English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 31/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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lccc Site
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2024/english.December31.24.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
When he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to
the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so
that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be
called a Nazorean.’
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 02/19-23/:"When
Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel,
for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’Then Joseph got up, took
the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that
Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to
go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of
Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been
spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’"
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on December
30-31/2024
Elias
Bejjani/Text & Video: Sheikh Abbas Al-Jawhari Abandoned His National Stances
Mostly Out of Greed for Shiite Leadership After the Defeat of Hezbollah/December
31, 2024
Elections Within Hezbollah Militia: The Time Has Come to Reclaim Lebanon—The
Decision Is in the Hands of the Lebanese People. Will They Finally Break Free
and Restore Their Homeland?/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/X Platform/December 30, 2024
Lebanon receives thousands of expatriates amid Israeli aggression
Katz announces sanctions on donation campaign for pager attack victims
Bukhari Meets Berri to Facilitate Presidential Agreement
Decades of Israeli Intelligence to Dismantle Hezbollah
French, US and Saudi diplomats to visit Lebanon in presidential push
Berri promises several rounds to elect president
Geagea says won’t allow Hezbollah and FPM to 'smuggle' a president
Hezbollah MP says credibility of 'those who want sovereignty' now at stake
Bodies of two Lebanese shot dead in Syria repatriated
Tripoli gunmen arrested for abducting 26 illegal Syrians
Qardawi's son held in Lebanon after crossing from Syria
Choueifat Municipality: Dumping Rubble at Costa Brava Requires Environmental
Impact Study
Mawlawi from Bkerke: Syrians Entering Lebanon Illegally Are Arrested
Will There Be War Again?/Marc Saikali/This is Beirut/December 30/2024
Could 2025 Be a Turning Point for Christians in Lebanon?/Tarek Karam/This is
Beirut/December 30/2024
MEMRI/Former Lebanese Diplomat Dr. Hisham Hamdan,: Iran And Its Agents In
Lebanon Should Be Sued For The Damage Caused To The Country By The War Against
Israel
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on December
30-31/2024
Syria
appoints Maysaa Sabrine as first woman to lead central bank, official says
More than half of Syrian children out of school: Save the Children to AFP
Now Syria's long-ruling Baath party is collapsing, too
Syria's de facto leader says it could take up to 4 years to hold elections
Syria eyes 'strategic' ties with Ukraine, Kyiv vows more food aid shipments
Monitor says 31 Kurdish, Turkish-backed fighters killed in Syria
Iran confirms arrest, detention of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Tehran
Israel UN envoy warns Houthis risk sharing same fate as Hamas, Hezbollah
Palestinian Authority says five more Gazans die in Israeli detention
WHO demands Israel release Gaza hospital director
Two killed in Gaza as aid convoy looted: WFP
In Gaza’s crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life stripped of privacy
The Taliban say they will close all NGOs employing Afghan women
Hundreds of soldiers freed in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and
Ukraine
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on December
30-31/2024
Sorry, Elon, You Are 100% Wrong on Taiwan/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone
Institute/December 30, 2024
Europe’s resilience firmly tested in 2024/Alistair Burt/Arab News/December 30,
2024
Men, turning points and imprints/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 30,
2024
Saudi Arabia strongly condemns Israeli settlers for storming courtyards of Al-Aqsa
Mosque/Vera Songwe and Guido Schmidt-Traub/Arab News/December 30/2024
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on December
30-31/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Sheikh Abbas Al-Jawhari Abandoned His National
Stances Mostly Out of Greed for Shiite Leadership After the Defeat of Hezbollah
Elias Bejjani/December 31, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138546/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsiKVr4vrXc&t=274s
I was deeply surprised today by Sheikh Abbas Al-Jawhari’s speech, aired during
his interview with "Al-Jadeed TV Station." For years, I viewed him as a national
model to be followed, but his recent rhetoric—marked by a drastic shift in tone,
vocabulary, and substance—was both shocking and profoundly disappointing. His
speech reflected a complete departure from his previous national, sovereign, and
coexistence-oriented stances, leaving me and many others puzzled by his sudden
repudiation of his past alliances. This 180-degree turn—delivered with anger and
laced with militarized, provocative, and blatantly sectarian undertones—is
troubling to say the least.
Understanding this "self-coup" and its underlying motives leads one to conclude
that it is a calculated political move, aimed at positioning himself as a leader
within the Shiite community in the aftermath of Hezbollah’s defeat and the
evident weakening of the Amal Movement. His shocking return to a sectarian
discourse aligned with the Mullahs' agenda—and his newfound defense of
Hezbollah's choices, including his support for Gaza war—raises serious
questions. These are positions he had previously criticized and marketed
against. For many sovereign Lebanese across societal, sectarian, and political
lines, his dramatic volte-face is both bewildering and disheartening.
From a political perspective, Sheikh Al-Jawhari’s demands—such as trading
Hezbollah’s weapons for Shiite representation within the state power
structure—betray a personal, authoritarian agenda. His focus on Maronite seats
and his emphasis on sectarian calculations rather than national unity highlight
his intent to exploit the power vacuum left by Hezbollah’s collapse. This shift
unmistakably reveals his ambition to replace Hezbollah as the leader of the
Shiite community. Unfortunately, such aspirations come at the expense of his
national and sovereign commitments.
Even more concerning was the tone of his rhetoric, which was doctrinal,
provocative, and deeply divisive. In this regard, he outdid even figures like
Mufti Qabalan, known for his arrogance, sectarian fervor, and rejection of
Christian—particularly Maronite—partners in Lebanon. Sheikh Al-Jawhari’s new
stance is short-sighted and selfish, prioritizing personal gain over the
collective good. His provocative mobilization of Shiite community members around
sectarianism is both unacceptable and counterproductive, as it entrenches them
further into Iranian-Hezbollah’s destructive choices.
In summay, Sheikh Al-Jawhari’s rhetoric today is unrecognizable compared to his
past positions. His shift appears driven by a desire for sectarian leadership
within the Shiite community, yet this ambition is unlikely to materialize given
the many competitors vying for this role. Personally, I have long admired Sheikh
Al-Jawhari’s courage, patriotism, and dedication to Lebanese identity and
sovereignty. His recent pivot, however, has left me disillusioned.
At a time when the Shiite community is in desperate need of leaders who reject
Hezbollah, Amal, and subservience to the Iranian regime’s Wilayat al-Faqih,
Sheikh Al-Jawhari’s departure from his former principles is a missed
opportunity. I sincerely hope he will reconsider his trajectory and return to
the values that once earned him admiration and respect. Lebanon and its
sovereign path depend on leaders who rise above sectarianism and stand firm
against external domination.
Elections Within Hezbollah
Militia: The Time Has Come to Reclaim Lebanon—The Decision Is in the Hands of
the Lebanese People. Will They Finally Break Free and Restore Their Homeland?
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/X
Platform/December 30, 2024
(Free Translation from Arabic by: Elias Bejjani)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138530/
Lebanese media outlets recently reported on elections taking place within the
Iranian armed proxy militia, Hezbollah, But what elections are we talking about?
In a country crushed under consecutive crises, with its people enduring poverty
and devastation, we find an unlicensed militia group playing with the nation’s
sovereignty and gambling with the fate of Lebanon and its citizens, as if the
entire country is a toy controlled by this armed Iranian proxy without
accountability.
Hezbollah: A Tool of Iranian Expansionism
Hezbollah, the Iranian regime's primary foothold in the Levant, has transformed
Lebanon into a battleground for Tehran’s regional ambitions. This militia has
sown destruction in every corner of Lebanon, moving freely from north to south,
carrying out its terroristic activities, destabilizing the nation, and
perpetuating misery for the Lebanese people without oversight or accountability.
Where is the Lebanese State?
Where is the state in the face of such audacity? Where are the officials who
swore to protect the people and defend the nation’s sovereignty? How long will
this suspicious silence persist without anyone demanding the prosecution of
Hezbollah members, the halting of its operations, and a comprehensive
investigation into its destructive activities?
Exploiting Fear and Intimidation
For decades, Hezbollah has exploited weapons and intimidation to impose its
dominance, silencing dissent and eliminating opposition. It has hijacked
Lebanon’s political system, undermining its institutions and rendering the
nation a failed state. Yet, after a series of defeats on various fronts that
have weakened its structure and exposed its fragility, isn’t it time for the
Lebanese to regain their courage and speak with one voice: Enough is Enough!
A Call to Action
Complacency in the face of Hezbollah’s armed militia is not just negligence—it
is a grave betrayal of Lebanon and its people. Every moment of silence is
complicity, and every hesitant decision is another step toward the irreversible
loss of Lebanon.
There can be no freedom or prosperity for this nation unless the roots of
Hezbollah—and all other militias—are uprooted through decisive and courageous
actions untainted by compromise.
The Next Phase Will Be Decisive
Lebanon stands at a crossroads. It will either rise to build its future as a
free and independent state or sink further into the darkness of domination and
terrorism. Time is running out. What Lebanon needs today are bold actions, not
empty promises.
Lebanon Deserves Better
The Lebanese people deserve more than this chaos. They deserve a future that
restores their dignity, sovereignty, and hope. Lebanon’s salvation lies in
reclaiming its independence, strengthening its institutions, and rebuilding a
state that prioritizes the interests of its citizens over the agendas of foreign
powers.
Legal Accountability for Iran and Its Proxies
As former Lebanese diplomat Dr. Hisham Hamdan has argued, Iran and its agents in
Lebanon should be held accountable for the catastrophic damage they have caused
to the country, particularly their reckless wars against Israel and their role
in perpetuating conflict. The Lebanese people must demand international legal
action against these agents of destruction.
The Time Has Come
The time has come to reclaim Lebanon. The decision is in the hands of the
Lebanese people. Will they finally break free, dismantle the chains of
oppression, and restore their homeland to its rightful place as a beacon of
freedom and prosperity in the region?
https://x.com/KhalafAlHabtoor/status/1873625566609371438
Lebanon receives thousands of expatriates amid Israeli
aggression
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/December 30, 2024
BEIRUT: Fadi Al-Hassan, director-general of Lebanon’s civil aviation authority,
said on Monday that “Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport welcomed 11,700
visitors in one day,” and that “the total number of arrivals to date in December
has reached about 220,000.” Al-Hassan described the figures as “an important
achievement compared with the previous years.”Lebanon is trying to recover from
an expanded, destructive Israeli war that started last October against Hezbollah
and ended about a month ago under a conditional agreement that provides for the
Lebanese army’s deployment in southern Lebanon.Meanwhile, the Israeli forces,
which must completely withdraw from the areas they invaded in the south within a
period of 60 days pursuant to the agreement, continue to detonate and bulldoze
houses, evacuating only a few areas.
FASTFACTS
• Most of the arrivals in Lebanon are expatriates who came to spend the holidays
with their families, as well as Syrians using Beirut’s airport to return to
Syria.
• In Beirut’s southern suburbs, littered with the rubble of flattened buildings,
dozens of ‘for sale’ signs are displayed on the balconies of several buildings
that survived the war.
• On the other hand, the areas not affected by war face increased road traffic,
with holiday decorations taking over the streets, restaurants and shops.
The Israeli army carried out a huge demolition operation in Taybeh, Marjayoun,
after bulldozing houses in Taybeh, Mays Al-Jabal, Khiam, Kfarkila and Chamaa.
Most of the arrivals in Lebanon are expatriates who came to spend the holidays
with their families, as well as Syrians using Beirut’s airport to return to
Syria.
Lebanon is preparing to welcome the new year, while living two separate
realities.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, littered with the rubble of flattened buildings,
dozens of “for sale” signs are displayed on the balconies of several buildings
that survived the war. Nisrine, who came back from Germany to check on her
mother in Burj Al-Barajneh, told Arab News: “What we saw on the screen is
different than reality. The destruction here is scary. The suburb is gloomy and
no longer looks like itself.
“Nights are horrific,” she added. “People are tired and worried, the cost of
rebuilding what was destroyed is huge, and non-Hezbollah partisans complain of
the absence of financial aid to help fix the broken windows at least.”
On the other hand, the areas not affected by war face increased road traffic,
with holiday decorations taking over the streets, restaurants and shops.
