Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 03-04/2024
Biden’s Administration is conspiring with the terrorist Iranian mullahs, and the American raids on factions affiliated with Iran In Iraq & Syria are theatrical, staged and agreed upon./Elias Bejjani/January 03/ 2024
Israel says it has struck more than 50 Hezbollah targets in Syria since Oct 7
Berri: Agreement with ‘Quintet’ Ambassadors on Locally Chosen Lebanese President
Gallant says Israel won't cease fire if Hezbollah does
Israeli strike kills 2 Amal fighters as Hezbollah-Israel clashes abate
After pivotal Lebanon visit, UK Foreign Secretary says escalation in violence not in anyone's interests
Lebanon refuses to bow to Israeli pressure - 'Hezbollah's withdrawal beyond the Litani is unacceptable'
Economic Parallels and Challenges: Lebanon and Egypt
Berri's 'reciprocal approach': Quintet Committee's supportive but no mention of a third presidential option
Lebanon's Central Bank allows depositors to withdraw $150 monthly
3 hurt in stabbing attack at Paris train station
"Zaki Nassif Program for Music" presents a unique classical concert of duets at AUB's Assembly Hall
Hezbollah denounces US aggression against Iraq, Syria: A blatant violation of both countries' sovereignty, an attack on their security & territorial...
UNRWA employees threatened of service termination issue a statement to public opinion
Khalaf: Without a president who swears before God and the people to respect the constitution, nation's independence & territorial integrity, state of...

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 03-04/2024
Pope condemns anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism amid new wave of attacks against Jews
Pope reaffirms Christians' special relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism, Gaza war
What we know about the US strikes in Iraq and Syria
Who are Iran's proxies in the Middle East?
QUOTES-Reactions to US airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
US House panel recommends $17.6 billion in military aid for Israel
Syria: US Airstrikes Fueling Conflict in 'Very Dangerous Way'
US imposes new sanctions over Iranian arms, cyber activity
US moves to seize more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil it says was illegally trafficked
Iraqi government accuses US of lying about circumstances of airstrikes, violating international law
Biden’s balancing act with Iran aims for deterrence, not a wider war
Joly says Canada will sanction some 'extremist' Israeli settlers, Hamas leaders
Gaza: More than 40% of buildings destroyed in the 'buffer zone' Israel plans to create
Hamas demands Israel release Marwan Barghouti, a man some Palestinians see as their Nelson Mandela
Israel Keeps Pressure on Last Two Refugee Cities
US Navy warships are getting their first combat experience against the kind of threats China is banking on in the Pacific
Washington Strikes Houthis in Hajjah in Response to Naval Escalation
Dozens detained in Moscow at rally of Russian soldiers' wives - rights group
Zelenskyy honors HUR fighters for sinking Russian missile boat Ivanovoets

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 03-04/2024
Iranian Regime's Proxies: Target the Head of the Snake/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/February 03, 2024
U.S. Hits Back at Iran With More Than Just Airstrikes/Eileen Sullivan and David E. Sanger/The New York Times/February 03/2024
Italy’s Prime Minister, Between Africa’s Desert and Its Jungles/Abdel Rahman Shalgham/Former Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2024
UNRWA's Mission is Critical to Regional Security/Mara Rudman/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2024
Could the UK lead the way in breaking the peace process impasse?/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 03, 2024
Biden and Scholz work to bolster transatlantic ties but challenges remain/Andrew Hammond/Arab News/February 03, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 03-04/2024
Biden’s Administration is conspiring with the terrorist Iranian mullahs, and the American raids on factions affiliated with Iran In Iraq & Syria are theatrical, staged and agreed upon.
Elias Bejjani/January 03/ 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/126713/126713/
It is disgraceful and disheartening that the recent US aerial military responses in Syria and Iraq, which commenced a few hours ago, are a farcical and shameful American-Iranian play that is demeaning to intellects and disappointing in its outcome.
These are symbolic and prearranged American strikes with predetermined locations, communicated in advance to Iran, Iraq, and Syria, rendering them neither surprising nor serious nor effective.
The victims of these air strikes are Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghan mercenaries in militias serving as Iranian proxies, with not a single Iranian casualty among those targeted by the American strikes.
Any American strikes hold no value, effectiveness, or seriousness unless they target the Iranian homeland. It is lamentable that the world’s strongest power, the United States, is submissive and compliant to the Iranian agenda, collaborating with terrorist Mullahs, fundamentalists, and invaders to strike Arab countries, dismantle their regimes, allow the Iranian rulers to take control, plunder their wealth, enslave their people, and force them into a Stone Age culture that glorifies death, war, and crime.
President Biden’s weak and indecisive administration is a 100% extension of the era of Obama, infatuated with the Iranian Mullahs, their supporter, and financier, and this is where the catastrophe lies.
Lebanon is at the forefront of these countries handed over by American Democratic administrations Biden & Obama) to Iran and its militias.
*The author is a Lebanese expatriate activist
Author's Email: Phoenicia@hotmail.com
Author's Website: http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com

Israel says it has struck more than 50 Hezbollah targets in Syria since Oct 7
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/Sat, February 3, 2024
The Israeli military said on Saturday that since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7 it had struck more than 50 targets in Syria linked to the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah. The remarks, in a briefing by chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari that mainly discussed efforts to beat back Hezbollah attacks launched in solidarity with Hamas, were a departure from Israel's usual reticence about Syria operations. "Everywhere Hezbollah is, we shall be. We will take action everywhere required in the Middle East," Hagari said. Israeli forces have attacked 34,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including 120 border surveillance outposts, 40 caches of missiles and other weaponry and more than 40 command centres, Hagari said. He put the number of enemy dead at more than 200. Hagari said Israel had deployed three army divisions along its side of the Lebanese border in anticipation of Hezbollah getting involved after Palestinian Hamas launched a shock cross-border attack on Oct. 7, triggering the war in the Gaza Strip. With tens of thousands of its northern residents having evacuated, Israel has threatened to escalate the Lebanon fighting unless Hezbollah backs off from the border - and has sought Western help in finding a diplomatic solution in Beirut.

Berri: Agreement with ‘Quintet’ Ambassadors on Locally Chosen Lebanese President
Mohamed Choucair/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2024
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has confirmed alignment with ambassadors from the Quintet Committee on the presidential election in Lebanon. Berri emphasized that the Committee, which consists of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the US, and France, is a supportive group, aiming to facilitate the election without endorsing or vetoing any candidate. The ambassadors “did not delve into the third presidential option,” revealed Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat. The Speaker also called for dialogue among parliamentary blocs to swiftly elect a president. He highlighted the positive nature of his meeting with the ambassadors, emphasizing their support for Lebanon amidst regional challenges.Berri stressed agreeing with the ambassadors on the need to separate the presidential election from the situation in Gaza and confrontation with Israel in Lebanon’s south. Lebanon should focus on electing a president promptly, taking advantage of regional developments, insisted Berri. He rejected any compromise between the southern situation and the presidential election, affirming Lebanon’s commitment to UN Resolution 1701. There is no obstacle for Committee ambassadors to meet with parliamentary bloc leaders, a Lebanese source, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat. The source highlighted the importance of dialogue, leaving the communication mechanism to the ambassadors. On another note, the source emphasized that Saudi Arabia is keen on the presidential election, urging Lebanese MPs to expedite the process and implement necessary reforms to rescue the republic. The Saudis do not endorse any candidate or impose a veto, the source affirmed. Saudi Arabia commits to non-interference in naming candidates, leaving the presidential election to Lebanese MPs, they added. The Kingdom will define its position based on specifications outlined by the Committee, considering the future president and required reforms as essential for Lebanon’s financial and economic recovery.

Gallant says Israel won't cease fire if Hezbollah does
Naharnet/February 03/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has warned that a potential pause in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza will not apply to the ongoing hostilities with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. “If Hezbollah thinks that when there’s a pause in fighting in the south (Gaza), we will hold fire against it, it’s sorely mistaken,” Gallant said after meeting troops from the Israeli army’s Alpine Unit on Mount Hermon, according to a statement from his office. The comments come amid negotiations via mediators between Israel and Hamas over a potential agreement that would see 136 hostages — almost three dozen of them confirmed dead — returned home in exchange for the release of a yet-to-be-determined number of Palestinian security prisoners as well as an extended pause in the fighting. The previous weeklong truce agreement in late November, in which 105 hostages were released, saw both Israel and Hezbollah hold their fire on the northern border, even though this wasn’t part of the agreement inked between Israel and Hamas via Qatar and Egypt. But Gallant warned Friday that would not be the case the next time around. “I say here explicitly: until we reach a situation in which it’s possible to restore security for residents of the north, we will not stop. Whether we reach this through a [diplomatic] arrangement or military means, we will [restore] calm,” he told troops, according to the statement from his office. Hezbollah-led forces have been attacking Israeli military posts along the border on a near-daily basis since October 8, a day after Hamas launched its October 7 attack on Israel. Hezbollah says its attacks are to support the Palestinian people and resistance factions in Gaza. Gallant discussed northern border tensions during a call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday night. The U.S. is seeking to help broker a diplomatic agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in order to prevent a full-blown war between the sides. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein is slated to arrive in Israel over the weekend to discuss efforts toward that end, following an earlier trip this month to soothe mounting tensions. Hochstein was heavily involved in shepherding talks that culminated in Israel and Lebanon demarcating a maritime border in 2022.

Israeli strike kills 2 Amal fighters as Hezbollah-Israel clashes abate
Naharnet/February 03/2024
The Amal Movement confirmed Saturday that two of its fighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike overnight in the southern border town of Blida. In a statement, Amal identified the slain members as Ali Khalil Mohammad and Mustafa Abbas Daher, saying there were killed while “performing their national and jihadist duty in defense of Lebanon and the South.”An Amal fighter was killed and two others were wounded in an Israeli drone strike in the South on November 11. Amal, which is allied with Hezbollah, has not announced any attack on Israel since the cross-border clashes began between Hezbollah and Israel on October 8. Reports have said that it is playing a “defensive” role. The clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have meanwhile abated over the past few days amid reports that the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are making progress.
On Saturday, media reports said Hezbollah attacked a post in the occupied Shebaa Farms as the Israeli army shelled Rashaya al-Fukhar’s outskirts and the border town of al-Dhayra. Hezbollah had on Friday announced two attacks on Israeli posts in the Shebaa Farms and another attack on a building in Avivim. According to a Hezbollah statement, the Avivim attack came in response to attacks on “civilian homes” and to an aistrike on a co-op in al-Jibbain. Nearly four months of cross-border fire have killed more than 210 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including more than 25 civilians. On the Israeli side of the border, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to Israeli officials.The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has warned that it is ready to use military force to return its settlers to their homes.

After pivotal Lebanon visit, UK Foreign Secretary says escalation in violence not in anyone's interests
LBCI/February 03/2024
Concluding his visit to Lebanon, the UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, held a series of meetings with Lebanese officials, where he raised concerns regarding the intensifying tensions along the border with Israel, expressing his country's commitment to supporting de-escalation. Accompanied by Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for the Middle East, this visit marks his first to Lebanon as Foreign Secretary, following his previous visit as Prime Minister in 2015, and his fourth one to the Middle East as Foreign Secretary. During this visit, David Cameron met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Commander General Joseph Aoun, and Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz. A statement by the British Embassy in Beirut said that the Foreign Secretary highlights the UK's support for the LAF, which has surpassed £100 million since 2009.
"To date, the UK has supported the construction of 78 border towers, the provision of 344 Land Rovers, 3450 sets of PPE to soldiers deployed on border operations, 100 Land Rover armoured patrol vehicles trained and mentored over 26,500 LAF personnel in border operations and internal security," affirmed the statement.The Foreign Secretary also disclosed £7.35 million in new aid funding to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Lebanon Humanitarian Fund and a £2.6m contribution to support the education as part of UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education's (MEHE) Transition and Resilience Education Fund (TREF). The visit is built upon his regional visits, as he persists in pushing an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, "building towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire."
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the "UK is working to help preserve stability in Lebanon and prevent a damaging regional escalation. We're supporting the Lebanon Armed Forces – we've trained over 26,500 Lebanese soldiers and are giving further humanitarian aid to help the most vulnerable."
In turn, the British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hamish Cowell, reaffirmed that "the situation across the Blue Line is fragile and an escalation in violence is not in anyone's interests. In his meetings, the Foreign Secretary stressed the need for a cessation of hostilities and implementation of UNSCR 1701. This is critical if we are to see a long-term solution for peace."

