for at least six consecutive hours each time. All this when the prime minister is preoccupied with the multi-front war against Israel by Iran, its terror proxies, and now Turkey, which no doubt sees its proxy-invasion of Syria as a pathway to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's long-term dream to "liberate Jerusalem from the Jews."
Attempts by Netanyahu's lawyers and other senior Israeli government officials to explain to the judges that dragging the prime minister to court during these extremely dangerous times is harmful to Israel's national security, have fallen on deaf ears. Needless to say, Netanyahu has complied with the court ruling. He began his testimony last week and will continue to appear before the court in the next few weeks.
Some might view this judicial escapade, in cases of trumped-up charges, as political payback for Netanyahu's having tried to reform the judicial system after he was last re-elected in 2022. The judicial reforms are desperately needed, but would diminish the absolute power that Supreme Court judges arrogated to themselves starting in the 1990s, and which they appear autocratically determined to keep.
The court's insistence that Netanyahu spend several hours a day testifying demonstrates a contempt not just for him, but for the security of the country. The judges could have at least reduced the court appearances to once or twice a week, but they chose to ignore warnings that Israel is at war and that the prime minister might need to spend time with his cabinet ministers and generals instead of testifying about cigars and champagne that he allegedly received from friends as gifts.
"I work 17-18 hours a day," Netanyahu told the court during his first testimony session.
"I eat my lunch at my desk. Waiters in white gloves don't serve me meals. I work around the clock, into the small hours. I usually go to sleep at around 1 or 2 in the morning and have almost no time to see family or children. Now and then, I sin with a cigar, which I can't smoke at length because I'm always in meetings and briefings... By the way, I loathe champagne; I simply don't like it and I can't drink it."
Do these seemingly vindictive judges really think that Netanyahu's cigars and champagne are not more important than Israel's war against Iran's "Axis of Resistance"? The judges also appear to have forgotten that Netanyahu is also trying to secure the release of 100 Israeli hostages who have been held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 by Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Israel and the West would be far better off to see Netanyahu sitting with his security and military advisors to discuss ways of further neutralizing Israel's enemies and releasing the hostages, rather than wasting his time explaining why he accepted cigars and champagne from friends. No one is saying that the charges against Netanyahu should be dropped. The trial has been going on for eight years. There is no reason for the prime minister to spend several hours a day in court now, when Israel is at war and he is successfully protecting his people from enemies seeking his country's destruction and the murder of all Jews.
Do these judges actually want Israel to lose the war just so they can keep their absolute power?
The trumped-up charges against Netanyahu are seen by many Israelis in the context of a politically-motivated campaign undemocratically to remove him from government.
Unfortunately, it appears that some in the Israeli judicial system have chosen to be part of this campaign. They do not seem to realize that Netanyahu's war on the Iranian regime and its terror proxies is good not only for Israel, but also for many Arabs and Westerners falling victim to Turkey's latest assaults in Syria and the Iranian mullahs' scheme to export their "Islamic Revolution" throughout the world.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Israel name-checked a notorious WWII attack to justify sinking Syria's navy
Michael Peck/Business Insider/ December 15, 2024
https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-wwii-attack-mers-el-kebir-attack-syrias-navy-2024-12
Israel invoked a WWII precedent in trying to justify its pre-emptive strikes in Syria.
During WWII, the Royal Navy attacked the fleet of its former ally to keep it from Nazi control.
Both operations were borne in atmospheres of fear and crisis.
When Israel sank six Syrian warships at the port of Latakia this week amid larger attacks on the military remnants of the ousted Assad regime, Israel's leader invoked a precedent from World War II.
"This is similar to what the British Air Force did when it bombed the fleet of the Vichy regime, which was cooperating with the Nazis, so that it would not fall into the Nazis' hands," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Though Netanyahu's history was faulty — it was the Royal Navy rather than the RAF that struck the French fleet — his analogy was revealing. The attack on the port of Mers-el-Kebir on July 3, 1940, has gone down as either a courageous decision that saved Britain — or a treacherous and needless backstab of an ally.At the least, it is one of Britain's most controversial decisions of the Second World War. Like Israel today, the British acted amid an atmosphere of crisis, haste and uncertainty. The Israeli goal is to keep the now-deposed Syrian government's huge arsenal — which includes chemical weapons and ballistic missiles — from falling into the hands of rebel groups, which are dominated by Islamic militants. For Britain, the goal was to keep Adolf Hitler's hands off the French fleet, the fourth-largest navy in the world in 1940.
