Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 05-06/2024
US, France call to 'avoid escalation in Lebanon and Iran'
Lebanon to ask Hochstein to press Israel to keep war ‘within 7km from border’
German FM to visit Beirut to discuss 'extremely volatile situation'
EU's Borrell in Beirut to discuss regional tensions with Lebanese leaders
Berri says Hamas only lost 10% of its capabilities
Border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon
Mikati meets Aram I, day ahead of Armenian Christmas
Israeli warplanes strike south ahead of Nasrallah speech
Nasrallah: Response to Dahieh attack will come, talks only after Gaza war
Lebanon files complaint to UN Security Council over killing of Hamas deputy chief in Beirut
Sayyed Nasrallah: Retaliation for Dahiyeh Attack Imminent, Silence Signals Exposure
Hezbollah leader says his group must retaliate for suspected Israeli strike in Beirut
Here’s how Hezbollah will likely respond to Israel’s assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri/David Daoud/MENASource/January 05/2024
Is it Possible to Disarm Hezbollah and Save Lebanon?/Dr. Mordechai Nisan/Middle East Forum/January 05/2024
Thousands attend Arouri funeral in Beirut
Video/A Final Farewell - Celebrating the Life & Career of Mohamad Chatah

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 05-06/2024
Blinken heads to Mideast as fears of regional conflict surge
Diplomatic push to halt Gaza war spillover
US offers $10 million for Hamas financial information
Israeli minister lays out post-war Gaza plan as fighting rages
Heavy fighting continues as UN official says Gaza has become 'uninhabitable'
Families in Gaza search desperately for food and water, wait in long lines for aid
France and Jordan airdrop aid to Gaza
Iran arrests 11 suspects over bomb blasts, mourners demand revenge
US intelligence confirms Islamic State's Afghanistan branch behind Iran blasts -sources
Ukraine special forces launch daring raid inside Russia
Ukraine just got a new Western air-defense system meant to wipe out Russian drones by firing 1,000 rounds per minute
Evacuation orders for S. Korean islands as N. Korea fires over 200 artillery shells
Shipping giant diverts all Red Sea vessels amid Houthi attacks
Sudan’s Burhan says ‘no reconciliation’ with paramilitary RSF
Iraq PM says determined to end presence of US-led coalition

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 05-06/2024
Western and Arab nations need to take control and develop civil society before elections can take place./Natan Sharansky and Bassem Eid - WSJ/January 5, 2024
Groups That Support Hamas/John Wilson/Gatestone Institute/January 5, 2024
How UK can play a key role in ending Israel-Palestine conflict/Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/January 05/2024
Question: “What does it mean to surrender to God?”/Got questions web site/January 05/2024
Crises could be a catalyst for renewed Turkiye-Syria dialogue/Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/January 05/2024
Houthi anarchy in the Red Sea must be halted now/Luke Coffey/Arab News/January 05/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 05-06/2024
US, France call to 'avoid escalation in Lebanon and Iran'
Agence France Presse/January 05, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna agreed to seek steps to avoid a wider Middle East war following strikes in Lebanon and Iran, the State Department said. In a telephone call the day before, the two top diplomats "discussed the importance of measures to prevent the conflict in Gaza from expanding, including affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank and to avoid escalation in Lebanon and Iran," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. The phone call comes ahead of another Middle East trip by Blinken, his fourth since Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel and carried out a major attack on October 7, triggering massive Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip. French President Emmanuel Macron earlier called on Israel to avoid escalation, "particularly in Lebanon," where Israel was suspected of carrying out a strike on Tuesday that killed a senior Hamas leader. The United States said it did not have advance knowledge of the strike in Lebanon but described slain Hamas number two Saleh al-Arouri as a "brutal terrorist." In Iran, whose clerical state backs Hamas, twin blasts on Wednesday killed at least 84 people as they mourned Revolutionary Guard General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed four years earlier in a targeted US strike. A U.S. official said that the attack bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State extremist group, which is strongly opposed by Shiite-majority Iran, and denied any role by the United States or Israel.

Lebanon to ask Hochstein to press Israel to keep war ‘within 7km from border’
Naharnet/January 05, 2024  
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is discussing with Israeli officials means to avoid escalation on the Lebanese front and “the conditions that can guarantee the return of calm to the border with Lebanon,” a media report said. “Lebanon will ask Hochstein to press Israel to halt this escalation and revive an equation that had been previously discussed with him and which Israel did not abide by, which is aimed at keeping the confrontation within a distance ranging between three and five kilometers (from the border), or a maximum of seven kilometers,” Kuwait’s al-Jarida newspaper reported. Hochstein’s ongoing visit to Israel and his expected trip to Lebanon come in the wake of Israel’s assassination of Hamas deputy head Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are a Hezbollah stronghold. The brazen Israeli airstrike is a major escalation in the ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah and marks the first time the Lebanese capital has been bombed since the 2006 war. Since the cross-border hostilities began on Octover 8, more than 170 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but also more than 20 civilians, three of them journalists. On the Israeli side, at least four civilians and nine soldiers have been killed, according to figures from the military. Exchanges of fire have been largely confined to the border area, although Israel has conducted limited strikes deeper into Lebanese territory. Israel has been pushing for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, which lies about 30 kilometers north of the border, arguing that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006) had stipulated that.

German FM to visit Beirut to discuss 'extremely volatile situation'
Agence France Presse/January 05, 2024
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel Sunday for her fourth visit since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, a ministry spokesman said. Baerbock will hold talks with Israel's new Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as President Isaac Herzog, foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a regular press conference on Friday. She will also meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki. Baerbock will subsequently travel to Egypt to meet with her counterpart Sameh Shoukry and also planned to visit Lebanon. The talks would focus on the "dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza, the situation in the West Bank and the extremely volatile situation on the Israel-Lebanon border," as well as efforts to secure the release of more Hamas hostages, Fischer said. Fears have grown that the conflict between Israel and Hamas could spread, after one of the militant group's leaders was assassinated in the suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut. In addition to the killing, widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, the Israeli army has for months traded tit-for-tat fire across the border with Hezbollah. The risk of escalation was "very real," Fischer said. Germany on Wednesday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible.

EU's Borrell in Beirut to discuss regional tensions with Lebanese leaders
Naharnet/January 05, 2024  
EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, will arrive Friday in Lebanon on a three-day visit. Borrell will meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. During his stay, Borrell will also have an exchange with Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) General Aroldo Lazaro. The Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon said Friday in a statement that Borrell will discuss in Lebanon "all aspects of the situation in and around Gaza, including its impact on the region, especially the situation at the Israeli-Lebanese border," as well as "the importance of avoiding regional escalation and of sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians, which the European Union has quadrupled to €100 million." Borrell will also re-emphasize the need to advance diplomatic efforts with regional leaders with a view to creating the conditions to reach a just and lasting peace in the region. Bilateral cooperation and domestic and regional issues of concern will also be part of the discussions, the EU Delegation said.

Berri says Hamas only lost 10% of its capabilities
Naharnet/January 05, 2024   
The Palestinian resistance has lost only 10% of its capabilities since the outbreak of fighting, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said. In an interview with Egypt-based weekly political magazine Rose al-Yūsuf, Berri said that the Israeli army will not achieve its goal to eliminate Hamas. "The Palestinian resistance has the ability to resist," Berri said, adding that Israel has sustained major losses, politically, economically, militarily and strategically."

Border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/January 05, 2024   
More than 76,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in almost three months of near-daily fighting along the border with Israel, the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration has said. The border area has seen a surge of violence since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October, with tit-for-tat exchanges of fire continuing on Friday between Israeli forces and Hezbollah. In a report published on Thursday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the escalation has displaced 76,018 people, mainly in areas of southern Lebanon bordering Israel. More than 80 percent of the displaced Lebanese are staying with relatives, according to the report, and only 2 percent housed in 14 collective shelters spread across the south of the country, mainly in the coastal city of Tyre and in the Hasbaya region. The rest have rented apartments or moved to homes in areas farther from the border, the U.N. agency said. Cross-border violence has left 175 people dead in Lebanon, including 129 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and five civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities. Hezbollah, which conducts daily operations against Israeli soldiers along the border, says it is intervening in support of Hamas in Gaza. Tensions rose further with a strike on Tuesday that killed Hamas's number two, Saleh al-Arouri, in a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned that the assassination, widely attributed to Israel, "will not go unpunished".

Mikati meets Aram I, day ahead of Armenian Christmas
Naharnet/January 05, 2024    
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Friday with head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, in Antelias. Mikati and Aram I discussed issues and challenges facing Lebanon, particularly the situation in the South of Lebanon, the presidential election, and the socio-economic crisis facing the country, the Armenian Church Catholicosate of Cilicia said. The Armenian community is preparing to celebrate Christmas on January 6th.

Israeli warplanes strike south ahead of Nasrallah speech
Naharnet/January 05, 2024  
Clashes continued on Friday between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, as tensions rose further after a strike on Tuesday killed Hamas's number two, Saleh al-Arouri, in a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut. Israeli warplanes struck the outskirts of the southern towns of Majdalzoun and Mhaibib and a region near a Lebanese army position in Aita al-Shaab, while shells hit the border towns of Houla, Tayr Harfa, al-Jebbayn, Rashaya al-Foukhar, Fardis, al-Bustan and Yarin. Fears had recently mounted that Israel's war in Gaza could spread across the region after strikes in Iraq and deadly blasts in Iran on Wednesday and Thursday, in addition to Arouri's killing on Tuesday. Experts say a wider conflict is unlikely for now but bad calculations or badly calibrated reprisals could lead to a conflagration. A day after al-Arouri was killed in an airstrike blamed on Israel in Beirut, two bomb blasts claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 84 people in Iran as they commemorated Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani killed four years ago in a U.S. strike. A day later, a U.S. strike in Baghdad killed a pro-Iran military commander from Al-Hashed al-Shaabi. The Israel-Lebanon border has been rocked by escalating exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7. the violence has left 175 people dead in Lebanon, including 129 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and five civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities. On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed the killing of Arouri would not go unpunished.

Nasrallah: Response to Dahieh attack will come, talks only after Gaza war
Naharnet/January 05, 2024
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday stressed that his group’s response to Israel’s airstrike that killed Hamas deputy head Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahieh) “will undoubtedly come.” “Lebanon is before a chance, after the aggression against Gaza stops, to liberate what’s left of its land -- from the B-1 point to the rest of the Shebaa Farms to every inch of our land,” Nasrallah said in a televised address commemorating late Hezbollah official Mohammad Yaghi. “We are before a real chance to establish an equation that would prevent the enemy from violating our country’s sovereignty … but any talks, negotiations or dialogue will only take place or achieve a result after halting the aggression against Gaza,” Nasrallah added. Commenting on Israel’s assassination of Arouri in the heart of Beirut’s southern suburbs, Nasrallah said Hezbollah cannot remain silent over this “major and dangerous violation.”“The killing of Sheikh Saleh -- a dear friend with whom I had a high level of friendship, appreciation and understanding -- will certainly not be without a response or punishment … The battlefield will respond and this response will undoubtedly come, seeing as we cannot remain silent over such a dangerous violation, because this would mean that entire Lebanon and its cities and personalities would be exposed,” Nasrallah added. “The detriments from not responding to this violation are bigger than any risks that might come from this response, that’s why the decision is for the battlefield,” Hezbollah’s leader explained.

Lebanon files complaint to UN Security Council over killing of Hamas deputy chief in Beirut
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/January 05, 2024
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s permanent representative to the UN filed a formal complaint before the UN Security Council on Friday, following “the attack on a residential area in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh,” which killed Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri on Tuesday. The submitted complaint emphasized the severity of the incident, labeling it “the most dangerous escalation since 2006, as it specifically targeted a densely populated residential zone in Beirut’s southern suburb, constituting a clear violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety of its civilian population and aviation.”It added that the attack could lead to the expansion of conflict and “destabilize regional peace and security.”Lebanon’s appeal urged the UNSC to “condemn the attack, exert pressure on Israel to cease its escalations, and take decisive action to halt further Israeli aggressions against Lebanon, to prevent further deterioration and the potential entanglement of the region in an extensive and devastating conflict.” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech on Friday that Lebanon would be “exposed” to more Israeli operations if his group did not respond to the killing of the Hamas deputy chief. Hezbollah launched rockets across the border on Oct. 8 in support of Hamas, one day after Hamas carried out the deadly attack on southern Israel that triggered Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Nasrallah said Hezbollah had carried out some 670 operations on the Lebanese-Israeli border since then, destroying a “large number” of Israeli military vehicles and tanks. He also said that if the Israeli military managed to achieve its goals in Gaza, it would then turn to Lebanon. Nasrallah said that Hezbollah “struck 494 targets, including 50 border sites that were bombed more than once during the past 90 days.”Technical and intelligence equipment along the border was also destroyed, he claimed. He added: “We were targeting military sites, officers and soldiers. If we targeted residences, it was in response to the targeting of civilians on our side.”
Nasrallah said that the ongoing battle in southern Lebanon had “established the balance of deterrence.”He added that “today we have a historical chance to liberate every inch of our Lebanese territory and prevent the enemy from violating our borders and airspace.”Nasrallah reaffirmed that “the violation that took place in Beirut’s southern suburb will not go unanswered and unpunished,” adding that the decision was now “in the hands of the battlefield.”
Nasrallah believes that the US “does not want the war to expand in the region because it is preoccupied with the Ukrainian front and is preparing for a strategic defeat against Russia.”To avoid the expansion of conflict in the region, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell was in talks with Lebanese officials on Friday. Borrell’s visit will last for two days, according to the EU delegation to Lebanon. It will focus on “all aspects of the situation in and around Gaza, including its impact on the region, especially the situation at the Israeli-Lebanese border, as well as the importance of avoiding regional escalation and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians, which the EU has quadrupled to €100 million ($109 million).” Borrell will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib, and Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun.
He will also exchange views with Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, UNIFIL’s head of mission and force commander. The commission had previously clarified that Borrell would “re-emphasize the need to advance diplomatic efforts with regional leaders to create the conditions to reach a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine, and the region.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is set to visit Lebanon as part of a trip to the Middle East this Sunday that includes Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Egypt. Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fisher said that “the dramatic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the situation in the West Bank, and the extremely volatile position on the Israeli-Lebanese border will be at the center of the talks, in addition to the attempts to free hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”Fears of widening conflict between Israel and Hamas grew following Al-Arouri’s assassination in one of the neighborhoods located in Hezbollah’s security square in Beirut’s southern suburb. Fisher said: “We are following the situation on the Lebanese border, and the risk of escalation in the Middle East is very real.”In a statement issued on Thursday, Germany called on all Germans in Lebanon “to leave the country as quickly as possible.”Also on Friday, Israeli drones shelled a house on the outskirts of the Mhaibib village and a house on the outskirts of Blida in the central part of southern Lebanon. The shelling reached the outskirts of the Mays Al-Jabal and Rachaya Al-Fakhar villages. Israeli artillery shelling on Friday morning targeted the outskirts of Yaroun village. Israeli warplanes bombed a region located between Chihine and Majdal Zoun, as well as the outskirts of Aita Al-Shaab. Rocket fragments reached a Lebanese Army site in the area. The bombing also reached the outskirts of Yarine and Jebbeen. Hamas and other pro-Hamas Palestinian factions held the funeral of Samir Findi on Friday in the Al-Rashidieh camp in Tyre, and that of Lebanese national Mohammed Said Bashasha, who was laid to rest in Saida.
Both victims were killed in the Israeli attack that killed Al-Arouri.