Therese, who runs a pub with her children in Badaro, hoped “that the situation
would get better in the coming new year, and that the 2024 war would be the
country’s last.”She said that “the whole country was affected by what happened
in the southern suburbs, the south, and Bekaa. People want to go on with their
lives, and we try to be a beacon of hope for them to reduce the weight of the
days they went through.”
Security agencies are taking precautions, covering all expected tourist spots in
Lebanon. Minister of Interior Bassam Malawi, and the director-general of the
internal security forces, Maj. Gen. Imad Othman, will personally supervise the
launch of security patrols, with the event to be broadcast live on TV channels.
Civil aviation’s Al-Hassan said that “Emirati, French, and German airlines, as
well as other companies that have suspended flights to Lebanon during the war,
could possibly resume their flight schedule to Lebanon in the next 10 days,”
adding that “other companies have already resumed their activity with a limited
number of flights to Lebanon.”He expected “the organization of flights to be
further improved next month.”In other news, a parliamentary session is expected
to take place on Jan. 9 to elect a president — a position that has been vacant
for 26 months due to political disputes between Hezbollah and its allies on one
hand, and its opponents on the other, as to the president’s identity.
With nine days remaining until the session, the identity of the candidate with
the highest chances of winning is still unknown. It is also unclear whether the
quorum will be met, or whether any political party would be willing to
compromise.
Despite Hezbollah’s struggle with the rubble removal, compensation and
reconstruction file, the party considered, according to its head of Arab and
International Relations, Ammar Moussawi, that “some fools and idiots think that
the resistance was defeated and written off.”He added: “We tell them that as
long as our hearts are beating, the resistance will remain. Dreaming of a
Lebanon without the resistance is wishful thinking.”Hezbollah parliament MP
Hassan Fadlallah said that “the resistance’s firmness, and the political effort
led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in full coordination with Hezbollah’s
leadership, are what led to the ceasefire agreement, which in turn forced the
enemy to withdraw within a 60-day period from the border area.” He added that
“the agreement didn’t allow the enemy to carry out any violations and
hostilities on Lebanese territory and in the southern area and border
villages.”Fadlallah believed that “besides the internal political divisions and
conflicts, confronting the Israeli hostilities against our country should be
part of a responsible national stance, where every party assumes its
responsibilities, be it the state, the official authorities or the political
forces.”
He continued: “This cause must concern all the Lebanese. The south is part of
our country, and everyone should be involved in defending and protecting the
country’s sovereignty. This requires a national stance.”He emphasized that “the
only way to confront this enemy is through the resistance’s weapons and the
people-army-resistance equation.” On the Israeli side, Israel’s Minister of
Defense Israel Katz said that “every dollar denied to Hezbollah is a step closer
toward weakening this organization. We will block Hezbollah’s attempts to
recover.” Katz said: “The long arm of Israel will act in every way to ensure the
safety of our citizens, and we are working on all fronts to dry up Hezbollah’s
sources of funding as it attempts to rebuild its capabilities.”
Katz announces sanctions on
donation campaign for pager attack victims
Naharnet/December 30/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Monday that he will impose
economic sanctions on a donation campaign led by Hezbollah for the victims of
the September pager and walkie-talkie attacks in Lebanon. According to reports,
the donation campaign was carried out through several crowdfunding platforms,
which allowed contributions to be made via credit cards, bank transfers and
PayPal. Tens of thousands of dollars have already been raised to reinforce
Hezbollah operatives and rebuild the group’s operational capabilities, the
reports said.
Katz said: “We are working on all fronts to dry up Hezbollah’s sources of
funding as it attempts to rebuild its capabilities. Every dollar denied to
Hezbollah is another step toward weakening the organization.”“This decision
reflects our zero-tolerance policy and sends a strong message to anyone
contemplating funding terrorism under the guise of humanitarian aid: We will cut
off any attempt to harm our security; the long arm of Israel will act in every
way to ensure the safety of our citizens,” he added.
Bukhari Meets Berri to Facilitate Presidential Agreement
This is Beirut/December 30/2024
Saudi Arabia is poised to spearhead the most significant presidential
initiatives to date through a delegation scheduled to visit Beirut at the start
of the new year. Led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faysal ben
Farhane, this visit, as reported by the MTV channel, will signify the
highest-level Saudi visit to Lebanon in 14 years. MTV reports that in order to
prepare for Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat’s arrival, its ambassador to Lebanon,
Walid al-Bukhari, met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri away from the media.
They agreed on a meeting scheduled for the second half of the current week. Al-Bukhari’s
visit follows Army Commander General Joseph Aoun’s visit to Saudi Arabia last
week, while multiple Saudi sources stress that the kingdom is only interested in
facilitating an agreement and has no interest in endorsing a presidential
candidate. The outcome of the meeting between Bukhari and Berri will hinge on
the positions of the speaker of Parliament and the possibility of a change on
his part, particularly regarding his opposition to the candidacy of the Army
commander. Nevertheless, as the Lebanese Forces Party leader Samir Geagea has
yet to endorse any candidate, discussions and engagements between parliamentary
blocs, especially those in the opposition, are scheduled to start on Thursday.
Indirect communications between Berri and Geagea will also be active between the
start of the new year and the session date, according to the MTV website.
Decades of Israeli Intelligence to Dismantle Hezbollah
This is Beirut/December 30/2024
Israel deeply infiltrated Hezbollah, closely monitored its leaders and
ultimately killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to a New York Times
(NYT) investigation. Because he thought Israel had no interest in a full-scale
conflict, Nasrallah did not think Israel would murder him. For years, Israeli
espionage services had been monitoring his whereabouts. He and other senior
Hezbollah leaders were killed when Israeli F-15 warplanes detonated bombs on his
bunker on September 27. Nasrallah's killing marked the end of a two-week
offensive that blended military might with clandestine technology prowess. Two
decades of meticulous intelligence work were put into the campaign in
anticipation of a full-scale conflict. Israel had experienced the biggest
intelligence failure in its history when Hamas-led militants attacked it in
October 2023, thus defeating Hezbollah was a major win for the nation.
As part of a larger conflict that has left thousands of dead in Lebanon and over
a million displaced, the Hezbollah campaign defanged one of Israel's most
formidable enemies and inflicted a blow to Iran's regional strategy of
supporting and financing paramilitary groups determined to destroy Israel.
The intense Israeli intelligence focus on Hezbollah shows that Israel’s leaders
believed that the hezb posed the greatest imminent threat to Israel.
According to the NYT, Israel's intelligence agencies refined intelligence
gathered from the 2006 war to produce information for potential war with
Hezbollah. By September, they had target portfolios for tens of thousands of
Hezbollah leaders, operatives, weapons caches and missile locations. To gain an
advantage in an eventual war with Hezbollah, Israel developed plans to sabotage
the militia from within. Unit 8200 and the Mossad championed a plan to supply
Hezbollah with booby-trapped devices that could be detonated at a future date.
Israeli engineers mastered placing PETN explosives within the batteries of
electronic devices, turning them into small bombs. The more difficult operation
fell to the Mossad, which tricked the group into buying military equipment and
telecommunication devices from Israeli shell companies.
In 2014, Israel seized an opportunity when the Japanese technology company iCOM
stopped producing its popular IC-V82 walkie-talkies. Israel began manufacturing
its own replicas of the walkie-talkies with small modifications, including
packing explosive material into their batteries.
Over the next three years, Israel's increasing ability to hack into cellphones
left Hezbollah, Iran and their allies increasingly wary of using smartphones.
Israeli intelligence officers reconsidered the pager operation and worked to
build a network of shell companies to hide their origins and sell the products
to the militia. The pager operation was not fully in place in October 2023, when
the Hamas-led attacks ignited a fierce debate within the Israeli government
about whether Israel should launch a full-scale war against Hezbollah. Israeli
intelligence analysts discovered a potential problem with the operation, and
Israel dealt with it swiftly this year. For nearly a year, Israeli intelligence
and the air force ran roughly 40 war games built around killing Hezbollah
leaders.
After the back-and-forth attacks, Israel's government debated opening a
"northern front" against Hezbollah. The Israeli military and the Mossad devised
different strategies for a campaign against Hezbollah. In late August, Mossad
chief Barnea wrote a secret letter to Netanyahu advocating a two-to-three-week
campaign that included eliminating more than half of the group's missile
abilities and destroying installations within about six miles of the Israeli
border.
However, new intelligence disrupted the planning, and Hezbollah operatives
became suspicious of the pagers. On September 11, intelligence showed Hezbollah
was sending some of the pagers to Iran for examination.
On September 16, Netanyahu met with top security chiefs to weigh whether to
detonate the pagers in a "use it or lose it" operation. The following day, the
Mossad ordered an encrypted message to be sent to thousands of the pagers, and
seconds later, the pagers detonated. The Israeli government, with the support of
high-ranking defense officials, opted for all-out war, a campaign marked by
escalations. The most consequential decision remained: whether or not to kill
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah. On September 26, Netanyahu and other top advisers
discussed approving the assassination and whether to tell the Americans in
advance. They agreed to keep the Americans in the dark. Soon after, Israeli F-15
warplanes over Beirut dropped thousands of pounds of bombs.
French, US and Saudi diplomats to visit Lebanon in
presidential push
Naharnet/December 30/2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for parliament to convene on January 9
to elect a president, in an attempt to break a gridlock of over two years and
reactivate the country's crippled state institutions. The session will be open
with successive rounds. "We might hold several rounds in the same session,
what's important is for parliament to elect a president and for MPs to shoulder
their responsibilities," Berri told An-Nahar newspaper, in remarks published
Monday.
French Foreign Affairs minister Jean-Noël Barrot and Minister of the French
Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu are expected Monday in Lebanon, where they will
urge Lebanese key players to end the presidential crisis, local media reports
said. U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin
Farhan are also excepted to visit Lebanon in early January to discuss the
presidential vote. Hochstein will meet with Berri and caretaker Prime Minister
Najib Mikati and will also discuss in Lebanon a ceasefire reached in late
November with Israel, al-Jadeed TV channel said. Pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar
newspaper said the French, Saudi and U.S. delegations will push for the election
of Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun. Lebanon has been without a president since
Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with neither of the two main blocs --
Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one, and
unable to reach a consensus.
Berri promises several rounds to elect president
Naharnet /December 30/2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he will be "decisive" in the
January 9 presidential election session. "Even if we held several rounds in the
same session, what's important is for parliament to elect a president and for
MPs to shoulder their responsibilities regarding this constitutional duty,"
Berri told An-Nahar newspaper.As for the continuous Israeli violations in the
south, he said the ceasefire monitoring committee and UNIFIL must "carry out
their responsibilities.""Israel must withdraw from the towns it has reached and
the Lebanese Army must deploy in these places. Nothing more, nothing less,"
Berri added. "As for Hezbollah, it is cooperating with the army to implement
what was agreed on," the Speaker went on to say.
Geagea says won’t allow Hezbollah and FPM to 'smuggle' a
president
Naharnet/December 30/2024
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that the ruling "establishment" in
Lebanon is still entrenched and coherent. Geagea explained that the
"establishment" consists of Hezbollah and its allies in addition to the Free
Patriotic Movement. "Depite the divergent viewpoints that have started emerging
among the establishment's main parties, this establishment is closing its ranks
anew, seeing as these differences in viewpoints do not concern them much, but
rather their fate and interests are what matters to them," the LF leader added.
He noted that "the establishment is working behind the scenes to try and smuggle
a president with the least extent of losses, seeing as it can longer secure the
election of a president of the caliber that they had sought." "The difference
this time is that the Arab and international winds are no longer appropriate for
the establishment. This time there are those who are monitoring it and its every
move," Geagea went on to say. He also vowed that the LF and its allies "will not
allow the establishment to regain its positions."
Hezbollah MP says credibility of 'those who want
sovereignty' now at stake
Naharnet/December 30/2024
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah condemned Monday the repeated Israeli violations
of a ceasefire reached in late November, claiming that the ceasefire did not
include any terms allowing these violations. "We know this enemy and we know
that the only way to confront it is by the resistance's weapons and the
people-army-resistance equation," Fadlallah said, adding that the credibility of
"those who want sovereignty" is now at stake. "How are you going to protect
Lebanon's sovereignty and stop the enemy's violations?" Fadlallah asked, adding
that they "won't do anything." Fadlallah also accused the ceasefire monitoring
committee of "receiving directions" from Israel. The committee includes the
U.S., France, UNIFIL, Lebanon, and Israel. "But this situation will not last for
long," Fadlallah said. "The enemy will not take our land, and we will defend
Lebanon and the south, liberate our land, protect our people, and preserve the
achievements and sacrifices of our martyrs."