Lebanon refuses to bow to Israeli pressure - 'Hezbollah's withdrawal beyond the Litani is unacceptable'
LBCI/February 03/2024
High-level official Lebanese sources affirmed to "Al-Joumhouria" that "the Israeli proposal for Hezbollah to withdraw to the north of the Litani or a few kilometers is among the impossibilities that Israel seeks to achieve diplomatically." The sources added: "Lebanon's commitment to Resolution 1701 is firm, final, and total, and it cannot accept any proposal or arrangements that would affect its sovereignty or come at the expense of the residents of the southern region."This article is originally published in, translated from Lebanese newspaper Al-Joumhouria. A senior official told "Al-Joumhouria," "Washington supports the Israeli proposal and seeks to pass it under the title of a solution that allows civilians to return to their homes on both sides of the border.'" Responding to a question about the possibility of Washington exerting pressure on Lebanon to pass this solution, the official said, "The solution for the border region is simple and not complicated at all, based on the comprehensive implementation of Resolution 1701, especially by Israel, and it is precisely the responsibility of the Americans to force it to implement this decision." "As for the security situation, it is solely in the hands of Israel. When the aggression and firing stop in Gaza, life automatically returns to normal in the border area as it was before October 7 of last year."In the same context, sources within Hezbollah confirm to "Al-Joumhouria" that "those who believe that Israel can impose a new reality in the southern region under the guise of Resolution 1701 or any other pretext are mistaken. As Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah previously affirmed, Hezbollah rejects any discussion regarding the border area or anything related to Resolution 1701 before Israel stops its aggression on Gaza and Lebanon."

Economic Parallels and Challenges: Lebanon and Egypt
LBCI/February 03/2024
The economic situation in Lebanon and Egypt is similar, albeit with different causes. The exchange rate for the dollar, officially around 31 pounds, while the black market rate exceeds 70 pounds. This gap coincides with the due obligations and installments of external debts estimated at around 42.3 billion dollars, marking Egypt's largest external debt due in a single year. But where does Egypt get all these dollars? It faces declining revenues for several reasons, including a decrease in the income from the Suez Canal due to the confrontation in the Red Sea, which provides Egypt with the largest revenues in hard currency. Like any crisis, traders are ready to exploit the situation unlawfully, whether by hoarding greenbacks, gold, or even food and medicine to later sell them at inflated prices. Here, the Egyptian government is attempting to control the situation through raids on hoarders, including money changers and merchants. Simultaneously, Egypt is trying to revive a previous loan from the IMF, from which it has not received all its installments totaling 3 billion dollars. Continuous commitment: Egyptian ambassador's pledge to Lebanon's stability. Days ago, the IMF announced progress with Egypt regarding the financing package to resume disbursements. However, this step is tied to Cairo complying with the IMF's conditions, the most important of which include:
- Withdrawal of the government and the military institution from non-strategic economic sectors, a move opposed by officials in the military institution according to The Economist.
- Selling a portion of state assets.
- Liberalizing the official exchange rate of the dollar against the pound.
All this comes amid circulating talks of offers made to Egypt to write off its debts, or parts of them, such as receiving Gazan Palestinians, for example. Will the troubled state resort to such an option? Or will Egypt's allies, particularly Arab ones, come to its rescue once again?

Berri's 'reciprocal approach': Quintet Committee's supportive but no mention of a third presidential option
LBCI/February 03/2024
Lebanon's Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, announced to the "Asharq Al-Awsat" newspaper that he agreed with the Quintet Committee's ambassadors, whom he met on Tuesday, on the "Lebanonization" of the presidential process. This article was originally published in and translated from the Arab outlet Asharq Al-Awsat. He emphasized that the Quintet Committee is just a supportive group to facilitate the election of a president without having a candidate or vetoing any of the candidates. Berri pointed out that the ambassadors "did not delve into the third presidential option" and stated that he responded in kind, not proposing any candidate names, and they did not object to his invitation to parliamentary blocs for dialogue, hoping "to reach an agreement that opens the door immediately to calling for a parliamentary session with consecutive rounds to elect a president for the republic."

Lebanon's Central Bank allows depositors to withdraw $150 monthly
Reuters/February 03/2024
Lebanon's Central Bank has issued a directive allowing depositors to withdraw $150 monthly from accounts opened after October 31, 2019, according to a statement released on Saturday.

3 hurt in stabbing attack at Paris train station
Associated Press/February 03/2024
A man injured three people Saturday in a stabbing attack at the major Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, another nerve-rattling security incident in the Olympic host city before the Summer Games open in six months. Paris police said officers quickly detained the attacker who used a sharp weapon in the assault at around 8 a.m. One of the people injured was in a serious condition; the other two were more lightly hurt. Police had no other immediate details. Security in Paris is being ramped up as it prepares to welcome 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the first Olympic Games in a century in the French capital.
The Games are to open with a massive open-air ceremony along the River Seine on July 26, a major security challenge in the city that has been repeatedly hit by terror attacks, most notably in 2015. Most recently, a man targeted passersby near the Eiffel Tower in December, killing a German tourist with a knife and injuring two others. The Gare de Lyon is one of the busiest train stations in Paris. It is a hub both for high-speed trains that link the capital to other cities and for commuter trains that serve the suburbs and towns in the Paris region.

"Zaki Nassif Program for Music" presents a unique classical concert of duets at AUB's Assembly Hall
NNA/February 03/2024
The Zaki Nassif Program for Music “Remembering and Discovering” presented a classical music program titled “Daughters of This Aged Stream” - a concert celebrating the history of music from the middle-ages until the present time through the lens of duets sung by soprano Louisa El Khoury and contralto Natasha Nassar accompanied by pianist Olga Bolun on harpsichord and piano. As the brainchild of the contralto Natasha Nassar, the program was marked with historical musical accuracy, uniqueness, and comprehensive research. Under the patronage of The Zaki Nassif Program for Music, the concert was held in the presence of distinguished political, cultural, social and media guests. The concert consisted of operatic works and songs on a journey through time beginning with two pieces from the year 1190 until the present time. Distinguished singing was performed by combining two female voices into one: the highest operatic singing voice of a soprano along with the rarest lowest operatic voice of a contralto. The evening was a magical experience in the full meaning of the word. "I want to congratulate Louisa and Natasha for their concert. Tackling a repertoire which covers songs from the middle-ages to the 20th century was very courageous. They have both been blessed with beautiful voices and I wish them all the success in their long artistic road ahead." ----Harout Fazlian
Principal Conductor of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra
“This evening was not only a musical evening but also a therapeutic one. We all need such dignified and purposeful events. The selection of the songs was amazing, the voices of the soprano and the contralto were extremely refined, beautiful and of world class caliber. They paid homage to the music with credibility.” ----
André Hajj
Primary Conductor of The Lebanese National Oriental Orchestra at The Lebanese National Conservatory
“A sublime vocal marriage between two voices in perfect harmony with each other. The beauty of the voices and their timbres was remarkable. Incredible presence, robust technique; an eclectic and well researched historical program.” ----
Walid Mousallem
Former Director of the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
“An extraordinary musical evening of the highest quality. A program that goes beyond the norm. A pianist in perfect harmony with the two: a soprano and a contralto whose voices blended wonderfully-the contralto was exceptional.” -----
Paul-René Safa
Choir and Chamber Orchestra Conductor

Hezbollah denounces US aggression against Iraq, Syria: A blatant violation of both countries' sovereignty, an attack on their security & territorial...
NNA/February 03/2024
In an issued statement on Saturday, Hezbollah "strongly condemned the blatant American aggression against Iraq and Syria, which targeted several areas in the two brotherly countries, and led to the fall of a number of martyrs and wounded."
The statement said: “What the United States of America did is a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the two countries, an attack on their security and territorial integrity, and a shameless breach of all international and humanitarian laws.”
It continued to consider that "this new aggression contributes to destabilizing the region, and creating false justifications and pretexts for the continuation of the American occupation of several regions in Iraq and Syria against the will of their people who yearn for freedom and independence."Hezbollah stressed in its statement that the United States' aggression against Iraq, Syria and Yemen "reveals the falsehood of America’s claims that it does not want to expand the conflict in the region," adding, "Quite the opposite, it contributes to fueling conflict and tension and escalating wars in the region." "We believe that this criminal aggression pushes the Iraqi and Syrian peoples towards the path of resistance to liberate their countries from the American occupation and to continue supporting and assisting the oppressed Gaza Strip until the Zionist aggression and its crimes stop," the statement asserted. Finally, Hezbollah offered deepest condolences and sympathy to the righteous martyrs' families, asking God Almighty to have mercy on them and to grant the wounded speedy recovery.

UNRWA employees threatened of service termination issue a statement to public opinion
NNA/February 03/2024
The employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), who were threatened with dismissal, issued a statement to public opinion, in which they expressed their complete rejection of the accusations directed against them, according to “Russia Today.”The statement said: “We express our deep astonishment at the decision that talks about dismissing us from our job and work at UNRWA based on a false claim from the Israeli occupation army alleging our participation in the events of October 7, 2023.”The statement added: “In this regard, we would like to emphasize our supreme educational mission, for which we have always given the most beautiful years of our lives. We express our complete rejection of these groundless accusations and any decisions based on them...”The statement called on the United Nations and the UNRWA administration to conduct an immediate and urgent investigation in this regard. “We call on our Palestinian people, their bodies, institutions and unions to stand in solidarity with our just cause until this unfair decision and these incorrect allegations disappear,” the statemenht concluded.

Khalaf: Without a president who swears before God and the people to respect the constitution, nation's independence & territorial integrity, state of...
NNA/February 03/2024
"What constitutional chaos is controlling the country...what legal, lawful and moral chaos within the state?” questioned MP Melhem Khalaf in an issued statement on Saturday. Khalaf emphasized that there can be no return to an organized state except through a president who swears to preserve the constitution, the nation's independence and territorial integrity. He added, "Nothing is clearer than this coup against the rule of law and against mutual existence...Nothing is clearer than the intention of the coup forces to maintain the presidential vacuum...So many are asking whether there is still a need or necessity to elect a president of the country, as long as Article 62 of the constitution entrusts - when the presidency is vacant - the powers of the president of the republic to the council of ministers?""To those who question this insistence on electing a president of the republic and our adherence to the priority of electing the president before embarking on anything else, we say: the president of the republic is the symbol of the nation’s unity, one who ensures respect for the constitution and the preservation of Lebanon’s independence, unity, and territorial integrity,” Khalaf underlined.
He went on, "Article 50 of the Constitution again confirms this text by obligating the president of the country to swear by God Almighty to:
• Respect the constitution of the Lebanese nation
• Respect the laws of the Lebanese nation
• Preserve the independence of the Lebanese nation
• Preserve the integrity of the Lebanese nation’s territories.”
Addressing his fellow parliamentarians, Khalaf said: “It is our duty to come to the House of Parliament, today before tomorrow, to elect a president of the republic who will be a symbol of the country’s unity and a guardian of its constitution and the integrity of its lands..."

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 03-04/2024
Pope condemns anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism amid new wave of attacks against Jews
VATICAN CITY (Reuters)/February 3, 2024
Pope Francis condemned all forms of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, labelling them as a "sin against God", after noticing an increase in attacks against Jews around the world. "(The Church) rejects every form of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, unequivocally condemning manifestations of hatred towards Jews and Judaism as a sin against God," the pontiff wrote in a letter to the Jewish population of Israel dated Feb. 2 and made public on Saturday. "Together with you, we, Catholics, are very concerned about the terrible increase in attacks against Jews around the world. We had hoped that 'never again' would be a refrain heard by the new generations," he added. The Pope noted that wars and divisions are increasing all over the world "in a sort of piecemeal world war", hitting the lives of many populations. Francis, 87, has condemned Hamas' Oct. 7 cross-border attack from Gaza into southern Israel. He has also said on several occasions that a two-state solution was needed to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his letter, the pope also called, once again, for the release of those hostages still being held by militants. He said his heart was torn at the sight of the conflict in the Holy Land and the division and hatred stemming from it, adding that the world was looking at the unfolding of events in the area with "apprehension and pain". He assured the Jewish community of his closeness and affection, "particularly (those) consumed by anguish, pain, fear and even anger", repeating his call for the end of the war. Francis said he prayed for peace. "My heart is close to you, to the Holy Land, to all the peoples who inhabit it, Israelis and Palestinians, and I pray that the desire for peace may prevail in all".