In that chaotic summer of 1940, the situation looked grim. The German blitzkrieg had just conquered France and Western Europe, while the cream of the British Army had barely been evacuated — minus their equipment — from Dunkirk. If the Germans could launch an amphibious assault across the English Channel, the British Army was in no condition to repel them. However, Operation Sealion — the Nazi German plan to invade Britain — had its own problems. The Kriegsmarine — the German Navy — was a fraction of the size of the Royal Navy, and thus too small to escort vulnerable troop transports. But Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill had to contemplate a situation he had never expected: a combined German-French battlefleet. Technically, France had only agreed to an armistice — a permanent cease-fire — with Germany rather than surrender. France would be divided between German-occupied northern zone, and a nominally independent rump state of Vichy comprising southern France and the colonies of the French Empire. Vichy France would be allowed a meager army, and the French Navy would be confined to its home ports.
The British didn't trust French promises that its ships would be scuttled if the Germans tried to seize them. Why had France signed a separate peace with Germany after earlier pledging not to? Why didn't the French government choose to go into exile, and continue the war from its North African colonies as the British urged? London was well aware that the right-wing Vichy government — under Field Marshal Philippe Pétain, hero of the First World War — had more affection for the Third Reich than it did for Britain. With Germany master of Europe, Pétain sneered that Britain would soon "have its neck wrung like a chicken."
French warships at Mers-el-Kebir
After Vichy rebuffed pleas to send the fleet to British ports, Churchill and his ministers decided the risk was too great. In late June 1940, the Royal Navy received orders for Operation Catapult. A task force — including the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and three battleships and battlecruisers — would be dispatched to the French naval base at Mers-el-Kebir, near the Algerian port of Oran. A powerful French squadron of four battleships and six destroyers were docked there, including the new battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg.
The French were to be given six hours to respond to an ultimatum: sail their ships to British ports and fight the Germans, sail them to French Caribbean ports and sit out the war, demilitarize their ships at Mers-el-Kebir, or scuttle their vessels. When the local French commander tried to delay while summoning reinforcements, the British opened fire. The ensuing battle was not the Royal Navy's most glorious. Caught in every admiral's nightmare — unprepared ships anchored in port — the French were simply smothered by British gunfire. The battleship Bretagne and two destroyers were sunk, two other battleships damaged, and 1,297 French sailors perished. The British suffered two dead. This was no repeat of the Battle of Trafalgar, when the Royal Navy smashed a Franco-Spanish fleet off Spain in 1805. Most ships at Mers-el-Kebir were damaged rather than sunk, and the French fleet quickly relocated its scattered vessels to the heavily defended French port at Toulon (where they were scuttled in November 1942 when German troops occupied Vichy). Though Vichy didn't declare war on Britain — and only retaliated with a few minor attacks on British bases — it confirmed old French prejudices about British treachery and "perfidious Albion." Britain's attack on Mers-el-Kebir was political as much as military. In the summer of 1940, many people — including some in the United States — believed that the British would be conquered or compelled to make peace with a victorious Germany. Churchill argued that Britain had to show its resolve to keep on fighting, not least if it hoped to persuade America to send tanks, ships and war materials via a Lend-Lease deal. Attacking a former ally may have been a demonstration of British resolve. Israel's situation does not resemble that of Britain in 1940. Syria has never been an ally of Israel. The two nations have had an armistice since 1949, punctuated by multiple wars and clashes over the years. Britain acted out of a sense of weakness, while Israel is confident enough of its strength to hit targets in Syria. Yet by citing Mers-el-Kebir as a precedent, Netanyahu proved a golden rule of international relations that applied in 1940 and still applies today: Nations always act in their own interests. Faced with a choice between respecting a former ally and defending Britain from invasion, Churchill chose the latter. Netanyahu didn't hesitate to do the same. Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Is Syria's Julani part of a rising generation of younger Middle East leaders?
