English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 16/2024
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For
today
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is
wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who
take it
Saint Matthew 07/13-27: “‘Enter through the narrow gate; for
the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there
are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads
to life, and there are few who find it. ‘Beware of false prophets, who come
to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know
them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from
thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad
tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree
bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. ‘Not everyone
who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one
who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me,
“Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your
name, and do many deeds of power in your name? ” Then I will declare to
them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”‘Everyone then who
hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built
his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on
rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them
will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell
and great was its fall!’
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese
Related News & Editorials published on February 15-16/2024
To Israel and the entire world: Lebanon is not
Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is not Lebanon/Elias Bejjani/February 15/2024
The 19th Anniversary of PM Rafik Hariri’s Assassination and the stalled
accountability under Iranian occupation/Elias Bejjani/February 14/2024
Lebanese condemn deadly Israeli attack on Nabatiyeh
Gallant warns Israel can strike 'at 50 kms, in Beirut and anywhere else'
US calls for 'diplomatic path' on Lebanon after Israel strikes
A look at the arsenals of Israel and Hezbollah as cross-border strikes escalate
UNIFIL's Tenenti condemns targeting of civilians as 'war crimes'
Hezbollah shells Kiryat Shmona in response to Israel's killing of civilians
10 civilians killed in Lebanon in a single day, Hezbollah vows to retaliate
Hezbollah commander among 10 dead in Israeli strike on Nabatiyeh
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Lebanon family 'invited to dinner' finds death in Israel strike
Berri urges int'l community to 'stop Israeli killing machine'
Qaouq says Hezbollah to meet 'escalation with escalation'
Mikati condemns Israeli strikes that killed 10 civilians in single day
Sami Gemayel condemns Israel, criticizes Hezbollah over Nabatiyeh massacre
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
February 15-16/2024
World leaders urge Israel to avoid 'catastrophic'
Rafah operation
Families of hostages demand Netanyahu immediately continue hostage negotiations
Leaders of Egypt and Brazil call for Gaza ceasefire
Israel complains after Vatican denounces 'carnage' in Gaza
Israel is urging the top UN court to reject a new South African request on Gaza
provisional orders
Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation − prewar policies made
them vulnerable in the first place
Israeli forces storm Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after prolonged standoff
Blinken offers condolences on reported killings of two Americans in West Bank
and calls for investigation
US conducted cyberattack on suspected Iranian spy ship, NBC News reports
Germany Says Turkey and Greece to Join Missile-Defense Plan
France and Ukraine to sign a security agreement in Paris in the presence of
President Zelenskyy
UN Envoy: Military Escalation in Red Sea Slows Down Peace Efforts in Yemen
On the USS Eisenhower, 4 months of combat at sea facing Houthi missiles and USVs
Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources on February 15-16/2024
Understanding Islam: Theory vs Practice/Raymond Ibrahim/February 15/2024
A Political & Strategic analysis by Colonel Charbel Baraket addressing, Israeli
PM, Netanyahu's Peace Regional planes, and Iranian Mullahs' Destructive Schemes
Netanyahu and Iran/Colonel Charbel Barakat/February 16/ 2024
At WGS, Artificial Intelligence dominated more than just discussions/Faisal J.
Abbas/Arab News/February 15, 2024
Saudi foreign minister arrives in Germany to head delegation at Munich Security
Conference/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/February 15, 2024
Biden’s age could ultimately decide the outcome of the US presidential
election/Dr. Amal Mudallali/Arab News/February 15, 2024
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on
February 15-16/2024
To Israel and the
entire world: Lebanon is not Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is not Lebanon.
Elias Bejjani/Text- Arabic Video/To Israel and the entire
world: Lebanon is not Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is not Lebanon....Hezbollah is
Actual Lebanon's enemy
Elias Bejjani/February 15/2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=426EFafodCo&t=98s
Elias Bejjani/To Israel and the entire world: Lebanon is not Hezbollah, and
Hezbollah is not Lebanon....Hezbollah is Actual Lebanon's enemy
Elias Bejjani/February 15/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127075/127075/
If Israel genuinely aims to address the significant threats posed by the
terrorist Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, it should direct its efforts towards,
Hezbollah's operatives and leaders, along with their masters, the Iranian
Mullahs, rather than implicating Lebanon as a whole.
It is a common knowledge, that the international community, including Israeli
leadership, are all fully cognizant that Hezbollah does not represent Lebanon,
or the majority of its peace loving people. Therefore, Lebanon and its citizens
should not bear any responsibility what so ever for the actions of this Iranian
terrorist-jihadist armed organization.
Furthermore, the current Lebanese Mikati government, is completely aligned with
Hezbollah, fails to serve Lebanon's interests or to represent its people.
Instead, it operates as a mere puppet entity controlled by Hezbollah and its
Iranian masters.
Meanwhile, All heinous crimes committed in southern Lebanon in particular, or
elsewhere, are the result of actions by Hezbollah, which is non-Lebanese, but an
Iranian-backed militia waging Iran's wars in Lebanon and beyond.
By God's will, the day of reckoning for Hezbollah's leaders and operatives will
inevitably arrive, regardless of their current immorality or indulgence in
hallucinations, day dreaming, delusions and false triumphs.
Based on all the above facts, Israel, as a significant regional power, should
acknowledge the Hezbollah's Jihadist, terrorist , Iranian mere affiliations, and
adjust its military and political strategies accordingly, refraining from
threats against Lebanon and its people.
In conclusion, Israel ought to address its issues with Iran and its terrorist
proxy, Hezbollah, which occupies and hijacks Lebanon, controls its government
and confiscates its decision making process...and not Lebanon or the Lebanese
peace life loving people.
The 19th Anniversary of PM Rafik
Hariri’s Assassination and the stalled accountability under Iranian occupation
Elias Bejjani/February 14/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115737/115737/
Today, on February 14, 2024, Lebanon and its people solemnly commemorate the
19th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
This heinous act, perpetrated in broad daylight in the heart of Beirut,
continues to evoke feelings of anger and sorrow among the Lebanese populace.
The perpetrators of this crime, as conclusively determined by the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), were identified as high-ranking members of
Hezbollah’s military and intelligence apparatus. Even prior to the STL’s
findings, the Lebanese people had already pointed fingers towards Hezbollah,
recognizing the cold-blooded nature of the massacre and its orchestrated
execution.
It was widely acknowledged that Hezbollah, acting under the directives of the
Syrian and Iranian regimes, orchestrated this barbaric act of violence, with the
active involvement of Syrian and Iranian intelligence agencies, and the
complicity of their Lebanese proxies, the assassination of Rafik Hariri was
meticulously planned and executed.
Despite the considerable financial resources invested in the Special Tribunal
for Lebanon—amounting to approximately one billion dollars—true accountability
remains elusive. While the court managed to identify the individuals directly
involved in the assassination, it fell short of apprehending or prosecuting
them. Furthermore, it failed to address the pivotal questions concerning the
masterminds behind the crime, namely the Syrian and Iranian oppressive regimes,
along with those who provided the financial and logistical support.
Regrettably, the lack of accountability extends beyond Hariri’s assassination,
encompassing numerous other politically motivated killings that have plagued
Lebanon’s history, dating back to the early sixties. The perpetrators of these
crimes, whether operating under Palestinian, Syrian, or Iranian occupations,
continue to evade justice, perpetuating a culture of impunity.
In the absence of genuine judicial accountability, the memory of Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs of Lebanon remains tarnished.
As we reflect on this somber anniversary, let us remember and honor the
sacrifices of these patriotic Lebanese individuals, and pray for the peace of
their souls.
Lebanese condemn deadly Israeli attack on Nabatiyeh
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February 15, 2024
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah commander, two fighters and seven
civilians in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, a security source said on
Thursday, raising fears of further escalation. Eight civilians were wounded,
including an infant who was pulled from rubble. The attack, widely condemned by
the Lebanese public, caused panic among the city’s residents. Universities and
schools in Nabatiyeh were closed on Thursday, while the city’s governor closed
government offices and businesses in the area. Najib Mikati, caretaker prime
minister, said: “An urgent new complaint will be filed to the UN Security
Council against Israel. While we call on all parties to commit to de-escalation,
we find the Israeli enemy persisting in its aggression, prompting us to question
the international parties concerned with initiatives taken to restrain the
enemy.”Nabatiyeh is situated north of the Litani Line, outside the area where
hostile operations between Hezbollah and Israel have been ongoing for 131 days.
The Israeli military has violated the rules of engagement more than once,
extending its attacks to the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Rescue and civil defense teams continued to search for missing individuals under
the rubble of the targeted three-story building. They pulled alive the infant,
Hussein Ali Amer, after more than four hours of searching. They retrieved five
deceased — Hussein Ahmed Daher Berjawi, his daughters Amani and Zeinab, his
sister Fatima and his grandson Mahmoud Ali Amer — and transferred them to
hospitals in Nabatiyeh. The search continued for the bodies of Berjawi's wife
Amal Mahmoud Audi and his niece Ghadeer Tarhini. Berjawi’s son-in-law Ali Amer
and several wounded individuals were also sent to hospitals in Nabatiyeh.
Israeli bombing of southern Lebanese border towns resumed its previous intensity
on Thursday. Israeli army radio reported: “The security service assessed the
internal front’s readiness for the scenario of war in the northern region.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed his US counterpart Lloyd Austin
that “there will be no leniency in responding to Hezbollah attacks.”According to
Al-Arabiya channel, Gallant said: “Our planes in the skies of Beirut carry heavy
bombs capable of hitting distant targets, and the current escalation against
Hezbollah is only a 10th of what we can do. We can attack up to 50 km deep in
Beirut and any other place.”
Hezbollah announced on Thursday that it had targeted “espionage equipment at the
Israeli Al-Marj military site, scoring a direct hit.”It also targeted “the
Israeli Zibdin barracks in the occupied Shebaa Farms using a Falaq-1 rocket,
resulting in a direct hit,” as well as “espionage equipment at the Israeli
military site in the Al-Raheb area with suitable weaponry, also achieving a
direct hit,” and “the radar site belonging to the Israeli army in the occupied
Shebaa Farms.”Meanwhile, Hezbollah mourned its members Ali Al-Dabs, Hussein
Ahmed Aqil and Hassan Ibrahim Issa. A flurry of diplomatic efforts has been
underway to stave off further escalation. Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph
Aoun held discussions with Joanna Wronecka, special representative of the UN
secretary-general in Lebanon, on “developments along the southern borders.”
Stephane Dujarric, the secretary-general’s spokesperson, said the “dangerous”
escalation “must stop.” He highlighted observations by the UN Interim Force in
Lebanon, indicating a shift in the exchange of fire between Israeli forces and
armed groups in Lebanon, with incidents occurring beyond the Blue Line.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator Imran Riza said in a statement: “The deliberate
targeting of civilians is deeply troubling. Among the casualties are innocent
children, mothers, and grandparents. “The rules of engagement are crystal clear:
all parties involved must safeguard civilians, and these principles must be
upheld. Innocent civilians should never be caught in the crossfire.”French
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: “The situation in Lebanon is serious,
but it has not yet reached the point of no return. France is actively involved
in seeking a resolution to the conflict, aiming to prevent further bloodshed and
the onset of a new war in Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller voiced “Washington’s
apprehension regarding the escalating tensions between the parties involved,”
adding: “Diplomatic efforts are underway to quell the situation and find a
peaceful resolution.”Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah’s Central
Council, said: “The conflict persists as long as aggression continues against
Gaza.”He highlighted the unwavering resolve of the resistance to counter
Israel’s persistent threats with equal measures of escalation, displacement and
destruction.
The attack in Nabatiyeh triggered widespread condemnation in Lebanon. Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri labeled it “a premeditated and calculated atrocity, placing
responsibility for the victims’ blood squarely on international envoys, the UN,
and human rights organizations. “Urgent action is demanded to halt Israel’s
lethal actions and restrain the leaders of the occupying entity, who are
steering the region toward a catastrophic war.” Progressive Socialist Party
leader and MP Taymur Jumblatt warned of “the potential expansion of the conflict
due to the actions of Israel, the US, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.” Jumblatt highlighted Hezbollah’s efforts “to de-escalate tensions
and stabilize the situation.”Kataeb Party leader and MP Sami Gemayel
unequivocally rejected and condemned all Israeli justifications for targeting
civilians. He also highlighted “the toll borne by the Lebanese population due to
Hezbollah’s unilateral actions to engage in the southern battle in solidarity
with Gaza.”