Pope reaffirms Christians' special relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism, Gaza war
February 3, 2024
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday reaffirmed Christians' special relationship with Jews amid rising antisemitism since the outbreak of the Gaza war in a letter to the Jews of Israel that he said was prompted by messages from Jewish organizations around the world. The letter served as a belated fence-mending after Francis was criticized for his initial response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Francis said the Holy Land has been “cast into a spiral of unprecedented violence,” part of what the pope referred to as “a sort of ‘piecemeal world war,’ with serious consequences on the lives of many populations.’’“My heart is torn at the sight of what is happening in the Holy Land, by the power of so much division and so much hatred,’’ the pontiff wrote. “The whole world looks on at what is happening in that land with apprehension and pain.”In November, the pope set off a firestorm by using the word “terrorism” during separate, closed meetings with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war.Without elaborating, Francis said in the letter to Israeli Jews that he was moved by communication from friends and Jewish organizations around the world to “assure you of my closeness and affection. I embrace each of you and especially those who are consumed by anguish, pain, fear and even anger.”He said that Catholics “are very concerned about the terrible increase in attacks against Jews around the world we had hoped that ‘never again’ would be a refrain heard by the new generations, yet now we see that the path ahead requires ever closer collaboration to eradicate these phenomena.’’ “My heart is close to you, to the Holy Land, to all the peoples who inhabit it, Israelis and Palestinians, and I pray that the desire for peace may prevail in all,’’ he said. The reconciliation between Jews and Catholics provides “a horizon” to imagine a future “where light replaces darkness, in which friendship replaces hatred, in which cooperation replaces war.”“Together, Jews and Catholics, we must commit ourselves to this path of friendship, solidarity and cooperation in seeking ways to repair a destroyed world, working together in every part of the world, and especially in the Holy Land, to recover the ability to see in the face of every person the image of God, in which we were created,’’ Francis wrote.

What we know about the US strikes in Iraq and Syria
Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Kevin Liptak, Oren Liebermann and Nadeen Ebrahim/CNN/Sat, February 3, 2024
The United States on Friday conducted major airstrikes on dozens of targets across Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a drone attack in Jordan last month that killed three US troops.
The strikes were larger in number and scale than previous ones launched since October, when Iran-backed armed groups began attacking US forces across the region in protest of Israel’s war in Gaza. With the US warning of more strikes to follow, here’s what we know.
What triggered the strikes?
The US strikes were in response to a drone attack by Iran-backed militants on a US military outpost in Jordan on January 28, which killed three US service members and wounded more than 40 others. The attack marked the worst loss of US military life in the region in nearly three years and the first US military fatalities since the war in Gaza erupted.
US President Joe Biden at the time vowed to hold “all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing.” The attack in Jordan marked a significant escalation in tensions between the US and Iran-backed groups attacking American bases across the region in protest at Israel’s war in Gaza. Believed to be funded and trained by Iran, these groups view the US as responsible for Israel’s actions by supplying weapons to the Jewish state and failing to force a ceasefire. Since October, when the Israel-Hamas war began, the US military has carried out several strikes targeting Iranian proxies’ weapons depots in Iraq and Syria, but none of those strikes deterred the militants, whose 165 attacks injured more than 120 US service members across the region.
None of the proxy groups’ other attacks since October, however, have resulted in the deaths of US service members – compelling Biden and his national security team to respond more forcefully.
What and where did the US hit?
The US said the attack lasted 30 minutes, hitting 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria. The White House said aircraft including B-1 bombers were used in the operation. More than 125 precision-guided munitions were fired, the White House said, adding that the strikes were “successful.” The US strikes killed at least 16 people in Iraq, including civilians, and injured 25 others, the Iraqi government said Friday. The attacks hit areas close to the border with Syria, and targeted facilities used by Iranian-linked al Hashd al Shabi – or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) – in the Iraqi city of Al-Qaim, Iraqi officials said. The PMU is a predominantly Shiite Iran-backed paramilitary force based in Iraq. Unlike other Iran-backed groups around the region, the PMU is tied to the Iraqi government and is closely linked to Iran-aligned Shiite blocs that for years dominated politics in Iraq. In 2016, the Iraqi parliament passed a bill recognizing the PMU as a government entity operating alongside the Iraqi military. The organization is an umbrella group, with several forces operating underneath its wing – including Iraq’s powerful Kataib Hezbollah. The mayor of Al-Qaim, Turki Al-Mahalawi, said the strikes hit three houses used as weapon warehouses by the Iran-backed PMU. The US had struck targets there last month. While US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington had informed the Iraqi government of its plans before carrying out the strikes, the Iraqi government denied that claim, saying the US is “misleading international public opinion.”
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said the airstrikes hit the eastern areas of Deir Ezzor, Al-Bukamal, Al-Mayadeen and their surroundings on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
Kirby said the US did not know now how many militants were killed or wounded, but the Syrian military on Saturday said the strikes had killed civilians and soldiers and caused “significant damage” to infrastructure.
CNN cannot independently verify the number or nature of the casualties.
The US did not strike Iranian territory. A senior administration official confirmed to CNN that the US will not do so, and will focus only on targets outside of the country.
What has the reaction been?
Iraq and Syria condemned the US attack as infringements on their sovereignty that risk fueling regional conflict. The Syrian foreign ministry said it “condemns this blatant American violation,” adding that it “categorically rejects all the pretexts and lies promoted by the American administration to justify this attack.” Syria also warned that the US attack could “fuel the conflict in the Middle East in a very dangerous way.” A spokesperson for Iraq’s Armed Forces, meanwhile, decried the attacks as a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty.”
Echoing both, Iran warned the strikes would only escalate tensions.
“Iran considers the attacks as a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, international law and a clear violation of the United Nations Charter,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday. The attack is “an adventurous action and another strategic mistake by the US government, which will have no result other than intensifying tension and instability in the region,” the statement added.
Some US lawmakers were happy with the attack, while others thought it came too late and wasn’t surprising enough for the intended targets.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson, a Republican, criticized the military response, writing in part, “The administration waited for a week and telegraphed to the world, including to Iran, the nature of our response. “The public handwringing and excessive signaling undercuts our ability to put a decisive end to the barrage of attacks endured over the past few months,” Johnson said. Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, a Democrat, praised the strikes, saying in a statement that “this was a strong, proportional response.”
What happens next?
The US strikes are likely to continue. But neither the US nor Iran wants a wider war.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US strikes in Iraq and Syria on Friday are “the start of our response,” adding that Biden has “directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on US and Coalition Forces.”
Both Austin and Biden have however repeated that the US does not seek a wider regional war. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world,” Biden said in a statement Friday, following the strikes on Iraq and Syria. “But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”Friday’s US strikes were more significant than previous attacks on Iranian-backed militias over the last several weeks, which have primarily focused on weapons storage or training facilities. The airstrikes were “far bigger than any action undertaken before against Iran’s proxies,” wrote Charles Lister, director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, on X. He added that “huge secondary explosions on both sides of the border suggest big rocket/missile depots have been hit.” But the Biden administration is threading a needle – it wants to deter and stop further attacks but avoid a full-scale conflict with Iran in a region already roiled by the continuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. For now, it doesn’t seem like the US struck “high value targets, focusing instead on command/control, logistics and drone/rocket stock,” Lister wrote on X. Tehran has repeatedly said it does not seek conflict. On Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said his country will not initiate a war but will “respond strongly” to bullies. There have been mixed messages from Iran-backed militias across the region. While the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq announced Tuesday it is suspending attacks on US forces, another group in Iraq, Al-Nujaba, said it would continue attacking American forces.
Adding to a volatile situation, experts say that Iran does not exercise full control over its proxies.
*CNN’s MJ Lee, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Mitchell McCluskey, Aileen Graef, Kareem El Damanhoury, Manu Raju and Adam Pourahmadi contributed reporting.

Who are Iran's proxies in the Middle East?
The Week UK/ February 03/2024
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has built up a network of groups across the Middle East that boost its regional hegemony and wage war against Western powers.
"Acting through proxies is a method of eluding responsibility," said the Council on Foreign Relations. Iran's Quds Force, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are the "main point of contact" with these organisations, "providing them with training, weaponry, and funds to promote Iranian regional objectives".
But, said the Atlantic Council, they have "long ceased to work as geographically contained entities or in isolation". Increasingly since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Tehran has been "integrating its various extensions and proxies into a mutually reinforcing and symbiotic regional alliance".
The Week takes a look at the disparate groups known as the "Axis of Resistance".
Hezbollah (Lebanon)
Otherwise known as the Party of God, Hezbollah is Iran's most formidable – and well funded – proxy. Designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, it is the dominant political force in Lebanon.
With backing from Iran estimated to run to hundreds of millions of dollars a year, Hezbollah is also a "well-resourced armed group with a medium-sized force that can defeat most Arab armies", said Time. Analysts put the size of its fighting force at between 50,000 and 100,000, making it "the most powerful non-state actor" in the region, Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, told the magazine.
Hamas (Palestinian Territories)
An acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement), Hamas called for the destruction of Israel, and the establishment of an Islamic society in historic Palestine, in its founding charter in 1988. Long designated a terrorist group by the UK and US, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip following elections in 2006, positioning itself as a rival to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Iran is the group's biggest funder and it is widely assumed that Tehran had some role in planning – or at least authorising – the deadly surprise attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 that started the current turmoil in the region.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Palestinian Territories)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is considered "one of the most extreme and uncompromising Palestinian armed factions", said The Guardian. It is the second largest armed group in Gaza, behind Hamas, and also operates in the West Bank. Although US estimates put Iran's financial support for Hamas and PIJ at up to $100 million a year, the two are long-standing rivals.
Houthi movement (Yemen)
Officially known as Ansar Allah ("supporters of Allah"), the Houthis come from a branch of Shia Islam that ruled Yemen for centuries until the 1960s. Since 2014, they have waged a brutal civil war against Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia. And since 7 October, the Houthis have also carried out attacks on Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea. Their slogan, the sarkha or scream, is: "God is Great; Death to America; Death to Israel; Damnation to the Jews; Victory to Islam."
Al-Ashtar Brigades (Bahrain)
"Funded, trained and armed" by Iran, according to the Wilson Center think tank, the al-Ashtar Brigades is a Shia militant group that has been charged by the US State Department with committing terrorist attacks in Bahrain to overthrow the government and was sanctioned by the Trump administration.
Kata'ib Hezbollah (Iraq)
Founded in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Kata'ib Hezbollah is one of the "elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran", said Reuters. It is the "most powerful armed faction" in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an "umbrella group" of "hardline" Shia armed groups that have "claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces since the Gaza war began".
Badr Organization (Iraq)
Formed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard in 1982, Munadhamat Badr is a Shia political party and paramilitary force that is Iran's oldest proxy in Iraq. Given the group's "deep ties to Iran and its political and military pre-eminence", analysts have compared it to Hezbollah in Lebanon, said the Counter Extremism Project.
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (Iraq)
The League of the Righteous is a "major Iraqi armed group" that identifies as part of Iran's Axis of Resistance but "stubbornly maintains a degree of independence, forming numerous cells to conduct kinetic, media, and social operations, some bankrolled by the Iraqi state", said The Washington Institute.
Fatemiyoun Brigade (Syria)
By far the largest Iranian-backed militia group currently operating in Syria, the Fatemiyoun Brigade is composed entirely of Afghan Shia fighters, deployed to defend Iranian interests in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Fatemiyoun members are “mostly in their 20s and 30s… motivated mainly by economic deprivation and vulnerabilities due to their migrant status”, said the United States Institute of Peace.
Zainabiyoun Brigade (Syria)
Recruiting fighters from Pakistan, the Zainabiyoun Brigade trained for operations in the Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011. The US Treasury placed the group on its financial blacklist in January 2019 and it "remains a threat", security experts told Arab News, despite recent crackdowns on the militants' activities.
Quawt al-Ridha (Syria)
One of the groups known as Syrian Hezbollah, Quwat al-Ridha recruits in Shia villages in the Homs region, has deployed forces across Syria and operates with "little independence" from its Lebanese parent, said The Washington Institute.
Baqir Brigade (Syria)
The "tribal militia loyal to the Syrian government" was established in 2012 and its members mainly belong to the Bakara tribe, said Al-Monitor. Hundreds of its newly joined members underwent training in Iran in special camps run by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the news site reported.
https://ca.yahoo.com/news/irans-proxies-middle-east-115417399.html