Sayyed Nasrallah: Retaliation for Dahiyeh Attack Imminent, Silence Signals Exposure
Al-Manar English Website/Batoul Wehbe/January 05/2024
Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah pledged a swift response to Israel’s airstrike in Beirut that killed Hamas deputy head Saleh al-Arouri, asserting Lebanon’s chance to liberate its remaining land after Gaza aggression ceases, and emphasizing the need for a real equation preventing sovereignty violations. Addressing the memorial ceremony for the late Hezbollah official Hajj Mohammad Yaghi (Abu Salim) in Baalbek on Friday, Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that the ongoing battle in the south represents a historic opportunity for the full liberation of Lebanon. Emphasizing that the resistance’s operations along the southern border confirm deterrence equations with the Zionist enemy, he highlighted the chance to establish an equation preventing any encroachment on Lebanon’s sovereignty. He credited the Lebanese front for creating this new opportunity.
Tackling the Islamic resistance front opposing the Zionist enemy along the southern Lebanese border which has initiated operations one day after the onset of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted the media’s disregard for this crucial front.
Sayyed Nasrallah revealed that, spanning over 100 kilometers and lasting more than 90 days, the resistance systematically targeted all enemy border positions and numerous rear sites and settlements in response to Zionist attacks on civilians. “Spanning over 100 kilometers and extending across a duration surpassing 90 days, our response to attacks on civilians encompassed the precise targeting of not only all Israeli border sites but also a significant array of rear sites and settlements. The resistance executed over 670 operations in the past months, with some days witnessing up to 23 operations,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. “The targeted sites comprised 48 border sites and 11 rear positions. Additionally, 50 border points, where enemy soldiers sought refuge, were repeatedly targeted, along with 17 settlements,” his eminence specified.
Reflecting on the results of this ongoing confrontation, which endured for three months, he underscored the significant toll on enemy soldiers and officers, emphasizing the exhaustive nature of the operations. “Despite the enemy’s media secrecy, the resistance countered with approximately 90 video releases, revealing the reality of the situation.”
“Every hostile location was systematically targeted, focusing on technical and intelligence equipment. No border post remained untouched, as each one underwent multiple rounds of precise strikes. The technical equipment targeted by the resistance is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars,” the S.G. said.
Addressing the destruction of tanks and vehicles, including incidents involving collapsing roofs on soldiers, Sayyed Nasrallah cited enemy sources from the Israeli Defense Ministry, suggesting that the number of disabled soldiers may have reached 12 thousand since October 7. He emphasized that every border site had been targeted multiple times, with a focus on the destruction of technical and intelligence equipment in all hostile locations.
Hezbollah’s leader dismissed misconceptions about the resistance’s actions, clarifying, “Our skilled marksmen direct the guided missile through the window of the enemy’s vehicle,” and refuted claims that they were merely “bombing the column.” He highlighted the precision of the resistance’s actions, explaining, “We are targeting equipment on poles worth hundreds of millions of dollars, exercising control over extensive parts of Lebanon.”
“In the second stage, enemy soldiers sought refuge in evacuated settlements and in the vicinity of the sites due to fear of the resistance factions and their targeted attacks on specific locations,” Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted, emphasizing the acquisition of accurate intelligence, photos, and footage regarding enemy positions and gatherings, leading to the destruction of numerous tanks and vehicles. Sayyed Nasrallah noted that the enemy attempted to compensate for technical losses by deploying drones and reconnaissance aircraft, maintaining strict media secrecy about casualties.
He pointed out that experts within the enemy entity estimate the real death toll to be three times higher than what the occupation army discloses. According to the Israeli Ministry of Health sources, there are over 2,000 casualties on the northern front. Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized that if people were aware of the enemy’s human and vehicle losses, they wouldn’t doubt the futility of fighting on the northern front. He asserted that the enemy’s concealment of losses is part of psychological warfare to avoid embarrassment in its society.
Addressing the situation on the southern border, Sayyed Nasrallah quoted an Israeli minister describing it as a humiliation for ‘Israel’. He clarified that the resistance targeted military objectives, officers, and soldiers, and any strikes on houses were responses to the enemy’s attacks on civilians.
Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that one outcome of the fighting on the southern front was the displacement of people from northern settlements, reversing the historical trend where Lebanese people were the ones being displaced during wars. “This displacement is expected to exert psychological, political, and security pressure on the enemy’s government, along with increasing anxiety on the northern front.” Responding to queries about the feasibility of opening the northern front, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that the primary goals were to pressure the enemy’s government, exhaust the enemy to halt aggression on Gaza, and relieve pressure on the resistance in Gaza’s field situation. He asserted that these goals have been achieved through the Lebanese front, forcing the enemy to deploy a significant number of soldiers and withhold information about entire divisions and brigades from Gaza due to fears of developments on the front.
Sayyed Nasrallah questioned, “Does the significant number of casualties, destruction of vehicles, and displacement on the northern front not exert pressure on the enemy’s government?” Sayyed Nasrallah explained that the security belt within the entity in the north extends to a depth of 3 km, and in some areas, it reaches 7 km. Addressing settlers seeking a ‘solution’ with Hezbollah, Nasrallah cautioned that such a choice is misguided, and they would be the first to pay the price. He urged them to turn to their government to halt the aggression against Gaza, emphasizing that any other option would only result in more displacement and higher costs for the settlers in the north.
Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about the resistance tent at the border, Sayyed Nasrallah challenged him to acknowledge the destruction of 48 border sites, 11 rear sites, and attacks on 17 settlements and 50 border points. He questioned whether it was the resistance causing Israeli soldiers to hide like ‘mice’, emphasizing that the scale of daily operations serves as a deterrent. Sayyed Nasrallah underscored that what is happening on the southern border is a real war, far beyond the symbolism of a ‘tent’. “The era of the tent which Netanyahu boasts about is now relegated to the past, as we find ourselves engaged in a tangible and substantial battle today.”
Sayyed Nasrallah reminded that the current operations on the southern border are not a new initiative by the resistance since 1948. In the past, only one operation similar to today’s activities occurred, resulting in Israeli bombings in Beirut. “In previous times, a single operation would result in extensive destruction across southern Lebanon,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. He noted that the Israelis are now proving the deterrence equations established by the resistance many years ago.
The secretary general saw an opportunity for Lebanon to liberate the rest of its land after the cessation of aggression against Gaza, extending from the B1 area to the Shebaa Farms. Emphasizing the chance to establish an equation preventing the enemy from violating Lebanon’s sovereignty, he stressed that dialogue and negotiation would yield no results unless the aggression against Gaza stops.
“We find ourselves at a historic juncture, presenting a unique opportunity to fully liberate every inch of our land and establish an equation that safeguards our country’s sovereignty, an opportunity initiated by the blessings of the Lebanese front,” his eminence said.
Arouri Assassination. Regarding the recent Zionist attack on Beirut and the assassination of Hamas’ Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that such a major and dangerous breach in the southern suburbs of Lebanon is unacceptable. He expressed deep sorrow for the loss of Sheikh Saleh, emphasizing a strong friendship.
Hamas Saleh Al-Arouri
Sayyed Nasrallah asserted that the killing will not go without a response or punishment, with the field being the venue for this inevitable retaliation. “The killing of Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri will undoubtedly not go unanswered or unpunished, the decision lies in the hands of the field, and it will undoubtedly be implemented,” he warned. Remaining silent about such a serious violation would expose all of Lebanon to greater harm than any potential risks from responding in the field. “We cannot remain silent in the face of such a grave violation, as it puts Lebanon at risk.”In his Wednesday’s speech, Sayyed Nasrallah warned the Israeli enemy against launching an all-out war on Lebanon, affirming that the Islamic Resistance will then fight without any limit. His eminence indicated that, till now, the operations carried out by Hezbollah are regulated in a way that abides by the Lebanese national interests, threatening the Israeli enemy that the limits will backlash in case of any war on Lebanon.
Iraqi Front
Shifting to the situation in Iraq, Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted a historic opportunity for the country to rid itself of American occupation, especially given the current strategic defeat faced by the United States and NATO in Ukraine. “The underlying motive is the support for Gaza, and the American administration is apprehensive about it, grappling with a predicament in Ukraine,” Sayyed Nasrallah said on the Iraqi military operations taking place nowadays. He pointed out that the American forces have targeted members of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, emphasizing the chance for Iraq to break free from the deception and lies of American occupation. “An advantageous outcome of the Islamic resistance in Iraq opening a front in support of Gaza is the genuine prospect for Iraq to liberate itself from the American occupation.” Sayyed Nasrallah urged the Iraqi government, the House of Representatives, and the Iraqi people to unite in rejecting the criminal occupiers who are complicit in atrocities in Gaza, Palestine, and Lebanon. “Today, there exists a historic opportunity for the Iraqi government, the House of Representatives, and the Iraqi people to extricate themselves from the occupiers and perpetrators of violence, those responsible for the bloodshed of Iraqis, Iranians, and the people of the region,” his eminence said.
He commended the Iraqi government’s courageous stance against the Al-Aqsa flood and called for the expulsion of American forces from Iraq, asserting that Iraq does not need Americans to combat ISIL, highlighting the national blessing of solidarity with Gaza as an essential part of the opportunity for American forces to leave Iraq. “Iraq does not need American forces to combat ISIL. Currently, there are indications that certain elements associated with ISIL in Syria have sought refuge or support from American forces,” Hezbollah leader said.
Yemeni Front
Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted that certain Arab regimes and media outlets, in an attempt to deflect attention from their own failures, resorted to ridiculing the actions of the resistance front, particularly when Yemeni forces targeted Eilat. These critics accused Yemen of seeking to restore its image in the Arab world. “Al-Qaeda actively sought to undermine and discredit all efforts by the axis of resistance in supporting Gaza, attempting to mask their own failures. Those who underestimate the actions of the resistance axis today are individuals who have failed to contribute anything since the onset of the aggression on Gaza,” his eminence said. “Engaging in jihad brings honor, while refraining from it leads to humiliation,” Sayyed Nasrallah stressed, adding that the silent and negligent regimes were taken aback by the unexpected actions of the Yemenis in the Red Sea.
Hezbollah’s Top commander commended Ansarullah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, and the government in Sanaa for their steadfastness, emphasizing that their concern was always about their image and status before God Almighty.
Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that some individuals are fundamentally unsuitable for positions that require confronting the enemy, as their psychological and spiritual levels are much lower. He noted that the Yemeni position has prompted various segments to reassess their internal stance towards Ansarullah, emphasizing that Yemen has now firmly established itself in regional and international equations, causing the world to take notice. “A significant national achievement is that the Sanaa government has evolved from being an internal faction to becoming a pivotal component of the international equation, compelling the world to reckon with it despite attempts to marginalize it,” his eminence said.
Sayyed Nasrallah questioned the absence of the Israeli Air Force in Yemen, attributing it to Yemeni deterrence. Addressing the Yemeni people’s recent demonstrations, Sayyed Nasrallah conveyed a message directed at the American administration, particularly President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and the Minister of War. He emphasized that Yemen’s message to America is that it is not facing just a government, state, or army named Ansarullah. Instead, it confronts tens of millions of Yemeni people with a history of inflicting defeats on occupiers. “The message from Yemen today is directed at the United States. It emphasizes that the challenge is not merely against the Ansarullah movement but against tens of millions of Yemeni people with a history of thwarting aggressors and inflicting defeats.”Sayyed Nasrallah urged the Biden administration to understand this history and emphasized that Yemen will not stop or hesitate. He concluded by stating that Yemen is gaining increasing pride in the Arab and Islamic world, as well as in the eyes of friends and enemies alike.
To the Resistance environment
Addressing the families of the martyrs of the Islamic Resistance, Sayyed Nasrallah wholeheartedly expressed his with to take part in condolences. “Given my security circumstances, what I earnestly desire and hope for is to stand by your side, expressing my deep gratitude by kissing your hands and foreheads.”Turning to the people in the south, he said: “Had the fate of the enemy been to defeat the resistance in Gaza and displace its people, their next target would have been southern Lebanon, particularly in southern Litani. It is you who shattered their ambitions!”“Hezbollah fighters are courageously battling in a cold and rain-soaked terrain, amidst enemy shellings. They persist in advancing and launching attacks on enemy positions and gatherings, ready to be the ones to respond to the significant breach in Dahiyeh,” his eminence indicated. At the beginning of his speech, Sayyed Nasrallah renewed condolences to the martyrs who fell at the shrine of Hajj Qassem Soleimani in Kerman. He offered condolences to Iraq, Sayyed Ali Sistani, the Popular Mobilization Forces, and the Nujaba Movement on the martyrdom of Hajj Abu Taqwa al-Saidi. Sayyed Nasrallah allocated a significant part of his speech to talk about Hajj Abu Salim Yaghi, whose commemoration ceremony was held in Sayyeda Khawla Shrine in Baalbek. He enumerated the multiple traits of Yaghi along with the deep friendship that gathered them. “Hajj Abu Salim emerged as a revolutionary force and dedicated activist in the Baalbek region, leaving an indelible mark on his surroundings. My testimony regarding Hajj Abu Salim is not just a mere account; it stands as a tangible testament to our enduring connection that dates back to our youth in 1978… From the outset, a profound bond of brotherhood, love, friendship, and unwavering trust blossomed between us within the first few hours of our acquaintance.”