Gallant warns Israel can strike 'at 50 kms, in Beirut
and anywhere else'
Naharnet/February 15, 2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant noted Thursday that the Israeli military
has stepped up its attacks against Hezbollah by “one level out of ten,” warning
that “the Air Force planes flying currently in the skies of Lebanon have heavier
bombs for more distant targets.”Speaking during a war simulation carried out by
the so-called emergency preparedness committee, Gallant said the conferees were
gathered after “an intense day in the north,” in reference to a deadly rocket
barrage on the Israeli army’s Northern Command headquarters in Safad and
Israel’s subsequent deadly response in south Lebanon. He said Hezbollah went up
half a step, while Israel went up a full one with its response, “but it’s one
step out of ten.”“We can attack not only at 20 kilometers (from the border), but
also at 50 kilometers, and in Beirut and anywhere else,” Gallant said. “We do
not want to reach this situation, we do not want to enter into a war, but rather
are interested in reaching an agreement that will allow the safe return of
residents of the north to their homes, under an agreement process,” he said,
referring to tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the conflict. “But if
there is no choice, we will act to bring (the residents) back and create the
appropriate security for them. This should be clear to both our enemies and our
friends. And as the State of Israel, the defense establishment, and the IDF
(Israeli army) have proven in recent months, when we say we mean it,” he added.
The meeting, attended by several government ministers, defense officials, and
other civilian officials, simulated a war scenario in northern Israel with
potential damage to power lines, issues with transporting food, and complex
medical evacuations, according to the Defense Ministry.
US calls for 'diplomatic path' on Lebanon after Israel strikes
Agence France Presse/February 15, 2024
At least 10 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Wednesday in Israeli
strikes on south Lebanon, while the Israeli army said it lost a soldier in
cross-border rocket fire. While the rocket attack was not immediately claimed,
the exchanges of fire -- and the worst single-day civilian death toll in Lebanon
since cross-border hostilities began in October -- raised fears of a broader
conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. On Wednesday evening, seven civilians
from the same family including two women and a child were killed in an Israeli
strike on a residential building in the city of Nabatiyeh. "The residents of the
apartment targeted have no links to Hezbollah," a source requesting anonymity
said as they were not authorised to speak to the media. Earlier, Lebanon's
state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli warplanes targeted a house in
south Lebanon's Souaneh, killing three members of the same family, identifying
them as a Syrian woman and her child, aged two, and stepchild, 13. The agency
said another Israeli attack targeting the village of Adshit killed one person,
whom Hezbollah announced was one of its fighters, and wounded 10 others,
destroying a building and causing significant damage nearby.
The Israeli army said in a statement that Sergeant Omer Sarah Benjo, 20, was
killed "as a result of a (rocket) launch carried out from Lebanese territory on
a base in northern Israel". Fighter jets struck a series of "Hezbollah terror
targets" in several areas of south Lebanon including Adshit and Souaneh, the
military said. The Israeli military and the Iran-backed Lebanese group have been
trading near daily cross-border fire since the Israel-Hamas war began in
October. Hezbollah said a second fighter was killed elsewhere in south Lebanon
on Wednesday, but claimed no attacks on Israeli troops or positions.
'Heavy price' -Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service had said seven people
were wounded in fire from Lebanon, five of them in the town of Safed. An AFP
photographer saw medics and troops evacuating a wounded person by military
helicopter from Safed's Ziv hospital. Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said after
meeting commanders near the Lebanese border that Israel's "next campaign will be
very much on the offensive, and we will use all the tools and all capabilities".
"We are intensifying the strikes all the time, and Hezbollah are paying an
increasingly heavy price," he said in a statement. Senior Hezbollah official
Hashem Safieddine on Wednesday said that "this aggression... will not go
unanswered". A day earlier, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that
fire from southern Lebanon would end "when the attack on Gaza stops and there is
a ceasefire" between the group's Palestinian allies Hamas and arch-foe Israel.
"If they (Israel) broaden the confrontation, we will do the same," Nasrallah
warned. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the
Israel-Lebanon border amid soaring regional tensions. Fears have been growing of
another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, who last went to war
in 2006.
'Diplomatic path'
The U.N. secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric warned that "the recent
escalation is dangerous indeed and should stop."Peacekeepers from the United
Nations mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, had noticed "a concerning shift in the
exchanges of fire between the Israeli armed forces and armed groups in Lebanon",
he added. The attacks included the "targeting of areas far from the Blue Line",
he said, referring to the withdrawal line demarcated by the U.N. in 2000 after
Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon. State Department spokesman
Matthew Miller said that Washington would continue to push for a "diplomatic
path" to resolve the cross-border tensions. "We continue to believe that there
is a diplomatic path forward and we will continue to push forward to try to
resolve this issue diplomatically," Miller told reporters. "We continue to be
concerned about escalation in Lebanon," he said. "One of our primary objectives
from the outset of this conflict is to see that it not be widened." The United
States and France have been pushing a plan that hopes to keep Lebanon out of the
Israel-Hamas conflict, including by bolstering Lebanon's fledgling national
forces.
A look at the arsenals of Israel and Hezbollah as
cross-border strikes escalate
Associated Press/February 15, 2024
The slow-simmering cross-border conflict between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israeli
forces escalated Wednesday, reviving fears that the daily clashes could expand
into an all-out war. A rocket fired from Lebanon struck the northern Israeli
town of Safed, killing a 20-year-old female soldier and wounding at least eight
people. Israel responded with airstrikes that killed at least 13 people in
southern Lebanon, including a Syrian woman, her two children, seven members of
another family and three Hezbollah fighters. At least nine people were wounded.
The cross-border violence was triggered by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which
in turn was set off by the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas. Hezbollah
did not claim responsibility for Wednesday's strike. But it has vowed to
continue its attacks until there is a cease-fire in Gaza. Amid fears of a
further escalation, here's a look at the arsenals of the two sides:
WHAT ARE HEZBOLLAH'S MILITARY CAPABILITIES?
Hezbollah is the Arab world's most significant paramilitary force with a robust
internal structure as well as a sizable arsenal. Backed by Iran, its fighters
have gained experience during Syria's 13-year conflict in which they helped tip
the balance of power in favor of government forces. Hezbollah's leader, Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah, had boasted that the group has 100,000 fighters, though other
estimates put its troop strength at less than half that. Israel wants Hezbollah
to withdraw its elite Radwan Force from the border so tens of thousands Israelis
displaced from northern towns and villages can return home. Hezbollah holds a
vast arsenal of mostly small, portable and unguided surface-to-surface artillery
rockets, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a
Washington think tank. The U.S. and Israel estimate Hezbollah and other militant
groups in Lebanon have some 150,000 missiles and rockets. Hezbollah also has
been working on precision-guided missiles. Hezbollah has previously launched
drones into Israel and in 2006, hit an Israeli warship with a surface-to-sea
missile. Its forces also have assault rifles, heavy machine guns,
rocket-propelled grenades, roadside bombs and other weaponry. During the current
conflict, Hezbollah has frequently used Russian-made portable anti-tank Kornet
missiles. More rarely, it has launched Burkan rockets that, according to
Nasrallah, can carry a warhead that weighs between 300 kilograms and 500
kilograms. In recent weeks, Hezbollah has introduced new weapons including a
surface-to-surface missile with a range of 10 kilometers and a warhead weighing
50 kilograms.
WHAT ARE ISRAEL'S MILITARY CAPABILITIES?
Israel's military has long been supported by the United States, with $3.3
billion in annual funding, plus $500 million toward missile defense technology.
Israel is one of the best-armed nations in the wider Middle East. Its air force
includes the advanced American F-35 fighter jet, missile defense batteries
including the American-made Patriot, the Iron Dome rocket-defense system and a
pair of missile-defense systems developed with the U.S., the Arrow and David's
Sling. Israel has armored personnel carriers and tanks, and a fleet of drones
and other technology available to support any street-to-street battles. Israel
has some 170,000 troops typically on active duty and has called up some 360,000
reservists for the war — three-fourths of its estimated capacity, according to
the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank. With
the war now in its fifth month, many of those reservists have returned home.
Israel has also long maintained an undeclared nuclear weapons program.
HOW SERIOUS IS THE LATEST ESCALATION?
While most analysts believe there is little appetite for a full-blown war by
either Hezbollah or Israel, there are fears that a miscalculation by either side
could trigger a major escalation. The U.S., France and other countries have
dispatched diplomats in recent weeks to try to tamp down tensions on the border.
Speaking on Tuesday, Nasrallah responded to threats by Israeli officials to
launch an offensive if his group does not pull its forces back from the border.
"If you expand (the conflict), we will expand," he said. Wednesday's exchange of
strikes, some of which hit relatively far from the border area, is a clear
indication of the risks that the violence could spill out of control. The two
sides fought a 34-day war in 2006 that ended in a draw.
UNIFIL's Tenenti condemns targeting of civilians as 'war
crimes'
Associated Press/February 15, 2024
The U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as
UNIFIL, expressed concerns Thursday over the latest “exchanges of fire,” and
urged all sides involved to halt hostilities to prevent further
escalation.“Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and
constitute war crimes,” UNIFIL’s spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement.
“The devastation, loss of life, and injuries witnessed are deeply
concerning.”The U.N. secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric had warned
Wednesday that "the recent escalation is dangerous indeed and should
stop."Peacekeepers from the United Nations mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, had
noticed "a concerning shift in the exchanges of fire between the Israeli armed
forces and armed groups in Lebanon", he added. The attacks included the
"targeting of areas far from the Blue Line", he said, referring to the
withdrawal line demarcated by the U.N. in 2000 after Israeli troops pulled out
of southern Lebanon. Ten civilians, mostly women and children, were killed
Wednesday in Israeli airstrikes on Nabatiyeh and Souaneh, after rockets fired
from Lebanon struck the northern Israeli town of Safed, killing a female Israeli
soldier and wounding eight others, all soldiers.
Hezbollah shells Kiryat Shmona in response to Israel's killing of civilians
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/February 15, 2024
Hezbollah on Thursday fired dozens of rockets into Israel’s Kiryat Shmona, a day
after Israeli raids killed 15 people mostly civilians. "In a first response to
the massacres in Nabatiyeh and Sawaneh, Islamic resistance fighters fired dozens
of Katyusha-type rockets at Kiryat Shmona," an Israeli town near the Lebanese
border, Hezbollah said in a statement. There was no immediate word on casualties
from the Israeli town, where most residents have joined the tens of thousands
who have fled the area since the fighting began in October. Israeli reports
however said that there was material damage.
10 civilians killed in Lebanon in a single day, Hezbollah vows to retaliate
Associated Press/February 15, 2024
The civilian death toll from two Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon has risen to 10,
Lebanese state media reported Thursday, making the previous day the deadliest
one in more than four months of cross-border exchanges. Hezbollah has vowed to
retaliate for the strikes, which hit in the city of Nabatiyeh and a village in
southern Lebanon, just hours after projectiles from Lebanon killed an Israeli
soldier. In Nabatiyeh, the strike knocked down part of a building, killing seven
members of the same family, including a child, the state-run National News
Agency said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.
Initial reports had said four people were killed. In the village of Souaneh, a
woman and her two young children were killed. The Lebanese civilian death toll
included six women and three children. Three Hezbollah fighters were also killed
on Wednesday. Amal Atwi, whose son was killed in Souaneh, said martyrdom has
become a way of life in southern Lebanon. "He’s my only son and I have no one
else," she said. "Let Israel take as much as they want, and we have more to
give. Let’s see who will get tired first. It will be them, not us." The fire
from Lebanon earlier Wednesday struck the northern Israeli town of Safed,
killing a female Israeli soldier and wounding eight people. The fatalities
marked a significant escalation in more than four months of daily cross-border
exchanges triggered by the Oct. 7 outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The
war began with the surprise attack in southern Israel by the Palestinian
militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah commander among 10 dead in Israeli strike on Nabatiyeh
Agence France Presse/February 15, 2024
A Hezbollah commander, two other fighters and seven civilians were killed in an
Israeli strike in south Lebanon's Nabatiyeh, a security source said Thursday,
raising the toll from a raid a day earlier. The deaths brought to 10 the total
number of civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, the highest such
toll since cross-border hostilities began in October, further raising fears of a
broader conflict between Israel and militant group Hezbollah. The Hezbollah
commander, Ali al-Debs, had already been targeted and wounded in an Israeli
drone strike in the southern Lebanon city of Nabatiyeh on February 8, the
security source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak
to the media. Two other Hezbollah fighters who were on the ground floor with
Debs and "seven civilians from the same family" on the building's first floor
were also killed in Wednesday's strike on the building in the city, the source
added.
Hezbollah announced Thursday that three of its fighters including Debs had been
killed, without specifying where they had died. It had said two members were
killed on Wednesday. The Israeli army said Wednesday a soldier was killed in
unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon and that its jets carried out strikes on
Lebanon. The official National News Agency had previously identified five of the
dead civilians in Nabatiyeh as Hussein Barjawi, his two daughters, his sister
and his grandson. His wife and niece were also killed.Emergency responders
pulled a boy alive from the rubble, it added, while another relative and at
least six other people were taken to hospital. The agency said the Israeli
strike was carried out by "a drone with a guided missile".
