Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 17-18/2024
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
Israel-Hezbollah hostilities continue amid funerals for victims in Lebanon
Hochstein says US quietly working to resolve Lebanon-Israel conflict
'Blood for blood' formula: Will diplomatic efforts succeed, or will military confrontations persist?
LBCI's sources: A move to set the banking dollar rate at LBP 25,000 per dollar
LBCI sources: 'Dispute' with consortium linked to TotalEnergies' refusal to reduce deadline for seismic surveys
Khawaja to LBCI: We are not on the verge of escalating the war
Drug smuggling issue: Regional meeting to tackle drug smuggling across Syrian borders
MP Taymour Jumblatt calls for giving diplomacy a chance to avoid war expansion
Interior Ministers of Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon discuss combating of drugs
Bou Habib instructs Lebanon’s UN representative to lodge complaint against Israel before Security Council
Mawlawi during Amman meeting: We will continue to firmly control drug smuggling operations through the efforts of Lebanese security authorities.
Hariri receives phone call from Patriarch Rahi
Phone call between Hariri, Audeh
Beirut judge charges Nissan employees for ‘stealing’ Ghosn documents

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 17-18/2024
Hamas’s demands for hostage deal are ‘disconnected from reality,’ Israel’s hostage coordinator says
Netanyahu dismisses election calls as thousands protest in Tel Aviv
Qatari Foreign Minister: Gaza's truce talks in the last few days were not very promising
Netanyahu's three no's: New US support for Israel amid calls for Netanyahu's resignation
Israel strikes 'reputation blow' to Iran with sabotage attacks on its gas pipelines, says report
US envoy says Israel has not presented evidence that Hamas diverted U.N. aid deliveries in Gaza
Blinken sees 'extraordinary' opportunity for Israel to normalise ties with neighbors
Israel stages airstrikes across Gaza, makes arrests at hospital
Fresh Gaza strikes as fears grow for patients in raided hospital
Hamas chief insists on Gaza ceasefire
Biden warns Netanyahu not to attack Rafah without plan, Israel says 'thoroughly planning'
Morocco's hashish dealers boycott Israeli traffickers in solidarity with Gaza, says report
Democratic rep says pro-Palestine demonstrators have ‘blood on their hands’ after protests interrupt hearing
Iran unveils new air defense weaponry as regional tensions ramp up - IRNA
Israel strikes Iranian gas pipelines in covert attack: NYT
West mounts pressure on Russia after Navalny's death in jail
US warships are shooting down weapons no one's ever faced in combat before, and a Navy commander says it's a 'great opportunity'
Putin is tightening his grip over what's left of the Wagner Group
Camp David Accords: Egypt-Israel treaty's role in security arrangements and implications
Palestinian state only pathway to Middle East security, stability: Saudi FM

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 17-18/2024
Want to Stop Iran's Regime? Hit the IRGC Assets/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute
The Military Merchant Who May Hold One Key To Post-Hamas Gaza/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/ MEMRI
Maintaining Red Sea security is a regional and international necessity/Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama/Arab News
Al-Sudani’s clear-eyed vision of ‘Iraq First/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News
Western governments must not ignore unprecedented warnings from their civil/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News
Lula rebuilds Brazil’s tarnished reputation after decade of crises/Andrew Hammond/Arab News
The Era of Chaos and the Century of History’s Vengeance/Emile Ameen/Asharq Al-Awsat

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 17-18/2024
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.

Israel-Hezbollah hostilities continue amid funerals for victims in Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/February 17, 2024
BEIRUT: The residents of Nabatiyeh took to the streets on Saturday to hold funerals for the seven civilians who were killed on Wednesday when Israeli rockets struck a residential building in the southern city. A representative of the speaker of the parliament attended the funerals, which were held in the courtyard of the city mosque. Sheikh Abdel Hussein Sadiq, imam of Nabatiyeh, said during the funeral: “The innocent blood that was shed unjustly and savagely in a safe home in Nabatiyeh — which included a father, five women, and two children — proves the deliberate intention of the Israeli enemy to crush all human values and international conventions and laws.”Elsewhere, hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army continued on Saturday. Hezbollah announced the “targeting of the Baranit Barracks with a Falaq-1 missile, causing a direct hit.”
The Israeli Army carried out successive airstrikes on the outskirts of Beit Lif, Ramyah, and Aita Al-Shaab, and missile strikes on the outskirts of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district. The Hamoul-Naqoura area and the outskirts of Alma Al-Shaab were subjected to artillery shelling. A spokesman for the Israeli Army said its planes “attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in Jabal Blat and a military building in Bint Jbeil.”
Amos Hochstein, US envoy for energy affairs, said the US is trying to “keep the conflict in southern Lebanon at the lowest possible level.” In a statement to CNBC, Hochstein stressed the “need for residents of southern border towns and villages to return to their homes, as well as residents on Israel’s northern border.” Hochstein met with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during the ongoing Munich Security Conference. “The situation on the border between the two countries changed after Oct. 7, and we will have to do a lot to support the Lebanese Army and build the economy in southern Lebanon. This will require international support from the Europeans and the Gulf states, and I hope to see their support in the coming phase,” Hochstein said. Hochstein told Al-Arabiya TV: We are working quietly to end the conflict on the Lebanese border and prevent the war from expanding, which will not be in anyone’s interest.” In other news, media reports stated that the French company Total had not signed contracts for gas and oil extraction in blocks 8 and 10 of Lebanese territorial waters. The signing deadline set by the Cabinet passed on Friday. A source in Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy said: “The dispute with the consortium (which includes Qatar Energy and Italy’s Eni) is due to Total’s refusal to shorten the deadline for seismic surveys and drilling in Block 8 and Block 10. Total wants to continue this process until 2027, while the Lebanese side insists that this process be completed within a year and a half.”
Attorney Christina Abi Haidar told Arab News that those terms were “unjust to Lebanon because Total requested a year to determine if they would begin drilling an exploratory well.” Abi Haidar said: “The Lebanese Cabinet requested better conditions for both parties before signing the contract. It is important to note that Total still holds the license to drill in Block 9. The company drilled one well, which was found to be non-commercial, and refused to drill a second one.”Abi Haidar continued: “What happened is beneficial for Lebanon. Why should a French company be the sole owner of the licenses for all the blocks in our waters? Let others participate in the third licensing round.”

Hochstein says US quietly working to resolve Lebanon-Israel conflict
Naharnet/February 17, 2024
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein has said that the US is working in a quiet manner to figure out how to end the cross-border conflict between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel, which has seen the most intense escalation of fighting between the two in nearly two decades. “A more comprehensive war is not the solution,” Hochstein told Al Arabiya English. “What we’ve been trying to do is to make sure that we can contain the fighting to the lowest level possible and to work on lasting solutions that can bring a cessation of hostilities,” Hochstein said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Hochstein added that the US has been clear that it wants to see a cessation of hostilities and an ability for Lebanese residents in the south to return to their homes and for Israelis to be able to return to their homes in the north. “But they have to be able to return, not just because there’s a ceasefire, but because there are conditions in place that guarantee their security. And I think that conditions have changed after Oct. 7,” Hochstein said. He added: “Therefore, we have to have a more comprehensive arrangement that will include a number of steps on both sides, to be able to guarantee those kind of measures.”He also said he is hopeful that a diplomatic resolution would be reached, adding thay the U.S. would continue to work with its European and Gulf allies towards arriving at a deal. “We’re going to have to do a lot of building up of the Lebanese Armed Forces; we have to build up the economy in south Lebanon. That’s going to require an international coalition of support, not just the United States,” Hochstein said. Hochstein added he and the other U.S. officials have been in talks with their Gulf partners to discuss the details of a negotiated solution to the current crisis. “And I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to see support from them as we go into this next phase.

'Blood for blood' formula: Will diplomatic efforts succeed, or will military confrontations persist?
LBCI/February 17, 2024
"Blood for blood" is a formula revived by Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, particularly in the wake of the recent Israeli escalation and its army's massacres of civilians in the south. Simultaneously, diplomatic efforts led by US envoy Amos Hochstein have intensified, with Hochstein emphasizing to Prime Minister Najib Mikati the need for a diplomatic solution on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Hochstein clarified that the United States "will have to do a lot to support the Lebanese army and build the economy in southern Lebanon, requiring international support from Europeans as well as Gulf states."As Tel Aviv fortifies its internal security apparatus amid criticisms for not addressing the northern front, it awaits Hochstein's arrival next week in a new bid to advance diplomatic negotiations. This could potentially postpone any military decision to open a broad front with Lebanon. However, military officials have warned that any strong strike by Hezbollah could lead to casualties and injuries, igniting security tensions. Southern Lebanon is not the only one suffering under fire and destruction. On the opposite side, there is also fire, destruction, fear, and anxiety. Between the scales of diplomacy and the battlefield, many settlers appear eager for another war in the country's north. Will diplomatic efforts succeed, or will the field prevail in settling the battle?

LBCI's sources: A move to set the banking dollar rate at LBP 25,000 per dollar
LBCI/February 17, 2024
Sources revealed to LBCI that the government has a plan for the Finance Ministry to set the official exchange rate for the dollar by next week at LBP 25,000 instead of LBP 15,000. This potential adjustment comes as many depositors require liquidity in Lebanese lira, but banks do not meet their needs at the current exchange rate of LBP 89,500 per dollar. The sources further indicate that the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been in contact with the acting Banque du Liban (BDL) governor, Wassim Mansouri, to discuss the matter. Mansouri reportedly opposed the idea of multiple exchange rates, affirming that the prevailing rate set by the BDL stands at LBP 89,500 per dollar.

LBCI sources: 'Dispute' with consortium linked to TotalEnergies' refusal to reduce deadline for seismic surveys
LBCI/February 17, 2024
Sources within the Ministry of Energy confirmed to LBCI that the dispute with the consortium, consisting of TotalEnergies, Eni, and QatarEnergy, stems from TotalEnergies' refusal to reduce the deadline for seismic surveys in Block 8 and the drilling in Block 10. The sources explained that while TotalEnergies wanted to continue this process until 2027, the Lebanese side insisted on concluding this process within a maximum of one and a half years. The sources indicated that the Ministry of Energy has done everything possible to ensure the interests of the consortium in both proposals, but at the same time, it is firmly committed to Lebanon's rights to expedite both the seismic survey and drilling processes.

Khawaja to LBCI: We are not on the verge of escalating the war
LBCI/February 17, 2024
Member of the Development and Liberation Bloc, MP Mohammad Khawaja, affirmed that political disputes among parties in Lebanon are classified along sectarian lines, unlike the disputes of state parties. On LBCI's "Nharkom Said" TV show, he expressed support for restructuring the internal political life differently. He emphasized that Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri's initiative for dialogue does not automatically lead anyone to the presidency. "We have not yet reached the stage of democratic process they are demanding," he said. Khawaja believed that Berri's dialogue initiative was rejected because Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea wants a "detailed presidency" according to his terms. He hoped that MP Gebran Bassil would be convinced that his chances of reaching the presidency have become slim. Regarding the security tension in southern Lebanon, he pointed out that Israel is the source of danger in terms of escalating the war. "We assured the envoys that we are not on the verge of escalation," he said. He considered that the United States does not want to expand the Gaza war because "Israel stumbled in Gaza, so how can it fight on a larger scale." He also pointed out that the people of the West Bank will be displaced to Jordan, the "alternative homeland," and that the presence of the Islamic resistance on the southern Lebanese border prevents any kind of displacement.

Drug smuggling issue: Regional meeting to tackle drug smuggling across Syrian borders
LBCI/February 17, 2024
With a border stretching 370 kilometers with Syria and Jordan, alongside Lebanon, and the nearly 600-kilometer stretch with Iraq faces increasing challenges from the smuggling of Captagon and drugs from Syria into the region, destined both overland and by sea to the Gulf states and Europe.
Despite Jordanian security measures and numerous clashes resulting in casualties among smugglers, the smuggling persists, sometimes with the collusion of local Jordanian facilitators exploiting adverse weather conditions to conduct their operations. Repeated promises from Syria and Gulf states to assist in curbing this phenomenon have yielded little result. Even a recent meeting in Riyadh between Syria's intelligence chief, Hossam Louka, and his Saudi counterpart failed to yield substantive change. Media reports and political stances often accuse the Syrian regime and its Iranian-backed affiliated groups of orchestrating these operations, which generate annual revenues estimated at five to six billion dollars, according to a 2022 report by the German magazine Der Spiegel. This influx of cash helps bolster the Syrian regime amid imposed sanctions. Recognizing the detrimental impact of continued smuggling on Jordan's relations with Gulf states and its inability to address the issue unilaterally, a meeting convened in Amman on Saturday with interior ministers from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan to strategize on collaborative efforts to combat the issue. The collaboration, crucial to success, has seen Lebanon fully engaged in the endeavor, as articulated by Lebanon's Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to LBCI. The Syrian regime may face increasing scrutiny over its complicity in drug trafficking. Will it accede to the demands of its neighbors or risk relinquishing a lucrative economic lifeline in its faltering economy?