QUOTES-Reactions to US airstrikes in Syria and Iraq
Reuters/February 3, 2024
Following are reactions by leaders and officials to U.S. retaliatory strikes on Friday in Iraq and Syria, after an attack in Jordan last weekend that killed three U.S. troops and injured some 40 others.
IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said the air strikes were "violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Syria and Iraq and represent "another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that will result only in increased tension and instability in the region". The U.S. attacks were designed "to overshadow the Zionist regime's crimes in Gaza", he said, and urged the U.N. Security Council to prevent "illegal and unilateral U.S. attacks in the region.""The root cause of tensions and crises in the Middle East is Israel's occupation and genocide of Palestinians with America's unlimited support".
SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
"What (the U.S. has) committed has served to fuel conflict in the Middle East in a very dangerous way."
HAMAS
Hamas condemned U.S. "aggression against" Iraq and Syria describing it as a "dangerous escalation" and "an encroachment on the sovereignty of the two countries".
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN MARIA ZAKHAROVA
"It is obvious that the airstrikes are deliberately designed to further inflame the conflict. By attacking, almost without pause, the facilities of allegedly pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, the United States is purposefully trying to drive the largest countries in the region into conflict."
POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER RADEK SIKORSKI
"The most urgent issue right now is that we have American strikes against targets in the Middle East. What I can tell you about it is that Iran's proxies have played with fire for months and years, and it's now burning them."
AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ALEXANDER SCHALLENBERG
"I believe those who are attacking U.S. bases have to know that they are actually pouring oil into the fire. And our common goal has to be to prevent the spillover at all costs.
"This is a powder keg, the whole Middle East, and there are too many people running around with matches." U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is doing "an immense job ... to keep the crisis where it is and not to have it spill over into the whole region".
DEMOCRATIC SENATOR JACK REED, CHAIRMAN OF SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
"Iran's proxy forces in Syria and Iraq have been dealt a significant blow, and Iranian-linked militias around the Middle East should understand that they, too, will be held accountable.
"I salute the brave U.S. military members who carried out today's strikes, and I support President Biden's robust action. These strikes, in concert with wise diplomacy, send a clear signal that the United States will continue to take appropriate action to protect our personnel and our interests."
REPUBLICAN SENATOR ROGER WICKER, RANKING MEMBER OF ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
"These military strikes are welcome, but come far too late for the three brave Americans who died and the nearly 50 wounded. Iran and its proxies have tried to kill American soldiers and sink our warships 165 times while the Biden administration congratulates itself for doing the bare minimum. Instead of giving the Ayatollah the bloody nose that he deserves, we continue to give him a slap on the wrist."
YAHYA RASOOL, IRAQI MILITARY SPOKESMAN
"These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences. The outcomes will have severe implications on the security and stability in Iraq and the surrounding region."
HEZBOLLAH
"Hezbollah strongly condemns the blatant American aggression against Iraq and Syria. What the United States of America has done is a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the two countries, an attack on their security and territorial integrity, and a shameless violation of all international and humanitarian laws."

US House panel recommends $17.6 billion in military aid for Israel
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Richard Cowan/Sat, February 3, 2024
Legislation providing $17.6 billion in new military assistance to Israel as it wages war against Hamas was unveiled on Saturday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The funding bill, offered by a House Appropriations panel, could come to a vote in the full House sometime next week, Speaker Mike Johnson said in a letter to members. The Republican-controlled House had previously approved $14.3 billion in new military aid to Israel, but with the requirement that it be paid for by clawing back a chunk of money already targeted for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The Democratic-controlled Senate balked at that provision and is expected to unveil a legislative package that would aid Israel as well as provide more military assistance for Ukraine in its war against Russia. That same Senate bill is also expected to contain proposals for strengthening security along the southern U.S. border with Mexico.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has taken steps to start debate on that multipronged bill next week, with a first procedural vote no later than Wednesday. According to the House Appropriations Committee, the $17.6 billion would include funds to help replenish Israel's missile defense systems, procure additional advanced weapons systems, and produce artillery and other munitions. Some of the funding would also be used to replenish U.S. arms provided to Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. "The need to support our closest ally and our own forces in the region has never been more pressing," Johnson said in his letter to colleagues. It was unclear whether far-right House members might balk at the funding for Israel without an equal amount of savings elsewhere in the budget. House Republicans have insisted that any new aid to Ukraine be accompanied by strong new U.S. border controls at a time when record numbers of immigrants are trying to enter the United States. While the Senate plans to do just that, Johnson already has said the border security package to be unveiled in the Senate is insufficient. Before new military aid to Israel or Ukraine can be delivered, the House and Senate must pass the same bill before sending it to President Joe Biden, a Democrat, for signing into law. The Senate also wants to include aid to Taiwan as part of its legislation.

Syria: US Airstrikes Fueling Conflict in 'Very Dangerous Way'
Asharq Al Awsat/3 February 2024
Syria's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned overnight retaliatory US airstrikes against more than 85 targets in Syria and Iraq linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the militias it backs. "What (the US) committed has served to fuel conflict in the Middle East in a very dangerous way," the ministry said in a statement. The US military launched the airstrikes on Friday in retaliation for last weekend's attack in Jordan that killed three US troops. The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden's administration to the attack by Iran-backed militants, and more US military operations were expected in the coming days. While the strikes did not target sites inside Iran, they signaled a further escalation of conflict in the Middle East from Israel's nearly four-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza.

US imposes new sanctions over Iranian arms, cyber activity
Arshad Mohammed and Daphne Psaledakis/February 03/2024
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Friday imposed sanctions targeting Iran's ballistic missile and drone procurement programs as well as officials it said were involved in hacking U.S. infrastructure, as Washington looks to increase pressure on Tehran. The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it had imposed sanctions on four Iran- and Hong Kong-based companies involved in providing materials and technology to Iran's ballistic missile and drone programs as well as a Hong Kong-based firm for selling Iranian commodities to Chinese entities.
The Treasury also said it placed sanctions on six officials of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp's Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC) for malicious cyber activities against critical infrastructure in the United States and elsewhere.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China's embassy to the United States criticized the sanctions as "unlawful unilateral" steps. The sanctions, announced in separate statements, represent Washington's latest efforts to punish Tehran, whose proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the Gaza Strip have attacked U.S. and Israeli targets. The United States blamed a weekend attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and wounded more than 40 on Iran-backed militants and the Biden administration has promised a response that will include retaliatory strikes. The weekend attack was the first to kill U.S. troops in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October after a cross-border rampage by Iran-backed Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 people.
The Treasury said it had imposed sanctions the four Iran- and Hong Kong-based entities for operating as covert procurement entities for Iran's Pishtazan Kavosh Gostar Boshra (PKGB) and its managing director Hamed Dehghan, who it said support Iranian military organizations, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Treasury named the three Hong Kong firms it accused of being part of the procurement network for Iran's ballistic missile and drone programs as FY International Trading Co., Limited, Duling Technology HK Limited and Advantage Trading Co., Limited. Hong Kong-based China Oil and Petroleum Company Limited was also hit with sanctions on Friday, with the Treasury accusing it of being a front company for the IRGC’s Quds Force. The Treasury said it has arranged contracts and sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian commodities and was involved in trade with China-based entities to benefit the Quds Force. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, criticized the sanctions. "These are typical acts of putting unlawful unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, severely undercutting Chinese interests," Liu said. "China is deeply concerned and firmly against ... such moves."Narin Sepehr Mobin Istatis (NSMI), an Iran-based subsidiary of PKGB, was also among those sanctioned in Friday’s action, which freezes any U.S. assets belonging to those targeted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions. In a separate statement, the Treasury said it had imposed sanctions on six IRGC-CEC officials: Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian, Hamid Homayunfal, Milad Mansuri, Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar, and Reza Mohammad Amin Saberian.

US moves to seize more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil it says was illegally trafficked
ERIC TUCKER/February 3/2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department announced Friday that it was seizing more than 500,000 barrels of internationally sanctioned Iranian fuel that officials said was illegally trafficked to provide funding for the country's paramilitary force. In addition, prosecutors announced criminal charges related to the sale of the crude oil to buyers in China, Russia and Syria. Officials described the actions, which come at time of simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran, as part of a broader effort to disrupt funding to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, an expeditionary unit believed to be working abroad in countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen to back Iranian-allied militias. "Iran presents a constant threat to the United States — trying to murder Americans right here within our borders, conducting a cyber-attack on a children’s hospital, supporting terrorists around the world, and more,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “All of Iran’s crimes cost money. And the FBI will remain committed to enforcing U.S. sanctions that keep money out of its coffers.”Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that "the Justice Department will continue to use every authority we have to cut off the illegal financing and enabling of Iran’s malicious activities, which have become even more evident in recent months.” One criminal case, filed in New York, charges seven people — including multiple officers of a Turkish energy group and a leader within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — with using front companies, false documentation and manipulated location and shipping data to sell to government-affiliated buyers in China, Russia and Syria. The charges include crimes related to terrorism, sanctions evasion, fraud and money laundering. A separate criminal case filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., charges a Chinese woman and an Omani man for their alleged involvement in the sale of Iranian oil to refineries owned by the Chinese government. The cases are the latest major ones related to Iran unsealed by the Justice Department this week. On Monday, prosecutors announced charges against an Iranian national accused of conspiring with two Canadians in a murder-for-hire plot on U.S. soil that was ultimately disrupted. The more than 500,000 barrels of fuel that the U.S. is moving to seize were valued at over $25 million aboard the Abyss oil tanker. The Associated Press in March 2023 analyzed satellite photos and maritime tracking data to place the Abyss in a key Asian maritime strait next to the crude oil tanker Oceania for a possible ship-to-ship transfer. The U.S. also says it seized $108 million that was used as part of the scheme.

Iraqi government accuses US of lying about circumstances of airstrikes, violating international law
Tara Suter/The Hill/February 3, 2024
An Iraqi government spokesperson has accused the U.S. of violating international law and lying about the circumstances surrounding its retaliatory strikes over a recent attack in Jordan. The strikes killed 16 people, including civilians, and wounded 25, Bassem Al-Awadi, Iraqi government spokesperson, said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter Saturday. He alleged that the U.S. “deliberately deceived and falsified the facts, by announcing prior coordination to commit this aggression, which is a false claim aimed at misleading international public opinion and disavowing legal responsibility for this rejected crime in accordance with all international laws.”
Al-Awadi added that “all parties” must realize that Iraq refuses to let its lands become “an arena for settling scores,” and that the nation’s sovereignty and land are not the place to “send messages” between opponents or demonstrate force.
“This aggressive strike will put security in Iraq and the region on the brink of the abyss, and it also contradicts efforts to establish the required stability,” Al-Awadi continued.
The government spokesperson vowed Iraq would “make every effort required by moral, national, and constitutional responsibility to protect our land, our cities, and the lives of our children in all types of armed forces.”The U.S. started an initial round of airstrikes on groups supported by Iran in Syria and Iraq Friday, in retaliation for a recent attack on a base in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it started airstrikes Friday evening in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force “and affiliated militia groups.”
“U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from the United States,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions.”White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the strikes were meant to reduce capabilities, as well as send a message to Iran and groups it supports to halt attacking Americans. “We believe that these targets fell into exactly that criteria,” he said. “And the goal here is to get these attacks to stop. We’re not looking for a war with Iran.”