Israel confirms killing -
The Israeli military on Thursday confirmed it had killed a Hezbollah commander,
his deputy and another fighter in an air strike in Lebanese territory. Ali
al-Debs and the other two fighters were killed Wednesday night "in a precise air
strike" carried out by an Israeli army aircraft on, the military said in a
statement, describing the residential building in Nabatiyeh as "a Hezbollah
military structure".
Rising tolls -
An AFP photographer said the ground and first floors of the three-storey
residential building were hit, with pieces of furniture strewn among the rubble.
Also Wednesday, the NNA said Israeli warplanes targeted a house in south
Lebanon's Sawwaneh, killing three members of the same family -- a Syrian woman
and her child, aged two, and stepchild, 13. The Israeli military and Hezbollah
have been trading near daily cross-border fire since the Israel-Hamas war began
in October. Fears have been growing of another full-blown conflict between
Israel and Hezbollah, which last went to war in 2006. The Shiite Muslim group on
Thursday claimed attacks on Israeli "spy equipment" and a barracks, while the
Israeli military said fighter jets struck "dozens" of Hezbollah targets in south
Lebanon. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is due to speak on Friday, his
second such address this week. The cross-border violence has killed at least 259
people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including
40 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and
six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Agence France Presse/February 15, 2024
Israeli warplanes carried out Thursday several airstrikes on Wadi Slouqi in
south Lebanon as the civilian death toll from Wednesday's airstrikes rose to 10.
Israel's air force also struck the border towns of Labbouneh, Majdal Selm,
Maroun al-Rass, Blida and Houla. The Israeli military said Thursday's strikes
targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and launch posts. The Israeli army would
continue to respond to Hezbollah’s regular attacks, said spokesperson Avi Hyman
from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. “Our message to
Hezbollah has and always will be: Don’t try us.”Hezbollah for its part targeted
Thursday the Zebdine Barracks and surveillance equipment in the Rweissat al-Alam
post, both in the occupied Shebaa Farms. The group also attacked surveillance
equipment in the al-Raheb and al-Marj posts. On Wednesday, Israel carried out
airstrikes in southern Lebanon that killed three Hezbollah fighters and 10
civilians, including six women and three children, in response to a rocket
attack on a military base in Safed that killed a female soldier and wounded
eight people. Hezbollah vowed to retaliate although the group did not claim the
attack on the northern Israeli town. While the rocket attack was not claimed,
the exchanges of fire -- and the worst single-day civilian death toll in Lebanon
since cross-border hostilities began in October -- raised fears of a broader
conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The cross-border violence has killed at
least 253 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also
including 37 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have
been killed, according to the Israeli army.
Lebanon family 'invited to dinner' finds death in Israel
strike
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/February 15, 2024
Hussein Berjawi had invited his daughter, her husband and their two young sons
to dinner in south Lebanon, but an Israeli strike nearly wiped them all out.
At least five family members -- Hussein Barjawi, his daughters Amani and Zeinab,
his sister Fatima and Zeinab's son Mahmoud Amer -- were killed in the strike on
the city of Nabatiyeh. It was the bloodiest civilian toll from a single strike
on Lebanon since cross-border hostilities erupted in October between Israel and
Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement. And the death toll could go even higher,
with NNA reporting that Berjawi's wife and niece were still unaccounted for,
while Hussein Amer, a small boy, was pulled alive from the rubble. Amin Shomar,
a local official in south Lebanon, said Ali Amer, his wife and their two sons,
aged three and four, had been "invited over to his father-in-law's house in
Nabatiyeh for dinner".Amer was "badly wounded" in the strike and was taken to
hospital, Shomar told AFP, while his wife and son were killed and his other son
was pulled out from the rubble alive. Video circulating on social media
purportedly showed the rescue of the boy, his face bloody and wearing a blue
tracksuit, a mattress among the debris beside him. An AFP photographer said the
ground and first floors of the three-storey residential building were hit, with
pieces of furniture strewn among the rubble.
Authorities had cordoned off the area as the search continued, he added.
Schools, universities and local administrative offices in Nabatiyeh were closed
on Thursday following the attack. The Israeli military and the Hezbollah have
been trading near daily cross-border fire since the Israel-Hamas war broke out
in October. The Lebanese group saying it is acting in support of Palestinians.
Shock
Ten people including two Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli strikes in
south Lebanon on Wednesday, the NNA and the group said, while an Israeli soldier
was killed by unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon. A woman, her child, aged two,
and stepchild, 13, in the village of Souaneh were among those killed in the
Israeli strikes Wednesday, according to the NNA. Tarek Mroueh, 35, who works in
a pharmaceutical company, expressed shock at the sudden violence that rocked his
neighborhood in Nabatiyeh. He said he initially thought a Hezbollah member's
house might have been targeted. "But then we learnt that it was Hussein
Berjawi's building. He's a civilian, not affiliated with any political party,"
Mroueh said. Mohammed Bdeir, a mechanic whose workshop is nearby, said that
"civilians were targeted and everybody knows it"."There is no military objective
here," the 67-year-old added. Hussein Badir, a neighbor of the Berjawi family,
said he and other neighbors had rushed to the street to dig through the rubble.
He said the family was “decent and respectable" and "not involved in
anything.”For Badir, the strike brought back memories of Israeli bombardment
during its 2006 war with Hezbollah and also during a 1996 offensive. “Nobody is
doing anything to help us,” he said. “It’s our right to defend ourselves in our
country in Lebanon.”Nabatiyeh had been relatively spared the cross-border
violence until last week. An Israeli drone strike on a car seriously wounded a
Hezbollah commander in the city on February 8, sources on both side of the
frontier said, with the group firing a salvo of rockets at northern Israel in
response. The cross-border hostilities have killed at least 254 people on the
Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 38 civilians,
according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians
have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
Berri urges int'l community to 'stop Israeli killing
machine'
Naharnet/February 15, 2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday described Israel’s deadly drone
strike on a building in Nabatiyeh as “a new massacre” that Israel has added to
“its record that is full of murder, terrorism and genocidal wars.”Lamenting a
“premeditated massacre,” Berri called on the international envoys who are
visiting Lebanon, the United Nations and human rights organizations to address
“the bloodshed in Nabatiyeh, Houla, Sawwaneh and Adshit.” “Don’t condemn and
deplore but rather act instantly to stop the Israeli killing machine and rein in
the leaders of the occupation entity who are taking the region to a destructive
war,” the Speaker added. Seven civilians and three Hezbollah fighters including
a commander were killed in the overnight strike in Nabatiyeh. The raid resulted
in the highest civilian death toll in a single strike in Lebanon since
cross-border hostilities began in October, raising fears of a broader conflict
between Israel and Hezbollah. A woman and two children were killed in a strike
the same day on the southern town of Sawwaneh. The cross-border violence has
killed at least 257 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters
but also including 38 civilians.
Qaouq says Hezbollah to meet 'escalation with escalation'
Associated Press/February 15, 2024
Senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said Thursday at an event in south
Lebanon that his group is “prepared for the possibility of expanding the war”
with Israel, a day after the fiercest escalation since the beginning of clashes.
Hezbollah will meet “escalation with escalation, displacement with displacement,
and destruction with destruction,” Qaouq warned. At least 10 civilians were
killed and several others were wounded in Israeli airstrikes Wednesday across
south Lebanon. The airstrikes followed the death of an Israeli soldier and the
wounding of seven others in a rocket attack on the Israeli army’s northern
headquarters in Safad, some 12 kilometers away from the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the attack but many of its
officials have vowed a response to the killing of civilians. The cross-border
violence has killed at least 254 people on the Lebanese side, most of them
Hezbollah fighters but also including 38 civilians.
Mikati condemns Israeli strikes that killed 10 civilians in
single day
Naharnet/February 15, 2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned Thursday the escalation as more
Israeli strikes were reported in south Lebanon. "At a time where we are
insisting on calm and call all sides to not escalate, we find the Israeli enemy
extending its aggression," read a statement from Mikati's office. The fatalities
Wednesday marked a significant escalation in more than four months of daily
cross-border exchanges since Oct. 8. Ten people, mostly women and children, were
killed in Israeli airstrikes on Nabatiyeh and Souaneh. Three Hezbollah fighters
were also killed Wednesday. Government institutions, schools and the Lebanese
University closed on Thursday in Nabatiyeh as a security precaution. In the
northern Israeli town of Safed, a female Israeli soldier was killed and eight
others were wounded by rockets fired from Lebanon Wednesday. Hezbollah did not
claim the strike.
Mikati said Lebanon will file a complaint to the U.N. Security Council against
Israel.
Sami Gemayel condemns Israel, criticizes Hezbollah over
Nabatiyeh massacre
Naharnet/February 15, 2024
Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday stressed that “all the Israeli
excuses for targeting civilians are rejected and condemned,” hours after ten
Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across south Lebanon. “The
bill for the theories of ‘supporting Gaza’ and ‘distracting Israel’ should not
be paid by innocent Lebanese,” Gemayel said in a post on the X platform,
apparently hitting out at Hezbollah’s arguments for its involvement in the
ongoing conflict. “The residents of the South are daily paying from their blood,
souls and properties the price of a war imposed on them by Hezbollah following a
unilateral decision,” Gemayel added. “Yesterday it was the turn of Nabatiyeh,
where children and mothers fell as martyrs, and we offer warm condolences to
their families,” he said. The raid late Wednesday in Nabatiyeh resulted in the
highest civilian death toll in a single strike in Lebanon since cross-border
hostilities began in October, raising fears of a broader conflict between Israel
and Hezbollah. The cross-border violence has killed at least 254 people on the
Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 38 civilians.
Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February
15-16/2024
World leaders urge Israel to avoid 'catastrophic' Rafah operation
Agence France Presse./February 15, 2024
Israel's vow to push ahead with a "powerful" operation in Gaza's Rafah was met
with a growing chorus of international condemnation Thursday, with leaders
warning against catastrophic consequences for the 1.5 million Palestinians
trapped there. Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel "not to go down
this path", issuing a rare joint statement in the latest urgent appeal seeking
to avert further mass civilian casualties. "An expanded military operation would
be devastating," they said. "There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go."
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been driven into Gaza's
southernmost city by Israel's relentless military campaign, seeking shelter in a
sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egypt border. Despite pressure from
foreign governments and aid agencies not to invade, Israel insists it must push
into Rafah and eliminate Hamas battalions. "We will fight until complete victory
and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian
population to leave the battle zones," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in
a statement on Wednesday. His threats of an imminent incursion come as mediators
race for a truce in the four-month-old war, which has flattened vast swathes of
Gaza, displaced most of the territory's population and pushed people to the
brink of starvation. Should the Israeli assault on Rafah go ahead, the risk of
atrocities is "serious, real and high", the United Nations' special adviser on
the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, said Wednesday.
'Delusional demands' -
In Cairo, mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt are seeking to
broker a deal that would suspend fighting and see the release of the roughly 130
hostages still in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
"Israel did not receive in Cairo any new proposal of Hamas on the release of our
hostages," Netanyahu's office said in a statement following Israeli media
reports that the country's delegation was told not to rejoin negotiations until
Hamas softens its stance. While he did not comment directly on the reports,
Netanyahu said: "I insist that Hamas drop their delusional demands, and when
they drop these demands we can move forward." On Tuesday, CIA director William
Burns joined the talks with David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence
service, while a Hamas delegation was in Cairo Wednesday. Palestinian Authority
president Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, called on
Hamas to "rapidly" agree to a truce and stave off further tragedy for
Palestinians. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation meanwhile revealed that
its director, Christopher Wray, had made an unannounced trip to Israel to meet
with the country's law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Wray also met with
FBI agents based in Tel Aviv, according to a statement from the bureau.
Hospitals 'besieged' -
While truce negotiations enter their third day, Israel's military has kept up
its bombardment of Gaza. On Thursday, the Hamas-run ministry of health said 107
people, "mostly women and children," were killed in overnight attacks. One
person was killed and several wounded in shelling on Nasser Hospital's
orthopaedics department, it added. The medical facility, the largest in southern
Gaza, has been the site of heavy fighting for weeks. Doctors Without Borders has
condemned the Israeli military's order to evacuate thousands of patients, staff
and displaced people from the hospital. The organization said its staff are
continuing to treat patients there "amid near impossible conditions". Nurse
Mohammed al-Astal told AFP the facility had been "besieged" for a month, with no
food or drinking water left. "At night, tanks opened heavy fire on the hospital
and snipers on the roofs of buildings surrounding Nasser Hospital opened fire
and killed three displaced people," he said. The World Health Organization has
said it was denied access to the hospital and lost contact with its staff there,
while its Palestine representative said most of the organization's mission
requests have been denied since January. Speaking from Rafah, Rik Peeperkorn
said Gaza's hospitals were "completely overwhelmed". Patients were frequently
undergoing unnecessary amputations of limbs that could have been saved under
ordinary circumstances, he said. The United Nations said a week ago there were
no fully functioning hospitals left in Gaza, where more than 68,200 people have
been wounded according to the latest Gaza health ministry toll. The ministry
says at least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have been killed during
Israel's assault on the Palestinian territory since October 7. The Hamas attack
that launched the war resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel,
mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
'War in the north'
With regional tensions high, the Israeli army said Wednesday that rocket fire
from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier, while Lebanese sources said Israeli
strikes had killed nine people, seven of them civilians. Since the outbreak of
the Israel-Hamas war, Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli troops,
with tens of thousands displaced on both sides. But the worst single-day
civilian death toll in Lebanon since October raised fears of a broader conflict
between Israel and militant group Hezbollah. After meeting commanders near the
Lebanese border, Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said Israel is "now focused on
being ready for war in the north".
