English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 21/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the
needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers
Letter to the Romans 12/09-21/:"Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold
fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another
in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the
needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute
you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but
associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay
anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If
it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written,
‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are
hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by
doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good."
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on December
20-21/2024
A Complete Disconnect Between
the Conscience of the Majority of Druze and Their three political Leaders/Elias
Bejjani/December 20/2024
Israeli army withdraws from Bani Hayyan, Lebanese Army deploys along Litani
Israeli army destroys homes and infrastructure in South Lebanon's Maroun El Ras
and Yaroun
Three bodies recovered from Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs
Al-Jolani says new Syria to 'stand at equal distance' from all Lebanese
UN's Lebanon coordinator says 2025 offers reason for hope
Gunfire-hit car found after Israel nabs 3 men in south Lebanon
Syrians recover human remains from site used by Hezbollah and other Assad allies
New Warning From Adraee and Continued Israeli Operations in Naqoura
The untold toll of war: Search for missing Hezbollah fighters hindered by
Israel's destruction
Berri Asserts Continuous Efforts to Elect President on Jan. 9
General J. Aoun to New Army Cadets: 'Your Mission Is Sacred'
MP Bilal Abdallah: We have yet to see the minimal efforts needed to prepare for
January 9
PM Mikati discusses coordination with international partners on Lebanon's
reconstruction
Beirut's Humiliating Street Names/Johnny Kortbawi/©This is Beirut/December 20,
2024
Sami Gemayel says won't take revenge or exclude Shiites as Lebanon 'rises again
Army chief Joseph Aoun: Jumblat's candidate and Gemayel's friend
Naim Qassem on Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon and about-face on Syria/David
Daoud/FDD's Long War Journal/December 20/2024
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on December
20-21/2024
At least two dead, 68
injured after car drives into German Christmas market
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no
concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was
wise to be vigilant.
US scraps $10m bounty for arrest of Syria's new leader Sharaa
US diplomats meet representatives of Syria’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham in Damascus
US delegation meets with al-Jolani in Damascus
US airstrike kills ISIS leader in Syria: Officials
Unseen ‘Since the Nazis’: Syrians Uncover Mass Graves and Evidence of Assad
Regime’s Atrocities
Turkey, Iran leaders meet at Muslim summit in Cairo
Erdogan says Turkey expects allies to pull support from Kurds in post-Assad
Syria
What will Syria's future look like? The answer could lie in other Arab
countries' recent pasts
Turkey and Russia engage in delicate maneuvers over Syria after Assad’s downfall
Israel media report accuses troops of indiscriminate killing of Gaza civilians
Israel's Netanyahu eyes Iran after triumphs over Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria/Samia
Nakhoul/Reuters/December 20, 2024
Israeli airstrikes kill at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say
For thousands of Jews, Israel still doesn't feel safe after the Oct. 7 attacks.
So they're leaving
Israel and Hamas appear close to a ceasefire deal. These are the sticking
points/Samy Magdy And Tia Goldenberg/CAIRO (AP)/December 20, 2024
US says new Syria rulers helping in hunt for reporter Tice
Palestinians accuse Israeli settlers of West Bank mosque fire
UN extends peacekeeping mission between Syria, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
Palestinian officials accuse Israeli settlers of mosque arson in West Bank
US charges Iran Guards captain in 2022 killing of American in Iraq
Trump Orders Europe to Buy More U.S. Oil and Gas—or Face Tariffs/Will Neal/The
Daily Beast/December 20, 2024
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on December
20-21/2024
The Crusades: ‘White Supremacist’ Ventures Defined by ‘Injustices and
Unspeakable Tragedies’?/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/December 20/2024
Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan' Comes Out Against Turkish President Erdoğan
'Who Is Working To Revive The Ottoman Caliphate'/MEMRI/December 20, 2024
Unmasking The Religious Dimensions Of Hizbullah’s Decades Of Planning For An
October 7-Style Invasion And Massacre Of Jews/By Steven Stalinsky, Ph.D/MEMRI/December
20, 2024
Somehow, Gaza’s suffering increased in 2024/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/December
20/2024
Taliban infighting adds to Afghanistan’s woes/Luke Coffey/Arab News/December
20/2024
Regional support crucial for Turkiye’s new Syria policy/Sinem Cengiz/Arab
News/December 20/2024
Addressing AI’s bias from a humanistic perspective/Patrizia A. Ecker/Arab
News/December 20/2024
How the International Community Can Best Help the Palestinians/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute./December 20, 2024
on December
20-21/2024
A Complete Disconnect Between the Conscience
of the Majority of Druze and Their three political Leaders
Elias Bejjani/December 20/2024
It is evident that the sovereign, patriotic, and brave Druze are on one path,
while Jumblatt, Arslan, and Wahhab are on a completely different one, entirely
disconnected from the conscience of their community.
Israeli army withdraws from Bani Hayyan, Lebanese Army
deploys along Litani
Naharnet/December 20, 2024
Israeli army forces withdrew Friday from the southern town of Bani Hayyan two
days after invading it, media reports said. The Israeli army withdrew from the
town towards Markaba, after its forces carried out bulldozing and detonations of
houses and roads.
The Bani Hayyan Municipality had said in a statement issued Thursday that
contact was lost with an elderly woman who was inside the town during the
Israeli forces' incursion. Her fate remains unknown. In addition, Israeli army
forces carried out detonations in Naqoura, southern Lebanon. UNIFIL forces and
the Lebanese Army meanwhile deployed Friday in the valleys located along the
Litani River between Deir Siryan, Alman, al-Qusayr, Yohmor al-Shaqif and Zawtar
al-Sharqiyeh, based on recommendations from the ceasefire supervision committee.
According to reports, checkpoints and fixed points will be established for the
Lebanese Army and UNIFIL at the entrances to the southern Litani sector and the
banks of the Litani River from Marjayoun to al-Qasmiyeh.
Israeli army destroys homes and infrastructure in South
Lebanon's Maroun El Ras and Yaroun
LBCI/December 20, 2024
On Friday afternoon, the Israeli army carried out demolitions in several
villages in South Lebanon. Homes were destroyed in the towns of Maroun El Ras
and Yaroun, located in the Bint Jbeil district, as well as parts of the border
town of Naqoura.
The operation targeted residential buildings and key infrastructure in the
affected areas, further escalating tensions along the border.
Three bodies recovered from Haret Hreik in Beirut's
southern suburbs
LBCI/December 20, 2024
The National News Agency (NNA) reported Friday that three bodies have been
recovered from under the rubble in Haret Hreik in Beirut's southern suburbs
following Israel's war on Lebanon.
Al-Jolani says new Syria to 'stand at equal distance'
from all Lebanese
Naharnet/December 20, 2024
The military leader of the Islamist-led rebels who ousted Syrian president
Bashar al-Assad, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who now prefers to use his real name
Ahmad al-Sharaa, has reassured the Lebanese about the future of relations
between the two countries. "Indeed the Lebanese brothers had a lot of concerns
over our takeover of Damascus, thinking that that would strengthen one side
against another in Lebanon. In fact we are not seeking any hegemony relation
with the Lebanese neighbors, seeing as we have enough work to do in our
country," al-Jolani said in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. "We
want a relation of respect and reciprocity and we don't want to interfere in
Lebanese domestic affairs," he added. "We will stand at an equal distance from
all Lebanese and what satisfies them will satisfy us," al-Jolani stated.
UN's Lebanon coordinator says 2025 offers reason for hope
Naharnet/December 20, 2024
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on
Friday issued an end of year message for the Lebanese. “2024 was, to put it
mildly, an exceptionally difficult year for Lebanon. Far too many lives were
lost, devastated, and disrupted. The conflict (between Israel and Hezbollah),
which inflicted untold suffering and trauma, also left great destruction. And
certainly, the arduous process of healing, picking up the pieces, and rebuilding
has only just begun,” Hennis-Plasschaert said. “While considerable work lies
ahead to ensure that the ceasefire arrangement endures and yields the dividends
of security and stability that the Lebanese people deserve, 2025 offers the
promise of opportunity and reason for hope,” she added.“The United Nations has
stood by Lebanon and its people through challenging times before and continues
to do so now. On behalf of the entire U.N. family, I wish all Lebanese peace,
good health, and greater prosperity in the New Year,” Hennis-Plasschaert went on
to say.
Gunfire-hit car found after Israel nabs 3 men in south
Lebanon
Naharnet/December 20, 2024
The car of 20-year-old man Mahdi Shammout was found Friday in the Wadi al-Hujeir
area in south Lebanon after contact was lost with him on Thursday, al-Jadeed TV
said. Five gunshot marks were found on the front of the car, a black BMW, al-Jadeed
added. The abductees Ali Younes and Fouad Qataya were meanwhile in a white
Toyota pickup that was found on the same road, the TV network said. A security
source confirmed to al-Jadeed that the three men were abducted by the Israeli
army.
Syrians recover human remains from site used by
Hezbollah and other Assad allies
Associated Press/December 20, 2024
The Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the White Helmets, uncovered at least
21 corpses as well as incomplete human remains on Wednesday in the Sayyida
Zeinab suburb of the capital Damascus. The discovery was made at a site
previously used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed Iraqi militias, both
allies of deposed President Bashar Assad during the country’s civil war. The
site included a field kitchen, a drugstore and a morgue, according to Ammar al-Salmo,
an official with the White Helmets, a volunteer organization that operated in
areas that were controlled by the opposition. Rescue teams in white hazmat suits
searched the site, located not far from the revered shrine of Sayyida Zeinab,
the granddaughter of Prophet Mohammad. The remains were placed into black bags
and loaded onto a truck as bystanders from the neighborhood looked on. “Some (of
the remains) are skeletons, others are incomplete, and there are bags of small
bones. We cannot yet determine the number of victims,” al-Salmo said. “Damascus
has become a mass grave,” he said, pointing out the growing reports of
war-related graves and burial sites in the capital and other places in Syria.
Iran and Hezbollah provided Assad’s government with military, financial and
logistical support during the civil war.
New Warning From Adraee and Continued Israeli Operations in
Naqoura
This is Beirut/December 20, 2024
Three Lebanese citizens were kidnapped on Thursday evening by the Israeli army
in Wadi Houjeir (Marjeyoun) in south Lebanon. They have been identified as Mahdi
Chammout, Fouad Qataya and Ali Younes, according to several media reports. In
yet another warning from the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay
Adraee, residents of southern Lebanon were warned on Monday against returning to
their villages (62 according to the message posted on the X platform). In
Naqoura, where Israeli forces have been continuing their operations since the
ceasefire was announced on November 27, several streets and homes were destroyed
in the morning. In addition, Israeli soldiers withdrew from the village of Bani
Hayyan (Marjayoun), moving towards Markaba, in the same district. Last
Wednesday, they demolished roads and houses in Bani Hayyan, after infiltrating
the village. Meanwhile, the Civil Defense continues in its efforts to clear the
rubble in the Haret Hreik area, in search of the remains of seven people
presumed to have perished as a result of Israeli strikes on the area, and more
specifically the Hezbollah headquarters where the group's former
Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was killed.
Lebanese Army Statement
The Lebanese army announced that it will detonate unexploded ordnance in Qalaa (Marjayoun)
and Yabseh (Rachaya) between 10 AM and 6 PM on Friday. The army will also be
detonating an aerial bomb and unexploded munitions left over from Israeli
strikes in Jurd al-Taybeh-Baalbeck between 12:00 and 17:00.
The untold toll of war: Search for missing Hezbollah
fighters hindered by Israel's destruction
LBCI/December 20, 2024
Nearly three weeks after the ceasefire in Israel's war on Lebanon, the scars
remain deep, particularly for the families of fighters who have not been
accounted for. For some families, the confirmation of a loved one's martyrdom
came through reports from surviving comrades who were with them at the exact
location or from the recovery of the fighter's weapon without their body.
However, there is no final count yet of the fallen fighters. Hezbollah has
refrained from releasing official statistics on the total number of martyrs
since the start of the 'support front' for various reasons. The situation is
further complicated by the Israeli army's continued occupation of nearly all
border villages, except Khiam, which is now under the control of the Lebanese
Army. In Khiam, only a small number of martyrs have been found, while estimates
suggest that around 200 individuals from the village are still missing.
The search efforts have been hampered, as Israeli forces have bulldozed lands
and destroyed buildings where the missing are believed to have been buried.
Additionally, Israel used incendiary munitions containing gases in strikes on
underground tunnels and facilities, which are suspected to have caused
suffocation among fighters sheltering there. The devastation extends beyond
Khiam. Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted rescue workers and Lebanese Army
personnel during recovery efforts, further hindering the search for missing
individuals. Consequently, the number of missing is known only to Hezbollah,
which has not disclosed details yet until the identities of recovered bodies and
remains can be verified. Since the war began in October 2023 and through
September 27, Hezbollah has officially announced the martyrdom of 470 fighters.
Notably, at least 400 of them were mourned since the start of the battle on
September 23. Many others have been buried as provisional "deposits," awaiting
proper funerals in their still-occupied hometowns.
Berri Asserts Continuous Efforts to Elect President on
Jan. 9
This is Beirut/December 20, 2024
Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri affirmed on Friday that “efforts are ongoing
so that on the parliamentary session of January 9, a president is elected.”He
reaffirmed that he has no plans to postpone the session and has not been asked
to do so by political forces in remarks to the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat. He
emphasized that “presidency comes first” and refuted reports that he was
attempting to secure earlier agreements on the future government, the prime
minister’s name, the government’s composition and its ministerial statement.
Berri further stated that “everything will become clear during the session” in
reference to his ally, former Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid
Joumblatt, backing Army commander General Joseph Aoun in the presidential race.
General J. Aoun to New Army Cadets: 'Your Mission Is
Sacred'
This is Beirut/December 20, 2024
Army Commander-in-Chief General Joseph Aoun on Friday congratulated cadets
admitted in the Military Academy for joining the “institution of honor,
sacrifice and loyalty.”“Armies are built for times of adversity, sacrifice is
our destiny, even martyrdom if duty calls,” Aoun told the new cadets. “Let your
party be Lebanon and your sect be the uniform. It is Lebanon that protects the
sects, and not the other way around,” he added, stressing that the would-be
officers should ignore rumors aimed at undermining the Army as it is one of the
few institutions which are “still standing.”
“In three years, you will take an oath of duty to preserve the country’s flag,”
he said, pointing out that there are three oath-takers in the Lebanese state,
the president, the judge and the military, “because their mission is
sacred.”“The institution will remain by your side to support you with all its
capabilities,” he concluded.
MP Bilal Abdallah: We have yet to see the minimal efforts
needed to prepare for January 9
LBCI/December 20, 2024
MP Bilal Abdallah highlighted the importance of electing a president who can
reassure the Lebanese people and reopen the country to international relations
in light of regional changes. Speaking on LBCI, Abdallah remarked that some now
view the idea of a "consensus president" as provocative, urging a focus on
finding a leader capable of addressing internal concerns and fostering external
connections. He reiterated his bloc's previous support for Army Commander Joseph
Aoun as a presidential candidate, criticizing certain factions for lacking the
courage to endorse their preferred candidates publicly. "Aoun was one of the
three candidates we proposed earlier, and the country cannot endure more
political vacuum," he said. Abdallah stressed the urgency of breaking the
political deadlock before the next presidential session scheduled for January 9.
"We have yet to see the minimal efforts needed to prepare for this pivotal
session," he added. Despite political differences, Abdullah reaffirmed the
strong relationship between his bloc and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri,
stating, "No one can come between us, even if we end up voting for different
candidates."
PM Mikati discusses coordination with international
partners on Lebanon's reconstruction
LBCI/December 20, 2024
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a meeting on Friday with the United
Nations Resident Coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza, the World Bank's Regional
Director for the Middle East, Jean-Christophe Carret, and the European Union
Ambassador, Sandra De Waele. Also attending the meeting were Prime Minister
Mikati's advisors, former Minister Nicolas Nahas and Ziad Mikati. The
discussions focused on coordination between the Lebanese government and
international institutions, including the U.N., the EU, and the World Bank, to
provide assistance and support to Lebanon, particularly in the area of
reconstruction. Prime Minister Mikati also briefed the attendees on the current
security situation in the country, discussing the matter with the Director
General of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Imad Othman.
Beirut's Humiliating Street Names
Johnny Kortbawi/©This is Beirut/December 20, 2024
In Beirut, there is a specific mechanism for naming streets, involving the
municipality and the Ministry of Interior, as well as third parties proposing
names, provided they are approved by the concerned official authorities.
Beirut’s streets carry various names, ranging from those of intellectuals and
artists to individuals celebrated for their achievements, particularly among
Beirut’s residents. Some streets bear the names of Lebanese or foreign political
figures, reflecting different periods in Lebanon’s history. For example, Foch
Street in downtown Beirut, the first commercial street on the northern side, is
named after French General Ferdinand Foch. Many are unaware of the origins of
Beirut’s Street names, a subject that requires extensive, documented study. In
any case, the naming of Beirut’s streets was never a source of contention until
a few years ago, when a major controversy arose over naming a street at the
entrance of Ghobeiry after Mustafa Badreddine, the primary accused—and indeed
convicted—figure in the assassination of the martyred Prime Minister Rafic
Hariri. No one was able to overturn this decision, which was unfortunately
endorsed by the Minister of Interior, despite the fact that he was aligned with
Hezbollah’s opponents. As a result, we ended up with a street named after a man
convicted of killing a Prime Minister. The issue arose again with the naming of
the avenue welcoming travelers leaving the airport as Imam Khomeini Avenue,
after the leader of the Islamic Republic accused by a significant portion of
Lebanese people of funding an armed party against them. To put it bluntly, it is
a sponsor of terrorism in Lebanon, with all the consequences that entails.
Today, Hezbollah has been weakened, and its influence spans only those of weak
spirit. Bashar al-Assad has fallen disgracefully in Syria, and his hegemony in
the Middle East is no more. Demanding the removal of names like Hafez al-Assad,
Mustafa Badreddine and others who committed heinous acts against the Lebanese
people has become a national duty. We cannot accept streets named after figures
whose names humiliate the people. As one MP aptly put it, “Have you ever seen a
street in France named after Hitler?”On the other hand, some question the names
of other streets bearing the names of French, British or other foreign figures
on Lebanese soil. Take Foch, for example, or Allenby, or Weygand. There are many
such names in Lebanon’s history, but it is necessary to evaluate their impact
over time. Does the name Foch provoke the Lebanese, as the name Jamal Pasha
does, for example? This is precisely why there is no street named after Jamal
Pasha the “Butcher.”So why, then, do we accept having streets named after those
who killed, terrorized and abducted Lebanese people over the years without
mercy, and whose shadows still haunt relatives of people who went missing in
Syria years ago? A national celebration should be held the day these names are
removed from Beirut. Cleansing the capital of them is as significant as toppling
the regimes that embody the oppression of the Lebanese people.
Sami Gemayel says won't take revenge or exclude Shiites
as Lebanon 'rises again'
Naharnet/December 20, 2024
Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel said Friday that Hezbollah should know that the
Lebanese will not accept to stay "under its guardianship" or to be
"second-degree citizens" anymore. "We are neither willing to take revenge nor to
isolate or exclude anyone," he said, talking about Hezbollah, Amal, and their
supporters.
"We accept everyone but under the law and the constitution," he added. "The time
of chaos is over. From now on we will not accept any group, other than the
Lebanese army, to be armed."Gemayel had said, ahead of a presidential vote
session scheduled for Jan. 9, that the upcoming president must be committed to
the ceasefire agreement, although Gemayel's party and other opposition blocs
have not yet agreed on a candidate. Under the terms of a ceasefire reached in
November, the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers are to become the only armed
presence in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah has long held sway. "Lebanon is
rising again," Gemayel said. "The things that prevented building a state in the
past and isolated Lebanon from its Arab neighbors and the international
community have fallen."
Army chief Joseph Aoun: Jumblat's candidate and Gemayel's
friend
Naharnet/December 20, 2024
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has announced along with
the Democratic Gathering bloc that they would endorse Army chief Gen. Joseph
Aoun in a presidential vote scheduled for January 9. The bloc and Jumblat were
the first to announce their official candidate. But why did Jumblat decide to
support Aoun? "Aoun represents an important institution and has done an
excellent work for the stability of Lebanon," Jubmlat said. "He is very
important at this stage for the stability and security of Lebanon." The Lebanese
army, widely respected and a rare source of unity in a country riven by
sectarian and political divides, has recently deployed troops and tanks across
the country's south after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon went into
effect in late November. Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army and
U.N. peacekeepers are to become the only armed presence in south Lebanon, where
Hezbollah has long held sway. Hezbollah said it was cooperating with the
army.While Hezbollah and ally Amal want a president who would protect
Hezbollah's presence and its right to defend Lebanon, the opposition forces want
the total opposite, they want Hezbollah disarmed and only the army to defend
Lebanon and be present across the country including in the south, bordering
Israel. "We want a president committed to the ceasefire agreement and we want
only the Lebanese army to have weapons," Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel said,
although his party and other opposition blocs have not yet agreed on a
candidate. During the 60-day first phase of the U.S.-French brokered ceasefire
deal, Hezbollah and Israeli forces are to withdraw from south Lebanon, and the
Lebanese military is to step in. Thus, the ceasefire calls for the
implementation of Resolution 1701.