Biden’s balancing act with Iran aims for deterrence, not a wider war
Kevin Liptak, CNN/February 3, 2024
President Joe Biden’s decision to strike 85 targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to the death of three American soldiers last weekend amounted to a middle ground: short of a direct strike inside Iran, which would almost certainly spark a wider war, but still more expansive than any action the US has taken so far against the groups it accuses of destabilizing the region.
There is little belief inside the American government that Biden’s actions will completely shut down the constellation of Iranian proxy groups that have been responsible for escalating attacks on American bases and commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea. A longer-term solution remains elusive, as Biden enters a reelection year while also pursuing a broad diplomatic breakthrough he hopes could transform the larger region.
Whether the 125 precision-guided missiles fired over 30 minutes Friday night will have the effect of preventing further attacks on Americans is a question officials aren’t yet ready to answer. But there is hope that by taking out intelligence centers, weapons facilities, command and control operations and bunkers used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and other affiliated militia groups, the US can diminish the militants’ capabilities and send a message that attacks won’t go unanswered.
“I think it is a real strong deterrence,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and Iraq War veteran. “We’re saying: Listen, we don’t want to go to war. But have a little taste of what we can do. Here you go. Eighty-five targets. And I think that that is part of the balancing act that we need to be engaged in right now.”
The American reprisal is not over, and officials have not ruled out unseen elements, like cyberattacks, to degrade Iran and its proxies’ capabilities. The White House said clearly ahead of the counterstrikes that it expected a multiphase response, with a trajectory and duration likely to be dictated by circumstances on the ground.
How the coming days unfold will have wide ramifications for the region and for the president himself, who spent the hours before the American B-1 bombers began hitting their targets consoling grieving families of the three Americans killed in Jordan.
It was only about an hour after Biden departed Dover Air Force Base in Delaware that the first US strikes began in Iraq and Syria. The timing was coincidental, officials said, but nonetheless symbolic of the gravity of his decision.
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden said in a written statement. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
In selecting how to respond to the death of three Americans, Biden faced a consequential choice: how to retaliate, and send a message to Iran, while avoiding getting pulled into a wider regional war.
Inside the Situation Room, Biden and his team assessed a set of options that each came with a certain degree of risk. Strike too hard, and what had been a relatively low-grade exchange of fire between the US and Iranian proxy groups could expand into something far more serious. Strike not hard enough, and a message of impunity could be interpreted by the group behind the deadly drone attack — and by Americans at home.
Adding another layer of complexity were the difficult negotiations ongoing to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza and impose a prolonged pause in the fighting there, talks which officials said Biden was loathe to disrupt by potentially escalatory action.
“It’s both a science and an art,” said former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who engaged in similar Situation Room debates during his tenure in Donald Trump’s administration. In developing options for the president, officials weighed the complexity of the attack, the estimated damage it would do, the number of Iranians or militia members it could kill, and the potential retaliation it might prompt.
“That’s a discussion that goes on within the room: what will the impact be? What will we expect from the Iranians?” Esper said. “It’ll be important to see what happens when the sun comes up tomorrow morning in Iraq and Syria.”
What Biden and his advisers agreed on was that the US response to the Americans’ deaths would have to be on a correspondingly different scale than the tit-for-tat exchange of fire that had been unfolding in the region since October 7.
They were not short of options: plans have long been drawn up to go after targets associated with the array of Iranian-backed groups that have been fomenting instability in the region. Identifying a calibrated approach did not take long. Biden told reporters on Tuesday he’d made a decision on how to counter the drone attack — only two days after he vowed in South Carolina: “We shall respond.”
Bad weather in the region played the biggest role in dictating when the strikes would occur, officials said afterward. Clear skies on Friday meant a lower risk of striking unintended targets — and preventing civilian casualties.
The question that can only be answered in the coming days and weeks is whether the response will move the needle in Iran, who the US has accused of supplying and resourcing the militant groups behind the attack that killed the three Americans.
American officials had already been detecting signs that leaders in Tehran were growing nervous about some of the actions of its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence. And there are clear indications that Iran isn’t looking for a war with the United States — just as Washington insists it isn’t seeking a broader conflict.
But how to resolve the problem of the militias is still not an easy one. There has been little evidence that American military action against them over the past several months — which the US frames as an effort at deterrence — has actually deterred anything. Biden acknowledged as much last month, saying that American strikes in Yemen on the Houthi rebel group haven’t stopped their attacks on the Red Sea shipping lane.
Despite calls from Republicans in Washington to go directly after sites inside Iran, that option appeared unlikely from the start as the White House seeks to avoid becoming embroiled in a full-blown war. And there are few outward signs Washington is attempting to renew any diplomatic engagement with Tehran after Biden’s attempts earlier in his term to resuscitate the Obama-era nuclear deal stalled out. “There’s been no communications with Iran since the attack that killed our three soldiers in Jordan,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday night. That makes for a vanishingly narrow path for the president to navigate. “This is a very fine line. They are threading a needle here. And some of this is informed by history,” said Beth Sanner, a former senior intelligence official who was Trump’s intelligence briefer in the tense days surrounding his decision to strike a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.“This is what every administration does,” Sanner said. “You are trying to figure out where that line is. … There isn’t a thing that you can point to that is the dot. You’re going to have to feel your way around it.”

Joly says Canada will sanction some 'extremist' Israeli settlers, Hamas leaders
CBC/February 3, 2024
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada will place sanctions on "extremist" Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories, as well as Hamas leaders.
In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that will air Sunday, Joly said the government was "actively working on it" while she takes part in a tour of Ukraine, where she met with Ukrainian officials and visited sites affected by the ongoing war there.
"We will be sanctioning extremist settlers and we will also bring new sanctions on Hamas leaders," Joly told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
"I'm making sure that while I'm in Ukraine, the work is being done in Ottawa and I look forward to doing announcements soon."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Canada was looking into the option of placing restrictions on some Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank
"Settler violence in the West Bank is absolutely unacceptable and puts at risk peace [and] stability in the region, and the path toward the two-state solution that is absolutely essential," he told reporters following an event in Waterloo, Ont.
Canada would be following in the footsteps of the United States, which this week announced a second round of sanctions against four individuals it accused of inciting and carrying out violence against Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in the West Bank.
"This violence poses a grave threat to peace, security and stability in the West Bank, Israel and the Middle East region, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. Violence in the Palestinian territories has increased since the breakout of war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 where around 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 taken hostage. Palestinian health officials say over 26,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there in the past almost four months.
Joly told Barton that Canada remained dedicated finding a way to end the fighting and work toward a long-term solution. "First and foremost, we need to get the hostage deal. Hostages need to get back and be released. We need more humanitarian aid in Gaza," she said. "And we need to make sure that Hamas lays down its arms. And this is the first step to make sure that eventually we get to a path where we can have a longer truce, a sustainable ceasefire and eventually much more a path towards a two-state solution."
That prospect has appeared dim during the months of war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly stated his rejection of the idea in January, sparking sharp criticism from Canada and allies like the United States. The U.S. state department said this week it is considering options to recognize a Palestinian state in the aftermath of the war. Joly said change was needed from both sides to make a long-term peace possible."We need a reformed Palestinian Authority. We need also to have a government in Israel that is willing to do the important work to get to this two-state solution."

Gaza: More than 40% of buildings destroyed in the 'buffer zone' Israel plans to create
Nathan Gallo/The Observers/February 03/2024
A total of 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion on January 22 while working to construct a buffer zone between Israel and populated areas of Gaza. Nearly 40% of the 2,824 buildings located in the one kilometre-wide strip along the border have already been destroyed, according to one Israeli study. This destruction has been confirmed by satellite images obtained by our team. The Israeli army announced on January 22 that 21 of its soldiers had been killed in an explosion, making it the single most deadly day for Israel since the start of the war it launched on Gaza in response to the Hamas October 7 attack.
Hamas killed the Israeli soldiers while they were placing explosives in buildings that the Israeli army wanted to raze as part of the construction of a "buffer zone between the Israeli territories and Gaza", said Herzi Halevi, Israeli Chief of the General Staff. The area where the soldiers died was located just 600 metres from the Israeli border. “If this is any comfort, I would like the families to know, they fell in battle near the border fence, during a defence operation in the buffer zone between the Israeli communities and Gaza. This is a task whose entire purpose is to create the security conditions for the safe return of the residents of [the Gaza border communities] to their homes,” Halevi said. The area inside Gaza where the soldiers were killed is located just a few kilometres from the Kissufim kibbutz in Israel, where 14 people were killed in the Hamas cross-border attack on October 7.

Hamas demands Israel release Marwan Barghouti, a man some Palestinians see as their Nelson Mandela
JERUSALEM (AP)/JULIA FRANKEL/Sat, February 3, 2024
He's viewed by some Palestinians as their Nelson Mandela, and he's a prime candidate to become their president in the future. He's also the highest-profile prisoner held by Israel. Now Marwan Barghouti's freedom is at stake in cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. Hamas leaders demanded Friday that Israel release Barghouti, a leader of the militant group’s main political rival, as part of any deal to end the fighting in Gaza. The demand brings new attention to Barghouti, who plays a central role in Palestinian politics even after spending more than two decades behind bars. His release could lay the groundwork for his eventual election to national office. Hamas' gambit to free him appears to be an attempt to rally public support for the militant group as well as a recognition of his status as a uniquely unifying Palestinian figure.
“Hamas wants to show to the Palestinian people that they are not a closed movement. They represent part of the Palestinian social community. They are trying to seem responsible,” said Qadoura Fares, who heads the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner Affairs in the occupied West Bank and has long been involved in negotiations over prisoner releases. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan called for Barghouti's release as international mediators try to push Israel and Hamas toward an agreement after nearly four months of war.
Israel is seeking the release of more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Hamas is demanding an end to Israel's devastating military offensive and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. The war broke out Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters crossed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and dragging 250 hostages back to Gaza. The Hamas attack triggered an Israeli ground and air campaign that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong truce in November. Israel estimates 136 hostages remain in captivity, though 20 have been pronounced dead. With protests calling for the hostages' immediate release sweeping Israel, and fears that time is running out to bring them home safely, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal.
For Palestinians, the plight of their imprisoned loved ones is deeply emotional. While Israel considers “security prisoners” to be terrorists, Palestinians widely see them as heroes battling Israeli occupation. Virtually every Palestinian has a friend, relative or acquaintance who has been imprisoned. The Israeli human rights group HaMoked says Israel is currently holding nearly 9,000 security prisoners. Hamas seeks the release of all of them. But in his remarks Friday, Hamdan mentioned only two by name — Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat. Saadat heads a small faction that killed an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001 and is serving a 30-year sentence for allegedly participating in attacks.
Palestinians see the 64-year-old Barghouti, a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, as a natural successor to the 88-year-old Abbas, who leads the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, the self-ruled government that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Abbas, whose forces in Gaza were overrun by Hamas in 2007, hopes to regain control of the territory after the war. But he is deeply unpopular because of corruption within the authority and because of his security coordination with the Israeli army.
Palestinians have not held elections since 2006, when Hamas won a parliamentary majority. Fares, a Barghouti supporter, said that if Barghouti is released, he could become a consensus candidate in a round of new elections that Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions could rally behind. A wartime opinion poll published in December showed Barghouti to be the most popular politician among Palestinians, ahead of both Abbas and Hamas' leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Israelis see Barghouti as an arch-terrorist, and convincing Israel to free him will be an uphill battle.
Barghouti, a leader in the West Bank during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, is serving five life terms for his role in several deadly attacks. During that uprising, Palestinian militants carried out deadly suicide bombings and shooting attacks targeting buses, restaurants, hotels and Israelis driving in the West Bank, eliciting crushing Israeli military reprisals. In 2002, Barghouti was arrested on multiple counts of murder. He did not offer a defense, refusing to recognize the court’s authority. Since then, he has repeatedly thrust himself into the spotlight. In 2021, he registered his own list for parliamentary elections that were later called off. A few years earlier, he led more than 1,500 prisoners in a 40-day hunger strike to call for better treatment in the Israeli prison system. From jail, he has continued to call for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — lands Israel seized in the 1967 war. Barghouti was born in the West Bank village of Kobar in 1962. While studying history and politics at Bir Zeit University, he helped spearhead student protests against the Israeli occupation. He emerged as an organizer in the first Palestinian uprising, which erupted in December 1987, but Israel eventually deported him to Jordan. He returned to the West Bank in the 1990s, as part of interim peace agreements that were meant to pave the way for a Palestinian state but got bogged down by the end of the decade when a second uprising erupted. Barghouti was seen as political leader of the armed wing of Fatah at the time.
Israel has previously rejected calls to free him. It refused to include him in a 2011 exchange of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a single soldier held captive in Gaza by Hamas, said Fares, who was party to the negotiations. Yehya Sinwar, the current Hamas leader in Gaza and a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, was freed in that exchange. The 2011 negotiations revolved around the release of a single hostage. With the lives of over 100 hostages now hanging in the balance, there is more pressure than ever on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. That may make conditions ripe for a deal that could simultaneously win Barghouti’s release and bolster Hamas’ standing among Palestinians. “Hamas is more strong and more clever than ever before," Fares said. “They understand how necessary it is for the Palestinian people to have consensus."