Bodies of two Lebanese shot dead in Syria repatriated
Naharnet/December 30/2024
The Lebanese Civil Defense has been handed over at the Masnaa border crossing
the bodies of two Lebanese men who were shot dead in Syria's Homs in addition to
a wounded Lebanese national.Al-Jadeed television had reported that the three men
were shot as their Lebanese-plate car was passing on the Homs road. Syrian
security forces immediately moved to the location and launched an investigation,
al-Jadeed said. Media reports said the three men were on a "touristic" trip.
Tripoli gunmen arrested for abducting 26 illegal Syrians
Associated Press/December 30/2024
Lebanese security forces have apprehended an armed group in the northern city of
Tripoli that kidnapped a group of 26 Syrians who were recently smuggled into
Lebanon, two Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to share the information with the media. The Syrians
included five women and seven children, and security officials are working to
return them to Syria. According to media reports, the kidnapped Syrians were on
a bus crossing the Bab al-Tabbaneh district of Tripoli on Saturday night.
According to some sources, the people abducted, who were immediately handed over
to the army, were Syrian soldiers of the ousted Assad regime, while others were
civilians.
Qardawi's son held in Lebanon after crossing from Syria
Associated Press/December 30/2024
An Egyptian activist wanted by Cairo on charges of incitement to violence and
terrorism, Abdulrahman al-Qardawi, was detained by Lebanese security forces
after crossing the porous border from Syria, according to two judicial and one
security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to to talk to the press. Al-Qardawi is an Egyptian activist residing
in Turkey and an outspoken critic of Egypt's government.He had reportedly
visited Syria to join celebrations after Assad's downfall. His late father,
Youssef al-Qaradawi, was a top and controversial Egyptian cleric revered by the
outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. He had lived in exile in Qatar for decades.
Choueifat Municipality: Dumping Rubble at Costa Brava
Requires Environmental Impact Study
This is Beirut/December 30/2024
In a press release issued on Monday, the municipality of Choueifat expressed its
reservations about the Cabinet's decision to dump war rubble at the Costa Brava
landfill site, stressing “the need for the state, the government and all parties
concerned to respect international environmental standards and all conventions
in force”.The municipality called on the Ministry of the Environment and the
relevant authorities to carry out a full study of the environmental impact of
such a maneuver. The press release also stated that the operation should be
executed under the direct supervision and monitoring of the Order of Engineers.
The municipality affirmed “its firm commitment to the city's residents and local
stakeholders to closely monitor this decision and its implementation” in order
“to guarantee compliance with the requirements stipulated in the environmental
impact study, with the aim of protecting the environment and avoiding any damage
that might result”.In conclusion, the municipality called on the Council of
Ministers and the political leaders to officially incorporate the Costa Brava
land into the Choueifat municipal perimeter, in line with an earlier Cabinet
decision dated March 12, 2016. It also requested “the exclusive right to exploit
this area and administer it, to the exclusion of any other party”.
Mawlawi from Bkerke: Syrians Entering Lebanon Illegally Are
Arrested
This is Beirut/December 30/2024
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai met with the caretaker Minister of the Interior,
Bassam Mawlawi, and the former Minister of Finance and current Director of the
Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund,
Jihad Azour. Upon discussing the issue of the presidential election, Mawlawi
stressed that “the election of the president of the Republic must take place on
January 9.”Mawlawi also disclosed that “the case of Duraid al-Assad's family is
linked to falsified passports.” The wife and daughter of Duraid al-Assad, cousin
of Bashar al-Assad, were arrested on Friday at Beirut International Airport for
possession of false passports. They were brought before the Cassation
Prosecutor's Office, which ordered their arrest on charges of forgery, as the
Assad family file involves counterfeit passports. The General Security “is
applying the law, and the file is referred to the judiciary,” Mawlawi stated. In
this regard, he added that “not all those entering Lebanon from Syria are
members or officers of the Syrian army, and General Security is following up on
the case,” explaining that “the army arrests people entering Lebanon illegally,
in cooperation with all the security forces, and hands them over to General
Security to take the necessary measures.”For his part, Azour made no political
statement, as his protocol visit was part of the festivities.
Will There Be War Again?
Marc Saikali/This is Beirut/December 30/2024
By playing with fire, one eventually gets burned. This is precisely what the
Lebanese government and Hezbollah are doing.
Dominated by the Shiite duo, signatories of the ceasefire agreement and its
secret annex, the government is fully aware that it agreed to grant freedom of
action to the Israeli army in the south, but pretends to be outraged by these
same actions. For its part, Hezbollah manipulates the interpretation of the
agreement’s terms and adamantly claims that there is no question of
relinquishing its weapons north of the Litani River. Yet, this is precisely what
the agreement stipulates. The question arises: against whom would the weapons
north of the river be directed? Would the road to Jerusalem pass once again
through Jounieh, echoing Yasser Arafat's famous saying? The Lebanese opposition
is well aware that maintaining the weapons of the pro-Iranian militia would
serve only one purpose: to “neutralize” the opposition and cast a threatening
shadow over any attempts to alter the balance of power within the country.
The Israelis, for their part, continue with their plans. Benjamin Netanyahu
likely had information about the movements of rebel troops in Syria but may not
have anticipated that the Assad regime would collapse so quickly. Otherwise,
what urgency would there have been to sign a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon the
day before? The fall of the Assad dynasty has significantly strengthened
Israel’s military position. It now surrounds Hezbollah from the south and the
east, from Mount Hermon to the Golan Heights. At the same time, Israel is
rebuilding its arsenal. It is noteworthy that the residents of northern Israel
have not yet been allowed to return to their homes. This is a sign that the war
might not be over yet. The 60-day truce ends on January 26, six days after
Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump is not particularly known for being sensitive
to postponements – something of a Lebanese specialty, blending official
impotence with the usual Iranian strategic misreading. He could very well give
the green light to the Israelis to “finish the job,” a phrase he has grown
accustomed to. Amid all this, the eternally impoverished Lebanese wonder if they
will have to endure yet another war that has nothing to do with them. A
nightmare scenario, because if the fighting resumes, the initial phase of the
conflict will seem like a mere stroll in comparison. Recklessly, the Lebanese
government, unprompted by anyone, signed the ceasefire agreement. It would
therefore be held responsible for its non-compliance, even though everyone knows
it has no real room for maneuver. In the event of renewed fighting, the state,
its institutions and the country’s infrastructure could become targets. The
promise made to the Lebanese to send them back to the Stone Age would come true.
Perhaps it is to avoid this scenario that the tireless Amos Hochstein is
returning to the region after the holidays. Perhaps this also explains why the
French ministers of defense and foreign affairs – in an exceptionally rare
occurrence – are coming to Lebanon this Monday, officially to celebrate New
Year’s Eve with UNIFIL’s French battalion. The decisive moment will come on
January 9, when Parliament is set to convene to elect a president of the
Republic. If this session takes place and results in the election of a strong
president capable of making the urgent political and military decisions
required, Lebanon will likely avoid the worst. If, however, Lebanese
politicians, true to their reputation, delay or obstruct the election, or
produce a compromise president embodying weakness and collusion, it will only
add the impotence and indecision, making anything possible.
Yet, the solution is simple: stop playing games and adhere strictly to the
agreement. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” Leonardo da Vinci once
said. Will the genius of the Renaissance inspire some of these suicidally
obstinate minds?
Could 2025 Be a Turning Point for Christians in Lebanon?
Tarek Karam/This is Beirut/December 30/2024
The notion that the Assad regime ever protected Syrian Christians – and
previously, the Christians of Lebanon – is entirely unfounded. Equally baseless
is the notion that Ahmad al-Sharaa, regardless of his background and
representation, serves as a guarantee for the Christians of Syria and Lebanon.
What is clear, however, is that Lebanese Christians now have a crucial
opportunity to strengthen their presence and reclaim their lost role in Lebanon
– not through Gebran Bassil's approach of “defending Christians' rights,” but by
taking a series of fundamental steps. The essential starting point is the
election of a president who embodies Christian integrity – one who refuses to
compromise their rights or sacrifice them for personal gain. A president who
believes in a strong state, since the stronger the state, the more resilient
Christians become. Conversely, the weaker the state, the more vulnerable the
Christian community.
What is needed is a strong state that curbs illegal economic activity, one that
enforces building regulations, and one that collects taxes.
The true reclaiming of Christians' rights starts with restoring the strength of
the state. This opportunity is now within reach, particularly with the
diminishing influence of Hezbollah, which had long hindered the rise of a strong
state. However, this can only be realized if leaders, political parties and the
Church seize the moment, setting aside both major and minor disagreements,
especially personal interests and rivalries. The true reclaiming of Christians'
rights lies in strengthening the role of the army, both south and north of the
Litani River, as well as along the borders. The military institution has made
exceptional efforts this year on multiple fronts, with the army commander
embodying the model that should be replicated in other areas to ensure a
genuinely strong state.
Christians do not need a system to protect them, nor do they need leaders. What
they need is a just, strong and fair state – one that does not elevate them
above others nor allow anyone to impose power over them.
This state can become a reality if we choose the right president and, together
with Muslims, embrace the belief that the Lebanese state is our refuge. We must
work to build it together, rather than compete for control or benefits. We must
also recognize that neutrality is our salvation, instead of turning our country
into a battleground for one axis or another, or a tool for promoting regional
influence once more. 2025 can and must be the year of Christians in Lebanon. But
this is only achievable under one condition: first and foremost, it must be the
year of the state.
MEMRI/Former Lebanese Diplomat Dr. Hisham Hamdan,:
Iran And Its Agents In Lebanon Should Be Sued For The Damage Caused To The
Country By The War Against Israel
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2024/12/138541/
MEMRI/December 30/2024
Iran, Lebanon | Special Dispatch No. 11749
A few days after the ceasefire between Hizbullah and Israel came into effect
following over a year of fighting, and after the extent of the destruction in
Lebanon became clear, with reconstruction costs estimated at $15-20 billion,[1]
figures in Lebanon, in the camp opposed to the Iran-led resistance axis, began
calling for Iran to compensate Lebanon for the damages of the war. According to
these figures, it was Iran – not the state of Lebanon – that decided to start
the war with Israel through its proxy militia, Hizbullah, and therefore it
should be the one to bear the cost. If Iran refuses these demands, they said,
Lebanon or Lebanese citizens should sue it in international courts, or else
deduct the cost of the war from Iranian assets frozen in the West.[2]
Among the figures urging this course of action was Dr. Hisham Hamdan, a former
Lebanese diplomat known for his opposition to the resistance axis, who placed
the responsibility for the destruction in Lebanon on Iran and its proxy,
Hizbullah. In an article published in the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, he argued
that the state of Lebanon had honored the ceasefire agreement with Israel for
decades, and that it was Syria, and later Iran, that violated it by imposing war
on Lebanon by means of Hizbullah in order to serve its own interests. This, he
claimed, constitutes "a crime of aggression under international law," and it is
therefore the "national duty" of the Lebanese state and its people to sue Iran
in international courts. Hamdan also criticized the Lebanese politicians who
have allowed Hizbullah to operate as a "state within a state" in Lebanon in the
service of Iran.
The following are translated excerpts from Hamdan’s article:
Lebanon Was Never A Side In The Wars With Israel; The Wars Were Forced Upon It
"The war recently stopped and a ceasefire agreement was declared. The steps to
implement this agreement are still in their early stages. Israel is still
clearing the area south of the Litani of pockets of Hizbullah [fighters] and of
hidden weapons and trenches [i.e., tunnels]. It has two months to complete this
task. The ceasefire monitoring mechanism is not yet complete. Despite this, we
hear religious and secular officials describing the ceasefire as a 'hudna,'
[temporary lull in fighting] by which they mean that it is just a pause. We
still see signs that Hizbullah refuses to acknowledge defeat and talks about
going back to square one..."Lebanon was not a side in any of the wars waged by
the militias of Syria and Iran against Israel along the Lebanese border. Lebanon
has no connection to the war that took place on its soil. All [these] wars were
waged based on an Iranian decision and with Iranian weapons. [Therefore,] under
no circumstances should Lebanon be required to bear the burden of [repairing]
the damage caused by this war, nor should it be held responsible for the
consequences of the damage caused by the actions of the mini-state [i.e.,
Hizbullah], which makes decisions regarding war and peace outside the will of
the state. Neither Lebanon nor the Lebanese should be held responsible for the
wars waged by these militias and for the destruction caused to Lebanon by these
wars. The Iranian militia [Hizbullah] calls itself a resistance force that is
fighting the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, yet the intended objectives of its
actions clearly contradict the legal concept of the right to resist.