Families of hostages demand Netanyahu immediately continue hostage negotiations
Lauren Irwin/The Hill./February 15, 2024
The family members of hostages taken by Hamas demanded Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu immediately continue negotiations Thursday, as efforts for a
cease-fire have stalled. “We want a deal. As members of hostage families, we
want our family members home immediately. If there’s not a deal immediately,
then we want to see the people who need to be at the negotiating table come back
to the table,” Abbey Onn, the cousin of one of the hostages, said in a
statement. “We need to see Israel at the table with their partners and trying to
make diplomacy work.”
Onn and other family members gathered for a virtual press conference Thursday to
press Netanyahu after he rejected Hamas’s response to secure the release of
hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting. Netanyahu accused Hamas of
dragging the negotiations by having “delusional” demands. His remarks came after
reports found that he ordered his Israeli delegation to stop negotiations in
Egypt. Israel did not receive a new proposal from Hamas militants in Cairo, and
called for them to change their proposal, The Associated Press reported. Of the
more than 200 hostages taken on Oct. 7, there are about 130 remaining and about
a fourth of them are said to be dead, The AP noted. Family members are concerned
that Netanyahu isn’t listening to their demands, and argued they must speak with
the war cabinet, as Israeli soldiers prepare to enter the southern city of Rafah
in Gaza, which is sheltering more than 1.5 million Palestinians. Netanyahu has
consistently called for Hamas to release hostages and vowed to use military
force to demolish Hamas in order to get the remaining hostages back, but
relatives are questioning his motives. Since Israel launched its
counteroffensive, more than 28,000 Palestinians have died, the Gaza Health
Ministry reported. “If the Prime Minister was committed to releasing the
hostages, there would be a team in Cairo negotiating,” Liz Naftali, the great
aunt of a former hostage, said in a statement.
Leaders of Egypt and Brazil call for Gaza ceasefire
Associated Press/February 15/2024
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and
reiterated their support for an independent Palestinian state. “We agreed on the
importance of a cease-fire in the Gaza strip and the release of (Israeli)
hostages and (Palestinian) prisoners and the passage of as much humanitarian aid
as possible in order to preserve the lives of civilians,” al-Sisi said in a news
conference attended by Lula in Cairo. The Brazilian leader was visiting Egypt as
part of a trip strengthening relations with Africa. “Peace cannot be achieved
without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Lula told
reporters. He also said his country supported the genocide case filed by South
Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice. “Brazil had
strongly denounced the Hamas attack on Israel and we called it a terrorist
attack," Lula said. "However, there is no justification for the way Israel
reacted. Unfortunately, it is killing women and children.”
Israel complains after Vatican denounces 'carnage' in Gaza
Associated Press/February 15/2024
Israel has formally complained after a senior Vatican official spoke of
"carnage" in Gaza and what he termed a disproportionate Israeli military
operation following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The Israeli Embassy to the Holy
See called the comments by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of
state, "regrettable." In a statement Wednesday, the embassy said Parolin hadn't
considered what it called the relevant facts in judging the legitimacy of
Israel's actions. Speaking Tuesday at a reception, Parolin condemned the Oct. 7
Hamas attacks against Israel and all forms of antisemitism. But he questioned
Israel's claim to be acting in self-defense by inflicting "carnage" on Gaza.
"Israel's right to self-defense has been invoked to justify that this operation
is proportional, but with 30,000 dead, it's not," he said. Israel has objected
previously to the Vatican position on the war, including when Pope Francis spoke
about "terrorism." Francis, who speaks daily via videoconference to a Gaza
parish housing Palestinian civilians, has since tried to be more balanced in his
comments and recently wrote a letter to the Jewish people in which he reaffirmed
the special relationship between Christians and Jews. In its statement
complaining about Parolin, the Israeli Embassy accused Hamas of turning the Gaza
Strip into "the biggest terrorist base ever seen." It said Israeli armed forces
were acting according to international law and said the proportion of
Palestinian civilians to "terrorists" killed was less than in other conflicts in
Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Italian language statement originally
emailed to Vatican journalists, the embassy used the term "deplorevole" or
deplorable to describe Parolin's comments. On Thursday, the embassy clarified
that its original statement was written in English and had referred to Parolin's
comments as "regrettable." In a front-page editorial Thursday in the Vatican
newspaper L'Osservatore Romano titled "Stop the Carnage," Vatican editorial
director Andrea Tornielli doubled down on the Vatican position. Tornielli quoted
a Rome-based Holocaust survivor, Edith Bruck, who has been highly critical of
the Israeli government's response, which she has blamed for the rise in
antisemitic acts against Jews around the world. "No one can define what is
happening in the Strip as 'collateral damage' from the fight against terrorism,"
Tornielli wrote. "The right of defense, the right of Israel to ensure justice
for those responsible for the October massacre, cannot justify this carnage."
Israel is urging the top UN court to reject a new South African request on Gaza
provisional orders
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)/February 15, 2024
Israel on Thursday urged the United Nations’ highest court to reject an urgent
South African request to consider whether Israel’s military operations targeting
the southern Gaza city of Rafah breach provisional orders the court handed down
last month in a case alleging genocide.
South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to decide whether Israel’s
strikes on Rafah, and its intention to launch a ground offensive on the city
where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, breaches both the U.N. Genocide
Convention and preliminary orders handed down by the court last month in a case
accusing Israel of genocide. In a three-page submission released Thursday by the
court, Israel labeled the new South African request “ highly peculiar and
improper."It goes on to say the request is “evidence of a renewed and cynical
effort by South Africa to use provisional measures as a sword, rather than a
shield, and to manipulate the Court to protect South Africa’s longtime ally
Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization, from Israel’s inherent right and
obligation to defend itself” and seek to free the more than 130 hostages still
being held by Hamas.Israel strongly denies committing genocide in Gaza and says
it does all it can to spare civilians and is only targeting Hamas militants. It
says Hamas’ tactic of embedding in civilian areas makes it difficult to avoid
civilian casualties. Israel’s assault has wrought destruction in Gaza, with more
than 28,000 people killed, over 70% of them women, children and young teens,
according to local health officials in the Hamas-controlled enclave. Around 80%
of the population has been displaced and the U.N. says more than a quarter of
Palestinians in Gaza are being pushed toward starvation.
Israel says it has killed thousands of militants in its aim of crushing Hamas in
retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel. About 1,200 people,
mostly civilians, were killed and 250 were taken hostage. In a statement
Tuesday, South Africa’s government called Rafah “the last refuge for surviving
people in Gaza.” It asked the top U.N. court to consider using its powers to
issue additional preliminary orders telling Israel to halt the deaths and
destruction there. South Africa already alleged Israel is committing genocide
against the Palestinian people in its war against the Hamas militant group in
Gaza and filed a case with the world court in December. A ruling on the genocide
allegation could take years. In its latest submission to the world court, Israel
says South Africa “now seeks essentially to relitigate — through a truncated
process in which it alarmingly sought to deprive Israel of the right to be heard
— what the Court has only recently considered and decided” following hearings
last month. Israel says that the situation in Gaza is “not qualitatively
different” to what South Africa claimed in its original request for urgent
measures and says South Africa misuses one of the court's rules in filing its
latest request. “What is more, nothing in South Africa’s present request
establishes that the provisional measures already indicated by the Court would
no longer be sufficient,” Israel's document says. It also notes that the request
came “less than three weeks after the Court delivered its Order indicating
provisional measures, and a very short time prior to the due date for the
submission by Israel of a report pursuant to that Order.” It is not clear when
the court will make a decision on South Africa's request.
Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation −
prewar policies made them vulnerable in the first place
Yara M. Asi, University of Central Florida/The Conversation/Thu,
February 15, 2024
The stories of hunger emerging from war-ravaged Gaza are stark: People resorting
to grinding barely edible cattle feed to make flour; desperate residents eating
grass; reports of cats being hunted for food. The numbers involved are just as
despairing. The world’s major authority on food insecurity, the IPC Famine
Review Committee, estimates that 90% of Gazans – some 2.08 million people – are
facing acute food insecurity. Indeed, of the people facing imminent starvation
in the world today, an estimated 95% are in Gaza. As an expert in Palestinian
public health, I fear the situation may not have hit its nadir. In January 2024,
many of the top funders to UNRWA, the U.N.’s refugee agency that provides the
bulk of services to Palestinians in Gaza, suspended donations to the agency in
response to allegations that a dozen of the agency’s 30,000 employees were
possibly involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. The agency has indicated
that it will no longer be able to offer services starting in March and will lose
its ability to distribute food and other vital supplies during that month. With
at least 28,000 people confirmed dead and an additional 68,000 injured, Israeli
bombs have already had a catastrophic human cost in Gaza – starvation could be
the next tragedy to befall the territory. Indeed, two weeks after Israel
initiated a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip, Oxfam International
reported that only around 2% of the usual amount of food was being delivered to
residents in the territory. At the time, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East
director, commented that “there can be no justification for using starvation as
a weapon of war.” But four months later, the siege continues to restrict the
distribution of adequate aid.
Putting Palestinians ‘on a diet’
Israeli bombs have destroyed homes, bakeries, food production factories and
grocery stores, making it harder for people in Gaza to offset the impact of the
reduced imports of food. But food insecurity in Gaza and the mechanisms that
enable it did not start with Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack. A U.N.
report from 2022 found that a year before the latest war, 65% of Gazans were
food insecure, defined as lacking regular access to enough safe and nutritious
food. Multiple factors contributed to this food insecurity, not least the
blockade of Gaza imposed by Israel and enabled by Egypt since 2007. All items
entering the Gaza Strip, including food, become subject to Israeli inspection,
delay or denial. Basic foodstuff was allowed, but because of delays at the
border, it can spoil before it enters Gaza. A 2009 investigation by Israeli
newspaper Ha'aretz found that foods as varied as cherries, kiwi, almonds,
pomegranates and chocolate were prohibited entirely. At certain points, the
blockade, which Israel claims is an unavoidable security measure, has been
loosened to allow import of more foods; for example, in 2010 Israel started to
permit potato chips, fruit juices, Coca-Cola and cookies.
By placing restrictions on food imports, Israel seems to be trying to put
pressure on Hamas by making life difficult for the people in Gaza. In the words
of one Israeli government adviser in 2006, “The idea is to put the Palestinians
on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”
To enable this, the Israeli government commissioned a 2008 study to work out
exactly how many calories Palestinians would need to avoid malnutrition. The
report was released to the public only following a 2012 legal battle. The
blockade also increased food insecurity by preventing meaningful development of
an economy in Gaza. The U.N. cites the “excessive production and transaction
costs and barriers to trade with the rest of the world” imposed by Israel as the
primary cause of severe underdevelopment in the occupied territories, including
Gaza. As a result, in late 2022 the unemployment rate in Gaza stood at around
50%. This, coupled with a steady increase in the cost of food, makes affording
food difficult for many Gazan households, rendering them dependent on aid, which
fluctuates frequently.
Hampering self-sufficency
More generally, the blockade and the multiple rounds of destruction of parts of
the Gaza Strip have made food sovereignty in the territory nearly impossible.
Much of Gaza’s farmland is along the so-called “no-go zones,” which Israel had
rendered inaccessible to Palestinians, who risk being shot if they attempt to
access these areas. Gaza’s fishermen are regularly shot at by Israeli gunboats
if they venture farther in the Mediterranean Sea than Israel permits. Because
the fish closer to the shore are smaller and less plentiful, the average income
of a fisherman in Gaza has more than halved since 2017. Meanwhile, much of the
infrastructure needed for adequate food production – greenhouses, arable lands,
orchards, livestock and food production facilities – have been destroyed or
heavily damaged in various rounds of bombing in Gaza. And international donors
have hesitated to hastily rebuild facilities when they cannot guarantee their
investment will last more than a few years before being bombed again. The latest
siege has only further crippled the ability of Gaza to be food self-sufficient.