MP Taymour Jumblatt calls for giving diplomacy a chance to avoid war expansion
NNA/February 17, 2024
Head of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Taymour Jumblatt, warned against the accumulating risks as a result of the rise in Israeli attacks on Lebanon to escalatory levels that could lead to unknown military possibilities by the Israeli enemy, as matters could get out of control if not remedied and contained as quickly as possible. He called for "giving existing diplomatic efforts the opportunity to mature the necessary solutions and understandings, to spare Lebanon, exhausted by the weight of its crises, from a widespread war, and to make possible efforts to provide permanent stability and the return of the displaced, and to rely on Resolution 1701 and implement its provisions in full."In an issued statement on the sidelines of his Saturday meetings at Al-Mukhtara Palace, MP Jumblatt denounced the brutal massacre committed by the enemy in Nabatieh and expressed his pain for the fallen victims, most of whom were children, women, and wounded, in a manner that is inconsistent with international and humanitarian laws, conventions, and norms. He offered his deep condolences to the families of the martyrs and his wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured. On another note, Jumblatt met today with the Army Chief-of-Staff, Major General Hassan Audeh, who thanked him for the efforts of the Progressive Socialist Party and the Democratic Gathering that led to his recent appointment by the Council of Ministers. Jumblatt, in turn, wished Major General Audeh success in his duties, reiterating “the position of the PSP and the Democratic Gathering in highlighting the necessity of fortifying institutions, especially the military institution, in the face of the great security challenges facing Lebanon and the region,” hoping that “the appointment step will constitute a strong incentive to complete the Military Council and open a serious window to end the vacuum at the level of the presidency of the republic.”

Interior Ministers of Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon discuss combating of drugs
NNA/February 17, 2024
The interior ministers of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan met in Amman today to discuss joint efforts to combat drugs, according to "Russia Today". The meeting discussed "lstrengthening cooperation in this framework to confront the common challenges that have become a threat to the societies of the region in this regard. Discussion also focused on enhancing areas of security cooperation to ensure the achievement of the highest national interests in the countries of the region.

Bou Habib instructs Lebanon’s UN representative to lodge complaint against Israel before Security Council
NNA/February 17, 2024
Lebanon’s Caretaker Foreign Minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, on Friday directed Lebanon’s UN Representative to file a complaint with the UN Security Council on February 15, 2024, following a series of Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilian targets on February 14, 2024, the deadliest since October 8, 2023.
The complaint highlighted Israeli airstrikes targeting residential areas in Nabatieh and Souaneh, resulting in numerous civilian casualties, including women and children.  The complaint emphasized that these deliberate attacks violated international humanitarian law, undermined its sovereignty, and defied UN resolutions, calling for Israel to respect Lebanese territory. The complaint also urged the Security Council to condemn the attacks and pressure Israel to cease hostilities to prevent further escalation and regional conflict.

Mawlawi during Amman meeting: We will continue to firmly control drug smuggling operations through the efforts of Lebanese security authorities.
NNA/February 17, 2024
Caretaker Interior and Municipalities Minister, Judge Bassam Mawlawi, participated in the quadripartite meeting hosted by Amman for the interior ministers of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria to discuss joint mechanisms for confronting and combating the drug scurge. In his word at the meeting, Mawlawi said: “Our Arab security is shared, as our borders are close and overlapping, which requires us to work hard to protect our countries and societies from cross-border crime in all its forms.” He added, "Lebanon's position among the Arab countries requires us to work to avoid it being a source of harm to its people or to the sisterly Arab countries and the Arab Gulf." "We continue to firmly control drug smuggling operations through the efforts of the Lebanese security authorities,” Mawlawi asserted, praising the role played by all security bodies. He stressed the need to continue “joint cooperation between our countries to fight this crime.

Hariri receives phone call from Patriarch Rahi
NNA/February 17, 2024
Former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, on Friday received a phone call from Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi, during which the various developments were reviewed.

Phone call between Hariri, Audeh
NNA/February 17, 2024
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri's media office reported that a telephone call took place today between Hariri and the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, Bishop Elias Audeh, during which they discussed the latest developments.

Beirut judge charges Nissan employees for ‘stealing’ Ghosn documents
AFP/February 17, 2024
BEIRUT: A Lebanese judge has charged four Nissan employees with the theft of documents and devices from the Beirut home and office of the company’s former boss Carlos Ghosn, a judicial source said Saturday. A lawyer for the company told AFP the legal action was “unlawful” and that the company would seek to have the charges thrown out. The Beirut judge has decided to prosecute “four senior Nissan officials” of Japanese, Spanish, French and British nationalities, accusing them of “committing a number of crimes,” the judicial source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. The “most important” allegation is entering Ghosn’s Beirut office and house “against his will and stealing documents, files, electronic devices and accessing his private information system, tampering with its contents and copying data,” the source added. The charges follow a lawsuit filed by Ghosn alleging the “fabrication of evidence that led to his arrest in Japan, and tarnishing his reputation,” the source added. The defendants had been summoned as part of preliminary investigations but failed to appear before the court, the source said. The case was referred to the first investigating judge in Beirut, requesting “the necessary investigations and the issue of arrest warrants in absentia.”A lawyer for Nissan, Sakher Al-Hashem, said the legal action against the four was “unlawful” and predicted the charges would be dropped. When the investigating judge sets a date for questioning “we will present formal defenses demonstrating the legal action is unlawful,” he told AFP. Ghosn, the former chairman and chief executive of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on suspicion of financial misconduct, before being sacked by Nissan’s board in a unanimous decision.
He jumped bail late the following year and made a dramatic escape from Japan hidden in an audio-equipment box, landing in Beirut, where he remains an international fugitive. Ghosn has always denied the charges against him, arguing they were cooked up by Nissan executives who opposed his attempts to more closely integrate the firm with French partner Renault. Japan and France have sought his arrest, but Lebanon does not extradite its citizens, and judicial authorities have slapped a travel ban on Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationality. Ghosn last year filed a lawsuit with Lebanon’s top prosecutor claiming Nissan fabricated the charges against him in Japan and demanding more than $1 billion in financial compensation, a judicial official said at the time.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 17-18/2024
Hamas’s demands for hostage deal are ‘disconnected from reality,’ Israel’s hostage coordinator says
Catherine Nicholls, Pauline Lockwood and Alex Marquardt, CNN/February 17, 2024
Hamas’s demands for a hostage deal are “delusional” and need to be “close to reality,” Israel’s Coordinator for the Captives and the Missing, Gal Hirsch, told CNN Saturday. “We want a deal very much and we know we need to pay prices. But Hamas’s demands are disconnected from reality - delusional,” the former Israel Defense Forces commander said in an interview with CNN’s Alex Marquardt at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Hamas’s proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal envisaged a three-stage process over four-and-a-half months, during which Israeli troops would gradually withdraw from Gaza, hostages would be released and Palestinian prisoners in Israel would be freed, according to a copy of the group’s counteroffer obtained by CNN. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed this proposal as “delusional.”The Israeli leader has repeatedly said that the war in Gaza will continue until Israel destroys Hamas’ leadership and rescues the hostages. There were further talks this week but a number of sticking points emerged. CNN previously reported that US officials are increasingly concerned whether Netanyahu is genuinely interested in reaching a hostage deal at the present time, given the opposition to any form of compromise with Hamas from within his government. Hirsch, who works in Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office, said he has concerns that the Hamas political officials negotiating the hostage deal are not in contact with Hamas officials on the ground in Gaza. He suggested that, though Israel and Hamas had previously agreed on a deal to supply medication to Israeli hostages, the hostages did not receive this medication. “We need proof that there is someone that can deliver,” Hirsch said. “Show us that the medical support that was sent to our hostages has arrived to its destination. This is very important because it will show us that there is someone there that can really deliver and release our hostages.” On Friday, the IDF said “medicines were found with the names of Israeli hostages on them” during their operation at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. So far, Israel has not found any hostages in the medical complex despite saying they had evidence to the contrary. The IDF did not provide visual evidence of the found medication and Hamas said the IDF claims were “not true.”
There is “nothing more important” for the IDF than bringing the hostages back home, Hirsch told CNN on Saturday, adding that the military is willing to pay a “big price” for this. This price stops short of ending Israel’s war against Hamas, though, he noted. “We are ready to stop warfare by ceasefires, not to stop the war,” Hirsch said. “The war won’t end. Hamas will be dismantled, but we would like very much to make a deal and to bring our hostages back home. This is very, very important to us.” As well as believing that Hamas’s proposals are disconnected from reality, Hirsch said that he also believes the group is suggesting a deal that it is planning to break the terms of. “They wanted very much to break the potential deal just as they did in the previous one,” he suggested. “Actually, they know that they have no authority to close the deal, probably, and they’re exaggerating in a way that is very, very far, far, far away from reality.”In late 2023, Israel released 180 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for 81 hostages held by Hamas. When asked by Marquardt if the IDF would be willing to release Palestinian prisoners who have life sentences, or who carried out attacks in Israel, in exchange for Israeli hostages, Hirsch only said that he suggests Hamas bring proposals that are “close to reality.”Asked about Israel’s potential plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, where more than 1.3 million Palestinian civilians are seeking refuge, Hirsch said that “Rafah is next, of course.”“In Rafah, there are many hostages and many, many terror groups - actually Hamas is still there,” Hirsch claimed. He said that the IDF has “morals and values” and that it is doing “everything we can to avoid possible damage,” but added that “Rafah must be next, because we must release the hostages.”The UN has warned that displaced Palestinians in Rafah are reportedly fleeing towards northern Deir al Balah following intensified Israeli airstrikes. Aid agencies have warned there is no safe place to go in Gaza. Previous reporting by Abeer Salman, Ibrahim Dahman, Tim Lister, Ivana Kottasová, Barbara Arvanitidis, Nima Elbagir and Alex Platt.

Netanyahu dismisses election calls as thousands protest in Tel Aviv
Reuters/February 17, 2024
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday dismissed the idea of holding early elections, while thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv for an anti-government protest. Netanyahu has seen his popularity plummet in opinion polls since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that sparked the devastating war in Gaza. Anti-government protests that shook the country for much of 2023 have largely subsided during the war. Still, demonstrators again took to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday night calling for new elections, which are not scheduled until 2026. The crowd was much smaller than last years' mass protests, numbering a few thousand, according to local media. "I'd like to say to the government that you've had your time, you ruined everything that you can ruin. Now is the time for the people to correct all the things, all the bad things that you've done," said one protestor, his head wrapped in an Israeli flag. Netanyahu was asked at a press briefing about calls within his own ruling Likud party to hold early elections right when the Gaza war ends. "The last thing we need right now are elections and dealing with elections, since it will immediately divide us," he said. "We need unity right now."

Qatari Foreign Minister: Gaza's truce talks in the last few days were not very promising
AFP/February 17, 2024
Qatari Prime Minister announced on Saturday in Munich that negotiations between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip "have not been very promising" in recent days.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the Munich Security Conference, "I believe we can reach an agreement very soon. But the momentum that prevailed in the past few days has not been very promising." He added in English, "We will always remain optimistic and continue to exert pressure always."

Netanyahu's three no's: New US support for Israel amid calls for Netanyahu's resignation
LBCI/February 17, 2024
Residents of southern Israel woke up to air raid sirens on Saturday, marking the launch of a rocket from Gaza, as the war entered its 134th day with 134 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Amid internal pressure to escalate the campaign against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and decision-makers, protests have erupted over the lack of progress in the prisoner exchange deal and the absence of a timeline to end the war due to the failure of the War Cabinet and government to unify positions on these matters. Netanyahu's refusal to participate in prisoner negotiations has sparked calls for his dismissal, especially after US President Joe Biden urged a temporary ceasefire to secure the hostages' release, expressing hope for Gaza's current peace, rejecting Netanyahu's three no's: no to a prisoner deal, no to a ceasefire, and no to a plan ensuring a Palestinian state. While political and military institutions announced progress in preparations to invade Rafah, new US support for Israel with advanced and precise weapons, including thousands of bombs and ammunition used to destroy tunnels during the war, has been revealed. Despite concerns from multiple sides about the intensification of the battle in Rafah in light of this support, observers see it as reinforcing Israel's deterrence, particularly against Iran and the northern front, which remains a priority after recent developments. If the purpose of these weapons is to bolster Israel's deterrence, security, and intelligence reports, warn of the army's inability to engage in a multi-front war and the inadequacy of Israel's defensive systems like Iron Dome, Hetz, and David's Sling, deployed along the northern and southern borders, to protect Israel. In light of these developments, officials declare that Israel's biggest challenge is the possibility of missile launches from Iran, raining down thousands of rockets daily, orchestrated by Hezbollah.