"Suing Iran and its collaborators is a national duty. Lebanon and its people are
victims of external intervention in their internal affairs. In 1982, Iran, with
the consent of the Syrian regime, established an armed militia in Lebanon –
which is subordinate to it militarily, financially, and ideologically, [since]
Iran funded it and trained its members – and turned it into an arm of its
[Islamic] Revolutionary Guard [Corps]. [This proxy militia] conducts wars
against other countries in the region and beyond, in Iran's interests and
according to its will. Despite the signing of the Taif Agreement in 1989,[3] the
Syrian regime prevented the full restoration of sovereignty to [Lebanon]. It
assassinated [Lebanese] president René Moawad,[4] and imposed a political regime
that allowed the continued presence of [Syrian] weapons [in Lebanon] and kept
the decisions of war and peace in [Syria's] hands, in cooperation with Iran and
the militia under its control [Hizbullah]. When the Syrian regime [finally] left
Lebanon, Iran became directly responsible for the violation of its national
sovereignty."
Iran's Intervention In Lebanon Is A Violation Of International Law
"Iran's intervention in Lebanon is a crime of aggression under international
law. Iran's establishment of armed groups, irregular forces, or mercenary
[forces] that carry out armed operations in our country – [namely] Hizbullah and
its supporters – counts as aggression as defined in UN General Assembly
Resolution 3314 from December 14, 1974. This resolution was adopted by
international consensus and serves as the international legal basis for the
definition of aggression.
"According to legal theory, this definition [of aggression, as defined by
Resolution 3314] is based on three criteria, all of which apply to Iran's
intervention in Lebanon:
"The first criterion – Iran is a state.
"The second criterion – its intervention makes it clearly liable as a state.
Evidence of this is that, in the 1980s, Iran used its militia in Lebanon to
assist it in its war against Iraq. [The militia did so] by carrying out attacks
on French and American targets in Lebanon, and targets of countries that were
aiding Iraq in its war against [Iran], countries whose nationals were present in
Lebanon for purposes of keeping the peace there. Iran also used these militias
in its regional and international struggles, as [evident from the fact that]
many countries exposed terrorist cells belonging to it on their soil, preparing
for military action. The war against Israel is another [factor] that fully
reflects the depth of Iran's aggressive intervention in Lebanon, for it has
turned [the country] into a battleground for its total war against Israel.
"The third criterion – this intervention has become sufficiently dangerous, for
it led to direct war between the two countries [Lebanon and Israel], [a war]
that threatened international peace and security, caused destruction,
devastation and casualties in Lebanon and Israel, necessitated repeated
interventions by the Security Council, and provoked Israeli responses under the
pretext of self-defense – [all of] which led countries around the world to
define [Iran] as a state sponsor of terrorism and to impose sanctions on it."
The Lebanese Government And People Must Sue Iran In International Courts
"We demand justice for Lebanon and its people. We demand that the government sue
Iran for compensation in order to repair the destruction. We refuse to pay the
price of its aggression. If Iran refuses to pay compensation, the government can
sue it for compensation in the International Court of Justice. In addition, the
victims can sue Iran's leaders in the International Criminal Court... The
Iranians who committed the crime of aggression against Lebanon are in power and
are directing Iran's political and military activities. Hizbullah acted as an
agent of Iran – by its own admission.[5]
"We do not accept the idea of [Iran's] impunity... True, Lebanon is not a member
of the Rome Statute[6] due to the objections of [Parliament] Speaker [Nabih]
Berri, on well-known pretexts. However, by appointing expert lawyers, the
victims can file this lawsuit in court... The Attorney General has enough
evidence, as well as decisions from the Security Council, to show that the
actions of the Iranian militia [i.e., Hizbullah] constitute aggression...
"The crime of the 2020 [Beirut] port [explosion] revealed the depth of the crime
being committed against Lebanon and its people, under the heading of coexistence
between the state [of Lebanon] and the mini-state [Hizbullah]. For Lebanon –
including all its regions and facilities – has become a battleground serving the
mini-state, and in return, the mini-state protects senior government officials
and allows them to exploit Lebanon's resources. The result is that Lebanon –
once referred to as the 'Switzerland of the East' – has collapsed
economically...
"The crimes against the people and the homeland have escalated without [anyone
being held] accountable. The idea of impunity has prevailed in the country. This
must be confronted by resorting to international law and putting an end to the
avoidance of accountability and punishment."[7]
[1] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), November 29, 2024.
[2] Nidaa Al-Watan (Lebanon), December 2, 2024.
[3] The Taif Agreement of October 22, 1989, was a political accord that ended
the Lebanese civil war. It called for extensive political reforms and
established Lebanon's confessional system that divides the political, civil, and
military powers among Lebanon's various sects. The agreement also stipulated
that all the militias in Lebanon must be disarmed and that the Syrian forces
must withdraw from the country..
[4] René Moawad was president of Lebanon for 17 days, from November 5, 1989
until his assassination on November 22. Pro-Syrian forces were suspected of
being responsible, but the murderers were never caught.
[5] Hizbullah's former secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, declared on several
occasions that Iran armed and funded his organization. For example, in a 2016
speech, he said that "the budget of Hizbullah, its salaries, its expenses, its
food, its drink, its weapons, and its missiles come from the Islamic Republic of
Iran." See MEMRI TV Clip No. 5544, Hassan Nasrallah: Hizbullah's Money and
Missiles Reach Us Directly from Iran, No Law Will Prevent This, June 24, 2016.
[6] The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is an
international treaty that includes the basic principles according to which the
ICC seated at the Hague operates. It was adopted at a diplomatic conference held
in Rome on July 17, 1998, and went into effect on July 1, 2002. According to the
statute, the ICC has the authority to investigate crimes of genocide, crimes
against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression, as defined in UN General
Assembly Resolution 3314, which is referred to above.
[7] Al-Nahar (Lebanon), December 7, 2024.
https://www.memri.org/reports/former-lebanese-diplomat-iran-and-its-agents-lebanon-should-be-sued-damage-caused-country
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on December
30-31/2024
Syria
appoints Maysaa Sabrine as first woman to lead central bank, official says
Reuters/December 30, 2024
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new rulers have appointed Maysaa Sabrine, formerly a deputy
governor of the Syrian central bank, to lead the institution as the first woman
to do so in its more than 70-year history, a senior Syrian official said.
Sabrine, a longtime central bank official mostly focused on oversight of the
country’s banking sector, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
She replaces Mohammed Issam Hazime who was appointed governor in 2021 by
then-President Bashar Assad and remained on after Assad was ousted by a
lightning militant offensive on Dec. 8. Since the takeover, the bank has taken
steps to liberalize an economy that was heavily controlled by the state,
including by canceling the need for pre-approvals for imports and exports and
tight controls on the use of foreign currency. But Syria and the bank itself
remain under strict US sanctions. The bank has also taken stock of the country’s
assets after Assad’s fall and a brief spate of looting that saw Syrian currency
stolen but the main vaults left unbreached, Reuters reported. The vault holds
nearly 26 tons of gold, the same amount it had at the start of its civil war in
2011, sources told Reuters, but foreign currency reserves had dwindled from
around $18 billion before the war to around $200 million, they said.
More than half of Syrian children out of school: Save the Children to AFP
AFP/December 30, 2024
DAMASCUS: About half of school-age children in Syria are missing out on
education after nearly 14 years of civil war, Save the Children told AFP on
Monday, calling for “immediate action.” The overwhelming majority of Syrian
children are also in need of immediate humanitarian assistance including food,
the charity said, with at least half of them requiring psychological help to
overcome war trauma. “Around 3.7 million children are out of school and they
require immediate action to reintegrate them in school,” Rasha Muhrez, the
charity’s Syria director, told AFP in an interview from the capital Damascus,
adding “this is more than half of the children at school age.”While Syrians have
endured more than a decade of conflict, the rapid rebel offensive that toppled
president Bashar Assad on December 8 caused further disruption, with the UN
reporting more than 700,000 people newly displaced. “Some of the schools were
used as shelters again due to the new wave of displaced people,” Muhrez told AFP.
The war, which began in 2011 after Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government
protesters, has devastated Syria’s economy and public infrastructure leaving
many children vulnerable. Muhrez said “about 7.5 million children are in need of
immediate humanitarian assistance.”“We need to make sure the children can come
back to education, to make sure that they have access again to health, to food
and that they are protected,” Muhrez said. “Children were deprived of their
basic rights including access to education, to health care, to protection, to
shelter,” by the civil war, but also natural disasters and economic crises, she
said. Syria’s war spiralled rapidly from 2011 into a major civil conflict that
has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions. More than one in
four Syrians now live in extreme poverty according to the World Bank, with the
deadly February 2023 earthquake bringing more misery. Many children who grew up
during the war have been traumatized by the violence, said Muhrez. “This had a
huge impact, a huge traumatic impact on them, for various reasons, for losses: a
parent, a sibling, a friend, a house,” she said. According to Save the Children,
around 6.4 million children are in need of psychological help. Muhrez also
warned that “continued coercive measures and sanctions on Syria have the largest
impact on the Syrian people themselves.”Syria has been under strict Western
sanctions aimed at Assad’s government, including from the United States and
European Union, since early in the war. On Sunday, Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed
Al-Sharaa expressed hope that the incoming administration of US President-elect
Donald Trump would lift sanctions. “It’s very difficult for us to continue
responding to the needs and to reach people in need with limited resources with
these restrictive measures,” she said.
Now Syria's long-ruling Baath party is collapsing, too
Bassem Mroue/DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) /December 30, 2024
— A few days after insurgents in Syria overthrew President Bashar Assad, his
ruling Baath party announced it was freezing its activities, marking a stunning
change in fortunes for the political group that had ruled for more than six
decades.
Many members of the party's leadership have gone into hiding and some have fled
the country. In a symbolic move, Syria's new rulers have turned the former party
headquarters in Damascus into a center where former members of the army and
security forces line up to register their names and hand over their weapons.
Calls are on the rise to officially dissolve the Arab Socialist Baath Party that
had ruled Syria since 1963. Many Syrians — including former party members — say
its rule damaged relations with other Arab countries and aided in the spread of
corruption that brought the war-torn nation to its knees.
“The party should not only be dissolved, it should go to hell,” said Mohammed
Hussein Ali, 64, who worked for a state oil company and was a party member for
decades until he quit at the start of Syria’s anti-government uprising in 2011
that turned into civil war. He never left the country and said he is happy the
Baath rule is over.An official with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the group that
led the insurgent offensive that overthrew Assad, said no official decision has
been made on what to do with the Baath party.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized
to speak publicly about the matter, noted that HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has
said that officials who committed crimes against the Syrian people over the past
decades will be brought to justice and hinted that they include party members.
The Baath party, whose aim was to unify Arab states in one nation, was founded
by two Syrian Arab nationalists, Michel Aflaq and Salaheddine Bitar, in 1947 and
at one point ruled two Arab countries, Iraq and Syria. A rivalry developed
between the Syrian branch under Assad and his late father, Hafez, and the one in
Iraq under Saddam Hussein, who was removed from power by a U.S.-led invasion in
2003. In Syria, the Baath party became inextricably associated with the Assad
family, which took power in 1970. For decades, the family used the party and its
pan-Arab ideology to control the country. Many senior military jobs were held by
members of the family’s minority Alawite sect, and party membership was used as
a cover to give it a nationalist rather than a sectarian nature.