Hezbollah leader says his group must retaliate for suspected Israeli strike in Beirut
BEIRUT (AP)/Fri, January 5, 2024
The leader of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah said Friday that his group must retaliate after a presumed Israeli strike hit a Beirut neighborhood this week, killing a senior Hamas official, or else all of Lebanon would be vulnerable to Israeli attack. Hassan Nasrallah appeared to be making the case for a response to the Lebanese public, even at the risk of escalating the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. But he gave no indication of how or when the militants would act. The strike that killed Hamas’ deputy political leader, Saleh Arouri, threatened months of efforts by the United States to prevent the war in Gaza from spiraling into a regional conflict. Nasrallah said it was the first strike by Israel in the Lebanese capital since 2006. “We cannot keep silent about a violation of this seriousness,” he said, “because this means that all of our people will be exposed (to targeting). All of our cities, villages and public figures will be exposed.”The repercussions of silence are “far greater” than the risks of retaliating, he added. Tensions are rising on multiple fronts as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in the region. Iraqis are furious after an American airstrike killed a militia leader in Baghdad. At the same time, the U.S. is struggling to deter attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on commercial Red Sea shipping. In Gaza, Israel is moving to scale down its military assault in the north of the territory and pressing its heavy offensive in the south, vowing to crush Hamas. In the south, most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are being squeezed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster, while still being pounded by Israeli airstrikes.
Since the start of the Gaza war, Hezbollah has fired rockets and missiles into northern Israel, bringing a return bombardment from the Israeli military in near daily cross-border exchanges. After the strike Tuesday in Beirut, the Lebanon-Israel front appeared to be at a critical juncture, with the potential to veer into an all-out war. But Hezbollah has held back from a dramatic escalation, wary of a repeat of the two sides’ 2006 war in which Israeli bombardment wreaked extensive destruction in Lebanon. Nasrallah said Friday that the details of Hezbollah's response “will be decided on the battlefield.” He did not elaborate.
The Beirut strike is not the only thing threatening a wider fight between Israel and Lebanon. Israeli officials have threatened greater military action against Hezbollah unless it withdraws it fighters from Lebanese territory near their shared border. A pullback — called for under a 2006 U.N. truce but never implemented — is necessary to stop barrages and allow the return of tens of thousands of Israelis to homes they evacuated near the border, Israel says. Nasrallah boasted about the evacuations, saying that after Israel forced Lebanese to flee in past conflicts, Hezbollah had now done the same to Israelis, putting political pressure on the government. Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks aim to engage Israeli forces away from Gaza, Nasrallah said, and the only way to stop them is “to stop the aggression on Gaza.”
Israel says it aims to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and remove it from power in Gaza after the militants’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which they killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others. Israel’s onslaught in Gaza has killed more than 22,600 people, more than two-thirds of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Much of northern Gaza — the most urbanized part of the tiny territory — has been flattened by bombardment and fighting. Most of its population has fled south, joining its residents who have largely been driven from their homes as well. The risk of famine is increasing daily, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, known by the acronym OCHA. The ground offensive threatens to bring further destruction in the south, particularly in the main battleground city Khan Younis.  Footage aired on Al Jazeera TV showed devastation in downtown Khan Younis. No building in the city’s central Sunneya Square has been left untouched. Some structures have been leveled, while others have been partially destroyed or scorched. Almost every day this week, strikes have hit in and around Khan Younis’ Al Amal Hospital and a hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent, killing dozens of people, the OCHA said. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment has continued around the territory. At least 13 people were killed when an apartment building was leveled in Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, hospital officials said. In Rafah, at Gaza’s southernmost end, relatives and friends wept over the bodies of six people killed in a strike on a house overnight, including three children. Sohad al-Derbashi, whose sister was killed in the strike, said the owner of the house had evacuated, fearing he would be targeted since he works as a civil servant in Gaza’s Hamas-led administration, as do thousands of others in the territory. When he came to visit the house last night, the strike hit, she said. Her sister, living on the floor below, was crushed. “They were civilians, innocent people, with no connection to anything. Even the target who was with Hamas was a civil employee. What did he do wrong?” el-Derbashi said. *Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Jobain from Rafah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press Writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

Here’s how Hezbollah will likely respond to Israel’s assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri
David Daoud/MENASource/January 05/2024
Since Hezbollah’s guns began their unprovoked fire against Israel on October 8, 2023, Lebanon has found itself an unwitting battlefield in the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Palestinian terrorist factions. Lebanon, whose territory is both the headquarters of Hezbollah—Iran’s most powerful extension and vanguard of its regional expansionism—and hub of coordination and planning for the Resistance Axis’ anti-Israel operations, couldn’t have expected total immunity. On January 2, Israel eliminated senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri—one of the lynchpins of this coordination effort—in a precision strike in the heart of Hezbollah-controlled south Beirut. The strike also killed two other commanders in Hamas’ Izzeldine Al-Qassam Brigades, Azzam Al-Aqra and Samir Fundi, and four other Hamas fighters. This attack will pin Hezbollah between its obligations to the Resistance Axis and its need to navigate Lebanese political and social dynamics; the latter of which it is also a full participant in.
From 2017 until his assassination, Arouri served as the deputy chairman of Hamas’ political bureau. This deceptively humble title conceals Arouri’s significance. He founded and directed the West Bank branch of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, was a central coordinating figure of the Resistance Axis’ efforts to “unify the fronts” against Israel, and has been eulogized by Hamas as one of the “architects of Al-Aqsa Flood”—all of which made Arouri a prime target for Israel and an invaluable asset and ally to Hezbollah.
So, when leaks from an Israeli cabinet meeting in August 2023 suggested the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would resume targeted killings of senior militants in response to the then-ongoing uptick in terror attacks, everyone—including Arouri himself—understood he was marked for liquidation. Consequently, Arouri’s ally, Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah—whose group, Hezbollah, had formed a protective cocoon around Arouri in Beirut—took to the air on January 3 to threaten Israel against “any assassination on Lebanese territory targeting a Lebanese, Palestinian, Iranian or Syrian,” noting that such measures “[would] be met with a strong reaction.” Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah “could not remain silent or absorb” such an action because the group’s passivity threatened to “reopen Lebanon again to assassinations.” He also stated that Hezbollah would “not accept any change to the existing rules of engagement” and that “the Israelis must understand this.”
Soon after Arouri’s assassination, Hezbollah issued a statement echoing Nasrallah’s August 2023 address, calling the Israeli strike “a crime” and part of a “policy of liquidation of all who planned, executed, or supported the heroic Al-Aqsa Flood Operation.” Hezbollah further claimed that Israel’s strike was a “dangerous aggression against Lebanon… and development in the war between the [Israeli] enemy and the Axis of Resistance,” which “Hezbollah cannot allow to pass without a response and punishment.”
Nasrallah, in his speech commemorating the deaths of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani and Kataeb Hezbollah Secretary-General Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, briefly echoed a variation on that theme, restating his position made in December 2023 that “the battlefield will speak.”
But Nasrallah is notorious for having a much noisier bark than bite; just how loudly he will allow Hezbollah’s guns to roar over Arouri remains in question. Whatever the group may deem the proper response to his assassination in an ideal world, it is currently constrained by Lebanon’s realities: namely, economic freefall and abandonment by its traditional financiers amidst yet another interminable round of political deadlock. Hezbollah is hyper-cognizant of the importance of popular support to its longevity and durability and risks unnecessarily compromising that support—including among its supporters—were it to embark on some military adventure of whatever size against Israel. Doing so would invite untold destruction upon Lebanon, which would compound the country’s ongoing political and economic woes all the more so if it did so to avenge a commander of a Palestinian terrorist organization who was killed in the context of a foreign war. Since Lebanon began to unravel in 2019, Hezbollah has been acutely cognizant of this Lebanese constraint and how this chafes against its obligations as a constituent organization (and most power member) of the Resistance Axis. Until October 7, 2023, Hezbollah found various methods of navigating this tension between its “resistance” duties and survival, but walking this tightrope became increasingly untenable after Al-Aqsa Flood. The group, therefore, opened fire at Israel along the entire border with Lebanon the next day. Hezbollah’s barrage was at a level not seen since the 2006 war between the two adversaries, and was meant to demonstrate its continued viability as a “resistance” organization. Hezbollah, after all, derives its durability from popular support, which, in turn, is partially dependent on the group’s perceived ability and readiness to confront Israel at any time.
But Hezbollah’s brinksmanship was, by its own admission, a highly calculated risk, and its newfound daring was dependent upon two factors: the first, per Nasrallah, was Israel’s preoccupation with fighting the war in Gaza. “Had just one of our operations during the past month [since October 7, 2023] occurred [before], the enemy wouldn’t have tolerated it, but they do today,” he said on November 3, 2023.
The second factor fueling Hezbollah’s boldness was the knowledge that the Joe Biden administration has pressured Israel to not open up a second front against the group in Lebanon.
With these factors in place and with the knowledge that they would act as a limitation on any Israeli retaliation, Hezbollah allowed itself to escalate along the border. But even this has been relatively limited, aimed largely at harassing Israel, disrupting civilian life, dividing Israeli forces along two fronts, and increasing the war’s burden on the Israeli economy—all in the hopes of slowing Israel’s advance in Gaza so that a premature ceasefire can be imposed before the Resistance Axis forces in the coastal enclave are defeated, allowing the latter to survive and rebuild to fight again in the future.
What Hezbollah has not been seeking, however, is opening a full-scale war with Israel. Given that Hezbollah’s circumstances after Arouri’s killing remain the same as before his death, that desire is unlikely to have changed. This makes the organization’s promised response—assuming it hasn’t happened already—fairly predictable.
Hezbollah is unlikely to declare an all-out war against Israel, even over someone as critical to the Resistance Axis’ operations as Saleh Al-Arouri. Instead, as it did after Israel killed IRGC Quds Force General Razi Mousavi on December 25, 2023, the group will likely temporarily escalate the intensity of its unceasing attacks on northern Israel—perhaps for a longer duration while trying harder to draw Israeli blood because the attack occurred in Dahiyeh—before resuming its new, post-October 7, 2023 routine of attacks.
Hezbollah also has other indirect options that it may activate. Throughout the past four years, the group has sidestepped the constraints of Lebanon’s economic collapse on its activities by outsourcing its attacks against Israel to Palestinian organizations—primarily the offshoots of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the West Bank, but also to their Lebanon-based franchises. This has allowed Hezbollah to continue bleeding Israel while maintaining just enough plausible deniability to avoid the full brunt of the consequences. Hezbollah has maintained this approach after October 7, 2023, facilitating rocket attacks and incursions by Hamas and PIJ from Lebanon into Israel. Now that Palestinian terrorist factions have threatened to avenge Arouri “on all fronts,” Hezbollah is likely to once again facilitate the use of Lebanese territory by its Palestinian partners to avenge their fallen commander.
Another indirect option may mimic Hezbollah’s behavior after Israel assassinated its former Secretary-General Abbas al-Musawi in 1992. At the time, the group avoided retaliating across the Lebanon-Israel border and embarked upon a campaign of global terror, targeting Israel’s soft underbelly: Israeli diplomatic missions and diaspora Jewish communities. Hezbollah may opt to do so again or to facilitate such attacks by its Palestinian partners.
*David Daoud is a senior fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) focusing on Hezbollah, Lebanon, and Israel.

Is it Possible to Disarm Hezbollah and Save Lebanon?
Dr. Mordechai Nisan/Middle East Forum/January 05/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/125839/125839/
Had the United Nations and the broader international community been serious about peace and security in the Middle East, the threat posed by Hezbollah should have long-since passed.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps formed Hezbollah in 1982 as a proxy to fight Israel. At the time, the Iran-Iraq War consumed the Islamic Republic; revolutionary authorities could not afford to send too many of its own elite forces abroad, but could train Lebanese Shi’ites to do their dirty work.
Hezbollah consolidated control in an intra-Shi’ite struggle, and grew to create a state within a state, slowly eroding Lebanon’s historic Christian identity and the ability of the Lebanese parliament to elect Maronite presidents not beholden to the group.
Core to Hezbollah’s strength is its military might. While the 1989 Taif Accords called for militia disarmament, Hezbollah ignored the demand arguing that the necessity to resist Israel took precedence but, after Israel’s May 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah still refused to disarm. It likewise ignored UN Security Council Resolution 1559 in September 2004 demanding the disbandment of militias in Lebanon.
Following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1701, authorizing an enhanced United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to monitor and ensure that Hezbollah deployed no arms between the Litani River and Israeli border; the 2008 Doha Agreement reinforced the disarmament call.
UNIFIL failed in its task. Today, Hezbollah has a more robust arsenal in both quality and quantity than it had prior to the 2006 war. Hezbollah terrorists freely and provocatively roamed openly along the Israeli border. Hezbollah Deputy Leader Naim Qassem, meanwhile, declared the party’s Islamic obligation is to fight Israel, regardless of Lebanese law or the effect on the state.
Almost three months into the Hamas War, many analysts consider an Israeli-Hezbollah War next, indeed already accelerating. The terrorist group has launched hundreds of attacks on Israel, damaging dozens of homes in the northern Galilee. Having long ignored Hezbollah infractions of Resolution 1701, Israel now responds militarily. Both the United States and France, meanwhile, deliberate to no effect thus far toward implementing 1701 against the backdrop of Hezbollah intransigence.
Washington’s decisions will be a critical factor as the situation unfolds. Its arms shipments to Israel demonstrate support. While the Biden administration may still hope for a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran, the Pentagon remembers that Hezbollah terrorists killed 241 Marines in a 1983 truck bombing of their barracks in Beirut.
It is unlikely Hezbollah will comply and withdraw to the Litani in what will appear to be a capitulation to Jerusalem, Washington, and the United Nations. The appearance of Israeli isolation will only harden Hezbollah’s rigidity. Israel’s air superiority and precision weaponry might deter Hezbollah from escalating border attacks into a full-scale war but as with Hamas, the chance for miscalculation is high.
Diplomats may want to revive 1701 and pass another resolution promising to police Lebanon’s southern border, but Israel will likely not tolerate the triumph of wishful thinking over action. The question for policymakers now is, with both the United Nations and UNIFIL discredited, what mechanism might disarm Hezbollah and spare Lebanon a war the country itself might not survive. Ironically, a Hezbollah defeat could be a liberating moment for Lebanon.
**Mordechai Nisan is author of The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Etienne Sakr (Abu Arz) and Politics and War in Lebanon: Unraveling the Enigma.
https://www.meforum.org/65417/is-it-possible-to-disarm-hezbollah-and-save/January 3, 2024