Israel strikes 'reputation blow' to Iran with sabotage attacks on its gas pipelines, says report
Rebecca Rommen/Business Insider/February 17, 2024
Israel sabotaged two major Iranian gas pipelines, said a New York Times report. "It's a major reputation blow for Iran's intelligence and security agencies," said an analyst. The attacks suggest covert networks operating in Iran linked to Israel, an analyst said. Israel appears to have conducted covert attacks on two major natural gas pipelines inside Iran this week, disrupting heat and cooking gas supplies in several provinces, The New York Times reports. The sabotage marked an escalation in the shadow war between Israel and Iran, said the report. "This shows that the covert networks operating in Iran have expanded their target list and advanced beyond just military and nuclear sites," Shahin Modarres, a security analyst focused on the Middle East, told the Times. "It's a major challenge and reputation blow for Iran's intelligence and security agencies." While Israel has targeted military and nuclear sites in Iran before, this attack hit the Islamic Republic's vital energy infrastructure. "The level of impact was very high because these are two significant pipelines going south to north. We have never seen anything like this in scale and scope," said Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior energy analyst at Kpler, per The Times. Iran's oil minister acknowledged the attacks but stopped short of publicly blaming Israel, stating the goal was to damage Iran's energy infrastructure and stir domestic discontent. A military strategist linked to the Revolutionary Guards Corps said the attacks required deep knowledge of Iran's infrastructure and careful coordination, suggesting insider collaboration, per the Times. The sabotage caused significant disruption, affecting residential homes, government buildings, and major factories in at least five provinces. "The enemy's plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country," Iran's oil minister, Javad Owji, told Iranian media on Friday, per the Times. However, Iran's energy minister claimed minimal disruption and service restoration, contradicting reports of widespread outages. Israel and Iran's conflict has heated up as Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza against Hamas. The Palestinian militant group is supported by Iran, say reports. Last month, it was reported that Iran had accused Israel of killing a spy chief and 3 of its top Revolutionary Guards in Syria, further destabilizing the Middle East. Israel has a policy to neither confirm nor deny allegations of assassinations or strikes against Iran, so they did not comment at the time. It remains unclear whether Israel employed drones, explosives, or other means in the attack. Repairing the pipelines would require shutting off the gas and replacing the damaged pipes, which could take days.

US envoy says Israel has not presented evidence that Hamas diverted U.N. aid deliveries in Gaza
WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY/AP/February 17, 2024
Israel has not presented specific evidence for its claim that Hamas is diverting U.N. aid, and its recent targeted killings of Gaza police commanders safeguarding truck convoys have made it “virtually impossible” to distribute the goods safely, a top U.S. envoy said in rare public criticism of Israel. New airstrikes in central Gaza on Saturday killed more than 40 people, including children, and wounded at least 50, according to Associated Press journalists and hospital officials. David Satterfield, the Biden administration's special Middle East envoy for humanitarian issues, said that with the departure of police escorts following Israeli strikes, criminal gangs are increasingly targeting the truck convoys carrying badly needed aid. He said the lawlessness as well as regular Israeli protests at entry points by those opposed to aid going into Gaza have disrupted delivery. “We are working with the Israeli government, the Israeli military in seeing what solutions can be found here because everyone wants to see the assistance continue,” Satterfield told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday. A solution "is going to require some form of security escorts to return.”Satterfield said that Israeli officials have not presented “specific evidence of diversion or theft” of U.N. assistance, but that the militants have their own interests in using “other channels of assistance ... to shape where and to whom assistance goes.”Even before the latest setback, the U.S. has said aid reaching Gaza is woefully inadequate. More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are packed into the southern city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, having heeded Israeli evacuation orders. Yet nowhere is safe, with Israel also carrying out airstrikes in Rafah. Israel's air and ground offensive, triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, has killed nearly 29,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. It has caused widespread destruction, displaced some 80% of the population and sparked a humanitarian crisis. Rafah area residents say it's common for groups of children and teenagers to try to stop trucks as they enter Gaza and to grab supplies. On Friday, police opened fire after a crowd charged toward an aid truck that had emerged from the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the local Crossings Authority, said one person was killed. Israel has alleged repeatedly that Hamas is diverting aid, including fuel, after it enters Gaza, a claim denied by U.N. aid agencies. Last week, an Israeli airstrike on a car killed three senior police commanders in Rafah, the first entry point for aid deliveries. Two other officers were killed in another strike. The police force is controlled by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, but Satterfield noted that it also includes those who joined before Hamas seized Gaza in 2007.
EGYPT IS CONCERNED
Israel has said it is determined to expand its ground combat to Rafah, portraying it as the last significant stronghold of Hamas fighters, but has not given a timeline. Addressing international concerns, Israel has said it would develop a plan to evacuate civilians before invading the southern city. U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to carry out the operation without a “credible” plan to protect civilians and to instead focus on a cease-fire, while Egypt has said such an operation could threaten diplomatic relations between the countries. Many other world leaders have issued similar messages of concern. Israel has said it has no plans to force Palestinians into Egypt. New satellite photos, however, indicate that Egypt is preparing for that very scenario. The images show Egypt building a wall and leveling land near its border with Gaza. Egypt has not publicly acknowledged the construction. Two senior Egyptian officials said Saturday that Egypt is building additional defensive lines in an already existing buffer zone. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details with the media. The buffer zone, which Egypt built in recent years as part of its battle against an Islamic State group insurgency, is 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the border. It was meant to prevent weapons smuggling to and from Gaza through underground tunnels. Authorities said they destroyed over 1,500 tunnels over the years.
The newly fortified zone is not intended to shelter Palestinians fleeing Gaza, said Diaa Rashwan, the head of the State Information Service.
THE WAR DRAGS ON
The Israeli military launched its war in response to the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 others hostage. The Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday raised the overall death toll in Gaza to 28,858, saying the bodies of 83 people killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says two-thirds of those killed are women and children. More than 68,000 people have been wounded, including 11,000 who need urgent evacuation for treatment outside Gaza, it said. In recent weeks, Israel's military has focused on Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city and a Hamas stronghold. The city's Nasser Hospital has been portrayed by the military as a Hamas hideout and as one of its last targets in Khan Younis. The army said Saturday that it had arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants at the hospital. Israel's defense minister has said at least 20 of those detained had been involved in the Oct. 7 attack. The Health Ministry said troops had turned the hospital into “military barracks" and detained a large number of medical staff, without providing details. Israel says it does not target patients or doctors, but staff say the facility is struggling under heavy fire and dwindling supplies, including food and water. Nour Abou Jameh was among the thousands sheltering at Nasser Hospital who were forced to leave in the past week. “Shooting and shelling was coming from all directions and even around the hospital,” Jameh said. “When we left at night, bodies were in the streets, and even tanks moved on them and crushed them.”

Blinken sees 'extraordinary' opportunity for Israel to normalise ties with neighbors
Munich Security Conference/Humeyra Pamuk/MUNICH (Reuters)/February 17, 2024
There is "an extraordinary opportunity" in the coming months for Israel to normalise ties with its Arab neighbors, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday, while also emphasizing the need for the creation of a Palestinian state. The top U.S. diplomat said there were genuine efforts led by Arab countries to revitalize the Palestinian Authority so it can be more effective in representing the Palestinians. "Virtually every Arab country now genuinely wants to integrate Israel into the region to normalize relations...to provide security commitments and assurances so that Israel can feel more safe," Blinken said during a panel discussion at the annual Munich Security Conference. "And there's also, I think the imperative, that's more urgent than ever, to proceed to a Palestinian state that also ensures the security of Israel," he added. The Biden administration has been working to secure a mega-deal that will see ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize. The Kingdom and other Arab countries are seeking the creation of a Palestinian state as part of the deal. Washington is also working to achieve a deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 when the group crossed the border into Israel and mounted one of the deadliest attacks on the country in decades. While in Munich, Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and discussed efforts to reach a hostage deal and achieve a pause in the conflict to allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, a State Department spokesman said in a statement. The hostage deal and the humanitarian pause are seen as instrumental in helping advance conversations on a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which had been frozen in the immediate aftermath of the attack but have resumed in recent months. Talks on the structure of Gaza when the war ends, and how the Palestinian Authority - which exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank - needs to be reformed to potentially rule the densely populated enclave and identifying a pathway for a Palestinian state are all variables in the same equation, according to U.S. officials.

Israel stages airstrikes across Gaza, makes arrests at hospital
Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell/Reuters/February 17, 2024
‮I‬sraeli forces carried out arrests in Gaza's largest functioning hospital, health officials and the military said on Saturday, as airstrikes hit across the enclave and rain battered Palestinians taking shelter in Rafah. Israeli forces raided the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday as they pressed their war on Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that rules the enclave. "Occupation forces detained a large number of medical staff members inside Nasser Medical Complex, which they (Israel) turned into a military base," said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra. The Israeli military said it was hunting for militants in Nasser and had so far arrested 100 suspects on the premises, killed gunmen near the hospital and found weapons inside it. Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters use medical facilities for cover. At least two released Israeli hostages have said they were held in Nasser.
The Israeli incursion into the hospital has raised alarm about patients, medical workers and displaced Palestinians sheltering there. About 10,000 people were seeking shelter at the hospital earlier this week, but many left either in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of Israeli orders to evacuate, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Further south in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million population are sheltering, the winter cold added to already dire conditions when wind blew away some tents of the displaced and rain flooded others. Israeli plans to storm Rafah have prompted international concern that such action would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the group said in a statement on Saturday. Haniyeh added that Hamas would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and "lifting of the unjust siege," as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed "complete victory" over Hamas but added on Wednesday that flexibility in the group's position could move forward negotiations for a deal that would see hostages released. Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,858 people, mostly civilians, have been killed. The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. At least 83 people were killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Friday, health officials said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, an area that borders Egypt and which Israel says is Hamas' last bastion.
The Israeli military said its jets had killed numerous militants in Gaza fighting since Friday. Across the border, air raid sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday.

Fresh Gaza strikes as fears grow for patients in raided hospital
Agence France Presse/February 17, 2024
Israel said it had taken into custody 100 people at one of Gaza's main hospitals after troops raided the facility, with fears mounting Saturday for patients and staff trapped inside. The deadly bombardment of Gaza continued overnight with another 100 people killed in Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. At least 120 patients and five medical teams are stuck without water, food and electricity in the Nasser hospital in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis, according to the health ministry. Israel has for weeks concentrated its military operations in Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas's Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged architect of the October 7 attack that triggered the war. This week, intense fighting has raged around the Nasser hospital -- one of the Palestinian territory's last remaining major medical facilities that remains even partly operational. The power was cut and the generators had stopped after the raid, leading to the deaths of six patients due to a lack of oxygen, according to Gaza's health ministry. "New-born children are at a risk of dying in the next few hours," the ministry warned Saturday. Israel's army said its troops entered the hospital on Thursday, acting on what it said was "credible intelligence" that hostages seized in the October 7 attack had been held there and that the bodies of some may still be inside. On Saturday the military said it had detained 100 people from the hospital suspected of "terrorist activity".The army also said it had seized weapons and retrieved "medications with the names of Israeli hostages" in the hospital. But the raid has been criticised by medics and the United Nations. The army has insisted it made every effort to keep the hospital supplied with power, including bringing in an alternative generator. A witness, who declined to be named for safety reasons, told AFP the Israeli forces had shot "at anyone who moved inside the hospital".
'Pattern of attacks' -
World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic slammed the operation Friday, saying "more degradation to the hospital means more lives being lost". "Patients, health workers, and civilians who are seeking refuge in hospitals deserve safety and not a burial in those places of healing."Doctors Without Borders said its medics had been forced to flee and leave patients behind, with one employee unaccounted for and another detained by Israeli forces. Roughly 130 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, which Israel says resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people mostly civilians. Dozens of the estimated 250 hostages seized during the attack were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a week-long truce in November. Israel says 30 of those still in Gaza are presumed dead. At least 28,775 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes, which the Palestinian Islamist group has denied.
The UN Human Rights Office said Israel's raid on the Nasser hospital appeared to be "part of a pattern of attacks by Israeli forces striking essential life-saving civilian infrastructure in Gaza, especially hospitals".
'Dying slowly' -
Witnesses said explosions were heard at dawn in Rafah, where around 1.4 million displaced civilians are trapped after taking refuge in a makeshift encampment by the Egyptian border with dwindling supplies."They are killing us slowly," said displaced Palestinian Mohammad Yaghi."We are dying slowly due to the scarcity of resources and the lack of medications and treatments."U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to carry out an offensive on Rafah without a plan to keep civilians safe -- but Netanyahu has insisted he will push ahead with a "powerful" operation there to achieve "complete victory" over Hamas. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Friday that Israel would coordinate with Egypt before launching its operation so as to "not hurt the Egyptian interests." Biden said Friday he held "extensive" conversations with Netanyahu about the need for a new truce in Gaza to bring the remaining hostages home. "I feel very strongly about it -- that there has to be a temporary ceasefire to get the prisoners out, to get the hostages out," he said. Hamas's armed wing has warned that hostages held in Gaza are "struggling to stay alive" as conditions deteriorate due to relentless Israeli bombardments. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Egypt was building a walled camp near the border to accommodate any Palestinians displaced from Gaza, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts. Satellite images obtained by AFP show machinery building a wall along the highly secure frontier. Egypt has repeatedly opposed any "forced displacement" from Gaza, warning it could jeopardize its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Hamas chief insists on Gaza ceasefire
AFP/February 17, 2024
GAZA: Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday reiterated the group’s demand of a complete ceasefire in Gaza, a day after US President Joe Biden called for a “temporary truce” to secure the release of hostages. High-level negotiations to pause the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza were held this week in Cairo but their outcome is still unclear. In a statement issued on Saturday, Qatar-based Haniyeh reiterated the group’s several demands, including an end to fighting in Gaza. “The resistance will not agree to anything less than ceasefire, withdrawing of the occupying army from the Strip, lifting the oppressive blockade, and providing safe shelter for the displaced people,” he said. Haniyeh insisted that those displaced from the north be returned to their areas in the territory. He also called for the release of Hamas prisoners sentenced to long jail terms in Israel. On Friday Biden called for a temporary truce in Gaza to get hostages out of the Palestinian territory under a potential deal swapping them for prisoners held in Israel.“I feel very strongly about it — that there has to be a temporary ceasefire to get the prisoners out, to get the hostages out,” Biden said from the White House. He added that he had held “extensive” conversations with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this and negotiations were “underway.”Netanyahu had previously rejected what he labelled Hamas’s “bizarre demands.”Earlier this week CIA director William Burns joined talks in Cairo with David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. These talks were mediated by Egypt and Qatar. Israeli families of hostages held in Gaza have stepped up pressure on Netanyahu to arrive at a deal for securing the release of captives. During the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel, some 250 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip, of which roughly 130 are still being held there, according to Israeli officials. Thirty of them are believed to be dead, while more than 100 had been freed during a one-week truce that ended on December 1. Three hostages were mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers in December, while some have been rescued in military operations. The October 7 attack itself resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. In Israel’s relentless military offensive since then in Gaza, at least 28,858 people have been killed, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Biden warns Netanyahu not to attack Rafah without plan, Israel says 'thoroughly planning'
Associated Press/February 17, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden has again cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against moving forward with a military operation into Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah without a "credible and executable plan" to protect around 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.
However, Israel's defense minister said the country is "thoroughly planning" its promised ground invasion of Rafah, and Netanyahu vowed early Friday to reject "international dictates" on a long-term resolution of Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. Two Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight killed at least 13 people, including nine members of the same family, according to hospital officials and relatives. The number of Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza has surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. A quarter of Gaza's residents are starving. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Rafah is "the next Hamas center of gravity" that Israel plans on targeting. "We are thoroughly planning future operations in Rafah, which is a significant Hamas stronghold," he said. He declined to say when the operation might begin. As he spoke, Israel pressed ahead with its operation in the nearby southern city of Khan Younis, where troops have focused on its main hospital. Gallant said a total of 70 militants have been arrested in the hospital. He alleged 20 of them participated in the Oct. 7 cross-border attack that triggered the war. Gallant also said that Israel has "no intention" of forcing Palestinian civilians into Egypt. Israel has promised a military operation in Rafah, a southern Gaza town along the Egyptian border where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge. The Israeli pledges have raised fears that large numbers of civilians could be pushed across the border — a scenario Egypt says is unacceptable. Gallant told reporters Friday that Israel understands Egypt's concerns. "The state of Israel has no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt," he said. "We respect and value our peace agreement with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability in the region as well as an important partner." New satellite photos show that Egypt is building a wall near the border in its territory that appears to be in anticipation of an Israeli operation in Rafah.