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/December 15/2024
If Julani is to remain in power for the coming years, he could play a transformative role in Syria and the Middle East.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new leader of Syria who also goes by the name Abu Mohammad al-Julani, represents a possible new era of leadership in the region. He was born in 1982, making him one of the youngest leaders around. There are other young leaders in the region, such as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was born in 1985. Sheikh Tamim Ibn Hamad al-Thani of Qatar was also born in 1980. This means a new generation is rising in the region. This generation is in contrast to some of the leaders in the region, who are not only aging but also represent eras that reflect a Cold War setting more than the modern era. The new Syrian leader could remain in power for many years to come. It’s also possible that he does not remain in power. However, if he does, he could play a transformative role. This is because he is not just young but represents the victory of a brand of political Islam that had seemed to be fading from the region. What this means is that while many countries have turned on groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which was more popular in the 1980s and 1990s, others have seen religious groups hold power for too long and ossify. For instance, the Turkish government has been run by Recep Tayyip Erdogan for two decades. His brand of Brotherhood-style politics is not new, but old. The new Syrian leadership appears to already be worrying the Jordanians. The King of Jordan knows that he could also face a popular uprising. During the Arab Spring, many of the countries that saw their regimes fall were Arab nationalist regimes, while the monarchies in the region withstood the tide. That means that Gadaffi in Libya was overthrown, and so was Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt. Other Arab nationalist regimes suffered similar fates. Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the US invasion in 2003. Ali Saleh in Yemen eventually was killed in 2017. When the Arab Spring threatened to topple the monarchy in Bahrain, the Saudis intervened. They stemmed the tide.
A lot changed since then. Qatar and Turkey have tended to back more Islamic-leaning governments and groups such as Hamas. Meanwhile, the Saudis and the UAE have pushed back against the Islamists. There are other factors in the region. The weakening of the Sunni Arab states and Arab nationalism has provided Iran a way to play a large role in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. It also used this influence to galvanize Hamas for war with Israel. Now, many think the Iranian “axis” is on the decline. It has lost Syria, a key partner. What is stepping into the vacuum? Ankara and Qatar are rushing to re-open embassies in Damascus to grab a piece of the prize. Turkey says it could help train the forces of the new government. Jordan is worried.
The new leader in Syria will have to deal with the competing groups that want sway in Damascus. For now, he does not seem interested in meddling in neighboring countries. The overthrow of Assad has not led to protests in Amman, Baghdad, or Ramallah. However, it is clear that many leaders in the region are aging and represent an older era. Mahmoud Abbas was born in the 1930s. For him, smartphones are a new invention. He was already a middle-aged man at the height of the Cold War. Nabih Berri, the Shi’ite leader in Lebanon, was also a product of the 1930s. Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader in Lebanon, and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu are both in their seventies. Their formative experiences were in the 1980s. The Egyptian leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi was born in 1954. His military experience was also in the 1970s and 1980s. These are products of the Cold War era.
A new generation of leaders gone?
That does not mean they cannot be good leaders, but it means inevitably, they are not full of the youth of a new generation. The Hamas members who plunged the region into war on October 7 have destroyed a generation of young people’s opportunities. They did it for themselves so that Khaled Meshaal, Ismail Haniyeh, and Yahya Sinwar could feel good about themselves before their deaths, so they could see one more pile of bodies before they leave this vale of tears. That is what they did. They destroyed Gaza in their own vain. The new Syrian leader may have a different view of the region than those who have thrived on war and destruction. He surely knows war, having lived it for the last two decades. Perhaps he will not glory in it as Hamas and Turkey’s leaders have done or fan the flames of it as Doha and Iran have done? It remains to be seen because it’s possible he could seek new adventurous causes as young people have a tendency to do. He has a choice now, as does MBS and others. They could form a new regional leadership. The new leadership in Damascus could say goodbye to the wars driven by Iran, Russia, Turkey, Hamas, Doha, and other countries. They could embrace peace, unlike Ismail Haniyeh and Hassan Nasrallah. This is the choice.

Iran’s territorial integrity: A strategic imperative for regional and global stability - opinion
Aidin Panahi/Jerusalem Post/December 15/2024
For the US and its allies, preserving Iran’s territorial integrity is not only a strategic necessity but also an investment in long-term regional stability.