Thousands attend Arouri funeral in Beirut
Associated Press/January 05/2024
Thousands of people took to the streets in Beirut Thursday the funeral of Saleh Arouri, top commander of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, who was killed earlier this week in an apparent Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital. Draped in Palestinian and Hamas flags, Arouri's coffin along with those of two of his comrades were first taken to a Beirut mosque for prayers before being carried to the Palestine Martyrs Cemetery where top Palestinian officials killed by Israel over the past five decades have been buried. Arouri's automatic rifle was placed on his coffin at the prayer service. Palestinian officials, including top Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, as well as representatives of some Lebanese political groups attended the funeral. People tried to touch the coffins that were surrounded by Hamas members wearing green caps, some of whom were armed. "The enemy is running away from its failures and defeats (in Gaza) to Lebanon," Hamas top leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech aired during the funeral. He added that Arouri's killing in Beirut "is proof of (Israel's) bloody mindset."
Lebanese officials and state media said an Israeli drone fired two missiles Tuesday at an apartment in Beirut's southern Musharafieh district, a stronghold of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group instantly killing Arouri along with six other Hamas members, including military commanders.
Arouri, who was the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group's military wing, had been on Israel's radar for years. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before Hamas carried out its deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the ongoing brutal war in Gaza. Israel had accused Arouri, 57, of masterminding attacks against it in the West Bank, where he was the group's top commander. In 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury dubbed Arouri a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, offering $5 million for information about him.
Arouri's killing raises tensions in the already volatile Middle East with Israel's ongoing ground offensive in Gaza, daily exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters, and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacking ships passing through the Red Sea. On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed nine Hezbollah members, including a local commander, in one of the highest death tolls for the group since the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border began on Oct. 8. Since then, Hezbollah has lost 143 fighters.
On Thursday, an airstrike on the Iraqi capital Baghdad killed a high-ranking commander of an Iran-backed group. The group accused the U.S. of being behind the attack. An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't permitted to speak publicly, confirmed that the U.S. military carried out the strike. In a speech Wednesday evening, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah promised revenge, repeating his group's statement that "this dangerous crime" of Arouri's killing will not go "without response and without punishment." But he specified neither when or how this would happen. Nasrallah said Hezbollah had so far been careful in its strategic calculus in the conflict, balancing "the need to support Gaza and to take into account Lebanese national interests." But if the Israelis launch a war on Lebanon, the group is ready for a "fight without limits."
"They will regret it," he said. "It will be very, very, very costly."

Video/A Final Farewell - Celebrating the Life & Career of Mohamad Chatah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIM1-fv0j-4
Footage from the ten year commemoration marking Mohamad Chatah's assassination, held at Sursock Museum on 27 December 2023.
A tribute to his life and career, from speakers including talk Denise Rahme, Tarek Mitri, Sami Haddad, Raya El Hassan, Jihad Azour, Bechara Khairallah and Albert Kostanian.
With a parting quote by Mohamad Chatah.
Make sure to watch 'TEN YEARS' that premiered during the commemoration:
• TEN YEARS - A tribute to Mohamad Chatah
0:00 Intro
0:53 Denise Rahme
7:33 Tarek Mitri
16:06 Sami Haddad
20:25 Raya El Hassan
29:43 Jihad Azour
37:53 Bechara Khairallah
44:23 Albert Kostanian
55:07 Ronnie Chatah

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 05-06/2024
Blinken heads to Mideast as fears of regional conflict surge
Associated Press/January 06, 2024
As the Biden administration grapples with an increasingly tense and unstable situation in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the region this weekend for the fourth time in three months on a tour expected to focus largely on easing resurgent fears that the Israel-Hamas war could erupt into a broader conflict. With international criticism of Israel's operations in Gaza mounting, growing U.S. concerns about the end game, and more immediate worries about a recent explosion in attacks in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, Blinken will have a packed and difficult agenda. He leaves just days after a suspected Israeli attack killed a senior Hamas leader in Beirut and, while a White House spokesman said "nobody should be shedding a tear" over his death, it could further complicate Blinken's mission. "We don't expect every conversation on this trip to be easy," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. "There are obviously tough issues facing the region and difficult choices ahead. But the secretary believes it is the responsibility of the United States of America to lead diplomatic efforts to tackle those challenges head on, and he's prepared to do that in the days to come."Blinken leaves late Thursday on his latest extended Mideast tour, which will take him to Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt.
Apart from Gaza-specific priorities he will bring to Israel — including pressing for a dramatic increase in humanitarian aid to Gaza, a shift toward less intense military operations and a concerted effort to rein in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank by Jewish settlers — Blinken will be seeking regional assistance in calming the situation. "It is in no one's interest, not Israel's, not the region's, not the world's, for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza," Miller said. The key elements to preventing this will be deterring attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on commercial Red Sea shipping, deterring attacks on Israel by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and deterring attacks on U.S. military facilities and interests by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. Yet, U.S. influence with Iran is minimal and it must rely either on its own military deterrence or on partners to make the case with Iran that a regional war would be catastrophic. "Strategically, Iran is winning," said Paul Salem, head of the Washington-based Middle East Institute. He said Hezbollah and the overall network of Iranian-allied groups are pleased with what the current level of hostilities has achieved. "Iran is sitting pretty," he said. "It doesn't need to do anything dramatic. It is kind of on the winning side."
Since the Gaza war erupted with Israel's response to the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, the Biden administration has been seriously concerned about a potential spread in the conflict.
It had breathed a sigh of relief in the weeks following the start of the the Israeli operation, when it successfully counseled Israeli officials not to mount pre-emptive strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean to serve as a deterrent.
Two and a half months later, though, the chances of a regional war have increased with Israel determined to strike Hamas operatives and leaders no matter where they are. Meanwhile, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and pro-Iran militias have been stepping up attacks on U.S., Israeli and international interests.
As with his previous Mideast visits, Blinken will be concentrating on expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza, pressing Israel to minimize civilian Palestinian casualties, pushing for the release of hostages held by Hamas and stressing the importance of planning for the administration of a postwar Gaza.
But, his agenda has been clouded by recent developments, including a drone strike attributed to Israel that killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh Arouri in Beirut's southern suburbs, explosions in Iran that targeted a memorial service for U.S.-assassinated Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Suleimani, a drone attack on a pro-Iranian Iraqi militia group in Baghdad and U.S. and allied responses to Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. For example, the first speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the Israel-Hamas war, nearly a month into the conflict, was widely seen by analysts as telegraphing that his group had no interest in engaging in a full-on war with Israel. On Wednesday, however, following the killing of Arouri, Nasrallah took a more belligerent tone and appeared to be making a case to the Lebanese people that a wider war might be necessary.
Nasrallah said Hezbollah had so far calibrated between "the need to support Gaza and to take into account Lebanese national interests," which have limited its military involvement. But he said in the event that "war is launched on us, then Lebanese national interests require that we take the war to the end, without limits."On Thursday, an armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a "couple of miles" of U.S. Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Iran-backed militia group to cease the attacks or face potential military action. And, in Baghdad on Thursday, a U.S. airstrike on the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia killed a high-ranking commander, identified as Abu Taqwa, with the Popular Mobilization Force, or PMF. A U.S. defense official said Taqwa was targeted because he was actively involved in attacks on U.S. personnel. An Iraqi military spokesman, Yehia Rasool, said the Iraqi army blames the U.S.-led International Coalition Forces for the "unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body operating in accordance with the powers granted to it by" the Iraqi military. The primary mission of the U.S.-led coalition is to fight the Islamic State, the Sunni group that many believe was behind Wednesday's bombing in Iran.

Diplomatic push to halt Gaza war spillover
ARAB NEWS/January 06, 2024
JEDDAH: The US and EU’s top diplomats arrived in the Middle East on Friday in a renewed diplomatic push to prevent Israel’s war on Gaza from spilling over to the occupied West Bank and Lebanon. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the West Bank during a week-long tour that will take in Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt and Greece. “It is in no one’s interest, not Israel’s, not the region’s, not the world’s, for this conflict to spread beyond Gaza,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We don’t expect every conversation on this trip to be easy.”
Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, was in Lebanon on Friday to discuss the situation at the Israeli border. As he arrived, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the Iran-backed militia had conducted about670 military operations on the border with Israel since Oct. 8, and had destroyed many Israeli military vehicles. The diplomatic flurry comes almost three months after Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel, triggering a retaliatory offensive that has has killed 22,600 Palestinians and devastated the enclave. Israeli planes and tanks intensified attacks on Friday on the densely populated areas of Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij and Al-Nusseirat in the center of Gaza. More than 160 people were killed in 24 hours. Four others were killed in an airstrike on a street in Al-Nusseirat, and further south, to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced, six were killed in a strike on Khan Younis.
“The Israeli government claims democracy and humanity, but is inhumane,” Abdel Razek Abu Sinjar said as he cried over the shrouded bodies of his wife and children, killed in an airstrike on his house in Rafah on the border with Egypt. There was renewed shelling near Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, and aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres said its workers were cornered in southern Gaza and prevented from providing desperately needed help. In Jabalia in northern Gaza, which has been heavily bombed, people picked their way through ruined streets filled with sewage and garbage. Hunger and deadly diseases are spreading. The World Health Organization said hospitals and other medical infrastructure in Gaza had been attacked nearly 600 times since the conflict erupted. About 613 people had died in health facilities, it said. The war has also stoked violence in the occupied West Bank. A 17-year-old boy was killed and four other Palestinians wounded by Israeli army gunfire in the town of Beit Rima. About 300 Palestinians have died in the West Bank since the war began.

US offers $10 million for Hamas financial information
REUTERS/January 06, 2024
WASHINGTON D.C.: The US is offering up to $10 million for information on five Hamas financiers or anything leading to the disruption of the Palestinian militant group's financial mechanisms, the State Department said on Friday.
The reward offering follows four rounds of US sanctions on Hamas after the group's deadly incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, which Israel says killed 1,200 people. Israel's subsequent military retaliation in Gaza has killed 22,600 people, local health officials say, and left much of the enclave in ruins. The five are Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Khair, Amer Kamal Sharif Alshawa, Ahmed Sadu Jahleb, Walid Mohammed Mustafa Jadallah, and Muhammad Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Dayim Nasrallah, who have all been previously designated global terrorists by the US, the department said in a statement. The first financier, known as Hamza, is based in Sudan, has managed numerous companies in Hamas’ investment portfolio and was involved in the transfer of almost $20 million to Hamas, the department said. He is tied to Sudanese President Omar Bashir and Islamist groups undermining stability in Sudan, according to the State Department.

Israeli minister lays out post-war Gaza plan as fighting rages
AFP/January 05, 2024
The Israeli army said its forces had “struck over 100 targets” across Gaza over the past 24 hours The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said it had recorded 162 deaths also over the past 24 hours
Jerusalem: Israel’s defense minister has publicly presented for the first time proposals for the post-war administration of Gaza, where officials said Friday unrelenting bombardment has killed dozens over 24 hours. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s plan for the “day after,” shared with the media late Thursday but not yet adopted by Israel’s war cabinet, says that neither Israel nor Hamas will govern Gaza and rejects future Jewish settlements there. The minister’s broad outline was unveiled on the eve of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s fourth trip to the region since a Hamas attack on October 7 triggered the war. Questions over the future of the besieged Palestinian territory have multiplied as Israel insists it will continue with its military operations despite international calls for a cease-fire. Much of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble, while civilian deaths have soared and the UN has warned of a humanitarian crisis that has left hundreds of thousands displaced, facing famine and disease. Bombing continued through the night in the southern areas of Khan Yunis and Rafah as well as parts of central Gaza, according to AFP correspondents.
The Israeli army said its forces had “struck over 100 targets” across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including military positions, rocket launch sites and weapons depots. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said it had recorded 162 deaths also over the past 24 hours.
A fighter jet hit the central area of Bureij overnight, killing “an armed terrorist cell,” the army said, after what it described in a statement as an attempted attack on an Israeli tank. And “a number” of Palestinian militants were killed in clashes in Khan Yunis, a major city in southern Gaza that has become the focus of the fighting, the army said. According to Gallant’s proposed outline, the war will continue until Israel has dismantled Hamas’s “military and governing capabilities” and secured the return of hostages. After Israel achieves its objectives — for which the proposal sets no timeline — Palestinian “civil committees” will begin assuming control of the territory’s governance, it said. “Hamas will not govern Gaza, (and) Israel will not govern Gaza’s civilians,” the plan said, while offering little concrete detail. “Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel.”
Israel launched its campaign against Hamas after the militant group’s October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The militants also took around 250 hostages, 132 of whom remain in captivity, according to Israel, including at least 24 believed to have been killed.
Israel’s relentless bombardment and ground invasion have killed at least 22,600 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Conditions for Gaza’s civilians are precarious, with the United Nations estimating 1.9 million people are displaced. AFPTV footage showed entire families, seeking safety from the violence, arriving in the southern border city of Rafah in overloaded cars and on foot, pushing handcarts stacked with possessions. “We fled Jabalia camp to Maan (in Khan Yunis) and now we are fleeing from Maan to Rafah,” said one woman who declined to give her name. “(We have) no water, no electricity and no food.” A spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, told AFP that Rafah is overwhelmed by the influx. “The city is usually home to only 250,000 persons. And now, it’s more than 1.3 million,” said Adnan Abu Hasna. “We have recently noticed a major collapse in health conditions” and a “significant spread” of disease, he added. Ahmad Al-Sufi, head of the Rafah emergency committee said there was an urgent need for 50,000 tents to house the refugees. At Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, one of Gaza’s few medical facilities still operating, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said seven displaced people, including a five-day-old baby, were killed while sheltering in the compound. Dozens more were killed in nearby strikes during three days of bombardment, the Red Crescent said, reporting renewed artillery shelling and drone fire in the area on Friday.During his visit, Blinken plans to discuss with Israeli leaders “immediate measures to increase substantially humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Germany’s top diplomat Annalena Baerbock will also travel to the region, foreign ministry spokesman said, beginning Sunday in Israel and also meeting with Palestinian leaders. She plans to discuss “the dramatic humanitarian situation in Gaza” and tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, spokesman Sebastian Fischer said. Aid entering the besieged territory has slowed to a trickle during the war. The UN’s humanitarian office OCHA said on Thursday that it had been unable to deliver “urgently needed life-saving” aid north of Wadi Gaza — an area including Gaza City — for four days “due to access delays and denials” and active fighting. The war in Gaza and almost daily exchanges of fire across the border since October 7 have threatened to draw Israel’s northern neighbor into a regional conflagration. A strike on Tuesday in Lebanon, widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh Al-Aruri. It hit the south Beirut stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. Hezbollah has vowed that the killing on its home turf will not go unpunished, while Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said troops on the border were “in very high readiness.” Israel’s military said on Friday its fighter jets had conducted fresh strikes against Hezbollah targets just across the border in Lebanon. The frequent bombardments has driven 76,000 people from their homes on the Lebanese side of the border, the UN’s migration agency said on Thursday. Israel evacuated thousands of its civilians from the border area in the early weeks of the war.