Morocco's hashish dealers boycott Israeli traffickers in solidarity with Gaza, says report
Rebecca Rommen/ Business Insider/February 17, 2024
https://www.businessinsider.com/moroccos-cannabis-dealers-boycott-israeli-traffickers-in-gaza-solidarity-report-2024-2
Dealers of highly-prized Moroccan hashish are severing ties with Israeli drug smugglers. They are boycotting Israeli dealers in protest at the killing of Palestinians in Gaza, said a report. The boycott is leading to significant financial losses for Israeli crime gangs. Moroccan hashish dealers are severing ties with Israeli drug smugglers amid the ongoing war in Gaza, per a report in Israeli media. "The hashish dealers in Morocco are not willing to sell us more hashish either directly or through intermediaries," a drug offender from Sharon told Mako , an Israeli news portal, reports. "They decided that because of the war, they are boycotting us. Since the war, we have lost a lot of money," he siad. The boycott has significant financial repercussions, with criminal organizations already losing "tens of millions of shekels," Mako. One Israeli New Shekel is equivalent to $0.28. Moroccan hashish is highly prized. The marijuana resin is "cherished by cannabis enthusiasts worldwide," said the Cannabis Museum in Amsterdam. Morocco's lucrative hashish trade centers on the Rif Mountains region in the north of Morocco. It is a significant agricultural sector in the north African nation, covering hundreds of square miles of cultivation. More than 80,000 families make a living from growing and processing the dark, sticky resin that is a byproduct of the cannabis plant. Morocco is the world's largest producer of hashish, contributing 19% of the global total. While most Moroccan hashish is destined for European markets, there is also demand in Israel due to the product's exceptional quality and potency, fetching prices as high as NIS 300,000 ($84,000) per kilogram, said Mako.
"We no longer sell hashish to Israelis"
Before the boycott, Moroccan hash flowed into Israel through various channels, facilitated by local Israeli smugglers, including some unexpected players like orthodox Jewish students.
However, the current boycott has disrupted these established routes, forcing Israeli smugglers to consider other sources. According to testimonies gathered by the Israeli TV news outlet N12, Moroccan hash dealers have explicitly voiced their solidarity with Gaza as the motivation behind the boycott. Moroccan dealers condemned the disparity between the thriving Israeli market and the war imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, choosing to end dealings with their Israeli counterparts and redirect their product elsewhere. At least 28,064 people in Gaza have been killed and 67,611 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7. The IDF has been waging war on Gaza since Hamas gunmen infiltrated the border with Israel and killed 1,139 people. Hamas also took 247 civilians hostage. One Moroccan dealer asked Mako: "Why is it possible for Israelis to make a living selling Moroccan hashish when our Palestinian brothers are suffering from hunger and living in inhumane conditions?" "Go buy it somewhere else. We no longer sell hashish to Israelis," he explained. "Before the war, we did business here with Israelis. Merchants came here and made good money. Now that's the end of it."
The Moroccan hashish boycott echoes the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The global campaign initiated in 2005 aims to isolate and pressure Israel economically and culturally. The South African anti-apartheid movement inspires BDS strategies.

Democratic rep says pro-Palestine demonstrators have ‘blood on their hands’ after protests interrupt hearing
The Hill/Clayton Vickers/February 17/2024
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) scolded pro-Palestinian protesters at a House committee hearing, accusing them of having “blood on their hands” for “shouting the praises” of Houthi militants in the Red Sea.
The protesters painted their hands red and repeatedly interrupted a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia hearing on Houthi aggression in the Red Sea, calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, have involved themselves in the Israel-Hamas war by attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea. The group claimed it is targeting Israel-based boats or boats headed to Israel in an attempt to protect Palestinians from Israel as the war in Gaza continues, The Hill previously reported. “There’s blood on the hands of the Houthi, and there’s blood on the hands of those who prevent us from taking effective action against them and shout their praises, and I see that blood is actually on the hands of people visible to me right now,” Sherman said. Raising his voice over demonstrators’ shouts, Sherman said “a durable cease-fire cannot exist if Hamas is [in Gaza], because they’ve already declared, they want to repeat Oct. 7 again and again until the blood of Israelis flows again and again.”
Subcommittee Chair Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) called the interruptions “ignorant outbursts” that were against the law, and he had protesters who raised their voices removed. Demonstrators interrupted Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) soon after. He accused the protesters of forgoing realism for idealism in their demands for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. “And there we go again with the absolute misunderstanding of realism versus idealism,” McCormick said after one of the demonstrators was escorted out of the hearing. “Iran is an evil regime,” McCormick continued. “It’s a theocracy that oppresses its people; it has kept women from their natural, God-given rights, and yet we’re more concerned with not getting food to the people when we give aid to these corrupt agencies than we are with a resistance to a regime that is actually supporting all of our enemies, all around the world.”
The committee had convened to debate how the U.S. can combat aggression by Houthi militants in the Red Sea. The Biden administration designated the Houthis as a Specially Designated Terrorist Group in January, but the sanction takes effect Friday.
Iran wants to drag the United States in a “grinding, open-ended conflict” in the Middle East, an “Iranian trap,” said Jon Alterman, senior vice president for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Alterman told lawmakers that by sponsoring Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Iran is instigating the United States. He cautioned, “getting into a war of wills over the Houthis, I worry, is going to leave them victorious and looking strong, and us looking weak.”
“We have to be successful 100 percent of the time, and if we’re successful 99 percent of the time, our adversaries point to the 1 percent, and our people point to the 1 percent, and we look like we’re failing instead of succeeding,” Alterman said.
Former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack and Alterman both said Houthi aggression would instead require the United States to strategically use its resources to exert pressure on Iran and the Houthis while avoiding a hot war.
“I am not suggesting American boots on the ground in Yemen,” Pollack emphasized. Pollack said the proxy conflict will “ultimately require the United States to arm, equip and train” anti-Houthi elements in the region, such as coalitions in Yemen or Saudi Arabia. GOP lawmakers on the committee sharply criticized the Biden administration’s action on the Houthis, calling it a policy of “appeasement.” “The Houthi’s ability to disrupt shipping gives a significant boost to the regime in Iran’s legitimacy and is a key to their goal of death to America, death to Israel,” Wilson said.

Iran unveils new air defense weaponry as regional tensions ramp up - IRNA
Reuters/February 17, 2024
Iran unveiled new weaponry on Saturday including what it said was the locally made Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system, the official IRNA news agency reported. The announcement came amid heightened tensions in the region, with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants carrying out a string of attacks on vessels linked to the U.S., UK and Israel in the Red Sea in a show of solidarity with the Gaza Strip. Gaza has been under military assault by Israel since Hamas's attacks on Israel's south on Oct. 7. In response to the Houthi attacks, the U.S. has targeted sites inside Yemen as well as facilities of Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria. In turn, U.S. military bases have been attacked in Syria and Iraq. Israel has also struck Iranian targets in Syria. Saturday’s unveiling ceremony of the two vehicle-mounted systems took place in the presence of Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani. "With the entry of new systems into the country's defense network, the air defense capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran will increase significantly," IRNA said. It said the Arman missile system "can simultaneously confront six targets at a distance of 120 to 180 km", while the Azarakhsh missile system "can identify and destroy targets... up to a range of 50 km with four ready-to-fire missiles". In June Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile, named Fattah, with a range of 1,400 km.

Israel strikes Iranian gas pipelines in covert attack: NYT
ARAB NEWS/February 17, 2024
LONDON: Israel staged secret strikes on two major Iranian gas pipelines this week, threatening the supply of energy to millions of people across the country, the New York Times reported. The attacks simultaneously hit several points along the two pipelines in the Fars and Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari provinces, with the disrupted natural gas flow affecting up to five provinces across the country. It is unclear whether drones or explosives were used to carry out the strikes, but local collaborators appear to have been involved, experts said, adding that the Israel’s actions represented a major escalation in its strategy against Iran. Shahin Modarres, a Rome-based security analyst, said: “This shows that the covert networks operating in Iran have expanded their target list and advanced beyond just military and nuclear sites. It’s a major challenge and reputation blow for Iran’s intelligence and security agencies.”
Israel has long waged a covert campaign against Iran based on attacking the country’s nuclear capabilities and oil infrastructure, involving assassinations of scientists and cyberattacks. But the strikes on natural gas infrastructure were a deliberate plan to “stir domestic discontent,” said Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji. “The enemy’s plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country” by using “sabotage and terrorist attacks,” he added, without directly blaming Israel. Owji said his ministry had sent technical teams to assess and repair the damage, and service had been quickly restored. One Western official told the New York Times that although the damage was repaired, the escalation served as a “symbolic” warning to Iran of Israel’s capabilities. Experts believe that the attacks disabled about 15 percent of Iranian daily natural gas production. The two pipelines — which run for about 1,200 km — carry gas from the south of the country to major urban centers further north, including Tehran, Isfahan and Astara, on the border with Azerbaijan. Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior energy analyst at Kpler, said: “The level of impact was very high because these are two significant pipelines going south to north. We have never seen anything like this in scale and scope.”One official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity, said patrols regularly scout the pipelines, taking allocated breaks. The attackers would have required knowledge of break times to stage the attacks, suggesting the involvement of local collaborators, the official added. No casualties were reported from the strikes. Social media posts showed locals rushing to the streets after the blasts early in the morning. It comes amid rising tensions between Iran — and its network of allied militias in the region — and Israel and the US, both of which have carried out strikes on Tehran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq in recent months.

