Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 28-29/2024
The “explosive” Southern Front competes with the upcoming truce in Gaza... and the “Qassam” strikes again!
Two civilian martyrs in Kafra... and UNIFIL expects war soon
Israeli aggression against Damascus...and martyrs for the “party”
South Damascus: Two Israeli missile strikes...on Iranian militia positions
Qatari-French Summit: Commitment to Resolution 1701, support for the army... and presidential coordination
Hamas strikes Israel with rocket salvo from southern Lebanon
Hamas claims rocket fire on north Israel from south Lebanon
Border clashes: Latest developments
US says Hezbollah, Iran in Yemen aiding Houthi attacks
NATO appoints Farah Dakhlallah as new spokesperson
No big war between Hezbollah and Israel, says Western diplomat
In Lebanon, the Cabinet greenlights salary boosts for military personnel and retirees
Lebanon in the spotlight: Joint Qatar-France communique call for urgent presidential elections, LAF support, & Resolution 1701 respect
Diplomatic emphasis: Mikati calls for action to stop Israeli aggression in Lebanon
MP Paula Yacoubian to LBCI: Resolution 1701 does not ensure Lebanese sovereignty
Tourism Minister to LBCI: Tourist activities are 'form of resistance;' Israeli justifications for Lebanon attacks threaten sovereignty
UN urged to probe deadly Israel strikes against journalists in Lebanon
Slim denies saying army lacks preparedness
An Iranian green light for Hezbollah: to start military escalation with Israel!?
The Beginning of The End’ of the Most Dangerous ‘Agreement’ Lebanon Has Ever Seen/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
South Lebanon and the Two Abrahamic Moments/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 28-29/2024
US, Red Sea coalition forces destroy 5 Houthi drones
Rocket fire reported off Yemen in Red Sea in new suspected Houthi attack
Israel strikes Syrian capital, Damascus: Official media
Pro-Iranian TV channel states big explosion heard in Damascus
Turkish drones kill 3 in an attack on a local Christian militia in northeastern Syria, officials say
Syrian man dies of wounds from anti-Assad protest
Israel, Hamas inch toward new deal, what would it look like?
Israel presses on with settlement plans despite US criticism
Hospital in northern Gaza shuts down: No food, fuel or medical supplies. Live updates
Food aid reaches north Gaza for first time in weeks. Israeli hostages’ families push for release
Palestinian FM says Hamas knows it cannot be in new government
Gaza death toll nears 30,000 as aid groups warn of ‘imminent’ famine
Israel voters give Tel Aviv, Jerusalem mayors new terms
Arab Parliament denounces Israel for constructing watchtower on Al-Aqsa’s western wall
Palestinian minister: no 'miracles' expected at talks on unified government
Financial flows to Russia are drying up as global banks fear losing access to the US dollar, Treasury official says
Ukraine's air force extends its kill streak to 10 Russian planes in 10 days
Germany hosts the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan for peace talks
Many in Iran are frustrated over unrest, poor economy
Many in Iran are frustrated by unrest and poor economy. Parliament elections could see a low turnout
Urgent UN Security Council action sought to end war in Sudan

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 28-29/2024
Pakistani Imam Preaches Jew-Hate in Belgian Parliament/Drieu Godefridi/Gatestone Institute./February 28, 2024
Netanyahu’s Thinking/Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
Hamas Has Become “Hamases/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
Iran’s Difficult Choices/Michael Young//Carnegie/February 28/2024
Noxious Narratives: Algerian Anti-Moroccan Propaganda/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/February 28/2024
Is a New Armenian Genocide on the Horizon?/Raymond Ibrahim/February 28/2024
What Are the Prospects of War Ending?/Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut Site/February 28/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 28-29/2024
The “explosive” Southern Front competes with the upcoming truce in Gaza... and the “Qassam” strikes again!
Hussein Saad/Janoubia/February 28/2024
In the race towards the upcoming truce in Gaza, the military situation in the south has been fluctuating, with a hot fire that has not cooled down for a single day since the start of the occupation operations, about five months ago. Operations against Israeli sites and gatherings have become a daily occurrence, in which Hezbollah expands its range of targets, which have recently focused on the strategic command headquarters of the Israeli occupation army, especially the Meron air control and surveillance base and the headquarters of the 146th Division. In Jatoun, near Akka, in occupied Palestine, and the Kalbaa base in the occupied Syrian Golan. The Israeli enemy continues its incursions with its military aircraft, bypassing all the areas of the south, which it has surrounded, over the days, with destructive raids, which have destroyed, to date, hundreds of homes, and caused various damages to thousands of homes, commercial establishments, solar energy stations, water and electricity networks, roads, and crops on the territory. Its difference, and livestock, which constitute a basic source of livelihood for many residents of border towns and villages, displaced about ninety thousand citizens. Today, in a raid launched by the enemy on the town of Kafra, the following were killed: the martyr Manar Ahmed Ebadi, her mother Donia, born in 1951, registered 26/, the martyr Hussein Ali Hamdan, his mother Maryam, born in 1946, registered 26/, and he is the owner of the targeted house.

Two civilian martyrs in Kafra... and UNIFIL expects war soon
Al-Modon/February 28/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant noted on Wednesday that "our soldiers are fighting in Gaza and on the northern front, and we are doing our best to recover the kidnapped people." He added, "The costs we are incurring in terms of the number of deaths and injuries are high." Gallant stressed that "there is a real national need to extend the service of military personnel and extend the service of reserve soldiers." He continued, "We have not witnessed such a war in 75 years, and this calls us to approve amendments to the conscription law." Gallant concluded, "We will not hesitate to adopt the military option to restore security to the people of the north if the political process fails."
Missiles and sirens
The escalation in the confrontations between Hezbollah and the Israeli army continued on Wednesday, as Israeli aircraft launched two raids at night on the Orontes Road between the town of Siddiqin and Kafra, which led to the death of two civilians as a result of the Israeli raid, while information spoke of other injuries. According to the information, the two martyrs were Hussein Hamdan and his wife. Manar from the town of Kafra. The Israeli army announced that it carried out a raid on Hezbollah positions in Kafra and Siddiqin and bombarded the town of Hula with artillery. On Wednesday afternoon, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Birkat Risha site with missile weapons. It also announced in a second statement that it had targeted the Al-Summaqa site in the Shebaa Farms with missile weapons. In parallel, missile launches were recorded at the Ramtha site in the Kafr Shuba hills in southern Lebanon. It was also reported that sirens sounded in several areas in the Upper Galilee on the border with Lebanon. For its part, the Israeli army announced, today, Wednesday, that it had attacked a Hezbollah platform in southern Lebanon from which missiles were launched towards Kiryat Shmona, in a statement in which it confirmed that it had also attacked “other military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.” The Israeli army said that its warplanes "attacked a launch pad from which rockets were launched towards the Kiryat Shmona area this morning. In addition, a number of military infrastructure of the Hezbollah organization were attacked in the areas of Bint Jabal and Yarin." In response to the sirens that sounded in the Western Galilee, the Israeli army said that it “observed a number of launches from Lebanon towards Israeli territory. Some of the rockets landed in Lebanese territory and the rest in open areas in Israeli territory, without causing casualties.”
UNIFIL's concern
The escalation continued at night, with Israeli artillery targeting the western outskirts of the town of Hula and Wadi Saluki. The Israeli bombing also targeted the towns of Mays al-Jabal and Markaba. In turn, UNIFIL forces operating in southern Lebanon expressed their deep concern about the expansion of confrontations on the Lebanese-Israeli border due to recent tensions. She pointed out that "the possibility of a broader conflict erupting is imminent," stressing that she is urging a ceasefire and reaching a political solution, warning that "the expansion of the conflict between Lebanon and Israel will be a regional conflict with devastating effects."

Israeli aggression against Damascus...and martyrs for the “party”
Janoubia/February 28, 2024
The Syrian “SANA” agency said, this evening, Wednesday, that “Syrian air defenses are confronting hostile targets in the vicinity of Damascus,” while Syrian state television reported that “explosions were heard in the capital, Damascus.”
The Syrian Observatory reported this evening that: “Israeli missiles targeted two sites belonging to Iranian and Hezbollah members in the Damascus countryside.” He added, “Hezbollah martyrs as a result of the Israeli raid on Sayyida Zeinab and Babila in the Damascus countryside.” The Syrian Observatory also reported “violent explosions in the Sayyida Zeinab area in the Damascus countryside.”Al-Hadath TV reported, “The Israeli bombing targeted a house in the Sayyida Zeinab area in the Damascus countryside.”

South Damascus: Two Israeli missile strikes...on Iranian militia positions
Al-Modon/February 28/2024
Israeli aircraft launched, from above the Syrian Golan, on Wednesday, an attack with high-explosive missiles in two rounds, targeting the south of the capital, Damascus. The Israeli missiles targeted sites where Iranian militias and Lebanese Hezbollah were stationed, and 4 violent explosions sounded in the Sayyida Zeinab and Basateen area of Bella, resulting from the targeting of two sites in the area, while ambulances rushed to the two targeting sites, and the strikes resulted in casualties as a preliminary toll, amid information about the presence Dead and missing. The Syrian Ministry of Defense quoted a military source as saying, “At approximately 21:35 pm on Wednesday evening, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of points in the Damascus countryside,” adding that the Syrian air defenses responded to the missiles and “shot down most of them and were limited to “Material losses.” According to the “Sawt Al-Asimah” website, the attack targeted 3 sites in the Sayyida area, south of Damascus, and led to the destruction of a building likely belonging to Iranian militias, indicating that the attack also targeted a military barracks for the regime forces between the towns of Hajira and Yalda in the Damascus countryside. Southern. Israeli media said that the attack targeted Iranian militia sites in the Babila area in the southern Damascus countryside. For its part, the loyal Sham FM radio reported that the Israeli aggression targeted the town of Hajira and one of the points at the beginning of Sayyida Zeinab Road, adding that initial information “indicated that there had been casualties,” while firefighting teams headed to the area after the smoke rose. Video clips on social media showed fires erupting from the targeted sites due to Israeli missiles, as well as the regime’s air defenses responding to the attack, and fire brigades attempting to put out a fire that broke out in one of the targeted sites. On Sunday, two Lebanese Hezbollah members were killed as a truck was targeted by a missile from an Israeli plane on the Syrian-Lebanese border. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that an Israeli plane targeted a truck with a missile at the border between the Damascus and Homs countryside, near the Syrian-Lebanese border, which led to the burning of the car and the killing of at least two people, two Lebanese Hezbollah members. A week ago, three people were killed. Others were killed and injured as a result of an Israeli air attack that targeted a building in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood, west of the capital, Damascus, part of which Iranian militias use as their headquarters.

Qatari-French Summit: Commitment to Resolution 1701, support for the army... and presidential coordination
Al-Modon/February 28/2024
Lebanon was a main axis of deliberations at the Qatari-French summit between the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Various Lebanese files were discussed, from the situation in the south and the existing tension and how to reduce and address it, to avoid any escalation in the ongoing confrontations between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, to the political and economic crisis that Lebanon is experiencing. Within the framework of the deliberations, it was agreed between the two countries on the necessity of striving to support the Lebanese army and enhance its capabilities and spread across all Lebanese territories, especially to control the situation in the south and prevent deterioration, especially in light of the search for an increase in numbers to implement Resolution 1701 and establish stability there. Noting that the State of Qatar is the only country that has provided financial and fuel support to the Lebanese army for more than three years. The Qatari and French parties also discussed ways to help the Lebanese people get out of the political crisis and the existing presidential vacuum, and to elect a president of the republic and reshape the authority by forming a government capable of addressing the existing crises in cooperation with the international community. It is noteworthy that France and Qatar participate in the five-member international committee concerned with Lebanon, which includes, in addition to them, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United States of America, and the Arab Republic of Egypt. Qatar and France stressed the need to fully respect UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and renewed their readiness to continue supporting the Lebanese army, including through the international conference scheduled to be held in Paris. They stressed the urgent need to elect a Lebanese president and continue coordination between the two countries on this issue. At the conclusion of the visit of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to Paris and his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, a joint statement was issued, in which the following was stated, under the heading Lebanon: The leaders of the two countries “affirmed their commitment to confronting the political and economic problems affecting Lebanon and its people.” They stressed the urgent need to elect a Lebanese president and continue coordination on this issue.
The two sides pointed out the need to accelerate the formation of a government with full powers, and implement the necessary reforms to put an end to the crisis. They also praised the aid and support provided by Qatar and France to the Lebanese people and the Lebanese Armed Forces. The Emir of the State of Qatar and the President of the French Republic highlighted the danger of regional tensions, and stressed the need for all concerned parties to exercise restraint. The two leaders also affirmed their commitment to Lebanon's sovereignty and stability and to contribute to reducing the escalation through full respect for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. They also affirmed their readiness to continue supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces in this context, including through the international conference scheduled to be held in Paris. They renewed their full support for UNIFIL forces and the need to preserve their freedom of movement and ability to carry out their mission.

Hamas strikes Israel with rocket salvo from southern Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February 28, 2024
BEIRUT: Hamas’ armed wing in Lebanon has struck Israel with a rocket salvo in a resumption of the group’s military operations in the country. The militant group’s wing in Lebanon paused attacks south of the border following the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri in early January. The senior Hamas leader and founding commander of the Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades was killed in an Israeli drone strike on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh on Jan. 2. Al-Qassam announced on Wednesday it had targeted Camp Gibor, the headquarters of Israel’s 769th Eastern Brigade, as well as the airport barracks in Beit Hillel, using 40 “Grad” rockets. The Israeli media reported sirens sounding in Kiryat Shmona, Ma’ayan Baruch, Kfar Yuval, Goshrin and Beit Hillel in the Upper Galilee. Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that 10 of the rockets had struck sites in Israel, while 30 were intercepted. In response, the Israeli military targeted the sources of fire, Adraee added. Interceptor missiles launched by Israel’s Iron Dome exploded above border villages in the eastern section of southern Lebanon. Army helicopters evacuated Israelis wounded in the attack to hospitals south of the border, Israeli media reported. Hezbollah did not announce any military operations against the Israeli Army on Wednesday, after two days of extensive operations. Meanwhile, Israeli F-15 jets cruised throughout Lebanese airspace. Political activist Ali Al-Amin told Arab News: “Hezbollah took a decision over a month ago to stop any operations by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from southern Lebanon toward the Israeli Army. It seems now that there is a retreat from this decision. The aim may be to pressure the Americans.” He added: “The decision to stop Hamas and Islamic Jihad operations was in response to a previous American request to Hezbollah to control the confrontations from the south and prevent their expansion. “It now seems that there is a need to pressure the American side again to link the truce, if reached in the Gaza Strip, to Lebanon, as the Israeli side had rejected this link and said it would leave the confrontation open in Lebanon after the truce.”Hezbollah has said it will refuse a ceasefire in southern Lebanon until Hamas accepts a settlement in Gaza. Israeli jets carried out an airstrike on a home in the border city of Bint Jbeil, targeting a local Hezbollah leader, Ali Wahbi, though there were no reported injuries from the attack. Jets also struck the Al-Khuraybah area, located between Khiam and Rashaya Al-Fakhar. Adraee said on X that jets attacked “a weapons depot and military buildings belonging to Hezbollah in Ramyah in southern Lebanon, and a weapons production site for Hezbollah in the area of Khirbet Salim.”Brig. Gen. Mounir Shehadeh, the former Lebanese government coordinator to UNIFIL, said that Hezbollah has avoided causing civilian casualties in its strikes on strategic targets in Israel. He added: “Although Hezbollah can launch 1,000 missiles a day, they are not looking for war. “However, if Israel escalates the conflict, Hezbollah seems prepared to retaliate strongly, potentially altering the region’s landscape.”Hezbollah’s campaign in support of Gaza, which has lasted 144 days, has seen more than 200 members of the group killed, as well as allied militants and civilians. The “support war” has also resulted in extensive material damage, with 8,000 homes completely destroyed and 10,000 homes partially destroyed in southern Lebanon. About 100,000 civilians in Lebanon’s south have also been displaced by the violence.