By early December 2023, an estimated 22% of agricultural land had been
destroyed, along with factories, farms, and water and sanitation facilities. And
the full scale of the destruction may not be clear for months or years.
Meanwhile, Israel’s flooding of the tunnels under parts of the Gaza Strip with
seawater risks killing remaining crops, leaving the land too salty and rendering
it unstable and prone to sinkholes.
Starvation as weapon of war
Aside from the many health effects of starvation and malnutrition, especially on
children, such conditions make people more vulnerable to disease – already a
significant concern for those living in the overcrowded shelters where people
have been forced to flee. In response to the current hunger crisis in Gaza, Alex
de Waal, author of “Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine,” has made
clear: “While it may be possible to bomb a hospital by accident, it is not
possible to create a famine by accident.” He argues that the war crime of
starvation does not need to include outright famine – merely the act of
depriving people of food, medicine and clean water is sufficient. The use of
starvation is strictly forbidden under the Geneva Conventions, a set of statutes
that govern the laws of warfare. Starvation has been condemned by United Nations
Resolution 2417, which decried the use of deprivation of food and basic needs of
the civilian population and compelled parties in conflict to ensure full
humanitarian access. Human Rights Watch has already accused Israel of using
starvation as a weapon of war, and as such it accuses the Israeli government of
a war crime. The Israeli government in turn continues to blame Hamas for any
loss of life in Gaza. Yet untangling what Israel’s intentions may be – whether
it is using starvation as a weapon of war, to force mass displacement, or if, as
it claims, it is simply a byproduct of war – does little for the people on the
ground in Gaza. They require immediate intervention to stave off catastrophic
outcomes. As one father in Gaza reported, “We are forced to eat one meal a day –
the canned goods that we get from aid organizations. No one can afford to buy
anything for his family. I see children here crying from hunger, including my
own children.” This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit,
independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to
help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Yara M. Asi,
University of Central Florida.
Israeli forces storm Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
after prolonged standoff
Associated Press/February 15, 2024
Israeli forces stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours
after Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex,
the Gaza Health Ministry said. The raid came a day after the army sought to
evacuate thousands of displaced people who had taken shelter at the Nasser
Hospital in Khan Younis. The southern city has been the main target of Israel's
offensive against Hamas in recent weeks. Separately, Israeli airstrikes killed
at least 13 people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, 10 civilians — mostly women
and children — and three fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an
ally of Gaza's Hamas militants. The strikes came just hours after a rocket
attack from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier in what was the deadliest of daily
exchanges of fire along the border since the Oct. 7 start of the war in Gaza. It
also underscored the risks of a broader conflict. Negotiations over a cease-fire
in Gaza appear to have stalled, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has vowed to continue the offensive until Hamas is destroyed and scores of
hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war are returned.
SCENES OF PANIC IN A HOSPITAL WARD
Nasser Hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, has been the latest focus
of operations that have gutted Gaza's health sector as it struggles to treat
scores of patients wounded in daily bombardments. Israel accuses Hamas of using
hospitals and other civilian structures to shield its fighters.
Video of the aftermath of the strike showed medics scrambling to wheel patients
on stretchers through a corridor filled with smoke or dust. A medic used a
cellphone flashlight to illuminate a darkened room where a wounded man screamed
out in pain as gunfire echoed outside. The Associated Press could not
authenticate the videos but they were consistent with its reporting. Dr. Khaled
Alserr, one of the remaining surgeons at Nasser Hospital, told the AP that the
seven patients hit early Thursday were already being treated for past wounds. On
Wednesday, a doctor was lightly wounded when a drone opened fire on the upper
stories of the hospital, he said.
"The situation is escalating every hour and every minute," he said.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it had opened a secure corridor for
displaced people to leave the hospital but would allow doctors and patients to
remain there. Videos circulating online showed scores of people walking out of
the facility on foot carrying their belongings on their shoulders.
The military had ordered the evacuation of Nasser Hospital and surrounding areas
last month. But as with other health facilities, medics said patients were
unable to safely leave or be relocated, and thousands of people displaced by
fighting elsewhere remained there. Palestinians say nowhere is safe in the
besieged territory, as Israel continues to carry out strikes in all parts of it.
"People have been forced into an impossible situation," said Lisa Macheiner of
the aid group Doctors Without Borders, which has staff in the hospital. "Stay at
Nasser Hospital against the Israeli military's orders and become a potential
target, or exit the compound into an apocalyptic landscape where bombings and
evacuation orders are a part of daily life."
NO END IN SIGHT TO THE MONTHSLONG WAR
The war began when Hamas militants burst through Israel's formidable defenses on
Oct. 7 and rampaged through several communities, killing some 1,200 people and
taking another 250 hostage. More than 100 of the captives were freed during a
cease-fire last year in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Around 130 captives remain in Gaza, a fourth of whom are believed to be dead.
Netanyahu has come under intense pressure from families of the hostages and the
wider public to make a deal to secure their freedom, but his far-right coalition
partners could bring down his government if he is seen as being too soft on
Hamas.
Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attack by launching one of the deadliest and most
destructive military campaigns in recent history. Over 28,000 Palestinians have
been killed, 80% of the population have fled their homes and a quarter are
starving amid a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. Large areas in northern
Gaza, the first target of the offensive, have been completely destroyed Hamas
has continued to attack Israeli forces in all parts of Gaza, and says it will
not release all the remaining captives until Israel ends its offensive and
withdraws. Hamas is also demanding the release of a large number of Palestinian
prisoners, including top militants. Netanyahu has rejected those demands,
calling them "delusional," and says Israel will soon expand its offensive into
Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, on the Egyptian border. Over half of Gaza's
population of 2.3 million has sought refuge in Rafah after fleeing fighting
elsewhere in the coastal enclave. At least 28,576 Palestinians have been killed
since the war began, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health
Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Over
68,000 people have been wounded in the war. In northern Israel, meanwhile, a
rocket attack killed a female soldier and wounded eight people when one of the
projectiles hit a military base in the town of Safed on Wednesday. Israel
carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon in response that killed three
Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians, including six women and three children.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire along the border nearly every day since
the start of the war in Gaza. Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for
Wednesday's rocket attack.
Blinken offers condolences on reported killings of two Americans in West Bank
and calls for investigation
Jennifer Hansler, CNN/February 15, 2024
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday offered his “deepest
condolences” to the families of two Palestinian-American teenagers “who
reportedly were killed” in the West Bank and said that there must be an
investigation into their deaths. “We’ve made clear that with regard to the
incidents you’ve alluded to, there needs to be an investigation. We need to get
the facts. And if appropriate, there needs to be accountability,” Blinken said
at a press conference in Albania in response to a question from CNN’s Alex
Marquardt. Two 17-year-old Palestinian-Americans were reportedly killed in the
West Bank by Israeli forces in less than a month. 17-year-old Mohammad Ahmed
Mohammad Khdour was shot in the head by Israeli forces on Saturday while
traveling by car in the town of Biddu, according to the organization “Defense
for Children – Palestine.” CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces
about the reported shooting. The US Office of Palestinian Affairs said in a post
on X that it was “devastated by the killing.”Last month, another American,
17-year-old Tawfic Abdel, was fatally shot in the head, according to Palestinian
news agency WAFA. The IDF and Israeli police told CNN that they had opened an
investigation into the incident. A number of American citizens have also been
detained by Israeli forces in recent weeks. Blinken would not give details on
their cases, citing privacy laws.
“I can just say in general, without reference to specific cases, we insist that
people be treated fairly, that they be treated with due process, and that they
be treated humanely,” he said. “That’s something that, regardless of where an
American citizen might be detained, we insist on. And we’ll continue to insist
on.”
Two Americans, Hashem Alagha, 20, and Borak Alagha, 18, were detained by Israeli
forces during a raid of a home in Gaza last week, according to a family member
in the United States. An American woman, Samaher Esmail, was taken from her home
in the West Bank and detained more than a week ago by Israeli forces. Her family
alleges that she was beaten and denied medication in custody. A spokesperson for
the Israel Prison Service told CNN that she is “being held in accordance with
the law” and “given medical treatment for medical problems that arose even
before her arrest.”In a statement to CNN Tuesday, the IDF said Esmail was
arrested during “a battalion operation that took place in the area of the
village of Silwad to arrest terror suspects” on February 5. “All those arrested
in the operation were transferred to the security forces for further treatment,”
the IDF said. The IDF did not address the family’s claims about Esmail’s
mistreatment in custody and referred further questions to the Israel Prison
Service, to whom CNN has reached out. The IDF response also did not provide
further details about the alleged “incitement on social media.”According to the
family, Esmail was detained because of “10-year-old Facebook posts and political
cartoons she shared.”Posts from Esmail’s Facebook seen by CNN show cartoons
favorably depicting Hamas and two photos of her holding a gun. Family
spokesperson Jonathan Franks said the gun is in Louisiana, where Esmail also
resides and legally owns the firearm.
“Ms. Esmail’s opinions may be disfavored in Israel proper, but the inescapable
reality is they were protected speech which no rational person could consider an
incitement to violence,” the statement released by Franks on behalf of the
family said.
US conducted cyberattack on suspected Iranian spy ship, NBC
News reports
Reuters/February 15, 2024
The United States conducted a cyberattack recently against an Iranian military
ship in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that had been collecting intelligence
on cargo vessels, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing three U.S. officials.
The cyberattack took place a week ago as part of a government response to a
drone attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that killed three U.S. service
members in Jordan late last month and wounded dozens of others, the report said.
NBC reported that the operation was intended to inhibit the ship’s ability to
share intelligence with Houthi militants in Yemen. The Iran-aligned Houthi, who
control the most populous parts of Yemen, have launched a wave of exploding
drones and missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in
recent weeks, calling it a response to Israel's military operations in Gaza and
a show of solidarity with Palestinians. The attacks have slowed trade between
Asia and Europe and raised fears of supply bottlenecks. The U.S. military has
responded with strikes against the group. President Joe Biden said in January
that strikes on Houthi targets would continue even as he acknowledged they may
not be halting their attacks.The White House National Security Council did not
immediately respond to a request for comment on the NBC News report.
Germany Says Turkey and Greece to Join Missile-Defense Plan
Bloomberg/February 15, 2024
Turkey and Greece will formally join a German-led missile-defense project
Thursday, taking the number of members of the so-called European Sky Shield
Initiative to 21, according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. “This is
a considerable number in such a short time,” Pistorius told reporters before a
meeting with his NATO counterparts in Brussels. The push to bolster Europe’s air
defenses by the government in Berlin was first announced by German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz in a speech in Prague in August 2022. It involves countries jointly
procuring air- and missile-defense systems and is designed to increase cost
efficiency and flexibility. However, the move has upset France, which has not
joined up, because it wants European nations to purchase systems made by the
continent’s own contractors rather than rely partly on equipment produced in the
US and Israel. Both Greek Defense Minister Nikolaos Dendias and the Turkish
Defense Ministry confirmed a signing ceremony would take place Thursday.
Pistorius also told reporters that he’ll sign a purchase contract Thursday with
his Slovenian counterpart for an IRIS-T SLM air-defense system.
France and Ukraine to sign a security agreement in Paris in
the presence of President Zelenskyy
PARIS (AP)/February 15, 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron will sign a bilateral security agreement with
his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Friday in Paris to provide
“long-term support” to the war-ravaged country which has been battling Russia's
full-scale invasion for nearly two years. The French presidency said in a
statement Thursday that Macron and Zelenskyy's bilateral meeting in late
afternoon will be followed by a news conference and a working dinner at the
Elysee presidential palace. It did not release specific details about the
agreement. Macron said earlier this year that France was negotiating a bilateral
deal on the model the one Ukraine recently agreed with the United Kingdom, which
covers 10 years and provides a package worth 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion)
over the next fiscal year. It is the largest the U.K. has given to Ukraine since
the war began. A French official, speaking anonymously because he was not
allowed to disclosed the details of the deal, said the agreement aims to
“provide long-term support” to Ukraine as well as sending a "message of
determination." He said it was part of a “collective approach” from the Group of
Seven most advanced economies, as per commitments made at a NATO summit in
Vilnius, Lithuania, in July. The Group of Seven then vowed to provide weapons
and military equipment, including combat airpower, as well as more military
training for Ukraine’s beleaguered army. Zelenskyy asked that these assurances
last at least until Ukraine joins NATO. The French-Ukrainian agreement will
include financial and economic support, in addition to military and security
commitments, the official said. This will be Zelenskyy's third visit to Paris
since the Russian invasion, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago,
following his trips in February and May 2023. The French presidency said Macron
and Zelenskyy will discuss the situation on the front line, Ukraine’s military,
economic and humanitarian needs, as well as negotiations on the country's
efforts to join the European Union, which France fully supports. Ukraine's
presidential office said Zelenskyy will also visit Germany on Friday, where he
will meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, before traveling to Paris. On
Saturday, he will take part in the Munich Security Conference, where he will
hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines, including with U.S. Vice President
Kamala Harris, Czech President Petr Pavel, Danish Prime Minister Mette
Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the statement said. Zelenskyy's
trip also comes after leaders of the 27 European Union countries sealed a deal
earlier this month to provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in
support for its battered economy.