West mounts pressure on Russia after Navalny's death in jail
Agence France Presse/February 17, 2024
Western nations Saturday mounted pressure on Russia, blaming its leader and the government for the death of leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison in opaque circumstances. Navalny's death was announced on Friday after three years in detention and a poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
It deprives Russia's opposition of its figurehead just a month before an election poised to extend President Vladimir Putin's hold on power and comes at a time of intense repression and as Moscow's campaign in Ukraine nears its two-year anniversary. The West blamed Putin and his government for the 47-year-old's death which followed months of deteriorating health in harsh detention conditions. Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Saturday said Navalny's "heroic opposition to Putin's repressive and unjust regime inspired the world". "We hold the Russian Government solely responsible for his treatment and death in prison," Wong said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. US President Joe Biden was equally blunt, saying: "Make no mistake, Putin is responsible for Navalny's death". Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov added: "Alexei Navalny was tortured and tormented for three years... Murder was added to Alexei Navalny's sentence". The death was announced by Russia's federal penitentiary service, which said Navalny "felt bad after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness". Russian news agencies reported that medics from a local hospital arrived within minutes and spent more than "half an hour" trying to resuscitate him. Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, said she held Putin personally responsible and called on the international community to "unite and defeat this evil, terrifying regime". Navalny was Russia's most prominent opposition leader and won a huge following as he campaigned against corruption under Putin. Putin -- who famously never referred to Navalny by name -- was on a visit to the Urals on Friday and made no mention of the death. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Western leaders of "absolutely unacceptable" and "hysterical" reactions to Navalny's death.
Moscow authorities also warned the public against taking part in any protests as videos shared online showed dozens of Russians laying flowers at monuments to victims of political repression in different Russian cities. At least one person was detained for holding up a placard that appeared to say "murderers" in a video posted by the independent Sota Telegram channel. Russia's OVD-Info rights group said police on Saturday detained over 100 people gathered at spontaneous memorials for Navalny across the country. As of February 17, "more than 101 people have already been detained in 10 cities" including 11 in the capital Moscow, OVD-Info said on its website.
'Brutally murdered'
One of Navalny's lawyers, Leonid Solovyov, told Novaya Gazeta newspaper that he was "normal" when another lawyer saw him on Wednesday. In footage of a court hearing from his prison colony on Thursday, Navalny was seen smiling and joking as he addressed the judge by video link. State media reported he raised no health complaints during the session. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference hours after news of her husband's death, Yulia Navalnaya said Putin and his entourage "will be punished for everything they have done to our country, to my family and to my husband". German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Navalny had "paid for his courage with his life". Britain's Foreign Office said it had summoned the Russian embassy "to make clear that we hold the Russian authorities fully responsible" for Navalny's death. French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said his death "reminds us of the reality of Putin's regime" and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Navalny had been "killed by Putin". UN chief Antonio Guterres called for "a full, credible and transparent investigation". The Russian foreign ministry hit back, saying the way Western leaders blamed Russia for his death showed their hypocrisy.
"There is no forensic examination yet, but the West already has conclusions ready," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to state news agency TASS.
'I'm not afraid' -
Navalny, who led street protests for more than a decade, became a household name through his anti-corruption campaigning. His exposes of official corruption, posted on his YouTube channel, racked up millions of views and brought tens of thousands of Russians to the streets, despite harsh anti-protest laws. He was jailed in early 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent. In a string of cases, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges widely condemned by rights groups and in the West as retribution for his opposition to the Kremlin.
His return to Russia despite knowing he would face jail brought him admiration. "I'm not afraid and I call on you not to be afraid," he said in an appeal to supporters as he landed in Moscow, moments before being detained on charges linked to an old fraud conviction. His 2021 arrest spurred some of the largest demonstrations Russia had seen in decades, and thousands were detained at rallies nationwide calling for his release. From behind bars he was a staunch opponent of Moscow's full-scale military offensive against Ukraine, and watched on, helplessly, as the Kremlin dismantled his organisation and locked up his allies.Dozens of his top supporters fled into exile and continued to campaign against the offensive on Ukraine and repression inside Russia.
'Don't do nothing' -
Late last year, Navalny was moved to a remote Arctic prison colony in Russia's Yamalo-Nenets region in northern Siberia. He said in January that his daily routine included prison walks in freezing temperatures. Since being jailed in 2021, he spent more than 300 days in solitary confinement, where prison authorities kept him over alleged minor infringements of prison rules. The last post on Navalny's Telegram channel, which he managed through his lawyers and team in exile, was a tribute to his wife posted on Valentine's Day. In a documentary filmed before he returned to Russia, Navalny was asked what message he wanted to leave to the Russian people should he die or be killed. "Don't give up. You mustn't, you can't give up," he said. "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Therefore, don't do nothing."

US warships are shooting down weapons no one's ever faced in combat before, and a Navy commander says it's a 'great opportunity'
Jake Epstein/Business Insider/February 17, 2024
The US Navy has been battling anti-ship ballistic missiles, weapons used in combat for the first time only recently.
Business Insider recently visited a destroyer that has shot down some of the Houthis' missiles.
Navy commanders say that American forces are gaining valuable intelligence from these engagements.
US Navy warships off the coast of Yemen have been battling Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, a dangerous weapon that no military has ever faced in combat until very recently.
These weapons could be significant threats in potential future conflicts, especially one with China in the Western Pacific. But American forces are learning from their recent battles in the Middle East and gaining valuable intelligence from these engagements, Navy commanders say.
"First time a ballistic missile has been shot, either at a warship or at maritime traffic that's next to a warship," a carrier strike group commander told Business Insider during a visit to the Red Sea this week. "And that has yielded us a lot of information."
The Houthis began to employ anti-ship ballistic missiles — alongside anti-ship cruise missiles and one-way attack drones — toward the end of last year, marking the first time "in history" that these weapons have been used, as US President Joe Biden has said. The use of these missiles complicates the threat environment.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have fired dozens of anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen toward international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, sometimes even striking commercial vessels. These repeated provocations have drawn in the Navy and forced it to respond. Over the past two months, US warships operating in the region have shot down a handful of anti-ship ballistic missiles — most recently in early February. The US has also conducted preemptive strikes targeting these missiles in Yemen before they are launched. Business Insider recently traveled to the USS Gravely, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in the Red Sea that has been on the front lines of these efforts and has shot down several Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles. The ship's commanding officer, Cmdr. Brian Sanchez, hailed his sailors as "resilient" and said they have months of training under their belts to prepare for these sorts of engagements."Now that we're out here, this is what we've trained to do," he said in an interview with Business Insider. "We might be seeing it for the first time, but it's nothing new, because we've had those repetitions of training." Sanchez said that the data his warship collects is sent back to the US, where the performance of weapons systems is analyzed for any technical and tactical improvements or adjustments. He credited his sailors for being able to respond to these engagements the way that they were trained to do. "They've been doing a very good job reacting the way we expect them to react and then getting right back to business and making sure the ship continues to stay ready for another engagement," the CO said of his sailors. The Gravely is part of the Navy's Carrier Strike Group 2, which consists of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, four destroyers, and a cruiser. The carrier strike group's commander, Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, said he's already received feedback from some of the data that has been sent back to the US, including that ship weapons systems are performing "exactly as intended."
"We do have some new capabilities that were fielded over the last couple of years, and it's paid huge dividends when it comes to basically defeating this ballistic missile threat," he told Business Insider during a visit to the Ike this week.
The Houthi rebels boast a rather sizable arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles, some of which are Iranian in origin, while others just contain parts from Tehran, according to an analysis published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in early January. US Central Command, or CENTCOM, called attention to the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles but has not specifically identified which missiles have been used in any of the attacks. Long before the Houthis began attacking international shipping lanes with anti-ship ballistic missiles, these weapons had emerged as a growing concern for the US military as it looked across the Pacific to China given the country's growing arsenal of anti-ship ballistic missiles and rising tensions. Were Washington and Beijing to go to war at some point in the future, the maritime domain would likely be a key battleground, making anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities and defenses designed to defeat them important considerations. Experts say the Houthis' anti-ship ballistic missiles don't quite stack up against China's arsenal, which is much more sophisticated, particularly in terms of guidance technology, and is increasingly expanding. Beijing has invested heavily in the development of its Rocket Force and has even built mock-ups of American naval vessels, which are thought to be used for target practice. China also has a wide range of sensors — like radars and satellites — that it can use to direct its missiles.
But while there may be a difference between the threat environments and capabilities in the Middle East and Western Pacific, any anti-ship ballistic missile could cause catastrophic damage, and current and former military officers agree that the Navy is gaining extremely valuable experience through its regular engagements with the Houthis, as well as a certain degree of reassurance. "Not that we like getting shot at," said Miguez, the Carrier Strike Group 2 commander, "but it was a great opportunity to prove that the systems that we did purchase, and we fielded, and we trained to, actually work when asked."

Putin is tightening his grip over what's left of the Wagner Group
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/February 17, 2024
The Kremlin ordered Yevgeny Prigozhin's death in a plane crash last August, according to reports. Moscow has since worked to absorb Wagner's empire and militia in Ukraine and Africa, analysts said. The Wagner Group has become "marginalized" and "de facto'' subordinated to Russia, one analyst said.
Vladimir Putin reportedly ordered Yevgeny Prigozhin's demise last year — and he's now trying to do the same to his mercenary group. Since Prigozhin's plane crashed last August, many have pondered the fate of the Wagner paramilitary organization without its leader. In the hours after Wagner's short-lived mutiny last June, the Kremlin began privately reassuring African and Middle Eastern governments that Russia would take full control of Prigozhin's global empire. Prigozhin crossed Africa in a frantic attempt to protect his global business empire, before his untimely demise. Six months after his death, experts say Wagner's days operating anywhere in the world could be numbered. Sergey Sukhankin, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said there is no doubt that the Wagner Group has become "marginalized" and "de facto" subordinated to Russia's defense ministry following Prighozhin's death. "The fighters will do what they are told" by the ministry, he told BI.
Wagner is shrinking in Ukraine
In the months since Prigozhin's death, intelligence reports have offered clues about the Kremlin's efforts to take over his organization, which had been a major player in the war in Ukraine and also operated elsewhere. Former Wagner fighters have been absorbed into Russia's national guard, also known as Rosgvardia, according to a report by the UK government this month. Three former Wagner assault detachments are being integrated into its first Volunteer Corps formation with the likely goal of deploying them to Ukraine and Africa, the UK said. Another update last week said Wagner's plan to establish a new headquarters near a Russian barracks is likely a sign of its subordination. And Russia's efforts aren't stopping there.
Russia is taking over Wagner's mercenaries in Africa
Russia's defense ministry created a new military unit called the Africa Corps last summer. The military formation has been actively recruiting former Wagner Group mercenaries and soldiers who fought in Ukraine for combat operations in Africa. In a Telegram post last week, it promised an unspecified "high monetary" allowance, payments in foreign currency, service under "competent commanders" with extensive combat experience, and medical care and social benefits. Fighters joining the new group is likely a sign of diminishing allegiance to Prigozhin's paramilitary organization, according to Raphael Parens, a fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program and an international security researcher specializing in small armed groups. "Wagner fighters likely have little loyalty to the company itself after Prigozhin's demise and would be willing to fight for whichever Kremlin-backed organization that exists in Africa," Parens told BI. "These mercenaries care about the bottom line rather than an ideological alignment with Prigozhin," he said. The Kremlin is likely using the Africa Corps to take over many of the functions of the Wagner Group, Parens added. However, it's unclear how successful Russia's efforts will be: "Prigozhin relied heavily on personal connections and a variety of shell corporations, which may be difficult for a state government to control," he said. Instead of being another attempt by Russia to subordinate Wagner, Sukhankin said its recruitment of Wagner fighters is about "making the best of professional mercenaries familiar with the African environment."
Ukraine and Western allies may be trying to stop Russia
Alessandro Arduino, the author of "Money for Mayhem: Mercenaries, Private Military Companies, Drones, and the Future of War," said the Wagner Group could either fall under Russia's control or split into smaller, heavily armed groups serving local warlords. "Regardless, in Africa, the perception that Wagner or the new creation Africa Corp is protecting territorial integrity against militant forces is on the rise," he told BI. Last week, in a video obtained by the Kyiv Post, Ukrainian special forces were shown interrogating captured Wagner mercenaries in Sudan. The undated video shows one soldier confessing to being part of a Wagner mercenary outfit sent to Sudan to overthrow the local government, per the outlet. According to Parens, the presence of Ukrainian special forces in Africa highlights that Ukraine is competing with Russia in a new area. "This signals the Ukrainian government's willingness to fight and defeat Russian forces via attrition regardless of their location," he said. Sukhankin suggested that the operation may be part of "some sort of tacit agreement" between Western allies and Ukraine to battle Russian mercenaries in Africa in exchange for certain military backing for Ukraine in its war against Russia. "Ukrainian special services have acquired considerable experience of waging non-linear warfare against the Russian side and especially against the Wagner Group," he said. "This is something the West does not have."In Sukhankin's view, this makes Ukrainians "the best option — both in terms of effectiveness/efficiency and cost-benefit basis — in confronting Russian mercenaries in Africa." The fate of the Wagner Group, it seems, still hangs in the balance.

Camp David Accords: Egypt-Israel treaty's role in security arrangements and implications
LBCI/February 17, 2024
Will the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, particularly in its security aspect, allow Israel to conduct military operations in Egyptian Sinai? The treaty outlines security arrangements agreed upon by both countries, including limited armament in Egyptian or Israeli territories and the deployment of international forces and monitors. Security arrangements in the Sinai Peninsula delineate three zones with varying degrees of Egyptian military and security presence, extending from the west, along the Suez Canal, to the eastern border with Israel, with a fourth zone extending into Israeli territory.
This fourth zone is listed under Zone D. It extends from east Rafah to Eilat, with a depth of four kilometers and an approximate width of 2.5 kilometers along the Israeli-Egyptian border, encompassing the border strip within the Gaza Strip. In this zone, Israel is allowed a limited force of four infantry brigades equipped solely with surface-to-air missiles, not tanks or artillery, totaling no more than 4,000 soldiers and 180 vehicles. Israeli forces previously controlled the border strip inside Gaza, known as the Philadelphi Axis or Salah al-Din, extending 14 kilometers until their withdrawal from the territory in 2005. Following this withdrawal, Israel and Egypt signed the "Philadelphi Protocol" in the same year, allowing Egypt to deploy 750 security personnel to combat terrorism and infiltration across the border in the designated Zone C. This division and presence have governed the security relationship between the two countries for years, with any modification to the agreed security arrangements in the treaty's annex requiring the consent of both parties. Israel cannot unilaterally deploy additional troops in Zone D without Egypt's approval. Any breach in this area or along the international border with Egypt is considered a hostile act jeopardizing Egypt's national security and the treaty, allowing Egypt to review, partially freeze, or entirely annul it. Today, Israel's hint at launching an operation in Rafah and forcibly relocating Gazans to Sinai poses a direct threat to peace with Egypt. Egypt has warned of the severe consequences of any such Israeli action. Despite reaffirmations by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that Egypt remains committed to the treaty, the possibility of the Gaza war today raises concerns about the future of the peace treaty brokered by President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin under the auspices of US President Jimmy Carter in 1978.