A former soldier and decades-long Baath party member who came to party
headquarters to cut his military ties, Abdul-Rahman Ali, said he had no idea it
was founded by Aflaq and Bitar. He had always thought that Hafez Assad was the
founder. “I am happy. We have been liberated from fear,” said Ali, 43. “Even the
walls had ears. We didn't dare express opinions with anyone.” He was referring
to the dreaded security and intelligence agencies that detained and tortured
people who expressed criticism of Assad or government officials. Many Syrians
were required to join the Baath Vanguards, the party's youth branch, while in
elementary school, where Arab nationalist and socialist ideology was emphasized.
It was difficult for people who were not party members to get government jobs or
join the army or the security and intelligence services. In 2012, a year after
Syria's uprising began, a paragraph of the constitution stating that the Baath
party was the leader of the nation and society was abolished, in a move aimed to
appease the public's demand for political reforms. In practice, however, the
party remained in control, with members holding majority seats in parliament and
government. Another former soldier, who gave only his first name, Ghadir, out of
fear of reprisals as a member of the Alawite sect, said he came from a poor
family and joined the party so he could enter the military for a stable income.
“You could not take any job if you were not a Baathist,” he said.
While few are mourning the party's fall in Syria, some are concerned that the
Sunni majority that now controls the country could carry out a purge similar to
the one in Iraq after Saddam’s fall. A de-Baathification committee was formed in
Iraq and its main job was purging Saddam loyalists from government and military
institutions. The Sunni minority considered it a means of sectarian
score-settling by Iraq’s Shiite majority. The Sunni resentment and
disenfranchisement that followed helped to drive the rise of extremist groups in
the country including al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Iraq. In Syria, a Baath
party statement issued three days after Assad’s fall called on all members to
hand their weapons and public cars to the new authorities. On Dec. 24, party
member and former army colonel Mohammed Merhi was among hundreds who lined up at
the former party headquarters and handed over weapons. Merhi said the Baath
party should be given another opportunity because its principles are good but
were exploited over decades. But he said he might want to join another party if
Syria becomes a multiparty democracy in the future.
He handed over his Soviet Makarov pistol and received a document saying he can
now move freely in the country after reconciling with the new authorities.
“I want to become again a normal Syrian citizen and work to build a new Syria,”
he said.
Syria's de facto leader says it
could take up to 4 years to hold elections
Associated Press/December
30, 2024
Syria's de facto leader said it could take up to four years to hold elections in
Syria, and that he plans to dissolve his Islamist group that led the country's
insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit for the country. Ahmad al-Sharaa,
who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group leading the new authority in Syria,
made the remarks in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiya. It
comes almost a month after a lightning insurgency led by HTS overthrew President
Bashar Assad's decades-long rule, ending the country's uprising-turned civil war
that started back in 2011. Al-Sharaa said it would take time to hold elections
because of the need for Syria's different forces to hold political dialogue and
rewrite the country's constitution following five decades of the Assad dynasty's
dictatorial rule. Also, the war-torn country's battered infrastructure needs to
be reconstructed, he said. "The chance we have today doesn't come every 5 or 10
years," said al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani. "We want the
constitution to last for the longest time possible."Al-Sharaa is Syria's de
facto leader until March 1, when Syria's different factions are set to hold a
political dialogue to determine the country's political future and establish a
transitional government that brings the divided country together. There, he
said, HTS will dissolve after years of being the country's most dominant rebel
group that held a strategic enclave in the country's northwest.
Syria eyes 'strategic' ties with Ukraine, Kyiv vows more food aid shipments
Reuters/December 30, 2024
DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syria hopes for "strategic partnerships" with Ukraine, its
new foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday, as Kyiv moves to
build ties with the new Islamist rulers in Damascus amid waning Russian
influence. Russia was a staunch ally of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and has
given him political asylum. Moscow has said it is in contact with the new
administration in Damascus, including over the fate of Russian military
facilities in Syria. "There will be strategic partnerships between us and
Ukraine on the political, economic and social levels, and scientific
partnerships," Syria's newly appointed foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani,
told Ukraine's Andrii Sybiha. "Certainly the Syrian people and the Ukrainian
people have the same experience and the same suffering that we endured over 14
years," he added, apparently drawing a parallel between Syria's brutal 2011-24
civil war and Russia's seizure of Ukrainian territory culminating in its
full-scale 2022 invasion. Sybiha, who also met Syria's new de facto ruler Ahmed
al-Sharaa in Damascus on Monday, said Ukraine would send more food aid shipments
to Syria after the expected arrival of 20 shipments of flour on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced last Friday the dispatch of
Ukraine's first batch of food aid to Syria comprising 500 metric tons of wheat
flour as part of Kyiv's humanitarian "Grain from Ukraine" initiative in
cooperation with the United Nations World Food Programme.
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE SQUEEZED
Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grain and oilseeds, traditionally
exports wheat and corn to countries in the Middle East, but not to Syria, which
in the Assad era imported food from Russia. Russian wheat supplies to Syria have
been suspended because of uncertainty about the new government in Damascus and
payment delays, Russian and Syrian sources told Reuters in early December.
Russia had supplied wheat to Syria using complex financial and logistical
arrangements to circumvent Western sanctions imposed on both Moscow and
Damascus. The ousting of Assad by al-Sharaa's Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, has thrown the future of Russia's military bases in Syria - the Hmeimim
airbase in Latakia and the Tartous naval facility - into question. Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the status of Russia's military bases would
be the subject of negotiations with the new leadership in Damascus. Al-Sharaa
said this month that Syria's relations with Russia should serve common
interests. In an interview published on Sunday, he said Syria shared strategic
interests with Russia, striking a conciliatory tone, though he did not
elaborate.
Monitor says 31 Kurdish,
Turkish-backed fighters killed in Syria
AFP/December 30, 2024
BEIRUT: A Syria war monitor said 31 combatants had been killed since Sunday in
ongoing battles between Turkiye-backed groups and Kurdish-led forces. Swathes of
northern Syria are controlled by a Kurdish-led administration whose de facto
army, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded the fight that helped
defeat the Daesh group in the country in 2019 with US backing. Turkiye accuses
the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being
affiliated with the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which both
Washington and Ankara consider a terrorist group. The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said that seven pro-Turkish fighters were killed in clashes Monday
in the northeastern Manbij region, in Aleppo province. SDF fighters had
infiltrated the city of the same name after it was retaken by Ankara-backed
groups earlier this month, the monitor said. Six other pro-Turkish fighters and
three members of the SDF were killed the day before in the same part of Aleppo
province, it said. The SDF said Monday that it had carried out attacks elsewhere
in the province that destroyed “two radars, a jamming system and a tank of the
Turkish occupation” near a strategic bridge over the Euphrates. According to the
Observatory, 13 members of the pro-Turkiye factions and two members of the SDF
“were killed as a result of flaring battles” near the bridge and the Tishreen
Dam. The Britain-based Observatory said clashes in the area had been going on
for around three weeks “as both sides seek to advance.” Turkiye has staged
multiple operations in SDF areas since 2016, and Ankara-backed groups have
captured several Kurdish-held towns in northern Syria in recent weeks. The
fighting has continued since rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)
ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad from power on December 8. New Syrian leader
Ahmed Al-Sharaa, whose HTS group has long had ties with Turkiye, told Al Arabiya
TV on Sunday that the Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the national
army. “Weapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and
qualified to join the defense ministry, we will welcome them,” he said. “Under
these terms and conditions, we will open a negotiations dialogue with the SDF...
to perhaps find an appropriate solution.”
Iran confirms arrest, detention of Italian journalist Cecilia
Sala in Tehran
NEWS WIRES/France 24 /December
30, 2024
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested on December 19 after travelling to
Tehran to report on Iranian society. Iranian state media on Monday confirmed her
detention and said Sala had "violated the law" while on the ground. Italy said
efforts to free her were "complicated". Iran confirmed on Monday that it had
arrested Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for "violating the law", state media
reported, a move that has been decried by Italy as "unacceptable"."Cecilia Sala,
an Italian citizen, travelled to Iran on December 13, 2024 with a journalist's
visa and was arrested on December 19, 2024 for violating the law of the Islamic
Republic of Iran," the official IRNA news agency said, citing a statement by the
culture ministry without elaborating. "Her case is currently under
investigation," added the ministry, which oversees and accredits foreign
journalists in Iran.Sala last posted on X on December 17 with a link to a
podcast entitled "A conversation on patriarchy in Tehran". Chora Media, an
Italian podcast publisher for which Sala worked, said she had travelled from
Rome to Iran on a journalist visa, and was due to return on December 20. On
Friday, Italy denounced Sala's arrest as "unacceptable", and said she has been
held in Tehran's Evin prison. Italy's
ambassador to Tehran, Paola Amadei, has visited her.Italian Foreign Minister
Antonio Tajani said on Saturday that efforts to free Sala were "complicated".
Israel UN envoy warns
Houthis risk sharing same fate as Hamas, Hezbollah
Reuters/December 30, 2024
NEW YORK: Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations issued on Monday what he
called a final warning to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants to halt their
missile attacks on Israel, saying they otherwise risked the same “miserable
fate” as Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria’s Bashar Assad if they persisted. He also
warned Tehran that Israel has the ability to strike any target in the Middle
East, including in Iran, adding that Israel would not tolerate attacks by
Iranian proxies. Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel
in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli fire
in Gaza. “To the Houthis, perhaps you have not been paying attention to what has
happened to the Middle East over the past year. Well, allow me to remind you
what has happened to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Assad, to all those who have
attempted to destroy us. Let this be your final warning. This is not a threat.
It is a promise. You will share the same miserable fate,” Israeli Ambassador
Danny Danon told the UN Security Council. Speaking before the meeting, Danon
told reporters: “Israel will defend its people. If 2,000 kilometers is not
enough to separate our children from the terror, let me assure you, it will not
be enough to protect their terror from our strengths.”Last week, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Houthis that Israel was “just getting
started” following Israeli strikes on multiple Houthi-linked targets in Yemen,
including Sanaa airport, ports on the country’s west coast and two power plants.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he
was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack by Israel. A
crew member on the plane was injured, he said. Israel’s elimination of the top
leaders of the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah and the destruction of
their military structure along with Assad’s collapse represent a succession of
monumental wins for Netanyahu. Briefing the Security Council meeting, Assistant
UN Secretary General for the Middle East Khaled Khiari reiterated grave concern
about the escalation in violence, calling on the Houthis to halt attacks on
Israel and for international and humanitarian law to be respected. “Further
military escalation could jeopardize regional stability with adverse political,
security, economic and humanitarian repercussions,” Khiari said. “Millions in
Yemen, Israel and throughout the region, would continue to bear the brunt of
escalation with no end.”Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, while
condemning Houthi missile attacks on Israel, also criticized Israel’s
retaliatory strikes on Yemen, as well those by what he called the “Anglo-Saxon
coalition” of US and British warships in the Red Sea, saying they were “clearly
not proportional.”
Palestinian Authority says five more Gazans die in Israeli
detention
Arab News/December 30, 2024
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority’s ministry for detainees and the Palestinian
Prisoners’ Club announced on Monday that they had received reports of the deaths
of five Gazans in Israeli detention. Amani Sarahna, a spokesperson for the
Prisoners’ Club, confirmed to AFP that two of the five died on Sunday, while the
remaining three died earlier. The club said the five prisoners were arrested
during the Israel-Hamas war, some of them while fleeing from the north of the
Gaza Strip southwards. According to the two organizations, 54 Palestinian
detainees have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the war in Gaza, which
was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Thirty-five of the dead
have been from the Gaza Strip, with the rest from the occupied West Bank. The
detainees ministry is an arm of the Palestinian Authority responsible for the
welfare of Palestinians in Israeli jails and their families. The two
organizations named four of the dead prisoners as Mohammad Rashid Okka, 44,
Samir Mahmoud Al-Kahlout, 52, Zuhair Omar Al-Sharif, 58, and Mohammad Anwar
Labad, 57. An additional prisoner, Ashraf Mohammad Abu Warda, 51, died in
Israel’s Soroka Hospital on Sunday, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said. They
did not provide details of how the prisoners died. In a joint statement, the two
organizations accused Israel of “liquidation operations against prisoners and
detainees.” They said the number of prisoners killed in Israeli jails was at a
historic high, calling it “the most bloody phase.” According to the statement,
291 Palestinian prisoners have died in custody since 1967, when Israel began
occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Currently, more than 10,000
Palestinians are being held in Israeli jails, including 89 women, at least 345
children and 3,428 administrative detainees who are held without trial. The
Israel Prisons Service did not immediately respond to an AFP request for
confirmation of the deaths.
WHO demands Israel release Gaza hospital director
AFP/December 30, 2024
GENEVA: The WHO chief called Monday for the immediate release of Hossam Abu
Safiyeh, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is being held by Israel’s
military following a major raid on the facility. The Friday-Saturday assault on
Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahia left northern Gaza’s last major health facility out of
service and emptied of patients, the World Health Organization said. “Hospitals
in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under
severe threat,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is out of service following the raid,
forced patient and staff evacuation and the detention of its director. His
whereabouts are unknown. We call for his immediate release.”Israel’s military
said Sunday that its forces had killed approximately 20 Palestinian militants
and apprehended “240 terrorists” in the raid, calling it one of its “largest
operations” conducted in the territory. The military also said had detained Abu
Safiyeh, suspecting him of being a Hamas militant. When asked if he had been
transferred to Israeli territory for further questioning, the military did not
offer an immediate comment. Tedros said the patients in critical condition at
Kamal Adwan had been moved to the Indonesian Hospital, “which is itself out of
function.”“Amid ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered
basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to Indonesian Hospital and
transferred 10 critical patients to Al-Shifa Hospital,” he said. “We urge Israel
to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld.”He said seven patients
along with 15 caregivers and health workers remained at the “severely damaged”
Indonesian Hospital, “which has no ability to provide care.”“Al-Ahli Hospital
and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City also faced attacks today and
both are damaged,” Tedros added. “We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People
in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health
aid.”Since October 6 this year, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the
north, with officials saying their land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas
from regrouping.
Two killed in Gaza as aid
convoy looted: WFP
AFP/December 30, 2024
GAZA STRIP: Two people have been killed in northern Gaza as gunmen attacked an
aid convoy, the World Food Programme said Monday, prompting Hamas to accuse to
UN agency of having failed to coordinate security. Gazans face dire conditions
after nearly 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on
Israel, with humanitarian agencies repeatedly warning not enough aid was
reaching Palestinians in need due in part to looting as well as Israeli
restrictions. The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement that “a
coordinated movement to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners”
on Sunday “was faced with violent, armed looting, resulting in the deaths of
two.”“Amidst the armed looting, five trucks of commodities were lost,” it added.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that
“a catastrophic mistake” by the WFP “claimed the lives of two citizens and
injured dozens with bullets.” “We hold it fully responsible and demand that it
not violate the protocol followed regarding coordination to secure aid trucks,”
the statement said. The WFP said in its statement that for the past two weeks,
“nearly every movement of aid through crossings in south and central Gaza has
resulted in violence, looting and tragic deaths due to attacks and the absence
of law and order along convoy routes inside Gaza.”The organization said that it
was still following “procedures of coordination set in place in previous months”
and that it had “repeatedly warned of the dangers of movement in the absence of
law and order” in the Palestinian territory. For months, both Israel and aid
agencies including the WFP have noted widespread looting by armed gangs, as well
as civilians desperate for supplies. Humanitarian agencies also say the delivery
routes they take through Gaza are sometimes blocked by Israeli military
activity. Aid organizations have repeatedly warned of the deteriorating
conditions in Gaza, saying civilians are starving and that aid shipments in
recent months have been lower than at any time during the war.
In Gaza’s crowded tent camps, women wrestle with a life
stripped of privacy
AP/December 30, 2024
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza City: For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the
territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of
never having privacy. Women struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents
with extended family members, including men, and with strangers only steps away
in neighboring tents. Access to menstrual products is limited, so they cut up
sheets or old clothes to use as pads. Makeshift toilets usually consist of only
a hole in the sand surrounded by sheets dangling from a line, and these must be
shared with dozens of other people.
Alaa Hamami has dealt with the modesty issue by constantly wearing her prayer
shawl, a black cloth that covers her head and upper body. “Our whole lives have
become prayer clothes, even to the market we wear it,” said the young mother of
three. “Dignity is gone.”
Normally, she would wear the shawl only when performing her daily Muslim
prayers. But with so many men around, she keeps it on all the time, even when
sleeping — just in case an Israeli strike hits nearby in the night and she has
to flee quickly, she said. Israel’s 14-month-old campaign in Gaza has driven
more than 90 percent of its 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. Hundreds
of thousands of them are now living in squalid camps of tents packed close
together over large areas. Sewage runs into the streets, and food and water are
hard to obtain. Winter is setting in. Families often wear the same clothes for
weeks because they left clothing and many other belongings behind as they fled.
Everyone in the camps searches daily for food, clean water and firewood. Women
feel constantly exposed. Gaza has always been a conservative society. Most women
wear the hijab, or head scarf, in the presence of men who are not immediate
family. Matters of women’s health — pregnancy, menstruation and contraception —
tend not to be discussed publicly. “Before we had a roof. Here it does not
exist,” said Hamami, whose prayer shawl is torn and smudged with ash from
cooking fires. “Here our entire lives have become exposed to the public. There
is no privacy for women.”
Even simple needs are hard to meet
Wafaa Nasrallah, a displaced mother of two, says life in the camps makes even
the simplest needs difficult, like getting period pads, which she cannot afford.
She tried using pieces of cloth and even diapers, which have also increased in
price. For a bathroom, she has a hole in the ground, surrounded by blankets
propped up by sticks. The UN says more than 690,000 women and girls in Gaza
require menstrual hygiene products, as well as clean water and toilets. Aid
workers have been unable to meet demand, with supplies piling up at crossings
from Israel. Stocks of hygiene kits have run out, and prices are exorbitant.
Many women have to choose between buying pads and buying food and water. Doaa
Hellis, a mother of three living in a camp, said she has torn up her old clothes
to use for menstrual pads. “Wherever we find fabric, we tear it up and use it.”A
packet of pads costs 45 shekels ($12), “and there is not even five shekels in
the whole tent,” she said. Anera, a rights group active in Gaza, says some women
use birth control pills to halt their periods. Others have experienced
disruptions in their cycles because of the stress and trauma of repeated
displacement. The terrible conditions pose real risks to women’s health, said
Amal Seyam, the director of the Women’s Affairs Center in Gaza, which provides
supplies for women and surveys them about their experiences. She said some women
have not changed clothes for 40 days. That and improvised cloth pads “will
certainly create” skin diseases, diseases related to reproductive health and
psychological conditions, she said. “Imagine what a woman in Gaza feels like, if
she’s unable to control conditions related to hygiene and menstrual cycles,”
Seyam said.
‘Everything is destroyed’
Hellis remembered a time not so long ago, when being a woman felt more like a
joy and less like a burden. “Women are now deprived of everything, no clothes,
no bathroom. Their psychology is completely destroyed,” she said. Seyam said the
center has tracked cases where girls have been married younger, before the age
of 18, to escape the suffocating environment of their family’s tents. The war
will “continue to cause a humanitarian disaster in every sense of the word. And
women always pay the biggest price,” she said. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has
killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children,
according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate
between combatants and civilians. Israel launched its assault in retaliation for
the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which militants killed
some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others. With large swaths of Gaza’s
cities and towns leveled, women wrestle with reduced lives in their tents.
Hamami can walk the length of her small tent in a few strides. She shares it
with 13 other people from her extended family. During the war, she gave birth to
a son, Ahmed, who is now 8 months old. Between caring for him and her two other
children, washing her family’s laundry, cooking and waiting in line for water,
she says there’s no time to care for herself. She has a few objects that remind
her of what her life once was, including a powder compact she brought with her
when she fled her home in the Shati camp of Gaza City. The makeup is now caked
and crumbling. She managed to keep hold of a small mirror through four different
displacements over the past year. It’s broken into two shards that she holds
together every so often to catch a glimpse of her reflection. “Previously, I had
a wardrobe that contained everything I could wish for,” she said. “We used to go
out for a walk every day, go to wedding parties, go to parks, to malls, to buy
everything we wanted.” Women “lost their being and everything in this war,” she
said. “Women used to take care of themselves before the war. Now everything is
destroyed.”
The Taliban say they will
close all NGOs employing Afghan women
Associated Press/CNN/December 30, 2024
The Taliban say they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups
in Afghanistan employing women, the latest crackdown on women’s rights since
they took power in August 2021.The announcement comes two years after they told
NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they didn’t
wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. In a letter published on X Sunday night,
the Economy Ministry warned that failure to comply with the latest order would
lead to NGOs losing their license to operate in Afghanistan. The United Nations
said the space for women in Afghanistan has shrunk dramatically in the last two
years and reiterated its call for the Taliban to reverse the restrictions. “This
really impacts how we can provide life saving humanitarian assistance to all the
people in Afghanistan,” UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez
said. “And obviously we are very concerned by the fact that we are talking about
a country where half the population’s rights are being denied and are living in
poverty, and many of them, not just women, are facing a humanitarian crisis.”The
Economy Ministry said it was responsible for the registration, coordination,
leadership and supervision of all activities carried out by national and foreign
organizations. The government was once again ordering the stoppage of all female
work in institutions not controlled by the Taliban, according to the letter. “In
case of lack of cooperation, all activities of that institution will be canceled
and the activity license of that institution, granted by the ministry, will also
be canceled.” It’s the Taliban’s latest attempt to control or intervene in NGO
activity. Earlier this month, the UN Security Council heard that an increasing
proportion of female Afghan humanitarian workers were prevented from doing their
work even though relief work remains essential. According to Tom Fletcher, a
senior UN official, the proportion of humanitarian organizations reporting that
their female or male staff were stopped by the Taliban’s morality police has
also increased.
The Taliban deny they are stopping aid agencies from carrying out their work or
interfering with their activities. They have already barred women from many jobs
and most public spaces, and also excluded them from education beyond sixth
grade. In another development, the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has
ordered that buildings should not have windows looking into places where a woman
might sit or stand. According to a four-clause decree posted on X late Saturday,
the order applies to new buildings as well as existing ones. The United Nations
also called for a reversal of this restriction, Soto Nino-Martinez said. The
decree said windows should not overlook or look into areas like yards or
kitchens. Where a window looks into such a space then the person responsible for
that property must find a way to obscure this view to “remove harm,” by
installing a wall, fence or screen. Municipalities and other authorities must
supervise the construction of new buildings to avoid installing windows that
look into or over residential properties, the decree added. A spokesman for the
Ministry of Urban Development and Housing was not immediately available for
comment on Akhundzada’s instructions.
Hundreds of soldiers freed
in the latest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
The Associated Press/December 30, 2024
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that
saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the
United Arab Emirates, officials said Monday. Ukraine's President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy said 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border
guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked
the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that
150 Russian soldiers were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which
each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers wasn’t
immediately clear. “We are working to free everyone from Russian captivity,”
Zelenskyy said in a statement. “We do not forget anyone.” He posted pictures of
Ukrainian soldiers sitting on a bus, some holding the country's blue-and-yellow
flags. Zelenskyy said that those freed from Russian captivity included defenders
of the Snake Island off the Black Sea port of Odesa, which was seized by Russia
in the opening days of its invasion, as well as troops who defended the city of
Mariupol, that was captured by Moscow's forces early in the war after a nearly
three-month siege.“The return of our people from Russian captivity is always
very good news for each of us,” Zelenskyy said. “And today is one of those days:
our team managed to return 189 Ukrainians home.”In Moscow, the Defense Ministry
said that Russian servicemen were first taken to the territory of Russia's
neighbor and ally Belarus, where they received “psychological and medical
assistance” before moving to Russia. Russia and Ukraine have conducted dozens of
such prisoner exchanges during the nearly three-year war. The prisoner exchange
came as President Joe Biden announced Monday that the United States will send
nearly $2.5 billion more in weapons to Ukraine as his administration works
quickly to spend all the money it has available to help Kyiv fight off Russia
before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on December
30-31/2024
Sorry, Elon, You Are 100%
Wrong on Taiwan
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/December 30, 2024
In fact, no Chinese ruling group has ever held indisputable sovereignty to the
island.
From 1928 to 1943, the Communist Party itself recognized Taiwan as a state
separate and apart from China.
If Xi Jinping thinks Trump will not defend Taiwan, will he then attack?
[T]he People's Republic is getting weaker — the Chinese economy is failing —
making notions of inevitability outdated.
Elon Musk is brilliant when it comes to providing what the world needs, but he
is ignorant about Taiwan. So, respectfully, Mr. Musk: China is China, Taiwan is
Taiwan, and Taiwan, although close to China, is not China. Pictured: Musk meets
with China's then Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on January 9, 2019. (Photo by
Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images)
"From their standpoint, you know, maybe it's analogous to like Hawaii or
something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part
of China mostly because... the U.S. Pacific Fleet has stopped any sort of
reunification effort by force," Elon Musk, appearing remotely at the All-In
Summit in Los Angeles in September, said referring to Taiwan.
In May, Musk talked to CNBC on the same topic. "The official policy of China is
that Taiwan should be integrated," he told the channel's David Faber. "One does
not need to read between the lines. One should only read the lines." And then
the world's richest man stated this: "I think there's a certain, there's some
inevitability to the situation."
Musk is brilliant when it comes to providing what the world needs, but he is
ignorant about Taiwan. His conclusions could not be more wrong.
To begin with, the People's Republic of China cannot "reunify" with Taiwan. The
communist regime has never ruled the island republic.
Moreover, neither has China. In fact, no Chinese ruling group has ever held
indisputable sovereignty to the island.
"The Chinese Communist Party leadership claims that Taiwan has been part of
China 'since ancient times,'" Gerrit van der Wees, a former Dutch diplomat who
teaches Taiwan history at George Mason University, told this author. "A closer
examination shows that this is simply not the case."
The Party likes to point to the Ming dynasty, van der Wees notes, but Ming
rulers considered Taiwan "beyond our territory" and did not object to either the
Dutch building Fort Zeelandia or the Dutch East Indies Company establishing
administrative control over a portion of Taiwan.
Beijing also speaks about Qing dynasty rule over Taiwan, but the Qings never
controlled the island's mountainous spine, which comprises about half the
island, and the Chinese considered the Manchu Qings, who overthrew the Ming
rulers, to be foreigners. Yes, Qing rulers declared Taiwan a "Province of
China," but the provincial status lasted only eight years. In 1895, they ceded
Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
From 1928 to 1943, the Communist Party itself recognized Taiwan as a state
separate and apart from China.
Chiang Kai-shek was certainly Chinese, and he definitely controlled all of
Taiwan's area, but the 1951 San Francisco Treaty, which resolved most of the
World War II legal issues in Asia, did not confer sovereignty on his Kuomintang
regime.
More to the point, the people of the island do not see themselves as "Chinese."
"China" appears in the name of their state, but that is because Chiang, losing
the Chinese Civil War, fled the "mainland" and took up residence on the island.
His Kuomintang party cemented its rule with the ruthless "White Terror" from
1949 to 1992. The decades-long brutality, repression, and discrimination
reinforced a sense of Taiwan identity among the people there.
Today, generally about two-thirds of Taiwan's people in self-identification
surveys deny they are "Chinese." In a Pew Research Center survey, conducted
between June and September of last year, 67% of Taiwan's people said they were
"primarily Taiwanese." Only 3% — generally those who came with Chiang or their
descendants — saw themselves as "primarily Chinese."
The bad news for China's rulers is the outlook of the younger age cohorts. Among
those 18 to 34, 83% view themselves as Taiwanese and 1% Chinese. Taiwan has
already developed a sense of identity separate and apart from China.
Musk's use of the Hawaii example is instructive. In both Hawaii and Taiwan,
foreigners arrived and dominated an indigenous society. The critical difference
is that Hawaii's local inhabitants eventually accepted the union with the United
States. In the case of Taiwan, local residents continue to reject unification
with China.
That rejection refutes Musk's claim of inevitability.
In the course of human events, nothing is inevitable.
Moreover, there are obstacles to unification. For one thing, China is not going
to take on the United States if President Donald Trump makes it clear that he
will defend Taiwan. China's regime is extremely casualty-averse, evident from
Beijing's reluctance to report losses from a skirmish with India in June 2020.
Chinese leaders are unlikely to start a war, even if they think they will
ultimately prevail, when casualties could be measured in the hundreds of
thousands. In short, a Chinese invasion is not "inevitable" for that reason
alone.
Trump, however, refuses to make any clear declaration of intent. This keeps
China guessing.
Trump also appears to be casualty-adverse, priding himself on staying out of
wars during his first presidential term. If China were to attack Taiwan, the
47th president, advised by Musk, might stay out of the fight.
If Xi Jinping thinks Trump will not defend Taiwan, will he then attack? There
are other factors preventing China from making a bold grab. For one thing, the
People's Republic is getting weaker — the Chinese economy is failing — making
notions of inevitability outdated.
Also, the Chinese leadership must know that a war would be extremely unpopular
with the Chinese people, and a war against Taiwan would be the most unpopular of
all. Although the people of Taiwan do not consider themselves "Chinese," people
in China, as a result of endless Communist Party indoctrination, do, and the
Chinese in China — both officials and common folk — believe that "Chinese do not
kill Chinese."
Furthermore, the Chinese military, racked by purges and suicides, is in no
condition to start hostilities with an invasion of the main island of Taiwan,
and Xi does not trust any general or admiral with complete control of the
People's Liberation Army, a necessary move if Beijing were to launch a combined
air-land-sea operation against the island. Xi appears to be losing support in
the military, and he is not about to make some flag officer the most powerful
figure in China by giving him or her control of virtually all of the armed
forces.
Yes, the U.S. Pacific Fleet potentially stands in the way of a Chinese invasion,
but the real obstacles are conditions in China, not to mention centuries of
history, tradition and culture.
So, respectfully, Mr. Musk: China is China, Taiwan is Taiwan, and Taiwan,
although close to China, is not China.
*Gordon G. Chang is the author of Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America
and The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior
fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.
*Follow Gordon G. Chang on X (formerly Twitter)
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Europe’s resilience firmly tested in 2024
Alistair Burt/Arab News/December 30, 2024
Europe entered 2024 with some trepidation. War was still raging on the continent
for the first time since 1945. The echoes of renewed conflict in the Middle East
were reaching into its major cities. The continental economy was limping. A
series of elections were imminent, with an uneasy public likely to look for
alternatives to mainstream parties. No one was sure who would be left standing
at the end of the year. Only the glorious backdrop of the Paris Olympics held
out some promise of relief. But despite the many challenges to be faced, there
were hopes that Europe would end the year better than it started it. The run of
elections, for national and European parliaments, would allow the public to have
their say on the direction of the continent and perhaps usher in a period of
stability with which to face the future.
That has not necessarily been the outcome. We are learning that elections do not
settle a democracy as they once did. The bitter polarization of politics,
encouraged by a relentlessly negative social media, suggests that elections have
become mere staging posts of anger in unending partisan political wars. Indeed,
just four months after an emphatic win at the polls, UK Prime Minister Keir
Starmer faced a petition of nearly 3 million signatures demanding another
general election.
It has been some year.
This year has confirmed that a rightward, populist move in Europe is continuing
and that there is little stability in its two most powerful and significant
nations. Provincial elections in Germany and the European Parliament vote in
France debilitated both countries’ governments. The year ends with Germany
marking time until snap federal elections in February after the collapse of Olaf
Scholz’s government, while a weakened President Emmanuel Macron is perhaps a
prisoner of Marine Le Pen and the far right until the next French presidential
election in 2027.
Toward the end of the year, another election further disturbed the European
mood. For months, there had been widespread speculation about the result of the
US presidential contest. For democracies that uphold the peaceful transfer of
power as sacrosanct and the best answer to the creep of authoritarianism now
stalking the continent, the idea that a defeated candidate associated with an
insurrection could return to office was surely inconceivable.
There was a moment, with the stepping down of an almost-certain-to-be-defeated
Joe Biden, when hope sprang for European centrists that the gathering momentum
of Donald Trump would be halted. Notwithstanding that the policies of Kamala
Harris toward trade and conflict in the wider world were barely known, she could
not be worse than the fears accumulating around the prospect of Trump 2.0.
On Nov. 5, we learned the truth. Europe was not to deal with a conflicted or
disputed outcome this time, but a newly, and substantially endorsed,
President-elect Trump, winner of the popular vote and the undisputed master of
his own destiny.
Europe’s fears were far from fanciful or based solely on the past. In his first
term, President Trump had made no secret of his disdain for NATO — the
cornerstone of peace and security for Europe against external threats for some
75 years — claiming it to be an expensive insurance policy costing the US much
and the rest of the alliance much less. He had threatened those states not
paying their way with abandonment and, while his talk had the political effect
of making European states look to their own commitments on defense, its wider
impact on states close to an aggressive Russia was deeply unsettling.
On Ukraine, his boast that he could end the war within 24 hours led to not
unreasonable speculation that this could only be done by some degree of
sacrifice from the victim of the conflict for the benefit of the aggressor — the
wrong lesson of history for a continent forever scarred by the mistakes of the
20th century. Comments of those around him are hardly conducive to overcoming
those fears. Donald Trump Jr. went on social media to mock the leader of a
beleaguered country fighting for its existence to say that President Volodymyr
Zelensky was “38 days from losing your allowance.”Europe’s fears are not
confined to defense and security. The economic health of the EU is also not
strong.
Europe has to work with Trump and his Cabinet. The strangeness of some of his
choices for office must be of no consequence to the professional diplomats and
politicians who are working toward the transition of power. They are trying to
ensure, as far as they are able, that Ukraine is in the best possible situation
it can be for an anticipated negotiation in 2025. It will be an early test of
the relationship and the future. Europe’s fears are not confined to defense and
security. The economic health of the EU is also not strong, as made clear by
September’s landmark report on competitiveness from former Italian prime
minister and president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi. A tariff war,
as threatened by President-elect Trump, is of significant concern.
But the debate about President Trump is moving on. Whatever the views of him may
be, there is an awareness that it is no use blaming an incoming US
administration for all that needs to change across the European continent.
Europe needs to spend more on defense, regardless of who is in the White House.
And economic progress, sluggish when compared with the US and China over many
years, has to deliver its own prescription for success in 2025. In one telling
statistic, Draghi looked at the global investment into artificial intelligence:
Of $35 billion poured into AI startups in the first half of 2024, the EU
attracted just 6 percent. A tariff war will not help, but Europe has to take
greater charge of its own economic destiny in 2025.
This year unsettled Europe further with two unrelated, though not entirely
disconnected, phenomena. Migration to Europe, whether those seeking to make
their way without papers across the Mediterranean from the Middle East or being
absorbed into workforces and family reunions, is increasingly cited as a driving
force behind the resurgent political right. Mainstream politicians struggle to
keep up not just with the rhetoric from the right, amplified by aggressive
social media, but with their answers of fences and the turning back of boats.
The events in Gaza and Lebanon have produced civil unrest in Europe’s big
cities, where the identification of large Muslim populations with those
suffering devastating bombardment has heightened awareness of their presence and
political influence, contrasted with the seeming indifference of European
governments. The agony of the Middle East is now being accompanied by an
identifiable increase in antisemitism and Islamophobia, dismaying populations
unconnected with either community, who are being whispered at by often anonymous
sources on social media that their countries are not what they were.
And as if politics was not enough, Europe is increasingly aware that global
climate change is not only driving refugees toward them, but that it is also
having an impact on their domestic populations. The shock of the violence of the
floods in Valencia, Spain, which took more than 200 lives in September, was
matched only by the intensity of the anger toward the government and officials,
who were blamed for their lack of foresight and response. There is little
confidence that such scenes will not be repeated.
But Europe is a resilient continent. Investment is flowing in from friends in
the Arab world and beyond to new industries and technologies. Europe’s
universities remain attractive to the world’s brightest and best. It will
respond to the challenges to its security and defense. Already, a developing
European Political Community includes the EU and those beyond, while Brexit has
not prevented London, Paris and Berlin working closely together. Its diplomacy
will reach into the conflicts of the Middle East, as a new future for the region
is formed that cannot afford the catastrophe of continuing conflict.
Europe may yet use the shocks of 2024 as the springboard to a defiant 2025.