Heavy fighting continues as UN official says Gaza has become 'uninhabitable'
The Associated Press/January 5, 2024
At least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says several thousand Hamas fighters remain in northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been blasted into rubble. Heavy fighting is also underway in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli officials say Hamas’ military structure is still largely intact.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' humanitarian chief says Gaza has become “uninhabitable” and “a public health disaster is unfolding.”
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and some 250 others were taken hostage. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Currently:
— Hezbollah leader says his group must retaliate for suspected Israeli strike in Beirut.
— Families in Gaza search desperately for food and water.
— Israeli defense minister lays out vision for next steps of Gaza war.
— Blinken heads to the Mideast again as fears of regional conflict surge.
— Israel’s Mossad chief vows to hunt down Hamas members.
— Find more of AP's coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here's what's happening in the war:
ISRAELI MILITARY TO INVESTIGATE FAILURES CONNECTED TO OCT. 7 ATTACK
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is preparing an investigation into failures connected with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the ongoing war against the Islamic militant group. The army’s chief spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Friday that the military is still planning the investigation. But he said it would include a look at the chain of command, decision making and former officials. He said the investigation aims “to improve the army” and is not meant to replace any future external investigations. On Oct. 7, several thousand Hamas militants stormed across the border and invaded nearly two dozen Israeli communities and army bases, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. It was the worst such attack in Israel’s history. Israeli military, intelligence and political leaders have come under heavy criticism for being caught off guard. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far rejected calls for an investigation, saying the government must focus on the war and answer questions later. The public broadcaster Kan reported earlier that a Security Cabinet meeting late Thursday broke up after four hard-line Cabinet minister shouted at the army’s commander in chief because they opposed his plans for the investigation.
UNAUTHORIZED JEWISH SETTLEMENTS HAVE INCREASED, WATCHDOG GROUP SAYS
JERUSALEM — With the world’s attention focused on the war in Gaza, Jewish settlers have quietly established an unprecedented number of unauthorized outposts in the occupied West Bank, according to a new report from Peace Now, an Israeli watchdog group. The report found that settlers have built nine unauthorized settlement outposts since the start of the war. The group estimates it’s the largest number of settlements built over a three-month time frame since outposts began to be established in the 1990s. Most of the new outposts are primitive. Most consist of only a few tents and an Israeli flag, the report said. But many such outposts have evolved into more permanent developments over the years, often with tacit government support. Israel’s government is dominated by supporters of the settler movement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline settler leader, holds special authority over settlement planning. The report said the outposts sit in parts of the West Bank that are under full Israeli control according to interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Israel says the territory is disputed and the fate of the settlements should be resolved in negotiations. The international community considers all settlements illegal. “The three months of war in Gaza are being exploited by settlers to establish facts on the ground,” the report said. Some 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements in addition to 200,000 others in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek both areas, captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of a future state.
GAZA HAS BECOME ‘UNINHABITABLE,’ U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF SAYS
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations humanitarian chief says Gaza has become “uninhabitable” three months after Hamas’ horrific attacks against Israel and “a public health disaster is unfolding.”Martin Griffiths said in a statement Friday that “people are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner.”And Gazans are “witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on,” he said. The U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet, and areas where Palestinians were told to relocate have been bombed. The few partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies, infectious diseases are spreading, and amidst the chaos some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth every day, he said. Griffiths reiterated U.N. demands for an immediate end to the war and the release of all hostages, declaring, “It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen.” He said the humanitarian community is facing an “impossible mission” of supporting more than 2 million people in Gaza while aid workers are killed, communications blackouts continue, roads are damaged, truck convoys are shot at, and vital commercial supplies “are almost non-existent.”
Gaza has shown “the worst of humanity,” Griffiths said, and it’s long past time for the war to end.
FRANCE AND JORDAN AIRDROP MEDICAL AID INTO GAZA
PARIS — France announced that a French and a Jordanian military transport aircraft airdropped 7 metric tons (7.7 tons) of medical aid to a Gaza Strip field hospital during a joint operation. “The humanitarian situation remains critical in Gaza,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday on X, formerly Twitter. “In a difficult context, France and Jordan delivered aid to the population and to those who are helping them.” The operation overnight Thursday to Friday was meant to deliver medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital of the southern city of Khan Younis. The airdrop, a first from a Western country in the Gaza strip, had been agreed during Macron’s recent visit to Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah II last month, the French presidency said. Both C-130 planes had French and Jordanian troops onboard as the operation was closely coordinated, the French presidency said. In November, Jordan already airdropped some medical aid to another field hospital the country is operating in the city of Gaza. The airdrop comes in addition to over 1,000 metric tons (1,100 tons) of humanitarian aid sent by France to the Gaza civilian population since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in October, including emergency medical kits and medical supplies, highly nutritious food, shelters and family kits. The French foreign ministry said this week that a ship carrying 350 metric tons (385 tons) of food is expected to arrive in Port Said, in Egypt, on Monday as part of the U.N. World Food Program’s efforts to provide aid to Gaza civilians. Another ship with a similar shipment left the French port of Le Havre this week.
UNICEF SAYS NUTRITION NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN ARE UNMET IN GAZA
JERUSALEM — The U.N. children’s agency says most young children and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are not able to meet their basic nutrition needs. Only a trickle of humanitarian aid has entered the Palestinian territory Oct. 7, when Hamas’ deadly attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Fewer than 200 aid trucks enter each day, less than half the prewar level, and aid groups say the fighting hinders distribution. A survey by UNICEF released Friday found that 90% of children under age 2 are eating two or fewer food groups each day, mainly bread or milk. A quarter of pregnant women said they only eat from one food group per day. U.N. officials previously said that one in four Gazans were enduring famine-like levels of starvation. UNICEF says cases of diarrhea among children under 5 have risen from 48,000 to 71,000, an indication of poor nutrition. Normally, only 2,000 cases of diarrhea are reported each month in the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities say there is enough food in the territory, and that they have taken the necessary steps to allow aid in, blaming any shortages on U.N. bodies. U.N. officials say aid operations are hindered by the Israeli inspections, as well as fighting and road closures within the territory, and have long been calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.
ISRAELI ALLY GERMANY PRESSES FOR BETTER PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS IN GAZA
BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister is insisting ahead of a trip to the Middle East that “Israel must do more for the protection of the civilian population” in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Annalena Baerbock reiterated staunch ally Germany’s solidarity for Israel in its fight against “blind terror” and underlined its right to defend itself. But she called for more “humanitarian pauses” and said Friday that “peace can’t be won if the prospect of a life in dignity dries up, if Gaza is uninhabitable after the war.”Baerbock said there must be no postwar occupation of the Gaza Strip, no expulsion of Palestinians and no reduction of the territory’s size, but “at the same time there must no longer be any danger to Israel from the Gaza Strip.” The minister is due to depart Sunday on a trip to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Lebanon.
6 KILLED IN APPARENT ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE ON SOUTHERN GAZA HOME
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — At least six people were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. Officials at the local morgue say the strike occurred late Thursday, just before midnight. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crammed into Rafah, one of the areas where Israel has told people to seek refuge. But Israeli forces continue to strike all parts of the besieged territory. Sohad al-Derbashi, whose sister was killed in the strike, said, “They were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with what is going on.” She says the man who was the apparent target of the strike was a civil servant in the Hamas-run government and not a fighter. Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. Some 1.9 million people, about 85% of Gaza’s population, have fled their homes, and U.N. officials say one in four Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine-like starvation. The war was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and around 250 were taken hostage.
SOUTHERN ISRAELI COMMUNITY SAYS ONE OF ITS RESIDENTS HAS DIED IN CAPTIVITY
JERUSALEM — A community that was attacked during Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel says one of its residents, who was taken hostage, has died in captivity. The Kibbutz Nir Oz community did not give a cause of death Friday for Tamir Adar, 38. Of some 250 people captured during Hamas' attack, around 80 were taken from Nir Oz alone, out of a population of around 400. Tamir's grandmother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, was also abducted by militants that day. She was among more than 100 hostages released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. The Israeli government says militants are still holding 113 hostages, including 19 women and two children under the age of 5, as well as the bodies of 24 others. Hamas has said it will not release any more hostages until Israel ends its military offensive and withdraws from Gaza. Israel has vowed to crush the militant group and return all the captives.
IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER CONDEMNS US STRIKE ON A HIGH-RANKING MILITIA COMMANDER
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Friday condemned the United States' strike in central Baghdad that killed a high-ranking militia commander as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. He reiterated recent calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. A U.S. defense official confirmed Thursday that U.S. forces carried out the strike, saying that Abu Taqwa was targeted because he was actively involved in attacks on U.S. personnel. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, a group of Iranian-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The group has said the attacks are in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel and that they aim to push U.S. forces out of Iraq. Sudani said Friday that the U.S. had bypassed the Iraqi government, which is “the body authorized to impose the law.” He added that the Popular Mobilization Force “represent an official presence affiliated with the state … and an integral part of our armed forces” and that “attacks targeting our security forces go beyond the spirit and letter of the mandate that created the international coalition,” referring to a U.S.-led coalition that assisted in the fight against the Islamic State militant group and maintains forces in Iraq. He said his government is following up on procedures that would end in the coalition’s withdrawal from Iraq.

Families in Gaza search desperately for food and water, wait in long lines for aid
MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) /January 5, 2024
Stranded in a corner of southern Gaza, members of the Abu Jarad family are clinging to a strict survival routine. They fled their comfortable three-bedroom home in northern Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly three months ago. The 10-person family now squeezes into a 16-square meter (172-square foot) tent on a garbage-strewn sandy plot, part of a sprawling encampment of displaced Palestinians. Every family member is assigned daily tasks, from collecting twigs to build a fire for cooking, to scouring the city’s markets for vegetables. But their best efforts can’t mask their desperation.
At night “dogs are hovering over the tents,” said Awatif Abu Jarad, an older member of the family. “We are living like dogs!”Palestinians seeking refuge in southern Gaza say every day has become a struggle to find food, water, medicine and working bathrooms. All the while, they live in fear of Israeli airstrikes and the growing threat of illnesses. Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, now in its 13th week, have pushed almost all Palestinians toward the southern city of Rafah along the Egyptian border. The area had a prewar population of around 280,000, a figure that has bulged to over 1 million in recent days, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
Rafah’s apartment blocks are crammed with people, often extended families who have opened their doors to displaced relatives. West of the city, thousands of nylon tents have sprung up. Thousands more people are sleeping in the open, despite the cool and often rainy winter weather.
Most of northern Gaza is now under the control of the Israeli army, which early in the war urged Palestinians to evacuate to the south. As the war progressed, more evacuation orders were issued for areas in the south, forcing Palestinian civilians to crowd into ever smaller spaces, including Rafah and a nearby sliver of land called Muwasi. Even these purportedly safe spaces are often hit by airstrikes and shelling. The war broke out on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 240 others. The fighting has killed over 22,400 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. According to Nouman, Awatif’s brother, the conflict drove the family the entire length of Gaza. They fled their home in the northern border town of Beit Hanoun on the first day of the war and stayed with a relative in the nearby town of Beit Lahia. Six days later, the intensity of Israeli strikes in the border area sent them south to Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. As people started to evacuate the hospital two days later, they traveled to the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in central Gaza, making the 10-kilometer (6-mile) journey on foot. They stayed in a cramped U.N. school building in Nuseirat for over two months, but left on Dec. 23 as the Israeli army turned its focus toward Hamas targets in central Gaza refugee camps.
They escaped to Muwasi on Dec. 23, believing it was the safest option. On the first night, they slept out in the open. Then they bought nylon and wood in a Rafah market to build a tent.
Nouman, an accountant, sleeps on the nylon-covered floor with his wife, sister, six daughters and one grandchild. They sleep on their sides to conserve space.
He said the tent cost 1,000 shekels, about $276. “It is completely crazy,” he said. In Rafah's demand-driven war economy, larger pre-built family tents now range from $800 to $1,400. The family's hardship begins at 5 a.m. Nouman said his first job is to start a small fire to cook breakfast, while his wife and daughters knead dough for flatbread and then wash their utensils and metal cooking griddle. After eating, their attention turns to fetching water and food, tasks that take up most of the daylight hours. Nouman said he and several of his younger relatives collect jugs of water from one of the public pipes nearby, water that is exclusively used for washing and not suitable for drinking. Next, they head to one of the dozens of drinking water tankers dotted across the city, where they wait in line for hours. A gallon of drinking water costs one shekel, or 28 cents. Some, so desperate for cash, wait in line just to sell their space.
After the water is fetched, family members move between several open markets to hunt for vegetables, flour and canned food for that evening's meal. Meanwhile, Nouman busies himself with scouring the ground for twigs and bits of wood to make a fire. Food prices have soared. Gaza is facing acute food and medicine shortages and is dependent largely on aid and supplies that trickle in through two crossings, one Egyptian and one Israeli, and what has been grown in the recent harvest. More than half a million people in Gaza — roughly a quarter of the population — are starving, the United Nations said in late December.
Dalia Abu Samhadana, a young mother sheltering with her uncle's family in a crowded house of 20 in Rafah, says the only food staples at her local market are tomatoes, onions, eggplants, oranges and flour. All are virtually unaffordable.
A 25-kilogram (55-pound) bag of flour before Oct. 7 cost around $10. Since then it has fluctuated between $40 and $100. “My money has almost run out,” said Abu Samhadana, unsure of how she will be able to feed her daughter.
Displaced Palestinians in Rafah are entitled to free aid if they register with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, which hands out flour, blankets, and medical supplies at 14 spots across southern Gaza. They often spend hours in line waiting for the aid to be distributed.
Abu Samhadana, who is originally from the nearby southern town of Khan Younis, said she has tried to register for free aid several times but has been turned away due to the lack of available supplies.
The U.N. agency is simply overwhelmed and is already providing support to 1.8 million people in Gaza, according to Juliette Touma, its communications director. She said she did not know if the agency had stopped registering new aid seekers.
With few options left, some hungry Palestinians in Rafah have resorted to grabbing packages from aid trucks as they pass by. The U.N. refugee agency confirmed that some supplies of aid had been snatched from moving trucks but did not provide any details. Hamas police escorting aid trucks from border crossings to U.N. warehouses have been seen beating people, mostly teenagers, as they try to grab what they can. In some cases, they have fired shots into the air. In one incident, a 13-year-old boy was killed when Hamas police opened fire.
Meanwhile, health officials warn of the growing spread of diseases, especially among children. The World Health Organization has reported tens of thousands of cases of upper respiratory infections, diarrhea, lice, scabies, chickenpox, skin rashes and meningitis in U.N. shelters. The rapid spread of disease is mainly due to overcrowding and poor hygiene caused by a lack of toilets and water for washing. The Abu Jarad family dug its own makeshift toilet attached to the tent to avoid communal bathrooms. Still, the family is vulnerable to disease.
“My granddaughter is 10 months old, and since the day we came to this place, she has been suffering from weight loss and diarrhea,” said Majeda, Nouman's wife.
Going to the pharmacy offers little help. "We can't find any (suitable) medicines available,” she said.
*Mohammed Jahjouh And Jack Jeffery, The Associated Press