Hamas claims rocket fire on north Israel from south Lebanon
Agence France Presse/February 28, 2024
The military wing of Palestinian group Hamas on Wednesday said it fired a volley of rockets towards northern Israel from south Lebanon, amid escalating exchanges at the Lebanon-Israel border in recent days. Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since war erupted between Israel and the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group in October, while Palestinian groups in Lebanon have also occasionally claimed attacks. Hamas's armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement it targeted two Israeli military sites with two barrages of "Grad rockets".The attack from south Lebanon came in "response to Zionist massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip and the assassination of martyred leaders and their brothers in the southern suburbs" of Beirut, the statement added. The Israeli military said in a statement that "approximately 10 launches which crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel were identified", adding that sirens had sounded in north Israel's Kiryat Shmona area. Air defenses "successfully intercepted a number of the launches," the statement said, adding that the army "struck the sources of the fire in Lebanon". Israeli police reported property damage in the Kiryat Shmona area but no wounded. A strike in January, which a United States defense official said was carried out by Israel, killed Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri and six militants in Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold -- the most high-profile Hamas figure to be killed during the war. This month, security sources told AFP a senior Hamas officer had survived an assassination attempt south of Beirut. The escalating cross-border exchanges since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted, have stoked fears of all-out war on Israel's northern border with Lebanon. The exchanges have killed at least 284 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 44 civilians, according to an AFP tally. At least 24 fighters from Palestinian groups including from 10 Hamas are also among the dead. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Border clashes: Latest developments
Naharnet/February 28, 2024
Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire Wednesday a day after a U.N. official called for an end to the "dangerous cycle of violence", as tensions increased on the border. An Israeli airstrike targeted the house of Hezbollah commander Ali Wehbe in Bint Jbeil, while Israeli warplanes bombed Beit Leef, Ramyeh, Ainata and al-Khraybeh. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, meanwhile claimed responsibility for 40 rockets fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona and Beit Hillel. Israeli airstrikes had targeted overnight Mount al-Kabir between Siddiqin and Yater, following strikes on Kherbet Selem and on the outskirts of Taybeh and Deir Seryan.
'New phase'
Israeli strikes far beyond the usual border regions, attacks on Israeli military bases, the targeting of Hezbollah commanders, the increased civilian death toll and the downing of an Israeli Hermes-450 drone have increased the tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border. U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka, called for "an immediate halt to this dangerous cycle of violence" while U.S. State Department's spokesman Mathew Miller said his country did "not want to see either side escalate the conflict" and that Israel had assured the United States it wanted to follow "a diplomatic path". Hezbollah central council member Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said that Monday marked a "new phase in the confrontation" with Israel. Qaouk's remarks came during the funeral on Tuesday of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Hussein Salami, who was killed Monday in a targeted drone strike in Majadel in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army said Salami was a field commander in the Hujair Valley region and was responsible for carrying out rocket attacks on northern Israel. At least two Hezbollah members were killed on the same day in strikes on Baalbek, the deepest into Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began more than four months ago. The Israeli army said the strikes were in retaliation for Hezbollah's firing of a surface-to-air missile at the Israeli drone.
'On tiptoe'
Despite the bellicose rhetoric on both sides, neither seems to want a war that could set the whole region ablaze. Military analyst Hisham Jaber told AFP that the risk of wide-scale conflict can't be ruled out, but is still unlikely. However, it would only take a mistake on either side for the situation to degenerate.
Israeli military analyst Amir Bohbot said that "the security reality is far from the situation of an uncontrollable escalation" and that the two sides "are walking on tiptoe."Cross-border exchanges since October have killed at least 284 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 44 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
Gaza truce
As Israel and Hamas inch toward a new deal, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said there would be no let-up in Israeli action against Hezbollah even if a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal were secured. However, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported Tuesday that Gallant’s threats "do not enjoy his government’s approval" and that Gaza's truce will definitely apply to the South.

US says Hezbollah, Iran in Yemen aiding Houthi attacks
Agence France Presse/February 28, 2024
Operatives from Iran and Hezbollah are working inside Yemen to support Houthi insurgents' attacks on international shipping, a U.S. official said. Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, told a Senate subcommittee that Iran's clerical state was "equipping and facilitating" the Houthi attacks, which have triggered retaliatory U.S. and British strikes on Yemen. "Credible public reports suggest a significant number of Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah operatives are supporting Houthi attacks from inside Yemen," Lenderking said. "I can't imagine the Yemeni people want these Iranians in their country. This must stop," he said. The White House said in December that Iran was "deeply involved" in planning the attacks, which the Houthis say are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. Lenderking, who has dealt with the Houthis since the start of President Joe Biden's administration as he helped diplomacy to freeze a brutal civil war, acknowledged that the rebels have not been deterred. "The fact that they continue this, and have said publicly that they will not stop until there's a ceasefire in Gaza, is an indication that we're not yet at the point, unfortunately, where they do intend to dial back," Lenderking said. The bombing campaign drew skepticism from some senators from Biden's Democratic Party. Chris Murphy, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Middle East, agreed that the United States has "an obligation to respond" to attacks on shipping but added, "I do worry about the efficacy."He noted that U.S. and UK strikes have hit a number of sites struck by a massive 2015-2022 Saudi-led air campaign against the Houthis. "If 23,000 air strikes by the Saudis weren't effective in moving the needle militarily and restoring deterrence, how can we be confident that our campaign of air strikes is going to have a different outcome?" Murphy asked. The Houthis, who control war-torn Yemen's most populated areas, have previously reported the death of 17 fighters in Western strikes targeting their military facilities. The Houthi attacks have had a significant effect on traffic through the busy Red Sea shipping route, forcing some companies into a two-week detour around southern Africa. Last week, Egypt said Suez Canal revenues were down by up to 50 percent this year.

NATO appoints Farah Dakhlallah as new spokesperson
ARAB NEWS/February 28, 2024
LONDON: NATO has appointed Farah Dakhlallah as its new spokesperson. In a statement announcing the news, the organization’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said: “In a more dangerous world, clear and timely communication, and engagement with the media, are more important than ever.” Dakhlallah, a Lebanese-British citizen, has wide-ranging experience in both the public and private sectors, including with the UN, the UK government and AstraZeneca, as well as several media organizations. Posting on her LinkedIn account, she wrote: “It is an honor and a privilege to be appointed NATO spokesperson, leading press and media for the alliance during this critical time.”She added the alliance currently protected more than one billion people, “safeguarding their freedom and democracy, and contributing to a more peaceful world.” Dakhlallah previously served as media relations director for the Middle East and Africa at AstraZeneca, communications manager at the World Health Organization, and Arabic spokeswoman for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She has a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge and another in media and communications from the London School of Economics. She also studied audiovisual arts at Beirut’s Universite Saint Joseph.

No big war between Hezbollah and Israel, says Western diplomat
Naharnet/February 28/2024
There will be no major war between Hezbollah and Israel despite the latest escalation, a Western diplomat has said privately to his interlocutors. “No matter what Israel says and states, this is only for consumption and part of the (current) war itself, seeing as it cannot fight two major wars in Gaza and Lebanon, not to mention its questionable intent in this regard. Moreover, tens of thousands of Israel’s north residents are pressing to return and they represent an economic burden for their government,” the diplomat added, in remarks published Wednesday in al-Liwaa newspaper. “More importantly, Hezbollah has dealt painful blows to Israel amid frequent shortcomings from Israel’s Iron Dome (anti-missile) defense system … and Israel knows that Hezbollah’s armament and manpower capabilities have grown so much in comparison to how they were in 2006,” the diplomat said, noting that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “do not want a northern front, without that meaning that they do not want deep strikes whenever there is a chance to do so, in order to send deterring messages to Hezbollah,” the diplomat reportedly said. The diplomat also reassured that the fighting will stop on Lebanon’s front once the war in Gaza ends due to “U.S. pressure” in this regard. The escalating cross-border exchanges since October 8, the day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted, have stoked fears of all-out war on Israel's northern border with Lebanon. The exchanges have killed at least 284 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 44 civilians. At least 24 fighters from Palestinian groups including 10 from Hamas are also among the dead. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed according to the Israeli army. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might use bigger force against Hezbollah to secure its residents' return.

In Lebanon, the Cabinet greenlights salary boosts for military personnel and retirees
LBCI/February 28/2024
In its Wednesday session at the Grand Serail, the Cabinet approved granting military personnel in service three additional salaries, bringing the total amount they receive to nine salaries per month. Additionally, retirees will receive three extra salaries, so the total amount they receive will be nine salaries per month. Administrative employees will receive two additional salaries, making their total monthly income nine salaries.The Cabinet also approved providing a monthly bonus for employees based on specific productivity criteria and a daily attendance allowance for employees for a maximum of 14 working days per month, provided there is no absence. Sources confirmed to LBCI that the increases will be provided in US dollars, not in Lebanese lira, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Lebanon. On another note, the government postponed the discussion of the law project addressing the situation of banks and regulating the sector for further consideration.

Lebanon in the spotlight: Joint Qatar-France communique call for urgent presidential elections, LAF support, & Resolution 1701 respect
LBCI/February 28, 2024
In a joint communique after the state visit of Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to France, the State of Qatar and the French Republic denounced the "killing and starvation suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip." They also focused on issues regarding Lebanon, Ukraine, and other matters. Regarding Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani reaffirmed their dedication to addressing current political and economic challenges, as "the population is continuously suffering."According to the communique, they highlighted the urgent need to elect a President and the demand to continue the coordination on this matter. Both leaders also urged the need to swiftly form a "fully empowered government and implement the reforms needed to put an end to the crisis."They applauded the support granted by France and Qatar to the Lebanese people and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Regarding regional tensions, they emphasized the necessity for all active actors to show restraint, asserting their commitment to Lebanon's sovereignty and stability and contributing to de-escalation through full respect of Resolution 1701. They also underscored their willingness to support the Lebanese Armed Forces further, including through an international conference in Paris. They concluded by expressing their full support for UNIFIL and the necessity "to preserve its freedom of movement and ability to exercise its mandate.

Diplomatic emphasis: Mikati calls for action to stop Israeli aggression in Lebanon
LBCI/February 28, 2024
On Wednesday, Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati drew attention at the beginning of the session that it was held amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on southern Lebanon and other Lebanese regions. He said, "In all diplomatic meetings we hold, we renew the emphasis on the necessity of acting to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. We interact realistically with external initiatives that we consider sincere and alert to the dangers."He condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza and renewed his call to the international community and humanitarian institutions to denounce Israeli assaults on Lebanon and Gaza. He continued, "In all Arab and international meetings we participate in, we emphasize Lebanon's keenness on its role and the values it represents. At the same time, we sense countries' interest in our situation.""In this context, we highly appreciate the French and American efforts to protect Lebanon and rely on their endeavors to deter aggression. We reiterate the call to implement Resolution 1701 in all its parts, compel Israel to apply it, and halt its violations and aggression," the Prime Minister said. He pointed out, "As in every session, we affirm the national and constitutional necessity of electing a president. It is the responsibility of all deputies to rise to the level of the national duty that we all must bear, each from his constitutional and national position outside the realm of populism. Every sincere Lebanese wishes to elect a president as soon as possible."He said, "Regarding the livelihood demands of public sector employees, every day, we face legitimate challenges and demands. We understand them responsibly and deal with them realistically, outside any populist behavior. We are concerned with the dignity and stability of every citizen, employee, retiree, and every rightful depositor." He affirmed that "stability is indivisible: constitutional stability, security stability, economic stability, and social stability. Political responsibility is a national responsibility where opposing visions complement the capabilities of governance. Let us build together our capacities that enable us to overcome the challenges and move towards a stable atmosphere."He added, "We benefit from our national unity to face all emergencies, witness comprehensive condemnation of Israeli attacks, and carefully and responsibly look at the legitimate and living movement conducted by employees and retirees in all their categories and denominations."He stated that the "government works wisely to achieve justice for everyone without haste. I hope that legitimate movements remain far from any political exploitation in this critical phase in the nation's life."He said that during the session, they will discuss the proposals reached to agree on a solution that accommodates the numerous needs and the available resources in the state treasury. He considered that "it is all of our responsibility to care for the Lebanese generations, the elderly and the youth, and to meet them with their expectations. We encourage them to express their opinions and respect their role and future."

MP Paula Yacoubian to LBCI: Resolution 1701 does not ensure Lebanese sovereignty
LBCI/February 28, 2024
MP Paula Yacoubian saw that Resolution 1701 does not lead to fundamental security as it speaks about disarming Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and not extending the sovereignty of the Lebanese state. She added, "Lebanon is a collapsing country, in a terrible state, facing an unprecedented financial and economic collapse. Can Lebanon bear a war with Israel? We cannot risk our people, nation, and country today." Regarding the presidential file, she clarified on LBCI's "Nharkom Said" TV show that electing a president is essential, hoping for the success of the National Moderation Bloc. She said, "The National Moderation Bloc is optimistic about the initiative they launched, and they informed us about their initiative, and we welcome anyone who initiates because we have experienced this before, as we were the first party to launch a presidential initiative before the presidential vacuum."She indicated that the Change MPs are an allied bloc without a leader or superior authority; each has its own decision. Yacoubian said, "We work together, Yassine Yassine, Melhem Khalaf, and I have worked a lot to unify efforts and remain one bloc, and we are open to everyone, but the traditional authoritarian way of dealing with us is the problem."Regarding the conflict with Israel, she pointed out that the decision is Iranian. She asked, "Why does Iran understand in the Syrian situation not to open the fronts of the Golan Heights, but in the case of Lebanon, 'we are cheaper'?" She continued, "Undoubtedly, Israel saw with Hamas how difficult its war was, so how about with Hezbollah, which is not besieged and receives arms easily, while it is not easy to send arms to Hamas easily."

Tourism Minister to LBCI: Tourist activities are 'form of resistance;' Israeli justifications for Lebanon attacks threaten sovereignty
LBCI/February 28, 2024
Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar stated, "All the tourist activities we are currently engaging in are a form of resistance."He affirmed that as citizens, "we had hoped that the war in Gaza would not have repercussions on Lebanon, but the Israeli enemy always finds justifications to attack our sovereignty."In an interview with LBCI's "Hiwar Al Marhala" talk show, Minister Nassar said that any attack on Lebanese territory is an attack on its sovereignty, affirming that the presence of non-Lebanese groups on Lebanese soil also undermines its sovereignty.
He said that the National Moderation Bloc broke the presidential deadlock, adding that the atmosphere is positive. Nassar highlighted: "Under our presidential system, I believe the role of the Quintet Committee will be limited to setting standards and providing advice, and it is up to the Lebanese to bear the responsibility of their choices."

UN urged to probe deadly Israel strikes against journalists in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/February 28/2024
More than 120 individuals and groups on Wednesday called for a United Nations probe into Israeli attacks on journalists in south Lebanon, where three were killed last year. An appeal addressed to U.N. rights chief Volker Turk expressed concern over "the Israeli forces' apparent deliberate targeting of journalists and media workers in Lebanon."An AFP investigation into strikes on October 13 that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six others, including AFP photographer Christina Assi critically and AFP video journalist Dylan Collins, pointed to a tank shell only used by the Israeli army in the border region. On November 21, Farah Omar and Rabih Maamari from the Al-Mayadeen channel were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, the broadcaster and official media said. The letter to Turk urged "an investigation to establish the facts and circumstances" around the attacks and for the findings to be published "with a view to holding those responsible accountable."Signatories included the Committee to Protect Journalists, local and regional rights groups, Lebanese lawmakers and media outlets including Al-Jazeera, as well as AFP's Collins and Assi. A separate letter, sent to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay, urged her office to "advocate for accountability for the apparent war crimes committed by Israel in south Lebanon."In December, Israel's army said the October strikes occurred in an "active combat zone" and were under review. Following the November strike, the Israeli military said it was "aware of a claim regarding journalists in the area who were killed as a result of IDF (army) fire."It added that there were "active hostilities" in the area and that the incident was under review. The AFP investigation into the October strikes, jointly conducted with Airwars, an NGO that investigates attacks on civilians in conflict situations, found the attack involved a 120-mm tank shell only used by the Israeli army in this region. A Reuters investigation found that two Israeli tank rounds fired from the same position across the border were used in the attack. Human Rights Watch concluded that the October strikes were "apparently deliberate attacks on civilians, which is a war crime" and which "should be prosecuted or may be prosecuted for war crimes." France's foreign ministry in December said "all light" must be shed on the October 13 strikes, while U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken welcomed an Israeli investigation into the strike as "important and appropriate."

Slim denies saying army lacks preparedness
Naharnet/February 28/2024
Caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim on Wednesday said a newspaper distorted remarks voiced by him about the Lebanese Army’s preparedness. “The daily published a headline on its first page that does not match the interview’s content, seeing as it curtailed and distorted what the minister said, especially as to what was mentioned about the army’s lack of combat preparedness,” Slim’s press office said in a statement. “The Defense Minister talked about the difficulties that the soldiers are facing in their performance of their defense missions, topped by the insufficiency of their financial compensations and the impact of the difficult economic situations that the country is going through on their lives and the lives of their families, in addition to the weak military assets and the need for support from brotherly and friendly countries to enable the army to carry out everything requested from it, especially what was mentioned in Resolution 1701,” the statement said. In his interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Slim said that he had told all foreign officials whom he had met that the army is in dire need to equip its combat soldiers and to create new combat units should there be a need for a bigger deployment in south Lebanon. “Resolution 1701 stipulated the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese troops on the southern border, but the army was not able to provide the sufficient number, that’s why we need the support of the friendly countries that care about stability in the region,” the minister added.

An Iranian green light for Hezbollah: to start military escalation with Israel!?
Janoubia/February 28, 2024
Private sources revealed to “Arabi Post”, on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, “an Iranian green light for Hezbollah” to escalate military action with “Israel”, but in the event that the occupation begins a ground invasion of the city of Rafah, south of Gaza, for fear that southern Lebanon will be next. , explaining details related to the preparations for the battle, amid information from the party confirming the Israeli intention to launch a war against it. High-level Iranian sources, and other Lebanese sources close to the Lebanese Hezbollah, said that the party informed the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard that it had become certain of Israel’s intention to launch a major attack on Lebanon, after completing its operation that it had not yet begun in Rafah. The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, discussed the matter with the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Ismail Qaani, according to the sources, who said that the latter “expressed an Iranian green light for Hezbollah to respond to Israel.” Regarding the details of the meeting between them, a source from The Iranian Revolutionary Guard told Arab Post, on condition of anonymity, that the commander of the Quds Force visited the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Monday, February 26, 2024, and met with Hassan Nasrallah and the leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah, to discuss the latest developments, especially following the tensions that occurred as a result. Anger in Tehran over the “Safad Operation” without coordination with Tehran. On February 14, 2024, the Hebrew media announced that one person was killed and 7 others were injured as a result of missiles fired from southern Lebanon on the Safad area, north of the occupied territories. The attack carried out by Hezbollah angered Tehran to some extent, especially since it calls on the party to adopt a “policy of strategic patience” in the face of Israeli and American provocations, according to Iranian sources who spoke to “Arabi Post.” Also regarding the meeting between Qaani and Nasrallah, she said The sources said that the meeting came at the latter’s request regarding “the necessity of holding an emergency meeting with the Revolutionary Guards to discuss the information that was obtained, which indicates a serious Israeli intention to launch a large-scale attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah.” Regarding the possible timing of the Israeli attack on Lebanon, the source from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said: “Hassan Nasrallah told Qaani that the attack is likely to be very imminent, most likely in the month of Ramadan, or with Israel’s invasion of the city of Rafah.”
Another Iranian diplomatic source close to the Lebanese Hezbollah and familiar with this meeting confirmed the same information, and told “Arabi Post”: “Nasrallah says that he is completely certain of Tel Aviv’s intention to launch a large-scale attack on Lebanon, and he asked Qaani to give him complete freedom in how he intends to attack Lebanon.” Respond and help prepare the party to confront this expected attack, with an Iranian green light for Hezbollah to confront Israel.” Regarding the response of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to what was discussed in Ismail Qaani’s meeting with Hassan Nasrallah, the Iranian source from the Revolutionary Guard says: “Qaani saw, from the beginning of the Israeli escalation with Hezbollah, the necessity of the party having a decisive response, but Iranian Guide Ali Khamenei was opposed.” that". But he explained that “in the last meeting in Lebanon, Qaani agreed on the need for the party to prepare for a possible Israeli attack, and the need for the response to Tel Aviv to be harsh,” and that by doing so, Nasrallah obtained an Iranian green light for Hezbollah to respond to the Israeli occupation. Informed Iranian sources previously confirmed to Arab Post, in a previous report, that the Iranian senior leadership opposes the involvement of Lebanese Hezbollah in a large-scale conflict with Israel, and that its outcome would be negative for the party.
But at the same time, the leaders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the commander of the Quds Force, Ismail Qaani, believed that it was necessary for the Lebanese Hezbollah to respond forcefully to the Israeli attacks and assassinations of the party’s leaders and Lebanese civilians, “so that the Israelis would not think that Hezbollah is weak before them,” according to what the sources confirmed. Iranian.
Regarding Nasrallah and Qaani’s meeting as well, another source from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reported that “Qaani’s response was firm, that Hezbollah must fully prepare for a large-scale attack from Israel, and plan an appropriate response to this attack, which Hassan Nasrallah expects.” According to the same source, Ismail Qaani informed the Iranian senior leadership in Tehran of the Lebanese Hezbollah’s decision, the necessity of preparing for a broader conflict with Israel, and the plans put forward by the Lebanese Hezbollah leaders to respond in the event that Tel Aviv launches a large-scale attack on Lebanon after its invasion of Rafah, south of Gaza. In the meeting that brought together Ismail Qaani and Hassan Nasrallah, sources confirmed that “it was agreed to send more modern Iranian weapons to Hezbollah, to increase the efficiency of its armament in the face of a possible Israeli attack.” In this regard, a source from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who was present at this meeting, told “Arabi Post”: “Hassan Nasrallah asked Qaani to send more short- and medium-range ballistic missiles to Lebanon, in addition to drones and surveillance and communication systems.” “. According to the spokesman, who requested to remain anonymous, Qaani “agreed to Hassan Nasrallah’s requests, and ordered the commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria to open Iranian weapons stores, in front of the Lebanese Hezbollah, without calculation or prior instructions.” In addition to what the spokesman said about the weapons that will be sent to the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Iranian diplomatic source close to Hezbollah told “Arabi Post,” that “in the next few days, large shipments of weapons will be sent to Hezbollah in Lebanon from Syria.”He also confirmed that “the weapons requested by Hassan Nasrallah are mostly modern, new Iranian versions, especially ballistic missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and armored vehicles.” On a related level, Iranian sources revealed that the weapons that will be sent to Hezbollah in Lebanon also include Russian communications and surveillance devices and jamming devices via Syria. Two sources from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard told Arab Post: “Russia will provide Hezbollah with surveillance ships, and anti-ship missiles as well, and this is what Tehran has been discussing with it for a long time.” This comes after Tehran agreed to send Iranian missiles to Moscow, after delaying it for fear of deteriorating relations with the United States and the West. But Iranian sources said that Iran now believes that military cooperation with Moscow will have positive effects on Russia’s support for the resistance axis led by Tehran in the region. It is noteworthy that a mini-war is growing between the Israeli occupation and Hezbollah, destroying many of the “rules of engagement” agreed upon between the two sides in the context of International Resolution 1701 issued in 2006 by the UN Security Council, which stipulates that any response will be met with a similar response. The escalation of tension between Hezbollah and Israel comes as a result of the war in Gaza, which is witnessing a devastating Israeli aggression, as a result of which about 30,000 Palestinians have been martyred so far, the majority of whom are children and women, while the party confirms that it will stop its strikes against the occupation at the same time that the latter stops. About his war on the Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since October 7, 2023.

The Beginning of The End’ of the Most Dangerous ‘Agreement’ Lebanon Has Ever Seen
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127421/127421/
May God be kind on Abu Nuwas, who wrote the following verse in one of his most renowned poems:
"You are astonished by my Illness?... It is my health that should astonish you!"
It came to mind as it had become clear to me that the so-called "Mar Mikhael Agreement," which was signed in Mar Mikhael church located in the Chiyyah neighborhood in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, was coming to an end.
That day, the Free Patriotic Movement (the Aounists), the most fanatical of the Maronite Christian forces, and Hezbollah, Khomeinist Iran’s political and strategic proxy in Lebanon, announced that they had signed what was, by any logical standard, a strange and perplexing "memorandum of understanding."
This "understanding" was reached by the FPM, whose leader General Michel Aoun had gone further in his refusal to compromise Christian political representation than even the Maronite Patriarch and the Christian fighters during the Lebanese war and rejected the Taif Agreement, and a Shiite armed group that prides itself on its allegiance to Valeyat-e-Faqih and striving to incorporate Lebanon into Iran’s "Islamic State!”
Observers of Lebanese politics had understood, the moment this understanding or "alliance of opposites" emerged, that it could never amount to anything more than a fleeting "pact of convenience." They knew now that it would become surplus to requirements as soon as both parties had achieved enough of what they had hoped to get out of it.
Indeed, it was no secret, neither to them nor to keen foreign observers, that the "understanding" these polar opposite forces had come to was grounded in particular circumstances:
● Firstly, Aoun and Hezbollah were both grappling with what they considered a "Sunni moment," after the Sunni Muslims had retrieved a decent degree of political influence domestically and in the Arab world, thanks to the prominent political and economic role played by the country’s late former prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
● Secondly, Aoun, who had always aspired to monopolize Christian representation, was keen on breaking the Taif Agreement. It had "dwarfed" the Maronite Christians' share of political power, he argued, by stripping the presidency of its near-absolute powers, including its control of the executive athority, which, the Taif Agreement had transferred to the Council of Ministers, in which Christians and Muslims were to be equally represented.
● Thirdly, Aoun - who had once been the commander of Lebanon's army - was aware that for demographic, political, military, and economic reasons, Christians could no longer reverse the realities created by the Taif Agreement on their own. Thus, they needed to align with a significant domestic force that also had an interest in ending the "Sunni moment." Naturally, given the demographic realities of Lebanon, drawing on the strength of the Shiite bloc and leveraging its strength was inevitable...
● Fourthly, if Aoun and his FPM were obsessed with reclaiming past privileges, Hezbollah was beginning to pursue its plan for future domestic hegemony, which paralleled Iran's pursuit of regional hegemony, a key milestone of which was seizing control of Iraq in 2003. Indeed, in the spring of 2006, the party made its move, provoking a war with Israel that destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure and ended with a ceasefire that left Hezbollah's arsenal pointing north, at the Lebanese interior. That is precisely what we saw affirmed two years later with the domestic conflict of 2008.
The "2008 War" (locally referred to as the "events of May 7") saw, as is well-known, the invasion of the capital Beirut by the Hezbollah militia, which also tried to occupy the southern segment of Mount Lebanon. The party's dominance over the country began with this war, which allowed it to shape Lebanon's politics, security, and economic fortunes, especially through its "parallel army" and "parallel economy."
Later, in 2008, General Michel Suleiman was consensually elected as President in the Qatari capital, Doha, in order to end the occupation of Beirut. But after his term ended in 2014, Hezbollah made sure to paralyze Lebanon for a whole two and a half years in a bid to impose its own “ally” Aoun as president...that was exactly what happened.
The two parties to the Mar Mikhael Agreement continued to serve one another’s interests.
Hezbollah granted Aoun enough electoral support to allow him to form the largest Christian bloc in the parliament and make the lion’s share of Christian appointments in the government and the public sector, while Aoun has unequivocally backed Hezbollah's military intervention in Syria since 2011, reinforcing the so-called "alliance of minorities."
However, recent changes in local and regional circumstances have shifted both parties' priorities. The Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, which was exacerbated by Hezbollah's role in Syria, gave rise to resentments, particularly among Lebanese Christians.
Moreover, the tacit approval that the United States and Israel have granted for the Damascus regime to remain in power has revitalized the regime's hopes of reviving its influence and reinstating its cronies in Lebanon. Given that the Damascus regime has a reliable Lebanese ally in former minister Suleiman Frangieh - who is also closely allied to Hezbollah - Gebran Bassil, the head of the FPM and Aoun's son-in-law, who seeks to succeed him as president, became aware his odds of becoming president were seriously waning.
Then came the Christians' apprehensions regarding Hezbollah's entanglement in Iran's "united battlefield," following the displacement war in Gaza, which could have grave repercussions on Lebanon - including its Christian regions - after it came under the control of Hezbollah.
In addition to all of this, there is a growing impression that leading Western powers are amenable to a deal with Tehran.
Faced with all of these changes, both parties to the "agreement" no longer feel the need to appease a tactical ally or "fellow traveler" with whom they share neither trust nor strategic interests...
The Aounists have become convinced that the disadvantages of their "agreement" now outweigh the benefits, while the party - in my opinion - always knew that each side would eventually go its own way.
Thus came the psychological split... then the interest-based separation, ending one of the most dangerous and malicious deals in Lebanese political history.

South Lebanon and the Two Abrahamic Moments
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
Some believers who share Immanuel Kant’s manner of faith - that is, believing in religion within the confines of reason - argue that the Abrahamic experience is composed of two moments: in the first, Abraham is commanded to slaughter his son (Isaac in the Torah, and Ismael in the Quran), and offer this son, who had been a precious gift God had offered Abraham in his old age, as a sacrifice. The second moment amounts to a correction of the first, as God intervenes to stop Abraham from killing his son and commands him to sacrifice a ram instead.
These two moments reflect two different approaches, not only to worship, but also to sacrifice. The first is literal in its interpretation and gratuitous in its sacrifice, although this sacrifice could come at a high price and be extremely painful for the person making it. As for the second approach, it accommodates metaphorical interpretation, thinking, and imagination to the same extent that it does reason, comparison, and the weighing of benefits and outcomes.
The war Hezbollah is currently waging in South Lebanon can probably be placed in the category of the first Abrahamic moment. Party members and cadres there are being killed in large numbers, and this may well fall within its undisputed rights.
However, the party does not have a right to instigate a conflict that leads to the death of civilians and the destruction of their homes, terrorizes residents, forces over 120,000 of them to flee to Tyre, Beirut, and spoils harvests, which could take a long time to recover, in addition to leaving the entire country panicked about the specter that the scope of this conflict, which is difficult to control and contain, could expand.
The picture becomes even more bleak once we account for the well-known fact that the Lebanese state has no say in this matter, while the party sees no reason to consider or give any attention to foreign diplomatic efforts so long as the war in Gaza continues.
As for the theory that things should remain as they are in the South because of the need to support the Gaza Strip, it raises a question: What more could the Jewish state have done to Gaza, what has Hezbollah's innervation prevented it from doing? No observer could have failed to notice that the Lebanese-Israeli front has not featured, in any way whatsoever, in the ongoing deliberations of Arab and international officials to avert a campaign on Rafah.
Despite all of this, proponents of resistance have been pushing a strange narrative. Those who want to drag the South into a state of war, they claim, are the ones who love this region and see it as a cherished part of the homeland, and those who want to avoid a war are the ones who do not hold the South dear.
Two premises that do not hold up to the slightest scrutiny underpin this narrative. The first, which is drawn from a famous historical discourse, is that nations cannot achieve independence or liberation without sacrifice - mind you, Lebanon has been an independent country for 70 years, and the vast majority of its citizens, including those in the South, believe that the degree of liberation Lebanon has achieved is more than reasonable for a country in the Middle East. In any case, our dire conditions do not seem to be sufficient cause for what poets and visionaries call "embracing annihilation".
As for the second premise, it is that Lebanon will inevitably be subjected to an Israeli invasion, or a half invasion, or even a quarter invasion, because Israel invading us is inherently inevitable. Without absolving Israel of harboring evil intentions, this narrative, which we now see an effort to build a broad consensus around, is nothing more than another one of the commodities designed to normalize the state of war and the bearing arms, as well as to glorify resistance, that the militant propaganda factory manufactures in excess.
The fact is that the incidents of harassment suffered by the South between 1949 (the year that Lebanon and Israel signed an armistice agreement) and the latter half of the 1960s (when Palestinian militants began launching attacks against Israel) could have occurred on any other border shared between two non-warring countries, and they definitely inflicted far less harm on Lebanon than the actions, both within and outside Lebanon's borders, of the various military regimes that had ruled Syria during this period.
This empirical fact allows us to claim that death and humiliation were not prevalent in the South during the period in which it had been under the control of the state and Lebanon had been protected by its international relations, but during the period when armed groups, Palestinian in the sixties and Lebanese since the eighties, seized this region and shaped the lives of its inhabitants. The conclusion one draws from these paradoxes is that it is none other than the militants in the South who despise the South. Indeed, on one hand, they abhor the Lebanese formula - a hatred shared by all incarnations of radical militancy - and on the other, they are closely tied to a bleak foreign model that sees the destruction or subjugation of the Lebanese model as a requisite for success and overcoming its legitimacy deficit. The glorification of what could be called the "first Abrahamic moment" occupies its hegemonic position on these grounds. The sacrifice of land and people, though for nothing, is portrayed as inherently noble and glorious because it rewards those making it with the resistance and gifts them (ideally long and wide) "caravans/convoys" of martyrs. This is the only path that pleases Ayatollah Khamenei.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 28-29/2024
US, Red Sea coalition forces destroy 5 Houthi drones
SAEED AL-BATATI/Arab News/February 28, 2024
AL-MUKALLA: A US warplane and a coalition cruiser in the Red Sea intercepted and destroyed five explosive-laden drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia on Tuesday night, the US Central Command said on Wednesday. This came as the Houthis said that the US and UK “aggression” conducted more attacks on the western province of Hodeidah. “On Feb. 27, between the hours of 9:50 p.m. and 10:55 p.m. (Sanaa time), US aircraft and a coalition warship shot down five Iranian-backed Houthi one-way attack (OWA) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the Red Sea,” CENTCOM announced on social media. Houthi media said that the US and UK had launched two airstrikes on targets on the Red Sea Labwan Island in Hodeidah province on Tuesday night, inflicting damage on the targeted areas. At the same time, UK Maritime Trade Operations, a maritime agency that investigates ship attacks, said on Tuesday night that it had received an alert about an explosion 60 nautical miles west of Hodeidah in which a rocket was spotted hitting the starboard side of a ship sailing through the Red Sea. The US, according to a senior US military official, has targeted more than 230 locations in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, possibly destroying hundreds of Houthi weapons in recent weeks, and it, together with its ally naval forces, has intercepted and destroyed dozens of Houthi missiles and drones.
In a testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism on Tuesday, Daniel Shapiro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy, said that the US Department of Defense was committed to defending civilians and international shipping lanes against Houthi attacks. He added that the attacks had impeded the supply of humanitarian aid, such as food and medicine, to Yemen and other impoverished nations. Since November, the Iran-backed Houthis have fired hundreds of drones and missiles against commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden, while also declaring a ban on any Israel-bound or related ships from passing through international maritime waters near Yemen. The Houthis say that they want to force Israel to let food, water and other critical humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip. Despite airstrikes and local and international pleas for de-escalation in the Red Sea, the Houthis have pledged to continue their assaults until Israel removes its blockade on Gaza. The UK Embassy in Yemen warned on Wednesday that Houthi assaults on ships would result in an environmental catastrophe off Yemen’s shores, citing the Lebanese-operated MV Rubymar ship, which generated a big oil slick in the Red Sea after being hit by Houthi missiles. “Despite years of international effort to avert a crisis with the FSO SAFER, the Houthis are threatening another environmental disaster with the reckless attack on the MV Rubymar. The vessel is now at risk of leaking into the Red Sea. We call on the Houthis to stop their attacks,” the embassy said on X. Yemen’s government told Arab News on Tuesday that they were racing against time to save the MV Rubymar ship, which was sinking with a cargo of 22,000 tons of fertilizer, and that they were seeking assistance from nations and conservation groups to bring the ship to land. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Interior Ministry said that it had apprehended 10 people who were planning to kidnap foreigners and government officials in the eastern province of Mahra. The official news agency SABA quoted Interior Minister Ibrahim Haydan as thanking local security officials in Mahra for discovering a “terrorist” cell of 10 people on Sunday after tracking them for months, adding that security forces exchanged fire with the group when they refused to surrender.

Rocket fire reported off Yemen in Red Sea in new suspected Houthi attack
Associated Press/February 28, 2024
A rocket exploded late Tuesday night off the side of a ship traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, authorities said, the latest suspected attack to be carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels. The attack comes as the Houthis continue a series of assaults at sea over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and as the U.S. and its allies launch airstrikes trying to stop them. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees shipping in the Mideast, reported the attack happened about 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the coast of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida. The rocket exploded several miles off the bow of the vessel, it said. "The crew and vessel are reported to be safe and are proceeding to next port of call," the UKMTO said. The private security firm Ambrey reported that the vessel targeted appeared to be a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier in the area at the time. Another ship, a Panama-flagged, Emirati-owned chemical tanker was nearby as well, Ambrey said. The Associated Press could not immediately identify the vessels involved. The Houthis typically take several hours to claim their assaults and have not yet done so for the assault late Tuesday. Meanwhile, the U.S. military's Central Command said an American and an allied warship shot down five Houthi bomb-carrying drones in the Red Sea on Tuesday night. The drones originated "from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and (it was) determined they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the U.S. Navy and coalition ships in the region," Central Command said in a statement. Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo for Iran, the Houthis' main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory. Despite over a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. Last week, they severely damaged a ship in a crucial strait and downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel stops its combat operations in the Gaza Strip, which have enraged the wider Arab world and seen the Houthis gain international recognition. On Saturday, Central Command said a Houthi attack on a Belize-flagged ship on Feb. 18 caused an 18-mile (29-kilometer) oil slick and warned of the danger of a spill from the vessel's cargo of fertilizer. The Rubymar, a British-registered, Lebanese-operated cargo vessel, was attacked while sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis, a Zaydi Shiite group, seized Yemen's capital in 2014 and have battled a Saudi-led coalition since 2015. Their Zaydi people ran a 1,000-year kingdom in Yemen up until 1962.

Israel strikes Syrian capital, Damascus: Official media
AFP/February 28, 2024
Israel bombarded an area near Damascus on Wednesday, according to official Syrian media, amid escalating regional tensions since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Syrian state television stated, "Our air defenses intercepted an Israeli 'aggression' in the vicinity of the capital Damascus and shot down most of its missiles."A reporter for Agence France-Presse in the Syrian capital heard explosions followed by ambulance sirens. Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on its northern neighbor, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah and the Syrian army. The strikes have increased since the beginning of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas about five months ago. Israel rarely comments on specific strikes, but it has repeatedly stated that it will not allow Iran to solidify its military presence in Syria.

Pro-Iranian TV channel states big explosion heard in Damascus
Reuters/February 28, 2024
Pro-Iranian Lebanese television al Maydeen said on Wednesday a big explosion was heard in the Sayeda Zainab neighbourhood of the Syrian capital Damascus.It gave no details for the area of southern Damascus where Iranian-backed militaries have a string of underground bases.

Turkish drones kill 3 in an attack on a local Christian militia in northeastern Syria, officials say
AP/February 28, 2024
The force that was targeted, the local Christian Syriac police known as Sutoro, works under the US-backed and Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said three Suturo police members were killed, as well as one civilian. BEIRUT: Turkish drone strikes in northeastern Syria on Wednesday killed at least three members of a local Christian force and wounded others, including civilians, a Kurdish official and a Syrian opposition war monitor said. There was no immediate comment from Ankara on Wednesday’s airstrikes. Turkiye has been attacking Kurdish fighters in Syria for years but attacks on the fighters from the country’s Christian minority have been rare. The force that was targeted, the local Christian Syriac police known as Sutoro, works under the US-backed and Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Siamand Ali of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces told The Associated Press that the Turkish drones initially hit three Suturo vehicles near the northeastern town of Malikiyah. When a fourth vehicle, a pick-up truck, arrived at the scene to retrieve the casualties from the strike, it also came under attack, he said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said three Suturo police members were killed, as well as one civilian. The Observatory said the attack was the latest of 65 such strikes so far this year in northeastern Syria that have killed 18 people, mostly Kurdish fighters. Turkiye often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK — a banned Kurdish separatist group that has waged an insurgency against Turkiye since the 1980s. Turkiye says that the main Kurdish militia in Syria, known as People’s Defense Units, or YPG, is an affiliate of the PKK. Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency however, reported on Tuesday that the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT, had killed a senior Kurdish fighter member in an operation in the northern Syrian town of Qamishli.
The report identified the woman operative as Emine Seyid Ahmed, a Syrian national, who allegedly went by the code name of “Azadi Derik.”She reportedly joined the Kurdish Women Protection Units, or YPJ, in 2011 and allegedly planned a number of attacks against Turkish security forces as well as cross-border missile attacks targeting civilians in Turkiye, Anadolu reported.

Syrian man dies of wounds from anti-Assad protest
REUTERS/February 28, 2024
DAMASCUS: A Syrian man died of gunshot wounds sustained in a protest against President Bashar Assad in the southern flashpoint province of Sweida on Wednesday, a medical source and two local monitors said. It was the first fatality reported that was linked to the demonstrations about economic conditions that swept across Druze-majority Sweida last year and quickly spiralled into rallies against Assad. Suwayda 24, a local news website, reported that a 52-year-old man succumbed to gunshot wounds after security forces guarding a government building shot at nearby protesters. A local medical source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the 13-year war, confirmed the fatality. Suwayda 24 said the spiritual head of the Druze sect Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri met with protesters on Wednesday and said the man was a “martyr.” Last August, steep gasoline prices sparked mass protests across Sweida, a province that had largely been spared the violence that has ravaged the rest of Syria since 2011, when Assad’s crackdown on demonstrations against him sparked a full-blown war. The demonstrators swiftly turned their criticism to Assad and demanded sweeping political changes. Across the province, scores of local branches of the ruling Baath party were forced shut by protesters tearing down posters of the president and his father, a rare show of defiance in areas under government rule.

Israel, Hamas inch toward new deal, what would it look like?
Associated Press/February 28, 2024
Israel and Hamas are inching toward a new deal that would free some of the roughly 130 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a weekslong pause in the war, now in its fifth month. U.S. President Joe Biden says a deal could go into effect as early as Monday, ahead of what is seen as an unofficial deadline — the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, around March 10. A deal would bring some respite to desperate people in Gaza, who have borne a staggering toll, as well as to the anguished families of Israeli hostages taken during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. Here is a look at the emerging agreement.
OUTLINE OF THE DEAL
According to a senior official from Egypt, a six-week cease-fire would go into effect, and Hamas would agree to free up to 40 hostages — mostly civilian women, at least two children, and older and sick captives. Israel would release at least 300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the official said. Israel would also allow displaced Palestinians to return to certain areas in northern Gaza, which was the first target of Israel's ground offensive and suffered widespread destruction, according to the official from Egypt, which is mediating the deal along with the U.S. and Qatar.
The Egyptian official said aid deliveries would be ramped up during the cease-fire, with 300 to 500 trucks entering the beleaguered territory per day, far more than the daily average number of trucks entering since the start of the war. The deliveries to areas across Gaza would be facilitated by Israel, whose forces would refrain from attacks on them and on police escorting the aid convoys, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the talks with journalists.
STICKING POINTS
Despite Biden's optimism, both sides continue to posture ahead of any final agreement even as talks continue in Qatar. Both Israeli and Hamas officials downplayed any sense of progress. Israel and Hamas have been far apart on their terms for a deal in the past, dragging out negotiations that appeared to have momentum. Israel wants all female soldiers included in the first phase of hostage releases, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing talks. Hamas views all soldiers as more significant bargaining chips and is likely to press back on this demand. The Egyptian official said the female soldiers were at this point being held off until after the first release. The Egyptian official said the sides also are discussing how many Palestinians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza and whether to limit their return to women and men over 50. Talks are also pinning down which areas of Gaza that Israel would withdraw troops from, the Egyptian official said, adding that Israel wants Hamas to refrain from using those it left as staging grounds for attacks. It also wants Hamas to stop firing rockets at southern Israel. Hamas has so far rejected both demands, the official said. The emerging deal leaves a door open for Israel to operate in the southern border town of Rafah once it expires. More than half of Gaza's population has fled to the southern city on the Egyptian border. Israel wants to destroy what it says are the few Hamas battalions left standing there.
WHAT REMAINS TO BE NEGOTIATED?
During the temporary cease-fire, both sides would negotiate toward an extension of the deal that the Egyptian official said would include the release of all the female soldiers in exchange for a higher number of imprisoned Palestinians, including those serving long sentences for deadly attacks. After the female soldiers, Israel will seek to free male soldiers for whom Hamas will likely demand a high price. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to agree to a deal at any cost. But the families of the hostages, whose plight has deeply shaken Israelis, are likely to ramp up pressure if others are freed. The U.S. hopes the new deal will be a launching pad for implementing its vision for a postwar Gaza that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. It wants Gaza to be governed by a revamped Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. On Monday, it took a first step that could usher in U.S.-backed reforms by disbanding the self-rule government. Israel wants to retain overall security control in the Gaza Strip and has rejected having world powers impose a state on it.

Israel presses on with settlement plans despite US criticism
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/February 28, 2024
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged to continue expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, defying international pressure on Israel to stop building on land Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state. Late on Tuesday, Smotrich announced the approval of a new settlement called Mishmar Yehuda, in Gush Etzion, a cluster of Jewish settlements located south of Jerusalem, and said work would continue on authorizing further settlements. "We will continue the momentum of settlement throughout the country," he said in a statement. The move comes just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington considered Jewish settlements in the West Bank to be inconsistent with international law, reverting to a longstanding U.S. position that was overturned by the administration of former President Donald Trump.
The change brought the United States back into line with most of the world, which considers the settlements built on territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be illegal. Israel itself disputes this view, citing the Jewish people's historical and Biblical ties to the land. The Palestinians say that the expansion of settlements across the West Bank is part of a deliberate Israeli policy to undermine its ambition of creating an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Last week, Israeli ministers agreed to convene a planning council to approve some 3,300 homes to be built in settlements, a decision that Blinken said had disappointed Washington, which has been pushing a resumption of efforts for a two state solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Smotrich, the influential leader of one of the hard-right pro-settler parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, himself lives in a settlement and has consistently backed further settlement building. "This is also our answer to the nations of the world," said Shlomo Ne'eman, Mayor of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. "We will continue onwards and strengthen Gush Etzion with more residents, more schools, more roads and more kindergartens."The Israeli advocacy group Peace Now, which monitors settlement expansion, said in a report last month there had been an unprecedented surge in settlement activities since the start of the Gaza war in October. According to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, just under 700,000 settlers live in 279 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, up from 520,000 in 2012.

Hospital in northern Gaza shuts down: No food, fuel or medical supplies. Live updates
John Bacon, USA TODAY/February 28, 2024
The last functioning hospital in northern Gaza Strip shut down Wednesday because of a severe shortage of fuel and medical supplies, a top official at Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia announced. Dr. Muhammad Salha, director of the hospital's monitoring and evaluation department, said the hospital was depleted during an Israeli siege that lasted for 18 days during which several staff members were killed. The shutdown "will lead to a complete deprivation of basic health services for citizens, especially in light of the cessation of service by all hospitals in the north," Salha said in a statement to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. Salha appealed to all international, humanitarian and human rights organizations to put pressure on the occupation to supply the hospital with food, medical supplies and fuel. U.N. relief agencies voiced frustration as recently as Tuesday over continuing restrictions they face from the Israeli military while trying to get supplies into hospitals throughout Gaza − and patients out of them. Aid convoys have "come under fire and are systematically denied access to people in need,” the U.N. Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine said in a statement. Palestinians burn tires in protest against the rising prices of food and supplies due to shortages, on February 28, 2024, in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinians burn tires in protest against the rising prices of food and supplies due to shortages, on February 28, 2024, in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
Developments:
∎ The families of militant-held hostages began a four-day march bound for Jerusalem from Kibbutz Re’im, where hundreds of Israelis were killed at a music festival during the Oct. 7 attack. They marched with a banner reading “united to free the hostages.”
∎ Israel, Jordan, France, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and the U.S. completed an airdrop of 160 packages of food and medical equipment the southern Gaza Strip and the Jordanian Field Hospital in Khan Younis, the Israeli military said.
'Not interested': Biden says a Gaza truce is near; Hamas begs to differ
Egyptian president expects cease-fire deal within days
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Wednesday that a cease-fire will be reached in the Gaza Strip within a few days, the Saudi media outlet Al-Hadath reported. Also Wednesday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the militant group is showing flexibility in Gaza negotiations in order to "put an end to its great pain and its grave sacrifices in the war of brutal genocide against it." But he also said militants were ready to continue the fight. President Joe Biden said he hoped a deal would be reached within the next week before the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But Ahmad Abdul Hadi, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, said Tuesday that the militant group was "not interested" in the lastest proposal, according to the Pan-Arab TV channel Al Mayadeen. The proposal put forward by the U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Paris last weekend included the release of up to 40 women and older hostages as well as the release of up to 300 Palestinians, mostly children, women and older people being held in Israeli prisons, The Associated Press reported.

Food aid reaches north Gaza for first time in weeks. Israeli hostages’ families push for release
AP/February 29, 2024
RAFAH, Gaza Strip: Aid convoys carrying food reached northern Gaza this week, Israeli officials said Wednesday, the first major delivery in a month to the devastated, isolated area, where the UN has warned of worsening starvation among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel’s offensive.
The increasing alarm over hunger across Gaza has fueled international calls for a ceasefire as the US, Egypt and Qatar work to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas for a pause in fighting and the release of some of the hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack.
Mediators hope to reach an agreement before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts around March 10. But so far, Israel and Hamas have remained far apart in public on their demands. Increasing the pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal, families of hostages on Wednesday launched a four-day march from southern Israel to Jerusalem to demand their loved ones be set free. Some of the around 100 hostages freed during a ceasefire in late November are joining the march, which is to end near Netanyahu’s official residence. The plight of the hostages has deeply shaken Israelis, who see in them an enduring symbol of the state’s failure to protect its citizens from Hamas’ assault. In its Oct. 7 attack, the Palestinian militant group abducted roughly 250 people, according to Israeli authorities, including men, women, children and older adults. After the November releases, some 130 hostages remain, and Israel says about a quarter of them are dead. Israel’s assault on Gaza, which it says aims at destroying Hamas after its attack, has killed more than 29,900 Palestinians. UN officials warn of further mass casualties if it follows through on vows to attack the southernmost city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has taken refuge. They also say a Rafah offensive could collapse the aid operation that has already been crippled in the fighting. Across Gaza, more than 576,000 people – a quarter of the population – are a step away from famine, the UN says. But northern Gaza in particular has been gutted by hunger. The north has largely been cut off and much of it has been leveled since Israeli ground troops invaded in late October. Several hundred thousand Palestinians are believed to remain there, and many have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive. The UN says one in 6 children under 2 in the north suffer from acute malnutrition and wasting. A convoy of 31 trucks carrying food entered northern Gaza on Wednesday, the Israeli military office that oversees Palestinian civilian affairs said. The office, known by the acronym COGAT, said nearly 20 other trucks entered the north on Monday and Tuesday. Associated Press footage showed people carrying sacks of flour from the distribution site.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the deliveries. The UN was not involved, said a spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, Eri Keneko. As of Sunday, the UN had been unable to deliver food to northern Gaza since Jan. 23, according to Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that has led the aid effort during the war. On Feb. 18, the World Food Program attempted a delivery to the north for the first time in three weeks, but much of the convoy’s cargo was taken en route by desperate Palestinians, and it was only able to distribute a small amount in the north. Two days later, the WFP announced it was pausing deliveries to the north because of the chaos. Since launching its assault on Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has barred entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies except for a trickle of aid entering the south from Egypt at the Rafah crossing and Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing. Despite international calls to allow in more aid, the number of supply trucks entering has dropped dramatically in recent weeks. COGAT said Wednesday that Israel does not impose limits on the amount of aid entering. Israel has blamed UN agencies for the bottleneck, saying hundreds of trucks are waiting on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom for aid workers to collect them. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday countered saying large trucks entering Gaza have to be unloaded and reloaded onto smaller Palestinian trucks, but there aren’t enough of them and there’s a lack of security to distribute aid in Gaza. Police in Gaza stopped protecting convoys after Israeli strikes on them near the crossing. There is also “insufficient coordination” from Israel on security and deconfliction, which puts the lives of UN staff and other humanitarian workers at risk.
“That’s why we’ve repeatedly asked for a humanitarian ceasefire,” he said. The UN has called for Israel to open crossings in the north to aid deliveries and guarantee safe corridors for convoys. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza said the number of children who have died in recent days from severe malnutrition and dehydration had risen to four. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya said that operations at the hospital will shut off starting Wednesday due to fuel shortages. “Dialysis, intensive care, childcare, and surgeries will stop. Therefore, we will witness more deaths in the coming days,” he said.
But the pain from the lack of supplies extends across Gaza. Project Hope, a humanitarian group that runs a clinic in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, said 21 percent of the pregnant women and 11 percent of the children under 5 it has treated in the last three weeks are suffering from malnutrition.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll from Israel’s offensive had risen to 29,954 people, with 70,325 wounded. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it says two-thirds of the dead were children and women.
In its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians.

Palestinian FM says Hamas knows it cannot be in new government
AFP/February 28, 2024
GENEVA: Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki said Wednesday he believes Hamas understands why it should not be part of a new government in the Palestinian territories. Maliki told a press conference that a “technocratic” government was needed, without the group which is fighting a bitter war against Israel.“The time now is not for a national coalition government,” Al-Maliki said. “The time now is not for a government where Hamas will be part of it, because, in this case, then it will be boycotted by a number of countries, as happened before,” he told the UN correspondents’ association.
“We don’t want to be in a situation like that. We want to be accepted and engaging fully with the international community,” he explained. Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced Monday the resignation of his government, which rules parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, citing the need for change after the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ends. A decree from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the government will stay on in an interim capacity until a new one is formed. Maliki said the priority was engaging the international community on to help provide emergency relief to Palestinians, and then looking at how Gaza could be reconstructed. “Later, when the situation is right, then we could contemplate that option. But what comes first is how to salvage the situation. How to salvage innocent Palestinian lives. How to stop this insane war and how to be able to protect Palestinian people,” he said.
“That’s why I think Hamas should understand this, and I do believe that they are in support of the idea to establish, today, a technocratic government. “A government that is based on experts, individuals who are completely committed to take up the reins and the responsibility for this period — a difficult one — and to move the whole country into a period of transition into a stable kind of situation where, at the end, we might be able to think about elections. “And after elections, the outcome of the elections will determine the type of government that will govern the state of Palestine later.”
Maliki is in Geneva to attend the United Nations Human Rights Council. The war in Gaza began after Hamas launched an attack on October 7 that killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures. Hamas militants also took hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have killed at least 29,954 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Gaza death toll nears 30,000 as aid groups warn of ‘imminent’ famine
AFP/February 28, 2024
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: The Gaza war’s reported Palestinian death toll neared 30,000 Wednesday as fighting raged in the Hamas-run territory despite mediators insisting a truce with Israel could be just days away. Another 91 people were killed in overnight Israeli bombardment, the health ministry said. Mediators from Eygpt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to find a path to a ceasefire amid the bitter fighting, with negotiators seeking a six-week pause in the nearly five-month war. After a flurry of diplomacy, mediators said a deal could finally be within reach — reportedly including the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack in exchange for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel. “My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire” but “we’re not done yet,” US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said Doha was “hopeful, not necessarily optimistic, that we can announce something” before Thursday. But he cautioned that “the situation is still fluid on the ground.”Doha has suggested the pause in fighting would come before the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which starts on March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar. Hamas had been pushing for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza — a demand rejected outright by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But a Hamas source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the deal might see the Israeli military leave “cities and populated areas,” allowing the return of some displaced Palestinians and humanitarian relief. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 29,954 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry. The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Militants also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead, according to Israel. Since the war began, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been displaced, with nearly 1.5 million people now packed into the far-southern city of Rafah, where Israel has warned it plans to launch a ground offensive.
Those who remain in northern Gaza have been facing an increasingly desperate situation, aid groups have warned. “If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza,” the World Food Programme’s deputy executive director Carl Skau told the UN Security Council Tuesday.His colleague from the UN humanitarian office OCHA, Ramesh Rajasingham, warned of “almost inevitable” widespread starvation. The WFP said no humanitarian group had been able to deliver aid to the north for more than a month, with aid blocked from entering by Israeli forces. “I have not eaten for two days,” said Mahmud Khodr, a resident of Jabalia refugee camp in the north, where children roamed with empty pots. “There is nothing to eat or drink.”Most aid trucks have been halted, but foreign militaries have air dropped supplies including on Tuesday over Rafah and Gaza’s main southern city Khan Yunis.
What aid does enter Gaza passes through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt, fueling a warning from UN chief Antonio Guterres that any assault on the city would “put the final nail in the coffin” of relief operations in the territory.
Israel has insisted it would move civilians to safety before sending troops into Rafah but it has not released any details. Egypt has warned that an assault on the city would have “catastrophic repercussions across the region,” with Cairo concerned about an influx of refugees. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that Israel will “listen to the Egyptians and their interests,” adding that Israel “cannot conduct an operation” with the current large population in Rafah. Ahead of the threatened ground incursion, the area has been hit repeatedly by Israeli air strikes. An AFP correspondent reported that overnight several air strikes hit the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, as well as Zeitun in central Gaza. The army said it had “killed a number of terrorists and located weapons” in Zeitun. It said two more soldiers had died in the fighting in Gaza, taking its overall toll to 242 since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.

Israel voters give Tel Aviv, Jerusalem mayors new terms
Agence France Presse/February 28, 2024
The mayors of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were set to win new terms as preliminary results from Israel's delayed municipal elections trickled in on Wednesday. The early results also showed that ultra-Orthodox parties won nearly half the vote in Jerusalem city council contests, primarily due to low turnout among other blocs. Israel was originally scheduled to hold mayoral and municipal council elections on October 31, but postponed them after the war in Gaza erupted earlier that month. Elections were finally held on Tuesday, except in areas that have seen large-scale evacuations during the war. Nearly 150,000 residents have been evacuated from border areas, both in the south near the Gaza border and in the north near the Lebanese border, which has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah. Turnout on Tuesday was down from the last municipal elections in 2018, with only 49 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. In Tel Aviv, former economy minister Orna Barbivai conceded defeat to longtime incumbent Ron Huldai, who has been mayor for the past quarter of a century. Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion also appeared to have won a landslide re-election victory, according to preliminary results published by the interior ministry. The ultra-Orthodox community turned out in large numbers in Tuesday's vote, according to Israeli media reports. The ultra-Orthodox make up around a third of Jerusalem's one million population, and they traditionally vote for political parties that advance their tight-knit community's interests. Palestinian residents, who have the right to vote in municipal elections but not for Israel's parliament, make up around 40 percent of Jerusalem's population. However, most of them have boycotted municipal elections since Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.

Arab Parliament denounces Israel for constructing watchtower on Al-Aqsa’s western wall
GOBRAN MOHAMED/Arab News/February 28, 2024
CAIRO: The Cairo-based Arab Parliament has condemned the construction of a watchtower on the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the installation of surveillance cameras on it by Israeli authorities. It held Israel accountable for the consequences of such practices, saying it “exceeded all limits of provoking Muslims around the world and expanding the circle of ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.”It added that the “occupation’s measures are invalid, illegitimate, illegal, and a blatant violation of international law and UN and UNESCO resolutions, in light of the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. The organization said that the “Israeli occupation aims to change the historical, political, demographic, and legal reality of the occupied city of Jerusalem and its sanctities and to erase the Palestinian Arab identity.” The Arab Parliament called for urgent international intervention to end Israeli violations at Islam’s third holiest site and to take all measures to stop the “ethnic cleansing to which the Palestinian people are subjected.”On Sunday, Israeli forces installed surveillance cameras on the watchtower they built on the western wall of the mosque, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the move and denounced the Israeli forces’ daily incursions into the mosque compound and Israeli attempts to “change the historical, political, demographic, and legal reality of Jerusalem.”

Palestinian minister: no 'miracles' expected at talks on unified government
Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber/Wed, February 28, 2024
GENEVA (Reuters) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Wednesday he did not expect "miracles" at talks in Moscow to discuss the formation of a unified Palestinian government and the rebuilding of Gaza. The talks between representatives of Hamas and the Fatah political faction, scheduled to take place in the Russian capital on Thursday, come days after Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh resigned. The shake-up, Maliki said, was designed to build support for an expanded role for the Palestinian Authority following Israel's war against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. "We hope that there we might be good results in terms of mutual understanding between all factions about the need to support such a technocratic government that will emerge," Maliki said of the talks. "Of course, we don't expect miracles to happen in just a simple meeting in Moscow, but I believe that the meeting in Moscow should be followed by other meetings in the region soon." The Palestinian Authority, created about 30 years ago as part of the interim Oslo peace accords, has been undermined by accusations of ineffectiveness and the prime minister holding little effective power. Shtayyeh's resignation marks a symbolic shift that underlines President Mahmoud Abbas' desire to ensure the Authority maintains its claim to leadership as international pressure grows for a revival of efforts to create a Palestinian state. Maliki, who was speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, said the government's resignation had been designed to prevent international partners from saying the Authority was not collaborating. "We want to show our readiness... to engage and to be ready, just to not to be seen as an obstacle between the implementation of any process that should take further," he said. Maliki also accused the United Nations Security Council of "failing" the Palestinian people in its inability to agree on a ceasefire, echoing comments by U.N. chief Antonio Guterres who said the body's authority had "perhaps fatally" been undermined by its lack of unity on the issue."Now in Gaza, it seems that the ceasefire is a farfetched objective to be attained," Maliki said. "As a result, we see people dying."
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Financial flows to Russia are drying up as global banks fear losing access to the US dollar, Treasury official says
Filip De Mott/Business Insider/February 28, 2024
The deputy treasury secretary, Wally Adeyemo, says the threat of secondary sanctions is working. Finance flows to Russia have withered as global institutions don't want to lose dollar access. That has impacted countries such as Turkey, China, and the United Arab Emirates. The threat of secondary sanctions on financial institutions that help Russia bypass its own restrictions is proving effective, the US deputy treasury secretary, Wally Adeyemo, has told Reuters. Data cited by the Treasury shows financial flows between Russia and several countries, such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, have meaningfully decreased. That's after an executive order was signed last December, giving the US leeway to sanction non-Russian institutions that facilitate restricted transactions with Moscow or are tied to the country's military industry. "We are sending an unmistakable message: Anyone supporting Russia's unlawful war effort is at risk of losing access to the US financial system," the national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, then said about the order. Adeyemo said at-risk institutions had since turned more cautious, and some had shown concern about losing access to the US dollar. The currency accounts for nearly half of global financial transactions. "From their CEOs on down, they started requesting meetings with us to say, 'What can we do to make sure that we keep access to the dollar,'" he told Reuters, adding that large banks were also part of the discussion: "Because ultimately for them, even though they may do some business with Russia, it pales in comparison to the amount of business they do with the United States or the business they do in the dollar." Last week, Reuters cited the December order for complicating payments between Turkey and Russia on energy-supply purchases as Turkish banks tighten compliance. Meanwhile, three of China's Big Four state banks have stopped accepting payments from Russian counterparts in fear of secondary sanctions. On Friday, Washington doubled down with a slew of new restrictions on Moscow, with the White House targeting 500 individuals and entities in countries including Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates. So far, no financial institution has been targeted based on the December order. Sergei Guriev, an economist, recently said that while the Kremlin had been successful in circumventing the worst impacts of Western sanctions with the help of bank intermediaries in other countries, it was paying to do so through intermediary fees.More pressure is set to come from the European Union as well after members have agreed to sanction firms in China and India over their ties to Moscow.

Ukraine's air force extends its kill streak to 10 Russian planes in 10 days
Mikhaila Friel/Business Insider/February 28, 2024
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said it took down its 10th Russian fighter jet in 10 days.
A Su-34, one of Russia's best and most expensive jets, was destroyed on Tuesday.
Ukraine, however, is struggling with a lack of resources and diminishing support from its allies.
Ukraine announced on Tuesday that it had brought down its 10th Russian fighter jet in as many days.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine wrote on X that it had shot down a Su-34 fighter bomber in the eastern direction. It didn't elaborate on the exact location or how it was shot down. "Oops, we did it again!" it wrote on X. "Another Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber was destroyed by Ukrainian warriors in the eastern direction. And now it's 10 destroyed Russian planes in 10 days!" it said. It also marks the fourth Su-34 to be shot down in a week after three were destroyed in southern Kherson Oblast on Friday afternoon. The Su-34th is considered one of Russia's best and most expensive jets. It's one of the few jets that can find and attack pop-up targets in a short space of time, Forbes reported in December, and each one is worth $36 million, according to the Kyiv Post. Ukraine's latest kill streak marks a loss for Russia that's "one of the worst so far" for the country's air force, writes David Axe, an aviation and defense reporter at Forbes. But it's far from going well for the contry. Ukraine is seeing crucial support from its allies dwindle. Meanwhile, its troops are experiencing shortages of personnel and ammunition. In a speech marking two years since Russia's invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed since the start of the war, Radio Free Europe reported on Sunday. "Whether Ukraine will lose, whether it will be very difficult for us, and whether there will be a large number of casualties depends on you, on our partners, on the Western world," Zelenskyy said. A $60bn aid package for Ukraine is currently stuck in a congressional stand-off. Zelenskyy this week told the US that Ukraine needs to be given that aid within a month. In a recent interview with Business Insider's Sinéad Baker, two Ukrainian soldiers urged its allies to continue supporting them and stressed that Europe could be next.
"They need to understand that Ukrainians fight not only for themselves," Artem, part of Ukraine's national guard, said. "I am a Ukrainian, this is my land and my young daughter is waiting for me," he added. "I don't want this horrible life for her."Another soldier, with the call sign Local, told Baker that "it's very important to help Ukraine and support Ukraine because Ukraine is like a first step to Europe. The second step will be Poland."

Germany hosts the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan for peace talks
BERLIN (AP)/February 28, 2024
Germany sought to move forward talks on a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday, welcoming the two countries' foreign ministers to Berlin.German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock hosted her counterparts, Armenia's Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan's Jeyhun Bayramov, at a secluded government villa for what was billed as two days of talks. The latest talks followed a meeting on Feb. 17 between German Chancellor OIaf Scholz, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Scholz underlined Germany's willingness to help conclude peace talks, along with that of European Council President Charles Michel. “We believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan now have an opportunity to achieve an enduring peace after years of painful conflict,” Baerbock, who visited both countries in November, said ahead of a three-way meeting. "What we’re seeing now are courageous steps by both countries to put the past behind and to work toward a durable peace for their people."Armenia and Azerbaijan have a long history of land disputes. The most recent border skirmish left at least four Armenian soldiers dead earlier in mid-February. Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign last year to reclaim the Karabakh region, which Armenian separatists had ruled for three decades. The region, which was known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh, and large swaths of surrounding territory came under full control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia at the end of a separatist war in 1994. Azerbaijan regained parts of Karabakh and most of the surrounding territory in a six-week war in 2020 that ended with a Russian-brokered truce. In December 2022, Azerbaijan started blockading the road linking the region with Armenia, causing food and fuel shortages. It then launched a blitz in September 2023 that routed the separatist forces in one day and forced them to lay down arms. More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region, leaving it nearly deserted. With political momentum from the successful military operation, Aliyev won another term in a snap election on Feb. 7. Armenia and Azerbaijan have pledged to work toward signing a peace treaty, but no visible progress has been made, and tensions have continued to soar amid mutual distrust. "Direct dialog like today and tomorrow is the best way to make further progress," Baerbock said.

Many in Iran are frustrated over unrest, poor economy
AP/February 28, 2024
DUBAI: Iran is holding parliamentary elections this Friday, yet the real question may not be who gets elected but how many people actually turn out to vote. Widespread discontent over the cratering economy, years of mass protests rocking the country, and tensions with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program and Iran’s support for Russia in its war on Ukraine have many people quietly saying they won’t vote in this election. Officials have urged people to cast ballots but tellingly, no information has been released this year from the state-owned polling center ISPA about expected turnout — a constant feature of past elections. Of 21 Iranians interviewed recently by The Associated Press, only five said they would vote. Thirteen said they won’t and three said they were undecided. “If I protest about some shortcoming, many police and security agents will try to stop me,” said Amin, a 21-year-old university student who gave only his first name for fear of reprisals. “But if I die from hunger on the corner of one of the main streets, they will show no reaction.”Over 15,000 candidates are vying for a seat in the 290-member parliament, formally known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Terms run for four years and five seats are reserved for Iran’s religious minorities. Under the law, the parliament has oversight over the executive branch, votes on treaties and handles other issues. In practice, absolute power in Iran rests with its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Hard-liners have controlled the parliament for the past two decades — with chants of “Death to America” often heard from the floor. Under parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard general who supported a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999, the legislature pushed forward a bill in 2020 that greatly curtailed Tehran’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. That followed then-President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of America from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 — an act that sparked years of tensions in the Middle East and saw Iran enrich enough uranium at record-breaking purity to have enough fuel for “several” nuclear weapons if it chose.More recently, the parliament has focused on issues surrounding Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, for women after the 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, which sparked nationwide protests. The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. A subsequent security crackdown killed over 500 people, with more than 22,000 detained. Calls for an election boycott have spread in recent weeks, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a women’s right activist, who called them a “sham.”“The Islamic Republic, with its ruthless and brutal suppression, the killing of young people on the streets, the executions and the imprisonment and torture of men and women, deserves national sanctions and global disgrace,” Mohammadi said in a statement. The boycott calls have put the government under renewed pressure — since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s theocracy has based its legitimacy in part on turnout in elections. On Wednesday, Khamenei himself urged people to vote, describing it as a national duty. “There is no reasoning behind not voting,” he said. “It does not solve any problem of the country.”He also said “those who express a lack of interest in the election and encourage others not to participate should think some more.”“If the election is weak, all face harm,” he added. Though ISPA, the polling agency, conducted election surveys in October, its results have not been made public. Figures from politicians and other media outlets suggest a turnout of around 30 percent.
In the 2021 presidential election that brought hardliner Ebrahim Raisi to power, the turnout was 49 percent — the lowest on record for a presidential vote. Millions of ballots were declared void, likely from those who felt obligated to vote but did not want to cast a ballot. The 2019 parliament race saw a 42 percent turnout. Separately, Iranians will also vote on Friday for members of the country’s 88-seat Assembly of Experts, an eight-year term on a panel that will appoint the country’s next supreme leader after Khamenei, 84. Barred from that race is former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate under whose term Iran struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Some said Iran’s economic woes were the reason they are staying away from the polls. Inflation is reportedly at around 50 percent, with unemployment around 20 percent for young Iranians. “I will not vote,” said Hashem Amani, a 55-year-old fruit merchant in southern Tehran. “In 2021, I voted for Raisi to become president in hope that similar people in the government can work together and make a better life for me. What I got in return was rocketing prices for everything.”

Many in Iran are frustrated by unrest and poor economy. Parliament elections could see a low turnout
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/February 28, 2024
Iran is holding parliamentary elections this Friday, yet the real question may not be who gets elected but how many people actually turn out to vote. Widespread discontent over the cratering economy, years of mass protests rocking the country, and tensions with the West over Tehran's nuclear program and Iran's support for Russia in its war on Ukraine have many people quietly saying they won't vote in this election. Officials have urged people to cast ballots but tellingly, no information has been released this year from the state-owned polling center ISPA about expected turnout — a constant feature of past elections. Of 21 Iranians interviewed recently by The Associated Press, only five said they would vote. Thirteen said they won't and three said they were undecided. “If I protest about some shortcoming, many police and security agents will try to stop me," said Amin, a 21-year-old university student who gave only his first name for fear of reprisals. "But if I die from hunger on the corner of one of the main streets, they will show no reaction.”Over 15,000 candidates are vying for a seat in the 290-member parliament, formally known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Terms runs for four years and five seats are reserved for Iran's religious minorities. Under the law, the parliament has oversight over the executive branch, votes on treaties and handles other issues. In practice, absolute power in Iran rests with its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Hard-liners have controlled the parliament for the past two decades — with chants of “Death to America” often heard from the floor. Under parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard general who supported a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999, the legislature pushed forward a bill in 2020 that greatly curtailed Tehran's cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That followed then-President Donald Trump's unilateral withdrawal of America from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 — an act that sparked years of tensions in the Middle East and saw Iran enrich enough uranium at record-breaking purity to have enough fuel for “several" nuclear weapons if it chose.More recently, the parliament has focused on issues surrounding Iran's mandatory headscarf, or hijab, for women after the 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, which sparked nationwide protests.
The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. A subsequent security crackdown killed over 500 people, with more than 22,000 detained. Calls for an election boycott have spread in recent weeks, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a women's right activist, who called them a “sham.” “The Islamic Republic, with its ruthless and brutal suppression, the killing of young people on the streets, the executions and the imprisonment and torture of men and women, deserves national sanctions and global disgrace,” Mohammadi said in a statement.
The boycott calls have put the government under renewed pressure — since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s theocracy has based its legitimacy in part on turnout in elections. On Wednesday, Khamenei himself urged people to vote, describing it as a national duty. “There is no reasoning behind not voting,” he said. "It does not solve any problem of the country.”He also said “those who express a lack of interest in the election and encourage others not to participate should think some more."
“If the election is weak, all face harm," he added. Though ISPA, the polling agency, conducted election surveys in October, its results have not been made public. Figures from politicians and other media outlets suggest a turnout of around 30%.
In the 2021 presidential election that brought hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi to power, the turnout was 49% — the lowest on record for a presidential vote. Millions of ballots were declared void, likely from those who felt obligated to vote but did not want to cast a ballot. The 2019 parliament race saw a 42% turnout.
Separately, Iranians will also vote on Friday for members of the country's 88-seat Assembly of Experts, an eight-year term on a panel that will appoint the country's next supreme leader after Khamenei, 84. Barred from that race is former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate under whose term Iran struck the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Some who spoke to the AP said Iran's economic woes were the reason they are staying away from the polls. Inflation is reportedly at around 50%, with unemployment around 20% for young Iranians. “I will not vote,” said Hashem Amani, a 55-year-old fruit merchant in southern Tehran. “In 2021, I voted for Raisi to become president in hope that similar people in the government can work together and make a better life for me. What I got in return was rocketing prices for everything.”Morteza, a 53-year-old taxi driver who gave just his first name fearing reprisals, also expressed disenchantment.“Why should I vote?" he asked. "I voted many times in the past yet I am paying for schooling of my three daughters. ... I am still a renter and continuously I keep moving to a poorer area.”Others, like 42-year-old Marzieh Moqaddam, insisted they would vote. She compared voting to a religious duty and insisted the country needs “to improve the Islamic culture, like the hijab.”However, Abbas Kazemi, a 32-year-old bank clerk, offered a far different reason why he is heading to the polls — protecting Iran's legislature from the influence of the hard-liners that have controlled it for decades.
“We have to keep the election alive, otherwise hard-liners will shut it down forever," he said.

Urgent UN Security Council action sought to end war in Sudan
REUTERS/February 29, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Wednesday pushed for the United Nations Security Council to take action to help end a nearly year-long conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The United States says the warring parties have committed war crimes and the RSF and allied militias have also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The UN says that nearly 25 million people — half Sudan’s population — need aid and some 8 million have fled their homes and hunger is rising. “It is clear that this is an urgent matter of peace and security that demands greater attention from the Security Council,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters in a statement. “The council must act urgently to alleviate human suffering, hold perpetrators to account, and bring the conflict in Sudan to an end. Time is running out,” she said, without specifying what action the 15-member council should take. Since war erupted on April 15, 2023, the council has only issued three press statements condemning and expressing concern about the war. It echoed that language in a resolution in December that shut down a UN political mission — following a request from Sudan’s acting foreign minister. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in one city alone in Sudan’s West Darfur region last year in ethnic violence by the RSF and allied Arab militia, according to a UN sanctions monitors report, seen by Reuters last month. “I am deeply disappointed that the allegations detailed in this report have received such little attention, both inside the UN Security Council and outside the United Nations,” said Thomas-Greenfield, who visited a refugee camp in Chad near the border with Sudan’s Darfur in September. The Sudanese government recently prohibited aid deliveries through Chad, effectively shutting down a crucial route for supplies to the vast Darfur region, which is controlled by the rival RSF. Thomas-Greenfield described the move as “unacceptable” for threatening a “critical lifeline.”Reuters last year chronicled the ethnically targeted violence committed in West Darfur. In hundreds of interviews with Reuters, survivors described horrific scenes of bloodletting in El Geneina and on the 30-km (18-mile) route from the city to the border with Chad as people fled.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 28-29/2024
Pakistani Imam Preaches Jew-Hate in Belgian Parliament
Drieu Godefridi/Gatestone Institute./February 28, 2024
Three months to the day after Hamas's bloodthirsty massacre of Jews, an Islamist preacher from Pakistan comes to the rostrum of the Brussels Regional Parliament, in the capital of the European Union, to chant verses from a sura celebrating the defeat, surrender and massacre of Jews and the enslavement of Jewish women and children. For his presentation, Butt was awarded a medal at the end of the same ceremony by Nawal Ben Hamou (PS), Secretary of State of the Brussels-Capital Region, who congratulated the Islamist preacher on the "quality of his integration" into Belgian society.
It is worth noting that this Islamist preacher of Jew-hate does not speak a word of French or Dutch, Belgium's two national languages. What a heart-warming story of "integration".
In a surreal scene revealed by Flemish anti-jihad researcher Peter Velle, on January 13, a Pakistani Islamist preacher came to the Brussels Regional Parliament in Belgium to chant verses from one of the most radical and anti-Semitic suras, Koran 33. The presentation provoked several reactions of indignation, particularly from the centre-right Mouvement Réformateur party (MR).
This sura, which contains 73 verses, was chanted by Pakistani imam Muhammad Ansar Butt. The sura refers to three significant events: the Battle of the Trench (or Al-Ahzab: Against the Clans/Coalition), which supposedly took place during the month of Shawwâl, in the year 5 A.H. (after hegira, the journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in year 622 A.D.); the attack on and subsequent massacre of the Jewish tribe of Banû Quraydhah, carried out in Dhul-Qi'dah, in the year 5 A.H.; and the Muhammad's marriage to Zaynab, celebrated in the same month of the same year.
The Koranic reference to "coalition" is meant the confederation of pagan Arabs, "hypocrites" -- people falsely claiming to be Muslims, without conviction -- and Jews. Generally speaking, this "coalition" ostensibly acts and fights against Islam under the leadership of the Jews, though historically it is usually the other way around. The tribe that dominates the narratives of this sura is that of the Jewish Banû Quraydhah. Even though not its exclusive focus, Sura 33 celebrates the massacre of the men of that tribe, and the enslavement of its women and children after their surrender to the Muslims.
The verses chanted by this Pakistani preacher from the perch of the Brussels Regional Parliament were taken from a sura whose main purpose is to celebrate the victory of the Muslims over the "coalition" and the massacre of the Jews. This is something of which the Islamist preacher, who presumably knows the Koran from memory, was presumably aware.
In other words, three months to the day after Hamas's bloodthirsty massacre of Jews, an Islamist preacher from Pakistan comes to the rostrum of the Brussels Regional Parliament, in the capital of the European Union, to chant verses from a sura celebrating the defeat, surrender and massacre of Jews and the enslavement of Jewish women and children. The blowback began when a video circulated on social media showing the imam chanting in the parliament. The event provoked several reactions of indignation.
In the video, Muhammad Ansar Butt, dressed in Taliban style, talks about Islamic victory over the "coalition" for three minutes without the slightest interruption. Given that Belgium is a country that practices the separation of religion and state, the scene, immediately made the rounds of the Belgian press.
To put it plainly, freedom of expression and opinion is the definition of democracy, and members of the Brussels Regional Parliament enjoy it to the full. The problem is that, in this case, a Pakistani preacher who has nothing to do with parliamentarians was given access to the parliamentary rostrum and jumped at the chance to chant a sura whose main purpose is to celebrate the massacre of Jews.
The president of the Brussels Regional Parliament, Rachid Madrane of the Parti Socialiste (PS), immediately reaffirmed the neutrality of public institutions, and stated that "Parliament is no temple to anything other than democracy". He said that he intended to remind Hasan Koyuncu (also PS), an MP of Turkish origin who was behind the Butt's invitation to chant in the parliament, along with other group leaders, in a letter. Madrane continued that he also plans to put the issue on the agenda for the next meeting of the Parliamentary Bureau and to propose that respect for neutrality be explicitly included in the Rules of Procedure. The MR party said it was shocked by what it saw as the intrusion of religion into the very heart of parliament and called for assembling a parliamentary committee. "We have been fighting for years for the neutrality of the State", said David Leisterh, chairman of the Brussels MR party. He called for a commission to be set up immediately to withdraw any decorations awarded to Butt for his integration into Belgian society; to clarify who had invited him and why; to determine whether the imam receives public subsidies; to review the list of those awarded decorations and to ensure that there is no contradiction with "our fundamental values".The incident sparked outrage from the political class, with calls for swift accountability. Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the MR party, condemned the left's use of sectarianism as an electoral weapon, while federal MP Darya Safai (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie party), who is of Iranian origin, expressed her concern about a "very dangerous development" in Belgian democracy. Unfortunately, these reactions remain superficial, to say the least. For his presentation, Butt was awarded a medal at the end of the same ceremony by Nawal Ben Hamou (PS), Secretary of State of the Brussels-Capital Region, who congratulated the Islamist preacher on the "quality of his integration" into Belgian society. It is worth noting that this Islamist preacher of Jew-hate does not speak a word of French or Dutch, Belgium's two national languages. What a heart-warming story of "integration".
**Drieu Godefridi is a jurist (University Saint-Louis, University of Louvain), philosopher (University Saint-Louis, University of Louvain) and PhD in legal theory (Paris IV-Sorbonne). He is an entrepreneur, CEO of a European private education group and director of PAN Medias Group. He is the author of The Green Reich (2020).
© 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/20437/imam-jew-hate-belgiam

Netanyahu’s Thinking
Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strategic plan for post-war Gaza did not break with expectations. Put briefly, the plan is essentially to impose Israeli military control over Gaza indefinitely and hand governance to the families and clans of the Strip, as well as figures with no ties to Hamas. The plan also includes the establishment of buffer zones along Gaza’s border with Israel and Egypt, and while he claims that these zones are needed for security reasons, the real objective, as had been feared, is killing any hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state that connects the West Bank and Gaza. Following the assault of Netanyahu and his allies in government on UNRWA, his plan calls for the dissolution of this UN agency that plays a pivotal role in providing aid to the residents of the Strip; in its place, he proposes an overhaul of Gaza's education and social welfare systems that roots out radical ideas and doctrines.
His approach points to a deep shift in the administrative dynamics of Gaza. It lays out a two-pronged framework, combining the imposition of absolute Israeli surveillance over the Strip to ensure security and the enhancement of some sort of local governance. Given the actions that realizing this strategy entails, however, it raises grave concerns regarding the well-being and safety of Palestinians. Accordingly, the negative reactions that his proposals have sparked should come as no surprise. Indeed, it angered the Palestinians, the region, and many around the world because it excluded all the foundations of the initiatives to reach a solution. The idea of continuing the military operations, with the aim of annihilating Hamas, throws international pleas for a ceasefire and negotiations against the wall. Talk of an Israeli-controlled buffer zone along Gaza's border with Egypt suggests that Egyptian-Israeli relations could deteriorate further, and the same is true for the political (and possibly security) situation in the Middle East as a whole. In addition, the specter of Israel’s military maintaining an indefinite presence in Gaza disregards the staunch Arab, European, and US opposition to an Israeli occupation of the Strip, and its forces would have no legitimacy or political project to stand on.
What, then, is Netanyahu thinking?
First and foremost, Netanyahu’s actions are dictated by his pursuit of political survival. Amid the flood of legal and political challenges he faces, keeping his political career alive requires draconian security policies that reinforce the support of his base.
The high bar Netanyahu has set appeals to the majority of the Israeli public, which is united in rejecting any initiative that entails the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state. The Israeli Prime Minister is a formidable political operator who has found great success in riding Israeli populist waves and adopting populist agendas, even with Israeli rejection and opposition to him at its peak. He is second to none at exploiting domestic dynamics to remain in power. This task can only be made easier by the fact that there is no serious opposition; nor has any party put forward a proposal that is fundamentally different from his own on core Israeli issues, which could have created an alternative to his project. Moreover, the plan sums up Netanyahu's mindset. His thinking is centered around safeguarding Israel's security, even when that creates friction with his country's regional and international allies. In fact, Netanyahu boasts that he is the only person in Israel capable of pushing back against pressure from Washington when its proposals undermine Israel's supreme interests. He has been incredibly intransigent in his unilateral positions, breaking with matters of international consensus whenever it does not align with his perception of Israel's interests, whether it relates to military operations in Gaza or the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. In Netanyahu's mind, security needs, political ideology, the historical narrative he believes in, and his personal interest are all intertwined, and these considerations push him to always present himself as a reliable leader adept at addressing security challenges and dealing with the pressures applied on his country. Nowhere is that more evident than in his announcement of his controversial plan, which comes at a time when Israel is nearly totally isolated internationally - as it is facing a wave of criticism from the United Nations and the International Court of Justice and its actions in Gaza are being condemned by a long list of countries. No one is better at playing on Israelis’ long-standing mistrust of international bodies and what is called the international community. The Israeli public’s wariness has been engendered by decades of feeling that their country is perceived by the "international community," especially with regard to how it addresses Palestinian issues. His stances are overwhelmingly supported by the nationalist right, which is highly sensitive to anything tied to Israeli sovereignty. Netanyahu's logic also appeals to the broader right, which is skeptical of the peace process, making it easier to maintain the support of the coalition he leads - a coalition that pushes him to adopt more cautious or hardline positions vis a vis the Palestinians. Netanyahu also depends on the political realism that underpins his country's relations with neighboring states and seems to play a more significant role in shaping the views of countries like Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, than it does other Arab states. While these countries have spared no effort to end the war, they also account for national considerations and do not wish to undermine their interests by taking their disputes with Israel too far. The political and economic considerations, developmental and technological partnerships, and national security interests of these countries do not allow for emotionally charged and rash escalation in their relationship with Israel. Nonetheless, these considerations do not grant Israel a free hand, and Netanyahu's strategy is not without serious challenges. Israel’s reliance on the stability of existing peace agreements or its assuredness that new countries will inevitably eventually make similar deals will be put in jeopardy if Israel continues to block any sensible solution to the Palestinian question. The broad global condemnation of the situation in Gaza, which has had an impact on American domestic politics, presents a new type of diplomatic challenge for Israel. Modern technology provides youths across the globe with mediums for expressing their opinion, and these youths tend to be more sympathetic to the Palestinians and more sensitive to the horrors of war in general. Also, these youths do not find the classic narratives that had created an aura of unconditional support for Israel as compelling as older generations. In light of all of this, Netanyahu stands on a knife's edge. He is caught between his pursuit of security in Israel’s surroundings and that of peace and normalization with the broader Arab region. The announcement of his post-war strategy for Gaza, with its many high-handed proposals and controversial elements, is a critical juncture not only for Israel and Netanyahu but also for the security and stability in the Middle East more generally.

Hamas Has Become “Hamases”
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 28/2024
There is now talk of the Palestinian cabinet reshuffle being part of the effort to prepare for its governance of Gaza following the war, which President Biden - while eating ice cream - said is nearing its end as negotiations for a ceasefire intensify.
Despite everything being reported in the media regarding figures associated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement, I honestly do not believe that Hamas will be ready to give up control of Gaza so easily, especially given the contradictory statements that different Hamas officials have given throughout the war.
Yesterday, our newspaper reported, based on conversations with two sources in Ramallah and Gaza, that the Palestinian government reshuffle came after a preliminary understanding was reached with Hamas. The sources suggested that Hamas does not want to continue governing the Gaza Strip after the war and that it is ready to accept a government of technocrats.
The newspaper also quoted an official in Ramallah as saying, "They (Hamas) can no longer govern Gaza, and they are well aware of that. They don't want (to govern it)." Despite all these statements, I say: "I don't believe them," not out of pessimism, but because Hamas has become "Hamases." Hamas is not a single entity anymore.
One Hamas is in the trenches in Gaza. It is led by Yahya Sinwar, with whom it is said that communication has been cut off. Another Hamas, led by Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh, is in Qatar. Osama Hamdan leads another in Lebanon, and others are in Türkiye, to say nothing about those in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
I am convinced that there are other hidden leaders. They will emerge later because they believe that now is not the right time to do so. They are hedging, waiting to see what will happen in Gaza and what will become of Sinwar and those around him, especially since many Hamas members are awaiting their share of the inheritance following the exit of Sinwar, a dead man walking.
Let us also not forget that there are followers of Iran, old and new, awaiting their opportunity. In addition, Tehran will not easily accept losing its front in Gaza, nor will Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Türkiye be pleased with losing this front, which they have long milked for populist ends.
When I say I don't believe that Hamas will easily hand over control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, I do not mean to imply that the movement is strong. I say that because it had always been divided over old and well-known disagreements with Sinwar. The war in Gaza has aggravated these divisions, not its weakness, as disruption is easier.
Accordingly, Hamas might yield to the storm, albeit rhetorically, but I doubt that it will easily be made to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority, especially after the recent back and forth between Hamas and the PA in the media, with both sides blaming and raising doubts about the other.
Hamas could be trying to quell the anger in Gaza now to ensure a ceasefire and that Israel withdraws from Gaza, and that the Strip can be rebuilt - neither is on the cards so long as Hamas remains in power.
Above all, Israel is not serious about a ceasefire. Indeed, Israeli sources told the American broadcast, ABC, that Netanyahu "was surprised by President Biden's announcement that a ceasefire in Gaza is imminent."
Moreover, Netanyahu is not taking serious positions. He seeks to extend his time in office, avoid prison, and may be waiting for an opportunity to open a front in Lebanon rather than agreements and solutions. This is the reality. It may be disappointing, but the facts will become clear in time.

Iran’s Difficult Choices
Michael Young//Carnegie/February 28/2024
As Tehran moves toward consolidating its regional power, will it agree to ultimately disarm its Arab allies? Can it afford not to?
February 28, 2024
Reports in recent weeks as the Gaza war continues indicate that Iran has asked its allies throughout the Middle East to pause their attacks against U.S. forces, fearing this could draw it into a conflict with the United States. The Iranians have been calculating in their approach to Gaza, showing the breadth of their influence through allies in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, while stopping short of provoking a regional conflagration that might implicate Iran and destroy its most valued assets.
The new regional order has shown that Iran cannot be circumvented. The United States has all but acknowledged this fact, whether under the Obama and Biden administrations, or under former president Donald Trump, who failed to retaliate for Iran’s targeting of Saudi oil facilities in September 2019. Trump’s admirers applauded him for pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal with Iran, but have maintained a stony silence since as Tehran has advanced its nuclear program. Nor were they anywhere to be found when the Iranians bombed the Saudi oil processing facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais, after which Trump could only meekly affirm that he sought “to avoid war” with Iran.
An idea former president Barack Obama promoted is coming to fruition. In an interview with the Atlantic in April 2016, Obama stated, “The competition between the Saudis and the Iranians—which has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen—requires us to say to our friends as well as to the Iranians that they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace.” The Chinese-sponsored reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran last year was the first sign that such an outcome was possible, and developments in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen have since confirmed this.
Yet for all the recognition of Iran’s growing regional sway, one thing is equally evident. Wherever the Iranians have asserted their power, the results have been catastrophic. Observers have described the pro-Iran network of regional political-military actors as an “axis of resistance,” but the reality is that everywhere it is primarily an axis of ruin. Syria and Yemen are devastated; Iraq is dominated by pro-Iran militias that have prevented the emergence of a functional state and undermined elections; in Lebanon Hezbollah has protected a political class that brought on an economic collapse while derailing economic reforms; and in Gaza, Iran’s allies have caused a war that has ravaged the territory. Wherever Arabs look, the Iranian model has bolstered Iran’s power but left Arab societies in misery.
That has to change if Iran seeks to consolidate itself in the region. Other than in Iraq, the Iranian strategy of backing cohesive, armed minorities (numerical or sectarian) against divided majorities has been highly effective, but it does not represent a sustainable long-term project. For example, in Syria and Lebanon it is plain to Iran and its allies that both countries will not be revived without considerable assistance from the predominantly Sunni Gulf Arab countries—until not so long ago Tehran’s main regional rivals. The horrific levels of damage and suffering in Gaza are such that it has probably been neutralized as an Iranian pressure point on Israel. This lends credence to the view that while Iran may have helped prepare the attack of October 7, 2023, it had not signed off on the timing.
There are signs that Iran is aware of the shortcomings of its approach, the most notable one being the agreement with Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the Iranians have also reached the outer limits of their influence, so that more conflict is not necessarily in their interest. There is little more to gain now that they are playing a leading role in Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni, Iraqi, and Palestinian affairs. If anything, unless they consolidate their power by allowing these societies to stabilize and progress, it is more than probable that their authority will erode.
Yet built into Iranian power structures in the region is an inherent tension. What allows Iran’s allies to remain in dominant positions at home is their weaponry. Even as Iran may be willing to compromise with other countries to revitalize places such as Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Palestine, their tendency will be to maintain affiliated armed groups in place to guarantee Iranian clout. In the pluralistic, often multisectarian, societies of the Arab world, this implied threat will only generate growing resentment of Iran’s allies, complicating its consolidation process.
In light of this, what can the Iranians do? If they gradually move away from their militia allies in favor of state-to-state relations with the Arab countries in which they have a say, they risk seeing their power fray. As unwelcome as this may be, it is the only real option that Iran has. The Iranians have the money and cultural baggage to compensate with soft power, while perhaps realizing that by failing to disarm their allies in the end, the states in which they are active will remain dysfunctional, causing a negative backlash against Tehran.
Whichever path Iran chooses, we are already in the process of seeing some significant shift on its part. The Iranians’ choices in the region will likely follow from domestic dynamics, but will also be tied to Tehran’s external relationships. China’s influence in particular will be decisive, since Beijing has become a factor of stability in a region in which it has major economic stakes. As the Chinese seek more secure access to the region’s hydrocarbons and advance their Belt and Road Initiative, Iran may well have to accommodate them. This, in turn, could affect the activities of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for which instability has often created valuable openings to enhance Iran’s reach.
However, without a clear sense of institutional dynamics inside Iran, it is difficult to predict what the eventual outcome will be. Iran is at an essential moment in its decades-long effort to move to center stage in the Middle East, but it also faces mistrust and resentment in many Arab societies. How it addresses this situation and the conflicting demands of power will define the region in the coming years.
**Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

Noxious Narratives: Algerian Anti-Moroccan Propaganda
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/February 28/2024
Man is, by nature, a story-telling animal. We live and die by narratives, the stories we tell about the world and ourselves. Religion, love, family, the nation – all are sustained and nurtured by these narratives. And stories can be beautiful or terrible, or both.
While the West had and still has its narratives, Western Man seems supremely confused these days about who or what he is (or even if he is really a he), about his past or his future. The "rules-based international order" does not sound very stirring. Elsewhere, states are clearer and grander in their imagery. Egypt under President Al-Sisi has sought to highlight the country's ancient pre-Islamic history as a unifying force. Iranian dissidents against the Mullah regime hold up Cyrus the Great as a great model. In other states, the narrative can be toxic. Certainly, Jihadist and Islamist narratives are often deadly. Both Russia and China dream of empire as does Erdoğan's Turkey. Azerbaijan's dictatorship indoctrinates its people on hatred of Armenians while Iran is the world leader in promoting antisemitism.
In North Africa, both Morocco and Algeria are states with regional ambitions and with longstanding enmity. That enmity between the two neighbors goes back decades.[1] While Morocco leans toward the West, Algeria is an ally of Russia and Iran. This rivalry extends to every field of competition between the two states.
This article examines how Algeria projects its worldview, particularly against Morocco and in Arabic, on social media. Although the Algerian Constitution guarantees press freedom, such freedoms have been increasingly curtailed inside Algeria after pro-democracy protests wracked the country. The last independent news outlet inside the country was shut down in December 2022.[2] And since then the authorities have further tightened restrictions on the media.[3]
But while there may be many taboo subjects in Algeria, trolling and trash-talking about Morocco while highlighting dreams of regional glory and military prowess is definitely allowed and encouraged.
In addition to the major regime or pro-regime media outlets, a fascinating development in the world of Algerian propaganda is the rise of seemingly amateur (or amateurish) YouTube channels, social media influencers, promoting along parallel lines of effort, the broad outlines of Algerian foreign policy – anti-Moroccan especially, but also anti-Israel and anti-French.
A typical example is the banner that graces the beginning of this article, featuring both the images of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and former Algerian strongman Houari Boumédiène. The image belongs to the Algerian ibendawla ("Son of the Algerian State") "political and sports news" YouTube channel. Ibendawla has 955,000 subscribers and more than 1,200 videos and has been in operation since January 2021.[4] The mixture of politics and sports is a common one among these propaganda channels. Some of these channels have a bit of politics mixed in with a lot of sports, Ibendawla goes the other way with a lot of politics mixed in with just a bit of sports.
Even after the earthquake that struck Morocco, the channel focused on stories that portrayed the Moroccan government in a negative light, making wild claims about corruption from the Moroccan authorities, including the military.[5] The informal, conversational tone is vulgar, mocking, with running commentary dripping with sarcasm. Some recent videos were titled "Morocco Out Of Service," "Leader Expels Zionists [bringing emergency aid] from Morocco," while another mocked the quality of French aid sent to Morocco.[6] According to YouTube, the 1,200 videos on the channel have more than 280 million views.
"Algeria Here," a YouTube channel by MUSTAFA08 is smaller (121,000 subscribers and 153 videos) and overwhelmingly focuses on actual sports videos. But even here amidst all the football coverage, you have videos praising Algeria's acquisition of Russian-made SU-35 and SU-57 fighter jets.[7]
A larger Algerian propaganda channel on YouTube is Algeria Tech (@AlgeriaTECHDZ) with 320,000 subscribers and almost 900 videos since November 2013.[8] Strongly nationalistic, pro-Russian and anti-Israel, the channel boasts of the "failure" of the United States to impose Russia-focused sanctions on Algeria, despite pressure from Israel and Morocco, due to the "weight" and strength of the Algerian state.[9] In all of these channels, the serious jostles with the jocular and juvenile, with the clear sense that they are aimed at a mostly younger and male demographic.
Sometimes the channels may look and act more like professional news outlets but still state their goal openly, it is "the defense of Algeria," as @elwaqui3_news ("Reality News") proudly proclaims on YouTube to its 260,000 subscribers. This news channel, in existence since December 2020, has over 2,800 videos and almost 156 million views.[10] Popular playlists are about the Algerian Army, Algerian diplomacy, "Algeria and France," and "Algeria and the Arab League." Recent videos attacked the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and France in addition to Morocco. Also mocked was Joe Biden, who Algeria's President reportedly refused to meet at the UN General Assembly.[11] The channel also ridiculed the loss of an American F-35 fighter over South Carolina as an embarrassment for Morocco "which was sold this plane by Biden to compete with Algeria's Russian Sukhoi-35."[12]
While "Reality News" acts as a traditional, legacy news outlet, a more populist, cruder, and youthful approach seems to be even more appealing. MEDIA dz (@mediadzoff) on YouTube has over 1.13 million subscribers and over 3,300 videos since September 2017. Since that time, its videos have more than 243 million views. The content on MEDIA dz is similar to that of the others – Algerian nationalism, glorification of the military and the ruler, criticism of the unfriendly actions of dubious countries (these include France, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the UAE), and unremitting attacks on Morocco. As with other channels, Morocco is often not referred to by its proper Arabic name Al-Maghreb (which can also mean North Africa as a region) but is referred to as Al-Maroc or as the English Morocco but written in Arabic letters.[13] MEDIA dz is "news" for the very online, TikTok generation (and MEDIA dz, not surprisingly, seems to have a TikTok channel)[14] with a short attention span and a voracious appetite for sensationalistic content.
While the content of these channels deals with serious issues, the style and graphics are decidedly not, bold colors and unflattering photos (of the "villains" in the narrative) predominate, giving them an almost comic book, graphic novel quality. The Moroccan King is almost always portrayed in as negative and mocking a way as possible.
While these Algerian channels obsess about Morocco and Algeria's other supposed adversaries, it is clear that the main audience for this content is likely not Moroccans at all but the Algerian people themselves, especially its youthful population. Thirty percent of the country's population is under 25, with relatively high levels of youth unemployment and underemployment. The Algerian energy windfall as a result of the 2022 Ukraine War has not only enabled it to buy more Russian weapons but to even subsidize unemployed workers, but the unemployed still have a lot of time on their hands.[15]
These outlets provide a crucial service to the Algerian state – preparing the masses for war or beguiling them to fabricated political fantasies with a steady diet of relatively inexpensive propaganda aimed at indoctrinating one's own population, distracting them with foreign threats, with a heady, constant mixture of Pavlovian outrage and hysteria.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI
[1] See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 520, Always Approaching, Never Arriving: 'War' Between Algeria And Morocco, September 7, 2023.
[2] Timep.org/2023/04/10/algeria-and-the-state-of-freedom-of-expression, April 10, 2023.
[3] Reuters.com/world/africa/algerian-parliament-approves-new-law-that-tightens-control-over-media-2023-04-13, April 13, 2023.
[4] Youtube.com/@ibendawla/about, accessed February 28, 2024.
[5] Youtube.com/watch?v=DHqqoRPZI5o, September 13, 2023.
[6] Youtube.com/watch?v=F_4Yw450FEQ, September 17, 2023.
[7] Youtube.com/watch?v=Mh6cIA6k380&t=64s, July 29, 2022.
[8] Youtube.com/@AlgeriaTECHDZ/about, accessed February 28, 2024.
[9] Youtube.com/watch?v=d5gJIwpni6A
[10] Youtube.com/@elwaqui3_news/about, accessed February 28, 2024.
[11] Youtube.com/watch?v=IxLTA9ZuLO8, September 16, 2023.
[12] Youtube.com/watch?v=cpajOI6aq4I, September 19, 2023.
[13] Youtube.com/watch?v=DMZhn1-NIjo
[14] Tiktok.com/@tahia.algeria?lang=en
[15] Bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-28/algeria-one-of-africa-s-first-to-pay-jobless-as-oil-income-soars#xj4y7vzkg, March 28, 2022.
https://www.memri.org/reports/noxious-narratives-algerian-anti-moroccan-propaganda-0

Is a New Armenian Genocide on the Horizon?
Raymond Ibrahim/February 28/2024
Turkic genocidal bloodlust against its ancient victim, Armenia, is on the verge of flaring out again, though the world fails to see.
On Feb. 13, 2024, Azerbaijan opened fire on and killed four Armenian soldiers in bordering Syunik, Armenia. Two days later, on Feb. 15, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that Azerbaijan is planning a “full-scale war” on Armenia.
Such a war would certainly be in keeping with Azerbaijan’s behavior in recent months and years.
Modern day hostilities between Armenia, an ancient nation and the first to adopt Christianity, and Azerbaijan, a Muslim nation that was created in 1918, began in September 2020, when Azerbaijan launched a war to claim Artsakh, more commonly known as Nagorno-Karabakh. Although it had been Armenian for over two thousand years, and 90% of its inhabitants were Armenian, after the dissolution of the USSR, the “border makers” had granted it to Azerbaijan, hence the constant warring over this region. (See “15 Artsakh War Myths Perpetuated By Mainstream Media.”)
Once the September 2020 war began, Turkey quickly joined its Azerbaijani co-religionists against Armenia, though the dispute clearly did not concern it. It dispatched sharia-enforcing “jihadist groups” from Syria and Libya—including the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Division, which once kept naked women chained and imprisoned—to terrorize and slaughter the Armenians.
One of these captured mercenaries later confessed that he was “promised a monthly $2,000 payment for fighting against ‘kafirs’ in Artsakh, and an extra 100 dollars for each beheaded kafir.” (Kafir, often translated as “infidel,” is Arabic for any non-Muslim who fails to submit to Islam, which makes them de facto enemies.)
Among other ISIS-like crimes committed by the Islamic coalition of mercenaries, Turks, and Azerbaijanis that waged war on Armenia in late 2020, they “tortured beyond recognition” an intellectually disabled Armenian woman by sadistically hacking off her ears, hands, and feet, before finally executing her.
Similarly, video footage showed camouflaged soldiers overpowering and forcing down an elderly Armenian man, who cries and implores them for mercy, as they casually try to carve at his throat with a knife. Azerbaijani soldiers also raped an Armenian female soldier and mother-of-three, before hacking off all four of her limbs, gouging her eyes, and mockingly sticking one of her severed fingers inside her private parts.
Such unbridled sadism is par for the course, said Arman Tatoyan, an Armenian human rights activist:
The President of Azerbaijan and the country’s authorities have been implementing a policy of hatred, enmity, ethnic cleansing and genocide against Armenia, citizens of Armenia and the Armenian people for years. The Turkish authorities have done the same or have openly encouraged the same policy.
At any rate, the war ended in November 2020, with Azerbaijan claiming a significant portion of Artsakh.
Almost immediately, and as if to underscore the religious aspect of the conflict, Muslim Azerbaijan began to systematically erase Artsakh’s ancient Christian heritage—destroying churches, crosses, Christian cemeteries, and other cultural landmarks. In one instance, an Azerbaijani stood atop an Armenian church, after its cross had been broken off, triumphantly crying “Allahu Akbar!”
Then, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan sealed off the Lachin Corridor—the only route between Artsakh and the outside world, prompting a months’ long humanitarian crisis.
On August 7, 2023, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, summarized the then situation well:
There is an ongoing Genocide against 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh.
The blockade of the Lachin Corridor by the Azerbaijani security forces impeding access to any food, medical supplies, and other essentials should be considered a Genocide under Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention: ‘Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.’
There are no crematories, and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.
This, of course, was not the first time that Turks starved Armenians to death (as a picture of a Turkish administrator taunting emaciated Armenian children with a piece of bread in 1915 makes clear).
Similarly, after going on a fact-finding mission to Armenia, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback referred to the blockade as the latest attempt at “religious cleansing” of Christian Armenia:
Azerbaijan, with Turkey’s backing, is really slowly strangling Nagorno-Karabakh. They’re working to make it unlivable so that the region’s Armenian-Christian population is forced to leave, that’s what’s happening on the ground.
In his testimony, Brownback said that this latest genocide was being “perpetrated with U.S.-supplied weaponry and backed by Turkey, a member of NATO.” If the U.S. does not act, “we will see again another ancient Christian population forced out of its homeland.”
And so we did: on Sept. 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched another large scale military offensive against Artsakh, prompting an exodus of its beleaguered and emaciated Armenians.
Then, on Jan.1, 2024, the Armenian Republic of Artsakh was formally dissolved.
Despite Azerbaijan’s total victory—which some international observers thought might put an end to hostilities between the two nations—six weeks later, an ever-expanding Azerbaijan opened fire on Armenia proper, killing the aforementioned four soldiers last week.
“Our analysis shows that Azerbaijan wants to launch military action in some parts of the border with the prospect of turning military escalation into a full-scale war against Armenia,” said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a government meeting last week. “This intention can be read in all statements and actions of Azerbaijan.”
The Armenian government is rightfully concerned that Azerbaijan, emboldened by its unimpeded successes, is preparing to invade more Armenian territory.
As should be clear by now, no amount of appeasement short of total capitulation will seemingly ever satisfy Armenia’s powerful Muslim neighbors, namely Azerbaijan and its “big brother,” Turkey.
Appropriating Artsakh appears to be only the first step of a larger project. As Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, once proclaimed, “Yerevan [the capital of Armenia] is our historical land and we Azerbaijanis must return to these historical lands.” He has also referred to other ancient Armenian territories, including the Zangezur and Lake Sevan regions, as “our historic lands.” Taking over those territories “is our political and strategic goal,” Aliyev maintains, “and we need to work step-by-step to get closer to it.”
Back in the real world, Armenians founded Yereyan, their current capital, in 782 BC—exactly 2,700 years before Azerbaijan came into being in 1918. And yet, here is the president of Azerbaijan waging war because “Yerevan is our historical land and we Azerbaijanis must return to these historical lands.”
Armenia was also significantly larger, encompassing even modern day Azerbaijan within its borders, over two thousand years ago. Then the Turkic peoples came riding in from the east, slaughtering, enslaving, terrorizing and stealing the lands of Armenians and other Christians of the region in the name of jihad (as discussed here).
As Longtime Armenian-activist, Lucine Kasbarian, author of Armenia: A Rugged Land, an Enduring People, put it,
Dictator Ilham Aliyev’s belligerent stance towards Armenia is in keeping with Azerbaijan’s long “war of aggression” towards Armenia and its people. Aliyev’s agenda is to conquer what is left of sovereign Armenia all while claiming to be the victim rather than the victimizer. The Aliyev regime even goes so far as to refer to Armenia as “Western Azerbaijan,” even though Armenia has existed on ancient maps for thousands of years while Azerbaijan was first created in 1918.
In short, all modern day pretexts and “territorial disputes” aside, true and permanent peace between Armenia and its Turkic neighbors will only be achieved when the Christian nation has either been conquered or ceded itself into nonexistence.
Nor would it be the first to do so. It is worth recalling that the heart of what is today called “the Muslim world”—the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)—was thoroughly Christian before the sword of Islam invaded. Bit by bit, century after century following the initial Muslim conquests and occupations, it lost its Christian identity, its peoples lost in the morass of Islam, so that few today even remember that Egypt, Iraq, Syria, etc., were among the first and oldest Christian nations.
Armenia—the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity—is a holdout, a thorn in Islam’s side, and, as such, will never know lasting peace from the Muslims surrounding it.
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2024/02/28/is-a-new-armenian-genocide-on-the-horizon/

شارل الياس شرتوني/ما هي احتمالات انتهاء الحرب؟
What Are the Prospects of War Ending?
Charles Elias Chartouni/This Is Beirut Site/February 28/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127441/127441/
Aside from wishful thinking and peaceful yearnings, we have not seen, so far, concrete proposals on how to put an end to the ongoing cycles of violence and move to another stage of discursive conflict resolution. While reviewing the various proposals, we observe that very few of them have come up with working solutions that are likely to draw the support of moderates and defeat extremists on both sides. The unconditional truce and ceasefire scenarios have failed to address the issues at stake, or they are deliberately blind to the strategic and security concerns that underpin conflict dynamics.
Any peace strategy is doomed to fail if it overlooks the pending contentions and grievances on both sides or blames the resurgence of violence on one side. The South African lawsuit before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is typical of politicized justice based on selective incrimination, distortion and denial of facts, and political score-settling. The incrimination proceeds on the very basis of distorted facts, sublated issues, and overlapping political agendas. The subjunctive recommendations of the International Court of Justice (January 26, 2024) reflect the ambiguities of the military conflict, the prudential nature of the rules of engagement, and the need to prevent war crimes and abide by the Geneva Convention rulings (1949). The South African lawsuit fails to offer a balanced assessment of the war and pinpoint the shared responsibility in the ongoing cycles of violence and the excruciating travails of civilians in Gaza.
The reconstruction of facts should be based on real and contextually circumscribed events, away from ideological projections. The political and legal agendas are constrained by ideological blinders, which add to the inherent difficulties of the conflict. There is compelling evidence around which revolves the whole political and legal plot: the pogrom of the 7th of October, 2023, is a deliberate act of war carefully planned, executed, and overtly assumed by Hamas and its partners. If we fail, intentionally or unintentionally, to establish the connection between the massacre and the dynamics of violence it unleashed, the whole legal case bungles and adds to the recurrent failed arbitrations.
The Israeli act of war is a response to Hamas’ act of war and not an arbitrary act of violence on its part. By and large, all those who blame Israel unilaterally proceed with their accusation based on ideological prejudices, historical telescoping, and political calculations that do not necessarily relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The basic legal and conflict resolution premises should be strictly defined if we were to move ahead in this direction. Otherwise, the war in Gaza was initially prompted by Hamas and invited Israel’s invasion, 17 years after its withdrawal. The Hamas leadership, its associates, and Iranian mentors were fully cognizant of its lethality, nihilistic framing, highly destructive effects, and disastrous humanitarian and ecological consequences, and still, they did it and confessed it publicly, with no remorse or critical hindsight. It is manifestly an intentional sin by the commission acted out at the crossroads between multiple agendas: inter-Palestinian rivalries, Iranian regional power games, Russian and Turkish strategic angling, and the rising equations of the new Cold War.
The tragic fallouts of the Gaza war ascribe to the sabotaging of the US-Saudi negotiations, the looming normalization it portended, the nihilistic turn taken by Palestinian politics, the inability to put an end to continuous civil wars and subversion politics (Gaza, West Bank, Palestinian camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt…), build a consensual platform, extract themselves from rotating dependencies, and engage in international mediations.
The instrumentalization of the Gaza urban landscape and its transformation into a military platform through the labyrinthine system of subterranean tunnels (500 km, 361 miles), the human shield strategy, and the harnessing of civil infrastructure for military purposes (hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, UNRWA facilities…) were not benign choices. Hamas and acolytes were dismissive of the security and welfare of the civilian population and brought about this catastrophe.
It is not a mere faulty calculation; it is ideological arrogance and self-righteousness, arbitrary power, and wrongful decision-making. The civilian population in Gaza was never consulted on this issue but had to take the brunt of its ravaging consequences.
As for the Israeli side, it’s quite understandable to expect a counter-act of war that was deliberately sought by the Hamas leadership. How would the Hamas leadership and its associates engage in such a military venture and overlook its human and ecological costs? The drama lies in the setting chosen for this war, and the disasters are in line with the criminal decision-making behind this reckless undertaking. The setting is an overcrowded urban landscape (2,000,000 people living in 356 square kilometers, 221 miles), and the magnitude of the military operations and their devastating consequences were corollaries of the terrorist act in South Israel and the outcomes of a total war declaration.
The Israeli retaliation was a combination of a war of revenge, total war stratagems, just war rules, and strategic repositioning. Israel demonstrated its unwillingness to coexist with terrorism on its northern and southern borders and unveiled the existential concerns featured in this pogrom. In addition, this war highlighted the inconsistencies of the Netanyahu policies: the relegation of the Palestinian dossier within the Abraham accords and their sequels, the endorsement of the messianic and ultranationalist right colonizing and predatory mindset, and the weakening of the questionable Palestinian Authority while catering to Hamas in a joint venture with Qatar, which altogether account for the security failures last October in southern Israel.
The humanitarian tragedies in Gaza are the result of a criminal act of war and the consequences it triggered all along. The cessation of hostilities is unlikely to take place unless Israel wins the war and destroys the operational platforms of Hamas, or Hamas concedes defeat and disengages Gaza, as did the PLO in Beirut in 1982, and the United Nations umpires transitional governance in common understanding with Israel and the Palestinian national authority.
The end of the Gaza episode should usher in a new era whereby Palestinians and Israelis resume their negotiations over mutual acknowledgment, dual statehood, strategic security, and economic cooperation. Reaching this stage requires the containment of extremism on both sides and the revival of a whole endowment of negotiations, international resolutions, and relationships between the two people that extend over a century.
The Oslo Accords should be revived and readjusted to the new realities. Israel has to reconsider the issues of statehood, strategic security, and economic integration and put an end to the settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinians have to regain their moral and national autonomy, break away from their alienating dependencies, and overcome their state of denial and waffling whenever it comes to the acknowledgment of Israel’s right to exist as an independent state. The unilateral withdrawal of Israel from Gaza is a non-sequitur and a political nonstarter. The resumption of negotiations is mandatory if this conflict is to end after a hundred years of shifting fortunes and misfortunes.
https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/230120