In 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted for a resolution
to end a bruising monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah and pave the way
for lasting security along the border. Israeli forces would fully withdraw from
Lebanese territories while the Lebanese army and UNIFIL — Hezbollah excluded —
would be the exclusive armed presence south of Lebanon's Litani River. The
Lebanese state would have full sovereignty over its south. Resolution 1701's
terms were never fully enforced. The ceasefire reached in November calls for its
implementation.
"There are still ongoing consultations between the opposition forces," Gemayel
said, adding that Aoun is a "friend" with common national values. "But we will
not announce any candidate before the end of consultations."
Naim Qassem on Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon and
about-face on Syria
David Daoud/FDD's Long War Journal/December 20/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138184/
On Saturday, Hezbollah’s recently minted Secretary-General Naim Qassem offered
his group’s first comment on the downfall of the regime of Bashar al Assad in
Syria. The Assad regime was one of Hezbollah’s closest partners and the critical
link in its overland lifeline to Iran.
Qassem’s speech broke down into two basic themes: the conflict with Israel and
the situation in Syria. The latter, the most critical development impacting
Hezbollah, was buried at the bottom, perhaps because it constituted such a major
setback for the group. The portion of Qassem’s address focusing on Syria was
also the most bizarre because the Hezbollah secretary-general extended an olive
branch to groups that, the week prior, he described as unrepentant takfiri
terrorists operating on behalf of Israel.
Qassem began by recounting the events leading up to and surrounding the recent
war with Israel. Here, despite devoting almost 24 minutes of his 30-minute
speech to the matter, Qassem had little new to offer. He restated his claims
from previous speeches and insisted, again, that Hezbollah had emerged
victorious. Demonstrating this victory, claimed Qassem, was Israel’s eagerness
to sign a ceasefire agreement despite Hezbollah altering its terms.
“[US envoy Amos] Hochstein brought a ceasefire agreement agreed upon between
Israel and America and presented it to us through presenting it to the Lebanese
state and Mr. Nabih Berri. Parliament Speaker Berri had his comments, and we
also had comments, and we amended what we could in this agreement. This, then,
was the deal. We agreed [to it] based on the details we inserted into the deal,”
Qassem said.
Qassem insisted that the ceasefire and its terms were meant to “end the
aggression, not the resistance” to explain Hezbollah’s acceptance of the deal.
Echoing his previous comments, he again said that “this is an executive deal
stemming from [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701,” which ended the 2006
Hezbollah-Israel war and requires Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah (but which Lebanon
interprets in bad faith to exclude the group from the disarmament requirement).
As a mere extension of Resolution 1701, as understood by Lebanon and Hezbollah,
this ceasefire deal “only relates to south of the Litani River, whereby Israel
will withdraw to the Lebanese border, and the Lebanese Army would deploy as the
only armed authority,” Qassem said.
Unlike in his last speech, Qassem did not explicitly say this time that the
ceasefire agreement required Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River,
only that “there will be no gunmen or weapons in this area [south of the Litani].”
He again insisted that this deal “had no impact on the Lebanese interior and
Lebanese domestic issues, or the resistance’s relationship with the state and
the army, or its possession [literally, the presence] of weapons and all other
matters that require discussion and debate.”
Qassem then implied Hezbollah would not abandon its arms or change its
orientation. “The resistance” belief system, he said, would remain “equipped
with weapons and capabilities to protect this belief against enemies, because
the enemies will not stop, they will [also] prepare.” He continued, “Words alone
would [therefore] not suffice. Complaints will not suffice. One must inevitably
confront them by preparing the necessary strength.” Israel, “this cancerous
tumor,” he said, was using Palestine as a base for regional expansionism and,
therefore, must be confronted by a united region to “prevent its expansion and
annul its occupation”—in this case, meaning Israel’s very existence.
Qassem said resistance organizations like Hezbollah win “in increments,”
recalling a statement made by his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah. Therefore, “it
can last for an indefinite period of time—10 years or 50 years.”
Uncharacteristically, he said resistance organizations can “occasionally win and
occasionally lose,” the closest a Hezbollah leader has come to admitting defeat
at Israel’s hands during the recent conflict.
In any case, Qassem insisted that “what’s important for a resistance is its
continuity, that it remains on the battlefield irrespective of how limited its
resources may be.” Hezbollah’s resistance, said Qassem, “will continue, in both
belief and preparation,” arguing Israel was an implacable, expansionist foe that
“can only be curbed through resistance, and [our] land can only be liberated
through resistance.” Though Hezbollah may alter its confrontation methods to
suit the time, “because every period has its own methods,” Qassem argued the
important part is that “the resistance remains, and the methods and paths chosen
will be determined based on each period, which we will work on.”
“Everyone according to their means and current circumstances, so long as we do
not watch idly while Israel devours us one after the next,” Qassem said. In the
next phase, like the ones before it, he stated Hezbollah would continue to
cooperate with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the people—a reference to the
group’s “Army-People-Resistance” equation requiring the symbiotic cooperation of
all three components. No option exists to exclude Hezbollah from Lebanon’s
political function, he said, insisting Hezbollah remained a powerful force in
Lebanese politics—and those who treat it as such “will be welcomed by us and met
with our cooperation for the sake of a strong, socially, economically and
politically stable Lebanon’s renaissance.”
Hezbollah, Qassem stated, intended to be fully part of that renaissance, first
by implementing the ceasefire decision “south of the Litani”—again, without
specifying how Hezbollah intended to do so—and by “reconstruction with the
assistance of the state, which is responsible for reconstruction and cooperating
with all countries, organizations, brothers, and friends who want to help
Lebanon rebuild.”
Hezbollah, he also said, was serious about electing a president on January 9,
2025—the date set for the next parliamentary session to elect a president—“to
allow the wheels of state to start turning.” Hezbollah would then work from
within the state to combat corruption. Finally, Hezbollah would engage in
“positive dialogue regarding fundamental issues,” hinting at the question of
Hezbollah’s arms.
Of course, we have several such matters: What is Lebanon’s stance regarding the
Israeli occupation of its lands? We want to dialogue to unify our perspectives;
how will we confront the occupation and liberate our land and not accept the
occupation’s continuation? How do we strengthen the army to be a bulwark in
defending Lebanon? What is Lebanon’s national defense strategy to benefit from
the resistance and the people as a support for liberation?
The framing of these questions took for granted that Hezbollah’s position in
Lebanon would remain unchanged. Qassem’s proposed method of resolving these
questions—“these questions and more require dialogue between the Lebanese”—would
guarantee Lebanon’s continued inaction against the group and its arsenal.
Threaded through Qassem’s speech, naturally, was Hezbollah’s consistent
insistence that Israel is intrinsically evil, a greedy and murderous
expansionist entity threatening all its surroundings with America’s support and
complicity. “Were it not for the resistance’s endurance, Israel would have
reached Beirut,” he alleged without proof, before turning more conspiratorial
and claiming, “it would then have proceeded with […] settlement in south
Lebanon, weakening Lebanon, and controlling its politics and future.”
Qassem continued:
We are not speaking of an unknown enemy. We are not speaking of unrealistic
ideas. Look at this enemy’s unparalleled murderousness, look at what they are
doing in Gaza. One hundred and fifty thousand martyrs and wounded, near-total
destruction of Gaza; they issue statements saying, ‘We don’t want to leave
Gaza,’ they say, ‘We want northern Gaza demilitarized, stripped of civilian
presence, depopulated, with no homes, with no life.’ They are thinking of
settling Gaza, and say they want to annex the West Bank— and are working towards
that with total cover by the big murderer, America, which supports [Israel] with
all its means. Therefore, America’s entire $850 billion defense budget is in
service of Israel if the two parties [Republican and Democratic] are in Israel’s
service. More than approximately 500 [cargo] planes reached the Israeli entity
laden with weapons and ammunition, in addition to 100 similar ships—meaning that
the murder we see is America’s creation and it was America’s decision to grant
it cover.
Proof, he claimed, of Israel’s intentions is “what happened in Syria. They
destroyed all the capabilities of the Syrian army, claiming preemptive
self-defense and fear of the future. […] This is proof of their expansionist
desires; they want to neutralize the entire region and would do this to one Arab
country after the next if they could. They have their eyes set on neighboring
Arab countries first, and further ones next.” Israel’s expansionist intentions
require the continuation of the resistance, he said.
Naim Qassem’s concern for a post-Assad Syria was the most peculiar part of his
speech. In his previous address three days before Assad’s downfall, Qassem
warned that the onslaught of the opposition factions was:
[A]n aggression in Syria sponsored by America and Israel. These takfiri groups
were always their tools from 2011 when the problems began in Syria. These [the
US and Israel], after they failed in Gaza and the deal to end the aggression on
Lebanon, and the failed attempts to neutralize Syria, are now trying to score
gains by ruining Syria anew, and through these terrorist groups want to bring
about the downfall of the regime in Syria and create chaos in that country, and
to move Syria from the line of resistance to an enemy position that serves the
Israeli enemy. However, God willing, they will fail to accomplish their goals
despite what they did in the past days. We, as Hezbollah, will remain beside
Syria to foil the goals of this aggression with all our available means, God
willing.
Qassem ended that previous speech by calling on “Arabs and Muslims” to also act
to prevent Assad’s downfall because the regime’s demise would be a victory for
Israel and its “very dangerous Middle Eastern expansionist” project, “which is a
loss for you as well, not just Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon—and will have a
negative impact on your countries and future of your children.” He, therefore,
beseeched his audience to “prevent the takfiris from [succeeding in] their
aggression that serves the Israeli enemy.”
In his latest speech, by contrast, Qassem said, “We cannot prejudge the new
authorities in Syria until they settle, take clear positions, and the position
of the new regime in Syria stabilizes.” He hoped the new authorities would
ensure cooperation between the “two peoples and governments in Lebanon and Syria
on the basis of equality and exchange of capabilities,” and would ensure broad
representation domestically. Qassem also said, “We hope that the new rulers
consider Israel an enemy and do not normalize with it. These decisions will
affect the nature of our relationship with Syria.”
Qassem ended his speech by insisting that “the Syrian people have a right to
decide their leadership, rulers, constitution, and future—and we hope they make
choices that will prevent any of the countries with designs on Syria from
controlling it, and which seek to serve the Israeli enemy.” Also contradicting
his prior speech, he said, “We do not think what is happening in Syria will
affect Lebanon—to the contrary, they’re too busy in Syria dealing with their own
particular issues. God willing, Syria will emerge stable and comfortable,
fulfilling the desires of its people.”
These were odd statements from the leader of a group that spent significant
blood and treasure over nearly a decade murdering Syrians to prop up the regime
of Bashar al Assad in service of an Iranian agenda. But Hezbollah is a pragmatic
organization and has, per Qassem’s admission, “lost, in this stage, its military
supply route through Syria” through Assad’s downfall.
Hezbollah would prefer this supply line’s restoration, and Qassem’s address
dovetailed with the overall conciliatory posture the group has adopted towards
Syria’s new rulers. For, as Qassem said, Hezbollah’s “loss is a footnote in
resistance activity—the new regime could restore this path to its natural
course.” That outcome would be ideal for Hezbollah, and it appears to be
something both the group and its Iranian patrons are seeking. Otherwise, Qassem
said, “We will find other routes. […] The resistance must adapt to circumstances
to strengthen its capabilities.”
*David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/12/analysis-naim-qassem-on-hezbollahs-influence-in-lebanon-and-about-face-on-syria.php
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on December
20-21/2024
At
least two dead, 68 injured after car drives into German Christmas market
AP/December 20, 2024
BERLIN: A car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German
city of Magdeburg on Friday, leaving at least two people dead and injuring at
least 68 others in what authorities suspect was an attack. The driver of the car
was arrested, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government
officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The suspect was not known to German
authorities as an Islamic extremist, dpa reported, citing unidentified security
officials. Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city
spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act. “The
pictures are terrible,” Reif said. “My information is that a car drove into the
Christmas market visitors, but I can’t yet say from what direction and how
far.”Magdeburg’s University Hospital said it was taking care of 10 to 20
patients but was preparing for more, dpa reported. The sounds of sirens from
first responders clashed with the market’s holiday decorations, including
ornaments, stars and leafy garland festooning the vendors’ booths. Debris could
be seen on the ground in footage of a cordoned-off part of the market. The car
drove into the market at around 7 p.m., when it was busy with holiday shoppers
looking forward to the weekend. “This is a terrible event, particularly now in
the days before Christmas,” Saxony-Anhalt governor Reiner Haseloff said.
Haseloff told dpa that he was on his way to Magdeburg but couldn’t immediately
give any information on victims or what was behind the incident. Chancellor OIaf
Scholz posted on X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We
stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.” Magdeburg, which is west
of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000
residents. The suspected attack came eight years after an attack on a Christmas
market in Berlin. On Dec. 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist plowed through a
crowded Christmas with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The
attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy. Christmas markets are a
huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the
Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world. In Berlin
alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month and brought the smells of
mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Other markets abound
across the country.
German Interior Minister Nancy
Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger
to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.
US
scraps $10m bounty for arrest of Syria's new leader Sharaa
Tom Bateman - BBC State Department
correspondent/December 20, 2024
The US has scrapped a $10m (£7.9m) reward for the arrest of Syria's de facto
leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and
representatives from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Assistant Secretary of State
Barbara Leaf said the discussion with Sharaa was "very productive", and he came
across as "pragmatic". The US delegation arrived in the capital, Damascus, after
HTS overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime less than a fortnight ago. Washington
still designates it as a terrorist group. A State Department spokesperson
confirmed that the diplomats discussed "transition principles" supported by the
US, regional events and the need to fight against IS. The spokesperson also said
the officials were seeking further information on American citizens who
disappeared under Assad's regime, including journalist Austin Tice, who was
abducted in Damascus in 2012, and psychotherapist Majd Kamalmaz, who disappeared
in 2017. A US embassy spokesperson earlier said a news conference involving Ms
Leaf had been cancelled due to "security concerns". However during a later
briefing, Leaf denied that, insisting "street celebrations" were the cause of
the delay. The visit is the first formal American diplomatic appearance in
Damascus in more than a decade. It is a further sign of the dramatic shifts
under way in Syria since the ousting of Assad, and the speed of efforts by the
US and Europe, also leaning on Arab countries, to try to influence its emerging
governance. The visit follows those of delegations in recent days from the UN
and other countries including the UK, France and Germany. The delegation of
senior officials includes Barbara Leaf, Roger Carstens, who is US President Joe
Biden's hostage envoy, and Daniel Rubinstein, a senior adviser in the Bureau of
Near East Affairs. A car belonging to the US delegation parked outside a hotel
in Damascus. On the dashboard a US flag and government sign is displayed. The
visit is the first formal US diplomatic appearance in Damascus in more than a
decade [Getty Images]. The spokesperson also said the delegation engaged with
civil society groups and members of different communities in Syria "about their
vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help
support them". The meeting was a show of readiness to deal with HTS, which the
US still designates as a terrorist organisation but is building pressure for it
to transition to inclusive, non-sectarian government. Washington is effectively
laying down a set of conditions before it would consider delisting the group - a
critical step which could help ease the path towards sanctions relief that
Damascus desperately needs. Meanwhile, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed
that IS leader Abu Yusif and two of his operatives had been killed in an air
strike in the Deir al-Zour province of north-eastern Syria. It said in a
statement on Friday that the airstrike was launched on Thursday and carried out
in an area that was formerly controlled by the Assad regime and Russian forces
supporting his government. CENTCOM commander Gen Michael Erik Kurilla said the
US would not allow IS "to take advantage of the current situation in Syria and
reconstitute", adding the group intended to free more than 8,000 detained IS
militants being held in Syria. 'Danger of IS resurgence has doubled' - Syria's
Kurds warn of group's comeback. Jeremy Bowen: Syria's new ruler is politically
astute - but can he keep his promises? Life in Idlib hints at what Syria can
expect from rebel rule. Thin, dark blue banner promoting the US Election Unspun
newsletter with text that says it is: "The newsletter that cuts through the
noise". There is also a striped red and blue graphic with white stars and a
headshot of Anthony Zurcher. North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes
sense of US politics in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers
in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.
US diplomats meet
representatives of Syria’s Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham in Damascus
Reuters/December 20, 2024
WASHINGTON/DAMASCUS: US diplomats visiting Damascus held Washington’s first
in-person official meetings with Syria’s new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir
Al-Sham on Friday and discussed with the former Al-Qaeda affiliate the future of
Syria’s political transition. The United States, other Western powers and many
Syrians were glad to see militias led by HTS topple President Bashar Assad, but
it is not clear whether the group will impose strict Islamic rule or show
flexibility and move toward democracy. Western governments are gradually opening
channels to HTS and its leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former commander of an
Al-Qaeda franchise in Syria, and starting to debate whether to remove the
group’s terrorist designation. The US delegation’s trip follows contacts with
France and Britain in recent days. The State Department’s top Middle East
diplomat Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and
Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, who now is tasked with leading the
Department’s Syria engagement, are the first US diplomats to travel to Damascus
since Assad’s rule collapsed. “They met with representatives of HTS to discuss
transition principles endorsed by the United States,” a State Department
spokesperson said. “They also discussed regional events and the imperative of
the fight against Daesh,” the spokesperson added. The delegation engaged with
civil society groups and members of different communities in Syria “about their
vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help
support them,” the spokesperson said. Days after Assad’s ouster, the United
States has outlined a set of principles, such as inclusivity and respect for the
rights of minorities, that Washington wants included in Syria’s political
transition. The delegation also worked to uncover new information about US
journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive during a reporting trip to Syria
in 2012, and other American citizens who went missing under Assad. A press
conference had been scheduled with the US officials but a statement issued on
behalf of Leaf said it was canceled for security concerns, without providing
details. The US cut diplomatic ties with Syria and shut its embassy in Damascus
in 2012.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after
more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule. The
rebel sweep ended a war that killed hundreds of thousands, caused one of the
biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble,
countryside depopulated and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions. The
lightning offensive raised questions over whether the rebels will be able to
ensure an orderly transition. Forces under the command of Al-Sharaa — better
known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani — installed a three-month caretaker government
that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
Washington designated Al-Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying Al-Qaeda in Iraq had
tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing sharia in Syria. It
said the Nusra Front, the predecessor of HTS, carried out suicide attacks that
killed civilians and espoused a violent sectarian vision. Golani said the
terrorist designation was unfair and that he opposed the killing of innocent
people. Washington remains concerned that Islamic State could seize the moment
to resurrect and also wants to avoid any clashes in the country’s northeast
between Turkiye-backed rebel factions and US-allied Kurdish militia. On Friday,
thousands of Syrians held a celebration at Ummayad Square in central Damascus,
in an event called for by HTS. Speakers blared revolutionary songs, while people
waved the newly adopted Syrian flag and chanted slogans in support of the
transnational government and against Assad. The crowd was a mix of people from
different walks of life and backgrounds: armed men in military fatigues, women –
both with and without headscarves – and children. Maram, 62, said that her four
children had fled Syria 11 years ago and settled in Germany and Hungary after
two of her sons were detained and tortured. She has not seen them since, but
they plan to return to their country to help rebuild it, she said. “The country
has been completely destroyed in every aspect,” she said, adding she hoped HTS
could improve things, but was watchful. “We were not accustomed to freedom or
governing our own country, so we will continue to monitor until we reach our
goal.” There is widespread apprehension among Syrians that the new
administration will gravitate toward hard-line religious rule, marginalizing
minority communities and excluding women from public life. Obaida Arnout, a
spokesperson for the Syrian transitional government, said this week that women’s
“biological and physiological nature” rendered them unfit for certain
governmental jobs.
US delegation meets with
al-Jolani in Damascus
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2024
U.S. diplomats met with Syria's new ruler on Friday, an official told AFP, as
outside powers seek assurances the country's Islamist-led authorities will be
moderate and inclusive. The ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad ended
decades of abuses and years of civil war, but raised concerns over minorities
and women's rights, as well as the future of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
The lightning offensive that toppled Assad was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),
rooted in al-Qaia's Syria branch but recently adopting a moderate stance. Its
sudden arrival in the capital has left foreign governments, especially the
United States, scrambling for new policies, as HTS is designated a terrorist
group by some countries. A Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
later confirmed the U.S. delegation had met with Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa,
head of HTS. "And the results will be positive, God willing," the official
added. A planned press conference by the U.S. delegation was "cancelled due to
security concerns". U.S. diplomats have not been to Damascus on a formal mission
since the early days of the civil war that erupted after Assad cracked down on
anti-government protests in 2011. The delegation would also meet with activists,
minority groups and civil society representatives, the State Department said.
The group includes Barbara Leaf, the top State Department official for the
Middle East, as well as the U.S. point man on hostages, who has been seeking
clues on missing Americans including Austin Tice, a journalist who was kidnapped
in Syria in August 2012. Their visit follows a statement by Secretary of State
Antony Blinken, revealing direct contact with HTS.
Kurdish fears
At talks in Aqaba, Jordan, Western, Arab and Turkish powers jointly called for
an "inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government" that respects the
rights of all of Syria's diverse communities. This was echoed in Cairo by Turkey
and Iran, which supported different sides in the war. Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, who backed Assad's opponents, stressed reconciliation and
restoration of Syria's territorial integrity and unity. Turkey has been putting
pressure on Kurdish-led forces in Syria, and Erdogan said Friday it was time to
destroy "terrorist" groups operating in the country, namely Islamic State group
jihadists and Kurdish fighters. "Daesh, the PKK and their affiliates -- which
threaten the survival of Syria -- must be eradicated," he told journalists
following the Cairo summit, referring to IS and the Kurdistan Workers Party,
respectively. The semiautonomous northeastern region of Syria is protected by
the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group led by People's Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey accuses the YPG of being a branch of the PKK, which both Washington and
Ankara consider a terrorist group. Kurdish leaders in Syria have welcomed
Assad's ouster and raised the three-star independence-era rebel flag, but many
in the region fear continued attacks by Turkey and allied fighters.Several
thousand people chanted "The Syrian people are one", and "No to war in our
region, no to Turkey's attack" at Thursday's demonstration in Qamishli.
'No to religious rule' -
In Damascus, demonstrators chanted "No to religious rule", and "We want a
democracy, not a religious state."This came after a spokesman for the interim
government said "female representation in ministries or parliament... is
premature", citing "biological" and other considerations. Majida Mudarres, a
retired civil servant, expressed anger at the comments. "Women have a big role
in political life," the 50-year-old. "We will be observing any position against
women and will not accept it. The time in which we were silent is over." Amy
Pope, the head of the UN's migration agency, on Friday urged "the caretaker
government to continue to empower and enable women, because they are going to be
absolutely critical to the rebuilding of the country". Pope also called for the
raft of international sanctions on Syria to be reassessed to help the country
regain its footing. Syria's civil war killed more than 500,000 people and
sparked an exodus of millions of refugees. Since Assad's departure, which
sparked celebrations at home and abroad, rebels have thrown open prisons where
tens of thousands of people were arbitrarily detained and tortured.
They have also located mass graves believed to hold some of the estimated
100,000 people who died or were killed in custody since 2011.
US airstrike kills ISIS leader in Syria: Officials
LUIS MARTINEZ/ABC News/December 20, 2024
The U.S. military killed a top Islamic State leader and another member in an
airstrike conducted in Syria on Thursday, U.S. Central Command said. The strike
targeted Abu Yusif, also known as Mahmud, in the Dayr az Zawr Province, an area
formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians, CENTCOM said. He and an
unidentified ISIS member were killed in the strike, according to CENTCOM. "ISIS
has the intent to break out of detention the over 8,000 ISIS operatives
currently being held in facilities in Syria. We will aggressively target these
leaders and operatives, including those trying to conduct operations external to
Syria," Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. The
airstrike follows the Pentagon revealing Thursday that the U.S. troop presence
in Syria is 2,000, up from the 900 previously publicly known to be in Syria.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the troops had been in Syria
for a while, since before the fall of Bashar Assad's regime earlier this month.
Ryder explained there are 900 "core" troops who are on longer-term deployments
in Syria that last between nine and 12 months, but he disclosed that there are
an additional 1,100 troops who are considered to be "temporary rotational
forces" and are often deployed for between 30 and 90 days to meet additional
requirements in that region. US airstrike kills ISIS leader in Syria: Officials
originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
President-elect Donald Trump took a brief hiatus from the U.S. government’s
shutdown crisis Friday morning to re-up his threats of a trade war with the
nation’s closest allies. “I told the European Union that they must make up their
tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil
and gas,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Friday morning. “Otherwise, it is
TARIFFS all the way!” he added. Who exactly Trump “told” within the 27-member,
multi-institutional bloc remains at this stage something of a mystery.
But it’s not the first time he’s made these threats, having campaigned earlier
this year on a platform for imposing tariffs of up to 20 percent on all goods
imported into the U.S. The threats also carry echoes of the earlier trade war he
waged against the EU during the first half of his earlier stint in the White
House, lambasting European countries for treating the U.S. like “a piggy bank
that everybody’s robbing.”In the meantime, however, Trump arguably has more
pressing things to worry about, after a number of Republican congressional
representatives defied him on Thursday night to vote down a spending bill he and
tech billionaire buddy Elon Musk were backing. As of Friday morning, the House
remains locked in a desperate scrabble to approve some sort of spending bill to
avert a government shutdown at midnight and the holiday travel chaos it would
inevitably precede.
Unseen ‘Since the Nazis’: Syrians Uncover Mass Graves and
Evidence of Assad Regime’s Atrocities
FDD/December 20/2024
Latest Developments
Hundreds of Thousands of Regime Victims Buried in Mass Graves: Human rights
organizations are uncovering evidence of mass executions that occurred during
the rule of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. On December 16, former U.S.
ambassador-at-large for war crimes Stephen Rapp, who led the prosecution of war
crimes in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, said, “We really haven’t seen anything quite
like this since the Nazis.” Hundreds of Thousands of Victims: The Syrian
Emergency Task Force — a U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization — reported that
one mass grave in Qutayfah, located 25 miles north of Damascus, contained at
least 100,000 bodies of people murdered by Assad’s regime. The International
Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague reported on December 10 that they had
received reports of at least 66 mass graves in Syria. The group estimated that
150,000 people were missing due to the regime’s crackdowns during the Syrian
civil war from 2011 to 2024. Regime’s Notorious Prisons: The Syrian regime ran a
network of prisons that were notorious for torture, mass execution, and brutal
conditions that caused deaths from disease and starvation. Assad also used
chemical and conventional weapons against civilians. Syrian human rights groups
estimate that up to 620,000 people, both civilians and combatants on all sides,
have been killed throughout the civil war.
FDD Expert Response
“More than 100,000 people were tortured, murdered, and buried in mass graves by
Bashar al-Assad and his thugs, who were supported by Tehran and Moscow. Why
aren’t the ‘social justice warriors’ at American and European universities
protesting? Do they not know about the graves because nothing has popped up
about them on these scholars’ iPhones? Or do they know quite well and just don’t
give a damn because they can’t blame Israelis, Zionists, or Jews?” — Clifford D.
May, Founder & President
“The world cannot say it didn’t know about the mass graves, nor the crematoria.
Gravediggers and others who were required to participate in this horror
testified before Congress about this, as did ‘Caesar,’ the military defector who
was forced to place markings on the bodies of those who were tortured to death.
And yet, the world switched the channel, shamefully looked the other way, and
ignored what it knew to be true. Assad and his Islamic Republic of Iran enablers
must be publicly held to account, or humanity risks it happening again.
Regrettably, while Assad has left the country, Syria won’t be safe until those
who adhere to his brand of butchery are imprisoned and brought to justice.” —
Toby Dershowitz, Managing Director of FDD Action
“The international community must hold the Assad regime to account for its mass
murder of the Syrian people, including dozens, if not hundreds, of chemical
weapons attacks on innocent men, women, and children in Ghouta, Khan Shaykhun,
Douma, and elsewhere. To that end, the United States and its partners must
demand that Syria’s new government admit the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the country to ensure the chemical weapons
program’s full dismantlement and adequately fund the OPCW’s ongoing mission to
assign attribution for past attacks. This will have the added benefit of
supporting a badly eroded, international anti-chemical weapons norm.” — Andrea
Stricker, Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program Deputy Director and Research
Fellow
FDD Background and Analysis
Turkey, Iran leaders meet
at Muslim summit in Cairo
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2024
The leaders of Turkey and Iran met in Cairo at a summit of eight Muslim-majority
countries, in their first sit-down since the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The two countries were on opposite sides of Syria's long-running civil war, with
Turkey historically backing Assad's opponents and Iran supporting his rule.
During their meeting, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country "wants
to see a Syria where stability and security prevail" and "terrorism is
eradicated", according to a statement by the Turkish presidency issued Thursday
night. He also stressed the importance of protecting "Syria's territorial
integrity and unity". A statement from the office of Iranian President Masoud
Pezeshkian also said that the "slightest damage to the territorial integrity of
Syria is in no way acceptable". It added that Muslim countries "must act
responsibly" against Israel's "crimes" in the region. The gathering in Cairo of
the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as the Developing-8,
was being held against a backdrop of regional turmoil, including the war in
Gaza, a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and unrest in Syria. In his speech at the
summit, Pezeshkian said that "it is our religious, legal and human duty to
prevent further harm" to those suffering in these conflict zones. Pezeshkian is
the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2013.
Relations between Egypt and Iran have been strained for decades, but diplomatic
contacts have intensified since Cairo became a mediator in the war in Gaza.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Egypt in October, while his
Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty travelled to Tehran in July to attend
Pezeshkian's inauguration. Erdogan is visiting Egypt for the second time this
year. His February trip marked his first visit to Egypt as president after last
visiting in 2012, when he served as Turkey's prime minister.
Erdogan says Turkey expects
allies to pull support from Kurds in post-Assad Syria
Reuters/December 20, 2024
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey expects foreign countries will withdraw support for
Kurdish fighters in Syria following the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, President
Tayyip Erdogan said, as Ankara seeks to isolate Kurds who have long fought
alongside U.S. troops. Germany's foreign minister later said Kurdish forces
should disarm and integrate into Syria's national security structure and
Washington's top diplomat for the Middle East said the U.S. was working on a
"managed transition" for the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in
northern Syria. Speaking to reporters on the flight home from a summit in Egypt
on Thursday, Erdogan said there was no longer any reason for outsiders to back
Kurdish YPG fighters. His comments were released by his office on Friday. The
Kurdish YPG has been the main force in the alliance but Turkey considers the
group an extension of the PKK, which has long fought the Turkish state and is
banned as terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the EU. In his remarks, Erdogan
compared the U.S.-backed YPG to Islamic State, and said neither group had any
future in Syria. "In the upcoming period, we do not believe that any power will
continue to collaborate with terrorist organisations. The heads of terrorist
organisations such as Islamic State and PKK-YPG will be crushed in the shortest
possible time."German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after talks with
her Turkish counterpart in Ankara that the security of Kurds was essential for a
free Syria, but that Turkey's security concerns must also be addressed to ensure
stability. "The Kurdish groups must be disarmed and integrated into the national
security structure," she said. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf told reporters after visiting Damascus on Friday
that Washington was working with Ankara and the SDF to find "a managed
transition in terms of SDF's role in that part of the country." "The conditions
which led Kurds in northeast Syria to organise themselves and to defend
themselves as they did, were one set of conditions and things have really
changed in a very dramatic fashion," Leaf said.
The United States said this week it has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria
working alongside the YPG-led alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The SDF played a major role on the ground defeating Islamic State militants in
2014-2017 with U.S. air support, and still guards Islamist fighters in prison
camps. Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border
offensives against the YPG-led SDF in northern Syria, while repeatedly demanding
that its NATO ally Washington halt support for the fighters. Hostilities have
escalated since Assad was toppled less than two weeks ago, with Turkey and
Syrian groups it backs seizing the city of Manbij from the SDF on Dec. 9,
prompting the United States to broker a fragile ceasefire. Erdogan told
reporters that Turkey wanted to see a new Syria in which all ethnic and
religious groups can live in harmony. To achieve this, "Islamic State, the PKK
and its versions which threaten the survival of Syria need to be eradicated", he
said. "The PKK terrorist organisation and its extensions in particular have
reached the end of their lifespan," Erdogan added. On Thursday, SDF commander
Mazloum Abdi told Reuters that Kurdish fighters from outside Syria who had
joined the group's ranks would leave if a truce were agreed with Turkey, long
one of Ankara's major demands. In his remarks, Abdi acknowledged for the first
time that Kurdish fighters from other countries - including PKK members - had
been assisting the SDF, but said they would no longer be needed under a truce. A
Turkish Defence Ministry official said there was no talk of a ceasefire between
Turkey and the SDF, adding that Ankara would continue taking counter-terrorism
measures until "the PKK/YPG lays down its arms and its foreign fighters leave
Syria".
What will Syria's future
look like? The answer could lie in other Arab countries' recent pasts
CAIRO (AP)/December 20, 2024
Even with hopes running high, so much can go wrong when a country ousts a
longtime dictator and tries to start anew. The Middle Eastern and North African
nations that attempted to transition to democracy in recent years can attest to
that. Now it's Syria's turn to try to get it right. It’s hard to draw lessons
from the experiences of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Sudan since the wave of
Arab Spring uprisings that began in 2011, as each country’s dynamics are
different, But there are common themes. In some cases, “the Revolution” was lost
when armed factions battled it out for power or an ambitious would-be strongman
emerged. In others, the miliary refused to cede control to civilians or foreign
countries fueled conflicts by backing one side or another with money and
weapons. Questions must be asked before major decisions are made that can spark
a destabilizing backlash: How do you deal with the old police state — purge or
compromise? What do you do first, hold elections or write a constitution? And
how do you fix a crippled economy riddled with corruption?So far, Syria’s
transition has been surprisingly smooth. But it's only been two weeks since
President Bashar Assad was toppled, and many of those same dangers lurk in the
background. The insurgents who ousted Assad are rooted in extremist Islamist
ideology, and though they have vowed to create a pluralist system, it isn't
clear how or whether they plan to share power. Other armed factions — or even
remnants of Assad's feared security forces — could lash out. And it remains to
be seen whether the Kurds, who hold autonomous rule in the east, will be brought
back into the fold, especially when Turkey fiercely opposes the main Kurdish
faction. Groups such as the Alawites, to whom Assad's family belongs, fear being
squeezed out of any role, or worse, being targeted for revenge. Here's a look at
the power dynamics in some of these other countries:
Yemen
Protests forced Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign in November 2011, ending
his 33-year rule. Under a deal brokered by Gulf countries, Saleh received
immunity and handed his powers to his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
Hadi was to serve as caretaker president for two years, during which a new
constitution would be written, leading eventually to elections. But Saleh, who
remained in the capital, Sanaa, allied himself with Houthi rebels based in the
north — his longtime enemy -- in a bid to regain power. Backed by Saleh’s
loyalists, the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the populated center of the
country. Hadi and his government fled south, where they are based in the city of
Aden and control southern and much of eastern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition of
Arab countries launched a bombardment campaign aimed at restoring Hadi’s
government. Since then, Yemen has been torn by civil war that has killed more
than 150,000 people and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The
war became a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Yemen has remained
split between the Houthis, who later broke with Saleh’s camp and killed Saleh,
and Hadi’s government. Various militias nominally back Hadi but also have their
own interests and are funded by the United Arab Emirates.
Libya
Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi met the most violent end of any of the region’s
strongmen. An uprising turned into a civil war, and then with NATO backing, the
rebels seized the capital, Tripoli, and killed a fleeing Gadhafi in October
2011. The oil-rich nation quickly splintered into regions controlled by a
dizzying array of militias, including local and tribal groups, nationalists and
mainstream Islamist factions, and diehard jihadis such as al-Qaida and the
Islamic State group. Attempts to stitch it back together with elections or
agreements have failed. A disputed parliamentary election in 2014 led to two
rival administrations: one in the east backed by powerful military commander
Khalifa Hifter, and the other in the west based in Tripoli that is backed by
militias and recognized by the United Nations. Hifter tried to seize the west in
2019, triggering a 14-month war. Then, an attempt at a unity government and new
elections fell apart, and once again Libya was left split between east-west
governments.Foreign powers, including Russia, Turkey and the UAE, backed various
sides. European countries have funneled money to the Tripoli government trying
to stem the flow of migrants from Africa through Libya toward Europe, but the
money has largely helped fund militias. Efforts to end the conflict remain
deadlocked.
Sudan
In Sudan, the powerful military has thwarted attempts to transition to an
elected civilian government. Pro-democracy protests prompted the military to
remove strongman Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, and the generals took power for
themselves. The protesters stayed in the streets, demanding a handover of power
to civilians, despite a crackdown that killed hundreds. Finally, the generals
agreed to a power-sharing deal with the pro-democracy alliance that led the
protests. A civilian prime minister led a Cabinet backed by a council headed by
two powerful generals, including one notorious for atrocities committed in
Darfur and during the 2019 crackdown on protesters. But just before the military
was supposed to hand over the council's leadership to civilians, the generals
orchestrated a coup. A few months later, in April 2023, the generals turned on
each other, triggering a war in which their forces have battled throughout the
country, including in the capital, Khartoum. The war has been marked by
atrocities, caused widespread hunger and driven millions from their homes,
becoming the world’s worst displacement crisis.
Tunisia
The Arab Spring started in Tunisia more than 13 years ago. Until recently, the
country was hailed as a role model in the transition to democracy. It held free
elections and drafted a constitution lauded by Western rights groups. But since
being elected in 2019, President Kais Saied has increased his powers in what
activists call a backslide from democracy. Saied temporarily suspended the
parliament, redrafted the constitution and launched a crackdown on his
opponents, imprisoning hundreds allegedly for undermining state security — a
claim autocrats have long used to stamp out dissent.
Egypt
The military has been the main power player in Egypt. It seized direct control
after 18 days of protests forced longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak to resign on
Feb. 11, 2011.
Within 15 months, parliamentary and presidential elections were held. The Muslim
Brotherhood, the most powerful opposition force during Mubarak’s era, swept both
votes. Despite repeatedly insisting it wouldn't seek to dominate politics, it
formed a majority in parliament and created a Brotherhood-led government. Over
the next year, turmoil increased over accusations by opponents that the
Brotherhood was unfairly imposing its will on the country, including writing an
Islamist-leaning constitution. Many, including the large Coptic Christian
minority, feared Islamist rule.
Amid anti-Brotherhood protests, the military stepped in and removed President
Mohammed Morsi in July 2013, a move supported by many secular parties and
activists. It launched a ferocious crackdown on the Brotherhood, killing
hundreds. Militant violence swelled with attacks on security forces and
Christians.
Military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sissi was elected president in 2014 and has since
increased the influence of the army on the government and economy. The
government has gone further than Mubarak did in stifling dissent, arresting
Islamists and secular activists, and silencing media criticism.
Turkey and Russia engage in delicate maneuvers over Syria
after Assad’s downfall
The Associated Press/December 20, 2024
The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of
delicate geopolitical maneuvering between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With the dust still settling from the stunning events in
Damascus, the outcome for now seems to be favoring Ankara, which backed the
victorious rebels, while Moscow suffered a bruising blow to its international
clout. “In the game of Czars vs. Sultans, this is Sultans 1 and Czars 0,” said
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington
Institute. “Far from being allies, Turkey and Russia are competitors. And in
this case, Turkey has outsmarted Russia.”The Assad regime’s demise opens another
chapter in the complex relationship between Putin and Erdogan, with wide-ranging
implications not just for Syria but also for Ukraine and the two leaders' ties
with Washington.
Russia and Turkey share economic and security interests — along with an intense
rivalry. The personal relationship between Putin and Erdogan often sees them
both praising each other, even as they jockey for political and economic gains.
“There are currently only two leaders left in the world -- there is me and there
is Vladimir Putin,” Erdogan said recently, reflecting the respect for the
Kremlin leader. Putin, in turn, has often praises Erdogan’s political prowess.
Conflicts and deals
Russia and Turkey backed opposing sides in Syria’s civil war that started in
2011, putting them on a collision course. Tensions spiraled when a Turkish
fighter jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkey-Syria border in
November 2015, soon after Moscow launched its air campaign to support Assad. The
Kremlin responded with sweeping economic sanctions that halted Turkish imports,
drove Turkish companies from the lucrative Russian market and cut the flow of
Russian tourists to Turkey’s resorts. Faced with massive economic damage,
Erdogan apologized months later. Soon after, Putin staunchly supported him when
he faced an attempted military coup in July 2016, helping to warm ties quickly.
In 2018, Moscow and Ankara negotiated a ceasefire and de-escalation deal for the
rebel-held Idlib province in northwestern Syria on the border with Turkey and
sought to anchor the often-violated agreement with follow-up deals in the next
few years. But even as they cooperated on Syria, Moscow and Ankara also vied for
influence in Libya, where Russia supported forces loyal to military commander
Khalifa Hifter while Turkey backed his Tripoli-based foes. Turkey also
aggressively sought to increase its leverage in the former Soviet Central Asian
nations competing with Russia and China.
In 2020, Moscow backed off when Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan routed ethnic Armenian
forces in the fighting over the breakaway region of Karabakh. Even though
Armenia hosted a Russian military base, the Kremlin has engaged in a delicate
balancing act, seeking to maintain warm ties with both Azerbaijan and Turkey.
While their political interests often clashed, economic ties boomed, with Russia
boosting natural gas exports to Turkey via a Black Sea pipeline; by building
Turkey’s first nuclear plant; and by providing the NATO member with advanced air
defense systems — to Washington’s dismay.
Relations amid the war in Ukraine
Ties with Turkey grew even more important for Putin after he invaded Ukraine in
2022, Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. The West responded with
economic sanctions that barred Russia from most Western markets, restricted its
access to international financial system, shut transport routes and halted
exports of key technologies. Turkey, which didn’t join the sanctions, has
emerged as Russia’s key gateway to global markets, strengthening Erdogan’s hand
in negotiations with Putin.
While Turkey backed Ukraine’s territorial integrity and supplied Kyiv with
weapons, Erdogan echoed Putin in accusing the U.S. and NATO of fomenting the
conflict. Putin has praised Erdogan for offering to mediate a settlement. In
March 2022, Turkey hosted Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul that soon
collapsed, with both Putin and Erdogan blaming the West for their failure. Later
that year, Ankara pooled efforts with the United Nations to broker a deal that
opened the door for Ukrainian grain exports from its Black Sea ports, an
agreement that helped drive down global food prices before falling apart the
following year. Turkey’s balancing act in Ukraine is driven by its dependence on
the vast Russian market, supplies of natural gas and a flow of tourists.
Russia’s focus on Ukraine has eroded its clout in regions where Turkey and other
players have tried to take advantage of Moscow's withering influence.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan reclaimed control over all of Karabakh in an
one-day blitz while Russian regional peacekeepers stood back. That hurt Russia’s
ties with Armenia, which has shifted increasingly toward the West.
Moscow's new look at Syria
Focused on Ukraine, Russia had few resources left for Syria at a time when
Hezbollah similarly pulled back its fighters amid the war with Israel and
Iranian support for Assad also weakened. Russia tried to sponsor talks on
normalizing relations between Turkey and Syria, but Assad stonewalled them,
refusing any compromise. Assad’s intransigence helped trigger the Turkey-backed
opposition’s offensive in November. The underfunded and demoralized Syrian army
quickly crumbled, allowing the rebels to sweep across the country and capture
Damascus. Even as it has offered asylum to Assad and his family, Russia has
reached out to Syria's new leaders, seeking to ensure security for its troops
still there and extend leases on its naval and air bases. At his annual news
conference Thursday, Putin said Russia offered Syria's new leaders to use the
bases for humanitarian aid deliveries and suggested Moscow could offer other
incentives. While Assad's demise dealt a heavy blow to Russia, some believe
Moscow could navigate the rapidly changing environment to retain at least some
clout. “Syria’s opposition forces well understand that the country’s future is
uncertain,” said Nikolay Kozhanov, a consulting fellow with Chathan House’s
Russia and Eurasia program, in a commentary. “They want Russia, if not as a
friend, then a neutral party.”He noted that “Moscow’s main goal will be to
maintain at least a minimal level of influence through a military presence, for
example, at its existing bases, or through contacts with other regional players,
such as Turkey.”Cagaptay observed that while Turkey would like to see an end to
Russia’s military presence in Syria, Ankara’s position will depend on how
relations evolve with Washington. “If we see a reset in U.S.-Turkish ties where
Turkey thinks it can comfortably lean on the U.S. against Russia, I can see
Erdogan adopting a kind of more boisterous tone vis a vis Putin,” he said. But
if the U.S. maintains its alliance with the Kurds and stands against Turkey’s
effort to push back on Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, “Ankara may
decide that it needs to continue to play all sides as it has been doing for
about a decade now,” Cagaptay said. Putin noted Russia understands Turkey's
motives in securing its borders, but he also warned that the Kurds could offer
strong resistance if attacked. Emre Ersen, a Russia expert at Istanbul’s Marmara
University, also noted that while Assad’s fall will diminish Moscow’s influence,
“the relationship between Turkey and Russia will not be devastated by the events
in Syria.”“Obviously, they still need to reach out to each other regarding the
crisis in Ukraine, but also because they have very significant economic
relations,” Ersen said, adding that Erdogan could be expected to seek more
concessions from Russia on energy and trade issues.
Israel media report accuses
troops of indiscriminate killing of Gaza civilians
AFP/December 20, 2024
JERUSALEM: A leading Israeli newspaper, citing unnamed soldiers serving in Gaza,
described indiscriminate killings of Palestinian civilians in the territory’s
Netzarim Corridor, prompting a firm rejection Friday from the military. Haaretz,
a left-leaning Israeli daily that has faced severe criticism from the country’s
right-wing government, quoted soldiers, career officers and reservists who said
commanders were given unprecedented authority to operate in the Gaza Strip. They
alleged commanders had ordered or allowed the killing of unarmed women, children
and men in the Netzarim Corridor, a seven-kilometer-wide (4.3-mile-wide) strip
of land that cuts across Gaza from Israel to the Mediterranean, and which has
been turned into a military zone. The report quoted an officer who recalled an
incident in which a commander had announced that 200 militants were killed, when
actually “only 10 were confirmed as known Hamas operatives.”Soldiers meanwhile
told Haaretz they received questionable orders to open fire on “anyone who
enters” Netzarim. “Anyone crossing the line is a terrorist — no exceptions, no
civilians. Everyone’s a terrorist,” a soldier quoted a battalion commander as
saying. The soldiers also described how division commanders received “expanded
powers” allowing them to bomb buildings or launch air strikes that previously
required approval from the army’s top echelons. The allegations contained in the
Haaretz report could not be independently verified. In a statement to AFP, the
military rejected the accusations. “All activities and operations conducted by
(Israeli army) forces in the Gaza Strip, including in the Netzarim Corridor, are
carried out in accordance with structured combat procedures, plans and
operational orders approved by the highest ranks in the (army),” it said. The
military added that “all strikes in the area (of Netzarim) are conducted in
accordance with the mandatory procedures and protocols, including targets that
are struck in an urgent time frame due to essential operational circumstances
where ground forces face immediate threats.” “Incidents that give rise to
concerns of deviations from IDF’s orders or ethical standards are thoroughly
examined and addressed.” Many soldiers who spoke to Haaretz pointed to a
specific commander, Brig. Gen. Yehuda Vach, who last summer took charge of
Division 252, which has been based in Netzarim. One of the soldiers said of Vach
— who was born in the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank — that
“his worldview and political positions were clearly driving his operational
decisions.”Another soldier said Vach had declared “there are no innocents in
Gaza.”The military said that the “statements attributed to him... were not made
by him.”
“Any claim asserting otherwise is entirely baseless.”The Haaretz report said
Israeli soldiers spoke to the newspaper so that the Israeli “people need to know
how this war really looks like, and what serious acts some commanders and
fighters are committing inside Gaza.”
“They need to know the inhuman scenes we’re witnessing.”Palestinian militant
group Hamas, whose unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the
current war, also reacted to the Haaretz report. It said the testimonies offered
“new evidence of unprecedented war crimes and full-fledged ethnic cleansing
operations, carried out in an organized manner.”Hamas, which has also been
accused of indiscriminate killings of Israelis and other civilians on October 7
last year, demanded that the United Nations and the International Court of
Justice “document these testimonies and take the necessary steps to stop the
ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel's Netanyahu eyes
Iran after triumphs over Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria
Samia Nakhoul/Reuters/December 20, 2024
DUBAI (Reuters) - 2025 will be a year of reckoning for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and his country's arch foe Iran.
The veteran Israeli leader is set to cement his strategic goals: tightening his
military control over Gaza, thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions and capitalising
on the dismantling of Tehran's allies -- Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah
and the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Assad's collapse, the elimination of the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and
the destruction of their military structure mark a succession of monumental wins
for Netanyahu. Without Syria, the alliances Tehran has nurtured for decades have
unraveled. As Iran's influence weakens, Israel is emerging as the dominant power
in the region. Netanyahu is poised to zero in on Iran's nuclear ambitions and
missile program, applying an unyielding focus to dismantling and neutralising
these strategic threats to Israel. Iran, Middle East observers say, faces a
stark choice: Either continue its nuclear enrichment program or scale back its
atomic activities and agree to negotiations. "Iran is very vulnerable to an
Israeli attack, particularly against its nuclear program," said Joost R.
Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa Program Director of the International
Crisis Group. "I wouldn't be surprised if Israel did it, but that doesn't get
rid of Iran." "If they (Iranians) do not back down, Trump and Netanyahu might
strike, as nothing now prevents them," said Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib,
referring to President-elect Donald Trump. Khatib argued that the Iranian
leadership, having demonstrated pragmatism in the past, may be willing to
compromise to avert a military confrontation. Trump, who withdrew from a 2015
agreement between Iran and six world powers aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear
goals, is likely to step up sanctions on Iran's oil industry, despite calls to
return to negotiations from critics who see diplomacy as a more effective
long-term policy.
DEFINING LEGACY
Amid the turmoil of Iran and Gaza, Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial,
which resumed in December, will also play a defining role in shaping his legacy.
For the first time since the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023, Netanyahu took
the stand in proceedings that have bitterly divided Israelis. With 2024 coming
to an end, the Israeli prime minister will likely agree to sign a ceasefire
accord with Hamas to halt the 14-month-old Gaza war and free Israeli hostages
held in the enclave, according to sources close to the negotiations. But Gaza
would stay under Israeli military control in the absence of a post-war U.S. plan
for Israel to cede power to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which Netanyahu
rejects. Arab states have shown little inclination to press Israel to compromise
or push the decaying PA to overhaul its leadership to take over."Israel will
remain in Gaza militarily in the foreseeable future because any withdrawal
carries the risk of Hamas reorganising. Israel believes that the only way to
maintain the military gains is to stay in Gaza," Khatib told Reuters. For
Netanyahu, such a result would mark a strategic victory, consolidating a status
quo that aligns with his vision: Preventing Palestinian statehood while ensuring
Israel's long-term control over Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem --
territories internationally recognised as integral to a future Palestinian
state. The Gaza war erupted when Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7,
2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli
tallies. Israel responded with an air and land offensive that has killed 45,000
people, health authorities there say, displaced 1.2 million and left much of the
enclave in ruins. While the ceasefire pact would bring an immediate end to the
Gaza hostilities, it would not address the deeper, decades-old
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Arab and Western officials say. On the ground,
prospects for a Palestinian state, an option repeatedly ruled out by Netanyahu's
government, have become increasingly unattainable, with Israeli settler leaders
optimistic that Trump will align closely with their views. A surge in settler
violence and the increasing confidence of the settler movement - highway
billboards in some West Bank areas bear the message in Arabic "No Future in
Palestine" - reflect a growing squeeze on Palestinians. Even if the Trump
administration were to push for an end to the conflict, "any resolution would be
on Israel’s terms," said Hiltermann of the Crisis Group.
"It's over when it comes to a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians are still
there," he said. In Trump's previous term, Netanyahu secured several diplomatic
wins, including the “Deal of the Century,” a U.S.-backed peace plan which Trump
floated in 2020 to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The plan, if implemented, marks a dramatic shift in U.S. policy and
international agreements by overtly aligning with Israel and deviating sharply
from a long-standing land-for-peace framework that has historically guided
negotiations. It would allow Israel to annex vast stretches of land in the
occupied West Bank, including Israeli settlements and the Jordan Valley. It
would also recognise Jerusalem as the "undivided capital of Israel" -
effectively denying Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem as their capital, a
central aspiration in their statehood goals and in accordance with U.N.
resolutions.
SYRIA AT CRITICAL CROSSROADS
Across the border from Israel, Syria stands at a critical juncture following the
overthrow of Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel forces, led by Ahmad al-Sharaa,
better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani. Golani now faces the monumental task of
consolidating control over a fractured Syria, where the military and police
force have collapsed. HTS has to rebuild from scratch, securing borders and
maintaining internal stability against threats from jihadists, remnants of the
Assad regime, and other adversaries. The greatest fear among Syrians and
observers alike is whether HTS, once linked to al-Qaeda but now presenting
itself as a Syrian nationalist force to gain legitimacy, reverts to a rigid
Islamist ideology. The group’s ability - or failure - to navigate this balance
will shape the future of Syria, home to diverse communities of Sunnis, Shi'ites,
Alawites, Kurds, Druze and Christians. "If they succeed in that (Syrian
nationalism) there's hope for Syria, but if they revert to their comfort zone of
quite strongly ideologically-tainted Islamism, then it's going to be divisive in
Syria," said Hiltermann. "You could have chaos and a weak Syria for a long time,
just like we saw in Libya and Iraq."
Israeli airstrikes kill at
least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say
Reuters/December 20, 2024
CAIRO (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes killed at least 25 Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip on Friday, medics said, including at least eight in an apartment in the
Nuseirat refugee camp and at least 10, including seven children, in the town of
Jabalia.
Mediators have yet to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist group
Hamas after more than a year of conflict. Sources close to the discussions told
Reuters on Thursday that Qatar and Egypt had been able to resolve some
differences between the warring parties but sticking points remained. Israel
began its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities
on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, according to
Israeli tallies. Israel says about 100 hostages are still being held, but it is
unclear how many are alive. Authorities in Gaza say Israel's campaign has killed
more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced most of the population of 2.3
million. Much of the coastal enclave is in ruins.
For thousands of Jews, Israel still doesn't feel safe after the Oct. 7 attacks.
So they're leaving
Laurie Kellman/The Associated Press/December 20, 2024
LONDON (AP) — Leaving Israel is easier, Shira Z. Carmel thinks, by saying it's
just for now. But she knows better. For the Israeli-born singer and an
increasing number of relatively well-off Israelis, the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack
shattered any sense of safety and along with it, Israel's founding promise: to
be the world's safe haven for Jews. That day, thousands of Hamas militants blew
past the country's border defenses, killed 1,200 people and dragged 250 more
into Gaza in a siege that caught the Israeli army by surprise and stunned a
nation that prides itself on military prowess. This time, during what became
known as Israel's 9/11, the army didn't come for hours.
Ten days later, a pregnant Carmel, her husband and their toddler boarded a
flight to Australia, which was looking for people in her husband's profession.
And they spun the explanation to friends and family as something other than
permanent — “relocation" is the easier-to-swallow term — acutely aware of the
familial strain and the shame that have shadowed Israelis who leave for good.
“We told them we're going to get out of the line of fire for awhile,” Carmel
said more than a year later from her family's new home in Melbourne. “It wasn't
a hard decision. But it was very hard to talk to them about it. It was even hard
to admit it to ourselves."
Thousands of Israelis have left the country since Oct. 7, 2023, according to
government statistics and immigration tallies released by destination countries
such as Canada and Germany. There's concern about whether it will drive a “brain
drain” in sectors like medicine and tech. Migration experts say it's possible
people leaving Israel will surpass the number of immigrants to Israel in 2024,
according to Sergio DellaPergola, a statistician and professor emeritus of
Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“In my view, this year people entering will be smaller than the total of the
exit," he said. “And this is quite unique in the existence of the State of
Israel.”
Early information points to a surge of Israelis leaving
The Oct. 7 effect on Israeli emigration is enough for prominent Israelis to
acknowledge the phenomenon publicly — and warn of rising antisemitism elsewhere.
“There is one thing that worries me in particular: talks about leaving the
country. This must not happen,” former premier Naftali Bennett, a staunch critic
of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted in June after a conversation with
friends who were leaving. Israel, he wrote, needs to retain the talent. “Who
wants to return to the days of the wandering Jew, without real freedom, without
a state, subject to every anti-Semitic whim?”Thousands of Israelis have opted to
pay the financial, emotional and social costs of moving out since the Oct. 7
attack, according to government statistics and families who spoke to The
Associated Press in recent months after emigrating to Canada, Spain and
Australia. Israel's overall population continues to grow toward 10 million
people. But it's possible that 2024 ends with more Israelis leaving the country
than coming in. That's even as Israel and Hezbollah reached a fragile ceasefire
along the border with Lebanon and Israel and Hamas inch toward a pause in Gaza.
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics estimated in September that 40,600
Israelis departed long-term over the first seven months of 2024, a 59% increase
over the same period a year earlier, when 25,500 people left. Monthly, 2,200
more people departed this year than in 2023, CBS reported. The Israeli Ministry
of Immigration and Absorption, which does not deal with people leaving, said
more than 33,000 people have moved to Israel since the start of the war, about
on par with previous years. The interior minister refused to comment for this
story. The numbers are equally dramatic in destination countries. More than
18,000 Israelis applied for German citizenship in 2024, more than double the
same period in 2023 and three times that of the year before, the Interior
Ministry reported in September. Canada, which has a three-year work visa program
for Israelis and Palestinians fleeing the war, received 5,759 applications for
work permits from Israeli citizens between January and October this year, the
government told The Associated Press. In 2023, that number was 1,616
applications, and a year earlier the tally was 1,176 applications, according to
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
‘They want to wake up in the morning and enjoy life’
Other clues, too, point to a notable departure of Israelis since the Oct. 7
attacks. Gil Fire, deputy director of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, said
that some of its star specialists with fellowship postings of a few years in
other countries began to waver about returning. “Before the war, they always
came back and it was not really considered an option to stay. And during the war
we started to see a change,” he said. “They said to us, ‘We will stay another
year, maybe two years, maybe more.’”Fire says it’s “an issue of concern” enough
for him to plan in-person visits with these doctors in the coming months to try
to draw them back to Israel. Michal Harel, who moved with her husband to Toronto
in 2019, said that almost immediately after the attacks the phone began ringing
— with other Israelis seeking advice about moving to Canada. On Nov. 23, 2023,
the couple set up a website to help Israelis navigate moving, which can cost at
least 100,000 Israeli shekels, or about $28,000, Harel and other Israeli
relocation experts said. Not everyone in Israel can just pack up and move
overseas. Many of those who have made the move have foreign passports, jobs at
multinational corporations or can work remotely. People in Gaza have even less
choice. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced by
relentless Israeli bombing since Oct. 7, 2023, yet no one has been able to leave
the enclave since May. Before then, at least 100,000 Palestinians are believed
to have left Gaza.
Health officials in Gaza say Israeli bombing has killed more than 45,000 people.
Speaking by phone last month, Harel reported that the site has received views
from 100,000 unique visitors and 5,000 direct contacts in 2024 alone. “It's
people who want to move quickly with families, to wake up in the morning and
enjoy life,” she said. “Right now (in Israel), it's trauma, trauma, trauma.”
“Some of them,” Harel added, "they want to keep everything a secret.”
Leaving Zion, a threat to Israel and a shame?
Aliya — the Hebrew term for immigration, literally the “ascent” of Jews into
Israel — has always been part of the country's plan. But “yerida” — the term
used for leaving the country, literally the “descent” of Jews from Israel to the
diaspora, emphatically has not. For Israel's first decades of independence, the
government strongly discouraged departing Israelis, who were seen in some cases
as cowardly and even treasonous. A sacred trust and a social contract took root
in Israeli society. The terms go — or went — like this: Israeli citizens would
serve in the military and pay high taxes. In exchange, the army would keep them
safe. Meanwhile, it’s every Jew’s obligation to stay, work and fight for
Israel’s survival. “Emigration was a threat, especially in the early years
(when) there were problems of nation-building. In later decades, Israel became
more established and more self-confident,” said Ori Yehudai, a professor of
Israel studies at Ohio State University and the author of “Leaving Zion,” a
history of Israeli emigration. The sense of shame is more of a social dynamic
now, he said, but “people still feel they have to justify their decision to
move.”Shira Carmel says she has no doubt about her decision. She'd long objected
to Netanyahu's government's efforts to overhaul the legal system, and was one of
the first women to don the blood-red "Handmaid's Tale" robes that became a
fixture of the anti-government protests of 2023. She was terrified as a new mom,
and a pregnant one, during the Hamas attack, and appalled at having to tell her
toddler that they were gathering in the bomb shelter for “hugging parties" with
the neighbors. This was not the life she wanted. Meanwhile, Australia beckoned.
Carmel's brother had lived there for two decades. The couple had the equivalent
of a green card due to Carmel's husband's profession. In the days after the
attack, Carmel's brother alerted her to the possibility of a flight out of
Israel for free, if on very short notice, which she confirmed with the
Australian embassy in Israel. Basic logic, she says, pointed toward moving.
And yet. Carmel recalls the frenzied hours before the flight out in which she
said to her husband in the privacy of their bedroom: “My God, are we really
doing this?” They decided not to decide, opting instead for: “We're just getting
on a plane for now, being grateful.” They packed lightly. On the ground half a
world away, weeks became months. And they decided: “I’m not going to go back to
try to give birth in the war.” In December, they told their families back in
Israel that they were staying “for now.”“We don't define it as ‘forever,’"
Carmel said Tuesday. “But we are for sure staying for the foreseeable future.”
Israel and Hamas appear close to a ceasefire deal. These
are the sticking points
Samy Magdy And Tia Goldenberg/CAIRO (AP)/December 20, 2024
CAIRO (AP) — Israel and Hamas appear closer than they have been in months to
agreeing to a ceasefire that could wind down the 14-month war in Gaza and bring
home dozens of people held hostage there. But the sides have come close before,
only to have talks collapse over various disagreements. This round of
negotiations also faces hurdles. The agreement would take place in phases and
include a halt in fighting, an exchange of captive Israeli hostages for
Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, according
to Egyptian, Hamas and American officials. The last phase would include the
release of any remaining hostages, an end to the war and talks on
reconstruction. Although Israel and Hamas have expressed optimism that a deal is
close, key sticking points remain over the exchange of hostages for prisoners
and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, people involved in the talks
say.
“They are working through the names of hostages who would come out in the first
phase — the names of the prisoners that would be released as part of the
exchange. And then some specific details about the disposition of Israeli forces
during the ceasefire,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said
Wednesday on MSNBC's “Morning Joe." Here’s a closer look at the key issues
holding up a deal:
Hostage release
During its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Hamas and other groups took
about 250 people hostages and brought them to Gaza. A previous truce in November
2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or their
remains have been recovered over the past year.
Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Gaza — at least a third of whom it
believes were killed during the Oct. 7 attack or died in captivity. The warring
sides are haggling over which hostages would be included in an initial release,
according to the Egyptian and Hamas officials who spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were discussing ongoing negotiations. There have also
been disputes about how many hostages will be included, Israeli media reported..
The first batch is expected to be made up mostly of women, older people and
people with medical conditions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also
is facing growing pressure from the families of hostages to secure a deal that
would release all of them at once. They fear the deal could break down or that
loved ones who aren't immediately released could die in captivity.
Palestinian prisoners
As part of the deal, Israel is expected to free hundreds of imprisoned
Palestinians, including dozens who were convicted in bloody attacks. Israel has
a history of lopsided prisoner releases, and hundreds were freed in the November
2023 deal. But the officials who spoke to the AP say the sides still disagree
over the exact number and names of the prisoners to be freed. Hamas wants
high-profile prisoners included. Netanyahu's governing coalition includes
hardliners who oppose such releases, with some even pledging to quit the
government if too many concessions are made. They point to a 2011 prisoner
release that included the former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the
Oct. 7 attacks who was killed by Israel in October. Israeli media have also
reported that there are differences over whether the more serious prisoners who
are released will be exiled to third countries.
Palestinians returning home
The war has displaced an estimated 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, according
to U.N. estimates, with the hard-hit northern sector of the territory largely
emptied of its prewar population. During the first phase of the developing deal,
Israel is expected to withdraw troops from Palestinian population centers and
allow some of the displaced to return home. But the extent of the pullback and
the number of people allowed to return must still be worked out, the officials
say. According to the Egyptian and Hamas officials, Israel is prepared to allow
people to return north to Gaza City, the territory's largest city. But it does
not want people to return farther north to areas close to the Israeli border.
Israeli troops remain active in these areas, battling what Israel says are
pockets of insurgency. Israel appears concerned that militants could renew
attacks from there if the displaced are allowed to return. But critics say
Israel has other intentions. Netanyahu has considered a controversial proposal
by former generals to empty the north and cut it off from humanitarian aid as
part of a plan to starve out any militants who remain there. Moshe Yaalon, a
former Israeli defense minister, said Israel was carrying out ethnic cleansing
in those areas of northern Gaza. Netanyahu has also said Israel must maintain
long-term control over a strategic strip of land along Gaza's border with Egypt,
as well as the freedom for Israeli troops to operate against militants in the
future. Hamas is demanding a full withdrawal as part of any ceasefire. In an
interview Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. remains
hopeful that a deal can be finalized before President Joe Biden leaves office on
Jan. 20. “Everyone is pushing on this,” Blinken told MSNBC. “We want to get it
over the finish line. We want to get the hostages home. We want to get a
ceasefire so that people can finally have relief in Gaza.”
US says new Syria rulers
helping in hunt for reporter Tice
AFP/December 21, 2024
WASHINGTON: US officials said Friday that Syria’s new leaders had assisted in
the hunt for missing journalist Austin Tice, with searches underway at sites of
interest. US diplomats, paying the first visit to Damascus since Islamist-led
rebels toppled strongman Bashar Assad earlier this month, said they told the new
Islamist-led authorities of their priority of finding Tice and other missing
Americans. “We feel it’s our duty as the US government to press on until we know
with certainty what happened to him, where he is and to bring him home,” said
Roger Carstens, the US pointman on hostages. He said that he worked Friday with
the new Syrian leadership to search a location where Tice could have been held.
“There are other locations that need to be searched in the coming days, weeks
and months, and we’ll be working with the interim authorities,” Carstens told
reporters after the trip. Tice was working for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy
News, The Washington Post, CBS and other media outlets when he was detained at a
checkpoint in August 2012. Carstens said that US teams were not yet authorized
to operate in Syria but that he has reached out to non-governmental groups as
well as journalists for assistance. “The bottom line is that over 12 years,
we’ve been able to pinpoint about six facilities that we believe have a high
possibility of having had Austin Tice at one point or another,” he said.
Carstens said up to three more sites of interests have been added recently and
that he hoped for thorough searches of all of them. Tice’s mother Debra said
earlier this month that she had information that her son was alive. Carstens
said that the United States was also seeking information about other Americans
including Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American psychotherapist believed to have died
after being detained under the Assad government in 2017.
Palestinians accuse Israeli
settlers of West Bank mosque fire
Reuters/Fri, December 20, 2024
Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian
residents said on Friday, and video showed "Revenge", "Death to Arabs" and other
slogans had been spray-painted in Hebrew on the building's facade. Black burn
marks were visible at the entrance to the Muslim holy site in the northern West
Bank village of Marda. The fire was put out before it could spread much further.
Israeli police said they were collecting testimonies and evidence at the scene.
Nasfat al-Khufash, head of the Marda village council, said: "On Friday, Marda
awoke to a systematic terror attack by a group of settlers who set fire to Bir
al-Walideen mosque.""These attacks by settler groups are continuous and
systematic," he said. The Israeli police and Shin Bet security services said in
a joint statement: "We see this incident as extremely serious and will act
resolutely to bring the perpetrators to justice for rigorous trial." The
Palestinian Authority foreign ministry assailed the attack as the latest in a
series of violations and crimes by Israeli settlers and appealed to the United
Nations Security Council for help protecting Palestinians. The U.N. says more
than 700,000 Israelis live among 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967. Most countries deem Israeli
settlements built on the captured land to be illegal. Israel disputes this and
cites historical and biblical ties to the land. Violence has surged across the
West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas militants on southern
Israel, which triggered Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and a wider conflict
on several fronts.
UN extends peacekeeping
mission between Syria, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
Reuters/December 21, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended a
long-running peacekeeping mission between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan
Heights for six months and expressed concern that military activities in the
area could escalate tensions. Since a lightning rebel offensive ousted Syrian
President Bashar Assad earlier this month, Israeli troops have moved into the
demilitarised zone — created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war — that is patrolled
by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Israeli officials have described
the move as a limited and temporary measure to ensure the security of Israel’s
borders but have given no indication of when the troops might be withdrawn. In
the resolution adopted on Friday, the Security Council stressed “that both
parties must abide by the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement
between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic and scrupulously observe the
ceasefire.” It expressed concern that “the ongoing military activities conducted
by any actor in the area of separation continue to have the potential to
escalate tensions between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic, jeopardize the
ceasefire between the two countries, and pose a risk to the local civilian
population and United Nations personnel on the ground.” Armed forces from Israel
and Syria are not allowed in the demilitarized zone — a 400-square-km
(155-square-mile) “Area of Separation” — under the ceasefire arrangement. UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday: “Let me be clear: There
should be no military forces in the area of separation other than UN
peacekeepers – period.” He also said Israeli airstrikes on Syria were violations
of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “must stop.”
Palestinian officials accuse Israeli settlers of mosque
arson in West Bank
AFP/December 20, 2024
NABLUS: Palestinian officials reported on Friday that Israeli settlers had set
fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank, an act Israeli police said was under
investigation. According to Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Salfit, the attack
targeted the Bir Al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda. “A group of
settlers carried out an attack early this morning by setting fire to the
mosque,” Kamil said in a statement. In addition to the arson, the settlers
vandalized the mosque’s walls with “racist graffiti” in Hebrew, he
said.Photographs shared on social media showed slogans spray-painted in black
including “Death to Arabs.”Villagers of Marda confirmed the details, with one
resident telling AFP: “They set fire to the entrance of the mosque and wrote
Hebrew slogans on its walls.”Another resident said the fire was extinguished
before it could engulf the entire structure. An AFP photographer at the scene
saw villagers gathering at the mosque to assess the extent of the damage.
Governor Kamil alleged that settlers had previously entered the village “under
the protection of the Israeli army,” and that similar acts of vandalism and
graffiti had been reported in nearby areas. The Palestinian foreign ministry in
Ramallah condemned the incident, calling it a “blatant act of racism” and a
reflection of the ” widespread incitement campaigns against our people carried
out by elements of the extremist right-wing ruling government” of Israel.
Israeli police and the domestic Shin Bet security agency described the incident
as a matter of “great severity.”They said they would “act decisively to ensure
accountability for those responsible,” adding an investigation was underway,
with authorities gathering testimony and evidence from the scene. Violence in
the Israeli-occupied West Bank has intensified since the war in Gaza began on
October 7 last year following Hamas’s attack on Israel. Since the start of the
war, at least 803 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli
forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry. In the same
period, Palestinian attacks have claimed the lives of at least 24 Israelis in
the West Bank, based on Israeli official data.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
US charges Iran Guards
captain in 2022 killing of American in Iraq
Reuters/December 20, 2024
Mohammad Reza Nouri, 36, helped plan an attack on Troell, 45, who was working at
an English language institute in central Baghdad, according to a complaint
unsealed in U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan. The attack was carried out in
retaliation for the U.S. killing of the Revolutionary Guards' top commander
Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike, according to the complaint. "The
Department of Justice will not tolerate terrorists and authoritarian regimes
targeting and murdering Americans anywhere in the world," Attorney General
Merrick Garland said in a statement. Nouri is already in custody in Iraq after
being convicted, along with four Iraqis, in that country for Troell's murder.
All five were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq last year. Nouri is facing
eight charges in U.S. court, including murder of a U.S. national and providing
material support to terrorism resulting in death. The United States considers
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. It was not yet
clear if Nouri had an attorney. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York
did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The complaint accuses
Nouri of collecting personal information on Troell, whom he appears to have
believed was an American or Israeli intelligence officer, and recruiting
operatives to target him. Troell was shot and killed on Nov. 7, 2022, after a
heavily armed gunman forced him to stop while he was driving home with his wife,
according to U.S. authorities.
Trump Orders Europe to Buy More U.S. Oil and Gas—or Face
Tariffs
Will Neal/The Daily Beast/December 20, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump took a brief hiatus from the U.S. government’s
shutdown crisis Friday morning to re-up his threats of a trade war with the
nation’s closest allies. “I told the European Union that they must make up their
tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil
and gas,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Friday morning.“Otherwise, it is
TARIFFS all the way!” he added. Who exactly Trump “told” within the 27-member,
multi-institutional bloc remains at this stage something of a mystery. But it’s
not the first time he’s made these threats, having campaigned earlier this year
on a platform for imposing tariffs of up to 20 percent on all goods imported
into the U.S.The threats also carry echoes of the earlier trade war he waged
against the EU during the first half of his earlier stint in the White House,
lambasting European countries for treating the U.S. like “a piggy bank that
everybody’s robbing.”In the meantime, however, Trump arguably has more pressing
things to worry about, after a number of Republican congressional
representatives defied him on Thursday night to vote down a spending bill he and
tech billionaire buddy Elon Musk were backing. As of Friday morning, the House
remains locked in a desperate scrabble to approve some sort of spending bill to
avert a government shutdown at midnight and the holiday travel chaos it would
inevitably precede.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on December
20-21/2024
The Crusades: ‘White Supremacist’ Ventures Defined
by ‘Injustices and Unspeakable Tragedies’?
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/December 20/2024
In recent articles discussing Pete Hegseth’s pro-Crusader views and tattoos, we
saw how the “Left” and its media mouthpiece rely on the Fake History version of
the Crusades. We also exposed the true source of their fears, namely, Christians
finally realizing that the highest virtue of their religion is not being a
doormat but rather standing up against evil.
There are, however, two other noteworthy aspects to the Left’s attack on Hegseth.
White on Brown Violence?
The first is this notion that anyone who holds a favorable view of the Crusades
is automatically a “white supremacist.” This bizarre claim was made in virtually
every article and report written about Hegseth’s pro-Crusader views, including a
New York Times piece titled, “Pete Hegseth and His ‘Battle Cry’ for a New
Christian Crusade.” It says that the Jerusalem (or Crusader) Cross and the Latin
phrase Deus vult (“God wills it”) — both of which are tattooed on Hegseth’s
frame — are “used by white supremacists.”
This connection is apparently based on the fact that the overwhelming majority
of history’s Crusaders were Europeans, and the overwhelming majority of their
enemies were Muslims. But this dichotomy is based on something else: the Muslim
conquest of non-European lands.
Once Islam exploded out of Arabia in the seventh century, it conquered all of
North Africa and the Middle East, which was almost entirely Christian. Those
Christians, who were not European, were quickly subdued — killed, converted to
Islam, or living as dhimmis, cowed subjects of the Islamic state.
All that was left of Christendom was Europe (though portions of it were also
conquered, such as Spain and later Eastern Europe). In other words, all that
were left to fight on behalf of or defend Christendom were white people.
Yet this fact has now become imbued with “racism.” Those who are obsessed with
identity politics could care less why it just so happened to be white people who
finally responded to nonstop Muslim aggression and expansion — the reason being
that they were all that was left of free Christendom. Rather, all they see is
white vs. nonwhite, a formula which always makes the former the aggressor, the
latter the victim.
So now, to like or appreciate the Crusades is no longer to like or appreciate
just causes in defense of the weak, but to harbor “white supremacist”
tendencies. (Such thinking oddly makes me, your friendly neighborhood Mr.
Ibrahim, a “white supremacist.”) It is just name-calling to dissuade people from
holding a favorable view of the Crusades, which now becomes tantamount to being
racist.
All Wars Are Tragic
The other noteworthy aspect that came out in the plethora of hit pieces on
Hegseth concerns the knee-jerk apologies offered by those who do hold favorable
views of the Crusades. The NYT and other media quoted several scholars who hold
a more objective view of the Crusades but still offered the caveat that many
horrible things occurred during them. This apparently includes Hegseth himself:
Mr. Hegseth has written that while the Crusades were filled with injustice and
unspeakable tragedy, the alternative would have been “horrific,” because it is
Western civilization that has nurtured the values of “freedom” and “equal
justice.”
Of course there were “injustices and unspeakable tragedy” during the Crusades.
But the impulse of pointing this out whenever the Crusades are discussed raises
an important question: Has there ever been a war — especially one spread over
two centuries — that did not contain “injustices and unspeakable tragedy”? No,
there has not. Even the most romanticized wars of patriotic lore contained
atrocities, rape, and injustices. That, after all, is the nature of war — all
wars.
So why is it always and only for the Crusades that we must forever offer caveats
and clear our throats when discussing? Why don’t we do that when discussing,
say, the Revolutionary War, World War I, etc. — all of which had atrocities, and
from the “good guys”? Who now flatly condemns America’s role in World War II
because American GIs raped 14,000 civilian women in Germany, France, and
England? Who begins every conversation about America’s role in WWII by
referencing these mass rapes as proof that the war on Hitler was illegitimate?
In short “bad things” happen in all wars. Though that is a given, it rarely
besmirches the validity of any war — except, of course, the Crusades (even
though, in reality, the “injustices and unspeakable tragedies” that occurred at
the hands of the Crusaders were often mild compared to those committed in modern
wars, not to mention those committed by their Muslim enemies, though all of
these get a pass).
To be fair, we either must start hemming and hawing and wringing our hands in
regret every time we mention any war, or stop singling out the Crusades for such
treatment, always holding them to an impossibly high standard that has never
been achieved.
**Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar, is
the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the
Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan' Comes Out Against
Turkish President Erdoğan 'Who Is Working To Revive The Ottoman Caliphate'
MEMRI/December 20, 2024
Iran, Turkey | Special Dispatch No. 11740
In a December 16, 2024 article titled "This Neighbor Is No Longer Trustworthy,
the Iranian regime mouthpiece Kayhan labelled Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan as "opportunistic" and accused him of assisting the Syrian rebels,
particularly Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham, and of working to revive the Ottoman
caliphate.
The Ottoman Empire. Source: Commons.wikimedia.org, accessed December 19, 2024.
The territorial distributions of the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Source: Rferl.org,
May 13, 2016.
The Middle East, after being divided into separate states. Source:
Mapsofworld.com, accessed December 19, 2024.
In the article, Kayhan complained that while Erdogan presented himself as
concerned for the Syrian people and committed to the Palestinian cause, he was
actually using armed terrorist organizations to work against the interests of
the neighboring peoples. It pointed out recent statements by Erdogan, whom it
called a self-appointed caliph,[1]at the conference of the Justice and
Development Party that he heads. At the conference, Erdogan explained Turkey's
involvement in Syria and said that had the region not been divided up, "the
cities of Aleppo, Sham [Damascus], Hama, and Homs would have remained Turkish
like Gaziantep, Antep, and Istanbul, and we would still be a single state."
Erdogan was referring to how, after the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire collapsed
following World War I, the British and French established their areas of
influence in the region, and it was these powers that carved up the modern
Middle East. Thus, the states of Syria, Lebanon, Mandatory Palestine, Jordan,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf emirates had been created.
Kayhan went on to warn Erdogan of the danger of his activity to strengthen the
terrorist organizations that have taken control of Syria, saying that they could
eventually turn against his regime.
The following are the main points of the Kayhan article:
Kayhan: The Turkish Government Of Today – And Erdogan Himself – Will Have No
Place Among The Arabs
"In the early 2000s, Turkey unveiled the new Turkey, marked by relations with
its neighbors based on a policy of 'minimizing issues with neighbors down to
zero', which is the foreign policy doctrine of the 'Justice and Development'
party. Erdogan, who was experienced as Mayor of Istanbul, instituted – this time
as Prime Minister – this policy, which could have made the conditions in the
region different from what they are in that country today. The public believed
in Erdogan's policy as Prime Minister and President, and until the terror
attacks against Syria in 2012, when he said: 'We are acting based on this
doctrine. That is why we don't want a problem on our border with Syria.'
"Later, with the Syrian war and Erdogan's support of terrorists causing the
problem of the lack of security in Syria, it was proven that he is in fact
orchestrating the crisis in Syria, and that not only is he not acting in line
with the policy of no problems with the neighbors, but that every day he was
adding to the problems of both countries, Syria and Turkey, which until 2012 had
maintained good relations.
"However, Erdogan's actions in the region are intended to revive the Ottoman
Caliphate, and he sees himself as the Caliph who separated areas of Syria from
the Ottoman government at the end of Ottoman rule. Erdogan forgets that if the
basis for the present day's geographical division of the region were based on
the sovereignty of governments from the previous century, many existing areas
would be changed, and that, as many argue, the Turkish government as it stands
today, and indeed Erdogan himself, would have no place among the Arabs.
"In recent days, we witnessed 'Erdogan's delusion' during his speech at the
eighth regional conference of the 'Justice and Development' party, where he
commented on developments in Syria, saying: 'The leaders of the Turkish
opposition always ask what Turkey is doing in Syria. I say to them, do you know
why Turkey is in Syria and why it holds these stances? Had the region not been
divided after the Second World War, the cities of Aleppo, Sham [Damascus], Hama,
and Homs would have still been Turkish cities, like Gaziantep, Antep, and
Istanbul, and we would still be a single state.'
"A few points should be noted about the Turkish President's actions and his
overt and hidden aims in Syria:
"Turkey's intervention in the Syrian civil war began diplomatically only to
escalate militarily. The involvement of the Turkish government grew gradually
over 13 years, during which diplomatic interventions turned into providing
military support to terrorists in July 2011, border disputes in 2012, direct
military interventions between 2016-2022, and most recently, showing overt
support for Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and affiliated groups and arming them –
which brought about the fall of the legal government of Bashar Al-Assad and the
conquest of cities and Syria's capital. Terrorists from the Caucasus, Chechnya,
etc. traveled through Turkey to Syria, along with their families. Therefore, the
question is: if Turkey's primary problem and concern is terrorism, why did its
borders serve as passage for terrorists for the past 13 years?"
"Erdoğan Should Be Seen As An Opportunist"
"After the fall of Assad's government and the establishment of Hay'at Tahrir
Al-Sham in Damascus, the Turkish President [Erdogan] made a statement that
surprised everyone who has been following events in the region and Turkey's
behavior over the past decade. He said: 'Turkey's second century has begun; we
are about to enter a new era, and will continue on our path of fighting to
destroy terrorism.' This rhetoric is frequently used by American officials in
the region. The Americans created ISIS, armed it heavily, and sicced it [to
kill] the oppressed people of Iraq and Syria. Later they pretended to oppose it,
even though everyone knew where that bloodthirsty group came from.
"The pathetic policy of the Americans is now being used by Erdogan regarding
current terror groups, as public opinion has apparently fallen asleep,
celebrating the fall of Assad and Damascus, failing to see who recently rolled
out the red carpet before the terrorists in Syria while [falsely] saying that he
shares the sorrow of those who, under the hateful fire of terrorists and the
killing of the children of Gaza by the child-slaughtering Zionists, [hold]
international summits to fight terrorism, and loudly speak out to condemn the
phenomenon of terrorism!
"Erdogan should be seen as an opportunist who was aware of the Syrians'
difficult economic conditions as they struggled against both starvation and a
lack of security. Facing such a situation, instead of helping this nation as
promised at the Astana summit[2] – a promise it never kept – Turkey inflicted
political instability on them for a long time, by establishing several armed
groups which [impacted] the fate of the Syrian nation.
"Erdogan, the orchestrator and policy director in this arena, seized on Russia's
preoccupation with the war against Ukraine and the Resistance Axis' conflict in
Lebanon and Gaza as an opportunity to achieve his goals behind the scenes. In
the case of Syria, Ankara uses double standards, and describes itself as a
supporter of the Palestinian people and the resistance, accusing the Zionist
regime. On the other hand, it made a secret agreement with the Zionist regime to
carry out a joint operation, one day after the ceasefire in Lebanon, to
facilitate the movement of the terrorists toward central Syria, and [bring
about] Assad's fall, cutting off the corridor of support for the Resistance
Axis, which extended to the Mediterranean Sea. In order to clarify Turkey's
goals in the current situation, one must note motives of religion, security,
economic opportunities, solving Turkey's refugee problem, and so forth.
"Turkey Is Playing With Fire – But Its Leaders Think They Can Control This Game"
"What is certain is that despite Erdogan's bogus triumphant pride at the fall of
the Assad government and the chaos in Syria, he has no clear outlook for his
government. The arrival of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham and its six satellite groups –
which sometimes have different and contradictory aims – heralds a new war.
Despite Turkey's awareness of [this war's] advantages and denial of being
involved, [this war] is not without its risks for Erdogan's government.
"The fact is, the armed groups know they are not subject to any official or
diplomatic regulations, and therefore, there is concern that in the
not-too-distant future, the armed groups that are supported by Turkey today may
tomorrow point their guns at those who armed them [i.e. Turkey].
"Erdogan should remember the fact that he is entering into a dangerous gamble.
Today, Turkey is playing with fire, even if its leaders think they can control
the game. Turkey should know that these are still the early days, and by betting
on the spark it lit, which has now spread to Syria, will have long term
consequences, and may in the near future lay the groundwork for the fall of its
own regime, like it did to Bashar Al-Assad's regime."[3]
[1] "Caliph" refers to the Islamic leader of the Muslim nation; in Arabic, it
means "replacement" or "successor" – i.e. for the Prophet Muhammad. As will be
recalled, Erdogan heads the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Justice and
Development Party.
[2] The Astana summit was a process of talks overseeing the ceasefire in Syria.
It took place beginning in 2017 with a series of regular meetings between
Russia, Turkey, and Iran as a guarantor, following the Syrian Civil War that had
begun in 2011.
[3] Kayhan (Iran), December 16, 2024.
Unmasking The Religious Dimensions Of Hizbullah’s Decades Of Planning For An
October 7-Style Invasion And Massacre Of Jews
ستيفن ستالينسكي من موقع ميمري: دراسة مطولة تكشف الأبعاد الدينية لتخطيط حزب الله
على مدى عقود لغزو ومجزرة على غرار هجوم 7 أكتوبر ضد اليهود
MEMRI/December 20, 2024
By Steven Stalinsky, Ph.D.*
Lebanon | Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1798
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138187/
Introduction
Since the 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war, Hizbullah has been speaking openly, in
Arabic and in explicit detail, of its plan to carry out a future massacre in
Israel. Hizbullah’s plan, two decades in the making, was to begin by invading
the Galilee using missiles, rockets, and drones, along with advanced technology,
intelligence, and surveillance, and with a tunnel network far more extensive
than Hamas’s. Yet Hamas’s October 7 attack turned out to have preempted what
Hizbullah had been planning – plans that were confirmed by documentation found
by Israeli forces in their counteroffensive in southern Lebanon.
Hizbullah, once recognized as the most heavily armed nonstate actor in the
world, released, on October 8, 2024, a detailed infographic with statistics of
the 3,194 operations it claims to have carried out against Israel since October
8, 2023, breaking them down into attacks on border outposts, communities,
military positions, planes and drones, military camps and bases, military
airports, and concentrations of forces. For these, it said, it had used guided
and ballistic missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, artillery, and sniper
rifles, along with aerial defense systems, an “air force,” and other weapons. It
claimed that with all this, it had killed and wounded over 2,000 Israelis and
caused the evacuation of over 100 communities, displacing 300,000 people.
Reiterating its intentions to attack Israel, Hizbullah’s open plans included by
firing missiles at and storming the Galilee, Golan, the Hula Valley, Tel Aviv,
and all of “pre-1948 Palestine.” It has particularly emphasized Israeli army
outposts and bases, and air force bases from Kiryat Shmona to Palmachim Airbase
in Israel’s west central region, Ben Gurion Airport, and the Ilan and Asaf Ramon
International Airports in the south. Other targets it has named include
petrochemical plants, biological research institutes, the Dimona and other
“nuclear facilities,” nuclear waste disposal sites, and storage facilities for
nuclear warheads “located either within cities or in their vicinity.” It even
singled out ammonia storage facilities in Haifa – which when struck, it said,
would incur as many casualties as a nuclear bomb – or five. This is an echo of
the August 4, 2020 explosion of ammonium nitrate in Beirut port, a blast that
killed and wounded more than 7,000 Lebanese and caused $15 billion in damage.
Many Lebanese still blame Hizbullah for the explosion.
Even after Israel’s blows against it over the past months – the detonation of
Hizbullah pagers and other communication devices, the killing of its leadership,
including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, and the targeting of weapons
stockpiles and banks, Hizbullah continues to warn of its upcoming invasion,
using unknown and advanced weapons and other surprises. On October 14-16, in a
series of articles on its affiliated news website Al-Khanadiq, Hizbullah said
its chain of command had been “rehabilitated,” and went on to claim that it has
retained 80 percent of its military capabilities; that it continues to receive
supplies from Iran; that it has tens of thousands of missiles, including
precision, hypersonic, and anti-ship missiles; that it can strike any target in
Israel; and that it is preparing for a long war of attrition against Israel.
This report includes extensive translations from MEMRI’s vast archives – the
largest in the world of translations of Hizbullah.
Hizbullah’s Plans To Annihilate The Jews Have Religious Overtones
Hizbullah’s statements about its planned massacre have religious overtones.
Annihilating Israel and the Jews is a “religious obligation” for the group,
citing Jewish scripture and referencing sites of Jewish historical and spiritual
significance. The Galilee, first on Hizbullah’s checklist of targets and closest
to its strongholds, holds locations of religious significance to both Christians
and Jews. The group has fired numerous barrages of dozens, if not hundreds, of
rockets into the ancient city of Safed and into Tiberias.
On October 13, 2024, Hizbullah released a short video clip depicting its
fighters entering Israel through a large steel gate – symbolizing the gate to
the fortress of Al-Qamus that was uprooted by Ali ibn Abi Talib in the 628 CE
Battle of Khaybar – and firing weapons and traveling by motorcycle, jeep, and
ATV, just as Hamas did on October 7, 2023, to slaughter Jews.
In its communications, Hizbullah often refers to the seventh-century slaughter
of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula by the army of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad,
during the seventh-century Battle of Khaybar. In fact, Hizbullah considers all
its current strikes against Israel to be part of its “Operation Khaybar” in
revenge for the killing of Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. An October 1 post
by the Hizbullah Al-Electroni account featured a 25-second video warning, in
Hebrew and English: “The Khyber [i.e. Khaybar] Gate will be uprooted twice, and
the field will testify that we are the people of decisiveness.”
A video released in February 2023, further highlighting Hizbullah’s framing of
its current battle against Israel in religious terms, showed the elite Radwan
Force simulating an invasion of northern Israel. The narrator quoted the Old
Testament in Hebrew: “If there is a serious injury, you are to take life for
life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn,
wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Exodus, 21:24-25.” The video concluded with
a verse from the Book of Jeremiah: “From the north, disaster will be poured out
on all who live in the land [Israel]. Jeremiah 1:14.”
This theme, and this verse from Jeremiah, also appeared in an October 2020 video
on Hizbullah’s media outlet Al-Manar. In it, a Hizbullah official stressed that
the next phase of the “resistance” would include two “blades” – Hizbullah
missiles and legions of fighters who will storm the enemy’s barracks and
settlements – in an operation named “The Gates Of Khaybar Will Be Smashed
Again.”
It is notable that Hizbullah supporters in the West – in the U.S., U.K.,
Australia, and elsewhere – have revived the historic Muslim call to kill Jews in
chants threatening local Jewish communities: “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the
army of Muhammad will return.” This occurred at a September 29 vigil for
Nasrallah in Dearborn, Michigan, where it was heard; the crowd chanted “Death to
Israel” for good measure.
Following the Israel-Hizbullah ceasefire agreement, and Hizbullah’s claim of
victory over Israel, the terror organization and its allies led by Iran have
openly stated that the current hiatus in the fighting is just an opportunity to
regroup for the next round. Their words should not be ignored – in fact, they
are justification for Israel, with the help of the U.S. and other allies, to
squeeze Hizbullah and Iran further yet, so as to finally destroy the groups’
capabilities and any future desire to carry out their promised attacks on
Israel.
Hizbullah’s Plan, Two Decades In The Making: To Invade The Galilee And Destroy
Israel
Days after the September 17-18 detonation of Hizbullah operatives’ pagers and
other communication devices across Lebanon, came Israel’s elimination of the top
tier of Hizbullah’s leadership, including, on September 27, Secretary-General
Hassan Nasrallah. He was killed deep in his bunker, as he and senior Hizbullah
officials were reportedly finalizing their plans that would likely have gone
into action for the Jewish New Year on October 2 or for the anniversary of
October 7. In its Lebanon ground offensive, which began September 30, Israel has
found in the tunnels – that North Korean experts are known to have helped
construct – anti-helicopter missiles, anti-tank missiles, mortar shells,
ammunition, weapons, and explosives, as well as motorcycles, for Hizbullah’s
“Conquer the Galilee” operation.
Hizbullah believed that its invasion would bring about Israel’s destruction. In
interviews, and in Arab media and social media posts, Hizbullah officials,
including Nasrallah, his deputies, and senior commanders, detailed the
organization’s goals and aims.
According to these statements, as noted, Hizbullah’s plan would begin with the
Galilee. In 2019, Nasrallah explained: “Part of our plan, both theoretically and
in practice… It is a plan for which we train, and prepare… We have prepared this
plan. It is complete. Yes, part of our plan for the next war is to enter the
Galilee.”
In August 2023, two months before October 7, Hizbullah operations officer “Hajj
Jihad” underlined that the plan for the Galilee operation had been in the works
for over 15 years. Calling it “one of the most important plans prepared by the
Islamic resistance,” he added that when the war starts, “we will see Israeli
soldiers deserting their posts, and fleeing.” He underlined that “the Islamic
resistance that will wage this war” will not conduct it “like we have done it in
the past” because “in the 17 years since 2006, we have been diligently preparing
for this war.”
A Member of the Lebanese Parliament from Hizbullah, Elwalid Succariyeh, said in
August 2019 that Hizbullah would, in a future conflict with Israel, invade the
Galilee, the Hula valley, and all of pre-1948 Palestine: “After the July [2006]
war, the concepts changed. The strategy of the resistance is no longer to
exhaust the Zionist enemy and to delay its advancement into Lebanon’s territory.
We are going to war. [Israel] will not invade – we will be the ones to invade.
We need to go into the Galilee.”
In February 2023, marking the 15th anniversary of the assassination of Hizbullah
military commander Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah commanders who were the focus of a
report by the organization’s Al-Manar TV said that “Hajj ‘Imad [Mughniyeh] had
and has a positive influence, and will continue to have such influence,
inshallah, until the liberation of the Galilee and, indeed, all of Palestine.”
They added that Hizbullah would “liberate” the Galilee “the next day” if
Nasrallah gives the word, and warned Israeli “settlers” to “start leaving this
area” because “soon enough they will encounter the resistance at their
doorsteps.”
Less than 24 hours after Hamas launched its attack on October 7, 2023, on
Israel’s south, Hizbullah Executive Council Head Hashem Safieddine – who was
killed in early October 2024 shortly after being named as Nasrallah’s
replacement – announced in a speech that what Israel had seen on that day would
be seen again, but on a much larger scale, and from Lebanon and Israel’s other
borders. The Hamas attack, he added, had proved Iranian Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei’s assertion that “this plundering entity” – Israel – would be ended. As
the crowd chanted “Death to America,” he added: “You will witness a deluge of
the [Islamic] nation that will sink the entire [Zionist] entity.”
In speeches after October 7, 2023, Hizbullah officials set out the
organization’s goal of mass slaughter. Explaining on December 28, 2023 on Iran’s
Arabic-language Al-Alam TV, Safieddine stressed that Israel’s annihilation was
the goal not only of the late IRGC Qods Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani,
but also of all the resistance fighters in the region. Eliminating “this
artificial and fabricated entity” is, he concluded, the “natural and logical
goal of anybody who believes in history.” Hizbullah executive council deputy
chairman Sheikh Ali Damoush, on August 12, touted Hizbullah’s plans for the
“coming” attack. The “decision” to wreak vengeance, he said, “has been taken and
there is no going back on it, regardless of the repercussions. Its
implementation, details and timing are subject to the circumstances on the
ground and the availability of opportunities.”
A Hizbullah-affiliated Lebanese academic, Sadek Al-Naboulsi, also detailed an
upcoming plan on August 1, that Hizbullah’s elite Radwan Force would enter
“occupied Palestine” and that “the Hizbullah flag will be raised on the
mountains of the Galilee and on the dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” He added:
“Israel should start the countdown for its annihilation… Like secretary-general
[Nasrallah] said, when this war breaks out, there will no longer be any ceilings
or rules.” Earlier, on April 21, 2024, he hinted that Hizbullah had waited too
long for a pre-October 7 element of surprise, but that it was still preparing to
cross into the Galilee and awaited only the order from Nasrallah when the “time
is right.” Liberating Palestine and annihilating Israel, he added, are
fundamental components of Hizbullah’s culture.
Hizbullah artillery officer Hajj Muhammad Ali told Al-Manar TV on July 4, 2024
about the upcoming Galilee operation’s use of Burkan and Falaq rockets for its
invasion. The Burkan rockets, he said, were designed to destroy Israeli forward
outposts in the Galilee and would provide active fire support to forces in urban
surroundings, while the Falaq rockets were for operations like the “fire belt”
maneuvers carried out by the Israel Air Force. The resistance, he said, has been
preparing for war with Israel for 17 years, and that only a small part of its
weapons and capabilities have been revealed because of the Hizbullah
leadership’s restrictions on escalation.
Hizbullah’s Extensive Tunnel Network, For Use In Its Planned Massacre –
Developed Over A Decade
Like Hamas, Hizbullah has long been known to have an extensive network of
massive tunnels, and like Hamas, it aims to use them in an attack on and
invasion of Israel. It is no secret that Hizbullah shared its tunnel knowhow
with Hamas, and trained Hamas in tunnel construction. Destroying these Hizbullah
tunnels, many of them built under Lebanese towns, in southern Lebanon is now one
of Israel’s major strategic goals.
Over a decade ago, in January 2014, Ibrahim Al-Amine, chairman of the board of
the Hizbullah-affiliated Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, reported on Hizbullah’s
expansion of its tunnel efforts. He wrote that Hamas members fighting in Syria
had dug tunnels there, similar to the ones excavated by Hamas in Gaza, and that
Hamas had previously been trained in tunnel construction by Hizbullah. At that
time, he noted, the two terror organizations were cooperating in smuggling arms
into Gaza and preparing military operations against Israel.
A May 2016 report by the Hizbullah-affiliated Lebanese daily Al-Safir stated
that Hizbullah could become a “regional power” that “formulates new equations in
the region.” “Resistance fighters are operating day and night along the Israeli
border,” it said, “conducting observations, preparing, and digging tunnels that
cause the settlers and enemy soldiers to lose sleep.”
According to reports in the Lebanese press in January and February 2017 on
Hizbullah activity in southern Lebanon, “Hizbullah has concealed forward
positions on the international [Lebanon-Israel] border, including tunnels it dug
over 10 years ago.”
In the run-up to October 7, in July 2023, Hizbullah released a video showing its
fighters in a tunnel reviewing an attack plan and then emerging from them to
simulate an infiltration of Israel and the capture of an Israeli military
outpost. The fighters are armed with Russian-made 9k111 Fagot anti-tank missiles
and a Russian ORSIS T-5000 sniper rifle.
Despite Hizbullah’s extensive use of tunnel networks against Israel going back
to the 1980s, terror tunnels are not just a problem for Israel. Like other
innovations by Palestinian jihadi groups – making jihadism cool with airplane
hijackings in the 1970s and suicide bombings in the 1990s and onward –
Hizbullah’s and Hamas’s use of tunnels, especially Hamas’s for its October 7,
2023 attacks and massacres, will inspire terrorist groups and criminal elements
for generations to come.
Hizbullah Discloses Its Military Planning, Including What It Is Targeting And
Why – For An October 7-Style Massacre
For years, Hizbullah’s leadership and media have been provided glimpses of its
military goals beyond invading Israel via the Galilee, including using tunnels.
Nasrallah spoke in March 2016 of “all-out war that will know no boundaries or
red lines.” He said: “We have a whole list of targets… plants, installations,
storage facilities, and centers, along with their locations and their precise
coordinates,” including “many petrochemical plants, biological research
institutes, centers, and plants, nuclear plants – not just one – installations
for the disposal of nuclear waste, and storage facilities for nuclear warheads.”
These, he stressed, are “located either within [Israeli] cities or in their
vicinity… for example, an installation 10-15 kilometers from Ashdod, or one
20-25 kilometers from Tel Aviv. In some cases, they are right next to cities,
only one or two kilometers away.”
Nasrallah had already threatened strikes on ammonia storage facilities in Haifa.
A month previously, in February 2016, he had said that such a missile strike
would have the impact of a nuclear bomb, which if successful could cause tens of
thousands of deaths. A year later, in February 2017, he claimed that Israel had
decided to move the storage facilities away from Haifa – but that Hizbullah
would still be able to reach the ammonia facility, as well as the Dimona nuclear
plant. While a strike on the ammonia storage tanks would equal a nuclear attack,
he said, an attack on a ship supplying ammonia to Israel would be like five
nuclear bombs.
Several pro-Hizbullah Telegram channels shared video footage of a May 2023
Hizbullah military drill in southern Lebanon that simulated an attack on Israeli
military bases and vehicles. In it, Hizbullah fighters used infantry tactics,
explosives, motorcycles, ATVs, and small drones, and also demonstrated their
martial arts skills.
Nasrallah warned that Hizbullah’s rockets and UAVs could reach anywhere in
Israel in a June 19, 2024 interview adding, “They should expect us in land, air,
and sea… They know that no place in the [Israeli] entity will be safe from our
rockets and UAVs.” He explained: “Our Hudhud [reconnaissance] drone proves this…
It’s not just a question of quantity, of how many buildings will collapse. A
thousand buildings can collapse, and the [Israeli] entity will remain standing,
but a smaller number of buildings could be brought down, and the [Israeli]
entity will collapse, because it has certain foundations. In any case, they know
what I am talking about.” He added that the Israelis “also know that what awaits
them in the Mediterranean Sea is very significant.”
An even more disturbing aspect of Hizbullah’s plans was published July 25, 2024,
in the Kuwaiti Al-Jarida daily. Citing a “high-ranking source” in Iran’s IRGC
Qods Force, the daily reported that the IRGC had given Hizbullah bombs and
rockets with electromagnetic warheads, some of which could be sent via drone to
“any position deep inside Israel.” These would disable Israel’s communications
and power infrastructure, impacting its radar, air force, and ground forces,
said the source. Another weapon in Hizbullah’s hands, provided by Iran, he said,
were “smart fragmentation missiles” that detonate automatically when targeted by
Israeli air defense systems, turning into dozens of rockets, along with
radar-evading “ghost drones” also provided to the Houthis in Yemen and the
Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Iraq. Adding that the “resistance front”
plans include not just stopping an Israeli invasion of Lebanon but “liberating”
the Golan and Galilee, he said that these new weapons would eradicate Israel’s
air superiority, leaving its troops to fight resistance operatives who have
spent years preparing for battle.
Hizbullah: We Have Specific Targets – From The Knesset To Dimona’s Nuclear
Facilities
Hizbullah has laid out its Israeli targets in detail and its successive drone
attacks on Israeli military bases and attempted attack on the house of the
Israeli prime minister show that it has serious capabilities. Ibrahim Al-Amine,
of Al-Akhbar, reported in August 2022 on a Hizbullah “senior jihad commander”
and member of its founding generation who had worked with all Hizbullah leaders
since its establishment and is now a key figure in carrying out assessments and
preparing for the next war with Israel. Quoting the senior official, Al-Amine
wrote that that Israel’s infrastructure would be destroyed and Israelis “will be
pulling bodies out from under the ruins” and that they would be unable to defend
their territorial waters, their land border, their vital facilities or even
their home front. Hizbullah, said the official, has all the weapons that Iran
itself has, and some that it does not.
Al-Amine included in his report a map of potential targets in Israel, along with
a list of Hizbullah’s missiles and their ranges. Again, quoting the official, he
wrote that since 2006, Hizbullah had “reached the point where the resistance [Hizbullah]
knows much more about the enemy than the enemy knows about the resistance,” and
that”one day, we will tell them in advance what we will find on Golda’s Balcony
[the observation platform at the Dimona nuclear facility].”
Furthermore, on July 27, 2024 Al-Amine wrote that Israel had miscalculated
Hizbullah’s air force capabilities, and that Israel’s surprise would be even
greater once it realized the scope of Hizbullah’s technology. Israel must
prepare, he said, for the “special moment” when Hizbullah drones “occupy the
airspace over the triangle of death” – i.e. from airbases near Kiryat Shmona in
Israel’s northeast to the Palmachim Airbase in Israel’s west central region to
the Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airports in the south.
Nabil Qaouq, at the time deputy head of Hizbullah’s executive council who was
killed by Israel in September, had spoken in January 2021 about IRGC Qods Force
commander Soleimani’s realization of his “dream” that the “resistance movements”
– led by Hizbullah – “would be capable of striking the Israeli Knesset with
their missiles, striking the Israeli Ministry of War with their missiles,
striking the military and strategic installations throughout the Israeli
entity.” Hizbullah was now, he added, “capable of surrounding the [Israeli]
entity with its long-range precision missiles,” which he called “the greatest
element of deterrence against the Israeli enemy, as well as an existential
threat for the Israeli entity.”
Nasrallah had warned in February 2010 that Hizbullah’s plans included bringing
down buildings in Tel Aviv and striking Ben Gurion Airport, saying on Al-Manar
TV: “I’d like to say to the Israelis today: Not only if you attack Al-Dahiya
[the Beirut suburb where Hizbullah was based], we will attack Tel Aviv, but if
you attack Beirut’s Rafiq Al-Hariri Airport, we will attack Ben-Gurion Airport
in Tel Aviv. If you attack our ports, we will shell your ports. If you attack
our oil refineries, we will shell your oil refineries. If you attack our
factories, we will shell your factories. If you shell our electricity plants, we
will shell your electricity plants.” In May 2012, he underlined that Hizbullah
would target Israel’s transportation hubs, including its seaports and airports:
“We are capable – if Allah wills it – of striking very specific targets in Tel
Aviv and anywhere else in occupied Palestine. I say to you: The time has come
when we will survive, and they will be annihilated.”
Israel’s October 2024 Invasion Of Southern Lebanon Confirms Hizbullah’s Vast
Tunnel Network, Stockpiles Of Weapons, And Military Plans
The IDF recently disclosed some of what it has found in tunnels in southern
Lebanon in October 2024 and into early November, since crossing into the
country. Journalist Benjamin Weinthal toured the Hizbullah tunnels in late
October and reported on what was found there, describing, under the Shi’ite
village of Rab El Thalathine, which is less than 2.5 kilometers from the Israeli
city of Kiryat Shmona, ten shafts reaching from civilian homes in the village
down into a kilometer of tunnels between 12 and 40 meters deep and two meters
tall in places and that could store ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, and
AK-47 assault rifles and house more than 500 gunmen with enough food for weeks.
The tunnels reportedly had many emergency exits and were built over the past 15
years.
An interview about the Hizbullah tunnels with one Israeli soldier according to
Weinthal described them as more “stable and sophisticated” than the “Gaza
metro.” Some reports also describe them as generally larger and more
structurally sound than those of Hamas.
Under Kafr Kila, a Shia Muslim village in southern Lebanon that had served as a
central hub for Hizbullah, the thousands of weapons, launchers, and tactical
equipment belonging Hizbullah’s elite Radwan elite force were found, as well as
an underground shaft that ran several hundred yards, nearly to the
Lebanon-Israel border. Israeli officials have said that Hizbullah had planned to
invade Israel from the village.
A November 2 report described how the IDF detonated 400 tons of explosives to
destroy a Hizbullah tunnel system in a Lebanese village about a half-mile from
the Israel-Lebanon border, opposite Kibbutz Misgav Am. At the peak of the
fighting over the village, the tunnel system reportedly housed around 1,000
Hizbullah fighters, most from the Radwan Force, awaiting orders for a raid into
Israel.
After Israel’s Invasion, Hizbullah Continues Threatening Future Attack, Uses
Propaganda To Showcase Its Tunnels And Weapons Systems
Even after Israel’s invasion and the subsequent ceasefire arrangement, Hizbullah
has continued daily to release propaganda about its military capabilities
including its tunnels. For example, on November 3, 2024, it released a
one-minute, 27-second video titled “We Will Not Abandon the Arena, Nor Lay Down
Our Weapons,” a quote from a speech by slain Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The video showcases an underground Hizbullah facility known as Imad 5 – named
after slain Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, killed by Israel in
2008 – used for firing artillery. The video begins with armed Hizbullah
operatives in full military gear entering the facility through an underground
tunnel, passing by a sign displaying the name “Imad 5 facility.” Inside the
spacious facility, the operatives gather in front of a large poster of Nasrallah,
which features the caption “We swear to [avenge] your blood.”
The video is similar to another one from August 16, 2024, Telegram channels
affiliated with Hizbullah published a clip titled “Imad 4,” which shows in
detail an underground facility where trucks carry weapons and men ride
motorcycles inside large illuminated tunnels.
Israel’s recent successes in Southern Lebanon notwithstanding, Hizbullah asserts
that it remains strong and continues to threaten more attacks on Israel. On
October 22, 2024, Lebanese Hizbullah’s Al-Ahed News website published an article
summarizing a speech by the group’s propaganda chief, Muhammad ‘Afif, who was
killed November 17, 2024, during a press conference in southern Beirut. ‘Afif
stated that the group’s command and control system was working effectively and
that the group has restored its military and logistic support lines, with enough
“competent fighters, exceeding the needs of the front.” He alleged that
Hizbullah has increased its “offensive and defensive operations” to an average
of 25 per day, explaining that separate attacks on the same location are counted
as one operation. ‘Afif claimed that Israel responds to Hizbullah attacks on
Israeli military targets by killing civilians, vowing that the group would
continue to strike the “Zionist north and interior” with heightened “qualitative
and quantitative power.” He confirmed that Hizbullah was responsible for the
October 19 drone attack targeting Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, and pledged
that the group would achieve “victory.”
A media outlet that supports Hizbullah published an infographic tallying
statistics on the group’s recent attacks against Israe as of the end of October
2024. The outlet, Al-Khanadeq, released the infographic on its Telegram channel
titled “Numbers that Recount the Achievements.” The infographic reported that
Lebanese Hizbullah had conducted 48 operations targeting Israel on October 25,
2024 – what it called a “record which has been recorded for the first time since
the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle.” It also noted that on October 24, five
Israeli soldiers were killed and dozens more wounded during an ambush “at point
blank range” with Israeli forces in Ayta Al-Sha’ab, a village near the
Israeli-Lebanese border.
Infographic stats of operations against Israel claimed by Hizbullah, including
48 on October 25, 2024 (Source: Al-Khanadeq media outlet)
Similarly on November 12, 2024, the Hizbullah Military Media Telegram channel
provided a summary of what it described as recent developments in the “Battle of
the Formidable Might” (Hizbullah’s name for its current war against Israel). In
this report, Hizbullah claimed that to have struck dozens of strategic targets
deep in Israeli territory, including by means of precision missiles that it used
for the first time. Hizbullah stressed that it is prepared for a long war and
possesses the necessary weapons to wage it. As part of the series of “Khaybar
Operations”” it claimed as of that date, 70 operations had been carried out on
33 “strategic targets” deep in Israeli territory. Of these, 22 were said to have
been perpetrated in collaboration with the Hizbullah “aerial forces,” during
which 60 “high-quality drones” were launched with some reaching a distance of
145 kilometers inside Israeli territory. It also claimed that regarding its
defensive planning, Hizbullah has taken all the steps necessary to wage a
long-term campaign, and its forces possess all the necessary weapons and
equipment.
Additionally, the following day, November 13, the Telegram channel of
Hizbullah’s Warfare Media released a 30-second video titled “This Gathering Will
Be Dispersed By Allah and The Men Of Allah,” allegedly tallying Israel’s losses
in the war in southern Lebanon. It claimed that the IDF human losses amounted to
over 100 dead, and over 1,000 wounded. It also claimed that 43 Merkava tanks,
eight military bulldozers, two armored vehicles, two troop carriers, and one
Humvee vehicle were disabled, and over six Hermes drones 450 and 900 reportedly
downed.
Hizbullah still sees itself as it is described in a June 2022 report on Al-Manar
TV, that focused on its military buildup, showcased its rocket arsenal, and
stressed that in the 40 years since its founding, it had made Lebanon a “model
of powerful resistance” and deterrence.” The narrator stated that “Every new day
is an opportunity to increase [Hizbullah’s] power,” adding, “For 40 years, which
equals 14,600 days, the resistance has strengthened its side of the equation, to
the point that it has become stronger than ever before.”
On November 13, 2024, Hizbullah released an audio recording of a cryptic letter
reportedly authored by organization’s new leader Naim Qassem to the group’s
fighters: “You are the strength of confrontation with the arrogant and tyrants…
You are the pride that shakes the foundations of Zionism… You are our hopeful
future, Oh rocks of resilience and steadfast earth [..] All eyes turn toward
your resistance, Oh men of Allah in the field [of battle], Oh men of Hizbullah,
Oh elixir of noble life.”
Hizbullah Openly Boasts That It Is Now Regrouping For The Next Round, When It
Will Finally Annihilate Israel
Although Hizbullah has been significantly degraded militarily by Israel, it is
very likely to attempt to rebuild its weapons stockpiles, posing a long-term
threat not only to Israel but to the U.S. and its other allies in the region.
U.S. intelligence agencies say, according to sources briefed on the
intelligence, that Hizbullah has been recruiting new fighters and attempting to
rearm via both domestic production and via Syria – though Israel warned the
Assad regime in Syria in late November that it will pay a “direct price” if it
helps Hizbullah rearm.
Currently, according to the agencies, the organization has limited firepower;
however, it still has thousands of short-range rockets in Lebanon, and will try
to rebuild using weapons factories in neighboring countries that have
transportation routes with Lebanon. According to one of the sources, although
Hizbullah is set back, it is “designed to be disrupted.”
Once the ceasefire came into effect, Hizbullah and Iran both claimed victory,
and continue to stress that it is an opportunity to regroup. On November 20,
2024, Ibrahim Al-Amine, of the Hizbullah-affiliated Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar,
published an article stating that Hizbullah regards the current conflict as just
another round in the war with Israel, which must ultimately be eliminated, and
will rebuild its military capabilities in order to continue pursuing this goal.”
He continued: “But it is [also] our right and our duty to clearly say that
Israel will remain an enemy that must be eliminated… True, we are divided on the
basic issue, and therefore honesty compels us to say very calmly that the end of
this round of fighting with the enemy does not mean the end of the resistance,
and that rebuilding the might of the resistance, in terms of manpower,
capabilities and resources, is the task today, and it will gain momentum in the
future, and at any point in time.”
On November 27, 2024, after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hizbullah
in Lebanon went into effect, Hizbullah posted a statement on its social media
accounts from ”the Islamic Resistance Operations Room.” In its statement,
Hizbullah declared that it had vanquished the enemy, defeated its army, and was
unwavering in two campaigns. Adding that during these two campaigns it had
carried out thousands of operations against Israeli military and civilian
targets, including those it described as ”strategic and sensitive,” it asserted
that Israel’s ground maneuver in South Lebanon had failed, and that Hizbullah
remains on high alert with ”finger on the trigger.”
Hizbullah published a propaganda video on its “Islamic Resistance Warfare Media”
channel on Telegram on November 25, 2024 that depicted Hizbullah operatives
wounded in the September 17 pager attacks as returning to fight in the war and
participating in combat on the ground. The video, titled “Despite The Wounds, We
Are On The Ground,” shows wounded Hizbullah fighters in hospital beds vowing to
return to the frontline and “continue on the path” as soon as they recover. The
background soundtrack features a segment from a speech by Nasrallah following
the pager attacks, about a week before he himself was killed. He warned Israel
that it would be confronted by hundreds of those wounded by the exploding
devices “ready to resist and fight you” and “even more determined” to continue
the war. The video then shows fighters with eye and hand injuries operating
rocket launch systems; one says: “Despite the wounds inflicted on us, this
resistance will remain the spearhead of the war against global arrogance and the
defense of the oppressed worldwide.”
On November 29, 2024, Hizbullah’s new secretary general Naim Qassem declared in
a televised speech that Hizbullah had achieved ”a great victory that surpassed
even that which was attained in July 2006 [in the Second Lebanon War].”
Acknowledging that the blows dealt by Israel had hurt Hizbullah and caused
significant confusion in its ranks, he said that that had lasted about 10 days,
but that the organization had reinstated its command-and-control system and
retaken the initiative in the campaign. Hizbullah’s steadfastness, he argued,
had clarified to Israel that it can gain nothing in this battle but more killing
and destruction. Thus, he said, Hizbullah had proven that it is fully prepared
and that the plans consolidated by its late leader Nasrallah were effective.
Qassem went on to say that the outcome of the “Battle of Formidable Might” –
Hizbullah’s name for its campaign against Israel launched on September 17, 2024
– was ”a great victory that surpasses even that which was achieved in July
2006,” concluding: “We won, because we prevented the enemy from destroying
Hizbullah. We won, because we prevented it from eliminating the resistance or
weakening it… This is a victory of the resistance, because it persisted and it
will continue to persist.” He added that Hizbullah would operate ”in
coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces and at a senior level.”
On December 11, 2024, the IRGC-affiliated Iran Military Capabilities Telegram
channel wrote that “no system in the world can defeat Hizbullah… The men of
Allah in Lebanon still have options that the enemy might call ‘crazy.’ It added:
“Hizbullah is winning. The resistance will include the entire region, and the
decisive [victory] is yet to come. The nation is now being tested.” A subsequent
post stated that according to a “high-ranking military source,” “if the armed
groups in Syria express goodwill and willingness to cooperate against the
oppressive Jews, Iran will leave the past behind and will launch a new phase in
the battle against the [Islamic] nation’s number one enemy… This call will
remain in effect, particularly because they have a religious obligation to
liberate Syria’s lands that have been plundered in the past and recently.”
Underlining its insistence that Hizbullah had won the war, the Hizbullah-affiliated
Al-Ghaliboon Telegram channel shared, on December 12, a video about damage in
the north of Israel created from segments of an Israeli news story about
residents returning to their homes and discussing rebuilding there. The Arabic
narration stated: “The [Israeli] north and its shattering – the condition of the
north after the ceasefire, the destruction that struck the heart of the
settlements.”
Additionally, on December 19, Lebanese MP Ibrahim Mousawi of the Hizbullah-affiliated
Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc said, at a commemoration of a “martyred” fighter,
that the organization would continue its approach “as long as there are
generations raised on resistance, loyalty, and allegiance.” He added: “We are in
a position of power and strength. We have been and will remain so.”
Hizbullah Claims Victory – Despite Being Decimated
Israel has eliminated nearly the entire Hizbullah leadership:
Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.
Fuad Shukr, Hizbullah’s top military official, jihad council member, and
Nasrallah’s right-hand man. The U.S. was offering $5 million for information
about him and his whereabouts.
Ibrahim Aqil, founder and commander of Hizbullah’s elite Radwan Force,
assassinated along with 16 other commanders. The U.S. was offering up to $7
million for information about him and his whereabouts.
Ahmad Wehbe, Radwan senior commander, killed along with Aqil.
Mohammad Surour, Hizbullah drone unit head in charge of the organization’s drone
and cruise missile attacks on Israel.
Nabil Qaouk, Hizbullah Preventive Security Unit commander and a member of
Hizbullah’s central council, and a U.S.-designated global terrorist.
Hashem Safieddine, head of Hizbullah’s executive council, and Nasrallah’s likely
heir before he was killed.
Additionally:
Nine were killed and 2,800 wounded across Lebanon in the explosions of hundreds
of pagers used by Hizbullah members, in the attack attributed to Israel.
As of October 7, 2024, Israel had killed over 800 terror operatives, most of
them Hizbullah. This includes 90 Hizbullah commanders.
As of October 7, 2024, Israel had struck 11,000 Hizbullah positions.
As of October 1, Israel had destroyed half of Hizbullah’s entire arsenal.
Israel continues to strike Hizbullah forces that were violating the ceasefire.
Radwan force members killed in September 20, 2024 strike in Beirut. Source: IDF
Conclusion: What’s Next?
Now, three weeks into the three-month Israel-Hizbullah ceasefire, Hizbullah
continues to say it has won the war with Israel, on the war, and it is reported
that it is attempting to regroup. Yet Hizbullah secretary-general Naim Qassem
acknowledged, in mid-December, that Israel had destroyed the organization’s
supply route via Syria. The key to keeping Hizbullah in a weakened state goes
through the bank account of Iran. After the last Israel-Hizbullah war, in 2006,
Iran provided significant funding to help Hizbullah rebuild and maintain its
support among Lebanon’s Shi’ite community. According to an individual close to
Hezbollah and familiar with the group’s thinking, “Iran is prepared to allocate
funds” to do this again – and Hizbullah expects Iran to send advisors to oversee
funding and retrain its military ranks. But after decades of U.S. and
international sanctions, and its own problems at home, Iran has fewer resources
to rehabilitate Lebanon. It would behoove the U.S. to take advantage of the
current situation, and to keep bleeding Iran financially so that it cannot
rebuild and rearm Hezbollah. Without funds, it will have no weapons, either for
itself or for its proxies – the “resistance axis” – in the region. As the new
Trump administration is set to take office, there is new momentum and there are
new options for Israel and the U.S. to destroy or severely damage the axis of
resistance.
*Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of the Middle East Media Research
Institute (MEMRI).
https://www.memri.org/reports/unmasking-religious-dimensions-hizbullahs-decades-planning-october-7-style-invasion-and
Unmasking The Religious Dimensions Of Hizbullah’s
Decades Of Planning For An October 7-Style Invasion And Massacre Of Jews
ستيفن ستالينسكي من موقع ميمري: دراسة مطولة تكشف الأبعاد الدينية لتخطيط حزب الله
على مدى عقود لغزو ومجزرة على غرار هجوم 7 أكتوبر ضد اليهود
MEMRI/December 20, 2024
By Steven Stalinsky, Ph.D.*
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138187/
Lebanon | Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1798
Somehow, Gaza’s suffering increased in 2024
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/December 20/2024
It is inconceivable that, as this year comes to an end and planet Earth
completes another full circle around the sun, the war in Gaza is still raging
with devastating impact after descending into a multifront war for Israel.
When 2023 drew to a close, few would have imagined that, on the cusp of 2025, a
ceasefire in Gaza would still not have been reached, many innocent people would
still be being killed every single day, Gaza would be in ruins, many of its
people would be displaced several times over and suffering from starvation and a
lack of medical care, while the hostages would still be languishing in Hamas’
hands. It is equally mind-boggling that, despite playing a crucial role in this
disastrous state of affairs, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still
managing to hold on to the most powerful office in the country.
Israel could not have had a worse leadership to guide it through what has become
its most harrowing period since 1948, nor could it be caught in worse
political-social circumstances to face the challenges that have emerged from
Hamas’ horrendous attack. At the end of the day, the fear that such
life-and-death decisions might be handed to a prime minister who was also a
defendant in a most disturbing corruption trial proved to be justified by the
nightmarish circumstances and consequences that have come to pass.
There were very few who questioned Israel’s right to militarily respond to Hamas’
attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and go after its leaders and military capabilities, but
that outrageous spree was no license to go after the civilian population and
collectively punish them for deeds they had not committed, nor to treat them as
mere collateral damage in the war with Hamas.
The Israeli government and its security forces have taken the view that almost
everything in this war is permissible.
Much of the way this war has been conducted was dictated by the initial failure
to avert the Hamas attack. Since then, between the trauma and the will to avenge
the victims of that attack, the Israeli government and its security forces have
taken the view that almost everything in this war is permissible. None more so
than Netanyahu, who is motivated by revenge and the prospect of redemption that
would help him remain in power; and thus far he has managed to achieve what
seemed impossible only a short time ago.
After all, it was he who masterminded the idea that funneling hundreds of
millions of dollars to Hamas would both pacify this extremist movement and
preserve the rift between it and Fatah — and, by such a divide-and-rule tactic,
prevent a Palestinian state from ever materializing. He could not have been more
mistaken. Netanyahu misread Hamas’ intentions, weakened Israeli society and its
resilience through his assault on the democratic foundations of the country and,
whatever the faults of others in Israel’s security forces, it was on his watch
that the defense of the communities along the border with Gaza collapsed within
hours, leading to the biggest loss of Jewish lives in one day since 1945. This,
on its own, should have led any leader with even just a minimal sense of
integrity or decency to accept full responsibility and leave politics for good.
But this is not in Netanyahu’s DNA and his many and various denials of
responsibility have become even more emphatic since he was investigated and
subsequently indicted on three counts of corruption. His trial has been
deliberated by the court for more than four and a half years, yet only this
month did Netanyahu begin giving his evidence, which, by all accounts, has
brought the entire country into disrepute.
Throughout 2024, it became increasingly evident that the aims set by Netanyahu
at the beginning of the war — of eliminating Hamas and ensuring the return of
the hostages — were not and could not be compatible. Moreover, to see Hamas only
through a military prism and to ignore it as a political and ideological
movement has been another conceptual failure. Additionally, his claim that only
military pressure would bring the hostages home proved to be another of
Netanyahu’s empty promises, aimed mainly at appeasing his base and his
right-wing coalition partners.
The vast majority of the hostages released so far owe their freedom to a
negotiated deal, while those killed outnumber by far those released through
military operations. Meanwhile, about 100 still languish in captivity. From all
the evidence available to us, including, and perhaps especially, the repulsive
incitements by Netanyahu’s toxic machinery against the hostages’ families, it is
clear that the government has given up on those in captivity in Gaza and would
prefer to see them die rather than release more Palestinian prisoners or agree
to a ceasefire.
What motivates Netanyahu is his desperate quest to stay in power and,
consequently, he almost totally relies on the support of the far-right parties
of Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism. If, in his earlier years in politics,
his populism, divisiveness and fear-mongering propelled him to power, today the
more he becomes entangled in his legal affairs, the more he and those around him
are becoming increasingly venomous in their attacks on the judiciary, the
various gatekeepers of democracy and anyone else who opposes them, while their
behavior knows no boundaries.
Leaders of the settler movement are already circling over potential locations in
Gaza to build settlements.
Netanyahu knows that, in the Israeli and Jewish ethos, releasing hostages should
be the highest priority, as most of the nation demands. Nevertheless, because of
his dependence on a small group of right-wing religious-messianic zealots, whose
dream is to annex the West Bank and now even the Gaza Strip, while making life a
living hell for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories in an attempt to force
them to either submit to the settlers’ wishes will or leave, the prime minister
will not allow a ceasefire deal to be concluded. To this end, he was even
prepared to sacrifice his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in the middle of a
war. Gallant was almost the only Cabinet member with substantial military
experience and, despite his extremely hawkish views, he had the common sense and
honesty to question the aims of the war, to call for a ceasefire deal that would
also see the return of the hostages and to establish a state inquest into the
disastrous failures of Oct. 7. In addition, he demanded that ultra-Orthodox
youth be drafted into the army to ease the burden on those reservists who serve
for months on end. These were all very sensible demands, but not in Bibi’s
world, where they threaten his government’s stability.
Instead, it is becoming increasingly evident that the Israeli military is
planning to stay in Gaza for at least the next few years, which is a strategic
folly likely to be deadly for both sides. Leaders of the settler movement are
already circling over potential locations in Gaza to build settlements and the
even more lunatic among them were promoting the idea of settling areas of south
Lebanon before last month’s ceasefire deal, which called for the army’s
withdrawal to the Israeli side of the border. In its war on Hezbollah, Israel’s
security forces have scored considerable military successes, from the mass
explosions of pagers to eliminating most of the militia’s leadership. However,
despite these tactical achievements, there is a lack of any strategy to reach a
lasting political settlement. From Day 1 of the war, Netanyahu’s calculus has
lacked a long-term strategic rationale. This is not by accident, but because the
end of the war would likely terminate his political career and, in doing so,
scupper his attempts to further derail his corruption trial. Matters have
reached a point where one doubts whether he is capable of distinguishing between
what serves him personally and what is in the national interest. Furthermore,
following his recent indictment by the International Criminal Court for war
crimes, there is a genuine danger that he will dig his heels in even further,
which makes the situation even more dangerous.
*Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate
fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg
Taliban infighting adds to Afghanistan’s woes
Luke Coffey/Arab News/December 20/2024
The Taliban’s de facto minister of refugees and repatriation, Khalil Ur-Rahman
Haqqani, was killed along with five others in a bomb explosion in Kabul last
week. This marked the first time since the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021
that a senior member of the group had been assassinated.
Haqqani’s assassination is significant not only because of his role in the
Taliban, but also due to his family connections. He was the uncle of Sirajuddin
Haqqani, the current de facto interior minister and senior leader of the Haqqani
Network. During the early days after the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August
2021, Khalil Haqqani was responsible for the city’s security, making him a
difficult target. His nephew oversees Afghanistan’s internal security, adding
another layer of complexity to targeting the Haqqani family in Kabul.
While Daesh immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the situation may
not be so straightforward. In the past, Daesh has been known to claim
responsibility for attacks it had no part in to boost its image. A more
plausible explanation is that this was an inside job, reflecting the fractured
nature of the Taliban. From the outside, the Taliban might appear monolithic,
but today’s group is not the same one that first took power during Afghanistan's
civil war in the 1990s. After being ousted by international forces in 2001, the
Taliban splintered over the next 20 years into competing factions. Now, there is
a patchwork of groups vying for influence. The two prominent wings are the
Haqqani faction, led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, and the Kandahari faction, led by
Hibatullah Akhundzada. However, other factions also play significant roles,
including the Baradar and Yaqoob wings of the Kandahari faction and non-Pashtun
Taliban groups operating in northern Afghanistan.
The most likely faction behind Khalil Haqqani’s assassination is the Kandahari
faction. Tensions between Sirajuddin Haqqani and Akhundzada have been mounting,
with both vying for greater influence. Sirajuddin Haqqani recently criticized
Akhundzada during a madrasa graduation ceremony in Paghman, near Kabul. This
public slight is thought to have triggered the assassination of Sirajuddin’s
uncle. Such acts underscore the fragile and increasingly volatile dynamics
within the Taliban’s leadership structure.
Tensions between Sirajuddin Haqqani and Akhundzada have been mounting, with both
vying for greater influence.
These internal divisions make forming an effective Taliban government almost
impossible. The assassination of a senior leader by another faction exacerbates
an already precarious situation in Afghanistan. Each faction seeks to
consolidate power, further destabilizing the country.
Beyond Taliban infighting, millions of Afghans struggle daily to survive.
According to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, “more than half of Afghanistan’s population will require humanitarian
assistance” this year. The report describes a dire situation, with widespread
displacement, landmine contamination, restricted movement, gender-based
violence, child labor, early marriage and increasing mental health needs.
Minority ethnic groups such as Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras face severe
persecution and women’s rights have eroded to near nonexistence. Aside from
limited roles in education and healthcare, women are effectively barred from the
workforce and girls are denied education beyond the sixth grade. Under such
conditions, the future of millions of Afghans is bleak.
While girls are being deprived of education, young boys are being radicalized in
Taliban-run schools. Recently, a Taliban official from the Ministry of Education
announced a new exam titled “Ideological War Against the West,” to be
administered in schools and madrasas. This reflects the Taliban’s broader effort
to indoctrinate a new generation of extremists, particularly against Western
countries. Such actions not only rob Afghan children of a future, but they also
lay the groundwork for continued cycles of violence and extremism.
Meanwhile, the Taliban have done little to stem the growth of terrorist
organizations in Afghanistan since their return to power in 2021. Groups such as
Al-Qaeda and Daesh have only grown stronger amid the chaos. Daesh, in
particular, has expanded its recruitment and conducted high-profile attacks,
often targeting the Hazara community. A UN report this summer estimated that
Daesh had between 4,000 and 6,000 fighters, despite leadership losses. The group
has exploited the Taliban’s internal divisions and lack of governance,
positioning itself as an alternative power center in Afghanistan.
The Taliban have done little to stem the growth of terrorist organizations in
Afghanistan since their return to power. Al-Qaeda has similarly benefited from
the Taliban’s return. The group maintains a close relationship with the Taliban,
with cells operating across multiple provinces, primarily in the southeast.
Al-Qaeda has also established new training camps, attracting fighters from
across the region. In 2022, a US drone strike in Kabul killed Al-Qaeda leader
Ayman Al-Zawahiri, underscoring the group’s reemergence in Afghanistan. The
Taliban’s inability or unwillingness to rein in such groups raises significant
concerns for regional and global security.
Despite these alarming developments, the international community remains largely
indifferent. Millions of Afghans continue to suffer through a humanitarian
crisis and terrorist organizations flourish unchecked. The lack of international
engagement leaves Afghanistan’s future in the hands of factions more focused on
power struggles than governance.
Khalil Haqqani’s assassination could further escalate tensions between the
Haqqani and Kandahari factions, potentially leading to open conflict or even an
internal civil war if retaliation occurs. Such a scenario would provide groups
like Al-Qaeda and Daesh with an opportunity to exploit the ensuing chaos and
strengthen their foothold in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, ordinary Afghans will
continue to bear the brunt of violence, poverty and international neglect.
As 2024 comes to a close, the outlook for Afghanistan remains grim. Unless the
international community takes meaningful action, the country’s downward spiral
will only accelerate, with devastating consequences for its people and global
security.
**Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey
Regional support crucial for Turkiye’s new Syria policy
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/December 20/2024
Syria remains highly fragile, facing several challenges and risks. This makes it
essential for Turkiye to secure broad regional support for its evolving strategy
in the country, which has gone through various phases of instability and seen
many power struggles involving several actors. Syria has served as a critical
litmus test for relations among regional states, as it has significantly
impacted their security perceptions. Throughout the crisis, regional states have
pursued divergent policies in Syria, leading to tensions and, at times, clashing
with Turkiye’s approach. This fragmentation among regional states added further
complexity in Syria and played into the hands of the Assad regime and its
allies. However, the shifting dynamics in Syria are beginning to alter the
regional balance, opening the door for greater collaboration among regional
actors to shape a new Syria. A new regional order is emerging with the collapse
of the Assad regime. The region is undergoing its own version of the fall of the
Iron Curtain. Just as the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 reshaped
power dynamics in Iraq and the broader Middle East, the fall of Bashar Assad
will lead to new configurations both within Damascus and across the region.
Syria is passing through a challenging phase, which is essential for the
emergence of a new state. While a new Syria is to be born, it is crucial for its
regional allies to actively support the rebuilding of the state and the
establishment of a stable, unified future.
Why is it important for Turkiye to have regional support? Since the onset of the
Syrian crisis, while Ankara sought to exert influence, the situation in the
country has, in turn, shaped Turkish foreign policy through different phases.
Thus, it resulted in a two-way impact — Turkiye’s policies influencing the
region, while developments in Syria have, at various points, recalibrated
Turkish priorities and impacted Ankara’s relations with regional states. The
fall of Bashar Assad will lead to new configurations both within Damascus and
across the region. Turkiye shares the longest land border with Syria, stretching
more than 900 km. Despite the considerable security, political and economic
challenges that this proximity brings, Turkiye remained committed to supporting
the opposition and maintaining an open-door policy for Syrian refugees. For
Turkiye, Syria is not solely a foreign policy issue as it might be for other
countries in the region; it has significant domestic implications as well.
Turkiye, with its significant political and security influence in Syria, aims to
strengthen its position by securing broader regional support — especially
crucial in a region where cultivating alliances is more beneficial than having
adversaries. The Syria of today is different from the one of 13 years ago. The
situation in Syria has become increasingly complex and the country remains
vulnerable to further instability. At this critical moment, Turkiye needs the
support of its regional allies to assist Syrians in building a stable, unified
nation within the region.
In Syria, the new leadership will need to rely on Turkiye and other regional
allies to establish public order, build institutions and secure the necessary
resources. Building a stable Syria would not only be a huge win for its people,
but also for Turkiye and the wider region.
Given this, Turkiye has engaged in intense diplomatic efforts since the fall of
Assad. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week met with Qatari Emir Sheikh
Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss
Syria. He also traveled to Cairo to attend Thursday’s D-8 Summit, where he held
direct talks on Syria with his Egyptian counterpart.
The situation in Syria has become increasingly complex and the country remains
vulnerable to further instability.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also attended the meeting in Cairo. Before
his fall, Assad’s continued hold on power had, in some ways, brought Turkiye and
Iran closer together. However, the change of leadership in Syria is likely to
shift the balance of relations. Ankara now has the upper hand vis-a-vis Tehran.
Moreover, it now has interests aligning more closely with Arab states in the
broader region. Iran must carefully assess this shifting dynamic and adapt its
policy toward both Turkiye and Syria accordingly. It can either become part of
the broader regional support for Syria’s reconstruction or risk being excluded
from this emerging order.
A political transition in Syria will require a new set of actors at the table,
primarily Syria’s neighbors and the Gulf states. In this context, Turkiye’s role
is crucial in aligning closely with regional states and strengthening its ties
with the Syrian opposition.
This approach is important, given the lessons of the past. History has shown
that efforts to dominate the region have often led to tensions. Rather than
making Syria a point of contention, it could become a strong point of
collaboration. If Turkiye, along with its regional allies, can contribute to
building a stable Syria — though within certain limits — they will all not only
enhance their influence in the region but also achieve significant gains.
*Dr. Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s
relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz
Addressing AI’s bias from a humanistic perspective
Patrizia A. Ecker/Arab News/December 20/2024
Artificial intelligence has transformed how we live, work and interact,
promising efficiency, precision, and even objectivity. Yet, beneath the shiny
veneer of algorithms lies a pressing issue that remains insufficiently addressed
— bias.
Far from being impartial, AI often reflects the same prejudices and inequalities
embedded in the societies that create it. Bias in AI is not just a technical
glitch; it is a social and ethical challenge that demands our attention. AI
systems are only as unbiased as the data they are trained on and the people who
design them. Training data often mirrors historical inequalities, stereotypes,
or underrepresented groups, leading to biased outcomes. For example, a widely
cited 2018 MIT study found that facial recognition algorithms had an error rate
of 34.7 percent for darker-skinned women compared to just 0.8 percent for
lighter-skinned men.
This disparity is not just an abstract technical issue — it manifests as a
real-world disadvantage for those who are already marginalized.
Bias in AI also stems from the lack of diversity in its creators. With
technology sectors still largely homogenous, the perspectives shaping algorithms
often miss critical nuances. As someone with experience in digital
transformation projects, I have observed these biases firsthand. For instance,
in one project involving AI-powered customer care agents, the system struggled
to interpret diverse accents and cultural nuances, leading to a subpar
experience for non-native speakers.
The impact of AI bias extends beyond theoretical concerns, influencing decisions
in critical areas such as hiring, healthcare, law enforcement, and digital
marketing.
In hiring, Amazon’s algorithm famously demonstrated bias against women because
it was trained on male-dominated data. This perpetuated existing inequalities in
a field that already struggles with gender diversity. Similarly, in healthcare
during the COVID-19 pandemic, pulse oximeters were found to be less accurate on
individuals with darker skin tones, highlighting how biased technology can
exacerbate health disparities. In digital campaigns, in a discussion about
targeted marketing, such as those used by fashion brands including Mango,
concerns arose about AI reinforcing stereotypes. For example, the reinforcement
of narrow definitions of beauty.
These examples underscore the human consequences of biased AI systems.
Bias in AI is not just about better coding; it is about understanding the
broader societal context in which technology operates.
Some argue that AI bias is inevitable because it mirrors the flaws of human
data. While refining datasets and improving algorithms are essential, this
perspective oversimplifies the issue. Bias in AI is not just about better
coding; it is about understanding the broader societal context in which
technology operates.
Others propose that AI can also serve as a tool to highlight and address biases.
For example, AI can analyze hiring trends and suggest equitable practices or
identify disparities in healthcare outcomes. This dual role of AI — as both a
challenge and a solution — offers a nuanced perspective.
Tackling bias in AI requires a comprehensive approach.
An essential requirement is diverse development teams to ensure that AI systems
are built by groups with varied perspectives and experiences. This is vital to
uncovering blind spots in algorithm design.
In addition, there should be transparency and accountability so algorithms are
interpretable and subject to scrutiny, and allow users to understand and
challenge decisions.There should also be ethical considerations integrated into
every stage of AI development. This includes frameworks for bias detection,
ethical audits, and public-private collaborations to establish guidelines.
A further requirement is for education and media literacy, to equip individuals
and organizations with the tools to recognize AI’s limitations and question its
outputs. Critical thinking and media literacy are crucial for fostering a
society that demands fairness from technology.
AI is neither a villain nor a savior — it is a reflection of humanity. Bias in
AI challenges us to confront uncomfortable truths about inequality and injustice
in our societies. While the journey toward unbiased AI may be complex, it is one
we cannot afford to ignore. As someone deeply involved in driving digital
transformation and fostering human-centered skills, I have seen firsthand the
potential of AI to either entrench inequality or unlock unprecedented
opportunities. The choice lies in how we build, deploy, and use these systems.By
addressing the roots of bias and fostering an inclusive approach to AI
development, we can ensure that technology serves all of humanity — not just a
privileged few.
• Patrizia A. Ecker is a digital transformation adviser, author, and researcher
with a doctorate in psychology.
How the International Community Can Best Help the Palestinians
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./December 20, 2024
Had the international community held the Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable
for financial and administrative corruption after the signing of the Oslo
Accords 30 years ago, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group would not have
gained popularity among Palestinians.
Although many Palestinians support Hamas's policy of rejecting Israel's right to
exist, the Islamist group's victory greatly reflected the desire of the
Palestinian public to end corruption in the PA government and institutions.
The most common forms of corruption seem to be the offenses of favoritism,
nepotism, embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, abuse of power, bribery
and money laundering.
The best way to undermine Hamas and help the Palestinians is by offering the
people a better alternative to the Islamist movement. The current Palestinian
Authority leadership is just not seen by many Palestinians as a better
alternative to Hamas. That is because the United States, European Union and
other donors are not banging on the table and demanding an end to the PA's
authoritarian and corrupt conduct.
Had the international community held the Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable
for financial and administrative corruption after the signing of the Oslo
Accords 30 years ago, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group would not have
gained popularity among Palestinians. The current PA leadership is just not seen
by many Palestinians as a better alternative to Hamas. That is because the US,
EU and other donors are not banging on the table and demanding an end to the
PA's authoritarian and corrupt conduct. Pictured: US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken meets with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan on October 13,
2023.
Had the international community held the Palestinian Authority (PA) accountable
for financial and administrative corruption after the signing of the Oslo
Accords 30 years ago, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group would not have
gained popularity among Palestinians. Hamas became so popular that its
representatives won the last elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council
(PLC), in 2006. The Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform list received 44.45% of
the vote and won 74 of the 132 seats in the PLC.
Although many Palestinians support Hamas's policy of rejecting Israel's right to
exist, the Islamist group's victory greatly reflected the desire of the
Palestinian public to end corruption in the PA government and institutions.
Justin Curtis wrote in Harvard University's Exposé Magazine in 2016:
"On the campaign trail, Hamas effectively framed the election as a choice
between itself and a corrupt, inefficient, and outdated regime [headed by Yasser
Arafat]. The Islamist group made a concerted effort to come across as a
progressive alternative to Fatah [the ruling faction headed by Arafat], even
changing its name to the 'Change and Reform' party in advance of the election.
Although Hamas's electoral platform referenced Islamic dogma, the party
downplayed its more extremist, Islamist rhetoric. A significant portion of
Hamas's 2006 platform was spent discussing 'public freedoms' and common-sense
'administrative reform,' hardly the talk of revolutionary radicals. Pledging a
variety of anti-corruption initiatives, Hamas subtly rebuked Fatah's
double-dealing and profiteering. In a similar vein, Hamas promised to 'stress
transparency and accountability in dealing with public funds,' emphasizing that
taxpayer money would go to economic development projects, not to fraudulent
bureaucrats. Moreover, Hamas denounced the excessive authority of the federal
government, advocating for 'political pluralism and the rotation of power.'
Outlining reforms to the judiciary and legislative branches, Hamas sounded less
like a terrorist cabal and more like reform-minded technocrats.....
"Exasperated by Fatah's corruption, Palestinians welcomed Hamas's clarion calls
for accountability and good governance."
Hamas's rising popularity and its subsequent victory in the parliamentary
elections did not surprise many Palestinians. Public opinion polls conducted
before the elections showed that 87% of Palestinians believed that corruption
exists in PA institutions. The polls, in addition, showed that a majority of
Palestinians believed that Hamas was more able to fight corruption (46% for
Hamas vs. 37% for Fatah).
The international community chose to turn a blind eye to the corruption of the
Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Arafat. Many Western journalists
covering Palestinian affairs also failed to report on the runaway corruption in
PA institutions. Had the journalists reported on the issue, it is possible that
taxpayers in the donor countries would have put pressure on their governments to
hold the PA leadership accountable for depriving their people of the
international aid. It would have been a move that might well have prevented
Hamas from rising to power.
According to British-Palestinian journalist Diana Alghoul:
"The Oslo Accords meant Arafat sat on $4 billion in donations from the US, the
European Union and Japan, as well as Israeli sales tax that was passed onto the
Palestinian leader.
"While there are estimates that Arafat was worth an average of $3 billion, the
real figure of his overall worth remains disputed. Following revelations
surrounding the PA's largest corruption scandal, an internal PA audit showed a
quarter of the governing's body for 1997 was 'lost' as a result of corruption
and mismanagement.
"The bureaucratic nature of the PA meant that little oversight gave way for
sharks to ultimately steal from Palestinian public money. After the 1997 audit
was released, Arafat had demanded all future PA audits to be kept secret."
Arafat did not want the world to know about the corruption and mismanagement in
PA institutions. Yet, it is hard to believe that the Western donors were not
aware of the situation.
Some of the donor countries later woke up and realized they had made a mistake
by failing to demand an end to corruption in the Palestinian Authority's
institutions -- but it was too late. Hamas had already won the parliamentary
election. A year later, in 2007, Hamas staged a violent and bloody coup in the
Gaza Strip, toppling and expelling the PA, by then headed by Arafat's successor,
Mahmoud Abbas. Many Palestinians did not shed a tear over the removal of Abbas's
regime from Gaza: they were frustrated with the ongoing corruption of the PA
leadership and institutions.
Instead of learning from their past mistakes, the donor countries continued to
support the Palestinian Authority under Abbas, despite its failure to comply
with demands for major political and economic reforms. True, there is not quite
as much corruption in the PA today, but as far as many Palestinians are
concerned, the measures Abbas's governments have taken are insufficient.
Meanwhile, Hamas leaders have also shown that they are no less corrupt than
Abbas and other PA officials. Many Hamas leaders moved to Qatar, where they have
lived comfortable lives and reportedly became millionaires and billionaires.
A poll published in 2022 found that a majority of Palestinians believe that the
sectors most susceptible to corruption are the Palestinian Authority government
institutions, especially the executive and public sector institutions
(ministries, security services, local authorities). The most common forms of
corruption seem to be the offenses of favoritism, nepotism, embezzlement of
public funds, breach of trust, abuse of power, bribery and money laundering.
Twenty four percent of Palestinians considered favoritism and nepotism as the
most common offense, followed by embezzlement of public funds (23%), breach of
trust (13%), abuse of power (12%), bribery for delivering a public service (10%)
and money laundering (8%).
The destruction of Hamas's military capabilities by Israel should be viewed as a
positive development, but it is unlikely to decrease Hamas's popularity among
the Palestinians.
The best way to undermine Hamas and help the Palestinians is by offering the
people a better alternative to the Islamist movement. The current Palestinian
Authority leadership is just not seen by many Palestinians as a better
alternative to Hamas. That is because the United States, European Union and
other donors are not banging on the table and demanding an end to the PA's
authoritarian and corrupt conduct.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
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