France and Jordan airdrop aid to Gaza
AFP/January 06, 2024
PARIS: France and Jordan teamed up to airdrop seven tons of aid to civilians and aid workers in Gaza, President Emmanuel Macron said Friday, as Israel continued to bomb the Palestinian territory. “In a difficult context, France and Jordan delivered aid by air to the population and those aiding them,” Macron wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “The humanitarian situation remains critical in Gaza” after three months of conflict, he added. The French leader posted a photograph of an airman standing on the cargo ramp of a military plane, with parachutes visible in the sky below. Macron’s office said the “extremely complex operation” took place late Thursday, saying it had been made possible by close ties between the French and Jordanian militaries. Each nation sent a C-130 transport plane with mixed French-Jordanian crews, bringing a total of seven tons of “humanitarian and health” aid, the presidency said. At least 22,600 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s response to the October 7 attack by militant group Hamas, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million Gazans — 85 percent of the pre-war population — have been displaced, with hundreds of thousands risking famine and most hospitals out of action. There are serious shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding deliveries of humanitarian aid. In Gaza, “a quarter of the population is (facing) catastrophic levels of hunger,” World Food Programme chief economist Arif Husain told the New Yorker on Wednesday. The supplies dropped by France and Jordan were equipped with systems that remotely guided them to a Jordanian field hospital operating in the territory, the French presidency said. Thursday’s mission “allows us to show that such operations are possible,” the Elysee added, without saying whether it would be repeated.

Iran arrests 11 suspects over bomb blasts, mourners demand revenge
AP/January 05, 2024
KERMAN, Iran: Iranian authorities said on Friday that security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in two bomb blasts that killed nearly 100 people at a memorial service for a slain military commander. Daesh has claimed responsibilty for the attacks in Kerman, southeastern Iran, on Wednesday. Iran’s intelligence ministry said in a statement security forces detained two people for providing support to the two suicide bombers in Kerman and nine others based in other parts of Iran who were suspected of links to the incident. The bombings were the deadliest such attacks in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. As victims were buried on Friday, mourners wept over their coffins and crowds chanted “revenge, revenge,” state TV showed. Nearly 100 people were killed in the blasts at a memorial service for military commander General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in Iraq in 2020 by a US drone. The explosions took place amid a tense mood in the region as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza neared the three-month mark. The Intelligence Ministry said its agents seized explosive devices and raw material, explosive vests, remote-control devices, detonators and thousand of pellets used in explosive vests. One of the suicide bombers was identified as a Tajik national, it said. Daesh said on Thursday two of its members had detonated explosive belts in the crowd that had gathered for Soleimani’s memorial. “We will find you wherever you are,” Revolutionary Guards commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said at the funeral in Kerman’s Imam Ali religious center. President Ebrahim Raisi said in a televised address. “Our forces will decide on the place and time to take action.” In 2022, Daesh claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite shrine in Iran that killed 15 people, while earlier attacks claimed by Daesh include twin bombings in 2017 that targeted Iran’s parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

US intelligence confirms Islamic State's Afghanistan branch behind Iran blasts -sources
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Fri, January 5, 2024
Communications intercepts collected by the United States confirmed that Islamic State’s (ISIS) Afghanistan-based branch carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people, two sources familiar with the intelligence told Reuters on Friday. "The intelligence is clear-cut and indisputable," one source said. That source and a second, both of whom requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, said the intelligence comprised communications intercepts, without providing further details. The collection of the intercepts has not been previously reported. Wednesday's bombings, the deadliest of their kind in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, added to regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and attacks by Yemen's Tehran-aligned Houthi group on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. ISIS on Thursday claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying two operatives wearing explosive suicide belts staged the attack during a memorial service for Qassem Soleimani, a senior military commander assassinated in Iraq in a 2020 U.S. drone strike. The Sunni Muslim militant group, however, did not specify that its Afghanistan-based affiliate, known as ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), was responsible for the bombings in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman. “The U.S. has pretty clear intel” that ISIS-K conducted the attack, the first source said. The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment. ISIS harbors a virulent hatred for Shi'ites -- Iran's dominant sect and targets of its affiliate's attacks in Afghanistan -- who it views as apostates. ISIS claimed responsibility for a 2022 attack on a Shi'ite shrine in Iran that killed 15 people and 2017 bombings that hit the parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Iran on Friday said security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in Wednesday's attack and had seized explosive devices and vests. While Taliban crackdowns have weakened ISIS-K and prompted some members to leave Afghanistan for neighboring countries, the affiliate has continued focusing on plotting foreign operations, U.S. officials say.

Ukraine special forces launch daring raid inside Russia
The Telegraph/Fri, January 5, 2024
Operatives from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency launched a daring cross-border raid into Russia, it was claimed on Friday. They were said to have inflicted an undisclosed number of losses on Russian forces in the frontier region of Belgorod, according to a post by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency on Telegram. Video footage, shot from a helmet camera, shows Ukrainian troops mining a road in the Grayvoron district that was said to have been inspected by Russian commanders because of poor conditions in the area. At one point, an exchange of gunfire can be seen as Kyiv’s troops move through a heavily-wooded area. There have been several cross-border incursions into Russia since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. The most notable was a raid by a Kyiv-backed Russian opposition group, which involved Western armoured vehicles, in May last year.

Ukraine just got a new Western air-defense system meant to wipe out Russian drones by firing 1,000 rounds per minute
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/Fri, January 5, 2024
Ukraine on Thursday received a new Western air-defense system, German authorities said. The German-made system, Skynex, can fire up to 1,000 bullets a minute, its developer says. It could prove vital to countering short-range Russian aerial attacks. Ukraine has just received a new Western air-defense system designed to wipe out Russian drones by firing 1,000 bullets a minute. The German federal government announced the delivery of the German-made air-defense system, Oerlikon Skynex, on Thursday as part of its latest aid package to Ukraine. The system is designed to defend against aircraft, cruise missiles, and certain types of drones, among other things. Some of the significant components of the system are a "sensor package, a shooter package, and a command-and-control package," a video posted on YouTube by its developer, the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, says. TAR3D target-acquisition radar, capable of identifying aerial threats within a 31-mile range, the video says. It can classify and identify air targets and provides "3D target-tracking data," it adds. Depending on the attack, up to four Mk3 revolver guns can be activated, according to Rheinmetall. The Mk3 revolver gun can fire up to 1,000 rounds of ammunition a minute at aerial threats, the German manufacturer added. The guns are equipped with tracking radars, TV and infrared cameras, and laser range finders, hitting targets up to about 2.5 miles away. Mk3 revolver guns, part of the Skynex system.Qatari Ministry of Defense. The system comes with Ahead technology, a type of airburst 35 mm ammunition. "Each Ahead round contains 152 tungsten sub-projectiles which are ejected immediately in front of the oncoming target," the manufacturer says on its website. "It can be fitted to any suitable automatic cannon and then successfully engage small, fast aerial targets with a high kill probability," it adds. The Skynex system is also likely cheaper than some other air-defense systems. In a press release in December 2022, Rheinmetall said it was supplying two Skynex air-defense systems worth about 182 million euros, or nearly $200 million, to an international partner.

Evacuation orders for S. Korean islands as N. Korea fires over 200 artillery shells
France 24 France 24/January 5, 2024
North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near two South Korean islands on Friday, prompting evacuation orders for their residents, Seoul's defence ministry and local officials said. The live firing follows repeated warnings from Kim Jong Un's regime in Pyongyang that it is prepared for war against South Korea and its US ally. "The North Korean military conducted over 200 rounds of firing today from around 09:00 to 11:00 (1200 to 0200 GMT) in the areas of Jangsan-got in the northern part of Baengnyeong Island and the northern areas... of Yeonpyeong Island," a defence ministry official said at a briefing. Yeonpyeong local officials told AFP that civilians had been told to evacuate, describing the order as a "preventative measure".South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island is situated in the Yellow Sea. It is located approximately 80 kilometres west of Incheon and 12 kilometres south of the coastline of Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Authorities on Baengnyeong Island also reported an evacuation order there. We are making the evacuation announcements at the moment," a local district official at the Baengnyeong Island told AFP, adding that he had been told the South Korean military would conduct a naval drill shortly. Pyongyang fired a barrage of 170 artillery shells onto Yeonpyeong island in November 2010, killing four people including two civilians in the first North Korean attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War. In 2023, the North successfully launched a reconnaissance satellite, after receiving what Seoul claimed was help from Russia in exchange for arms transfers for Ukraine.

Shipping giant diverts all Red Sea vessels amid Houthi attacks
ARAB NEWS/January 06, 2024
JEDDAH: Shipping container giant Maersk on Friday diverted all its vessels from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa amid continuing attacks on maritime traffic by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. The Danish company, which controls about a sixth of global container trade, said the diversion would remain place “for the foreseeable future,” and warned its customers to expect “significant disruption to the global network.”It said: “The situation is constantly evolving and remains highly volatile, and all available intelligence at hand confirms that the security risk continues to be at a significantly elevated level.”The trip round Africa can add about 10 days to journey times and requires more fuel and crew-time, significantly increasing shipping costs. The diversion will deepen concerns about a prolonged disruption to the worldwide delivery and supplies of goods from clothing to cars. Houthi militants attacked one of Maersk's container vessels in the Red Sea on Jan. 1, with attackers trying to board the ship. A US-led multinational naval operation to try to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea has been under way since Dec. 19, and India is providing protective escorts to Indian container ships around the waterway. Meanwhile growing regional tension has led to a rebound in the price of oil. Global benchmark Brent crude was up by more than a dollar at $78.76 a barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate rose by $1.62 to $73.82. Both benchmarks recovered from losses on Thursday. The price rebound was “a reminder of the risk that is rooted in ever-growing tension in the Middle East,”analyst Tamas Varga said.Houthis launch sea drone to attack ships hours after US issues final warning
Associated Press
An armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a "couple of miles" of U.S. Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Iran-backed militia group to cease the attacks or face potential military action. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East, said Thursday it was the first time the Houthis had used an unmanned surface vessel, or USV, since their harassment of commercial ships in the Red Sea began after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. They have, however, used them in years past. Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the USV's are a key part of the Houthi maritime arsenal and were used during previous battles against the Saudi coalition forces that intervened in Yemen's war. They have regularly been used as suicide drone boats that explode upon impact. Most of the Houthis' USVs are likely assembled in Yemen but often fitted with components made in Iran, such as computerized guidance systems, Hinz said. At the United Nations, U.S. deputy ambassador Christopher Lu said at a emergency Security Council meeting on Wednesday that Iran has supplied the Houthis with money and advanced weapons systems, including drones, land attack cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. He said Iran also has been deeply involved in planning the Houthis' attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. He said the United States isn't seeking a confrontation with Iran, but Tehran has a choice. "It can continue its current course," Lu said, "or it can withhold its support without which the Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels navigating shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden."
This raises questions as to whether any action against the Houthis would also address Iran's role in any way, which could risk widening the conflict.Wednesday signed by the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom gave the Houthis what a senior Biden administration official described as a final warning.A statement  "Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews," the countries said in the statement. "The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region's critical waterways."Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder would not say whether any military action would follow Thursday's launch of the sea drone.
"I'll let the statement speak for itself, which, again, represented many nations around the world and highlighted that if these strikes don't stop, there will be consequences," Ryder said. Since late October, the Houthis have launched scores of one-way attack drones and missiles at commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea. U.S. Navy warships have also intercepted ballistic missiles the Pentagon says were headed toward Israel. Cooper said a total of 61 missiles and drones have been shot down by U.S. warships. In response to the Houthi attacks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in December announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, with the United States and other countries sending additional ships to the southern Red Sea to provide protection for commercial vessels passing through the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Cooper said 1,500 commercial ships have been able to transit safely since the operation was launched on Dec. 18. However, the Houthis have continued to launch missiles and attack drones, prompting the White House and 12 allies to issue what amounted to a final warning Wednesday to cease their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea or face potential targeted military action. Cooper said Operation Prosperity Guardian was solely defensive in nature and separate from any military action the U.S. might take if the Houthi attacks continue. The U.S., United Kingdom and France are providing most of the warships now, and Greece and Denmark will also be providing vessels, he said.