Israel Keeps Pressure on Last Two Refugee Cities
Asharq Al Awsat/10:59-3 February 2024
Israeli air strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Rafah and Deir Al-Balah, Gaza health officials said on Saturday, in the last two Gaza Strip cities where troops had not been deployed, adding to residents' fears Israel would expand its ground operation. Health officials said an Israeli air strike on a house in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are now homeless, killed 14 people including women and children. Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said forces would now press on to Rafah on Gaza's southern edge.
Tens of thousands have arrived in Rafah in recent days, carrying belongings in their arms and pulling children on carts, since Israeli forces last week launched one of their biggest assaults of the war to capture nearby Khan Younis, the main southern city, according to Reuters. "The place turned black, I couldn't see what's in front of me. It was all dust and dirt. I was touching my surroundings, I was looking for my mobile to use the flashlight to look for my children, where are they? I found them under the rubble," said Ahmed Bassam Al-Jamal, whose son was killed. "I cried for help and people came. I got out Yamen, the first one, he was the only one I can see, the rest were still under the rubble. They pulled out Yamen, Eileen and Sila and they pulled out their mother (all alive). We could not find Bassam, we were looking for him, but he was buried, we could not save them, I swear we couldn't," Jamal said, as he bade farewell to his dead son at the hospital. In the central Gaza Strip city of Deir Al-Balah, the second major concentration of displaced people, medics said four people were killed in an air strike on a house earlier on Saturday. In nearby Khan Younis, residents said the army blew up a residential district near the city center. The Gaza health ministry said heavy Israeli bombardment around the city's two main hospitals continued to undermine healthcare systems and endanger the lives of staff, patients, and displaced people who have taken shelter there.
On Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said four people were killed by Israeli gunfire directed against the Al-Amal Hospital. In Gaza City, residents and militants said fighting continued against Israeli forces. Health officials said two people were killed by sniper fire. Israeli forces carried out arrests in the southern suburb of Tel Al-Hawa.
Israel launched a war on Hamas, the militant group which rules the Gaza Strip, after an October onslaught on southern Israel by Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took 253 people hostage into Gaza, more than 100 of whom are still captive, according to Israeli tallies. Israeli officials say they aim to eliminate Hamas, which has vowed to repeat its October attacks, and repatriate the hostages, many of whom are women and children. Gaza health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians in their tallies, say more than 27,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed since the start of the war, 107 of them in the past 24 hours, with thousands more feared lost amid the ruins. The Israeli military said its forces killed dozens of Palestinian gunmen in northern Gaza. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other smaller militant groups said in a separate statement their fighters engaged in fierce battles with the army in the north and the south of the Gaza Strip. "The more the occupation forces remain on the ground, the more we will get to them," one Palestinian militant official said. "A martyr falls, another rises and takes the rifle, and we are ready to fight for many more months," he told Reuters. Asked about Israel saying it killed 10,000 militants, he said, "This is for public consumption in the occupation entity. It is fiction."

US Navy warships are getting their first combat experience against the kind of threats China is banking on in the Pacific
Jake Epstein/Business Insider/February 3, 2024
The US Navy in recent weeks has been shooting down Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles.
These weapons could emerge as a major threat to the US in a potential war with China in the Pacific.
Experts said the current engagements in the Middle East are giving the Americans valuable combat experience.
US naval forces operating in the Middle East have been shooting down a deadly threat that China could rely heavily on were a war to break out in the Pacific: anti-ship ballistic missiles.
This kind of weapon had not been used in combat until recently. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have fired dozens of anti-ship ballistic missiles into waters off the coast of Yemen in recent weeks, often forcing the US Navy to respond.
Although Chinese and Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles vary in capability, these dangerous engagements are providing critical battle experience to crews aboard American warships and helping prepare them for potential future fights. They're learning opportunities, but they certainly aren't drills. "Regardless of the sophistication of an anti-ship missile, if it hits you, things get damaged and people die," Archer Macy, a retired US Navy admiral, told Business Insider. "This is not a rehearsal, and it's not training. It's real combat operations."
President Joe Biden said last month that anti-ship ballistic missiles have been used "for the first time in history" as the Houthis carry out "unprecedented" attacks. Amid tensions in the region over the past few months, the Iran-backed rebels have fired these weapons into international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Some of the missiles have hit commercial vessels, while others landed in the water. The US Navy has shot down a handful anti-ship ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis. The Pentagon confirmed what appeared to be the first intercept in late December, and American warships have engaged — and downed — several more missiles in the weeks since. Washington has also conducted preemptive strikes in Yemen, destroying anti-ship ballistic missiles before the rebels are able to launch them. The Houthis have maintained an arsenal of anti-ship weapons for nearly a decade, according to an analysis published in early January by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. The rebels boast a sizable collection of both ballistic and cruise missiles; some are Iranian in origin, while some just contain parts from Tehran.
CENTCOM has not specified which anti-ship ballistic missiles have been used in the attacks on international shipping lanes. Bryan Clark, a former US Navy officer and defense expert at the Hudson Institute, said the Houthis have a capable inventory of anti-ship weapons, although their ballistic missiles are not very maneuverable. "They don't use elaborate like seeker systems, like a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile might," he told Business Insider. A billboard with images depicting anti-ship missiles is displayed in an exhibition launched in solidarity with Palestinians and against the Israeli bombardment in Gaza on Jan. 31, 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen. A billboard with images depicting anti-ship missiles is displayed in an exhibition launched in solidarity with Palestinians and against the Israeli bombardment in Gaza on Jan. 31, 2024, in Sana'a, Yemen.Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
Anti-ship capabilities frequently appear in discussions of great power competition, particularly with China, and, for the US, they have become a growing concern as tensions rise in the Western Pacific. In 2022, China was identified as the "pacing challenge" for the US military. War is not the objective, but it has been acknowledged as a possibility. And experts have said that the maritime domain would likely be a key battleground between the two sides if they eventually fought a war in the Indo-Pacific region. This makes anti-ship capabilities a critical factor.
China has a formidable arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles, like the DF-21D and DF-26, and is increasingly expanding it. These missile threats, sometimes described as "ship-killer" or "carrier-killer" missiles, could pose a major threat to US naval forces like warships and aircraft carriers operating in the theater during a potential conflict. Beijing has even built mock-ups of American vessels that are thought to be intended for target practice and improving China's missiles. Efforts to strengthen the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, particularly anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities, highlight Beijing's interest in using them for an anti-access/area-denial strategy to keep the US Navy at bay.
Chinese anti-ship ballistic missiles have seekers and sophisticated guidance systems, allowing them to find a ship mid-flight and home in on it, Clark said. The Houthi ballistic missiles, on the other hand, don't appear to have these same capabilities.
"They have to be launched at a geographic point and hope that they hit it," he added. And unlike the Houthis, the Chinese military also has a wide variety of sensors available that they can use to direct anti-ship ballistic missiles strikes, said Shaan Shaikh, a fellow with the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. These capabilities include various platforms like ground-based radar systems, ships, maritime drones, and satellites. "There's all of these different sensors that are available to China to help complete that kill chain," Shaikh told Business Insider. In a conflict, China's anti-ship ballistic missiles also might also require US Navy ships to expend more advanced interceptors, he added. But even though the threat environment in the Pacific may be more sophisticated and challenging than it is in the Red Sea, experts say the crews aboard American warships — relentlessly tasked with shooting down Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles are gaining real-life combat experience that will be valuable should there be another conflict at some point in the future. "I think a lot of times that training is something that is best done in a combat environment," Clark said. Regardless of the threats, he added, the course of action remains consistent. "It doesn't matter what's coming at them, really," said Macy, the retired admiral who served aboard multiple US Navy warships. "Their processes, their procedures, their decisions are all the same."The advanced Aegis Combat System aboard some US Navy vessels, for example, can take care of the differences between missiles, he said. The crew are the ones who need to address if there is an object somewhere out there, where it's going, if it represents a threat, and when it should be engaged. "This is not a minor sideshow to the crews," Macy emphasized. "Combat is combat, and whoever is on the other end of it — what flag they're flying — is only of partial interest, if that at all."

Washington Strikes Houthis in Hajjah in Response to Naval Escalation
Aden: Ali Rabih//Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2024
The US responded to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea by striking their positions in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah on Friday. This follows the Houthis claiming responsibility for targeting a new cargo ship and executing their first attack with explosive boats. As the Iran-backed group mobilized for rallies and demonstrations in response to leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, its sites in the Al-Jarah district of Hajjah province were hit by seven airstrikes. In the Al-Jarah region, a Yemeni army camp seized by the Houthis is suspected to be a base for launching missiles and drones. The US military has not provided details yet. Concerns are rising among Yemeni observers and government officials about the Houthis escalating naval attacks by deploying sea mines heavily in the Red Sea. There are also fears of targeting communication cables. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said an aerial drone was downed over the Gulf of Aden, which sits between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, around 5 a.m on Feb.1. local time (0200 GMT).
No injuries were reported.
Later in the day, around 10:30 a.m local time (0200 GMT), US forces struck and destroyed an unmanned Houthi-affiliated surface vessel in the Red Sea. The boat was heading towards the international shipping lane, posing a threat to commercial and US naval vessels. In self-defense, it was detonated, causing significant secondary explosions. No injuries or damages were reported. US CENTCOM also said that two anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen at around 12:45 p.m local time on Feb.1 against the Liberian-flagged container ship “Koi.”
“The missiles impacted in the water without hitting the ship. There were no injuries and no damage reported to the M/V Koi or coalition ships in the area,” CENTCOM said in a statement. Since Nov. 19, Iran-backed Houthis have carried out around 38 sea attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Dozens detained in Moscow at rally of Russian soldiers' wives - rights group
Reuters/February 3, 2024
Dozens of people were detained by police in central Moscow on Saturday at a rally protesting against Russia's mobilisation of men to fight in Ukraine, a human rights group said. At least 27 people were detained as a group representing the wives of mobilised soldiers gathered at the Kremlin wall to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument, said OVD-Info, which reports on freedom of assembly in Russia. Most of the detained were journalists, it added, saying later that some of the people were let go. A number of people were also detained at other locations in central Moscow, OVD-Info said. A growing movement of Russian women is demanding the return from the front of their husbands, sons and brothers who were mobilised after a decree by President Vladimir Putin in September last year. The Moscow prosecutor's office said that the rally hadn't been coordinated with the authorities, issuing a warning about calling and participating in unauthorised mass events.

Zelenskyy honors HUR fighters for sinking Russian missile boat Ivanovoets
The New Voice of Ukraine/February 3, 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded servicemen of the Ukrainian HUR military intelligence service who destroyed Russia’s guided missile corvette Ivanovets, reported the President's Office website on Feb. 3. Russia "feels the pain" from the actions of the HUR servicemen, Zelenskyy said, adding that the naval drones hit the hull of the Russian missile ship six times. “You have done a lot,” Zelenskyy said. “Defense Intelligence warriors have done a lot both on land and at sea. Russia truly feels the pain from your actions, from the actions of your brothers in arms, and it is crucial that the Russian instigators of this war suffer its consequences daily."  The President awarded the intelligence officers with the Orders of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi of the Second and Third Degrees and the Orders for Courage of the Third Degree. HUR reported the sinking of Ivanovets, saying that Ukrainian naval drones scored several direct hits on the ship’s hull.
HUR Chief Kyrylo Budanov said that the boat was hit six times by the Ukrainian naval drone MAGURA V5. The sinking of Ivanovets is a "very significant loss" for the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Ukrainian Navy said on Feb. 1.
During naval wargames in July 2023, Russia fired a Moskit missile from Ivanovets, sinking the Ukrainian corvette Ternopil. Ternopil was captured by Moscow in 2014 during the occupation of Crimea. We’re bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 02-03/2024
Iranian Regime's Proxies: Target the Head of the Snake
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/February 03, 2024
By not directly targeting the source of support and funding, the Iranian regime, the administration may inadvertently be treating the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem, and, instead of decreasing Iranian aggression, escalating it.
One viable approach involves focusing on the economic lifelines that sustain the ruling ayatollahs. These lifelines include immediately restoring the "maximum pressure" sanctions the US had imposed earlier, targeting key components of Iran's infrastructure -- such as oil facilities, which serve as vital resources and revenue streams – and banning anyone who trades with them from trading with the US. Disrupting these critical elements not only weakens the economic foundation of this terrorist regime but also undermines its ability to finance proxy activities.
It is equally important to target the leaders and bases of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, where proxies are trained and the attacks originate. By hitting Iran's economic and military infrastructure, the US can exert significant pressure, sending a clear message that the support for proxy warfare -- and Iranian attempts to finalize their nuclear bombs -- would come at an intolerably high cost.
The last few months unfolded with a marked escalation in the activities of Iran's proxies, militias and terror groups. Iran-sponsored Houthi rebels in Yemen have caused turmoil in the Red Sea, which is vital to maritime traffic. Their actions not only threaten regional stability but also sent shockwaves through global trade routes and raised concerns about the broader implications of their destabilizing activities. Pictured: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) meets a delegation of spokesman of Yemen's Houthi militia on August 13, 2019. (Image source: khamenei.ir)
The last few months unfolded with a marked escalation in the activities of Iran's proxies, militias and terror groups. Iran's proxy Hamas launched its attacks on Israel, unleashing a barrage of violence across the region. Simultaneously, Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq escalated their assaults on US bases and personnel. Another proxy of Iran, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, also caused turmoil in the Red Sea, which is vital to maritime traffic. Their actions not only threaten regional stability but also sent shockwaves through global trade routes and raised concerns about the broader implications of their destabilizing activities.
The Biden administration's approach to handling the escalating proxy conflicts has been marred by a series of strategic shortcomings, including, primarily, reacting weakly and belatedly to the increasing hostilities. This delayed reaction has allowed Iran's proxies to gain momentum, creating a challenging environment that necessitates a more proactive and preemptive stance. Moreover, the administration's reliance on limited and ineffective strikes against the proxies has proven insufficient in curbing their activities. The restrained nature of these actions may be interpreted as a hesitant and cautious approach, failing to convey a robust and decisive message to the perpetrators.
Consequently, the Iranian regime and its proxies view such responses as mere symbolic gestures, emboldening them to persist in their aggressive actions. A critical flaw in the overall strategy is the failure to address the ultimate enabler of these proxy groups—their paymaster, the Iranian regime.
By not directly targeting the source of support and funding, the Iranian regime, the administration may inadvertently be treating the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem, and, instead of decreasing Iranian aggression, escalating it.
The terrorist regime of Iran resorts to using proxies to attack other countries for several reasons. One primary motivation is to maintain a level of deniability and avoid direct attribution to their own actions. By employing proxy groups, the ruling clerics can distance themselves from the attacks, creating a layer of ambiguity that complicates the process of assigning responsibility. This allows them to pursue their geopolitical objectives without facing immediate reprisals or international condemnation.
In addition, the use of proxies provides the Ayatollahs with a cost-effective means of extending their influence and pursuing their agendas beyond their borders. Proxy groups can act as force multipliers, carrying out attacks or engaging in conflicts on behalf of the sponsoring government without the need for a direct military intervention.
This approach allows Iran to project power regionally or globally without committing significant resources or risking direct confrontation. Furthermore, proxy warfare becomes a tool for manipulating and exacerbating existing divisions within the target country, and creating a chaotic environment that aligns with the objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran to "export the Revolution." The Iranian regime already controls four Middle Eastern capitals in addition to its own -- in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq -- as well as the terrorist groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The regime has also worked for decades on expanding its influence in South America, especially "Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, all countries that share a worldview opposed to the U.S.-led international order."
The use of proxies by the Iranian regime appears to be a calculated strategy aimed at achieving geopolitical goals while minimizing direct exposure to international consequences. It offers a blend of operational flexibility, plausible deniability, and the ability to exploit existing fault lines in target nations, making it an attractive and frequently employed tactic in the pursuit of strategic objectives, such as hegemonic control first of the Middle East and then elsewhere.
To effectively curb Iran's ability to sponsor and utilize proxies, one must consider adopting a strategy that targets the source of support directly, confronting "the head of the snake." One viable approach involves focusing on the economic lifelines that sustain the ruling ayatollahs. These lifelines include immediately restoring the "maximum pressure" sanctions the US had imposed earlier, targeting key components of Iran's infrastructure -- such as oil facilities, which serve as vital resources and revenue streams – and banning anyone who trades with them from trading with the US. Disrupting these critical elements not only weakens the economic foundation of this terrorist regime but also undermines its ability to finance proxy activities.
It is equally important to target the leaders and bases of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, where proxies are trained and the attacks originate. By hitting Iran's economic and military infrastructure, the US can exert significant pressure, sending a clear message that the support for proxy warfare -- and Iranian attempts to finalize their nuclear bombs -- would come at an intolerably high cost.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20363/iran-proxies-head-of-snake