The Middle East stands at a crossroads as Iran’s territorial integrity becomes a subject of growing debate. Within Iran, the vast majority of its people – whether Azeri, Kurd, Lor, Baloch, or Arab – identify as Iranian and remain firmly committed to preserving their country’s territorial integrity. However, a small segment of the population, often influenced by external actors or driven by grievances rooted in systemic discrimination by the Islamic regime in Iran, advocates for federalism or ethnic autonomy. These marginal calls, while enjoying minimal domestic support, are amplified by foreign powers seeking to exploit Iran’s vulnerabilities, leveraging such movements to weaken the country’s sovereignty and further their geopolitical agendas.
Iran’s territorial integrity is not merely a domestic issue but a foundation of regional and global stability. Geographically and geopolitically, Iran occupies a central position in the Middle East. As the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz – a critical choke point through which 21% of global petroleum exports pass; approximately 17 million barrels of oil daily in 2024 – Iran’s stability has a direct impact on energy markets worldwide. Any disruption to this vital flow would send shockwaves through the global economy, destabilizing markets from New York to Tokyo.
A divided Iran risks losing control over this strategic passage to separatist militias, proxy forces backed by regional powers such as Turkey or Saudi Arabia, or extremist organizations like ISIS. These actors could exploit a weakened central authority to disrupt maritime traffic, impose tolls, or use the strait as a bargaining chip to achieve their geopolitical aims, plunging the region into prolonged instability with global ramifications. Beyond energy security, the fragmentation of Iran would have profound consequences for its neighbors. Turkey and the Persian Gulf states, in particular, would face significant destabilizing repercussions, including increased refugee flow and heightened regional tensions. While Afghanistan is already grappling with its own challenges, the spillover from a fractured Iran could exacerbate instability throughout the broader region.
Additionally, Pakistan’s Balochistan province has experienced a long-standing insurgency by Baloch nationalists, who advocate for an independent Balochistan that spans ethnic Baloch areas in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. Such developments would not only ignite new conflicts but also add layers of complexity to the existing wars, proxy battles, and geopolitical rivalries in the Middle East. The disintegration of Iran’s central authority would amplify tensions, creating power vacuums that foster extremism and invite proxy wars, destabilizing the region for decades.
Iran’s territorial integrity is a foundation of both United States and Israeli national security, as its fragmentation would trigger cascading effects across the Middle East. For the US, a stable Iran is essential for countering adversaries such as Russia and China, both of which would exploit a fractured Iran to expand their strategic influence. Russia could entrench its military and political foothold in the region, while China would leverage Iran’s strategic location to advance its Belt and Road Initiative, undermining US efforts to maintain regional stability and secure critical trade routes.
While the current Iranian regime poses a direct threat through its proxies like Hezbollah, a fragmented Iran could lead to ungoverned spaces that serve as safe havens for extremist groups, creating unpredictable security challenges. Additionally, a divided Iran would embolden rival powers like Turkey to extend their influence over regions, further destabilizing the regional balance of power.
The preservation of Iran’s territorial integrity does not imply support for its current regime. Division and fragmentation are not viable solutions with which to dismantle the regime’s authoritarian grip. Instead, the focus must remain on empowering the Iranian people in their pursuit of democracy, within a unified framework. Policymakers in the US and Israel should adopt a dual strategy: intensifying targeted pressure on the regime while amplifying support for democratic movements and civil society. Sanctions must be designed to isolate the regime’s leadership and dismantle its oppressive institutions without inflicting harm on the broader population. At the same time, diplomatic efforts should engage exiled opposition leaders to amplify the voices of Iranians advocating for change. This strategy avoids direct engagement with the regime, while reinforcing external pressure and fostering internal resilience to promote unity.
For the US and its allies, preserving Iran’s territorial integrity is not only a strategic necessity but also an investment in long-term regional stability.
The Middle East cannot endure another cycle of destabilization, nor can the global economy absorb the shocks of intensified instability in such a critical region.
The writer is an Iranian-American research professor and energy expert, political and human rights activist, organizer of joint events between Iranian and Jewish communities in Massachusetts, and leading the From Boston To Iran Group alongside other fellow activists.