UN Envoy: Military Escalation in Red Sea Slows Down
Peace Efforts in Yemen
Asharq Al Awsat/February 15/2024
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, has warned of the dangers of
military escalation in the Red Sea and said that tension had begun to slow down
peace efforts in Yemen. “Mediation efforts in Yemen cannot be neatly cordoned
off. What happens regionally impacts Yemen, and what happens in Yemen can impact
the region,” Grundberg said Wednesday at a Security Council briefing on Yemen.
He expressed his gratitude for the roles of Saudi Arabia and Oman in supporting
the UN mediation. "Rising regional tensions linked to the war in Gaza, and in
particular the military escalation in the Red Sea, are slowing down the pace of
the peace efforts in Yemen," he said. The UN envoy urged Yemeni parties to “stop
public provocations and refrain from military opportunism inside Yemen at this
delicate juncture. Escalation in Yemen is a choice.”“The parties need to refocus
on safeguarding the progress made thus far toward reaching an
agreement.”Meanwhile, UK’s Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the Council that
“there is no military solution to this conflict.” “We are cautiously encouraged
to hear the support of parties for peace,” said the diplomat. Woodward warned of
Houthis’ “destabilizing attacks in the Red Sea,” saying they disrupt maritime
shipping and freedom of navigation in the region and risk further regional
escalation. Commenting on the US-British strikes on Houthi sites, the British
Ambassador said the navies attacked targets linked to the Houthis in the Red
Sea, asserting the two nations' commitment to the peace process in Yemen. She
recalled that the UK has committed over $110 million in humanitarian aid during
this financial year.
Visit to Taiz
Yemen’s political parties and the public did not receive the UN Envoy's second
visit to Taiz well, coming from Aden, the temporary capital. The visit was part
of a regional tour to various countries ahead of his briefing to the Security
Council.
Grundberg reiterated his concern about the Houthi escalation in the Red Sea
during his meeting with Taiz’s local authorities, stressing that this escalation
affects the besieged governorate and the efforts to achieve peace and establish
a road map.
The Envoy is seeking to revive the security efforts amid fears that the Houthi
attacks in the Red Sea will affect navigation. He called for continued work to
ensure no return to military action, focus on reducing the escalation in the Red
Sea, overcome all challenges to reach a road map that includes engaging in a
political process, and prepare for a comprehensive peace that the Yemenis seek.
Closed roads
Taiz local authorities announced that Governor Nabil Shamsan discussed the local
situation and efforts to achieve peace with Grundberg, where he focused on the
importance of opening roads to alleviate human suffering. The recent
developments in the Red Sea led to a price hike of goods and foodstuff,
increased transport costs resulting from the blockade, the continuation of the
attacks, and the ongoing escalation on the fronts. Shamsan also called for
accommodating the humanitarian and development needs of the governorate. A
Yemeni government source believed the UN envoy was trying to revive his efforts
before the expected renewal of his mandate, which did not achieve any progress
in the peace efforts, aside from a fragile ceasefire.
New developments
The source, who preferred not to be named, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Grundberg
sought to deliver a warning to the Houthi group to suggest a change in the
international position on the Yemeni crisis and the proposed solutions. Yemeni
writer and researcher Mustafa al-Jabzi said Grundberg’s visit to Taiz reflects a
desire to show that he is concerned more about issues that matter to the public.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the researcher noted that Houthi interventions in
the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden stopped all the Envoy’s efforts, saying his
latest moves were an attempt at salvaging what could be saved. Yemeni writer
Bassem Mansour criticized Grundberg's visit to Taiz, saying it does not achieve
any progress, describing it as a mere opportunity to restore his role and
endeavors.
On the USS Eisenhower, 4 months of combat at sea facing
Houthi missiles and USVs
Associated Press/February 15/2024
Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its
accompanying warships have spent four months straight at sea defending against
ballistic missiles and flying attack drones fired by Iranian-backed Houthis, and
are now more regularly also defending against a new threat — fast unmanned
vessels that are fired at them through the water. While the Houthis have
launched unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, in the past against Saudi coalition
forces that have intervened in Yemen's civil war, they were used for the first
time against U.S. military and commercial in the Red Sea on Jan. 4. In the weeks
since, the Navy has had to intercept and destroy multiple USVs. It's "more of an
unknown threat that we don't have a lot of intel on, that could be extremely
lethal — an unmanned surface vessel," said Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, commander of
Carrier Strike Group Two, of which the Eisenhower is the flagship. The Houthis
"have ways of obviously controlling them just like they do the (unmanned aerial
vehicles), and we have very little little fidelity as to all the stockpiles of
what they have USV-wise," Miguez said. The Houthis began firing on U.S. military
and commercial vessels after a deadly blast at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza on
Oct. 17, a few days after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The rebels have
said they will continue firing on commercial and military vessels transiting the
region until Israel ceases its military operations inside Gaza. The Eisenhower
has been on patrol here since Nov. 4, and some of its accompanying ships have
been on location for even longer, since October. In those months the
Eisenhower's fleet of fighter and surveillance aircraft have worked non-stop to
detect and intercept the missiles and drones fired by the Houthis at ships in
the Red Sea, Bab-al-Mandeb strait and Gulf of Aden. The carriers' F/A-18 fighter
jets are also frequently launched to take out missile sites they detect before
munitions are fired.
As of Wednesday, the carrier strike group, which includes the cruiser USS
Philippine Sea, the destroyers USS Mason and Gravely, and additional U.S. Navy
assets in the region including the destroyers USS Laboon and USS Carney have
conducted more than 95 intercepts of drones, anti-ship ballistic missiles and
anti-ship cruise missiles and made more than 240 self-defense strikes on more
than 50 Houthi targets. On Wednesday, the strike group intercepted and destroyed
seven additional anti-ship cruise missiles and another explosive USV prepared to
launch against vessels in the Red Sea. "We are constantly keeping an eye on what
the Iranian-backed Houthis are up to, and when we find military targets that
threaten the ability of merchant vessels, we act in defense of those ships and
strike them precisely and violently," said Capt. Marvin Scott, commander of the
carrier air wing's eight squadrons of warplanes. But the USV threat, which is
still evolving, is worrisome, Miguez said. "That's one of the most scary
scenarios, to have a bomb-laden, unmanned surface vessel that can go in pretty
fast speeds. And if you're not immediately on scene, it can get ugly extremely
quick," Miguez said.
U.S. Central Command also reported Thursday that the U.S. Coast Guard cutter
Clarence Sutphin Jr. boarded a vessel in the Arabian Sea that was bound for
Yemen on Jan. 28 and seized ballistic missile parts, USV components and military
grade communications equipment. That pace has meant the ships have spent four
months at a constant combat pace with no days off with a port call. That takes a
toll on sailors, the commander of the Eisenhower, Capt. Christopher "Chowdah"
Hill said in an interview with The Associated Press aboard the Eisenhower. The
ship keeps up morale by letting sailors know how important their job is and by
giving them wi-fi access so they can stay connected with their families back
home.
"I was walking through the mess decks the other day and I could hear a baby
crying because someone was teleconferencing with their infant that they haven't
even met yet," Hill said. "It's just extraordinary, that sort of connection."The
destroyers don't have wi-fi because of bandwidth limitations, which can make it
harder for those crews. Joselyn Martinez, a second class gunner's mate aboard
the destroyer Gravely said not being in touch with home and being in a fighting
stance at sea for so long has been hard, "but we have each other's backs
here."When a threat is detected, and an alarm sounds directing the crew to
respond, "it is like a rush of adrenaline," Martinez said. "But at the end of
the day, we just do what we come here to do and, you know, defend my crew and my
ship."
Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on February 15-16/2024
Understanding Islam: Theory vs Practice
Raymond Ibrahim/February 15/2024
The gulf between understanding Islam in theory and in practice is wide and
telling. Based on the findings of a recent study, what Western peoples think of
Islam when relying on secondhand information from the powers-that-be (the media,
the political “elite,” etc.) is vastly different from what they think of Islam
after personally experiencing it. According to the report,
In 2009, Public Issue investigated, for the first time in Greece, the attitudes
of Greeks towards Islam, the social perceptions of the concepts and symbols
associated with the Islamic religion, the degree of knowledge and familiarity of
citizens with the Islamic tradition, as well as the existing social beliefs
regarding Islam-West and Islam-Greece relations. The study found a dramatic
shift of opinion among Greeks between 2009, when Muslims in Greece were few and far between—meaning Greek opinion on Islam was
theoretical and largely shaped by the media, etc.—and 2023, seven years after
large Muslim migrant populations first began landing in or passing through
Greece in 2016.
Now, after experiencing Islam firsthand, “Greek public opinion … treats the
Muslim world clearly more negatively or even hostilely,” the report found.
For example, in 2009, more than 5 out of 10 Greeks held a neutral attitude
towards traditional concepts and symbols of the Islamic world, stating that they
have “neither a positive nor a negative impression” of words associated with
Islam, beginning with the word “Islam” itself. If only 23 percent of Greeks
surveyed associated that word with negative feelings in 2009, by 2023 that
number had more than doubled: now 59 percent of Greeks negatively associate the
word “Islam.” Similar words, including “Arabs,” “Muslims,” “Koran,” “Prophet
Muhammad,” and “mosque” also hold more negative connotations for Greeks than in
2009.
Little wonder. Since 2016, Greeks have had a major taste of Islam, leading to a
“Crime explosion in Greece—55% of prisoners are migrants,” to quote the title of
another recent report.
Aside from the massive spike in general criminality, the hate—from Islam to
Christianity—is especially palpable. As discussed in this 2022 article, there
were 2,339 incidents of church desecrations in Greece between just 2015 and
2020, when the tiny nation, seen as Europe’s eastern gateway, was flooded with
migrants from the Islamic world. One report found “a correlation between the
increase in illegal migration and the incidents of attacks on Greek Orthodox
religious churches and religious spaces during the five year period which
occurred during the peak of the migration crisis.”
Specific examples are many. In 2016, the Church of All Saints in Kallithea near
Athens was set aflame by “Arabic speakers.” In April 2021, Muslim migrants
entered into and utterly desecrated a small church. Proud of their handiwork,
they also videotaped portions of the vandalism and uploaded it on TikTok. Before
being removed, the video showed a topless migrant dancing to rap music as he
walks towards and inside the church. The next clip shows the aftermath:
devastation inside the church, with smashed icons and the altar overthrown.
In 2020, Muslim migrants ransacked and transformed another church into their
personal toilet. “The smell inside is unbearable,” said a local of what was once
the St. Catherine Church in Moria, a small town on the island of Lesvos, which
was overwhelmed with migrants who arrived via Turkey. “[T]he metropolitan of
Mytilene is aware of the situation in the area, nevertheless, he does not wish
to deal with it for his own reasons.”
That 2020 report adds that
This is only the latest incident … [I]t has become extremely common for Greek
Orthodox Churches to be vandalised and attacked by illegal immigrants on Lesvos.
As a deeply religious society, these attacks on churches are shocking to the
Greek people and calls to question whether these illegal immigrants seeking a
new life in Europe are willing to integrate and conform to the norms and values
of their new countries.
In fact, the Greeks of Lesvos are paradigmatic of the change taking place in
Greece:
These continued attacks have ultimately seen the people of Lesvos, who were
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, become increasingly frustrated by
the unresolved situation that has restricted and changed their lives as they no
longer feel safe on their once near crime-free island.
It is further consistent and telling that Greeks polled in 2023 held a stronger
dislike for migrants from those Muslim nations renowned for their “radical”
tendencies—with Pakistan and Afghanistan at the top of the list. No doubt
migrants from those nations, where Christians and other “infidels” are treated
as subhuman and worse, have left an especially lasting impression.
At the same time, it is interesting to note that these changes are not as
dramatic as one might expect. For starters, it should be understood that Greece
is not just any Western nation: due to its proximity to the Muslim world, it has
centuries of horrific experiences with Islam, especially in the guise of the
Ottoman Empire. As such, the average Greek has always had a more negative view
of Islam compared to the average Western European or American. Even in 2009, 67
percent of Greeks believed there was a “clash of cultures” between Christianity
and Islam.
Although public opinion towards Islam is negatively shifting, these changes are
not as pronounced as might be expected—underscoring the power of generations’
worth of indoctrination. In other words, abstract theory—enshrined by the notion
that Islam is the otherwise forever “misunderstood” religion of “peace,” etc.—is
still having an influence. The recent poll found, for example, that “the
percentage of citizens who accept that there is an ‘Islamic danger’ has
increased from 27% in 2009 to [only] 39% today (+12%).”