U.S. Hits Back at Iran With More Than Just Airstrikes
Eileen Sullivan and David E. Sanger/The New York Times/February 03/2024
WASHINGTON — In the hours before the United States carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants on Friday, the U.S. hit Iran with more familiar weapons: sanctions and criminal charges. The Biden administration imposed sanctions on officers and officials of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the country’s premier military force, for threatening the integrity of water utilities and for helping manufacture Iranian drones. And it unsealed charges against nine people for selling oil to finance the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The timing seemed designed to pressure the Revolutionary Guard and its most elite unit, Iran’s Quds Force, at a moment of extraordinary tension in the Middle East. Although the sanctions have been brewing for some time and the charges were filed earlier under seal, the region has been in turmoil for months.
The actions are part of a coordinated governmentwide effort to disrupt Iran’s efforts to use illicit oil sales to fund terrorism, and to push back on the country’s increasingly capable offensive cyberoperations. In the 15 years since the United States mounted a major cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the country has trained a generation of hackers and struck back at Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States, among others.
Two U.S. officials said the United States conducted cyberoperations against Iranian targets Friday but declined to provide details.
The effects of sanctions and indictments are hard to measure. Few Iranian officers or officials keep assets in Western banks or travel to the United States, meaning the sanctions may have little practical effect. Although the indictments and sanctions have a psychological element — demonstrating to Iranians and their business associates around the world that Western intelligence agencies are often tracking their movements and their transactions — actual arrests and trials are infrequent.
“The reason that we bring these cases is we know that the money Iran obtains from the illicit sale of oil is used to fund its malign activities around the world,” Matthew Olsen, who heads the national security division of the Justice Department, said Friday. “The threats posed by Iran and the destabilizing effects of its actions have only come into sharper relief since the attacks of Oct. 7,” the day of the Hamas attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people.
There has been a spate of action against Iran in the past week, culminating with Friday’s strikes on Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq. The airstrikes were in retaliation for a drone attack Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at a base in Jordan.
On Monday, the Justice Department unsealed charges in Minnesota against an Iranian man accused of hiring a member of the Hells Angels to kill Iranian dissidents living in Maryland. On Wednesday, four Chinese citizens were indicted in Washington, accused of trying to smuggle and export technology used in military equipment and weapons for groups associated with the Revolutionary Guard, part of a constant effort to evade the West’s many prohibitions on selling technology that could be used in weapons systems or surveillance.
The sanctions related to the water utilities involved hacks on what are called “logic controllers,” which are made by an Israeli company, Unitronics, and run the pumps and valves in the water systems. Getting at the controllers is a way of reminding the United States and other countries that their critical infrastructure is vulnerable.
“The United States, in coordination with the private sector and other affected countries, quickly remediated the incidents with minimal impacts,” the Treasury Department said. But it was hardly the only attack of that kind to come from Iran: Ransomware attacks have emanated from Iranian hackers, including one against Boston Children’s Hospital three years ago and against even a major Las Vegas casino.
The sanctions were against a series of officials of the Revolutionary Guard’s “electronic warfare and cyber defense organization,” including its leader, Hamid Reza Lashgarian.
Another set of sanctions, issued by the State Department, focused on four companies that the United States said were supplying materials and technology to Iran’s drone and missile programs. The drones have been of particular concern because Russia is using them in large numbers against Ukraine.
The most sweeping move came from the Justice Department, which unsealed charges against nine people from Iran, Turkey, China and Oman related to efforts to smuggle and sell Iranian oil in violation of U.S. laws.
The legal action came as tensions between the United States and Iran deepen. Attacks such as the one that killed three Americans are funded by illicit Iranian oil sales, officials said. And the intensity has increased since Oct. 7, with more than 160 attacks against U.S. military forces in Iraq, Syria and Jordan by Iran-backed militias.
“Today’s cases are part of the department’s ongoing efforts to cut off the flow of black-market Iranian oil that funds the regime’s malign activity, threatening the United States and our interests around the world,” Olsen said.
c.2024 The New York Times Company

Italy’s Prime Minister, Between Africa’s Desert and Its Jungles
Abdel Rahman Shalgham/Former Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2024
On Monday, 29-1-2024, an African-Italian summit was held in Italy’s capital. Its primary objective was to launch a new phase of cooperation between the two sides, especially on energy issues.
The summit was attended by 26 African presidents, several African ministers, European politicians, and representatives from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Several issues were raised during the summit in Rome, which was chaired by Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, including illegal immigration, food security, climate change, and energy.
The proceedings reflected both greed and ambition. Today, an array of international powers is fighting over Africa, and France’s military, political, and economic footprint is being reduced after its influence had been entrenched for many decades.
Giorgia Meloni, the first woman to lead an Italian government, is ever-present in Africa, and Africa is ever-present in her thoughts. The influx of migrants from Africa is a chronic source of anxiety in Italy, and while every country has energy concerns it is a matter of particular significance in Italy. Indeed, this country is as shaped by geography as it has contributed to shaping history, and history constantly weighs on every politician.
Giorgia Meloni, representing the Italian right, had lashed out against France, calling it a colonial state that never stopped plundering Africa’s wealth and directing accusations at French President Emmanuel Macron. She now aims to present an alternative model for managing Europe’s relationship with Africa. Meloni repeatedly emphasizes that essentially, France is the cause of the migration of African youth towards Europe and that Italy is the victim.
Meloni's right-wing government has set its sights on energy opportunities, specifically in oil and gas. Her first foreign visit was to Algeria, where an agreement for cooperation between the Algerian company Sonatrach and the Italian company Eni was signed. She also visited Libya and facilitated agreements between Eni and the Libyan National Oil Corporation. Meloni also visited Tunisia, where she addressed the issue of African migrants leaving for Europe through the North African country, which is close to Italy, and she has strived to get the European Union involved in her joint initiative with Tunisia that aims to curb migration.
At the African-Italian summit in Rome, Italy made many promises to African leaders, pledging to launch projects in various fields, especially infrastructure, education, and health, for which she claimed five billion euros would be allocated. However, African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki stressed “the need to match actions with words.”
Africa has been showered with promises from Europe, the United States, China, and Russia. However, all of these powers have their sights on Africa's riches, and they are focused on curbing irregular migration coming from the continent. The countries of the Sahel and Sahara, where military coups have erupted, have become targets for Russia, which is taking aggressive steps to expand its influence. However, this vast desert resource-rich region is plagued by violence and poverty. Recent developments include the military council governing the Republic of Mali announcing the cancellation of its deal with the "Azawad Movement" based in the north of the country, which had been signed under Algerian auspices, and Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger’s withdrawal from ECOWAS.
I was surprised by the name that the Italian government chose for the initiative it laid out at the Rome Summit, the "Mattei Plan." Who was this man whom Giorgia Meloni chose its plan that promises to traverse deserts and jungles after? Enrico Mattei was a historic Italian figure who played a prominent role in shaping Italy’s politics and economy, from abroad, during the 1950s. He fought the Nazism and Fascism in Italy and became an industrialist at an early age.
He opposed Western hegemony over oil supplies. After successfully consolidating the Italian oil entities into a single institution, Eni, he adopted a new policy vis a vis oil-producing countries. He also worked to establish strong ties with oil-consuming countries to break the dominance of the major Western companies, known as the "Seven Sisters," over production and marketing. He visited China and met Mao Zedong, went to the Soviet Union and met its leaders, and met with President Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, as well as visiting Libya, where he met with local politicians.
I remember when he visited us at our home in the town of Gharifa, alongside officials from the Fazzan province, and had lunch with us in 1958. He was the first European person I had seen in my life. The man came under fire from different directions.
He led a global campaign to reshape the relationship between the countries that owned the oil fields and the countries they operated in. He demanded that exporting countries receive a larger share than the companies extracting the oil and that the technology used to extract the oil be transferred to the exporting countries. He drew France’s hostility after openly supporting the Algerian revolution. He met its leaders in the Soviet Union, Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia and pushed the Italian media to support the Algerian revolution, causing a split within the Italian government and creating tensions between Italy and France.
Enrico Mattei did not limit his efforts to the realms of oil and politics. He also led a project that was both theological and political, organizing a forum for the three Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The prominent Italian thinker and politician, Giorgio La Pira, a member of the Christian Democratic Party, supported his endeavor. Enrico Mattei believed that these religions, which were all born in the Mediterranean, had the potential to bring peace to its shores. Mattei's opponents launched a fierce campaign against him, branding him a man with dangerous ambitions.
Why did Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing Italian Prime Minister, choose to name her plan for Africa after this left-wing revolutionary? Did she believe that it would be a good idea because Enrico Mattei was a friend to Africa, especially to Libya, which is home to an underwater gas pipeline that reaches Italy, and Algeria, which exports gas to Italy through a pipeline that passes through Tunisia and was named after Enrico Mattei? Did she choose him because of enmity with France? Maybe she wanted to signal to African leaders that Italy is a European friend committed to helping Africa and that it has no colonial ambitions. Is she telling Africa: “Your old ally Enrico Mattei will policy towards your continent?”
The tragedy of Africa today is that many of its countries are fragmented, riddled with corruption, and plagued by coups. At the same time, several powers are competing to get their hands on its resources. Foreign powers never cease to make promises and pledge to launch grandiose projects in this resource-rich but hungry continent. It is always waiting for help that never arrives, neither from within nor from without. Summit after summit, all making the same promises. The poet Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi once said: "I am wealthy, and promises are my possessions.” The same is true for Africa.