Al-Maliki’s Shock: The Play and the ‘Sellout’
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/December 15/2024
Nouri al-Maliki claims to be “shocked” by the developments in Syria. However, “shock” is not the right word. Instead, it reflects ideological self-delusion—a sentiment shared by many, including intellectuals, media figures, militias, and large segments of the public. They have crafted and believed a narrative sustained by phrases like “a staged play” and “he was sold out.”
In 2009 for example, al-Maliki threatened to prosecute Bashar al-Assad internationally following devastating bombings in Iraq, accusing Assad of terrorism. But when sectarian considerations took precedence, he changed course, concluding that Assad’s survival served his interests, as the man’s downfall would empower what he called the “other terrorists”—the Sunnis. To grasp the broader picture, we must dispel some pervasive myths. Russia did not “sell out” Assad. Iran did not “sell out” Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah did not “sell out” Yahya Sinwar. Instead, fundamental truths have been overlooked due to the region’s obsession with ideological beliefs propagated through media, education, and even by some intellectuals.
Russia has not abandoned Assad. However, it’s bogged down in Ukraine, preparing for a possible Trump return, and strategizing to end the war draining its resources by the summer. Its growing reliance on Iranian drones, North Korean troops, and Houthi fighters underscores the strain it faces. Russia’s role in Syria remains largely aerial, with minimal ground presence.
Iran, similarly, hasn’t abandoned Assad or Hezbollah. However, it has faced significant setbacks due to Israeli dominance. Israel has extracted vast amounts of intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, dismantled Tehran’s militias and leadership in Syria, and severely weakened Hezbollah in Lebanon. These blows have left both Assad and Hezbollah in a diminished state.
The “pager operation” alone was a testament to an intelligence superiority. Nasrallah’s most recent speech acknowledged that the endgame is near. Simultaneously, Israeli strikes dealt a crippling blow to Iran’s air defense systems. So while Iran hasn’t “sold out,” it’s now more preoccupied with its own survival.
Nasrallah, too, didn’t abandon Sinwar. Instead, Sinwar’s disastrous strategic mistake—the October 7 attacks—sparked a chain reaction that unraveled the “Axis of Resistance.” Nasrallah attempted to juggle conflicting priorities: defending Hamas, safeguarding Iran’s interests, and ensuring his party’s survival—a balancing act that was bound to fail. The reality is clear: there is a vast military and technological imbalance, heavily favoring Israel, bolstered by robust international—especially American—support. Iran’s weapons and defense systems are more myth than fact. This is why Trump is reportedly considering a strike on Iran’s nuclear program. Trump, after all, ordered Qassem Soleimani’s assassination without facing serious retaliation. As for Assad’s regime, it has been effectively brain-dead for years, kept alive artificially by external powers and thoroughly infiltrated. Since 2011, I have repeatedly noted that Assad views deceit as a political strategy. This mindset has left him incapable of growth or adaptation, even when receiving global support. Another truth is that militias across the region are on a path to eventual decline. Their existence is unsustainable. They lack real societal backing despite relentless propaganda and remain heavily infiltrated by Israeli intelligence. Additionally, many key players in the region are aging or overwhelmed by internal crises in their own countries.
If we fail to recognize the vast disparity in military and technological capabilities between Israel and the region, the consequences will be disastrous. Does this mean we should surrender? Absolutely not. Instead, we must rely on our most powerful weapon: reason.
The fall of Assad should be viewed as a historic turning point—one that demands careful analysis. Such moments are rare and may not recur for decades. Our greatest strength lies in rationality. And as the saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole, the first step is to stop digging.

Why chemical weapons remain post-Assad Syria’s unfinished nightmare
Jonathan Gornall/Arab News/December 15, 2024
LONDON: In August 2012, exactly two months after the UN had officially declared Syria to be in a state of civil war, US President Barack Obama made a pledge that he would ultimately fail to keep, and which would overshadow the rest of his presidency.