**Alistair Burt is a former UK member of Parliament who has twice held
ministerial positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; as parliamentary
undersecretary of state from 2010 to 2013 and as minister of state for the
Middle East from 2017 to 2019. X: @AlistairBurtUK
Men, turning points and imprints
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/December 30, 2024
The powerful leave lasting imprints on the lives of their nations and peoples.
These imprints come in various forms — some requiring entire eras to heal the
wounds inflicted by their creators. History is not a neutral archive of such
legacies. It welcomes those who enter its tunnels but later rises to reexamine
their trials. It reserves an extraordinary balcony for those who lead their
people toward progress, justice and the building of bridges. History is an
autopsy room that reopens cases, wounds and trials, dismantling narratives
perfumed by officialdom and coated with cosmetics. The nature of an imprint
depends on the individual’s capabilities, the sensitivity of the turning point
and the weight of the stage on which they act.
The first quarter of this century passed quickly, marked by the explosion of
accumulated knowledge and research, which flung open the gates of scientific and
technological advancement. We are now under the stewardship of a transformative
visitor: artificial intelligence. This visitor will reshape our world, redefine
our lifestyles and enhance the experiences of doctors, engineers, teachers,
generals and intelligence officers. Honoring scientists, vaccine developers and
pioneers of intellectual, artistic and cultural advancement is best left to
experts in those fields. Our task is to explore the imprints left by the
practitioners of politics and its intricate arts. Boris Yeltsin was excessive in
everything. He staggered, and with him staggered Russia, scarred by its
emergence from the Soviet rubble. Yeltsin chose to depart with the century,
handing the Kremlin’s keys to an enigmatic officer from the KGB, marked by the
disillusionment of the Berlin Wall’s collapse. Vladimir Putin rescued the
Russian Federation from disintegration, subdued regional barons and brought
oligarchs to heel. Calm, cold and ruthless, he leaves no room for refusal — even
if the poison cup comes as a gift from the czar. Putin deceived the West and
rebuilt the Red Army, which now fights on Ukrainian soil, supported by comrades
dispatched by Kim Il Sung’s grandson.
Putin had been awaiting Donald Trump’s gifts when the winds of the Syrian
debacle hit. He smiles. Bashar Assad was a difficult case, one who listened to
advice only to forget it, deluding himself with the ability to balance on many
ropes. The same ship cannot be rescued twice. The world has spent a
quarter-century with Putin, who has tamed constitutions and generals, skillfully
playing, in recent times, the strings of his nuclear arsenal. Putin now has the
opportunity to recount, with his “guest” Assad, the story of a quarter-century
of global history.
The first quarter of this century also bore the imprint of a man who rose to
prominence in its second decade: Xi Jinping. Since 2013, Xi has captained the
Chinese ship. A formidable leader, he redefined the rules of governance,
dismantling collective leadership and “persuading” China to abandon term limits
for its presidency. He waged a relentless war on corruption and adopted a more
assertive foreign policy. Because parties love strongmen, Xi secured a position
akin to the “Great Helmsman.” Words like progress, prosperity, partnerships and
innovation define today’s Saudi Arabia. A skilled leader, Xi allows Mao Zedong
to rest, honored in his grave, while Mao’s red book now serves as a strict tool
for enforcing order and suppressing dissent. Xi leads with patience and
precision. Fortunately, he has refrained from recklessly leaping into Taiwan, as
Putin did with Ukraine.
A year after Xi assumed the presidency in China, India entrusted the office of
prime minister to another strongman, Narendra Modi, who remains in power. Modi
has reduced the risks of conflict with China and reaped significant benefits
from a Russia mired in Ukraine, all while recognizing that global leadership
remains firmly in America’s hands for now. India has become indispensable to
many.
Russia relies on India to avoid becoming entirely dependent on its Chinese ally.
America needs India to balance China’s rise in Asia and globally. Modi has
capitalized on the economic policies of his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, which
modernized and integrated India’s economy, fostering technological progress and
combating poverty. Modi’s long tenure has allowed him to leave a deep imprint on
India’s domestic and international trajectory.
In the Middle East, we are accustomed to discussing imprints left by collapses:
Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya, Assad’s Syria — or the imprints
of wars orchestrated by Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet, we dream of a Middle East
marked by imprints that open the doors to the future rather than revisiting the
wounds of the past.
In the latter half of the second decade, a young man emerged from Saudi Arabia:
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The young leader earned the trust of his
father, King Salman, who saw in him both the heritage of the past and the
brilliance of the future. The ability to connect with people is a rare talent
that shapes turning points and leaves lasting imprints. Saudi youth sensed a
historic opportunity and rose to meet it. A bond of love, loyalty and hope
formed between the nation’s untapped potential and the architect of dreams and
goals behind Vision 2030. Locks that once constrained opportunities were
shattered.
Saudi Arabia has transformed into a ceaseless workshop, where dreams materialize
and pave the way for even greater ambitions. Reforms have evolved into a
comprehensive renaissance, marked by profound changes in the economy and
everyday life. Hope now courses through society, uniting generations in the
belief that a bright future will preserve the legacy of the past. Words like
progress, investment, prosperity, partnerships and innovation define today’s
Saudi Arabia. Visitors find a nation focused on collaboration and
bridge-building, leaving behind the conflicts of the past.
The crown prince’s imprints on Saudi Arabia’s transformation are unmistakable.
His vision presents a model that resonates with many in the Arab and Islamic
worlds. Our destiny is not to clash with the world but to equip ourselves to
engage with it and help shape a better future for generations to come. The crown
prince’s persistence in pursuing his dreams inspires hope, urging visitors not
to despair over the region’s challenges. He dares to envision a future Middle
East reminiscent of Europe’s prosperity and harmony. Achieving such a vision
requires balanced and fruitful relationships with Beijing, Moscow and, of
course, Washington, which prepares for Trump’s return.
As we close a year and a quarter-century, the world has the right to dream of
better days. And the people of the Middle East have the right to nurture such
dreams, despite the grim scenes in Gaza’s hospitals and Damascus’ prisons.
Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel
Saudi Arabia strongly condemns Israeli settlers for storming courtyards of Al-Aqsa
Mosque
Vera Songwe and Guido Schmidt-Traub/Arab News/December 30/2024
A 2024 report by the Independent Expert Group on Debt, Nature and Climate
revealed that many of the world’s 144 developing economies are on an
unsustainable fiscal trajectory. On average, these countries spend 41.5 percent
of their budget revenues — or 8.4 percent of gross domestic product — on debt
service, severely limiting their scope for public investments in education,
healthcare, infrastructure and innovation, which are essential for economic
growth.
Without growth and greater fiscal flexibility, repaying sovereign debts becomes
unfeasible. Consequently, developing countries urgently require a massive
injection of affordable capital and, in some cases, outright debt relief from
both international and domestic creditors.
The developing world’s debt crisis is compounded by two related factors. The
first is climate change: global temperatures have already risen by 1.2 degrees
Celsius and are projected to increase by an additional 0.2 C to 0.3 C per
decade. This “climate debt” is exacting an enormous toll, with damages in
vulnerable countries — currently estimated at roughly 20 percent of GDP —
stalling their economic development. Over the past few months alone, record
floods have struck Spain, Nepal and parts of West Africa, unprecedented
wildfires have ravaged Canada, Brazil and Bolivia and hurricanes Helene and
Milton have battered the Caribbean, Central America and the southeastern United
States. In Chad, torrential rains have led to widespread flooding, affecting 1.9
million people since late July.
Equally urgent, though less understood, is the nature crisis. Natural ecosystems
act as a crucial buffer against climate change, absorbing half of the carbon
dioxide produced by human activity. But deforestation and land-use changes are
eroding the planet’s natural defenses, with most of the world’s forests —
including the Amazon — now emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, thus
accelerating the climate crisis instead of mitigating it.
Natural ecosystems also generate half of the rainfall needed for agriculture and
human survival, with the rest supplied by ocean-formed clouds. But deforestation
in the Amazon and Queensland is already threatening agriculture in regions like
the Cerrado and eastern Australia. The situation in Africa is just as grim:
Nigeria, which has the world’s highest deforestation rate, has lost more than
half of its remaining forests in the past five years to logging, subsistence
farming and firewood collection. This “nature debt” continues to grow at an
alarming rate, with $7 trillion pouring annually into industries that drive
deforestation, overfishing and other destructive practices. By contrast, in
2022, nature-based projects received only $200 billion. Together, these forces
have created a triple debt crisis that threatens the economic and political
stability of the world’s poorest countries. Ernest Hemingway’s famous adage
about how one goes bankrupt — “gradually, then suddenly” — holds true for
developing economies: unless they reduce their debt burdens, they cannot invest
in climate resilience and environmental restoration. And without curbing nature
loss and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the world risks crossing critical
tipping points that will exacerbate the climate debt crisis, with severe
macroeconomic consequences. Given the stakes, the international community must
unite under the G20’s Common Framework to facilitate a global investment
agreement that promotes sustainable growth by providing developing countries
with affordable long-term funding and, where needed, swift debt restructuring.
Developing countries urgently require a massive injection of affordable capital
and, in some cases, outright debt relief.
Vera Songwe and Guido Schmidt-Traub
Achieving this goal requires decisive leadership. The G20 must demonstrate its
commitment to fiscal responsibility by adopting robust emission-reduction
targets that stimulate global growth without triggering another inflationary
surge. While most G20 countries have embraced decarbonization and green growth
as pathways to economic development, they must also share technology and
expertise with low-income economies. Debt-distressed countries, overwhelmed by
high borrowing costs, cannot reach carbon neutrality without innovative
financial mechanisms, grant-based funding and technical support.
Regrettably, this year’s annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, together with October’s UN Biodiversity Conference in Colombia,
revealed that global leaders and financial institutions are still not prepared
to invest in climate solutions at the necessary scale. This is surprising, given
that investments in climate and environmental resilience yield high economic
returns. Credit rating agencies have already downgraded several small island
states and other climate-vulnerable countries, thereby driving up borrowing
costs and potentially trapping them in a vicious cycle of financial and
environmental instability. These countries do not just need temporary relief to
stay afloat; they need resources to help them achieve sustainable growth.
In addition to the fiscal constraints imposed by the current debt crisis, two
key barriers to global climate action stand out. First, macroeconomic frameworks
— including the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis — still do not recognize
investments in climate resilience as productive. While the IMF has started to
address this issue, the process remains slow and overly complex.
To advance sustainable development, the IMF and the World Bank must adopt the
independent expert group’s recommendations and incorporate the effects of
immediate climate shocks and longer-term environmental risks into their baseline
macroeconomic and fiscal projections. They should also account for the cost
savings and enhanced economic stability implied by anticipatory disaster
financing, resilience-strengthening investments and insurance solutions.
The second, more politically charged barrier to effective climate action is the
lack of international support for developing country governments seeking to
invest in climate resilience. This fuels cynicism toward rich countries, whose
repeated promises to provide climate financing remain largely unfulfilled.
Consequently, developing countries find themselves in a double bind: without
immediate relief, they cannot escape the climate debt trap; and without
necessary financing, they struggle to devise credible investment strategies,
thereby reducing their chances of receiving the concessional funding they
urgently need.
Although the G20’s ongoing climate funding review is a promising first step,
much more is needed. Mobilizing the $1 trillion in external financing proposed
by the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance requires a
systemic overhaul that includes increasing multilateral development banks’
lending, providing an additional $100 billion to the International Development
Association and fostering greater cooperation between governments, the private
sector and philanthropic organizations.
The coming year offers wealthy countries a rare chance to prove that their
climate financing commitments are more than just talk. The 2025 G20 summit in
South Africa, the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year and the UN’s COP30 climate
change conference in Brazil could advance a sovereign debt deal and
significantly increase investments in climate resilience.
Meanwhile, the IMF, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions must work
together with forward-thinking governments, the private sector and other allies
to show that investing in resilience can dramatically improve economic outcomes.
Only then can the world overcome the triple debt crisis and pave the way for a
sustainable future.
Vera Songwe, founder and chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, is
senior adviser at the Bank for International Settlements’ Financial Stability
Institute and co-chair of the Group of Experts to the G20 Taskforce for a Global
Mobilization Against Climate Change.
**Guido Schmidt-Traub, former executive director of the UN Sustainable
Development Solutions Network, is partner at Systemiq. ©Project Syndicate