Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 04-05/2024
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
Resolution 1701 advocacy: Maronite Patriarch's appeal for border towns' protection
Metropolitan Elias Audi: A call to repentance and social responsibility
Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Ministry concerned over airstrikes on Syria and Iraq
Military operations to expand in Lebanon regardless of the Gaza war if threat not removed: Gantz
Israel issues its most detailed warning yet to Hezbollah
Israel says struck thousands of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, Syria during Gaza war
Displaced Lebanese lament bombed homes, lost livelihoods
Lebanese education crisis: Catholic schools in Lebanon surprise parents with tuition hikes mid-year
Sheikh Kabalan: Hezbollah's role is a strategic guarantee for Lebanon
Lebanon’s stability is priority for Egypt
Depletion and Undermining/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/February 05, 2024
Lebanon: MPs Criticize ‘Randomness of Legislation’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 04-05/2024
Pope: May human fraternity guide us beyond hatred and war
US warns of further retaliation if Iran-backed militias continue their attacks
Blinken heads back to Mideast to press hostage deal
French delegation visits Rafah border crossing, calls for Gaza ceasefire
Israel’s Netanyahu cautious on hostage deal amid coalition rifts
Egypt, France reject attempts to displace Palestinians
Australian PM says his government is investigating allegations against UNRWA
Israel to bring in 65,000 foreign building workers to replace Palestinians
Far-right Israeli minister’s criticism of Biden sparks anger at a sensitive time for US ties
US House to vote on $17.6Bln separate 'Israel' war package next week
Arab Israelis let out of Gaza Strip recount journey punctuated by bombardments
Hamas weighs Gaza truce as deadly fighting nears fifth month
Gaza doctor describes ordeal of detention
Iraq bans 8 local banks from US dollar transactions
Hashed chief demands withdrawal of US-led coalition from Iraq
Broader regional confrontation: US and UK expand military engagement in Yemen
UN envoy stresses need to safeguard progress made toward Yemen ceasefire during Tehran visit
Houthis vow response after US, UK strike dozens of Yemen targets
Frankly Speaking: Are Houthis doing more harm than good for Gaza?
Canada to sanction West Bank settlers and Hamas leaders
Chile president says wildfires death toll jumps to 64, likely to rise
Turkiye agrees to provide drones to Egypt

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 04-05/2024
Israel's Long War for the West/Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/February 04, 2024
Cameron’s statement changes nothing, yet everything has changed/Alistair Burt/Arab News/February 04, 2024
Regional war is upon us if Biden doesn’t halt the Gaza carnage/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/February 05, 2024
Urgent efforts required to curb our reliance on plastic/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 04, 202

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 04-05/2024
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

Resolution 1701 advocacy: Maronite Patriarch's appeal for border towns' protection
LBCI/February 04, 2024
The Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi emphasized that "since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza in the brutal manner we have witnessed, we considered it a genocidal war against the Palestinian people, a liquidation of their cause, and the least of it is repetition." "We call for adherence to Resolution 1701 by both the Israeli and Lebanese sides to protect the southern border towns from bombing, killing, displacement, and destruction," he said. In his Sunday sermon, the Patriarch affirmed that "we have never stopped demanding a permanent ceasefire and the pursuit of negotiations, political and diplomatic solutions to establish the two-state solution."He reminded that "the decision to establish a separate Palestinian state alongside Israel dates back to Resolution 181 issued by the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 1947. This resolution divided Palestine into two states, a Hebrew state, and an Arab state, and delineated the borders of these states."Al-Rahi continued: "However, the Palestinian state has not been formed to this day. Nevertheless, international efforts call for its establishment in what is known as the 'two-state solution.'"Al-Rahi pointed out that "everyone knows that it is a fundamental condition to end the ongoing war in Palestine," emphasizing that "Lebanon is expected to play the role of a political and diplomatic mediator according to its message."Furthermore, he said: "It cannot fulfill this duty as long as it is deprived of a head of state and has lost its neutrality by involving itself in regional wars and conflicts it does not want."Maronite Patriarch added: "Deprived of a Lebanese president, the intentions were revealed through the results of the vacuum: transforming Lebanon in practice from a state that separates religion from the state to a sectarian religious state, as witnessed in general appointments and particularly in the judiciary, where those in power surpass it and intervene politically, violating the separation of powers contrary to the constitution, and hindering the course of justice."

Metropolitan Elias Audi: A call to repentance and social responsibility
LBCI/February 04, 2024
Metropolitan Elias Audi, the head of Beirut and its Suburbs Greek Orthodox Church, expressed his view that "if we look at the incident of Zacchaeus in this country, we find ourselves surrounded by many who resemble Zacchaeus before his repentance, their actions based on oppressing citizens and looting their money." He considered "this became evident in the recent budget, taxes, and fees imposed on citizens without corresponding social and health advancements, and improvement in the citizens' quality of life."In his Sunday sermon, he continued, "The authorities have intensified in suppressing the citizen by remaining silent about its explosion and overlooking its perpetrators, squandering its savings, leading the country to the abyss, and solidifying the vacuum in most institutions, especially the presidency."He said: "Today, they are trying to heal the wounds of the national economy resulting from their management failure, draining what little money remains in the pockets of citizens, instead of focusing on regulating the ports, preventing smuggling, combating waste, corruption, tax evasion, and collecting dues."Audi first called on the officials to repent like Zacchaeus, see the Lord's face in every person under their care, and diligently work to return every penny to its rightful owner. He emphasized that one of the primary duties of humans is to respect their fellow humans and accept them even if they have a different opinion. Audi stated: "The low level reached by the mode of communication among the Lebanese, especially through social media, is saddening. It is even more disheartening to express deep-seated hatred without moral and national constraints by those who reject others and their ideas and positions simply because they do not suit them, imposing their thoughts and positions."
He asked, "Where is the democracy that we praise? And where is the freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed by the constitution?"

Lebanon's Foreign Affairs Ministry concerned over airstrikes on Syria and Iraq
LBCI/February 04, 2024
The Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry expressed its "deep concern over the airstrikes that both Syria and Iraq have been subjected to," regretting "the resulting deaths and injuries, and the violation of the security and sovereignty of the two countries."In a statement, the ministry reminded that its stance is moral when it comes to any attack on an Arab state. It has previously expressed a similar position when the sovereignty and security of Jordan were violated and when Americans were targeted on its territory. The ministry called for restraint and urged the respect of the security, sovereignty, and safety of all countries. It emphasized Lebanon's repeated warnings about the dangers of the war's expansion and the escalation of conflicts. The Foreign Affairs Ministry also stressed the necessity of implementing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as a mandatory step to halt the escalation and to reach a political solution based on the establishment of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, by relevant United Nations resolutions.

Military operations to expand in Lebanon regardless of the Gaza war if threat not removed: Gantz
LBCI/February 04, 2024
After meeting on Sunday evening with US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein, Israeli War cabinet minister Benny Gantz reiterated the United States' important role in the region, "particularly in facilitating the safe return of the hostages, mitigating the Iranian axis of terror and restoring regional stability." During the meeting, he said to Hochstein that Lebanon is "responsible for terror originating from its territory, and Israel will expand and deepen its military operations if the threat is not removed by Lebanon and the International community, regardless of the war in Gaza."

Israel issues its most detailed warning yet to Hezbollah
Associated Press/February 04, 2024
Israel's military has issued its most detailed warning yet to Hezbollah that it would be "ready to attack immediately" if provoked, as it recounted its actions along the Lebanese border during four months of war in Gaza and made a rare acknowledgement of dozens of airstrikes inside Syria against the Lebanese group. "We do not choose war as our first priority, but we are certainly prepared," military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, adding: "We will continue to act wherever Hezbollah is present, we will continue to act wherever it is required in the Middle East. What is true for Lebanon is true for Syria, and is true for other more distant places."The comments followed the Israeli defense minister's warning that a cease-fire in Gaza against Hamas wouldn't mean Israel would stop attacking Hezbollah.

Israel says struck thousands of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, Syria during Gaza war
Agence France Presse/February 04, 2024
Israel has attacked more than 50 Hezbollah targets in Syria and 3,400 in Lebanon since the war with Hamas in Gaza began in October, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said. "Since the beginning of the war, we have attacked, from the ground and air, more than 50 such targets of Hezbollah spread throughout Syria," Hagari told reporters, adding that more than 3,400 similar strikes against the group had been carried out in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has for years been fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's war, and is an ally of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs Assad, to expand its presence there. Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed near-daily exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. At least 218 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also at least 26 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Hagari on Saturday said more than 200 "terrorists and commanders" had been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon. In northern Israel, nine Israeli soldiers and six civilians have been killed since the war in Gaza began, Israeli officials have said.

Displaced Lebanese lament bombed homes, lost livelihoods
Agence France Presse/February 04, 2024
When Inas Tehini and her family fled their south Lebanon village after Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire in October, she thought they would be home in a matter of days.
But nearly four months later in a school turned shelter, her hopes for a swift return to normality have faded after Israeli strikes badly damaged the family home in Aita al-Shaab on the border, said the mother of three. "My brother's apartment on the floor above me was completely burned down, and the floor where I live also sustained damage," she told AFP from a classroom in the south Lebanon city of Tyre. "If I could, I would rent an apartment in Tyre, but I can't afford it," said Tehini, 37, as her toddler played on mattresses strewn on the floor."I don't know what will become of us," she added.
Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed near-daily exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally. At least 218 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also at least 26 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
In northern Israel, nine soldiers and six civilians have been killed, Israeli officials have said.
The violence has displaced more than 86,000 Lebanese, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). People in south Lebanon told AFP their homes and livelihoods had been destroyed in the fighting, which has heaped misery on a population already battered by a four-year economic crisis.
'Rebuild from scratch'
Tehini's husband, a soldier, earns $150 per month -- barely enough to support the family even before they fled. Fighting back tears, she said her family home had been destroyed in 2006, when Israel and Hezbollah fought a full-blown war. Recent Israeli strikes also damaged many of her neighbors' property and livestock, Tehini said. "All those people will have to rebuild their lives from scratch," she added. Several frontline villages in Lebanon have sustained heavy damage, with the state news agency reporting Israeli strikes on houses. Following the strikes, Hezbollah has sometimes announced the death of its fighters.
In a classroom further down the hall, Hafez Mustafa from the border village of Beit Lif said his 10 children had to drop out of school or university after he lost all his livestock and access to his crops. "My daughters had to stop their university studies because we were $400 short" on tuition fees, said the 47-year-old, deep lines etched on his forehead. The Israeli army bombed a farm he co-owned with a friend, killing or scattering some of his cows, he said. He had to sell his remaining livestock because he had no money to feed them, and it was too dangerous to return to work in his olive groves. "All my livelihood is gone," he said. "We're tired. This war has dragged on for too long. We can't take it anymore."
Awaiting a truce -
The Tyre district hosts more than 27,000 people displaced by the conflict, more than 700 of them living in makeshift shelters, according to the IOM. The Lebanese state has been cash-strapped for years, leaving host communities now to rely largely on humanitarian organizations for aid. "We are unable to provide basic necessities," said Mortada Mhanna, who heads Tyre's disaster management unit, standing in a workroom abuzz with volunteers and civil servants. Families "have lost their properties and their jobs -- they can't fend for themselves," he said, expressing regret his team had been unable even to secure regular food aid. In Srifa, less than 15 kilometers from the border with Israel, farmer Abbas Fakih is staying in a house rent-free thanks to the generosity of residents. The 40-year-old fled the violence in his village of Rab Tlatin further east with his extended family. Although he managed to move his cattle to safer land, he said the war had put his livelihood on hold. "I had 250 goats. I've had to sell 50 or 60... just to put food on the table and feed the remaining cattle," he said, surrounded by his four children and their cousins. Most of his youngest goats died in their poorly heated new barnyard, he said, and the family was unable to plant lentils and wheat, meaning no income during the next harvest. "All we do is wait impatiently for the news, hoping we will hear about a truce," he said.