If this is Greece, what more will Western Europe need to experience to begin
having the same, relatively modest, misgivings about Islam?
Biden’s Age Is a Campaign Problem, Not a Governing One
Michelle Goldberg/The New York Times/February 15/2024
Last fall I found myself at a dinner party that included a former Biden
administration official and a Democratic donor, and the conversation turned,
naturally, to President Biden’s age and his prospects for re-election.
The ex-official said that from inside the White House, where people experience
the policymaking process firsthand, Biden was overwhelmingly seen as an
effective leader who should run again. The donor, on the other hand, saw Biden
mostly at the fund-raisers where watching the president’s meandering speeches
left him terrified about the upcoming campaign.
The gulf in their perceptions, I think, speaks to the fact that Biden’s age has
impaired his ability to campaign much more than his ability to govern, which has
created an impossible dilemma for the Democratic Party.
I have argued since 2022 that Biden shouldn’t run again because he’s too old,
but there’s never been much sign that his advanced age affects his performance
in office. I’m not aware of any leaks from the White House suggesting that Biden
is confused, exhausted or forgetful when setting priorities or making decisions.
It’s not just Democratic partisans who find Biden more impressive up close than
his frail, halting image in the media would suggest. As Politico reported of the
ousted House speaker Kevin McCarthy, “On a particularly sensitive matter,
McCarthy mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public, while privately telling
allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their
conversations.”
There are obviously things Biden does that I disagree with; I wish he’d take a
much harder line with Israel over civilian casualties in Gaza. But while his
reluctance to publicly criticize Israel might stem from an anachronistic view of
the country — Biden likes to talk about the Labor Zionist prime minister Golda
Meir, who left office 50 years ago — his position is a mainstream one in the
Democratic Party and can’t be attributed to senescence.
Because Biden has delivered on many Democratic priorities, there was never any
real push within the party to get him to step aside. But it’s obvious to most
people watching the president from afar that he looks fragile and diminished and
that his well-known propensity for gaffes has gotten worse.
Poll after poll shows that voters are very concerned about his age. That’s why
the special counsel Robert Hur’s gratuitous swipes at Biden as someone who might
seem to a jury like a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor
memory” have caused an epic freakout among Democrats. His words brought to the
surface deep, terrifying doubts about Biden’s ability to do the one part of his
job that matters above all others, which is beating Donald Trump.
That’s true even though the report by Hur, a former Trump appointee tapped by
Merrick Garland to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents, looks
like a partisan hit job. (Democratic attorneys general have a terrible habit of
appointing Republican special counsels in an effort to display their own
impartiality — a type of moral preening that Republican administrations rarely
fall victim to.)
Since Hur decided not to charge Biden with any crimes, his comments about
Biden’s age, particularly his claim that Biden couldn’t remember the year his
son Beau died, seemed designed to shiv him politically. If so, it worked.
Some Democrats are now comparing the media fixation on Biden’s age to the
saturation coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails eight years ago, and there are
similarities.
Trump’s scandals are so multifarious that each one tends to get short shrift,
while his opponents’ weaknesses and missteps can be examined at length precisely
because there are fewer of them. This asymmetry worked to Trump’s advantage in
2016, and it’s helping him now.
But there’s also a crucial difference between Clinton’s emails and Biden’s
years. Clinton’s vulnerability was never really about her insufficient care with
information security protocols. Instead, the emails became a symbol of a
powerful but inchoate sense, magnified by disproportionate press attention, that
she was devious and deceptive. Biden’s age is a much more straightforward issue;
people think he’s too old because of how he looks and sounds. Pretending it’s
not a problem isn’t going to make voters worry about it less; it’s just going to
make them feel they’re being lied to.
Instead, Biden’s campaign should be candid about the challenges of aging —
which, of course, the increasingly incoherent Trump shares — while doing its
best to demonstrate that Biden’s judgment and grasp of complicated issues are
still strong.
That means doing a lot more interviews and events, especially those focused on
policy questions, letting the American people see the version of Biden visible
to those who work with him. He’ll almost certainly make plenty of verbal slips,
but as they pile up, they might start to seem like old news, especially if he’s
not defensive about them.
And if he’s not up for a major change in strategy? It might sound extreme, but
in that case, he should find some medical pretext to step aside in time for a
replacement to be chosen at the Democratic convention. Biden’s greatest
contribution to this country was saving us from another Trump term. If his
unwillingness to face his own limitations now clears the way for Trump’s
restoration, it will be not just a mistake but a tragedy.
A Political & Strategic analysis by Colonel Charbel Baraket addressing,
Israeli PM,
Netanyahu's Peace Regional planes, and Iranian Mullahs' Destructive Schemes
Netanyahu and Iran
Colonel Charbel Barakat/February 16/ 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127087/127087/
Between Netanyahu and Iran lies a long-standing conflict. Since the inception of
the Iranian nuclear project, Netanyahu has been determined to combat it,
convinced that it poses an existential threat to the state of Israel. He has
repeatedly attempted to persuade Western allies, particularly the United States,
of the necessity to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons, which he
believes would lead to the destruction of the entire Middle East, including
Israel. Consequently, Mr. Netanyahu has tried on several occasions to confront
what was initially a pressure lobbying group composed of some Iranian immigrants
within the United States, promoting Iran as a future ally to the West. They
argued that a strong Iran, weakens the large bloc of Islamic countries,
extending from central Asia to the Atlantic Ocean, and from Indonesia to Russia,
consequently controlling the world's largest energy reserves and transportation
routes between Europe, Asia, and Africa. Iran is capable of dividing the Islamic
world between the Shia sect, which the Mullahs and some Middle Eastern
minorities belong to, and the Sunni sect, which the majority of Muslim countries
adhere to.
Mr. Netanyahu, is considered one of the greatest Prime Ministers of Israel, and
in the disguisable patriotic status of Ben Gurion and the founders of the state.
He may soon end his political career and decide to retire, as he will turn
seventy-five this year. He led the right-wing "Likud party" for a long time and
served as Prime Minister for 16 years, the longest tenure for a Prime Minister
in the state of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu, insisted on working to remove the Iranian
“existential threat" that jeopardizes the future of the Hebrew state. He
therefore focused heavily on the issue, especially after it became apparent that
President Obama, who occupied the White House from 2008 to 2016, adopted the
Iranian lobby's idea and somewhat abandoned the traditional US allies in the
Middle East by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and their regimes, and
tolerating the rule of the Mullahs, which excelled greatly. Conversely, Obama's
bias was very clear in the nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) that allowed the release of $150 billion of Iranian funds frozen
in the United States. It later became clear that the Iranian regime used part of
this money to support what was known as the “Nuclear Agreement Lobby”. This
lobbying group hindered President Trump's tenure and prevented him from renewing
his term, leading to Biden's election as president and the return of the Obama
team, which rushed to impose a policy of reconciliation with Tehran trying to
reintroduce the agreement. This encouraged the Iranian regime, which had
expanded into Syria and Iraq, after the rapid withdrawal of the US army ordered
by President Obama and the revolution in Syria. Then extended towards Yemen to
establish a base under the Houthis' umbrella to pressure Saudi Arabia and the
Gulf States and threaten international maritime routes.
During Obama's presidency, Netanyahu's warnings of the great danger posed by
leniency towards Iran fell on deaf ears at the White House. Therefore, he turned
to Congress and then to the Arab Gulf states, which fear Iranian control,
especially after what happened in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia's Qatif, hoping to
find someone who understands his position there. This
facilitated the start of peaceful talks with these countries. However, the
impact of the White House policy and the lobby mentioned above emerged in the
political crisis that followed three consecutive elections in Israel between
2019 and 2020. Which had happened during Trump's turn, Trump himself faced a
paralysis of his capabilities during that period. Afterwards, everyone's focus
on the Covid global crisis, which halted all initiatives. Then efforts tried to
tarnish the PM, Netanyahu’s image and judicial charges were put against him to
keep him preoccupied with personal matters defending himself instead of
defending the country and working to avert the looming danger it faces.
On the Iranian side, Hamas has been reintroduced into the arena despite having
withdrawn from the axe of Syria and Iran during the bloody events in Syria,
which displaced millions of Syrians Sunnis and attempts to alter the
demographics by implanting non-Arab communities loyal to Iran. However,
Netanyahu managed, through an alliance with the religious parties, to form again
the government and attempt to alleviate the pressures of the judiciary by
announcing reforms in the judicial system. But the Iranians did not leave him in
peace; they introduced the principle of "unity of battle arenas" to distract him
from focusing on advancing their nuclear project. The October 7th attack was the
straw that broke the camel's back, reminding the events of 1948 and the Arab
slogan of “throwing the Jews into the sea and kick them back to the countries
they came from”.
Despite the strides made with the Abraham Accords and normalization with the
Gulf states, the recent swift attack, along with the killings and kidnappings
perpetrated by Hamas, has reignited fervor among the Arab populace. This
operation, backed by Iran, garnered support from the Arab street. In contrast,
Netanyahu found himself cast as the defender of his people and state against
these acts of violence, as any retaliatory measures he might take would result
in further horrors. It has become evident that Hamas not only encouraged its
fighters to attack Israeli civilians around Gaza, but also Palestinian
civilians, blurring the line between combatants and non-combatants. This stance
has rendered the reconciled Arab States, participants in the Abraham Accord,
incapable of demanding a cessation of these acts or, of holding Hamas
accountable. Tragedies continue unabated, with little regard for civilian lives
or property, as the perpetrators seek to exploit such events to sway global
opinion in their favor.
On the Lebanese front, Hezbollah initiated provocations and threats without
staging a display similar to Hamas's actions, despite its Secretary-General's
previous statements implying Israel's vulnerability and readiness of Al-Redwan
Forces to pray in Jerusalem. This restraint was influenced by the intervention
of the United States and Western countries, who deployed large forces to prevent
escalation towards Netanyahu's inclination to strike Tehran. Some observers
interpret Biden's mobilization as a move to avert a major war, potentially
involving the United States in striking Iran's nuclear facilities and rallying
Arab countries to support Netanyahu. The aim is to end conflicts in the Middle
East, foster peace agreements, and redirect the battle away from escalation. The
intention was not merely to support Israel but to prevent further escalation and
steer the conflict toward resolution.
The Iranian maneuver, aimed at constraining the response and framing the
conflict as one between the "wounded" Gaza and the "aggressive" Israel, hindered
Arab nations from adopting a constructive stance. Despite recognizing Iran's
involvement, these countries refrained from confronting the situation head-on,
fearing repercussions amidst the media campaign led by Iranian lobby groups.
This intimidation tactic also extended to anyone advocating for action against
Iran, with threats of being labeled as supporters of “crimes against humanity”.
Additionally, instances of support for Iran have been observed through the
Houthis’ attacks, disrupting maritime navigation routes. Interestingly, these
attacks occurred after the removal of the Houthis from terrorism lists following
President Biden's inauguration. Notably, Arab nations bordering the Red Sea,
such as Egypt, refrained from joining alliances against the Houthis. This
reluctance suggests that the alliances may not be aimed at containing the
Houthis but rather amplifying their role and that of their Iranian sponsor, who
orchestrates operations to disrupt navigation in the Red Sea.
The question is, will Netanyahu, who is betrayal conspiracies from friends
before enemies, succeed in extricating himself from this predicament and manage
to correct the course of the war by dragging Iran into a battle, through which
its nuclear program can be eliminated, and perhaps getting rid of the Mullahs'
regime in a bid to restore openness to the region's countries and cooperation
among them, thus overriding the Mullahs hegemony over the neighborhood, and put
an end to their dealings with superiority with everyone? Or will the pretext of
the US elections prolong the crisis and the suffering of the people and allow
the expansionist Tehran’s regime to continue, preventing peace and tagging as an
enemy anyone who does not comply with its vicious schemes.?
At WGS, Artificial Intelligence dominated more than just discussions
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/February 15, 2024
As the World Governments Summit concluded in Dubai on Wednesday, after its
various forums spent nearly three days delving deep into a comprehensive agenda,
there was widespread agreement that — in a sign of the times — one theme
dominated most discussions from curtain raiser to closing remarks: artificial
intelligence. This shouldn’t be surprising. As we have learned every day since
last year, AI is not — and will not be — a standalone topic: it is going to
influence every aspect of our lives. As one leading UAE official put it, AI will
impact us in the same way that the invention of the wheel did, with so many
applications already in use and much uncharted territory ahead: from curing
cancers, to space exploration, to better understanding the human mind — about
which, despite all our knowledge, we still comprehend so little.One thing we
must do is to take AI out of the traditional “capital vs. labor” discussion
One thing we must do is to take AI out of the traditional “capital vs. labor”
discussion, as one senior technology company officer explained to me. We must
accept that there will be a huge impact on future jobs, and move beyond that to
the bigger picture of what AI means for all of humanity, and specifically for
our region. As it stands, we Arabs — particularly Gulf states such as Saudi
Arabia, Qatar and UAE — are well placed to be at the heart of the AI revolution.