Palestinian state only pathway to Middle East security, stability: Saudi FM
ARAB NEWS/February 17, 2024
MUNICH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Saturday said the formation of a Palestinian state was “the only pathway” toward security and stability in the Middle East. Prince Faisal was speaking at the Munich Security Conference and added that Israel’s security and stability was also dependent on the establishment of a state of Palestine. He said the Kingdom’s focus was fully on securing a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. “We are focused on a ceasefire and on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and we are focused on humanitarian access for the people of Gaza,” Prince Faisal said. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly stated it would not open diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized. Prince Faisal also said that provocative actions carried out by Israeli forces would inflame feelings in Arab and Islamic nations, especially with the death toll in Gaza approaching 30,000. He added that their actions could serve the ideologies of terrorism and extremism around the world.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 17-18/2024
Want to Stop Iran's Regime? Hit the IRGC Assets
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/February 17, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127134/127134/
"No one ever said it better than Osama bin Laden: When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they are attracted to the strong horse." — Thomas Friedman, newyorker.com, July 5, 2010.
Especially in the Middle East, leaders are looking for who will protect them.
The Biden administration's passive response to Iranian aggression is imperiling the region, the United States and the Free World. Iran, along with Qatar, have brought all the mayhem to the Middle East. When Iran achieves nuclear weapons capability, as it appears on the verge of doing, just think of what mayhem it will be able to bring then. Stop Iran now.
The Biden administration's approach to dealing with Iran has been marked by a series of delayed responses, ineffective actions, and cosmetic sanctions that have clearly failed to deter the Islamic Republic's aggressive behavior. Pictured: Protesters and members of Iranian paramilitary's Basij forces march next to the fourth generation Khorramshahr ballistic missile Khaibar in Tehran on November 24, 2023. (Photo by Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration's approach to dealing with Iran has been marked by a series of delayed responses, ineffective actions, and cosmetic sanctions that have clearly failed to deter the Islamic Republic's aggressive behavior. This passive stance not only bolsters the Iranian regime but also jeopardizes the safety and security of Americans and their allies. A thorough reassessment of strategy and a commitment to assertive diplomacy would seem necessary to say the least.
When Iranian assets have been targeted, or even when a serious intent to do so was conveyed, Iranian leaders have relented from launching attacks on other countries, including the US and its allies. The most recent example occurred last month when Iran launched a missile strike into Pakistan. Pakistan, maintaining diplomatic relations with Iran, responded swiftly by launching multiple strikes into Iran shortly after the attack -- in contrast to the delayed responses often observed from the Biden administration. Pakistan's retaliatory strikes resulted in casualties; Iran has appeared to reconsider its aggressive stance. Iran adopted a softer tone; its foreign ministry issued statements expressing a commitment to fostering good neighborly relations with Pakistan.
When, during the Trump administration, Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization, was killed by a drone strike on January 3, 2020, Iran issued threats against the United States. President Donald Trump responded by cautioning Iran that any harm inflicted on Americans would prompt an even more forceful response. "[T]he United States," he said, "will hit 52 Iranian sites, some at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture, very fast and very hard." Emphasizing the asymmetry in perceived consequences, Trump even emphasized the asymmetry in his proposal: "They're allowed to kill our people... and we're not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn't work that way." Iran did not attack US assets or kill Americans throughout Trump's tenure.
In addition, history provides much evidence of the effectiveness of firm action in deterring Iranian aggression. During the Bush administration, shortly after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Iranian regime, evidently fearing being targeted for its support of terrorist activities, initiated a confidential proposal to the US. Iran's proposal, communicated through Swiss diplomatic channels, outlined a "grand bargain" that offered full transparency regarding its nuclear program and a cessation of support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. In return, Iran sought security assurances from the United States and the normalization of diplomatic relations. The proposal came in response to the credible threat of force and demonstrated Iran's willingness to negotiate when confronted with strength.
Similarly, Operation Praying Mantis during the Reagan administration dealt a decisive blow to Iran's maritime capabilities, that led to a cessation of Iran attacking ships. Reagan's message had been clear: aggression will be met with overwhelming force, and the security of American interests will be fiercely defended.
A fundamental truth about the Middle East -- one that differentiates it from Western thinking in the United States or the United Nations – is that the only language respected is that of strength and resolve. As the journalist Thomas Friedman noted: "No one ever said it better than Osama bin Laden: When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they are attracted to the strong horse." Especially in the Middle East, leaders are looking for who will protect them. Anything less than strength invites aggressive behavior and endangers innocent lives. The Biden administration's failure to send a strong and unequivocal message to Iran only invites further its aggression and destabilizing the region.
A more assertive stance towards Iran is essential. Responses need to include strengthening and enforcing existing sanctions; imposing restrictions on Iran's oil exports and imposing penalties on those who engage in trade with the regime. One might also consider targeting Iran's oil facilities, naval assets, and bases belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Strong action against Iran itself -- not its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis -- would also serve as an effective deterrent against future Iranian aggression.
The Biden administration's passive response to Iranian aggression is imperiling the region, the United States and the Free World. Iran, along with Qatar, have brought all the mayhem to the Middle East. When Iran achieves nuclear weapons capability, as it appears on the verge of doing, just think of what mayhem it will be able to bring then. Stop Iran now.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20397/stop-iran-hit-irgc

The Military Merchant Who May Hold One Key To Post-Hamas Gaza
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez*/Palestinians | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 571/February 17/2024
War is good business. And that is as true for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin as it is for the humblest arms smuggler in Africa. While war is by its very nature destructive and disruptive, the chaotic and dynamic conditions of a conflict can create all sorts of opportunities for those creative and ruthless enough to take advantage of them.
As the Gaza War launched by Hamas on October 7 enters its fifth month, many are focused on Israel's military needs, while others look at the destructive capacity Iran has supplied to its surrogates in Lebanon and Yemen and its Hamas allies in Gaza. In Egypt, the war is also a business although the country is not a belligerent and will not become one.
Construction work is taking place in the Eastern part of Sinai for a potential reception and holding area for Gazans, "a refugee city," should the conflict spill over into Egypt.[1] This is an eventuality that Egypt is strongly opposed to but that it is – rightly – making sure to be prepared for, both by heightening security and a military presence on the border with Rafah and also by preparing such facilities, just in case.
The local builders are connected with the Abnaa Sinai for Construction and Building company which is under contract from the Egyptian military. That company is part of the business empire of Ibrahim Jumaa Al-Arjani (or Al-Organi in Egyptian dialect), a fascinating figure demonstrating how conflict can indeed serve as a ladder to success for some.[2]
Al-Arjani is, as the name of his company suggests, a Son of Sinai, a member of the large Tarabin Bedouin tribe of the Egyptian Sinai (Tarabin are also to be found in the Israeli Negev). The Tarabin and other Sinai tribes are, among other things, smugglers and have a long and colorful history in the smuggling business. As good smugglers do, they have smuggled whatever makes a profit. Historically this has meant – sometimes - guns into Gaza and people out of Gaza, but also those other things that people wanted – scarce domestic items and drugs, particularly hashish.[3]
Bedouin smugglers in Egypt have also facilitated smuggling African refugees into Israel and even Iranian missiles into Gaza. When I served in Sudan in 2008, Israel struck at Sudanese smuggling networks that were doing just that, taking Iranian rockets from Port Sudan into Egypt where Egyptian networks would take them into the Palestinian enclave. Of course, today Hamas makes most of its rockets locally in underground facilities inside Gaza. Tunnels may be sealed and commodities in demand change but the smuggling will continue.
Al-Arjani's rise from simple smuggler to oligarch began, ironically, with prison. In 2008, already a tribal smuggler, he was arrested and tortured by Egyptian authorities as a result of him kidnapping Egyptian soldiers during a conflict between smugglers and police over control the smuggling trade. Al-Arjani's brother Ahmed was killed by police in this conflict. But this is a simple explanation of a complicated issue, the Sinai smugglers and the Egyptian security establishment were adversaries, rivals, and partners, depending on the circumstances.
Al-Arjani and 60 other Sinai tribesmen were amnestied in July 2010 and returned to that netherworld of semi-criminal, semi-partner of the deep state during the end of the Mubarak regime and the brief Morsi regime. After the coup that brought President Al-Sisi to power in 2013, Al-Arjani moved out of the cold, becoming a much more overt partner of the regime. This included developing a relationship with Mahmoud Al-Sisi, a senior intelligence officer and the Egyptian president's eldest son.
Al-Arjani's release from prison and Al-Sisi's coup coincided with another fateful occurrence, the rise of a bloody Jihadist insurgency in Sinai. Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis (ABM) arose out of the chaotic security situation in Sinai and was turbocharged by the 2013 military coup. In 2014, it switched allegiance from Al-Qaeda to ISIS, becoming known as the Islamic State-Sinai Province. Relying on both Nile Valley Egyptians and especially on local Bedouin, it proved a formidable foe for the Egyptian Army. In November 2017, the group reportedly carried the deadliest terrorist attack in Egyptian history, killing more than 300 people in an assault on a Sufi-affiliated mosque near the town of Bir Al-Abed. In 2022, President Al-Sisi mentioned that the insurgency had caused the death of over 3,000 members of the security forces and injured 12,000.
Following patterns seen elsewhere, the Egyptian government responded to the insurgency by supporting the rise of anti-ISIS tribal militias, the "Awakenings" model seen in Iraq.[4] The authorities would turn to their partner Al-Arjani in 2015 to found the Sinai Tribal Union, initially a purely Tarabin tribe paramilitary affair. ISIS blew up Al-Arjani's house and stole his mother's car in Sinai in revenge.[5] The role of tribal fighters would eventually be key in squeezing the Islamic State-Sinai Province, especially when the Tarabin were later joined by the other main tribes of Sinai, the Sawarka and the Roumailat.[6] Both of those tribes, also known for their smuggling prowess, had been much more susceptible to join the Jihadists than the Tarabin.[7] Tribal fighters were equipped in ways resembling Sudan's Janjaweed (RSF) paramilitaries, with pick up trucks and land cruisers mounted with machine guns as their mainstay for quick strikes. Today the Sinai Jihadists are definitely weakened but not defeated. But crushing them had an important side benefit, it made smuggling into Gaza and Israel easier for these tribal networks.
In addition to his smuggling and counterinsurgency empires, Al-Arjani and his silent partners within the state national security apparatus developed a conglomerate of legitimate business holdings, under the umbrella Organi Group,[8] including the previously mentioned Abnaa Sinai construction company, the Misr Sinai for Industrial Development company, and tourist, real estate, concrete, marble, and granite mining and security companies. He is also Chairman of the Global Auto Group which is the local agent in Egypt for BMW and Mini Cooper. Al-Arjani was also appointed by Al-Sisi to the board of Sinai's public-private Sinai Reconstruction Authority in 2022.
Al-Arjani is not a low-key figure.[9] He not only has a high profile on social media – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook – but also is a sponsor of Cairo's celebrated Al-Ahly Football Club and other sports endeavors. A fictionalized version of the man appeared in a popular Ramadan anti-terrorist television serial in 2020.[10] Egyptian music super star Amr Diab reportedly sang at his son's wedding. While supporters call him the "Lion of Sinai," he is a favorite target of the regime's Islamist opponents and of liberal critics of the Al-Sisi government.[11] Islamists call him "Al-Sisi's enforcer in the strangulation of Gaza." One pro-government journalist described the campaign against Al-Arjani as a "war of rumors and lies" waged by "the electronic committees of the [Muslim] Brotherhood."[12]
Turkey's authoritarian ruler Erdoğan recently visited Egypt and stressed his keenness to "cooperate with Egypt to reconstruct Gaza."[13] The path for that will go through Sinai. Rather than hyperventilating about Al-Arjani, I see him as a figure found in other Arab states, and indeed throughout the Global South, a fixer who can get things done for a regime, often things the regime would rather not do itself or useful when the regime wants to create a buffer or cushion from a shady activity – in this case the dirty business of illicit commerce across Sinai's border with Hamas-ruled Gaza. His is the role of contractor or middle man for the regime, prized and wealthy, but still a tool of the state.
Those that see him as an Egyptian version of Sudan's Hemedti or Russia's Prigozhin seem to be exaggerating a bit. Rather than a warlord who went into business like those two figures, he is a smuggler turned business tycoon with a sideline in warlordism.[14] Whether or not he is a drug dealer or a gold smuggler[15] are less important than whether he can actually help the deeply flawed Egyptian state to bring order – even a tenuous one – to a Sinai beset by a wide range of daunting challenges. Those challenges include managing what or who goes across that Gaza border and, of course, the monumental tasks of security and development inside Sinai itself. That he is corrupt is completely beside the point.[16] Every Arab state bordering Israel is deeply, incorrigibly corrupt and all have their own multiple, private or official, versions of Al-Arjani. In the region, there are those who pay and those who get paid.
The 53-year-old Al-Arjani's indirect role in the future of Gaza's reconstruction and governance is significant but it is intimately tied to the vision of the Egyptian national security state, his partners, for Gaza, a vision which will involve complex questions of security, stability and, certainly, a steady cash flow.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Sinaifhr.org/show/333, accessed February 16, 2024.
[2] Alestiklal.net/ar/view/11703/dep-news-1640848057, accessed February 16, 2024.
[3] Ctc.westpoint.edu/guns-drugs-and-smugglers-a-recent-heightened-challenge-at-israels-borders-with-jordan-and-egypt, July 2023.
[4] Atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/a-new-sinai-battle-bedouin-tribes-and-egypt-s-isis-affiliate, accessed February 16, 2024.
[5] Almasryalyoum.com/news/details/738563, May 22, 2015.
[6] Marsad-egypt.info/en/2022/05/24/meet-the-newly-remade-union-of-sinai-tribes-the-force-taking-over-the-fight-in-sinai/?doing_wp_cron=1708022832.6110029220581054687500, May 24, 2015.
[7] Debka.com/sinai-bedouin-ruthless-smugglers-of-arms-money-fighters-to-isis-and-migrants-to-europe, July 9, 2015.
[8] Organi-group.com, accessed February 16, 2024.
[9] Youtube.com/watch?v=zoevbxkEQ3U, January 20, 2023.
[10] Youtube.com/watch?v=emBc4g1pqyk, November 19, 2023.
[11] Youtube.com/watch?v=cQGPSbgDYLM, January 15, 2022.
[12] Elaosboa.com/1051620, August 6, 2023.
[13] Newarab.com/news/turkeys-erdogan-visits-egypt-ties-are-back-full-swing
[14] L2tat.com/%d8%a3%d8%ae%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%af/%d9%82%d8%b5%d8%a9-%d8%b5%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af-%d8%a5%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%8a%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a5%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8, February 14, 2024.
[15] Bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66614769, August 28, 2023.
[16] Mada38.appspot.com/madamasr.com/ar/2024/02/12/feature/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A9/%D8%B4%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%AC%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A, February 12, 2024.
https://www.memri.org/reports/military-merchant-who-may-hold-one-key-post-hamas-gaza?fbclid=IwAR0Pt_kENcYvEGJvTL4i21GjmVkeEc3sYMkkfgnPr2XBePHR8pABB1FeIi8

Maintaining Red Sea security is a regional and international necessity
Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama/Arab News/February 17, 2024
The conflicts and security tensions the Red Sea region is currently experiencing are casting shadows on global security, politics, and economics. They have a negative impact on maritime transport, shipping costs and the movement of goods, as well as hindering local, regional and global economic activity. This means that destabilizing security and stability in this very important passageway poses a significant threat to the region's economy and investment. Herein lies the importance and necessity of securing navigation in this important sealane. Whenever a security situation arises in the region, its negative effects are reflected on the economies of the countries bordering it and on the world beyond.
This leads us to focus on the economic and geopolitical importance of the Red Sea. It serves as a crucial route for maritime trade and transport between the three major continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. More than 15 percent of global trade passes through the Red Sea. It is well known that any crisis or threat in this waterway not only affects commercial activity and maritime transport in the region, but also affects the world as a whole, and requires both international and regional solidarity and cooperation in order to protect this international passageway. It is important to acknowledge that Red Sea security is primarily the responsibility of the countries bordering it, as they are the first to be affected by whatever events occur in and around it.
Politically, the Red Sea is considered a region where diverse political interests intersect, with major powers and regional countries competing for geopolitical benefits. This requires effective cooperation among the concerned parties to maintain stability and avoid any political escalation that might affect navigation in the sea and the surrounding areas.
The Red Sea has been — and still is — a strategic region for military powers throughout history. Empires and regional states have used it to deploy military forces and secure strategic points. Its importance became evident in the wake of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and thus became the shortest and fastest route between East and West. Control of the Red Sea during the Second World War also had an impact on resolving important battles in the conflict.
The Red Sea is an international passageway and a vital economic artery.
Maintaining maritime security in the Red Sea has been a concern for a long time. The Jeddah Pact — signed on April 21, 1956, between Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen — was the first call for establishing a “joint security system” in the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has commendably continued its efforts to protect the security of the Red Sea and protect the region from negative interventions, whether international or regional. In this context, the Council of Arab and African Border States of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which includes Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, and Eritrea, was established on Jan. 6, 2020, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, with headquarters in Riyadh. It is, however, still awaiting activation and the assumption of its assigned tasks.
Under no circumstances can the Red Sea be separated from the overall interests of major world powers. It is an international passageway and a vital economic artery. Therefore, it is necessary to unify regional efforts first and foremost, along with international efforts, in order to preserve the security of the region for the good of its people and the peoples of the world as a whole. The security tensions currently experienced in the Red Sea necessitate the activation of the Council of Arab and African Border States of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and the cooperation of the international community to ensure safety of navigation, to maintain the flow of supplies, and to combat maritime criminal activities such as piracy, drug smuggling, and human trafficking.
The Red Sea countries that benefit from communication through the council are the most affected by the repercussions of any crisis in this important sea. Their security should not be subject to negative influences and interventions from external parties whose personal interests affect common global security. It is also crucial to work earnestly to resolve various crises in the region and put an end to them, rallying at various regional and international levels to preserve the security and safety of navigation in the Red Sea.
Djibouti’s position, along with that of Saudi Arabia and other countries, has been to work toward achieving stability in Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, all of which border the Red Sea. The repercussions of the Gaza war, which have shifted the balance in the region and the world due to Israeli actions resulting in the killing of nearly 30,000 people, have had a negative and concerning impact, with serious effects on the stability of the entire region, for which the Red Sea is a vital passageway.
**Dya-Eddine Said Bamakhrama is the ambassador of Djibouti to Saudi Arabia. X: @dya_bamakhrama

Al-Sudani’s clear-eyed vision of ‘Iraq First’
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/February 17, 2024
In a region convulsing with geopolitical tremors, and a country hobbled by internal strife, Iraq under the stewardship of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani stands at a pivotal juncture as it attempts to reconstruct not only its cities and institutions but the very fabric of its national identity.
As he prepares for an anticipated visit to the White House, Al-Sudani’s ambitions are encapsulated in his “Iraq First” vision, a doctrine that aims to reclaim Iraqi sovereignty and assertiveness against the backdrop of escalating external pressures and intense domestic divisions.
Such a daring pursuit is reflective of enduring Iraqi hopes and attempts to regain stability, and to resume stalled progress in a nation hungry for change.
The question must still be asked, however, of whether Iraq’s current trajectory, the prime minister’s efforts to steer the country through the tumult he inherited, and even the outcomes of his future visit to Washington, will finally realize the ambitions that have eluded Baghdad for more than two decades.
For now, the jury is still out, given the multifaceted challenges Iraq faces, including foreign incursions, proxy wars, and deep-seated political divisions that undermine state authority and erode its functionality.
Meanwhile, Al-Sudani’s tenure, while marked by some progress in terms of stabilization and development, illustrates the difficulties of trying to govern a nation with only a semblance of sovereignty.
Nonetheless, this has not dissuaded Baghdad from embarking on a marked shift away from the role of a helpless “leper” trapped between an opaque US posture and an aggressive Iran, toward a more assertive and strategic diplomacy.
Iraq’s relationship with the US, historically marked by complex maneuvers influenced by tensions between Washington and Tehran, is undergoing a transformation under Al-Sudani. Far from being a playground for opportunistic politics, Iraq under his leadership is seeking to anchor its foreign policy within a strategic vision that prioritizes national interests and sovereignty. This approach reflects a mature understanding of Iraq’s pivotal role in the region and its potential to act as a bridge in US-Iran dynamics, rather than a battleground for their confrontations.
At home, the political landscape in Iraq remains fraught with pressures from Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions, which presents a formidable challenge for any leader. Domestically, Iraqi sovereignty is eroded by the fragmentation of its political landscape and the influence of armed militias. The sectarian and ethnic divisions, exacerbated by the political quota system introduced post-2003, have hindered the development of a cohesive national identity and a unified state vision.
Armed groups, particularly those aligned with Iran, operate with impunity, challenging the authority of the state and its security forces. Al-Sudani’s efforts to improve governance and development are constantly undermined by these factions, which prioritize their own agendas over national interests.
Yet Al-Sudani's engagements during, for example, talks about the withdrawal of US forces exemplify his commitment to placing Iraqi interests front and center, in contrast to the usual capitulation. Despite reports of potential repercussions from Washington, the prime minister’s steadfastness in projecting Baghdad’s voice and opinions underscores his dedication to Iraq First while navigating such dialogue.
The outcomes of such talks, good or bad, will have enormous ramifications for the nation’s politics, economy, foreign policy and security dynamics, necessitating that they be handled with a vision of unity and progress for Iraq, rather than allowing short-term political gains to erode an enduring legacy of reform.
Despite the inevitable distractions of electoral politics, Al-Sudani remains focused on transcending factional disputes.
With the clock ticking for the next parliamentary elections, expected in late 2025, the need for tangible achievements has never been more urgent for Al-Sudani’s government. Despite the inevitable distractions of electoral politics and the constraints imposed by ever-shifting political alignments, he remains focused on transcending factional disputes.
It would be a grave mistake to underestimate Al-Sudani’s influence in Baghdad because of the intensifying factionalization, given that such divisions serve to highlight the profound weaknesses in the sociopolitical fabric that require an Iraq First vision capable of challenging entrenched political paradigms.
Such frictions will not derail Al-Sudani’s initiatives. They have become the cauldron within which the mettle of the Iraq First commitment continues to be tested — and proven, much like the efforts to implement a comprehensive government program.
Through meaningful reforms and development, Al-Sudani has sought to restore faith in the Iraqi state and reverse the deleterious socioeconomic conditions suffocating an Iraqi public that had practically lost its voice and faith in the state.
Given more time, and ample support, Iraq First will evolve into a multipronged assault on the country's external and internal maladies. Beyond its borders, Iraq must still assert its neutrality and seek to balance its relations with major powers and regional heavyweights.
Intensification of diplomatic efforts, for instance, will discourage neighboring countries from violating Iraqi sovereignty, sending a clear message that the nation will not allow itself to be a battleground for foreign interests.
Recently, for example, Turkish military incursions in pursuit of Kurdish militants, and Iranian missile strikes in response to perceived threats, have demonstrated blatant disregard for Iraqi sovereignty. Such actions not only violate Iraq’s territorial integrity but also highlight the government’s inability to protect its borders and citizens from foreign aggression.
The situation is further complicated by the presence of US forces and ongoing tensions with Iran, which views Iraq as a battlefield for its proxy conflicts. This necessitates a stronger, more cohesive foreign policy and the development of a capable, sovereign defense force.
Domestically, the government must persist with comprehensive state-building efforts that prioritize the reform of political and security institutions. This includes moving beyond the sectarian quota system to promote a meritocracy and national unity.
Strengthening the rule of law and ensuring the state reclaims its monopoly on the use of force are among the critical steps required to reassert control of a domestic landscape in disarray. Moreover, political reforms should include the decentralization of power, thereby addressing the grievances of marginalized communities and integrating them into the political process to help restore the public's lost faith in Baghdad.
As Al-Sudani prepares for his visit to the White House, the stakes are high and the challenges are many. Yet his leadership so far suggests he is ready to confront these challenges head-on with a clear-eyed vision of Iraq First.
The visit to Washington not only represents an opportunity for Iraq to reassert itself on the international stage, it also offers a moment to reflect on the progress that has been made in the country, and the remainder of the journey that lies ahead.
With steady hands at the helm to help navigate mounting external pressures and deepening internal divisions, Al-Sudani’s efforts to reclaim Iraqi sovereignty and steer the nation toward a brighter future deserve recognition and support.
**Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. X: @HafedAlGhwell

Western governments must not ignore unprecedented warnings from their civil
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 17, 2024
To most people, the civil service is a faceless bureaucratic machine working to advise politicians and execute their policies, always operating behind the scenes, out of the public eye, its officials sharing their opinions and analysis within their professional surroundings and not beyond.
Therefore the decision by 800 civil servants in the US and Europe to sign a letter that contains scathing criticisms of the uncritical approach by their governments to the manner in which Israel is conducting its war in Gaza, to the extent that it could make their countries complicit in war crimes, should raise alarm bells. The letter also needs to be viewed in the context of broader legitimate criticisms about Western double standards when it comes to scrutinizing and upholding human rights conventions and the rules of international law.
The unprecedented nature of such a collective and public expression of exasperation — in terms of the scale, the geographical spread of the signatories, and the timing — points to a deep sense of concern, urgency, and perhaps even despair, that providing Israel with a blank check for its response to the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 was a colossal mistake.
Moreover, allowing it to continue, both tacitly and explicitly, as the letter warns, creates a “plausible risk that our governments’ policies are contributing to grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing or genocide.”
Anyone accustomed to engagement with civil servants knows that unlike politicians, they tend to favor understatement and nuance, especially when there is a possibility that their thoughts and opinions will become public knowledge.
This was not the case with this letter. Making it public was a deliberate decision and the way in which it was written, signed and published in such a coordinated manner — and the fact that the signatories include about 80 US officials, among them many diplomats — indicates that the officials feel they are not being listened to by the governments that they serve, and do not believe that without external support from the media, opposition politicians, civil society and the general public, they stand no chance of persuading administrations to row back on their harmful policies.
It is not only the respective governments these officials serve that should heed the warnings articulated by their letter. Equally, Israel should see the writing on the wall that its actions are compromising the friendship and support of some of its closest allies.
In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, expressions of sympathy and compassion poured in from around the world for the losses Israelis suffered at the hands of Hamas, and rightly so. But in a very short space of time, while the brutality of the acts that killed Israelis has not been forgotten, it was quickly overshadowed by the ruthlessness and carelessness displayed by Israeli forces in the course of fighting Hamas, resulting in the killing of civilians in Gaza in numbers that are almost impossible to comprehend and under no circumstances can be justified.
There is a deep sense of concern that providing Israel with a blank check for its response to the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 was a colossal mistake.
Those initial messages from friendly countries that supported Israel’s right, and indeed obligation, to its citizens to respond to what can only be described as a declaration of war by Hamas, were not a license to use disproportionate and indiscriminate military force in a situation where civilians are caught in the middle and pay the ultimate price, with their lives and those of their loved ones, for crimes they did not commit, and are made to suffer devastation and collective trauma that will take years to heal.
The immediate worry for the senior civil servants that signed the letter is that as Israel faces International Court of Justice accusations of genocide, those countries that provide the country with weapons and ammunition, and even political clout, are also likely to be found complicit in war crimes, if not in a court of law at least in the court of public opinion.
It is also the case that from being a relatively confined war in terms of geography and scope, the conflict has expanded well beyond Gaza, with security, political and economic implications for the West that threaten to destabilize its allies in the region. It has entered the discourse in societies in the most damaging ways. Between the opportunism and desperation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the “Judgement Day” delusions of his far-right partners, and the widespread collective trauma among the rest of Israeli society, any call for even a temporary humanitarian ceasefire is seen as an attempt to prevent Israel from achieving victory, and therefore saving Hamas from destruction.
For the more sober-minded, stopping the war at this point and building a vision of peace and reconciliation is an imperative. It should start with preventing what is already a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip from getting any worse by preventing Israeli forces from entering Rafah, where 1.5 million civilians are crowded together, six times more than the population of the southern city before the war began. This could save many thousands of people from certain death.
A ground assault on Rafah could also strengthen the case against Israel in the ICJ, and would make rebuilding Gaza, not to mention relations between Israel and the Palestinians, an even bigger task than the already mammoth challenge on everyone’s hands.
The civil servants who signed the letter are terrified about such a development, from which their own governments would not be able to distance themselves from a share of the responsibility. They are also concerned it would strengthen the allegations that when it comes to guaranteeing human rights and defending defenseless civilians, some groups of people are favored over others, making a mockery of the commitment of governments to defend human rights and apply the rules of international law in an even-handed manner.
In the Netherlands, the public uproar about the indifference their government has displayed toward the loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza led to a court case in which an appeal court ruled last week that the Dutch government should halt shipments of components for F-35 fighter jets to Israel because of its continuing assault on Gaza, which it said risks serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Civil servants are not elected by the people. Political decisions are ultimately taken by elected representatives and should remain within the boundaries of the law. It is legitimate for politicians and their civil service advisers to have differences of opinion.
However, in this particular situation it would be sheer folly to ignore such a unique step taken by many hundreds of political practitioners, who between them have a vast amount of experience and knowledge and, most importantly, are free of ties to any political agenda.
At the end of the day, they acted together to alert the world to the damage being caused to the credibility of the West as a result of its policies on the war in Gaza, and to call for action from nations to promote and uphold an international order based on the cherished values that are central to their own ethos, never mind the rule of international law.
*Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at international affairs think tank Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg

Lula rebuilds Brazil’s tarnished reputation after decade of crises
Andrew Hammond/Arab News/February 17, 2024
The reputation of Brazil, the largest and most influential country in Latin America, took a battering during the era of Jair Bolsonaro, its controversial former president. However, there are growing signs of a rebound in the nation’s popularity as it begins its stint as chair of the G20 for 2024.
One of the key catalysts for this significant change in fortunes was the return to office of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in January last year. His “Brazil is back” slogan has been a key message during official visits to more than two dozen nations since his election victory, during which he held talks with more than 50 heads of state, including two kings and the pope.
Part of the reason for the generally positive reception Lula has received, despite some missteps along the way, is his climate diplomacy. His policies have helped to significantly reduce deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, the so-called lungs of the Earth, and rebuild the credibility of climate talks after the era of Bolsonaro, who was nicknamed the “Trump of the Tropics.”
One of Lula’s big ambitions is not just to boost his nation’s reputation on the world stage, but also to show that Brazil is once again an international leader. This coming week, the G20’s year begins in earnest with a meeting of foreign ministers, followed by a summit of finance ministers soon after. Lula is looking to use the powerful platform the year-long presidency of the G20 provides to further project his nation’s return to the global stage after years of self-inflicted international isolation.
Part of the reason that Brazil is once again being feted is its wealth of natural resources. Several global powers, including the EU and Japan, want to reach a trade deal with Lula and the leaders of the three other member nations of the Mercosur trade bloc, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, to help diversify supply chains and reduce their reliance on China.
Brazil and the wider Latin American continent, home to half-a-billion people, have the world’s largest share of arable land, which provides an estimated 15 percent of global food production and 45 percent of net international agri-food trade. They also have huge amounts of other resources, including critical mineral deposits, and the largest share of renewables in the world. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has even said the region has the potential to become the new Arabian Gulf, given its wealth of critical mineral assets, such as lithium.
Brazil also has a wider ambition, under Lula, to lead the developing nations of the Global South. While the country certainly boasts the strongest credentials of any Latin American nation in support of this aspiration, especially after its recent stint as chair of Mercosur, China and India also covet this leadership role and so Lula will have his work cut out.
Part of the challenge for Lula in realizing this ambition to lead the Global South is the changed geopolitical and geoeconomic contexts now compared with his first two terms in office, from 2003 to 2010. During that time, Brazil became a key voice for the developing world, while remaining independent on the world stage of both the US and China, partly through its membership of the prestigious BRICS group of developing nations. Now, though, the global landscape has become more complex, as tensions between the US and China continue to grow in the post-pandemic, post-Ukraine context.
One of Lula’s big ambitions is not just to boost his nation’s reputation on the world stage, but also to show that Brazil is once again an international leader.
Since 2010, when Lula left office last time, Brazil has become increasingly dependent on China specifically and Asia in general, with the huge region now the destination for about half of its exports. China alone, Brazil’s main trading partner, buys about two-fifths of Brazilian farm exports.
While Lula is unlikely to achieve all of his global leadership goals, the turnaround in Brazil’s fortunes has nevertheless been significant. He has already made much headway toward his goal of restoring his country’s reputation as a key emerging market and a modern, vibrant and stable democracy.
In 2010, the country had just experienced what in hindsight was a golden decade of solid growth and strong income redistribution. The economy was booming and the country was enjoying enhanced international prestige within BRICS. Finally, it seemed the nation could look forward to a prosperous future after overcoming the legacy of brutal military rule from 1964 to 1989. Yet, the subsequent period proved to be a deep disappointment that threatened the return to democracy.
It culminated in 2018 when Bolsonaro, a former army captain, rode a wave of populism with a platform that evoked nostalgia for the days of the former military dictatorship. This, in addition to a host of policy positions that were controversial among many people, domestically and internationally, included a relaxing of gun laws and the shredding of environmental legislation, including Brazil’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Bolsonaro’s victory was set in the context of dented political and economic self-confidence in the country. The economy had endured its worst recession in decades, with Brazilian commodities losing significant value in international markets. By early 2016, the country had shed about 1.5 million jobs, inflation was in double digits, and its debt had been downgraded to junk status by major credit ratings agencies.
That same year, Rio de Janeiro became the first South American city to host the Olympics, which proved to be a troubled affair. Not only did the government have to make significant spending cuts to the games budget given the financial downturn, but an outbreak of the Zika virus also presented a major challenge.
Taking all of this together, the scale of these crises underline just how far Brazil has already come, reputationally, since Lula returned to office in 2023. While the full extent of his ambitions, particularly for the nation to lead the Global South, are unlikely to be realized, he has nevertheless largely turned the page on the political and economic troubles of the past decade.
**Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

The Era of Chaos and the Century of History’s Vengeance
Emile Ameen/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 17/2024
In his most recent address to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he outlined his priorities for 2024, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that “the world is entering an era of chaos." He pointed to the deep divisions in the Security Council, which have left it incapable of addressing pressing issues, like the recent war in Gaza.
Guterres had discussed the political chaos and military conflicts ravaging the globe a few days prior, after having warned that our planet’s ecological crisis was shifting from the phase of "global warming" and was on the brink of a "boiling age." Both crises will doubtlessly deepen the chaos.
Guterres' alarming statements are intended to preempt the UN Summit of the Future and its outcomes.
A question comes to mind: what future are they talking about at a time when the Security Council has been locked in gridlock because of geopolitical divisions? This question is especially pertinent following the tectonic shift in the global landscape that followed the end of the Cold War, when there had been mechanisms that facilitated the management of superpower relations. These mechanisms are absent today, perhaps due to the rise of a multipolar world.
This is a calamitous era of chaos and a century of history's revenge because of wanton chaos and its unpredictable outcomes. It is as though the course of history is snowballing from the top of a mountain, descending quickly to the bottom where it will implode.
The state of the world renders the question redundant - skeptics should read up on the recent reports regarding militarization of outer space, including Russia's deployment of nuclear missiles there, which is certainly a response to similar American, and eventually Chinese, programs. The paths to chaos have surpassed planet Earth to reach outer space.
Guterres' statements were confirmed by the data from the "Military Balance” report issued earlier this year by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. The report leaves no doubt that the past year has created a highly volatile global security environment, likely heralding a more dangerous decade defined by the use of military force in pursuit of objectives. Indeed, there has been a nine percent increase in global military spending, which rose to an unprecedented $2.2 trillion. The catastrophe, not mere development, is that further increases in arms spending are expected this year. Those who are suffering on this Earth, those struggling to find bread and water, are an afterthought.
One thought-provoking question that immediately jumps to any reader’s mind is this: Who is responsible for our entry into this interesting and dangerous stage? Without much debate, the majority would answer: The United States of America. Interestingly, the answers of the general public do not differ much from those of the elites in the US itself.
Have you heard of the arguments that America’s most prominent foreign policy theorist, Richard Haass’s book “A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order” presented regarding global chaos?
Haass warned, a decade and a half ago, of a terrifying world in which the status of the United States is shaken, as well as the implications that would have on all aspects of international politics. His view could be summed up as follows: the US-led world order is no longer sustainable after the collapse of its foundational pillars.
This claim demands diligent examination and scrutiny. It implies that the post-World War II framework of international politics, which had remained in place throughout the Cold War, had ended. Not only that, but he also boldly asserted that Washington's leadership of the new unipolar world did not endure for more than a decade and a half, from the beginning of the 1990s to the time of the American financial crisis in 2008. Thus, an era of chaos is indeed upon us. It has taken the form of threats and swift, unexpected shifts.
It goes without saying that the era of chaos, as outlined by Guterres and Haass, is deepened by the crisis of the "uncertainty of polarity." The bipolar era dominated by the Soviet Union and the United States has ended, but the international scene remains cloudy and ambiguous. Talk of a tri-polar world, whereby China is added to the mix, does not hold to scrutiny. Indeed, despite being a contender, Beijing has not reached a level where it can declare itself an equal rival to Washington. And, despite its hypersonic missiles on land and its obscure capabilities in outer space, Moscow cannot provide an effective global political umbrella, nor can it maintain military bases spread across 177 locations around the world. The United States can; the world is brimming with its forces and its people are constantly preoccupied with their presence.
This, in turn, begs a historically intriguing question: Has humanity reached a point at which it is avenging the policies and mistakes of towering figures who toyed with us as though we were pawns on a chessboard?
In the 2000s, the renowned British thinker and author Eric Hobsbawm once described the financial collapse of 2008 as a kind of right-wing parallel to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and that its global consequences made the world rediscover that global capitalism is not the solution, but rather the problem. It would not be hyperbolic to claim that the neoliberal system is in deep crisis and that there is an urgent need to rebuild the world’s shattered economies and societies on more democratic, equal, and rational foundations that give rise to a sustainable alternative.
A few days before this New Year’s eve, the famous French philosopher Edgar Morin sent a congratulatory message to humanity. He considered it a warning against the worst that has not yet come: “This year saw a surge of hatred. The world is on the brink. Can we ease our pain? Can we find a remedy for this human suffering? We are plagued by great hysterical delusions. Let us try to avoid the worst. Let us unite friendship and love to hope for better days.”
Is anyone listening? Will anyone save us from the era of chaos as we stand on the edge of the abyss?