Since the beginning of protests against the government of Bashar Assad, Syria’s armed forces had been implicated in a series of attacks using banned chemical weapons. During a press briefing in the White House on Aug. 12, Obama was asked if he was considering deploying US military assets to Syria, to ensure “the safe keeping of the chemical weapons, and if you’re confident that the chemical weapons are safe?”A Syrian couple mourning in front of bodies wrapped in shrouds ahead of funerals following what Syrian rebels claim to be a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013. (AFP). Obama replied that he had “not ordered military engagement in the situation. But … we cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people.” The US, he said, was “monitoring that situation very carefully. We have put together a range of contingency plans. We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons.”
In the event, Obama stepped back from the action he had threatened — with devastating consequences for hundreds of Syrians.
INNUMBERS
Tonnes of mustard gas missing from Syria despite admission of its existence in 2016.
Tonnes of precursor chemicals used to make the nerve agent sarin also unaccounted for.Despite Syrian promises and, as part of a deal brokered by its ally Russia, commitments it made in 2012 by joining the Chemical Weapons Convention in a successful bid to stave off US military intervention, experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) believe that stocks of chemical weaponry still exist in the country. With the fall of Damascus and the toppling of the Assad regime, the whereabouts of those weapons is a matter of great concern. The nightmare scenario feared by the OPCW is that the weapons will fall into the hands of a malign actor. Among the missing chemicals, the existence of which was admitted by the Syrian authorities in 2016, is more than 360 tons of mustard gas, an agent used to such devastating effect during the First World War that it was among the chemicals banned by the Geneva Protocol in 1925. Also unaccounted for, according to a confidential investigation leaked to The Washington Post, are five tons of precursor chemicals used to make the nerve agent sarin. When pressed by investigators to explain where it had gone, the Syrians told OPCW investigators it had been “lost during transportation, due to traffic accidents.”On Thursday, the OPCW said it was ready to send investigation teams to Syria as soon as safe access to the country could be negotiated. Reassurance has been offered by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the armed group that toppled the Assad regime and has now set up an interim government, that it has “no intention to use Assad’s chemical weapons or WMD (weapons of mass destruction), under any circumstances, against anyone.”In a statement issued on Dec. 7, it added: “We consider the use of such weapons a crime against humanity, and we will not allow any weapon whatsoever to be used against civilians or transformed into a tool for revenge or destruction.” There would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the use of chemical weapons.
Barack Obama, Former US president in 2012
The fact that chemical weapons might still exist in Syria at all is testimony to the failure of international efforts to rid the country of them back in 2012.
“Whether Obama had meant to say that these were real red lines, or they’re sort of pinkish lines, everybody in the region thought they were red lines,” Sir John Jenkins, former British ambassador to Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, who was in Saudi Arabia at the time, told Arab News. “That whole episode was pretty squalid. The fact was, Obama didn’t want to get into any sort of conflict, even restricted action, involving Syria — and a lot of that was the legacy of Iraq — and the Russians gave him an excuse.”Barack Obama, Former US president in 2012. In August 2013, almost one year after Obama’s “red line” pledge, as the civil war raged and the civilian death toll mounted into the tens of thousands, shocking photographs emerged of child victims of chemical attacks carried out against areas held by militant groups in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. By chance, a UN inspection team was already in the country, having arrived on Aug. 18 to investigate reports of several earlier chemical weapons attacks, in Khan Al-Asal and Sheik Maqsood, Aleppo, and Saraqib, a town 50 km to the southwest. Instead, the inspectors headed to Ghouta. After interviewing survivors and medical personnel, and taking environmental, chemical and medical samples, they concluded there was no doubt that “chemical weapons have been used … against civilians, including children on a relatively large scale.”
Sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent, had been delivered by artillery rockets.
On Aug. 30, 2013, the White House issued a statement concluding with “high confidence” that the Syrian government had carried out the attacks, which had killed at least 1,429 people, including 426 children. Obama’s “red line” had clearly been crossed. But the promised “enormous consequences” failed to materialize. In a televised address on Sept. 10, 2013, Obama said he had determined that it was in the national security interests of the US to respond to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike, “to deter Assad from using chemical weapons … and to make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use.”But in the same speech, the president made clear that he had hit the pause button. Because of “constructive talks that I had with President Putin,” the Russian government — Assad’s biggest ally — “has indicated a willingness to join with the international community in pushing Assad to give up his chemical weapons.” The Syrian government had “now admitted that it has these weapons, and even said they’d join the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits their use.”As part of the unusual collaboration between the US and Russia, later enshrined in UN Resolution 2118, the threatened US airstrikes were called off and on Oct. 14, 2013 — less than two months after the massacre in Ghouta — Syria became the 190th state to become a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, administered by the OPCW. Syria’s accession to the convention was supposed to lead to the total destruction of its chemical weapons stockpiles. The fact was, President Obama didn’t want to get into any sort of conflict, even restricted action, involving Syria. Sir John Jenkins, former British ambassador to Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. At first, everything seemed to be going to plan. On Jan. 7, 2014, the OPCW announced that the first consignment of “priority chemicals” had been removed from Syria. The chemicals were transported from two sites and loaded onto a Danish vessel, which left the port of Latakia. Transporting these materials, said then-director-general of the OPCW Ahmet Uzumcu, was “an important step … as part of the plan to complete their disposal outside the territory of Syria.”
He added: “I encourage the Syrian government to maintain the momentum to remove the remaining priority chemicals, in a safe and timely manner, so that they can be destroyed outside of Syria as quickly as possible.”In fact, as a joint statement by the US and 50 other countries a decade later would declare, “10 years later, Syria, in defiance of its international obligations, has still not provided full information on the status of its chemical weapons stockpiles.”Not only that, added the statement on Oct. 12, 2023, investigations by the UN and the OPCW had established that Syria had been responsible “for at least nine chemical weapons attacks since its accession to the CWC in 2013,” demonstrating that “its stockpiles have not been completely destroyed and remain a threat to regional and international security.”
Over a year on, little has changed. In a speech to the EU Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Consortium in Brussels on Nov. 12, the director-general of the OPCW admitted the organization’s work in Syria was still not complete.
“For more than 10 years now,” said Fernando Arias, the organization’s Declaration Assessment Team “has strived to clarify the shortcomings in Syria’s initial declaration.”
Of 26 issues identified, “only seven have been resolved, while 19 remain outstanding, some of which are of serious concern,” and two of which “relate to the possible full-scale development and production of chemical weapons.”
This may have occurred at two declared chemical weapons-related sites where, according to Syria, no activity was supposed to have taken place but where OPCW inspectors had detected “relevant elements.” Questions put to Syria had “so far not been answered appropriately.”
Under the Convention, Syria is obliged to submit “accurate and complete declarations” of its chemical weapons program. The OPCW’s mandate, said Arias, “is to verify that this has indeed happened, and so far, we have not been able to do so.”
Meanwhile, the organization’s fact-finding mission “is gathering information and analysing data regarding five groups of allegations covering over 15 incidents,” while investigators have issued four reports to date linking the Syrian Armed Forces to the use of chemical weapons in five instances and the terrorist group Daesh in one. This, said Arias, “highlights the ever-present risk posed by non-state actors … acquiring toxic chemicals for malicious purposes.”
“Everyone knew there were still secret sites, undeclared sites,” Wa’el Alzayat, a former Middle East policy expert at the US Department of State, told Arab News.
“Even the US intelligence community had assessments that there were still other facilities and stockpiles, but the more time passed, and with the change of administration, the issue not only got relegated but new political calculations came into place, particularly, I would say, during the Biden years, and also because of pressure from some neighboring countries that wanted to normalize with Assad and bring him back in from the cold.”Twelve years on from Obama’s failure to act over Syria’s crossing of his infamous “red line,” it seems that an American intervention is once again unlikely in Syria. Right before the fall of the regime, US intelligence agencies, concerned that Syrian government forces might resort to the use of chemical weapons to stall the advance of militant groups, let it be known that they were monitoring known potential storage sites in the country.
Just before the sudden collapse of the Assad regime, both the Biden and the incoming Trump administrations signalled a lack of willingness to become embroiled in the conflict. President-elect Trump, employing his trademark capital letters for emphasis, posted on social media that the US “SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH” the “mess” that is Syria. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” he added. ‘LET IT PLAY OUT.” It remains to be seen whether the sudden collapse of the Assad regime has altered this calculation. What is certain, however, is that chemical weaponry remains at large in Syria and HTS is now under international pressure to allow OPCW inspectors into the country, for the sake of the entire region.