We have three competitive edges: a young population with curious, global minds;
huge resources to deploy; and governments that are making this a priority. The
UAE has the world’s first AI minister, and officials in Saudi Arabia have often
spoken of the need to be at the forefront of technology. It is a priority
because they understand that whoever masters this will have an edge for the rest
of the century.
In fact, at last year’s World Governments Summit a senior official said during a
private briefing that competition and cooperation between countries would no
longer be over geopolitics, but techno-politics. The 5G conflict is an example,
information warfare another. The UAE has the world’s first AI minister, and
officials in Saudi Arabia have often spoken of the need to be at the forefront
of technology
In his opening remarks on Monday, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammed
Al-Gergawi gave the audience a glimpse of what AI had already achieved in just
one year. Its capacity for learning has multiplied 1,000-fold, for example, and
that trajectory will continue exponentially. However, there is a flip side: the
number of deep fakes has tripled in a year, with 500,000 on social media last
year. This, too, will only multiply. In the world of journalism, it says much
about where traditional media models are going that an interview with Russian
President Vladimir Putin by the prominent US talk-show host Tucker Carlson can
generate more than 150 million online views — and this on his own channel under
his own brand, since he no longer has a presence on mainstream TV.
If anything, I would argue that the need for high-quality professional
journalism could not be greater. However, the truth is that from free content
supported by advertising to subscription-only behind a paywall, and everything
in between, we have not yet decided on a business model that would best suit the
future.
There will be more on this next week, when I report from the Saudi Media Forum,
where this topic will be discussed.
• Faisal J. Abbas is the editor in chief of Arab News
Saudi foreign minister arrives in Germany to head delegation at Munich Security
Conference
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/February 15, 2024
While much of the attention in discussions about climate change often focuses on
areas such as the Arctic or small island nations, the effects on regions such as
the Middle East, and particularly Iraq, is often overlooked.
Yet, the consequences of climate change in Iraq are profound and far-reaching,
affecting not only the environment but also exacerbating existing social,
economic and political challenges. As the world grapples with the wider
existential threat, it is critical that we shed light on the plight of Iraq and
outline the actions both the country and the international community must take
to address this pressing issue.
In recent years, discourse about climate change has shifted from mere scientific
concern to a global rallying cry for urgent action. And Iraq, historically
considered “the cradle of civilization,” is facing a climate crisis that poses a
threat to its very existence. The country is experiencing rising temperatures,
erratic rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and desertification, all of which
have severe implications for its agriculture, water resources and public health.
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have sustained civilizations for
millennia, are dwindling as a result of reduced snowpack in the mountains and
increased demand for water from neighboring countries. Extreme heatwaves pose
significant risks to public health, particularly in urban areas
This dwindling water supply not only threatens agriculture, which is the
backbone of Iraq’s economy, but also exacerbates tensions with neighboring
countries over water rights. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani
highlighted the critical nature of the situation when he said: “Our two rivers
are exposed to the brunt of the effects of drought resulting from climate
change. We have an urgent need to preserve rights to water resources and
international river basins.”According to the Ministry of Water Resources,
experts predict that the nation could face the dire prospect of the Euphrates
being entirely depleted by 2040. The effects of climate change are acutely felt
by Iraq’s most vulnerable populations. Farmers, who rely on predictable weather
patterns for their livelihoods, are facing crop failures and economic hardship.
Displacements caused by drought and desertification are exacerbating social
tensions and contributing to internal movement and migration.Additionally,
extreme heatwaves pose significant risks to public health, particularly in urban
areas where access to reliable electricity supplies and cooling systems is
limited.
In the face of these challenges, both Iraq and the international community must
take decisive action to mitigate the effects of climate change and build
resilience. First of all, vulnerable communities and ecosystems ought to be
prioritized in the implementation of climate-adaptation measures, to help
protect them.
Steps that can be taken include investment in water-efficient agriculture, the
promotion of sustainable land-management practices, and enhanced early-warning
systems for extreme weather events. Furthermore, Iraq ought to focus on
diversifying its economy away from dependence on oil and invest in renewable
energy sources such as solar and wind power. By reducing its carbon footprint
and embracing clean energy alternatives, Iraq can both mitigate the effects of
climate change and foster economic development.
However, it cannot tackle climate change alone. The international community must
step up its support and assistance to help Iraq build resilience and adapt to a
changing climate. This includes financial assistance, the facilitation of
technology transfers, and capacity-building support to help enhance the nation’s
ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Diplomatic initiatives, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Paris Agreement, provide mechanisms for international cooperation and
must be leveraged to improve dialogue and collaborations on climate action.
The effects of climate change are acutely felt by Iraq’s most vulnerable
populations.
Moreover, neighboring countries can engage in cooperative efforts to manage
shared water resources and address transboundary challenges.
More fundamentally, efforts to address climate change in Iraq require a holistic
approach that takes into account the interconnected nature of environmental,
social and economic issues. In other words, environmental conservation efforts
must be integrated with initiatives to alleviate poverty, improve education, and
enhance public health to ensure a sustainable and equitable future for all
Iraqis.
This must include the empowerment of local communities, particularly women and
marginalized groups, to participate in decision-making processes and help
implement climate-resilient solutions that are tailored to their specific needs
and circumstances.
In addition, it is important to point out that efforts to tackle the root causes
of conflict and instability in Iraq are crucial for building resilience to
climate change as well. Ongoing conflicts and political instability in the
region have exacerbated environmental degradation and hindered efforts to
address climate change. The promotion of peace, stability and good governance in
Iraq is therefore essential to the creation of an enabling environment for
climate action and sustainable development.
Finally, it is critical to recognize the fact that action to address climate
change is not just an environmental issue but a moral imperative. It is about
safeguarding the rights and well-being of future generations and guaranteeing
they will have a planet that is habitable for all.
In Iraq, as in many parts of the world, the effects of climate change are
already being felt and the window of opportunity to act is rapidly closing.
Therefore, robust and decisive actions are needed at all levels of society, from
grassroots initiatives to international treaties, to mitigate the worst effects
of climate change and build a more sustainable and resilient future for Iraq and
the world.
The impact of climate change in Iraq is undeniable and the stakes could not be
higher. Urgent action is needed to mitigate the effects, build resilience, and
secure a sustainable future for the country and its people.
Both Iraq and the international community must work together to address this
existential threat by adopting a comprehensive and collaborative approach that
integrates environmental, social and economic considerations.
Failure to act now will not only jeopardize the future of Iraq but also threaten
the stability and prosperity of the entire region. The time to act is now and
the stakes could not be higher.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian American political scientist.
X: @Dr_Rafizadeh
Biden’s age could ultimately decide the outcome of the US
presidential election
Dr. Amal Mudallali/Arab News/February 15, 2024
One sentence in Special Prosecutor Robert Hur’s report last week caused panic
when it came to US President Joe Biden’s campaign for reelection and ignited a
firestorm within the Democratic Party.
His report was the kind of nightmare scenario campaigns dread because of its
timing and the sensitivity of the issue, the age of the president, and the
questions it raised about his mental capacity.
Democrats have had a tough few months trying to prevent Biden’s age from
becoming the main issue in the campaign. Then the nightmare fully descended upon
them, presenting Republican opponent Donald Trump with the perfect gift.
Hur’s report described Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with
poor memory.” This single sentence propelled the age of the president, who is 81
years old, to the top of the election agenda and created a crisis among
Democrats, who are worried that the issue of age might cost them the presidency
for the next four years.
The special prosecutor was investigating the case of classified documents that
were found in Biden’s home. He concluded, following interviews with the
president, that there was not enough to charge the president with any
wrongdoing. He could have chosen to simply announce his conclusion but instead
he decided to comment on the memory of the president.
The report handed Biden a legal victory but wounded him politically. It should
have been good news for him but the political damage caused by the language Hur
used to describe the president’s state of mind and memory was huge, lending
credence to existing concerns about his age.
He described gaps in the president’s memory when asked about specific events and
documents, but most damaging for the president was perhaps the assertion that he
did not even remember the date of his son’s death.
Democrats are rallying around the president, defending his mental faculties and
record. The report came at a critical time for the president and his reelection
campaign. Polls were already suggesting that Americans are worried about his
age. Meanwhile, his approval rating has been declining, reaching 37 percent, the
lowest it has ever been. Many Americans are not happy about his handling of
immigration and border issues, or the economy, even though the economy is doing
well. In addition, there is opposition to his stance on the war between Israel
and Hamas in Gaza, as well as divisions within the Democratic Party on the
issue.The publication of Hur’s report provoked a storm of media coverage and
debates about the age of the president. His allies defended him and refuted the
comments about poor memory, accusing the special prosecutor of having a
political agenda.
Vice President Kamala Harris described the report as “gratuitous, inaccurate and
inappropriate.” Other high-ranking US officials insisted the president was
sharp, tough and in control.
Republicans naturally jumped on the opportunity to adopt “elderly man with bad
memory” as a slogan in their campaigning against him.
The president did not help his own case. During a press conference that was
supposed to reassure the American people about his memory and debunk the picture
the report painted of him, Biden described President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi of
Egypt as the president of Mexico.
This came hot on the heels of two other incidents this month in which he talked
about conversations with French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996,
instead of Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017,
instead of Angela Merkel.
The report and the repeated gaffes by the president have resulted in growing
concerns among Democrats, strategists, donors and ordinary voters across the US,
according to the American media.
The Washington Post captured the mood among Democrats when, after the
president’s ill-fated press conference, it said: “The broad conclusion, both
inside and outside Biden’s inner circle, is that a dangerous and misleading
caricature of the president’s performance is at risk of setting in, pushed by
the biting prose of a special prosecutor they suspected of seeking political
revenge.”
If Hur’s report was not enough, opinion polls after it was published added to
the panic. An ABC News/Ipsos poll on Feb. 11 found an overwhelming majority of
Americans that were questioned, 86 percent, thought Biden was too old to run for
another term. A smaller majority, 62 percent, believed 77-year-old Donald Trump
was also too old to be president again.
Interestingly, 59 percent of those polled believed both Biden and Trump were too
old to be president, suggesting that age will be a very important factor in the
election. However, the poll also found that Republicans were not so concerned
about the age of their candidate as Democrats were: 73 percent of Democrats said
Biden was too old to be president, but only 35 percent of Republicans said Trump
was too old to serve. Even among independents, 91 percent said Biden is too old,
compared with 71 percent who said the same about Trump.
Republican candidate Nikki Haley, who is challenging Trump for the Republican
nomination, criticized both him and Biden over their ages, describing them in a
campaign video as “grumpy old men.” She highlighted instances in which both
became confused about facts, including one in which Trump mixed her up with
Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the House of Representatives.
Haley, who has called for competency tests for candidates over the age of 75 and
champions younger leaders, said this week that both Trump and Biden “would use
the Oval Office” as a “taxpayer-subsidized nursing home.”
Political pundits close to the Democrats are worried that efforts to ensure the
issue of age sticks to Biden is an attempt to distract from his achievements in
office, in a similar way to which Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign
against Trump in 2016 was derailed by allegations about an insecure computer
server and leaked emails.
Others are speculating about whether it is still possible for the Democrats to
nominate a different candidate, angering the Biden campaign. A headline in
Politico magazine this week, for example, read “Democrats Might Need a Plan B.”
Even though the article was exploring hypothetical scenarios, any such talk is
damaging to the Biden campaign and to the chances of the Democrats securing the
presidency. On a more practical level, it is unrealistic and difficult to
imagine it could happen now. Democrats are rallying around the president,
defending his mental faculties and record. They believe the stakes are too high
for the party to consider alternatives this late in the game, as it would be a
dangerous strategy to change horses at this point in the race.
Biden believes he is the only Democrat who can defeat Donald Trump because he
did it before. The rest of the party is circling the wagons and hoping Trump
will implode and scare off voters, pointing to his latest statement about NATO
this week, which angered Europe and alarmed Washington.
However, there is no sign the former president has been negatively affected by
any of his rhetoric, or his legal troubles. On the contrary, he is growing more
confident — and now his campaign has been lucky enough to find fresh ammunition
in the form of Hur’s editorializing about Biden’s age.
Biden and his campaign team are struggling to change the subject and ensure the
election is a referendum on issues such as the future of democracy in America
and, as his campaign ads say, his desire “to finish the job” he began four years
ago.
The Republicans, meanwhile, will do all they can to make sure the focus remains
on Biden’s memory and not his “sympathetic character.”
**Dr. Amal Mudallali is a consultant on global issues. She is a former Lebanese
ambassador to the UN.