Sudan’s Burhan says ‘no reconciliation’ with paramilitary RSF
REUTERS/January 5, 2024                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             countries including South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya who received Dagalo as a statesman during visits this week and Sudanese politicians who met him in Ethiopia. “He is humiliating the Sudanese people, he is killing them, insulting them, and some people are clapping for him and laughing with him,” Burhan said. The RSF has faced growing popular resistance in northern Sudan after it last month raided Gezira State and ransacked farming villages. Burhan said he would arm Sudanese people who wanted to fight the RSF and urged them to join the military.

Iraq PM says determined to end presence of US-led coalition
Agence France Presse/January 5, 2024
Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said on Friday he was determined to "put an end" to the international anti-jihadist coalition in his country, after a U.S. strike in Baghdad killed a pro-Iran commander. Sudani, whose government relies on support from Tehran-aligned parties, has repeatedly said in recent weeks he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq. But the latest remarks came amid soaring regional tensions, with the repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war, raging for nearly three months, increasingly felt in Iraq and across the Middle East. A U.S. drone strike on Thursday killed a military commander and another member of Harakat al-Nujaba, a faction of Hashed al-Shaabi -- a collection of mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units now integrated into the Iraqi armed forces. Washington labelled the attack in Iraq's capital an act of self-defense, while Sudani's government decried it as an act of "blatant aggression" on the part of the U.S.-led coalition. The Iraqi premier on Friday "affirmed (his) firm position seeking to put an end to the existence of the international coalition, as the justifications for its existence have ended", according to a statement issued by his office. He said "dialogue" to take place soon would "determine the procedure to end this presence", the statement said. It noted that Sudani was speaking at a commemoration for slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations and was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020. U.S. and other coalition forces in Iraq, deployed since 2014 in the fight against the Islamic State group, have come under regular attacks since fighting erupted on October 7 between Israel and Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas. Washington says there have been more than 100 attacks on its forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria since mid-October. Many have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose US support for Israel in the Gaza war.The United States has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the multinational coalition set up at the height of the Islamic State group's territorial gains. Other partners include France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Baghdad in late 2017 declared victory over the group, but jihadist cells remain in remote areas of northern Iraq and continue to sporadically launch attacks.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 05-06/2024
Western and Arab nations need to take control and develop civil society before elections can take place.
Natan Sharansky and Bassem Eid - WSJ/January 5, 2024
After Hamas's murderous ascent to power in Gaza 15 years ago, we warned in these pages that Israel's strategy for dealing with the Palestinian leadership-one of strengthening dictatorship instead of building civil society-would undermine the prospects for peace.
We each issued similar warnings 30 years ago, after the Oslo Accords, when the free world chose to install Yasser Arafat as dictator over the Palestinian people. At the time, Arafat's absolute power and corruption were considered advantages: The absence of a judiciary and civil society as a check would allow him to stamp out Hamas with an iron fist. That Israel, in concert with Western countries, would deposit tens of millions of dollars into his personal bank account each month would ensure that he would do as his patrons wanted. Or so the theory went.
We both have intimate knowledge of dictatorships. We knew Arafat would never promote peace with Israel because all dictators need an external enemy. Only by mobilizing his people against the Jewish state could Arafat deflect their dissatisfaction with him and retain control.
In the years after Oslo, Arafat destroyed the beginnings of civil society, seized control over the economy, preserved refugee camps as a source of mobilization against Israel, and created an education system geared almost exclusively to promoting hatred of the Jewish state. Nevertheless, Israel remained under permanent pressure to give him and later his successor, Mahmoud Abbas-more territory, money and weapons in the hope that at some point he could serve as Jerusalem's partner in peace.
When Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, its victory resulted as much from Palestinians' hatred of Fatah as from the resurgence of Islamism. But if Palestinians were for Arafat a source of personal power and wealth, for Hamas they were a living shield to protect its subterranean cities of terror. Hospitals and schools became military sites. Hamas used aid from abroad to build its army of shaheeds and the tunnels for them to hide in. While Israelis never hoped Hamas would be "our" dictator, Israel's leaders retained the illusion that with the right combination of carrots and sticks, the radical group would abandon its efforts to destroy the Jewish state.
All such illusions instantly vanished on Oct. 7. And while Israel continues its existential battle to destroy the terrorist regime, discussions have turned to the day after: How can the peace process continue moving forward, and with whom as Israel's partner ?
The answer is that the peace process won't continue moving forward, because it never began in the first place. As for partners, we must stop looking for "our" dictator and abandon the view that it isn't Israel's business what kind of society emerges on the Palestinian side. Some might think it outlandish to speak about democracy now, with Israeli hostages still held captive and Gaza thoroughly ravaged. But Germany and Japan both built democracies on the wreckage of dictatorships. To be sure, everyone in Israel remembers the crowds of Gazans who cheered the Oct. 7 terrorists as they paraded their victims. But one need only compare pictures of Germans demonstrating their loyalty to Hitler in 1943 with pictures from 1945 and 1955 to see that such enthusiasm is fleeting. Expressions of disillusionment with Hamas will increase as soon as Gazans are less fearful of their leaders-and there are signs this is already happening.
What does the "day after" look like for Gaza? There must be elections. But elections in a society that isn't free will have no significance. Arafat, Mr. Abbas and Hamas all had elections after which they killed or removed ev eryone standing in their way.
Instead there must first be a transitional period during which security remains in Israel's hands. Administrative control should pass to a coordinating body of representatives from the West and Arab countries that recognize Israel. Such a body sounded preposterous 20 years ago, when it was first proposed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and only Egypt and Jordan recognized the Jewish state. But today, after the Abraham Accords, more Arab states may be willing to join in the pursuit of a lasting peace.
The mission of this coordinating body should be fourfold. First, it must wholly rebuild the Palestinian education system, purging it of jihadism just as German libraries and schoolbooks were purged of Nazism. Second, it must free the Palestinian economy, respecting the property rights and autonomy of the people. Third, it must destroy the refugee camps, giving their residents normal housing and the chance of a decent life. Finally, it must respect civil-society organizations, granting them the freedom to promote human rights and the rule of law.
Only after this should elections be held. At that point, it would be reasonable to expect that Palestinians, having benefited from the aforementioned reforms, would elect leaders whose priority is their well-being rather than the destruction of Israel.
Some may say this process will take too long-that we need a solution that brings peace now. Consider that shortly after Oslo, one of the accord's main architects objected to Mr. Sharansky's proposal to promote Palestinian civil society on the ground that it would take 30 years to bear fruit, whereas under the government's plan there would be a new Middle East in only a few years. Thirty years have now passed. Palestinian society is less free and democratic than it was then, and we are still nowhere near peace.
We can't say how long the real peace process will take, but it must begin now. If, instead, Israel adopts another short-term solution, 30 years hence it will still be fighting wars and hanging false hopes on another dictator.
Mr. Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician, is chairman of the advisory boards of the Combat Antisemitism Movement and the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. Mr. Eid founded the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group in 1996.

Groups That Support Hamas
John Wilson/Gatestone Institute/January 5, 2024
Surprisingly, by far the largest group supporting Hamas appears to be TikTok.
"Some have argued that there is a constitutional right to TikTok, that banning it would violate Americans' rights under the First Amendment. But the First Amendment surely does not require us to allow social media apps controlled by foreign adversaries to dominate the U.S. market." — US Rep. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, The Free Press, November 2, 2023.
Other groups leading anti-Israel protests reportedly include....
There appears to be more moral rot around than is good for any nation. The US, the UK and countries in Europe that encourage racism and other ways of pitting groups against one another -- which for many now is "Big Business" -- would do well to get rid of all of it, the sooner the better.
Surprisingly, by far the largest group supporting Hamas appears to be the social media app TikTok.
Even before the bodies of roughly 1,200 people in Israel , including dozens of children, were cold after being tortured, raped and massacred on October 7 by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas, not just Palestinians and Arabs, but people in the West could be seen demonstrating in support of the torturers, murderers and rapists. Even the otherwise outraged hashtag women's groups have yet to be heard from, with at least one politician in the US, a woman, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), actually "downplaying" the atrocities and other members of the public denying that they had even happened.
Who are these people and groups supporting a terrorist group, Hamas?
Of course, when it may not appear seemly to support a designated terrorist group, one can always hide behind "supporting Palestinians" although how destroying Israel and killing Jews furthers that goal remains unclear. The people now suffering in Gaza are not doing so because of Israel -- which might with historic justification say that its land has been stolen -- which gave Gaza to the Arabs in 2005 there so they could build a Singapore by the Mediterranean, not terror tunnels. The suffering of the Palestinians comes from their own corrupt leaders (here and here) who have imposed decades of cold-blooded rule.
Surprisingly, by far the largest group supporting Hamas appears to be TikTok. The popular social media app claims about 150 million monthly users -- just in the United States -- about 44% of the population of the entire country. TikTok operates by tracking what you like and then giving you more of it. TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) -- as are, by law, all companies in China – therefore "promotes or suppresses" material presumed to further the interests of the CCP. Many Americans -- and Britons - particularly, young people, apparently now get their news from TikTok -- and what TikTok shows reflects a significant anti-Israel bias. Two other Chinese platforms, Alibaba and Baidu, have already erased Israel from the map.
As US Rep. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, wrote:
"According to a Harvard/Harris poll, 51 percent of Americans ages 18–24 believe Hamas was justified in its brutal terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli citizens on October 7...
"A growing number of Americans rely on it for their news. Today, TikTok is the top search engine for more than half of Gen Z, and about six in ten Americans are hooked on the app before their seventeenth birthday. And it is controlled by America's foremost adversary, one that does not share our interests or our values: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is Chinese, and in China there is no such thing as a private company. As if to underscore the point, ByteDance's chief editor, Zhang Fuping, is also the boss of the company's internal Communist Party cell.
"We know of TikTok's predatory nature because the app has several versions. In China, there is a safely sanitized version called Douyin. That version, using much of the same technology, shows kids science experiments and other educational content, and its use is limited to forty minutes per day... ByteDance and the CCP have decided that China's children get spinach, and America's get digital fentanyl.
"And we are absolutely hooked, with 16 percent of teens using it 'almost constantly.' Today, 69.7 percent of Americans aged 12–17, 76.2 percent aged 18–24, and 54 percent aged 25–34 use TikTok....
"To cover their tracks in the U.S., TikTok and ByteDance have hired an army of lobbyists, including former congressmen and senators, who are working overtime to stall legislative efforts to ban TikTok or force a sale to an American company. (Also helping the effort—the fact that powerful American investors have hundreds of billions of dollars invested in ByteDance's success.) ...
"Some have argued that there is a constitutional right to TikTok, that banning it would violate Americans' rights under the First Amendment. But the First Amendment surely does not require us to allow social media apps controlled by foreign adversaries to dominate the U.S. market."
Other groups leading anti-Israel protests reportedly include the Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and Students for Justice in Palestine, and the National Lawyers Guild.
To these, the ADL added: Samidoun, Palestinian Youth Movement, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, American Muslims for Palestine, Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine, and The Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Who is funding them?
Neville Roy Singham and his wife, Jodie Evans, called "millionaire Marxists." They have reportedly donated $20.4 million through shell companies to The People's Forum from 2017 to 2022 . "Since 20017," according to the New York Post, Singham has been the main funder of The People's Forum, which has co-organized at least four protests," after October 7, including the October 8 rally in New York's Times Square.
George Soros, who, according to the New York Post, "has funneled more than $15 million since 2016 to groups behind this month's pro-Palestine protests, where demonstrators openly cheered Hamas militants'... terrorist attacks on Israel..."
"A Post examination of Open Society Foundations records shows Soros grant-making network gave $13.7 million through Tides Center... Tides' beneficiaries include Illinois-based Adalah Justice Project, which on the day of the Oct. 7 massacre, posted a photo on Instagram of a bulldozer tearing part of Israel's border fence down..."
On Oct. 20, "Adalah's members also co-sponsored a rally that same day in Bryant Park where hostile demonstrators spewed antisemitic chants and waved a sign that read 'I DO NOT CONDEMN HAMAS.'"
The Open Society Foundations also reportedly had funded groups, such as Desis Rising Up and Moving, which co-sponsored the Bryant Park Protest, and the Arab American Association of New York, that "helped plan a hate-filled 'Flood Brooklyn for Palestine' protest... on Oct. 21, where protestors called for the eradication of Israel and held a sign of the Israeli flag in a trash basket that read 'Please keep the world clean!'" Of whom could that mean?
And Dark Money: The Tides Nexus , a modern "pass-through " -- also described as "charitable money-laundering":
"The Tides Nexus is a collection of related left-of-center grantmaking, fiscal sponsorship, and advocacy nonprofits headquartered in San Francisco, California....
"The Tides Nexus has been described as an organization that 'washes' away the paper trail between its grants and the original donor.... The Tides Nexus (a blanket term covering all associated groups) has since grown to incorporate eight nonprofits, including various supporting entities, investment management nonprofits, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group, and a single controlling organization (the Tides Network)."
There appears to be more moral rot around than is good for any nation. The US, the UK and countries in Europe that encourage racism and other ways of pitting groups against one another -- which for many is now "Big Business" -- would do well to get rid of all of it, the sooner the better.
*John Wilson, originally from the United States, is currently based in Europe.
© 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.