UNRWA's Mission is Critical to Regional Security
Mara Rudman/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2024
United States, regional, Israeli and Palestinian security requires that American and other international support for UNRWA should resume, conditional on (1) outside audit on how the organization came to function in such as a way as to tolerate Hamas operatives embedded among its staff, and (2) an assessment on whether and how its mandate might be executed more effectively, including by other entities.
Five key points underlie this conclusion.
UNRWA has many shortcomings, which its most immediate failures expose.
UNRWA just fired 12 staff who, based on the strength and rapidity of the US pause on funding, were operatives who participated in the barbaric ISIS-like Hamas attack on Israelis; more may be affiliated with Hamas in some way. In my experience working with Israeli military, Palestinian leaders, and UN officials, I found some in UNRWA leadership to tend toward the sanctimonious, too often painting only in black and white, when the reality was much more often a continuum between the two. And in so doing, they rarely acknowledged fault or shortcomings within their own organization. This has rendered them on occasion blind, and often blinkered in their outlook. UNRWA’s mission is unique, and it is critical to regional security and stability, including that in Israel.
UNRWA is mandated to provide assistance and protection specifically to some 5.4 million registered refugees, in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. UNRWA’s mandate includes providing education, health care, and social services to its target population, as well as employment and direct relief. Employing 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza; UNRWA is the single largest employer. It runs the only public school system in Gaza. A majority of the two million Palestinians in Gaza depended on UNRWA assistance before Oct 7. For the services UNRWA provides to a desperate population there is no substitute at this time. Providing for the most basic needs of Palestinians is part and parcel of providing security for the State of Israel.
Having two million famished, increasingly desperate people, long treated as expendable by de facto Hamas rulers, with no ability to move and limited ability to provide for themselves and their families, within walking distance of southern Israel and Egypt’s Sinai, threatens Israeli and Egyptian security and stability.
Palestinians that are food secure, and able to sustain themselves and their families, and have a political horizon that will one day realistically offer a better future for their children, are Palestinians less likely to be drawn to, or be forced to serve terrorist forces such as Hamas.
Israeli military officials long have been committed to getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza. I know from the countless hours I spent with them on the details -- they prioritized doing so because they saw it as directly serving Israeli security interests. They worked closely with UNRWA leaders and other UN officials to devise the most effective and secure means for executing these aims. They did so appreciating that there was risk involved, but they saw far greater risk to their country, and their security, if critical goods were not able to flow, and they knew these UN entities were vital actors to ensure provision of such services in Gaza in particular. Aid to UNRWA is key to meeting basic needs of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, and thus critical to Israeli, regional, and US security.
For that aid to resume, we need a framework to assess what has gone so terribly wrong within the agency and whether it can be righted with internal reform or requires a transition of responsibilities to another organization within or outside of the UN. The development and oversight of the audit necessary for such assessment should be led from outside of UNRWA.
Aid must resume to UNRWA as the assessment is being carried out; Palestinians, Israelis, the region, the United States, and the world, cannot afford the risk of famine taking root in Gaza.

Could the UK lead the way in breaking the peace process impasse?
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 03, 2024
Freedom from the shackles of the need to be elected, and perhaps even an acknowledgment that it is unlikely there would be a Conservative government after the next general election, might have done UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron a world of good in terms of his approach to the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. It was only to be expected, in light of the dangerous volatility in a Middle East on the brink of a wider war, that the region would be high on the list of British foreign policy priorities. But there are signs that in his new political role, Cameron is ready to lead a new and much bolder effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and, equally important, one that distinguishes itself, at least for now, from Washington’s position. To begin with, Cameron has become a frequent visitor to the region, including trips to Israel and Palestine, which has made Britain’s presence there more visible. But he has now also grabbed the headlines with a groundbreaking speech in which he departed from the usual formula of generic and abstract support for a two-state solution. He went further by stating that the Palestinian people would need to be shown “irreversible progress” toward actually achieving this.
More crucially, he said: “As that happens, we — with allies — will look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations.”Is one of these allies he referred to the US? In diplomatic terms, this speech was a bombshell. Not surprisingly, he chose the very sympathetic Conservative Middle East Council as the venue to test the waters for what would be a sea change not only in terms of British policy toward the conflict but, as Cameron implied, also on the part of other countries.
Being cognizant of the fact that London does not often take a stand independently of Washington on an issue that is central to US domestic and foreign policy, especially during an election year, this might suggest that the Biden administration, itself exasperated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing coalition partners, has agreed, at least tacitly, to the UK going ahead with a policy that could remove one of the major obstacles to achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
On the other hand, if there is no American support for the policy, which one should doubt, it might mean that the UK and some of its European allies are recognizing that it is in their best interests to bring to an end this seemingly endless conflict that is harming their interests in the region and causing far-reaching social-political repercussions within their societies. In recent years the UK has neglected to develop any encompassing strategy on the Middle East. Until recently, the reduced importance the current government attached to the region was demonstrated by its tilt toward the Indo-Pacific. It ignored the destabilizing political undercurrents in the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and mainly concentrated on trade. For instance, the UK cut £90 million from its budget for conflict prevention in the Middle East, and despite a number of Middle Eastern states still having high regard for the training provided by the British military, most of the region views the country as having a waning diplomatic influence.
Attempting to make a distinction between political and economic relations and social-political implications was clearly artificial from the outset. In his new political role, David Cameron is ready to lead a new and much bolder effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Considering that the UK exports more to the Middle East than to China and India combined; that the Gulf countries are the sixth-largest market for British goods; and that inward investment to the UK from the region is crucial to ensure its overseas investment figures remains in good shape, political developments are simply too important for the UK to ignore.
But the economic angle is only one facet of the importance of the Middle East to the UK. Its proximity and demography also hugely affect political and security considerations, including efforts to curb extremism, safeguard energy supplies and contain Iran’s adventurism.
The very idea that as a major power the UK could scale down or downgrade the Middle East and North Africa region in its list of priorities was irresponsible to begin with, and the events that have followed Oct. 7 serve as a rude awakening to this fact.
Admittedly, for reasons that are difficult to fathom, the UK, despite its colonial past and the responsibility it must bear for some of the underlying ills that ail the Middle East, among them the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is respected and perceived as conducting a more sound and even-handed approach than the US, one that reflects a better understanding of the intricacies of the region. That does not negate the fact that some of the reasons for the UK becoming a less influential power in the world have been self-inflicted. Firstly, successive British governments overstated the “post-Cold War dividend” and made major cutbacks to the nation’s armed forces, which have become over-stretched in their attempts to fulfill the country’s global commitments while lacking the required resources.
Secondly, the ill-advised Brexit continues to undermine the UK’s influence on the world stage. The withdrawal from the EU, combined with the reduced military capacity, have led to an over-reliance on America’s military and diplomatic prowess in Britain’s attempts to remain relevant, which has proved to be a double-edged sword.
Leading the way in recognizing a Palestinian state could be a game changer in advancing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and thereby also contributing to regional stability. The importance of recognizing Palestine as a state prior to the start of peace negotiations lies in the fact that it would rectify the problem of the anomaly and asymmetry in talks between an internationally recognized state, Israel, and a non-state representative of the Palestinian people, the Palestine Liberation Organization.
If the international community genuinely supports a two-state solution, recognizing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be a move in the right direction. Negotiations could then revolve around the specific details of borders, Jerusalem, refugees and settlements, without Palestinian statehood remaining a pressure point for an Israeli diktat of the nature of a peace agreement. It would require also that Palestinian negotiators be pragmatic and realistic about what compromises Israel can and cannot deliver.
Cameron’s bold statement, should it become official British policy, and there is no guarantee of this, could not only prove to be an invaluable contribution by the UK toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it would also announce the return of British policy to the heart of global politics by playing a leading role in efforts to grapple with one of the most intricate and hitherto intractable issues in world politics. Whether this will also be a moment for the US, especially during an election year, to follow, or even encourage the UK to take the lead, in recognizing Palestine as an independent state, and in so doing create a new momentum for peace, remains to be seen.
• Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at international affairs think tank Chatham House.
X: @YMekelberg

Biden and Scholz work to bolster transatlantic ties but challenges remain
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/February 03, 2024
The postwar relationship between Germany and the US was broadly stable and strong until the advent of the Trump presidency. Huge uncertainty has plagued the relationship since 2017, and it has still not fully stabilized following the departure of the great disruptor, Donald Trump, from the White House in 2021.
US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are certainly much more like-minded partners than were Trump and Angela Merkel, who might have had the worst relationship, by some margin, of any of their predecessors in modern history.
This even applies if you consider the bilateral tensions that arose over the 2003 Iraq War, which resulted in a significant schism in the transatlantic alliance when Chancellor Gerhard Schroder opposed President George W. Bush’s decision to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime.
However, even Biden and Scholz have some key differences, despite their apparently similar political and personal dispositions. On this issue of Ukraine, for instance, tensions have risen since the Russian invasion over the pace and scope of Western support to Kyiv. One example of this was the disagreement between the two leaders over whether to provide tanks. The US administration also has significant concerns about Germany’s policy on China, given that Berlin has, at least since Merkel’s time, been one of the primary advocates of Western economic engagement with Beijing. Scholz in 2022 became the first G7 leader to visit Beijing since the start of the pandemic, which was an indication of the level of importance Germany places on trade ties with China.
That long-standing German stance has come in for strong criticism, however, domestically and abroad. The perception that Scholz might be seeking to keep much of Merkel’s China policy intact has been widely condemned. The Obama-era US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, for example, warned that Germany could potentially be “headed for a collision” with the Biden team.
Yet another issue complicating bilateral ties is the US Inflation Reduction Act, a huge package of subsidies for clean tech, which poses a potentially major risk to the EU’s goal of remaining a preeminent global center for the green industrial revolution.
There is a growing sense in Europe that its edge in this “race” is imperiled. This has triggered a transatlantic row, and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has highlighted the need for an intensified European “industrial policy that enables our companies to thrive in global competition, especially through technological leadership.”
Challenging as these differences can sometimes be, Biden and Scholz have nonetheless sought to rebuild the US-German relationship, which is very important to both countries.
For the US president, the importance of Berlin has only increased in the post-Brexit landscape. Equally, Scholz — who had little foreign policy experience before becoming chancellor, having previously served as minister of finance, and minister of labor and social affairs — quickly acknowledged the importance of the US to Germany.
For the US president, the importance of Berlin has only increased in the post-Brexit landscape.
Building on this foundation, there will be much for the two leaders to agree upon when they meet this coming week at the White House, including the importance of Biden’s strategic goal of reuniting the Western alliance following the divisions caused by the Trump presidency.
Both leaders agree on the importance of closer cooperation on a range of challenges, including international security, promoting economic prosperity, and the threats posed by climate change.
Biden perceives the US-Germany relationship as key to this mission, because in the post-Brexit era he views Berlin as an increasingly important anchor point, perhaps alongside Paris, in the transatlantic relationship during a time of growing geopolitical flux.
There might also be some diplomatic upside from easing bilateral tensions over irritants such as the Inflation Reduction Act, to help accelerate the global clean-energy economy through secure, resilient supply chains and deeper cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.
Brussels and Washington are discussing an agreement on critical minerals that would allow companies based in Europe access to certain subsidies through the act, if they in turn provide some of the raw materials needed in the US for manufacturing processes. This would replicate a similar American deal with Japan. At the same time, the US and EU are reportedly deep in negotiations on a so-called global arrangement on sustainable steel and aluminum. This is forestalling the reintroduction of US and EU tariffs on steel and aluminum, which were frozen by a provisional bilateral agreement in October 2021 that suspended measures introduced in 2018 when Trump imposed tariffs on European imports.
If such an ambitious agreement eventually is reached it would potentially create the political space for Washington and Brussels also to try to reach compromises on the EU’s recently introduced Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. There is no agreement yet on how American steel companies will deal with this new policy, whereby European importers have to pay duties corresponding to the cost of emissions generated during production.
Moreover, Biden has dialed down the rhetoric, in public, on several long-standing irritants in the relationship between the US and Germany that Trump had emphasized, especially relating to trade and defense spending.
On trade, for example, Trump described Germany as “very bad” because of its significant trade surplus, with exports outweighing imports. He was also vocal in his criticism of Berlin’s failure to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense, a key NATO goal. Germany might now meet this target, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Taking all of this together, it is clear that there is potentially much more upside in the US-German partnership under Biden and Scholz, especially if new accords can be reached in areas such as critical minerals, steel and aluminum.
Yet several underlying uncertainties remain — and the relationship could yet go into diplomatic free fall if Trump wins a second term in office come November.
• Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.