Lebanese education crisis: Catholic schools in Lebanon surprise parents with tuition hikes mid-year
LBCI/February 04, 2024
In an unexpected move midway through the academic year, some Catholic schools in Lebanon surprised parents with increased fees per student, ranging from LBP 4 to 5 million. According to memorandums received by parents, these hikes were justified by a series of increases in:
-Daily transportation allowances for teachers and staff.
- Rising costs of purchases.
- Increased amounts owed to the social security fund.
The surprise in the fee hikes came through one school specifying a sum of LBP 900,000 for the teachers' compensation fund as one of the justifications for the 5 million increase.
This amount was supposed to be paid by non-free private schools from the schools' profits, not as an addition to tuition fees. Based on this agreement, private-sector teachers ended their strike. Where does the Code of Honor, signed between educational institutions and their unions, including the teachers' union, stand now? What about the apparent deviation from it? Teachers argue that schools are using the 900,000 increase as a pretext to impose additional fees on parents. The surprise lies in the fact that the parent committees in some schools reported these increases, which are supposed to represent the voice of parents, not the administration. The schools that reported these increases are currently few, but there is concern that the situation might escalate to more schools. Will the Education Ministry intervene to correct what was agreed upon under its supervision, or will parents, each time, find themselves as the weakest link in the chain?

Sheikh Kabalan: Hezbollah's role is a strategic guarantee for Lebanon
LBCI/February 04, 2024
The Grand Jaafari Mufti, Sheikh Ahmed Kabalan, believes that at the moment when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that the security of Tel Aviv includes the Middle East, some in Lebanon want it to play the role of an ostrich amidst a fire affecting the region and Lebanon. He said in a statement, "From here, we said that separating the country from its security needs and strategic necessities is a sacrifice for Lebanon and its sovereignty. We will not accept sacrificing Lebanon and international exaggeration without addressing what is happening in the Bab el-Mandeb and the US bases."
He called on religious and ethical leaders to contribute to "erasing Zionism from the land of Palestine, not recognizing it or its entity."In addition, Kabalan considered that the world does not respect weak states and does not accept their participation in sovereign battles. "Only historical leaderships place the country at the heart of the strong equation, and what is happening on the southern Lebanese front has turned Lebanon into an international pilgrimage."He addressed some by saying, "Comparison should never be made between Hezbollah, whose resistance is the greatest strategic guarantee for Lebanon and its sovereignty, and those who drowned in their militia wars and indulged in corruption and mass killings. Sabra and Shatila massacre is not far away

Lebanon’s stability is priority for Egypt
GOBRAN MOHAMED/Arab News/February 04, 2024
CAIRO: Egypt has stressed its backing for bringing Lebanon’s political parties closer, while neither intervening nor encroaching upon the exclusive right and responsibility of the country’s parliament to hold its presidential election. An Egyptian delegation headed by Alaa Moussa, the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, recently participated in a meeting of a five-nation group — also including France, Saudi Arabia, the US, and Qatar — with Nabih Berri, the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament. Egypt renewed its position in support of Lebanon and spoke of its desire to see Lebanese state institutions function and implement required reforms. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the move came as part of diplomatic efforts to enhance Lebanon’s stability while helping its people. Berri welcomed the support of the five countries and reiterated his commitment to working with Lebanese political forces and the international community to accelerate the completion of the presidential election. The group represents a coordination framework that was launched last year to show the Arab and international community’s support for Lebanon. It had previously held coordination meetings with senior officials of the foreign ministries, and at ambassadorial level in Beirut. Lebanon has endured a presidential vacancy since the end of the term of former President Michel Aoun in October 2022.

Depletion and Undermining
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/February 05, 2024
The least that can be said about the US strikes on Iranian targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation to the killing of three American troops is that what is happening in our region – whether carried out by Iran and its militias, or American responses – is depletion and undermining. Is it possible for Iran or its militias to attack, wound and kill American troops and then for the US response to be a strike on known targets, at a known timing, all preceded with statements that assure Tehran that Washington doesn’t want a war with it?
Ever since the Al-Aqsa Flood, Hezbollah has been waging hollow clashes and the Houthis have been attacking marine navigation. Is it possible for Iran to do what it is doing – through these militias – and later declare that it has nothing to do with them and say that the militias don’t even consult it? How is it possible that these claims have been believed and promoted through diplomatic channels and in the media? How is it possible that these Iran-aligned militias can destabilize the region, then declare that they will stop targeting American interests, for some of their leaders to quit the scene – as if they were excusing themselves from a classroom – and then for the Americans to fail to come up with a strategy to deal with these groups?
How can there not be a real strategy over how to deal with these lawless militias that have harmed Iraq? How can there not be international mobilization to support Iraq and rid it of the sectarian formula that has led it to this current situation?
Are we seriously supposed to believe that the developments in Syria – which has been transformed into a “wolf trap” where frequent Israeli strikes are hunting down Iranian Revolutionary Guards members, where the US strikes at will and where a real political solution has not been reached – are supposed to be a product of strategy?
When I speak of strategy, the first thing that should be done and achieved is cutting Iranian supply routes from Iraq to Syria. We all know that Syria is at the heart of Iran’s expansionist strategy in the region. Severing the supply routes means cutting the arteries of these Iranian militias from Iraq to the Mediterranean where Hezbollah lies. This will stop the flow of weapons and the Shiite Afghan Iranian militias to Syria. This step is far more important than the 85 strikes Washington carried out on Friday night. I say that what is happening is depletion and undermining because the Biden administration is not adopting a serious approach in the region – from Yemen to Syria and from Iraq to Lebanon. Here one might ask: Does Washington need to do all of this? Take CIA Director William Burns’ answer. In an article published by Foreign Affairs magazine, Burns wrote: “The United States is not exclusively responsible for resolving any of the Middle East’s vexing problems. But none of them can be managed, let alone solved, without active US leadership.”Ok then, where is the American leadership and its strategy? Burns’ 4,100-word article covered his intelligence career and his future. He used 720 words to write about Russia, 631 about China and only 311 about the region and Iran, and Israel’s war on Gaza. So, at this moment, all see in the region, whether it is carried out by Iran, Israel, or the US, is depletion and undermining.

Lebanon: MPs Criticize ‘Randomness of Legislation’
Paul Astih/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/February 05, 2024
The majority of Lebanese deputies are still waiting for the 2024 budget law, which was approved by the Lebanese Parliament after three days of drawn-out disputes more than a week ago, to be referred to the Council of Ministers, which in turn sends it for publication in the Official Gazette, to become effective. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, a number of representatives noted that many of the articles in the general budget were based on “random” voting and decisions, leading to confusion across many sectors and triggering strikes in objection to the budget’s inclusion of taxes. A member of the Strong Republic bloc, MP George Okais, pointed out that the “delay in publishing the budget in the Official Gazette resulted from lack of clarity in the final version of the texts.”“There is confusion in dealing with two articles pertaining to banking and subsidies, which were introduced and not discussed in the Finance and Budget Committee,” he said. Okais pointed to an “unprecedented randomness in legislation,” considering that the last budget parliament session has witnessed the “worst” form of legislation since 2018.The Forces of Change MP, Paula Yacoubian, considered that it was necessary to “review the internal regulations of the entire Parliament.”She told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Unfortunately, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is confusing his person and his powers as Speaker of the Parliament with the powers assigned to the parliament... But what is more dangerous is that there may be tampering with what was approved in the budget... This is a new and additional blow to the democratic system, and a confiscation of the votes of representatives.”Last week, Lebanon's parliament passed an amended budget for 2024 that experts said neglected to include crucial reforms that would help the country emerge from a financial meltdown that has gutted the public sector for nearly five years. The draft was passed late on Friday after several heated exchanges in parliament's chamber with caretaker premier Najib Mikati, highlighting the deep divisions that have paralyzed Lebanese politics and prolonged a more than year-long vacuum at the presidency.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 04-05/2024
Pope: May human fraternity guide us beyond hatred and war
NNA/February 04, 2024
Marking the 5th anniversary of the Document on Human Fraternity Pope Francis highlights how the absence of fraternal solidarity in today’s world causes environmental destruction and social degradation and he calls on society to spread the values of social friendship embodied by the three winners of the Zayed Prize 2024, all "inspired by religious beliefs." "If it is encouraging to see that the path of dialogue, friendship, and mutual esteem which began in Abu Dhabi five years ago continues to bear fruit," in many parts of the world, the effects of "lack of fraternal solidarity" cause "environmental destruction" and "social degradation" that lead to "immense suffering for a large number of our brothers and sisters." It is essential, therefore, to "draw attention to the principles that can guide humanity through the dark shadows of injustice, hatred, and war into the brightness of a world community marked by those values that we see manifest in the varied efforts of this year’s awardees.“These words are at the core of Pope Francis‘ message marking the fifth anniversary of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, signed on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi, together with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayyib.

US warns of further retaliation if Iran-backed militias continue their attacks
AP/February 05, 2024
JERUSALEM: After a weekend of retaliatory strikes, the United States on Sunday warned Iran and the militias it arms and funds that it will conduct more attacks if American forces in the Mideast continue to be targeted, but that it does not want an “open-ended military campaign” across the region.
“We are prepared to deal with anything that any group or any country tries to come at us with,” said Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser. Sullivan said Iran should expect “a swift and forceful response” if it — and not one of its proxies — “chose to respond directly” against the US
Sullivan delivered the warnings during a series of interviews with TV news shows after the US and Britain on Saturday struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen. The Iran-backed militants have fired on American and international interests repeatedly in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. An air assault Friday in Iraq and Syria targeted other Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan last weekend. The US fired again at Houthi targets on Sunday. “We cannot rule out that there will be future attacks from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria or from the Houthis,” Sullivan said. He said the president has told his commanders that “they need to be positioned to respond to further attacks as well.”The US has blamed the attack at the Tower 22 base in Jordan on Jan. 28 on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias. Iran has tried to distance itself from the drone strike, saying the militias act independently of its direction.
Biden “is not looking for a wider war,” Sullivan said, when questioned about the potential for strikes inside Iran that would expand the conflict in the volatile region. But when asked about the possibility of direct escalation by the Iranians, he said: “If they chose to respond directly to the United States, they would be met with a swift and forceful response from us.”While pledging to respond in a “sustained way” to new assaults on Americans, Sullivan said he “would not describe it as some open-ended military campaign.”Still, he said, “We intend to take additional strikes and additional action to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked or our people are killed.”There will be more steps taken, he said. “Some of those steps will be seen. Some may not be seen.”The US attack on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria hit more than 85 targets at seven locations. These included command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, the expeditionary unit that handles Tehran’s relationship with, and arming of, regional militias. The Biden administration has so far appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Quds Force within its borders. The US military does not have any confirmation at this time of civilian casualties from those strikes, Sullivan said. “What we do know is that the targets we hit were absolutely valid targets from the point of view of containing the weaponry and the personnel that were attacking American forces. So, we are confident in the targets that we struck.” Some of the militias have been a threat to US bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. More than 27,000 people have been killed by Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry has said.
The Houthis have conducted almost daily missile or drone attacks against commercial and military ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and they have made clear that they have no intention of scaling back their campaign despite a new international force to protect vessels in the vital waterway.
US strikes overnight Sunday struck across six provinces of Yemen held by the Houthi rebels, including in Sanaa, the capital. The Houthis gave no assessment of the damage but the US described hitting underground missile arsenals, launch sites and helicopters used by the rebels. “These attacks will not discourage Yemeni forces and the nation from maintaining their support for Palestinians in the face of the Zionist occupation and crimes,” Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said. “The aggressors’ airstrikes will not go unanswered.”Meanwhile, Iran warned the US over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating bases for Iranian commandos. The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran’s growing unease over the US strikes across the region.
The ships are registered as commercial cargo ships with a Tehran-based company the US Treasury has sanctioned as a front for the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The Saviz, then later the Behshad, have loitered for years in the Red Sea off Yemen, suspected of serving as spy positions for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. In the video statement by Iran’s regular army, a narrator describes the vessels as “floating armories.” The narrator describes the Behshad as aiding an Iranian mission to “counteract piracy in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.” But Iran is not publicly known to have taken part in any of the recent campaigns against rising Somali piracy in the region off the back of the Houthi attacks. Just before the new campaign of US airstrikes began, the Behshad traveled south into the Gulf of Aden. It’s now docked in Djibouti in East Africa just off the coast from a Chinese military base in the country. The statement ends with a warning overlaid with a montage of footage of US warships and an American flag. “Those engaging in terrorist activities against Behshad or similar vessels jeopardize international maritime routes, security and assume global responsibility for potential future international risks,” the video said.
The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet declined to comment over the threat. The Saviz is now in the Indian Ocean near where the US alleges Iranian drone attacks recently have targeted shipping. Sullivan appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” ABC’s “This Week,” CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Blinken heads back to Mideast to press hostage deal
AFP/February 05, 2024
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed Sunday on a new crisis tour of the Middle East as he seeks to push forward a proposal to halt the devastating conflict in return for the release of hostages. Blinken’s fifth trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack inside Israel comes days after the United States carried out retaliatory strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Iraq and Syria, the latest escalation of the conflict that President Joe Biden had initially sought to avoid. The trip also comes as the Biden administration gradually shows more frustration with Israel, with sanctions imposed Thursday on extremist settlers, although the United States has brushed aside international calls on Israel to end its military campaign. The proposal under discussion — drafted during talks a week ago in Paris involving the CIA chief and Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials — would pause fighting for an initial six weeks as Hamas frees hostages seized on October 7 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, according to a Hamas source. Blinken on his trip will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar, the key go-between with Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip and maintains an office in Doha.
Blinken, speaking Monday after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said there was “real hope” for success of the “good, strong proposal.”Qatar has also voiced optimism, although Hamas has said that there is no agreement and there is also division in Israel with hawks opposing perceived concessions to Hamas.
Hundreds rallied Saturday night in Tel Aviv to demand swift action to free the hostages as well as early elections as they denounced the inability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government to win their freedom.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, acknowledged on Sunday the debate within Israel but said, in reference to the deal, that the “ball is in Hamas’s court at this time.”Sullivan, speaking to “Face the Nation” on CBS, said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment. “This will be a top priority of his when he sees the Israeli government — that the needs of the Palestinian people are something that are going to be front and center in the US approach,” said Sullivan.
Nations and aid groups have warned of a risk of famine in Gaza with severe shortages of food and drinking water due to the Israeli campaign. Blinken is expected to begin his trip on Monday in Saudi Arabia, which before the October 7 attack had been mulling steps to establish relations with Israel, a potentially historic step for the country that is the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites. After talks during his last trip in January with the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Blinken said he still saw a “clear interest” in pursuing normalization. But criticism against Israel has been rising in the Arab world over the offensive in Gaza which has killed 27,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Israel launched the campaign after Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel on October 7 and killed around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in the deadliest attack in the country’s history. Militants also seized 250 hostages. A November truce that broke down over a week saw the release of 105 of the hostages. Israel says around 132 remain, including the bodies of at least 28 dead hostages.

French delegation visits Rafah border crossing, calls for Gaza ceasefire
ARAB NEWS/February 05, 2024
LONDON: A French parliamentary delegation that visited the Rafah border crossing on Saturday has called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Jordan News Agency reported on Sunday. The delegation inspected the land crossing and humanitarian aid held up at the Egyptian border. French MP Eric Coquerel stressed the need to release both Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, starting with those detained administratively. The delegation also expressed its support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and its indispensable humanitarian work.
The French parliamentarians underlined that the negotiations should quickly include Israel withdrawing its forces from Gaza, ending its blockade imposed on the occupied Palestinian territory, ceasing the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank, and stopping the confiscation of property in East Jerusalem.
They insisted that these talks should adhere to international law and respect the rights of the Palestinian people as confirmed by numerous United Nations resolutions. Such steps, they believe, are essential for reinstating peace for both Palestinian and Israeli communities, as well as for the broader stability of the region. Expressing solidarity with all civilians, the French delegation's visit to Rafah also served as an opportunity to engage with humanitarian groups aiding refugees and the injured, reinforcing their stance as friends to all peoples and advocates for peace and adherence to international law.The delegation condemned Israel’s killing of over 27,000 Palestinian people in Gaza and nearly 400 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, many of them women and children. Marking a precedent, this visit by the French parliamentary group is noted as the first by a foreign parliamentary team to the Rafah border crossing.

Israel’s Netanyahu cautious on hostage deal amid coalition rifts
REUTERS/February 05, 2024
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel was not ready to accept a deal at any price to release hostages held by Hamas amid rifts in his coalition over a US push to get more aid into Gaza.
The comments came during the latest episode in a rumbling coalition row between religious nationalist parties opposed to any concessions to the Palestinians and a centrist group including former army generals. “The efforts to free the hostages are continuing at all times,” Netanyahu said in comments ahead of a cabinet meeting that were released to the media. “As I also emphasized in the Security Cabinet – we will not agree to every deal, and not at any price.” He also appeared to deliver a rebuke to his far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wants Jewish settlers to return to Gaza, and who criticized US President Joe Biden, Israel’s staunchest ally, for pressing for humanitarian aid deliveries to the enclave. “Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel [to Gaza], which goes to Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, during which he openly backed Donald Trump, Biden’s likely rival in the November US presidential election. “If Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different,” he said. Without naming Ben-Gvir directly, Netanyahu, who has had a sometimes tense relationship with Biden, rejected the comment, which came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the region. “I am not in need of any assistance in navigating our relations with the US and the international community, while steadfastly upholding our national interests,” he said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting. In response to Ben-Gvir’s interview, Gantz tweeted a message of thanks to Biden, saying: “The people of Israel will forever remember how you stood up for the right of Israel in one of our most difficult hours.”The spat highlighted the tense political climate in Israel four months after the devastating attack by Hamas gunmen in October, in which around 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies, and some 240 dragged to Gaza as hostages. In response, Israel has flattened large swathes of Gaza in a relentless campaign that has killed more than 27,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and forced most of the 2.3 million population to flee their homes.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States would continue trying to get more aid into Gaza, which is facing an acute humanitarian crisis. “And that means pressing Israel on issues related to humanitarian assistance that we have helped unlock and get into the Gaza Strip and there needs to be much more of it,” he told CBS television’s “Face the Nation” program.

Egypt, France reject attempts to displace Palestinians
GOBRAN MOHAMED/Arab News/February 04, 2024
CAIRO: Egypt and France have reiterated their rejection of any measures or policies that aim to displace the Palestinians from their lands. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne on Sunday. The meeting was also attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Ahmed Fahmy, presidential spokesman, said that the meeting tackled bilateral relations, and Sejourne conveyed France’s President Emmanuel Macron’s greetings to El-Sisi. The meeting also focused on the situation in the Gaza Strip. It reviewed Egypt’s efforts with the various actors to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and provide access to aid and relief to end the humanitarian catastrophe the people of Gaza have been enduring. The talks also emphasized the necessity for the international community to assume its responsibility with the implementation of the relevant international resolutions. Sejourne affirmed France’s commitment to coordinating efforts with Egypt toward a permanent ceasefire and the exchange of detainees and hostages, and the importance of preventing an expansion of the conflict.
The two countries also agreed on the need to reinvigorate the two-state solution as a basis for the comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue and the restoration of security and stability in the Middle East. Fahmy said that “Egypt and France also reiterated their categorical and unequivocal rejection of any measures or policies that aim to displace the Palestinians from their lands.”The two sides also underscored the pivotal and irreplaceable role of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in providing aid to the people of the Gaza Strip, given the humanitarian catastrophe they have been experiencing, which requires the support of all intentional relief mechanisms. The talks also touched on other relevant political dossiers, primarily the situation in Sudan, Libya and the Red Sea. Shoukry warned of the danger of the conflict expanding in the region unless a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. He stressed the importance of a ceasefire so that conditions existed to launch a political framework that dealt with the Palestinian issue in all its aspects. Shoukry said that a time frame must be set for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and the Palestinian issue must be dealt with through a comprehensive political framework. Sejourne said that France was working to reach a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible and to support the Palestinian Authority, stressing that Paris was also working toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Sejourne described the situation in the Gaza Strip as “tragic,” noting that Palestinians and Israelis have the right to live side by side and that the Palestinian state must include the West Bank and Gaza on the 1967 borders. He said: “We are working with Egypt to establish a sovereign and viable Palestinian state.” Sejourne added that the challenges were enormous, but France was committed to the depth of the partnership between the two countries.

Australian PM says his government is investigating allegations against UNRWA
NNA/February 04, 2024
Australian Prime Minister said on Sunday that his government was investigating allegations that some employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were involved in attacks by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel on October 7, after it suspended funding the agency last month. According to Reuters, Australia is one of several countries that stopped funding UNRWA, an important source of support in Gaza, after the enemy’s allegations of collusion between UN employees and Hamas.

Israel to bring in 65,000 foreign building workers to replace Palestinians
REUTERS/February 05, 2024
TEL AVIV: Israel’s government said on Sunday it would bring in 65,000 foreign workers from India, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan to resume construction stalled since Oct. 7 when Palestinian workers were sent home in the wake of the attack on Israel by Hamas.
Some 72,000 Palestinian workers were employed on construction sites in Israel prior to the attack, which prompted the government to lay them off and exclude them from Israel for security reasons. Some 20,000 foreign workers remain but almost half the country’s building sites have been closed down due to the labor shortage. A housing ministry spokesperson said new groups of foreign workers were expected to arrive in coming weeks as the government seeks to avoid a blockage in supply that would risk reigniting real estate prices as interest rates start t

Far-right Israeli minister’s criticism of Biden sparks anger at a sensitive time for US ties
AP/February 04, 2024
JERUSALEM: Criticism of President Joe Biden by a far-right minister in Israel’s government who said Donald Trump would allow more freedom to fight Hamas sparked outrage there on Sunday, highlighting the sensitivity of relations as Washington provides key support for the offensive against the militants in Gaza. The Biden administration has skirted Congress to rush weapons to Israel and shielded it from international calls for a ceasefire in the four months since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. But the White House has urged Israel to take greater measures to avoid harming civilians and facilitate the delivery of more aid to besieged Gaza. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Israel again this week on his latest trip to the region. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Biden was hindering Israel’s war effort.
“Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza), which goes to Hamas,” Ben-Gvir said. “If Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different.” His remarks drew fire from Benny Gantz, a retired general and member of Netanyahu’s three-man War Cabinet, who said Ben-Gvir was “causing tremendous damage” to American-Israeli relations. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, also posting on X, said Ben-Gvir’s remarks prove that he “does not understand foreign relations.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned Ben-Gvir’s comments as “racist” and called for international sanctions against him, saying he threatens the region’s stability. Netanyahu, without mentioning Ben-Gvir by name, appeared to refer to his remarks when addressing a weekly Cabinet meeting. The prime minister thanked Biden for his support while highlighting his own experience of dealing with multiple US administrations’ approaches to Israel’s most important alliance. “There are those who say ‘no’ to everything, receiving applause at home, but they’re also endangering vital interests,” he said.
Ben-Gvir, along with other far-right figures, has called for “voluntary” mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza and for the return of Jewish settlements, which Israel dismantled when it withdrew troops from the territory in 2005. The Biden administration is opposed to any such scenario. Ben-Gvir and other key members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition have threatened to bring down the government if they believe he is too soft on Hamas. Netanyahu told the Cabinet that the military was carrying out “very aggressive raids” in northern and central Gaza while dealing with remaining Hamas battalions around Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. The war in Gaza has leveled vast swaths of the tiny enclave, displaced 85 percent of its population and pushed a quarter of residents to starvation. The Health Ministry in Gaza said 127 bodies had been brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 27,365. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says most of those killed were women and children.
In central Gaza, Israeli airstrikes hit a house and mosque in Deir Al-Balah and killed 15 people and wounded at least 45 others including children, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene. At Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, a man wept next to a body covered in blankets. Other Palestinians found shelter at the hospital but little relief. “Someone like me has been here for three months or two-and-a-half months, and I haven’t had a shower. What can we do? We want to go back to our home,” said Basemah Al-Haddad, who was displaced from Gaza City.
Two children were killed in separate airstrikes in Rafah, according to the registration office at the hospital where the bodies were taken. The first hit a house in the Jeneina refugee camp and killed a 12-year-old. The second hit a room west of the Rafah border crossing, killing a 2-year-old. The bodies lay on the hospital floor. A female relative bent down to gently touch one child’s face. More aid to Gaza will be a “top priority” as Blinken visits the region, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CBS. Blinken is set to begin his visit Monday in Saudi Arabia and also will stop in Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the West Bank. Another focus is Israel’s tense negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt aimed at freeing more than 100 remaining captives taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in return for a ceasefire and the release of Palestinians jailed in Israel.
“It’s up to Hamas to come forward and respond to what is a serious proposal,” Sullivan told NBC, adding there is no clear idea how many of the hostages remain alive. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250. More than 100 captives, mostly women and children, were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Hamas has said it won’t release any more hostages until Israel ends its offensive. It also demands the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has publicly ruled out both demands. Hamas is expected to respond to the latest ceasefire offer in the coming days.

US House to vote on $17.6Bln separate 'Israel' war package next week
NNA/February 04, 2024
In a letter to colleagues on Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the US House of Representatives will cast a vote next week on a bill aiming to release $17.6 billion in security assistance solely to "Israel.""Next week, we will take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package," the letter read. Republican Rep. Ken Calvert is expected to release a legislative text related to support for "Israel" as early as this afternoon, Johnson said. The speaker further criticized the Senate for not promptly advancing legislation at a time when "Israel" is faced with "perilous circumstances."The announcement comes at a time when the Senate and the White House were preparing to unveil a compromise legislative text intended to link war supplies to "Israel" with border security funding and additional assistance for Ukraine. The legislative impasse stems from an ongoing clash between Republican and Democrat lawmakers over the inclusion of "border security measures" in a proposed legislation. The bill, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and endorsed by the White House, encountered a significant setback in December 2023 as senators rejected a crucial procedural motion to initiate debate.The measure needed a minimum of 60 votes to move forward, which it failed to achieve. With the upcoming vote, it is expected that the US House of Representatives will take decisive action on the compromise legislative bill. --- Al Mayadeen english

Arab Israelis let out of Gaza Strip recount journey punctuated by bombardments
AFP/February 04, 2024
JERUSALEM: When Fatima, an Arab Israeli married to a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip, fled Israel’s bombardment of the territory, she was terrified they would run out of fuel. “We feared that the gas wouldn’t be enough. The road was deserted. All the way along, we saw devastated houses,” the 30-year-old said, speaking under a pseudonym. Fatima left on the “very perilous” journey from Al-Qarara in southern Gaza to the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Nov. 14 alongside her 18-month-old and four-year-old children. After hours of waiting, a bus took them across the Sinai desert to the Egyptian town of Taba, before reaching Eilat, on Israel’s Red Sea coast. The 48-hour trip was organized by the Israeli human rights organizations Gisha and HaMoked, which have evacuated 71 Arab Israelis so far. Arab Israelis are those Palestinians and their descendants who remained in Israel following the first Arab-Israeli war and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. The majority of the Palestinian population, around 760,000 people, was forcibly displaced during the conflict, in what they call the Nakba or catastrophe. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, there are more than 2 million Arab Israelis today, accounting for 21 percent of the population. That figure includes the population of East Jerusalem, whose annexation by Israel is not recognized by the UN. In Gaza, Fatima initially hesitated to leave her husband, but he encouraged her to go to protect their children. She described a journey filled with anxiety and under bombardment. Once in Eilat, she and everyone else over the age of 16 spent hours being questioned and searched, Fatima said. Fatima said she was interrogated about her relatives, the situation in the Gaza Strip and whether she knew anything about Hamas tunnels and headquarters in the territory.
“They questioned me about my view on Oct. 7 attacks, about my husband and his work. They ordered me to open my phone to examine my photos, calls and messages,” she said. Hanan, 37, made the same journey as Fatima, along with her mother.
Both have Israeli passports and traveled to the Rafah crossing from Nuseirat in central Gaza. She said the journey, punctuated by bombardments, “was terrifying.” In Eilat, “the young people were searched three times ... then they began interrogating us one by one. There was psychological pressure, but I was reassured because I had nothing to do with what happened” on Oct. 7, she said. In Gaza, Fatima said she had endured “electricity cuts, water cuts and deserted businesses.” She survived “36 days thanks to canned food and drinking salty water. The solar panels were barely enough to charge the phones.” Fatima is now living in an Arab town in Israel, but said it was difficult starting a new life, with her children “scared by the sound of every plane or thunder.” According to the Gisha NGO, 15 percent of Gazans have family ties to Israeli citizens or Palestinians in east Jerusalem. However, “hundreds of people with legal status in Israel cannot leave (Gaza), either due to fear of travel or refusal to leave behind non-Israeli spouses and children,” said Gisha spokeswoman Shai Grunberg. Together, Gisha and HaMoked are engaged in a complex process of coordination with those eligible to leave for Israel. Grunberg gave as an example the case of a woman with Israeli citizenship who cannot bring her three children with her. The problem, she said, was that the children were not on Israel’s population register. The authorities had “requested a genetic test to prove their relationship,” she said, but doing so is impossible given the war in Gaza. Hanan’s family, meanwhile, have left for another Arab country. “Every day, I fall asleep in tears. We survived the war, but we are destroyed psychologically,” she said.

Hamas weighs Gaza truce as deadly fighting nears fifth month
Agence France Presse/February 04, 2024
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed scores overnight as battles raged Sunday in the besieged territory's south and Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a halt in the nearly four-month-long war. France's top diplomat Stephane Sejourne began his first Middle East trip as foreign minister, aimed at pushing for a ceasefire and hostage release, a ministry spokesman said, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expected in the region in the coming days. The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory said overnight Israeli strikes had killed at least 92 people. An AFP journalist reported strikes and tank fire on Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city, with some air raids also hitting further south in Rafah, a border city teeming with Palestinians displaced by the fighting since early October. Israel has warned its ground forces could advance on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge from the fighting shelter in makeshift encampments. The army said Sunday its troops raided "a compound used by the commander of Hamas's Khan Yunis brigade" and seized weapons, also confirming air and naval strikes on the city. It reported several militants had been killed after attempting to attack Israeli troops. With the war set to enter a fifth month on Wednesday, international mediators were pressing to seal a proposed truce deal thrashed out in a Paris meeting of top U.S., Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials.
Gaza rendered 'unlivable'
But a top Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said on Saturday that the proposed framework was missing some details. The group needed more time to "announce our position," Hamdan said, "based on... our desire to put an end as quickly as possible to the aggression that our people suffer." A Hamas source had said the proposal involves an initial six-week pause that would see more aid delivered into the Gaza Strip and exchanges of some Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. The war was sparked by Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which allegedly resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also seized around 250 hostages, and Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed. Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed at least 27,365 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry. Rafah, once home to 200,000 people, now hosts more than half of Gaza's population, the United Nations said. "We are exhausted," said displaced Gazan Mahmoud Abu al-Shaar, urging "a ceasefire so that we can return to our homes."Experts and rights groups told AFP that Israeli forces have systematically destroyed buildings near the border in an attempt to create a buffer zone inside the Palestinian territory. Israel has not publicly confirmed the plan, which Nadia Hardman, a refugee rights expert at Human Rights Watch, said "may amount to a war crime." "We are seeing mounting evidence that Israel appears to be rendering large parts of Gaza unlivable," she said. Adi Ben Nun, a professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University who has carried out an analysis of satellite imagery, said more than 30 percent of structures inside Gaza with a kilometer (0.6 miles) of the Israeli border have been damaged or destroyed during the war.
'Price goes up'
Concern for hostages still in Gaza and security failures surrounding the October 7 attack -- the deadliest in Israel's 75-year history -- have led to criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rallies against the government. Michal Hadas, protesting in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, told AFP she feared Israel's leaders were dragging out the conflict for political reasons, "because as long as the war continues there will be no election."At a rally for hostages' families, Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of captive Elad Katzir, called for swifter action. "Every second a deal is not closed, the price goes up. The number of hostages who won't return alive goes up. The number of soldiers risking their lives without a clear plan for the day after goes up," she said.

Gaza doctor describes ordeal of detention
REUTERS/February 04, 2024
GAZA STRIP: A Palestinian doctor says Israeli forces in Gaza detained him when they overran a hospital and subjected him to abuse during 45 days of captivity including sleep deprivation and constant shackling and blindfolding before releasing him last week.
Dr. Said Abdulrahman Maarouf was working at Al-Ahli Al-Arab Hospital in Gaza City when it was surrounded by Israeli forces in December. He described having his hands cuffed, his legs shackled and his eyes masked for the nearly seven-week duration of his imprisonment. He said he was told to sleep in places that were covered with pebbles without a mattress, pillow or cover and with loud music blaring. Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment after more than a day but said it would have a statement later. “The torture was very severe in Israeli prison. I am a doctor. My weight was 87 kg. I lost, in 45 days, more than 25 kg. I lost my balance. I lost focus. I lost all feeling,” he said. “However you describe the suffering and the insults in prison you can never know the reality unless you lived through it,” he added. Maarouf said he has no idea where he was detained as he was blindfolded throughout his detention, and he was not sure if he was held inside or outside Gaza. He was dropped at the Kerem Shalom crossing and was picked up by the Red Cross. Maarouf’s arrest was the last moment he had news of his family, and he still does not know if they survived the onslaught as Israeli forces advanced into Gaza City under an intense artillery barrage. Maarouf held back tears as he described his last phone conversation with his daughter as the Israeli soldiers called on loudspeakers for all doctors and medical staff to leave the hospital building. She had been in the family home in Gaza City, one of his five children who were all there with his wife and 15 to 20 other relatives. “Dad the bombing has reached us. What do we do?” she said to him. He replied that if he told her to stay and they were killed, or if he told her to leave and they were killed it would be torture for him. “If you want to leave then leave. If you want to stay then stay. I’m in the same trench with you and I’m going now to the Israeli soldiers without knowing my fate,” he remembered telling her. “From that moment until today I have no information about my children or my wife,” he said, crying.

Iraq bans 8 local banks from US dollar transactions
Reuters/February 04, 2024
Iraq has banned eight local commercial banks from engaging in US dollar transactions, taking action to reduce fraud, money laundering and other illegal uses of US currency days after a visit by a top US Treasury official. The banks are banned from accessing the Iraqi central bank's daily dollar auction, a main source of hard currency in the import-dependent country that has become a focal point of a US crackdown on currency smuggling to neighboring Iran. A rare ally of both the United States and Iran with more than $100 billion in reserves held in the US, Iraq relies heavily on Washington's goodwill to ensure that its access to oil revenues and finances are not blocked.A central bank document verified by an official at the bank listed the banned banks. They are: Ahsur International Bank for Investment; Investment Bank of Iraq; Union Bank of Iraq; Kurdistan International Islamic Bank for Investment and Development; Al Huda Bank; Al Janoob Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance; Arabia Islamic Bank and Hammurabi Commercial Bank. The head of Iraq's private bank association, which represents the banks involved, and Ashur and Hammurabi did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters is contacting the other banks. A Treasury spokesman said: "We commend the continued steps taken by the Central Bank of Iraq to protect the Iraqi financial system from abuse, which has led to legitimate Iraqi banks achieving international connectivity through correspondent banking relationships.”In July 2023, Iraq banned 14 banks from conducting dollar transactions as part of a wider crackdown on dollar smuggling to Iran via the Iraqi banking system. The decision came after a request from Washington, according to Iraqi and US officials. Banks banned from dollar transactions are allowed to continue operating and are allowed to engage in transactions in other currencies, the central bank says.

Hashed chief demands withdrawal of US-led coalition from Iraq
Agence France Presse/February 04, 2024
The head of Iraq's pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi alliance on Sunday demanded the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from the country following deadly strikes. "They targeted administration offices, a (Hashed) hospital, they struck forces tasked with protecting the borders," Faleh al-Fayyad said at a funeral ceremony for members of the group killed in the U.S. strikes. "Targeting the Hashed al-Shaabi is playing with fire," he warned. On Friday U.S. strikes in the west of Iraq struck positions manned by pro-Iran groups, in response to an attack in January on a base in Jordan that killed three U.S. soldiers. The Hashed al-Shaabi, mainly pro-Iran paramilitaries now integrated into Iraq's regular security forces, said 16 of its fighters were killed in Friday's strikes and 36 people wounded. "We urge the prime minister to do everything in his power to defend the sovereignty and dignity of Iraq. And this can only be done with the departure of all coalition forces from Iraq," Fayyad said. The U.S.-led coalition was set up in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group that had seized swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria, and Hashed had contributed to the defeat of the jihadists in Iraq. There are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and about 900 in Syria as part of the coalition. Tensions between the U.S. and Iraqi governments have deepened in recent months after Washington carried out previous strikes in response to a flurry of attacks on U.S.-led troops since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October. Washington and Baghdad opened talks on the future of the U.S.-led troop presence late last month after repeated demands from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani for a timetable for their withdrawal.

Broader regional confrontation: US and UK expand military engagement in Yemen
LBCI/February 04, 2024
The United States and the United Kingdom launched 36 airstrikes in Yemen over the weekend. While the US and British strikes against the Houthi rebels began on January 18 in response to their attacks on ships in the Red Sea, this development marks a significant expansion of the confrontation, with the United States targeting Iran-affiliated groups in Syria and Iraq. The US and UK airstrikes focused on underground Houthi facilities storing weapons, missile launch sites, and other capabilities used to target navigation in the Red Sea. Notably, an anti-ship cruise missile in Yemen was among the facilities destroyed, according to US military sources. Despite the US' repeated declarations to avoid broader conflict in the Middle East and to de-escalate tensions with Iran, these strikes have targeted Iran's allies. A source familiar with US policies described the situation to LBCI, emphasizing that the United States is reluctant to engage in an extensive war but found it necessary to respond judiciously after the Houthis disrupted navigation in the Red Sea and Iran's allies hit several US targets in Syria and Iraq. Politically, the United States is obligated to respond, especially during its election year, and President Joe Biden must project a "strong leader" image to voters while avoiding further escalation. The source added that to prevent an escalation, the United States chose to strike militias in the Arab world rather than directly targeting Iran, despite having the capability to do so. Moreover, in an effort to prevent escalation, the United States informed Iran and its regional allies before initiating the strikes, allowing the Iranians to withdraw their forces in advance. According to the informed source on US policies, the situation in Iraq and Syria differs from that in Yemen for the United States. Despite the US-British attacks last month, the Houthis continued to target ships passing through the Red Sea. The Biden administration seeks operational objectives by hampering Houthi capabilities. Will the United States succeed in achieving this goal? A Yemeni source responds to LBCI, stating that undoubtedly, prolonged US-British airstrikes will threaten Houthi military capabilities, increasing the blockade of arms entry points. While the Houthis may respond with limited escalation to satisfy their supporters and showcase their military prowess in the Red Sea, it is unlikely to lead to a more dangerous escalation, concludes the Yemeni source.

UN envoy stresses need to safeguard progress made toward Yemen ceasefire during Tehran visit
ARAB NEWS/February 04, 2024
RIYADH: The UN special envoy for Yemen stressed the need to safeguard the progress made toward a nationwide ceasefire in the country during a recent visit to Tehran. “The special envoy stressed the need to safeguard the progress made toward a nationwide ceasefire, measures to improve Yemenis’ living conditions, and the resumption of a Yemeni-owned political process under UN auspices,” Hans Grundberg’s office said on Sunday. Discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other diplomats also focused on the need to prevent a relapse into the cycle of violence which plagued Yemen until the UN-brokered truce of 2022 and de-escalate regional tensions. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting Red Sea shipping since November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza. The United States and Britain on Saturday struck dozens of targets in Yemen in response to repeated attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by the Houthis.

Houthis vow response after US, UK strike dozens of Yemen targets
Agence France Presse/February 04, 2024
Yemen's Houthis said Sunday U.S. and British air strikes "will not deter us" and vowed a response after dozens of targets were hit in retaliation for the Iran-backed rebels' repeated Red Sea attacks. The joint air raids in Yemen late Saturday, denounced by Iran, followed a separate wave of unilateral American strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in response to a drone attack that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan. It was the third time that British and American forces have jointly targeted the Houthis, whose attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in war-battered Gaza have disrupted global trade.
The United States has also carried out a series of air raids against the Yemeni rebels on its own, but their attacks on the vital Red Sea trade route have persisted. Saturday's strikes hit "36 Houthi targets across 13 locations in Yemen in response to the Houthis' continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea", the United States, Britain and other countries that provided support for the operation said in a statement. U.S Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes "are intended to further disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to conduct their reckless and destabilising attacks." Neither Austin nor the joint statement identified the specific places that were hit, but Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the capital Sanaa and other rebel-held areas were targeted. Saree reported a total of 48 air strikes, and said on social media platform X that "these attacks will not deter us from our... stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," where the Israel-Hamas war has raged since early October. The latest strikes "will not pass without response and punishment", Saree said.
Meeting 'escalation with escalation'
Britain's defence ministry said Royal Air Force Typhoon warplanes struck targets including two ground control stations used to operate attack and reconnaissance drones. Austin said that "coalition forces targeted 13 locations associated with the Houthis' deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defence systems, and radars". There were no immediate reports of casualties. Separately, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces carried out a strike against a Houthi anti-ship missile that "prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea" early Sunday. CENTCOM had earlier launched strikes against six other Houthi anti-ship missiles, and on Friday the U.S. military said its forces had shot down eight drones in and near Yemen. The Houthis began targeting Red Sea shipping in November, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, ruled by another Iran-backed armed group, Hamas. U.S. and UK forces responded with strikes against the Houthis, who have since declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets as well. Houthi spokesman Nasr al-Din Amer said following the Saturday strikes: "We will meet the escalation with escalation."
'Unacceptable'
Anger over Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza -- which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 -- has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. On January 28, a drone slammed into a base in Jordan, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding more than 40 -- an attack Washington blamed on Tehran-aligned forces. U.S. and allied troops in the region have been attacked more than 165 times since mid-October, mostly in Iraq and Syria, but the Jordan deaths were the first from hostile fire during that period.
The United States responded Friday with strikes against dozens of targets at seven Tehran-linked facilities in Iraq and Syria, but did not hit Iranian territory. Both the Iraqi and Syrian governments condemned the Friday strikes, while Tehran said they would "have no result other than intensifying tension and instability." Iran also denounced the attacks, with the foreign ministry spokesman saying they "contradict" declared intentions by Washington and London to avoid a "wider conflict" in the Middle East. Diplomatic sources have said the U.N. Security Council would convene Monday, after Russia called for a meeting "over the threat to peace and safety created by U.S. strikes on Syria and Iraq."But British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Tehran is ultimately responsible for the violence, telling the Sunday Times "we need to send the clearest possible signal to Iran that what they're doing through their proxies is unacceptable." "You created them, you backed them, you financed them, you provided them with weapons, and you will ultimately be held accountable for what they do," Cameron said.

Frankly Speaking: Are Houthis doing more harm than good for Gaza?
ARAB NEWS/February 04, 2024
DUBAI: Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are no way to express solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, according to Timothy Lenderking, the Biden administration’s special envoy for Yemen. Lenderking, a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, made the remark on “Frankly Speaking,” Arab News’ current affairs show. Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October last year, the Iran-backed militia has been launching missiles and drones from Yemen not only at Israel, but also at commercial and military vessels in the region’s waterways.
The militia says that its actions are an expression of solidarity with Gaza — a claim Lenderking strongly disagrees with, citing the resultant “increasing freight and insurance costs” and higher prices in general. “It’s just unfortunate that the Houthis have chosen to convey their solidarity with the Palestinians, which many people feel, many Americans feel, many regional countries feel, by attacking regional shipping,” Lenderking told Ali Itani, the host of this episode of “Frankly Speaking.”“It’s as though I have an issue with my neighbor, and I go and burn down the neighborhood grocery store. It makes no sense.”
He added: “This action by the Houthis is doing nothing to help the Palestinians, nothing to alleviate the suffering of Gazans at all. In fact, on the contrary, it’s complicating the movement of vital supplies into Gaza. So, this is also an adverse effect of what the Houthis are doing. It is simply the wrong reaction.”
The US State Department only recently announced the listing of “Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.”
Yet, between 2015 and 2022, Houthi missiles repeatedly struck civilian infrastructure and population centers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some of which killed civilians. The State Department had listed the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2021 in the last days of former president Donald Trump’s administration but revoked the designation less than one month later when President Joe Biden took office. Timothy Lenderking, a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, spoke to Ali Itani of Arab News on “Frankly Speaking,” on the repercussions of the crisis precipitated by ongoing Houthi attacks on regional shipping. (AN photo)
Lenderking said the recent relisting of the Houthis as a terrorist group was a response to their attacks on civilian and commercial ships “in a reckless, indiscriminate manner,” adding that more than 50 nations have been affected by the latest violence.
“This is becoming a global problem, raising prices, increasing freight costs and insurance costs — not for the wealthy, but for those moving wheat,” Lenderking said.
“This is hurting all sorts of consumers and ordinary people all over the world. And that’s why there’s been such a short, such a sharp reaction and why the reaction is growing against this Houthi behavior.”
Defending the US decision to revoke the Houthis’ terrorist designation in February 2021, Lenderking said that despite some “detestable aspects of (Houthi) ideology” and a litany of documented human rights violations carried out by the group, the US “felt that removing the designation would lessen the stress on humanitarian networks in Yemen,” something that was a priority for the Biden administration.
“The reason that we removed that terrorist designation three years ago was because the US wanted to set a new course with Yemen, and with this conflict, and to put incredible priority on ending the war in Yemen, which had raged for almost eight years at that point,” he said. “And it clearly was the right decision, as over the next period of time leading into April 2022, neither side was able to score a military victory over the other. And a key international point was fulfilled; that is that there is no military solution to the conflict. That is still the case.”He added: “We’ve put serious money on the table to try to help ordinary Yemenis deal with the problems and challenges of the war, the damage to infrastructure. That remains a commitment,” he said. “And we’re very eager to get back to a Yemen that is moving forward toward a peace deal, moving beyond the truce into a durable ceasefire, Yemeni-Yemeni political talks. This is still our goal.”Now that the terror designation has been reinstated against the Houthis, there are concerns that humanitarian aid projects will face disruption.
“We are very cognizant of that and very concerned about it,” said Lenderking. “That’s why we felt that the specially designated global terrorist designation, or SDGT, was an appropriate tool at this particular time.
“It does provide carve-outs, licenses to ensure that humanitarian organization, basic commerce, movement of food, fuel, medicine to Yemenis will continue so that the vital work of NGOs and the UN can proceed in Yemen, and all those workers who are working in very, very difficult circumstances in Yemen to provide help to the Yemeni people.“And so we’re fulfilling our commitment to the Yemeni people while at the same time, really shining the spotlight on the reckless behavior of the Houthis and trying to demonstrate how that’s hurting them and also hurting Yemen.”
Though the US has repeatedly affirmed its support for a peaceful, non-military solution to the decade-long Yemeni conflict — backing up its promises with more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid since the start of the conflict — the strikes against the Houthis have cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to peace.
“On the contrary, the US has been a huge backer under this administration of a strong peace effort, which has delivered results,” said Lenderking. “There’s been a truce for two years. It’s largely held, that truce, despite all of the other turmoil in the region.
“So, it’s hugely disappointing on our part to see that the Houthis have chosen to attack international commerce, the international economy, in a way that has nothing to do with the purported purpose of those attacks.”Lenderking said that the Central Command’s retaliatory strikes were limited to military targets only. “The targets that have been selected are all missile sites and storage facilities, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capabilities that are specifically aimed at international shipping,” he said. “They are having a significant impact in degrading that capability.”
He underscored the importance of keeping the Houthis focused on the peace process in Yemen as opposed to the war in Gaza. “I think we all recognize that we are not going to solve any of the problems in the region if we have to keep dealing with these attacks on shipping. So, let the Houthis de-escalate this effort, we de-escalate, and we can move the focus back to helping the Gazans in a genuine and effective way. And also working toward a genuine and durable peace in Yemen.”Progress toward this genuine and durable peace is being undermined, however, by the continued smuggling of weapons to the Houthis by its primary backer, Iran.
“Here we see the very negative role that Iran is playing,” said Lenderking. “Those weapons that are being shipped to the Houthis, to be used in a variety of ways to antagonize the region, to attack global shipping, those weapons come from Iran.
“They’re not coming from other countries. They’re coming from Iran, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions not to fuel the conflict through providing weapons to the Houthis. “This is exactly the kind of negative role that the Iranians are playing, even though they’re trying to portray the activity of Hamas and the Houthis as justified. This is not justified. And international conventions and law indicate that.” He added: “We do need the Iranians to dial back their lethal support for the Houthis, encourage the Houthis, as they have done on some occasions, I must note, to return their focus to the peace effort in Yemen and stop fanning, fueling the conflict.”Although the US and its coalition of allies responding to the Houthi threat to shipping have sought to portray the attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden as a separate issue to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Lenderking recognizes they are a symptom of the Middle East conflict. “We’re all very keen to see immediate, measurable, demonstrable improvement in the lives of Palestinians in Gaza and to see that the maximum amount of humanitarian assistance can be brought to the Palestinian people there,” he said.
“That was very much the focus of Secretary Antony Blinken’s most recent travel to the Gulf region and to Israel. I accompanied him on part of that trip, in the Gulf, and the conversations that we had with Gulf leaders in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, there was a great deal of convergence on the importance of increasing humanitarian supplies to Gaza. So, that is not just a US priority, it’s a regional priority and an international priority. “Unfortunately, what the Houthis are doing is interfering with that priority, making that goal even more difficult. So, this isn’t an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in a concrete way that is helping them. As I say, it is hurting the Palestinians.”One area where the Gulf states align with Washington is the need to secure the two-state solution as a means of resolving the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing back against the proposal, Lenderking says it remains the ultimate US goal in the region. “Part of the root cause is that there is no state for the Palestinians,” he said. “That’s why you see the US leadership so focused on the two-state solution, which is seen as ultimately the way to address the concerns that are being reflected in the Gaza conflict, and why the US is leading regional efforts to do that, and why this administration is so determined to see that positive result come through this. “But this is all no excuse for any regional actor to create more stress on the regional economies, to create more stress on regional conflicts by firing indiscriminately into international shipping lanes.”

Canada to sanction West Bank settlers and Hamas leaders
Reuters/February 04, 2024
Canada will impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who incite violence in the West Bank and introduce new sanctions on Hamas leaders, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Sunday, after the United States took similar action last week. On Thursday, the United States sanctioned four Israeli men accused of being involved in violence in the occupied territory. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp on Sunday, Joly said some settlers "will be sanctioned" and "we will also bring new sanctions on Hamas leaders". "We're working actively on it," Joly said, speaking from Ukraine. "I'm making sure that while I'm in Ukraine, the work is being done in Ottawa and I look forward to doing an announcement soon."Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said he was considering imposing sanctions on "extremist" settlers in the West Bank. Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land. In the 18 months before Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, the West Bank had already seen its highest levels of unrest in decades. Confrontations there have risen sharply since Israeli forces launched their retaliatory offensive on Gaza.

Chile president says wildfires death toll jumps to 64, likely to rise
Reuters/February 04, 2024
At least 64 people have died from forest fires raging in Chile - an increase of 13 in the past day, President Gabriel Boric said on Sunday, adding that the death toll is likely to increase further. "We know that figure is going to grow, it's going to grow significantly," Boric said in a televised speech to the nation.

Turkiye agrees to provide drones to Egypt
REUTERS/February 05, 2024
ANKARA: Turkiye agreed to provide its increasingly popular drones to Egypt after the two countries normalized ties following a decade of rupture, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is set to travel to Egypt on Feb. 14 to meet counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in his first visit since Ankara and Cairo upgraded relations by appointing ambassadors last year. Fidan told private A Haber television that Turkiye’s leader will discuss bilateral and regional issues including trade, energy and security with El-Sisi. “Normalization in our relations is important for Egypt to have certain technologies. We have an agreement to provide (Egypt) unmanned air vehicles and other technologies,” Fidan said, without further elaborating.International demand for Turkish drones has soared after their impact on conflicts in Syria, Libya, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Ethiopia, which has frosty relations with Egypt over a hydropower dam on the Blue Nile, is among buyers of Turkish drones.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 04-05/2024
Israel's Long War for the West
Pete Hoekstra/Gatestone Institute/February 04, 2024
The common thread weaving Hamas, Hezbollah and the Shia militias together is the significant funding and support each receives from Iran, which has in turn received it from the Obama and Biden administrations. When the Biden administration came in, Iran had $6 billion of reserves; it now has, according to former US Army Gen. Jack Keane, more than $100 billion-- which is presumably what it used to finance its proxies and its nuclear program.
The Biden administration now appears about to compound the problem with another catastrophic retreat: there are reported to be discussions about the US pulling its troops out of oil-rich Iraq – just as the Iranian regime has been trying to force the US to do since Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979.
"Israel didn't start this war. Israel didn't want this war.... In fighting Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror, Israel is fighting the enemies of civilization itself.... While Israel is doing everything to get Palestinian civilians out of harm's way, Hamas is doing everything to keep Palestinian civilians in harm's way. Israel urges Palestinian civilians to leave the areas of armed conflict, while Hamas prevents those civilians from leaving those areas at gunpoint." — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Wall Street Journal.
Iran's former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi recently confirmed that the "the confrontation between Iran and Israel will continue as long as [Israel] exists... even if a Palestinian state is established."
Israel is actually well on its way to winning. The least we can do is to enable it to have whatever it needs to complete its mission, and the time in which to do it.
[P]rotecting our borders and protecting our allies is not an either-or choice.... America's outstanding troops are fighting abroad not because the US is irresponsibly gallant, and not recklessly to fund the military-industrial complex, but to defend us here at home better.
If you have a strong military, you will not have to use it: no one will test you.
In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain thought that a "deal" with Hitler would bring peace and stability. It brought the opposite. Hitler, not surprisingly, used the opportunity of the illusion of peace to enlarge his invasions. By the time they became intolerable, it was clear to everyone that it would have been far less costly in life and treasure to have stopped Hitler before his army crossed the Rhine.
[A]s the journalist Daniel Greenfield pointed out, did anyone ever ask during World War II if there were too many German casualties, and if there were, that the fighting should stop?
The Biden administration would probably prefer to work with an Israeli prime minister, who was more compliant, one who would be happy to see a Palestinian state next to Israel, and not worry so much if it was genocidal; a prime minister who would be happy to see an Iran armed with nuclear weapons, and not get all squeamish every time the mullahs called for "Death to Israel" and said Israel is a "one-bomb" nation. The Biden administration might even be wondering, "Why can't there be a reasonable Israeli prime minister who would just sign off on these plans without giving everyone such a hard time?"
"Iran wants to erase the Jewish state from the map, but the main obstacle Mr. Blinken sees to his plan is Israel." — Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2024.
Others have mentioned that if this is what Iran is doing without a nuclear weapon, just think of what it will do with one.
Not all wars are "forever" or "pointless," or the United States would not be here. Regrettably, there seems to be... a commitment to losing.
The Biden administration has so far been immensely supportive of Israel in many ways, which is most welcome. It is sincerely hoped that its wholehearted support will stay the distance.
Iran itself has been exempt from paying any price for all the devastation it is causing, not to mention the devastation it could cause if it is allowed to have nuclear weapons. Diplomacy will not stop it, and a "deal" will not stop it.
It is time to confront the Iran challenge seriously, eliminate Iran's ability to fund and provide weapons to its proxies that pose multiple threats in this fight, and bring an end to its nuclear program before it is too late.
On January 17, 2024, the Council for a Secure America (CSA) released the latest update to its "Israel-Hamas War" report, marking 100 days since the start of the war. The update is the third in a series following CSA's 50- and 70-day war reports. From the outset of these reports, the real question was how long they would need to be issued.
Historically, wars involving Israel have been relatively short. The "Six Day War" in 1967 derived its name from the length of the war that saw Israel defeat the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in that time. The Yom Kippur War of 1973, which started with a surprise attack on Israel led by Syria and Egypt, lasted just short of three weeks before an Israeli victory. In between, there have been continual attacks, to which Israel has responded by "cleaning up" the immediate sources of the attacks, which the Israelis dryly called "mowing the lawn."
The current Gaza War, unfortunately, is different. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has compared Hamas's terrorist attacks on it from Gaza on October 7, 2023, as the equivalent of "twenty 9/11s."
The problem seems to be that the source is not essentially Hamas, but Iran, organizing, funding and supplying its proxies: Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Israel's West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. In addition, the current regime in Iran fields its own militia, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which trains the proxies' militias, and smaller ones in Syria and Iraq.
Since the Gaza war began, Iran-backed, Shia militias in Iraq have been stepping up attacks against U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq, adding yet another destabilizing military and economic factor in the region. The common thread weaving Hamas, Hezbollah and the Shia militias together is the significant funding and support each receives from Iran, which has in turn received it from the Obama and Biden administrations. When the Biden administration came in, Iran had $6 billion of reserves; it now has, according to former US Army Gen. Jack Keane, more than $100 billion-- which is presumably what it used to finance its proxies and its nuclear program. Also, thanks to the Biden administration, Iran was able to continue funding Hamas at an estimated $100 million a year, as well as provide weapons and training.
More problematic is that, in gratitude for the Biden administration's generosity , Iran and its proxies have so far launched more than 244 attacks (here, plus 161 according to Gen. Jack Keane) on US assets in Syria and Iraq since Biden took office. Biden's misguided philanthropy is the same as on his first day in office, when, after effectively hobbling America's energy supply, the US then bought oil from Russia (why not Canada?). Russian President Vladimir Putin presumably used those suddenly-doubled (and for a time tripled) oil prices to prosecute his war on Ukraine. Similarly, Iran, used its windfall to accelerate enriching uranium to 84%, just short of the 90% needed for nuclear weapons-capability. The regime then not only funded and masterminded its proxy Hamas to attack Israel; another of its proxies, Yemen's Houthis, attacked the US and its allies in the region.
The problem with a ceasefire in the Gaza war now, before Israel has disabled Hamas's terrorist capabilities, is that Israel is fighting not just to defend itself, but on behalf of all of us in the free world who have been attacked by terrorism and those who sponsor it, and who may well be attacked by them in the future. The current war in Gaza actually has less to do with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah or the Houthis, and far more to do with their funder and protector, Iran.
At present, Iran has been expanding its war while the Biden administration appears to be doing everything in its power not to. These two goals seem poorly aligned: Iran and its proxies slaughter Israelis and now American; and the US says for the umpteenth time that it will respond when and how it wishes at a time "of our choosing." That should certainly strike terror into them!
Early on in the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the conflict:
"Israel didn't start this war. Israel didn't want this war.... In fighting Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror, Israel is fighting the enemies of civilization itself.... Victory over these enemies begins with moral clarity....making a moral distinction between the deliberate murder of the innocent and the unintentional casualties that are the inevitable result of even the most just war.
"It means holding Hamas accountable for the double war crime it commits every day by deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and deliberately using Palestinian civilians as human shields. It means not only making clear that the use of human shields is an immoral tactic of war, but making certain it is an ineffective one.
"As long as the international community blames Israel for Hamas's use of Palestinian human shields, Hamas will continue to employ this tool of terror....
"While Israel is doing everything to get Palestinian civilians out of harm's way, Hamas is doing everything to keep Palestinian civilians in harm's way. Israel urges Palestinian civilians to leave the areas of armed conflict, while Hamas prevents those civilians from leaving those areas at gunpoint
"Most despicably, Hamas is holding more than [136] Israeli hostages...including... children. Every civilized nation should stand with Israel in demanding that these hostages be freed immediately and unconditionally.
"Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.
"Israel's fight is your fight. If Hamas and Iran's axis of evil win, you will be their next target. That's why Israel's victory will be your victory."
Iran's former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi recently confirmed that the "the confrontation between Iran and Israel will continue as long as [Israel] exists... even if a Palestinian state is established."
The Biden administration now appears about to compound the problem with another catastrophic retreat: there are reported to be discussions about the US pulling its troops out of oil-rich Iraq – just as the Iranian regime has been trying to force the US to do since Iran's Islamic Revolution of 1979. As The New York Times reported :
"Since the 1979 takeover of Iran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the country's Islamic revolutionary government has had one overriding ambition: to be the lead player shaping the future of the Middle East. Seen another way, it wants Israel weaker and the United States gone from the region after decades of primacy."
So, after surrendering to the Taliban in Afghanistan, the United States of America, the world's great defender of freedom, will be cutting and running once again, surrendering to terrorists and their terror master, Iran, and leaving a vacuum in the Middle East to be filled by US adversaries?
Leaders of US allies in Israel, Taiwan, Ukraine and the Persian Gulf can only be wondering which of them will be next.
Israel, despite an agonizing loss of life and a devastating blow to its economy, is not cutting-and-running. It is "a battle of civilization against barbarism," Netanyahu said. "We will win."
There seem to be those, however, who would prefer that Israel not win. Voices of defeatist propaganda (such as here and here) are already trying to claim that "Israel cannot win." On the contrary, as laid out by the military reporter Yaakov Lappin, Israel is actually well on its way to winning. The least we can do is to enable it to have whatever it needs to complete its mission, and the time in which to do it.
Other voices, meanwhile, protest that before the US addresses foreign borders, we should first address our own, primarily our southern one. More than 8.6 million illegal immigrants have entered the US since Biden began his term, including nearly 1.6 million "gotaways" that we know about, but about whom we know nothing. It is a security crisis and it does need to be addressed. Nevertheless, protecting our borders and protecting our allies is not an either-or choice.
What is missing from such an assessment is that US troops stationed abroad in fact are protecting a larger, virtual border, for the US and the Free World. Those sites are forward bases, not just to defend allies such Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan , the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, but to make sure that we will not have to be battling on the streets of Boston, San Francisco and New York. If that sounds far-fetched, there is no need even to look back as far as the attacks of 9/11. CIA Director Christopher Ray, referring to signs that were missed before 9/11, recently warned US senators, "I see blinking lights everywhere I turn."
America's outstanding troops are fighting abroad not because the US is irresponsibly gallant, and not recklessly to fund the military-industrial complex, but to defend us here at home better. In fact, if we are to keep pace with foreign armies that are rapidly modernizing, and if we wish to maintain a credible deterrence, we need more funding for the military in addition to a serious study of the best updated ways to use it. That is not being a hawk; in reality, it is pure dove: If you have a strong military you will not have to use it: no one will test you. President Ronald Reagan called it "Peace through strength." It worked.
US isolationism, a pleasant fantasy, is, as the US found the hard way during World War II, immensely dangerous. As our adversaries pour in to fill each vacuum from which the US retreats, the desire to displace America will not be overlooked. As expensive, and often even wasteful (a problem of management and accountability that should be investigated), as these engagements may seem, they are a bargain compared to what the expense could be later on in a full-fledged war.
In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain thought that a "deal" with Hitler would bring peace and stability. It brought the opposite. Hitler, not surprisingly, used the opportunity of the illusion of peace to enlarge his invasions. By the time they became intolerable, it was clear to everyone that it would have been far less costly in life and treasure to have stopped Hitler before his army crossed the Rhine.
If civilian casualties seem to be the problem, the CSA report, finds that even though they are significant – ideally even one death is too many - they are no different than in previous wars – and, according to The New York Times, are even dramatically decreasing.
The Gaza Health Ministry – run of course by Hamas, whose statistics are flamboyantly unreliable -- has reported more than 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza. The ministry, however, does not differentiate between terrorists and civilians. Unfortunately, Hamas appears to believe that it is in its interest to publish statistics as high as possible, most likely in the hope that Israel will be blamed for the deaths and not themselves for using their own citizens as human shields.
In addition, as the journalist Daniel Greenfield pointed out, did anyone ever ask during World War II if there were too many German casualties, and if there were, that the fighting should stop? As Netanyahu said, Israel did not want this war and did not ask for this war; it should be allowed to finish this war before the Iranian regime's plan to "export the Revolution" spreads even further. Iran controls four capitals in addition to its own, in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq. Iran has been strengthening its terror proxies; is close to constructing its nuclear bomb, and for more than a decade, it has been expanding its operations in South America (here, here, here and here).
There have been concerns about the length of time Israel might need if there is no defined end in sight. Netanyahu, however, has clearly stated his "three war aims," according to the Wall Street Journal:
"These aims are achievable," but the war "will take many months." He lists the aims in his distinctive baritone. "One, destroy Hamas. Two, free the hostages"—of whom about 136 remain in Hamas's tunnels, some of whom are presumed dead. "Three, ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel."
Is that not what the US would want in a similar confrontation with al-Qaeda or ISIS?
The Biden administration would probably prefer to work with an Israeli prime minister, who was more compliant, one who would be happy to see a Palestinian state (here and here) next to Israel, and not worry so much if it was genocidal; a prime minister who would be happy to see an Iran armed with nuclear weapons, and not get all squeamish every time the mullahs called for "Death to Israel" and said Israel is a "one-bomb" nation. The Biden administration might even be wondering, "Why can't there be a reasonable Israeli prime minister who would just sign off on these plans without giving everyone such a hard time?"
There seems to be a mindset deep within the US that believes, "If only Israel were not there, we would not be having all these problems." These may even be the same people who think that if you just keep on bribing your adversaries, they will, as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini falsely promised , not be "opposed to American interests in Iran." There is no evidence to indicate that anything has changed. Why should it when the US keeps demonstrating that being an adversary is Big Business? Our adversaries can see that US allies, such as Israel, receive threats (for example here and here ); are ordered around; have their internal affairs, such as judicial reforms, interfered with, and their free and fair elections compromised (here and here). Our adversaries can also see US allies being told when, where, how they may or may not defend themselves – even after a genocidal attack (here and here). Which team would you rather be on?
The Wall Street Journal observed:
"Iran wants to erase the Jewish state from the map, but the main obstacle Mr. Blinken sees to his plan is Israel...
"Apparently, political concessions to terrorism are the only way forward.....
"Take it from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, a Netanyahu opponent and former Labor Party leader. 'If you ask an average Israeli now,' he said Thursday, 'nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements...'
In the Biden Administration's eagerness for a foreign policy success, it shouldn't forget that the more thorough the Hamas defeat, the more room Israel will have to compromise. Victory would do the most to pave the way to Peace."
Biden, in all probability, sees the cessation of violence and the creation of a Palestinian state as a ticket to reelection, or at the very least, a Nobel Peace Prize. He still, mystifyingly, appears determined to secure some kind of "deal" with Iran, even though Iran has not honored any of its deals in the past and does not seem likely to honor one in the future.
"Iran threatens the world," said Israel's Economy Minister Nir Barkat. "They want to create a bomb in order to use it. "
Others have mentioned that if this is what Iran is doing without a nuclear weapon, just think of what it will do with one.
Not all wars are "forever" or "pointless," or the United States would not be here. Regrettably, there seems to be in the Biden administration a commitment to losing. Of course, it probably appears easiest -- in the short term -- to surrender, as in Afghanistan, and pull US troops out of Syria and Iraq, and abandon Israel in favor of a malignant terrorist regime. It is far better to deter, and better yet to win.
On Israel's northern border lies Lebanon, now under the rule of another of Iran's proxy-militias, Hezbollah. For years, it has been expanding Iran's effort by deploying an estimated 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel, a country smaller than New Jersey Hezbollah openly admits to conducting more than 670 attacks against Israel -- in addition to those form Hamas on Israel's south – just since October 7, 2023. In response, Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz has told senior U.S. officials the increasing Hezbollah strikes on northern Israel, "demand of Israel to remove such a threat."
Iran, of course is delighted to have its proxies fight and die to destroy Israel, so long as the war does not expand to them – the reason, in all likelihood, that Iran has proxies in the first place. The Biden administration, to its enormous credit, has, stationed several warships in the region to deter expansion, which would extend the length of the war even further. The Biden administration has so far been immensely supportive of Israel in many ways, which is most welcome, and it is sincerely hoped that its wholehearted support will stay the distance.
Any deterrence, however, will need to be far more powerful and addressed directly to Iran, an invoice for Iranian assets, to distract Iran from its hegemonic goals. A different situation in this war would require a much stronger response from the US than what we have witnessed currently. Gen. Keane has suggested striking the leaders and military capabilities of the IRGC and its leaders who are initiating the aggression, to prevent them from causing more harm.
As in all wars, both sides are being affected by hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis.
From reading the CSA report, it is possible to walk away with some significant conclusions.
First, if Iran and its proxies get further involved in the conflict, the US must respond to Iran, which President Biden has agreed to do, although it is not yet clear when, where or how. So far, at least, the Biden administration has appeared reluctant to respond Iran and its provocations in a way that might actually deter it. US personnel have died and scores of troops have been wounded, some with serious traumatic brain injury -- but Iran itself has been exempt from paying any price for all the devastation it is causing, not to mention the devastation it could cause if it is allowed to have nuclear weapons. Diplomacy will not stop it, and a "deal" will not stop it.
Iran has not been struck at all: not the IRGC bases, not the training centers, not its spy ship in the Red Sea. There have not even been any financial sanctions restored. Iran can only read this response as a bonanza opportunity to step up aggression, and at least until the US presidential election in November, do anything it wants.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told reporters that "both safety and a sense of security" for northern Israel may require IDF forces to make a "very clear change." He did not say to what.
There are also signs the war is becoming an expanded regional conflict, although the Biden administration, in appearing to be doing its best to avoid one, might find, as Chamberlain did, that such a stance is exactly what brings it on.
In a half-move, the Biden administration recently added the Yemen-based Houthis to a list of groups designated as terrorist organizations. Sadly, the list turned out to be a relatively toothless, far below the level of Foreign Terrorist Organizations to which the group had previously been assigned.
So far, the Biden administration has not been addressing threats as the significant global challenges they are. The administration is supporting Israel's military needs, which is a positive, but still refuses to deal with the real core problem — Iran. Supplying Israelis with the resources to win the war and building a coalition to confront the Houthis terrorist attacks against global shipping are concrete steps. What is ignored is that Iran is the puppet master behind the curtain pulling the strings. To contain the threat, the Biden administration needs to reinstate a much more vigorous strategy to deal with Iran. Iran must be sanctioned again, ostracized in the global community and its source of revenue — oil — used to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Shia militias — must be cut off.
If Iran is not stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons, the world will be in a different place, subject to countless arms races or even a nuclear war.
As the CSA report highlights, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war carries significant risks to Israel, the region, and the world. It is time to confront the Iran challenge seriously, eliminate Iran's ability to fund and provide weapons to its proxies that pose multiple threats in this fight, and bring an end its nuclear program before it is too late.
*Peter Hoekstra is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute. He was US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration. He also served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the Second District of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee.
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Cameron’s statement changes nothing, yet everything has changed
Alistair Burt/Arab News/February 04, 2024
David Cameron’s remarks last week on the UK’s approach to the recognition of a Palestinian state must be regarded as further evidence of a notable shift in the position of the UK on all matters pertaining to the Middle East peace process.
For many years, the British government and its ministers used a formulaic response when challenged about when it would recognize a state of Palestine. I cannot recall how many times I would have said — from the Commons dispatch box or to any audience whatsoever — that, while we continued to support a two-state solution to issues between Israel and the Palestinian people, the “UK would recognize a Palestinian state at a time when it best suits the objectives of peace.”
The phrase carried certain implications that its constant repetition reinforced. One was that such recognition was assumed to be a concluding part of a negotiated process; that bilateral recognition would achieve little on its own. The UK government appreciated, with the historical background of the Balfour Declaration, that its recognition of the state of Palestine was a huge decision not to be taken casually, nor for domestic British political reasons and not simply to add to the pile of discarded and illusory promises that litter the narrative of a failed peace process. It was, frankly, too big a card to play at any other time than when it would make a profound difference to events, in company with others. And I knew that I did mean what I said, literally.
Others perceived it differently. Palestinians largely believed it was meaningless: that, while we talked the talk of two states, we were doing little to further it. Many Israeli politicians believed it meant “never” and were reassured that, if there was no peace process to which it could be attached, then it simply could not happen. The events following Oct. 7 have now, on this issue as well as many others, changed everything. We know there is no going back to a false status quo, a misplaced sense of security or discussions between regional states that marginalized the Palestinian issue. The horror of the Hamas attacks and the subsequent destruction of Gaza in Israeli reprisals cannot allow some form of “business as usual” in future, as many Arab states have made clear. Now, the UK has also clarified that it sees events in the same way.
Israel’s staunchest allies are making clear they are no longer prepared to be held to ransom by extreme elements in the Israeli government.
Speaking in Westminster at a Conservative Middle East Council reception for Arab ambassadors, Foreign Secretary Cameron departed from the formula to say that the Palestinian people had to be shown “irreversible progress” toward a two-state solution and that the UK would, with allies, “look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations,” which “could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.”
No one should take these remarks as unscripted or not supported by 10 Downing Street. They followed a lengthy article written by Cameron in a Sunday newspaper, in which he set out his suggestion for a widely drawn international contact group to work on the extensive parallel talks needed to resolve the immediacy of the conflict with Hamas in Gaza. It would also consider the medium-term future and the more comprehensive resolution for all the elements of the issue, including his belief that a “pathway to a state called Palestine” was essential. And in Lebanon last week, the foreign secretary made it clear that negotiations involving Israel and the Palestinians did not need to have concluded before the UK made its decision to recognize.
So, although you could argue, as the UK government does, that the phrase regarding recognition when “it best suits the objectives of peace” is no different from what it was, we all know it is. Cameron has, in effect changed nothing, but changed everything. Detaching recognition of a state of Palestine from a negotiated process that effectively put Israel in the driving seat to veto, by making the horizon of recognition a catalyst and not a conclusion, changes the terms of progress markedly.
The implications are significant. Israel’s staunchest allies are making clear that their support for the existence of the state of Israel and its people is profound, but they are no longer prepared to be held to ransom by extreme elements in the Israeli government or elsewhere. Palestinians and their supporters worldwide will be unlikely to allow the shift to go back in the box, but they have to make clear that a Palestinian state implicitly ends the ideology of Israel’s destruction, while Arab states must no longer harbor, tolerate or support those who advocate it.
The glimpse of a different future for the region, promised just months ago with talks and agreements between regional rivals, is currently disastrously imperiled, with threats of a wider catastrophe. There is a pathway out, but others will also need to abandon long-held positions that brought neither security nor justice to those who deserve it most: the endless victims of violence.
*Alistair Burt is a former UK Member of Parliament who has twice held ministerial positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office — as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State from 2010 to 2013 and as Minister of State for the Middle East from 2017 to 2019. X: @AlistairBurtUK

Regional war is upon us if Biden doesn’t halt the Gaza carnage
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/February 05, 2024
The recent missile strikes against Iran-backed Hashd Al-Shaabi militants in Iraq may have been one of America’s largest military interventions in years, but they were just one maneuver in a rapidly escalating conflict across many states, encompassing increasingly fierce military exchanges with the Houthis in Yemen.
Israel has simultaneously been carrying out a succession of targeted killings of Revolutionary Guard officers in Syria. Tehran invariably fulminates that such assassinations “will not go unanswered” — although if that’s true, we’re still awaiting retribution for the killing of Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
The US attacks were retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US soldiers in a military base at the strategically crucial intersection between Jordan, Syria and Iraq. US troops there have labored to prevent Daesh from reestablishing transregional networks, while obstructing Tehran-backed paramilitaries from consolidating a corridor of control through to the Mediterranean.
So it isn’t surprising that these proxies have incessantly attacked this location, seeking to compel the Americans to leave altogether with over 160 attacks on US targets since Oct. 7 alone. An Iraqi spokesman accused the US of turning Iraqi territory into a “battleground for settling scores,” perfectly encapsulating how Iraq has been exploited for too many years. The Hashd Al-Shaabi umbrella coalition of Iran-backed militants was constituted in 2014, supposedly to fight Daesh. But since Daesh’s defeat these forces have doubled in size to about 240,000 personnel, with a commensurate expansion of their budget, generously provided by the Iraqi state. This entity’s “axis of resistance” pretentions highlight its aspiration to dominate not just Iraq and Syria, but the entire region. As with the Houthis, many of the Hashd’s component factions were established, armed and trained under the tutelage of Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah.
While these militias operate at Iran’s behest, they are like a sack of wildcats, uncertainly wielded by Quds Force Commander Ismael Qaani and engaging in fierce rivalry to dominate their respective mafia fiefdoms. Iraqi factions such as Hezbollah Al-Nujaba and Kata’ib Hezbollah have been dangerously goading each other into who can most brazenly attack foreign forces.
However, at the first sign of a more serious American response, a rapidly backpedaling Kata’ib Hezbollah leader Ahmad al-Hamdawi said the group was halting missile attacks. Even though the group has Quds Force personnel in its Shoura Council, Hamdawi vigorously denied Iranian coordination of attacks. Meanwhile Hezbollah Al-Nujaba mocked their rival’s “cowardice” and pledged to continue attacks.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the only route out of this inexorable hour-by-hour escalation is to bring the Gaza war to an end.
Kata’ib Hezbollah’s assertion that it halted attacks to “prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government” was risible, given how the group has forged a career out of undermining Iraqi sovereignty. It was also an acknowledgment of tensions from these paramilitary groups holding seats in government at the same time as staging attacks against a superpower that Iraq is highly dependent on. Ayatollah Khomeini once said that maintaining the Islamic Republic was a duty “above all duties,” and as CIA director William Burns aptly noted, this regime is “ready to fight to its last regional proxy” in the cause of self-preservation, even if it must incinerate its paramilitary armies and the entire region in the process.
Lebanon particularly fears being dragged into a region-wide war that would displace and kill hundreds of thousands. Even if the worst-case scenario is avoided, the conflict has already chronically destabilized this bankrupt, crisis-ridden nation, with widespread use of phosphorus bombs further crippling agriculture in southern areas still impacted by unexploded cluster ordnance from 2006.
The Gaza conflict has made US President Joe Biden deeply unpopular among young, multiethnic pro-Palestinian demographics in crucial swing constituencies: hence the ludicrous announcement of sanctions on a grand total of four Israeli settlers complicit in the tsunami of violence against West Bank Palestinians.
On the subject of strikes on US forces in Iraq and America’s response, White House security spokesman John Kirby said: “The goal here is to get these attacks to stop. We’re not looking for a war with Iran.” But region-wide attacks won’t stop without Tehran being held definitively to account.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the only route out of this inexorable hour-by-hour escalation is to bring the Gaza war to an end. Israel has spectacularly failed to eradicate Hamas, so operations there now appear solely designed to retain Benjamin Netanyahu in power at the cost of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives— but they could easily trigger something infinitely worse.
By all accounts, the US has been engaged in frantic high-level diplomacy to achieve comprehensive Arab rapprochement with Israel in exchange for Israel’s recognition of a two-state solution, along with Hamas releasing its hostages. Success of such a grandiose scheme would indeed be transformative, though it requires Netanyahu to halt the bloodshed and waive his hostility to a Palestinian state. It also relies on Tehran not to deploy its proxies in a blocking role.
Consequently, as well as decisive action to demonstrate to the ayatollahs that warmongering will only bring catastrophe to the gates of Tehran, Biden must bend Israel to his will in a manner America has never done before. It’s not as if Washington lacks the levers: Israel is dependent on US military aid, American support at the UN Security Council, and US ability to mobilize global support. It’s also not as if Biden has much to lose from falling out with a politically dead in the water Netanyahu.
Conversely, if the conflict is allowed to worsen and Iran’s proxy militias, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and vast missile arsenals, did decide to embark on war, the US and its allies would be instantly drawn into this morass to prevent Israel being utterly destroyed.
If not for the sake of humanity, Biden certainly wishes to avoid this doomsday scenario in an election year. He must therefore jettison ludicrous half measures to create the illusion of doing something, and use all levers at his disposal to compel Netanyahu to immediately halt this futile, genocidal war.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Urgent efforts required to curb our reliance on plastic
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/February 04, 2024
Plastic — a material that would go on to revolutionize industries, lifestyles and the very fabric of our existence — was first presented by New York-based Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland 115 years ago this week, marking a pivotal moment in history. From consumer goods to medical advancements, plastic has become an integral part of our daily lives.
However, as the years unfolded, so did the darker side of this miraculous invention, with plastic waste emerging as a looming threat to ecosystems.
The undeniable success story of plastic is now being overshadowed by its detrimental impact on the environment. The very qualities that made it a revolutionary material — durability and resistance to degradation — have become the reasons for its ecological menace. Single-use plastics, in particular, have inundated our planet, clogging oceans, littering landscapes and endangering wildlife. The environmental repercussions of plastic waste are undeniable, prompting a critical reassessment of our relationship with this once-hailed innovation.
Plastic pollution currently stands as an insidious threat, wreaking havoc on the environment, imperiling marine life and posing an imminent danger to humanity. One particularly alarming statistic underscores the severity of the issue: a staggering 14 million tons of plastic enter our oceans annually, transforming these vital ecosystems into veritable dumping grounds for humanity’s synthetic detritus. To put this into stark perspective, it is tantamount to recklessly hurling one garbage truck-load of plastic waste into the ocean every minute — a relentless assault on the delicate balance of marine ecosystems.
The pervasive nature of plastic extends far beyond the ocean’s surface, with recent discoveries revealing its ominous presence even in the depths of Arctic ice. The infiltration of plastic is further exemplified by studies showcasing its encroachment into mollusks, such as mussels. Shockingly, research indicates that an unsettling 100 percent of mussels tested were tainted with microplastics, underscoring the ubiquity and persistence of plastic contamination, even in the most remote corners of our planet.
The toll is also felt acutely by marine animals, with nearly 1 million perishing each year due to plastic-related causes. Among the casualties are dolphins, seals, turtles and seabirds. They are the victims of an environmental crisis that is exacerbated by our heedless disregard for the consequences of plastic consumption. Disturbingly, projections suggest that, in just three decades, the amount of plastic in our oceans will surpass the quantity of fish, signaling an impending ecological catastrophe.
The repercussions of plastic pollution are not confined to the marine realm; they reverberate ominously throughout the food chain, infiltrating our diets and, in turn, our bodies. Microplastics — minuscule particles resulting from the breakdown of larger plastic items — are stealthily making their way into the human body. On average, humans reportedly consume more than 18 kg of plastic throughout their lifetime. Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, told The Guardian: “Our study is the first indication that we have polymer particles in our blood — it’s a breakthrough result. It is certainly reasonable to be concerned. The particles are there and are transported throughout the body.”The undeniable success story of plastic is now being overshadowed by its detrimental impact on the environment.
This unsettling reality prompts a sober reflection on the pervasive and far-reaching consequences of our plastic addiction, which has profound implications for human health and well-being. In the face of this ecological predicament, the call for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. Efforts to curb the prevalence of single-use plastics should gain more momentum globally, with governments, businesses and individuals taking steps to reduce their plastic footprint. Plastic bans, restrictions and awareness campaigns must become common tools in the fight against plastic pollution. Yet, these measures alone cannot address the scale of the problem. This is where innovation can emerge as a key player in the quest for sustainable solutions.
The development of biodegradable alternatives to traditional plastics offers a glimmer of hope. Simultaneously, recycling initiatives have gained prominence as a crucial strategy in managing plastic waste.
Enhanced recycling technologies, accompanied with increased public awareness, will hopefully close the loop on plastic production, transforming waste into a valuable resource. Circular economy models, where products are designed with recycling in mind, can also revolutionize the way we approach plastic consumption. In addition, governments must enact and enforce stringent regulations, businesses must adopt sustainable practices and individuals must embrace a more conscientious approach to consumption.
It is important to point out that education and awareness campaigns are vital in fostering a cultural shift, instilling in people the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling.
We ought to remember that the choices we make today will shape the environmental landscape for generations to come. Plastic, born out of human ingenuity, can no longer be a symbol of convenience at the expense of the planet. The path forward ought to involve a delicate balance between retaining the benefits of plastic while mitigating its environmental impact. It demands a paradigm shift in our relationship with materials, emphasizing sustainability, responsibility and innovation.
In a nutshell, the environmental consequences of plastic waste are undeniable, necessitating urgent and concerted efforts to find sustainable solutions. Merely acknowledging the problem is insufficient. Instead, we ought to reevaluate our reliance on single-use plastics, embrace biodegradable alternatives and champion recycling as a cornerstone of the battle against plastic pollution. The fate of our oceans, the myriad of species that inhabit them and the very fabric of our existence hang in the balance. Only through collective action and a commitment to a sustainable future can we navigate the plastic predicament and ensure a healthier planet for generations to come.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. X: @Dr_Rafizadeh