How UK can play a key role in ending Israel-Palestine conflict
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg/Arab News/January 05/2024
Few European countries have had closer ties to Palestine than the UK, which ruled the country through the Mandate for Palestine for almost three decades and had the most important role in establishing the state of Israel. As such, its views on Gaza and the wider question of Palestine matter very much. London can and should play a greater role in this conflict than has been the case recently. England’s ties to Palestine are centuries-old. It participated in the Second (1145-1149), Third (1189-1192) and Ninth (1271- 1272) Crusades, with nominal involvement in some of the others. The adventures of King Richard (Richard the Lionheart) were the stuff of legend for a long time. Its modern engagement goes back to the early 19th century, but it solidified during the First World War. On Nov. 2, 1917, before Britain conquered Palestine, it published the Balfour Declaration, stating that it viewed “with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” Those “non-Jewish” communities accounted for about 90 percent of the population at the time, according to UN figures.
The next month, British forces seized Jerusalem and then the rest of the country, which was administered by the British for the remainder of the war. In 1919, Britain extracted control of Palestine through the Paris Peace Conference and appointed Herbert Samuel, a senior official responsible for drafting the Balfour Declaration, as the first high commissioner. In 1920, the League of Nations granted Britain, at its request, a mandate over Palestine to put into effect what it promised in the Balfour Declaration.
Britain’s actions were unambiguous in facilitating the establishment of Israel in parts of the Palestinians’ homeland.
Palestine was under British rule for nearly three decades, during which time the country was engulfed in violence. The mandatory power facilitated the establishment of the state of Israel but failed to safeguard the rights of the majority of the population of Palestine. At times, it used excessive violence to suppress Palestinians’ protests, while ignoring warnings from Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, and others around the world. The region has been in turmoil ever since, with many of the conflicts originating from or heightened by the failure to address the Palestinians’ plight.
In 1947, Britain proposed a partition plan without taking into consideration the views of the Palestinians, who accounted for about two-thirds of the population at the time. They opposed the plan and described it as unfair, as it gave Jews more than half of the country even though they accounted for less than a third of the population. Britain got this partition plan approved by the UN General Assembly on Nov. 29, 1947. The plan envisaged the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states, operating under an economic union, and with Jerusalem transferred to UN trusteeship. Two weeks later, London announced that the British Mandate would end on May 15, 1948. On the last day of the mandate, the Israeli Declaration of Independence was issued.
While scholars differ on the exact textual meaning of the Balfour Declaration and its implications, Britain’s actions were unambiguous in facilitating the establishment of Israel in parts of the Palestinians’ homeland. Given the bloody history that followed that fateful decision in 1917, including the current war of annihilation being waged by Israel against Gaza, one suspects that there may have been some doubts about the wisdom of that decision and the manner in which it was carried out. But in fact, the UK appears to still be proud of that achievement, judging from the centenary commemoration of the Balfour Declaration in 2017. Then-Prime Minister Theresa May said: “So, when some people suggest we should apologize for this letter, I say absolutely not.” She added: “We are proud of our pioneering role in the creation of the state of Israel. We are proud to stand here today together with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and declare our support for Israel. And we are proud of the relationship we have built with Israel. And as we mark 100 years since Balfour, we look forward to taking that relationship even further.”There is no question that Britain’s efforts played a large part in Israel’s founding and that it would take its counsel seriously. The US, Israel’s main and at times only backer, frequently defers to London’s advice on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Other Europeans equally value the UK’s opinion as the country most involved in the modern history of Palestine. There is no question that Britain’s efforts played a large part in Israel’s founding and that it would take its counsel seriously.
Despite the mixed memories of Britain’s mandate in Palestine, many Palestinians and other Arabs value the country’s advice, even when they disagree with it. They expect London to play a bolder and more constructive role.
The UK can play that role, especially amid today’s polarization in the UN Security Council and the ensuing paralysis in the UN system. The US, the country with the most sway over Israel, is preoccupied with its upcoming presidential and congressional elections.
Arab and Muslim countries have presented serious proposals to address the war in Gaza and the wider Israel-Palestine conflict, calling for full normalization between Israel and its neighbors. What is on the table, the Arab Peace Initiative, is a historic compromise, along the 1967 lines, for two states living side by side in peace and security. Holding the rotating presidency of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Saudi Arabia is spearheading the combined efforts of these two blocs to engage and reach a resolution to the conflict. They are being supported by the EU and almost every country around the world. The UK could join these efforts. With its impeccable credentials, historical responsibility and unique role in Palestine, it can make a difference and help those endeavors bear fruit.
*Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent the GCC. X: @abuhamad1

Question: “What does it mean to surrender to God?”
Got questions web site/January 05/2024
Answer: This world is a battleground. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17-19), the world God created has been in conflict with Him (Romans 8:20-22). Satan is called the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), and due to Adam’s sin, we are born on his team (Romans 5:12). John Bunyan pictured this conflict in his allegory The Holy War. Prince Emmanuel besieges the city of Mansoul to wrest it from the power of Diabolus. Unfortunately, the citizens of Mansoul are blindly committed to Diabolus and fight against Emmanuel, to their own detriment.
When we reach the age when we can make moral choices, we must choose whether to follow our own sinful inclinations or to seek God (see Joshua 24:15). God promises that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). When we find Him, we have a choice to make: do we continue following our own inclinations, or do we surrender to His will?
Surrender is a battle term. It implies giving up all rights to the conqueror. When an opposing army surrenders, they lay down their arms, and the winners take control from then on. Surrendering to God works the same way. God has a plan for our lives, and surrendering to Him means we set aside our own plans and eagerly seek His. The good news is that God’s plan for us is always in our best interest (Jeremiah 29:11), unlike our own plans that often lead to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). Our Lord is a wise and beneficent victor; He conquers us to bless us.
There are different levels of surrender, all of which affect our relationship with God. Initial surrender to the drawing of the Holy Spirit leads to salvation (John 6:44; Acts 2:21). When we let go of our own attempts to earn God’s favor and rely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, we become a child of God (John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But there are times of greater surrender during a Christian’s life that bring deeper intimacy with God and greater power in service. The more areas of our lives we surrender to Him, the more room there is for the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we exhibit traits of His character (Galatians 5:22). The more we surrender to God, the more our old self-worshiping nature is replaced with one that resembles Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Romans 6:13 says that God demands that we surrender the totality of our selves; He wants the whole, not a part: “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” Jesus said that His followers must deny themselves (Mark 8:34)—another call to surrender.
The goal of the Christian life can be summed up by Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Such a life of surrender is pleasing to God, results in the greatest human fulfillment, and will reap ultimate rewards in heaven (Luke 6:22-23).

Crises could be a catalyst for renewed Turkiye-Syria dialogue
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/January 05/2024
In the global landscape, each new crisis tends to overshadow the previous one. Thus, currently, Israel’s war on Gaza has superseded the conflict in Ukraine, which before had taken center stage from the Syrian civil war.
After 13 years of conflict, Syria is a fractured country in which humanitarian and security concerns are still growing. Despite a reduction in violence the crisis is far from over, and the Gaza war may make things even worse. This heightened risk is a cause for concern for Turkish policymakers, given the implications for both Syria, which sees the fire on its doorstep, and the broader region.
Recent comments on Syria by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan are significant. Fidan was Turkiye’s spy chief for over a decade, and has closely monitored regional issues since the Arab uprisings that began in 2011. A few months after he assumed his new role following elections in Turkiye last May, the Gaza war erupted. Nevertheless, the Syria issue is of particular importance to Fidan, given his pivotal role in facilitating talks between Ankara and Damascus.
Turkish-Syrian normalization was on the agenda even before the 2023 elections. Foreign ministers of Syria, Turkiye, Russia, and Iran met on May 10 in Moscow amid efforts to end decades of tension between Syria and Turkiye. Russia proposed a roadmap for restoring Syrian-Turkish relations to normal. Evaluating the process after that meeting, Fidan said communication — both direct and indirect — was continuing at various levels. He highlighted Turkiye’s current priority of preventing conflicts between the Syrian regime and opposition, expecting both sides to maintain their positions within the Astana framework.
The Syria issue is of particular importance to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, given his pivotal role in facilitating talks between Ankara and Damascus.
Turkiye has vested interests in maintaining the status quo in Syria amid escalating tensions in the region from Israel to Lebanon, and from Iran to Yemen. First, preventing the resurgence of terrorist elements in Syria is a key concern. In the event of renewed tension between regime and opposition forces, terrorist elements are likely to find fertile ground. To prevent this, Fidan said Turkiye had engaged in intense diplomatic, intelligence and military activity to ensure that matters remained in equilibrium and that the parties stayed in their positions. A military balance of power continues to exist in Syria.
Second, avoiding a new wave of refugees into Turkiye is crucial, and normalization with Syria could help to address this issue. From the Turkish point of view, normalization with Syria could benefit Turkish interests in two ways. First, Ankara would expect collaboration with Damascus in combating the YPG, which Turkiye views as the Syrian branch of the outlawed PKK. Second, there is an expectation that the normalization process would prompt the Assad regime to take concrete measures facilitating the return of the Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkiye.
Ankara has recognized that advocating leadership change in Syria is now impractical and is actively looking for ways to negotiate with Assad regime. With the establishment of suitable conditions, Ankara envisions the return of Syrian refugees in Turkiye to their homeland. This move is also seen as a means to bolster Ankara’s position in dealing with the US-backed YPG in northern Syria.
Ankara has recognized that advocating leadership change in Syria is now impractical and is actively looking for ways to negotiate with Assad regime.
Finally, Fidan stressed the potential for political reconciliation and peace building when the two sides experienced a level of calmness. “The hatred of both sides can be forgotten and a political stance toward peace and the construction of the future can be formed, that is, through interactions. This is important,” he said. The problems between Turkiye and Syria are multidimensional and intertwined, including terrorism, refugees, and the existence of several foreign actors. There are conditions set by both sides, which hinders the process of normalization — but the process is not over.
The Gaza war has been the latest in a series of setbacks for Turkish-Syrian talks, but Turkiye is more concerned about Syria, which has been posed threat to its stability and security for years. The situation on the Lebanon-Israel border is the most probable trigger for a major conflict engulfing Syria. With so many external powers operating inside Syria’s airspace and on its territory, an escalation in violence poses serious risks. While Assad himself has kept a fairly low profile since the start of the war in Gaza, the opposition forces in the Turkiye-dominated areas favor the Palestinians against Israel. There is a concern that the Gaza war might shift the balance in Syria.
On the other hand, the Gaza conflict could actually be a factor to facilitate Turkiye-Syria talks. This reminded me of when Turkiye strengthened its relations with Syria as a result of Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2009. At that time, Ankara held its first military drill with Syria, using ground forces in a border area that has been the focus of a 25-year conflict between Turkiye and Kurdish forces. This cooperation was considered “very troubling” by Israel.
Despite setbacks, including the Gaza war, Turkish-Syrian talks may find an opportunity for progress amid the escalating tensions. Turkiye and Syria share concerns about regional instability, and the continuing crises could be a catalyst for renewed dialogue.
*Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkey’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz

Houthi anarchy in the Red Sea must be halted now
Luke Coffey/Arab News/January 05/2024
For several weeks now the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen have been attacking commercial shipping and international warships in the Red Sea.
According to US Central Command, there have been almost 30 attacks involving anti-ship cruise missiles, armed drones, and hijackings. The targets of most of these attacks have been civilian vessels from countries that have nothing to do with the Israeli war on Gaza, which is the Houthis’ purported pretext.
Houthi attacks against shipping in the region are nothing new. At the height of the conflict in Yemen’s in 2016, the militia fired missiles at a US Navy warship near the Bab El-Mandeb, the strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Houthi forces also have deployed mines along Yemen’s coast and used a remote-controlled boat packed with explosives in an unsuccessful attack on the Yemeni port of Mokha in 2017. The Houthis have also launched several naval attacks against ships in the Red Sea, including gunboats that damaged a Saudi oil tanker near the port of Hodeidah in 2018.
However, in recent weeks the Houthis have stepped up their attacks to unprecedented levels and intensity. If these attacks continue unabated, the impact will be felt regionally and globally.
The Red Sea is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. Some estimates are that 15 percentof global maritime trade passes through it, including almost a third of global container traffic. At a time when energy markets are already in flux, Red Sea maritime traffic includes 8 percent of global liquefied natural gas trade and 12 percent of seaborne traded crude oil. On average, about $2.7 billion worth of trade passes through the Red Sea each day, equivalent to the annual gross domestic product of the Central African Republic.
As international shipping companies reroute around the Cape of Good Hope away from the Red Sea, the increased delay in shipping times will mean higher prices for consumers around the world. At the same time, low water levels created by a regional drought are causing shipping delays in the Panama Canal. The Northern Sea Route, along Russia’s Arctic coastline connecting Europe with Asian markets, is not becoming the viable alternative to the Suez Canal that some had thought. Land trade routes, such as the so-called Middle Corridor through the South Caucasus, will be increasingly used but do not have nearly the same capacity as maritime trade.
The countries around the Red Sea are affected as well. A large majority of Jordan’s food imports are from ships transiting the Red Sea to the port of Aqaba. Already there has been a decline in imports through Aqaba. Meanwhile, Egypt depends on the transit fees it levies for use of the Suez Canal. Last year, these fees accounted for 2 percent of Egypt’s GDP. In recent weeks transits through the canal have decreased by 20 percent.
On average, about $2.7 billion worth of trade passes through the Red Sea each day, equivalent to the annual gross domestic product of the Central African Republic.
Slowly, the international community is starting to mobilize a response to the Houthi attacks. Last month, the US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK set up Operation Prosperity Guardian, a naval task force deployed in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping.
This is not the first time in recent years that the international community has established a naval coalition for the region.Between 2009 and 2012, Somali pirates operating off the Horn of Africa, just a few hundred kilometers south of where the Houthis are threatening maritime traffictoday, caused an upheaval in global shipping. In response, an international counter-piracy coalition deployed to fight the Somali pirates. As the international community looks to establish maritime security in the Red Sea, lessons should be learned from the counter-piracy operations more than a decade ago.
The first lesson to learn is that there must be a simple and streamlined chain of command. During the counter-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, there were several international missions ( for example, Combined Task Force 151, a NATO led mission, and a separate EU-led mission) which often causedconfusion and ineffectiveness. There was no single overarching commander and the rules of engagement differed from one mission to the next.
Second, maritime security operations cannot be fought only at sea. It is understandable that countries do not want a major region-wide war to break out. However, if security in the Red Sea is to be restored, the command nodes and logistics infrastructure in Yemen facilitating attacks on international shipping must be taken out. This was also the case when pirate sites were struck in Somalia. Any notion that a successful maritime security operation will be limited to the sea is hopelessly naive. As long as these strikes are carried out in a surgical and deliberate manner, the risk of war spreading will remain limited and deterrence will be restored.
Third, regional countries should be involved. Although Operation Prosperity Guardian is US led, regional countries have the most to lose if security in the Red Sea deteriorates. Luckily, for the past 20 years, the US Navy has invested heavily in improving the maritime capabilities of some regional countries. Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE have participated in, and in some cases have commanded, different maritime security operations in the Gulf, Red Sea and Horn of Africa. Security in the Red Sea cannot become a US or European dominated issue.
The free flow of shipping through the Red Sea should be a priority for the international community. The economic consequences arising from a major disruption of supplies would ripple across the globe. Commercial and civilian ships are never a legitimate target for anti-ship cruise missiles and armed drones. Holding the crews of these ships hostage is modern day piracy. This is unacceptable. This must be made crystal clear, using actions and not just words, to the Houthis and their regional backers.
*Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey.