Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 09-10/2024
Video/Know Your Enemy: The Iranian Mullahs’ Regime and Its Terrorism Proxies/
Elias Bejjani/January 06, 2024
Video & Text/Know Your Enemy: The Iranian Mullahs’ Regime and Its Terrorism Proxies/Elias Bejjani/January 06, 2024
U.N. experts condemn 'extrajudicial' killing of Hamas figure in Lebanon
Israel assassinates Hezbollah drone chief in air strike on Lebanon
Three Hezbollah Members Killed in Targeted Strike in Southern Lebanon
Hezbollah hits Israeli base, says it does not want wider war
Lebanon ready for talks on long-term border stability, PM says
Slain Hezbollah commander fought in some of the group's biggest battles, had close ties to leaders
Hochstein says Shebaa Farms not on his agenda
Israeli drone strike hits car in Ghandouriyeh, killing 3 Hezbollah members
Hezbollah says targeted Israel base to avenge Arouri, Tawil killings
Israel strikes another car in Kherbet Selem as hundreds attend Tawil funeral
Reports: Blinken to help Nasrallah ease his stance
Berri says Israel violating all rules of engagement, Mikati says Lebanon ready to negotiate
Geagea rejects president coming from Western 'deal' with 'Axis of Defiance'
Qassem says Israel's wave of killings will 'push resistance forward'
Who was Wissam Tawil, top Hezbollah commander killed in south Lebanon?
Hamas, Iran condemn Tawil's killing in Israeli strike
Mikati: We're working on a diplomatic solution for situation in south
Lebanon Hosts Terrorists, Points Massive Arsenal at Israel, Then Complains When Israel Defends Itself/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./January09/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 09-10/2024
Jordanian Jets Strike Iran-linked Drug Dealers inside Syria
Israel says nine soldiers killed in latest Gaza fighting
IDF says 40 Hamas fighters killed in Khan Younis; Blinken meets with Israeli leaders
Blinken calls genocide case against Israel ‘meritless’
Hamas chief urges Muslim states to support 'resistance with weapons'
Blinken returns to Israel as bloody Gaza war grinds on
Blinken to Israel: Keep Hope of Palestinian State Alive
Reformed Palestinian Authority Must Play Big Role After War, Says German FM from Egypt
Blinken says daily toll in Gaza too high, Israel genocide charge meritless
Saudi Arabia hosted a secret meeting meant to strengthen Ukraine's hand in peace talks: report
Ukrainian forces track Russian flamethrower system and call in HIMARS strike -
Defense Ministry terminates contracts with Hrynkevych after corruption scandal
Israeli nurse spent Gaza captivity aiding elderly hostages underground
Israel has 'failed to achieve' any goals of Gaza invasion, Hamas leader says:
Report: US Air Strike Foils Rocket Attack on Iraqi Air Base
Iraqi Govt Turns to Survey to Ask Citizens about Continuing Mission of Int’l Coalition
Gabriel Attal Becomes France’s Youngest PM as Macron Seeks Reset

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 09-10/2024
Is Israel Winning the War in Gaza?/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Daily Beast/January 09/2024
Canada Must Impose Consequences on Iran for Downing Flight PS752/Tzvi Kahn and Toby Dershowitz/FDD/January 09/2024
America Must Face Up to Israel’s Extremism/The New York Times/January 09/2024
Gaza and Us… Between Words and Deeds/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 09/2024
The Rise of the Militias: Will The Fast Food Approach Succeed?/Yousef Al-Dayni/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 09/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 09-10/2024
Video/Know Your Enemy: The Iranian Mullahs’ Regime and Its Terrorism Proxies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJcSBNVPmmY&t=307s
Elias Bejjani/January 06, 2024

Video & Text/Know Your Enemy: The Iranian Mullahs’ Regime and Its Terrorism Proxies
Elias Bejjani/January 06, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/125861/125861/
There is no doubt that the primary and most perilous threat to Lebanon’s coexistence, culture, history, present, future, identity, common living, and Lebanon the message is exclusively the Iranian regime.
This oppressive force not only subjects its own people to torture and massacre but also stands as an adversary to all Arabs, the entire civilized world, and humanity in general.
The Iranian regime is a common enemy, and it is crucial to acknowledge its role in fostering proxies of Jihadism, fundamentalism, terrorism, and barbarism. Notable among these proxies is Hezbollah in Lebanon, along with similar entities in Gaza, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria.
These groups are the actual adversaries, undoubtedly supported by the ignorant, the uninformed, the hypocrites, and all those Lebanese who have deviated towards hostility, hatred, and rejection of others.
Dear Lebanese, it is imperative to grasp this reality and respond accordingly – the Iranian Mullahs’ Regime and all its proxies represent the true enemy.

U.N. experts condemn 'extrajudicial' killing of Hamas figure in Lebanon
GENEVA (Reuters)/January 9, 2024
U.N. experts in international law on Tuesday condemned the killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and other fighters in drone strikes on Lebanon, saying this amounted to the crimes of extrajudicial killings and murder. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it assassinated Arouri but his demise came a month after Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet vowed to hunt down Hamas in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar even if took years, following Hamas's cross-border rampage from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7. "Killings in foreign territory are arbitrary when they are not authorised under international law," the two U.N. Special Rapporteurs, Ben Saul and Morris Tidball-Binz, said in a statement issued in Geneva. "Israel was not exercising self-defence because it presented no evidence that the victims were committing an armed attack on Israel from Lebanese territory." Arouri was killed last week by a drone in Beirut's southern suburbs, the stronghold of Hamas' Iranian-backed Lebanese ally Hezbollah, in an attack widely attributed to Israel. The U.N. Special Rapporteurs also said there was "no legal basis for geographically unlimited attacks against members of an armed group wherever they are". Hezbollah has been firing guided rockets and other weapons across Lebanon's southern border at Israeli positions since Israel went to war with Hamas in Gaza three months ago, and Israel has launched air and artillery strikes in Lebanon. Israeli forces also killed Wissam Tawil, a top Hezbollah commander, in a strike in south Lebanon on Monday, sources familiar with the heavily armed Shi'ite militant group's operations said. Hezbollah retaliated on Tuesday, hitting Israeli army headquarters in Safed, northern Israel, with drones.

Israel assassinates Hezbollah drone chief in air strike on Lebanon
Nataliya Vasilyeva/The Telegraph / January 9, 2024
The head of Hezbollah’s combat drone operations has been killed by Israeli forces in a second high-profile assassination within 24 hours. Ali Hussein Barji, who commanded the unit in southern Lebanon, was killed on Tuesday, Hezbollah said. It came as Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, visited Israel to discuss plans for the future of Gaza once the war ends. Barji’s car was targeted in an air strike on the town of Khirbet Selm where he had arrived for the funeral of Wissam al-Tawil, another senior Hezbollah commander, who was killed by a suspected Israeli strike on Monday. The apparent assassination came hours before Hezbollah drones, believed to be under the command of Barji, hit an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base in Safed, eight miles from the Lebanese border. Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the US-based Middle East Institute, said his reported assassination was “another notch up the escalation ladder”.
The IDF has not commented on the strike.
Evacuated residents ‘cannot go home yet’
It came as Israel said on Tuesday that residents of more than 40 towns and kibbutzim evacuated from the north of Gaza will not be allowed back until hostilities had ended. About 76,000 people have fled border areas in southern Lebanon to evade daily rocket attacks, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Fears of a wider escalation between Israel and Lebanon grew last week when Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader, was believed to have been killed in a drone strike on Beirut. On Tuesday, Mr Blinken called on Israel to take greater steps to protect civilians, allow more aid into Gaza and work with moderate Palestinian leaders, saying regional countries would only invest in the reconstruction of Gaza if there is a “pathway to a Palestinian state”. He also said he was “crystal clear” that Palestinians must be able to return to their homes “as soon as conditions allow”. Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, told Mr Blinken that increasing pressure on Iran would be critical to “prevent regional escalation in additional areas”. Like other Israeli officials, Mr Gallant did not give any indication that there was an end in sight to its military campaign which has already claimed more than 23,000 lives in Gaza.
Israel is set to intensify its operation in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis until it roots out Hamas leaders and frees all hostages captured in an unprecedented cross-border attack on Oct 7, Mr Gallant told Mr Blinken. Israeli officials are coming under increasing pressure to rescue 136 hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A coalition to govern Gaza
Before he reached Israel Mr Blinken said four key Arab nations and Turkey had agreed to start planning for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza once Israel ends its military campaign. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey would contribute to “day after” scenarios for Gaza, he said, while also expecting concrete steps towards creating a Palestinian state, something that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to. About 85 per cent of Gaza’s population – 1.9 million people – have been internally displaced, and now most live in intensely overcrowded temporary accommodation in the enclave’s south, according to the UN. On Tuesday, Israel agreed to allow a UN delegation into northern Gaza to evaluate the damaged infrastructure and map out what is needed for the return of the displaced residents, according to the Axios news website, citing talks between Mr Blinken and members of the Israeli war cabinet. Mr Blinken reportedly stressed the need to allow Palestinians to return to their homes in the north of Gaza, something that Israel has pushed back against, claiming that the security situation on the ground does not allow it. Israeli officials also reportedly said they want to see progress towards a new hostage deal before Gazans from the north are allowed to return home.

Three Hezbollah Members Killed in Targeted Strike in Southern Lebanon
AFP/January 09/2024
Hezbollah launched explosive drones at an army base in northern Israel on Tuesday, declaring the attack part of its response to recent Israeli assassinations in Lebanon, as sources reported three Hezbollah fighters killed in an Israeli strike. The group said its drones had hit the Israeli army headquarters in Safed as part of retaliation for last week's killing of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and in response to Monday's killing of a Hezbollah commander. A source familiar with Hezbollah operations said it marked the first time the group had attacked Safed, some 14 km (8 miles) from the border, during hostilities that began three months ago after Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokesperson said a northern base was hit in an aerial attack but there had been no damage or casualties. The spokesperson did not say precisely where the incident occurred. More than 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Lebanon during the hostilities with Israel, their worst confrontation since they went to war in 2006. The violence has forced tens of thousands of people to flee homes on both sides of the border, and has raised concern the conflict could intensify and spread further. The three Hezbollah fighters killed on Tuesday died in a strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon, the sources said, without identifying them. In a statement, the Israeli military said its air force attacked Hezbollah targets in Kila - an apparent reference to the Lebanese border village of Kfar Kila - and a drone squad belonging to the group elsewhere in southern Lebanon. The Hezbollah commander killed on Monday, Wissam Tawil, was a commander in the party's elite Radwan forces and the most senior Hezbollah officer killed so far in the conflict. He had played a leading role in directing its operations in the south. Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a televised speech on Tuesday, said his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, "but if Israel expands (it), the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel".

Hezbollah hits Israeli base, says it does not want wider war
BEIRUT (Reuters)/January 9, 2024
Hezbollah attacked an Israeli army base with explosive drones deployed from Lebanon on Tuesday, hitting the position for the first time in what the Iran-backed group declared part of its response to recent Israeli assassinations in Lebanon. Also on Tuesday, an Israeli attack killed three Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon, sources familiar with the group's operations said, adding to the death toll among its forces from more than three months of hostilities with Israel. Israel and Hezbollah have been waging their deadliest hostilities in 17 years since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7.
The violence has forced tens of thousands of people to flee both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border and raised fears the conflict could spiral. Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a televised speech, said his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, "but if Israel expands (it), the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel". Hezbollah said its drones had hit the Israeli army headquarters in Safed, northern Israel, as part of retaliation for last week's assassination of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and in response to Monday's killing of Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, the most senior Hezbollah officer to die in the fighting. Thousands of mourners attended his funeral in south Lebanon, his coffin draped in Hezbollah's yellow flag as it was carried through the streets of his village. An officer in the group's elite Radwan force, Tawil had played a leading role in directing Hezbollah operations in south Lebanon and had been previously deployed to Syria, where the group has supported Damascus in the civil war. Hezbollah said Tawil also took part in a 2006 cross-border raid into Israel during which the group captured two Israeli soldiers, igniting the last major war.
A source familiar with Hezbollah operations said it marked the first time the group had attacked Safed, some 14 km (8 miles) from the border, during hostilities. An Israeli army spokesperson said a northern base was hit in an aerial attack, without giving the precise location. There had been no damage or casualties, the spokesperson said. Much of the violence has taken place in the border area, ebbing and flowing, with Hezbollah firing at Israeli positions using rockets and other weapons, and Israel carrying out air and artillery strikes. Arouri's assassination marked the first time Israel has struck in Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs during this conflict. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied it killed Arouri. Hezbollah had said a rocket barrage it fired on Saturday was also in response to his killing. "We have seen more and deeper strikes in the past few days, which is a worrying trend," said Kandice Ardiel, a spokesperson with UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Israel has said it is giving a chance for diplomacy to prevent Hezbollah firing on its residents in the north and to distance Hezbollah from the border, warning that the Israeli army will otherwise take action to achieve these aim. More than 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Lebanon during the hostilities. The three Hezbollah fighters killed on Tuesday died in a strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon, the sources said. In a statement, the Israeli military said its air force attacked Hezbollah targets in Kila - an apparent reference to the Lebanese border village of Kfar Kila - and a drone squad belonging to the group elsewhere in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon ready for talks on long-term border stability, PM says
BEIRUT (Reuters)/Tue, January 9, 2024 at 9:25 a.m. EST
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati told a senior United Nations official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability on its southern border with Israel. Mikati's office said in a statement he met U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut to reiterate "Lebanon's readiness to enter negotiations to achieve a long-term process of stability in southern Lebanon" along the border with Israel. "We seek permanent stability and call for a lasting peaceful solution - but in return we receive warnings through international envoys about a war on Lebanon," Mikati said. "The position I repeat to these delegates is: Do you support the idea of destruction? Is what is happening in Gaza acceptable?"Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon's southern border since Hamas militants attacked Israel from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on Oct. 7. The border violence has forced tens of thousands of people to flee on both sides and raised fears the conflict could spiral. Israel has said it is giving a chance for diplomacy to prevent Hezbollah firing on people living in its north and to push Hezbollah back from the border, warning that the Israeli army will otherwise take action to achieve these aims. Hezbollah has said it does not seek full-scale war but would not hold back if Israel starts one. Mikati's statement did not specify the type of negotiations to which Lebanon would be open, including whether they would be direct or mediated. Last year, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein floated the possibility of talks on drawing the land border between Israel and Lebanon, after having mediated a 2022 deal setting the maritime borders between the two countries. The current demarcation line between the two countries is known as the Blue Line, a frontier mapped by the United Nations that marks the line to which Israeli forces withdrew when they left south Lebanon in 2000.

Slain Hezbollah commander fought in some of the group's biggest battles, had close ties to leaders
BEIRUT (AP)/January 09/2024
The elite Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Monday in southern Lebanon fought for the group for decades and took part in some of its biggest battles. Wissam al-Tawil, a 48-year-old commander in Hezbollah’s secretive Radwan Force deployed along the border with Israel, was killed when the strike hit his SUV in his hometown of Khirbet Silem. The strike was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, beyond the villages and towns that have witnessed the two sides exchange fire over the past three months. Israeli officials have been demanding for weeks that the Radwan Force withdraw from the border area to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the fighting to return to their homes. During a visit to Israel last month, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said a “negotiated outcome” would be the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel. Al-Tawil, who joined Hezbollah in 1989, was the highest-ranking official in the group to be killed since the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border began following the deadly Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel by Hamas, a Hezbollah ally. After the Israel-Hamas war started three months ago, al-Tawil commanded some “special operations" against Israeli posts along the border, according to a Hezbollah statement. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that al-Tawil had a role in sparking the summer 2006 war with Israel and fought in Syria’s civil war, where he was in charge of coordinating between the Lebanese group and the Syrian army in the battles against the Islamic State group. On July 12, 2006, al-Tawil was a member of a special Hezbollah unit that crossed into Israel, captured two Israeli soldiers and killed others, triggering a monthlong fight with Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Years later, when Hezbollah joined the war in Syria in 2013, fighting alongside Syrian government forces, al-Tawil was a close aide to Hezbollah's chief commander there, Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in 2016, the official said. Al-Tawil, whose two brothers were killed fighting with Hezbollah, participated in dozens of attacks against Israeli forces and their Lebanese allies during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon until it withdrew in 2000. Hezbollah said in its statement that the father of four suffered a serious neck injury during an attack on an Israeli military post in southern Lebanon in 1999. During his long years with the group, al-Tawil was close to Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s military chief from the group's founding in 1982 until he was killed in a bombing in the Syrian capital in 2008. Al-Tawil also had close links with Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

Hochstein says Shebaa Farms not on his agenda
Naharnet./January09/2024 
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will meet with Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab in a European capital prior to his upcoming visit to Lebanon, senior political sources said. “Phone communication between them is ongoing and they had recently met in Dubai,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Tuesday. Hochstein meanwhile told mediators, according to al-Akhbar, that his mission will be “limited to the Blue Line” and that the Shebaa Farms file will not be on his agenda, seeing as he considers its solution to be a “Lebanese-Syrian affair.”
Newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson will meanwhile arrive in Beirut on Thursday and will act as charge d’affaires pending the election of a new Lebanese president to whom she can submit her credentials, the daily said. Johnson, however, will make visits to the country’s political forces as part of the efforts to contain escalation on the southern front, al-Akhbar quoted diplomatic sources as saying.

Israeli drone strike hits car in Ghandouriyeh, killing 3 Hezbollah members
Naharnet./January09/2024 
An Israeli drone strike hit a car Tuesday morning in southern Lebanon, killing three Hezbollah members inside it, according to two security officials and a Hezbollah official. The strike on Ghandouriyeh, about 10 kilometers from the border with Israel, came a day after a similar attack killed a commander with the militant Hezbollah group. Two security officials said Israeli drones carried out three strikes in the area including one that hit the car killing the three instantly. A paramedic was injured after the drone fired other missiles to prevent ambulances from reaching the car, the National News Agency said.
Hezbollah on Tuesday attacked the Israeli posts of al-Malkia and al-Baghdadi and the Yiftah barracks. Israeli artillery meanwhile shelled the al-Hamams hill near al-Khiam and the outskirts of Rashaya al-Fakhar, al-Fardis, Aitaroun, Wadi Slouki, Houla and Mays al-Jabal, while Israeli warplanes struck Kfarkila.
Farther from the border, a drone targeted a car in Kherbet Selem during the funeral of a Hezbollah commander who was killed Monday in the southern village. His killing was the second high-profile killing in Lebanon this month, following a strike in a Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah last week which killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, heightening fears of the conflict spreading.On Monday the Israeli army also said it had killed a "central figure" in Syria responsible for Hamas rocket attacks, naming him as Hassan Akasha.
On Friday, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel his fighters would respond swiftly to Arouri's killing. The group claimed an attack on an Israeli air control base the next day and attacked Tuesday the Israeli army's northern region headquarters in Safad with suicide drones "in response to the killings of Saleh al-Arouri and Wissam Tawil."Safad is a city away from where daily Israel-Hezbollah skirmishes have been taking place. Tuesday’s attacks relatively far from areas of operations along the Lebanon-Israel border show the rising tensions along the frontier since Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military posts following Israel's war on Gaza. Hezbollah says by keeping Israel’s northern front active, they are helping reduce pressure on Gaza. On Saturday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met in Beirut with Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, as part of a push to avoid Lebanon being dragged into the Israel-Hamas conflict.In November, Raad's son was killed in an Israeli strike in south Lebanon along with five other Hezbollah members, the group had said. The cross-border violence has killed more than 180 people in Lebanon, including over 135 Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 20 civilians including three journalists, according to an AFP tally. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.

Hezbollah says targeted Israel base to avenge Arouri, Tawil killings
Agence France Presse./January09/2024
Hezbollah said it targeted a command base in Israel Tuesday in retaliation for the killings of one of its commanders in Lebanon and the Hamas deputy leader. The movement said it targeted the "enemy's northern command centre" in the city of Safad with several explosive drones as part of its response to the killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri on January 2 and Hezbollah field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday. The Israeli army confirmed that a "hostile aircraft" had come down at one of its bases in the north. It said that its air defense system was activated to try to intercept a “hostile aircraft,” and that the aircraft fell at the base. The Israeli army added that no damage was caused to the base. Safad is a city away from where daily Israel-Hezbollah skirmishes have been taking place. In Lebanon’s southern village of Ghandouriyeh, about 10 kilometers from the border, an Israeli drone strike hit a car on Tuesday, killing three Hezbollah members, according to two security officials and a Hezbollah official. It came a day after al-Tawil was killed in a drone strike in a nearby village. Tuesday’s attacks relatively far from areas of operations along the Lebanon-Israel border show the rising tensions along the frontier since Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military posts following the deadly Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Hezbollah says by keeping Israel’s northern front active, they are helping reduce pressure on Gaza. Hezbollah has lost 150 fighters in the near-daily exchanges of fire. There was no immediate word on the identities of the three Hezbollah members who were killed in the strike on Ghandouriyeh,

Israel strikes another car in Kherbet Selem as hundreds attend Tawil funeral
Agence France Presse./January09/2024
Hezbollah field commander Wissam Tawil, a top Hezbollah commander, was buried in his south Lebanon village of Kherbet Selem on Tuesday. He was the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be killed since October 7. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters attended his funeral procession, the group's yellow flag draped over his coffin. Shortly before the procession began, Israel struck a car parked in the village, according to the National News Agency (NNA) and eye witnesses. It was unclear who the target of the strike was and whether there were casualties. Hezbollah said Tawil was involved in the abduction of Israeli soldiers which triggered the group's last war with Israel in 2006 as well as high-calibre operations in Syria. He had also "directed numerous operations" against Israeli forces since the Gaza war began, Hezbollah said. On Tuesday morning, an Israeli strike targeted a car in the south Lebanon village of Ghandourieh, Lebanon's NNA said. The strike left "three Hezbollah fighters dead" a security source told AFP, requesting anonymity because of security concerns. Hezbollah later Tuesday announced three of its fighters had been killed. The three months of cross-border violence have killed 185 people in Lebanon, including over 139 Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 20 civilians including three journalists, according to an AFP tally. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.

Reports: Blinken to help Nasrallah ease his stance
Naharnet./January09/2024 
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will press Israel during his visit on Tuesday to officially declare the start of the so-called low-intensity third phase of its war on Gaza, media reports said. “This declaration would grant Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah a chance to pacify the situation, which would pave the way for the plan of (U.S.) presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, who will visit Beirut this week, as announced by (caretaker PM Najib) Mikati yesterday,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported. Mikati also said that Lebanon has received a proposal calling for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to the area north of the Litani River. Hezbollah’s al-Ahed news portal meanwhile quoted an Israeli Channel 12 report as saying that “Blinken will bring this interesting offer in order to apparently grant Nasrallah a ladder to climb down the tree.”Nasrallah and other Hezbollah officials have stressed that the cross-border attacks on Israel from south Lebanon will not stop before Israel ends its war on the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that Israel does plan to shift to a "long" third phase of the war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces will shift from the "intense maneuvering phase of the war” toward “different types of special operations," Gallant told The Wall Street Journal, without providing details or dates for this phase. The next phase in the war "will last for a longer time," he said. While Israel has not officially announced the shift to the third phase of the war, Israeli media reports suggested that it will be on the table of meetings between Blinken and Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Last week, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN revealed that the army shifted to the third stage of the war in some areas in the Gaza Strip with limited forces. The third phase includes targeted airstrikes, withdrawal of forces and establishment of a buffer zone near the Gaza border, according to local media.

Berri says Israel violating all rules of engagement, Mikati says Lebanon ready to negotiate
Naharnet./January09/2024
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday noted that “the daily Israeli escalation is targeting the depth of residential areas, civilians and even ambulances and journalists.”Israel is “not only violating U.N. resolution 1701 but also all rules of engagement,” Berri added, during a meeting in Ain el-Tineh with U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who was accompanied by UNIFIL chief Aroldo Lazaro and U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka. The U.N. delegation also met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who reiterated his call for the international community to “halt the Israeli aggression” against Lebanon. “We are advocates of permanent stability and we call for a permanent peaceful solution, but in return we are receiving warnings through international envoys about a war on Lebanon,” Mikati added. He also reiterated “Lebanon’s readiness to engage in negotiations to achieve a long-term stability process in south Lebanon and on the northern border of occupied Palestine,” noting that Lebanon is willing to “abide by U.N. resolutions, the (1949) Armistice Agreement and Resolution 1701.”

Geagea rejects president coming from Western 'deal' with 'Axis of Defiance'
Naharnet./January09/2024 
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday accused the Hezbollah-led “Axis of Defiance” in Lebanon of linking the Lebanese presidency and the new government to “ongoing negotiations” with Western forces over the military situation in south Lebanon. “This matter is totally rejected, seeing as the presidency will not be a consolation prize for the Axis of Resistance and will not be part of any deal whatsoever,” Geagea said. “The issue of the presidency in Lebanon is an independent subject that has nothing to do with any other deal. After all that has happened in Lebanon and what the Lebanese citizen is living, we desperately need a real president more than ever, whose concern would be to not to manage the affairs of the Axis of Resistance nor to serve it, but rather to organize the matters of the Lebanese republic and cater to the interests of the Lebanese people,” the LF leader added.
“Yes, more than ever, we need a reformist president who would implement the necessary reforms, so that our doors can be open to the global economy again and so that our economy can be revived,” Geagea went on to say.
He added: “We reject any dummy president who does not enjoy the required characteristics during this period and who would come as part of a regional settlement that is being currently discussed.”

Qassem says Israel's wave of killings will 'push resistance forward'
Agence France Presse./January09/2024
Hezbollah number two Naim Qassem in a speech Tuesday warned that Israel's wave of targeted killings "cannot lead to a phase of retreat but rather to a push forward for the resistance". He described Hezbollah field commander Wissam Tawil - who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his car on Monday - as a member of Hezbollah's elite al-Radwan Brigade who had fought on several fronts. Tawil, a top Hezbollah commander, was buried in his south Lebanon village later on Tuesday. During his funeral in Kherbet Selem, another car was targeted and the National News Agency reported casualties. Tawil was the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be killed since October 7. Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, said Tawil was involved in the abduction of Israeli soldiers which triggered the group's last war with Israel in 2006 as well as "specific operations... in Syria".
He had also "directed numerous operations" against Israeli forces since the Gaza war began, Hezbollah said. The three months of cross-border violence have killed more than 180 people in Lebanon, including over 135 Hezbollah fighters, but also more than 20 civilians including three journalists, according to an AFP tally. In northern Israel, nine soldiers and at least four civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.

Who was Wissam Tawil, top Hezbollah commander killed in south Lebanon?
Associated Press./January09/2024
The elite Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Monday in southern Lebanon fought for the group for decades and took part in some of its biggest battles. Wissam al-Tawil, a 48-year-old commander in Hezbollah's secretive Radwan Force deployed along the border with Israel, was killed when the strike hit his SUV in his hometown of Khirbet Silem. The strike was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, beyond the villages and towns that have witnessed the two sides exchange fire over the past three months. Israeli officials have been demanding for weeks that the Radwan Force withdraw from the border area to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the fighting to return to their homes. During a visit to Israel last month, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said a "negotiated outcome" would be the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel. Al-Tawil, who joined Hezbollah in 1989, was the highest-ranking official in the group to be killed since the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border began following the deadly Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel by Hamas, a Hezbollah ally. After the Israel-Hamas war started three months ago, al-Tawil commanded some "special operations" against Israeli posts along the border, according to a Hezbollah statement. A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press that al-Tawil had a role in sparking the summer 2006 war with Israel and fought in Syria's civil war, where he was in charge of coordinating between the Lebanese group and the Syrian army in the battles against the Islamic State group. On July 12, 2006, al-Tawil was a member of a special Hezbollah unit that crossed into Israel, captured two Israeli soldiers and killed others, triggering a monthlong fight with Israel that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon and 160 in Israel, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Years later, when Hezbollah joined the war in Syria in 2013, fighting alongside Syrian government forces, al-Tawil was a close aide to Hezbollah's chief commander there, Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in 2016, the official said.
Al-Tawil, whose two brothers were killed fighting with Hezbollah, participated in dozens of attacks against Israeli forces and their Lebanese allies during Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon until it withdrew in 2000. Hezbollah said in its statement that the father of four suffered a serious neck injury during an attack on an Israeli military post in southern Lebanon in 1999. During his long years with the group, al-Tawil was close to Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's military chief from the group's founding in 1982 until he was killed in a bombing in the Syrian capital in 2008.
Al-Tawil also had close links with Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran's Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

Hamas, Iran condemn Tawil's killing in Israeli strike
Agence France Presse./January09/2024
Hamas and Iran have condemned the killing of top Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil in a strike on south Lebanon. Tawil "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south", near the Israeli border. Hamas in a statement expressed "our most sincere condolences for the martyrdom of commander Wissam Tawil, killed... while fulfilling his jihadist duty in support of Gaza". "The escalation in the Zionist enemy's (Israel's) aggression and the targeting of leaders of the resistance... will not deter the resistance forces," added the Palestinian group. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, strongly condemned the attack and warned against the "efforts of the Zionist regime (Israel) to expand the scope of conflict and war in the region".Kanani described Israel's actions as "blatant terrorist operations", which he said were due to "painful blows inflicted on its false hegemony in field battles, including in the Gaza Strip."The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah "military sites" in Lebanon on Monday, but did not immediately comment on Tawil's death. Hezbollah released photographs of Tawil alongside leaders of the movement as well as top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's foreign operations until he was killed in a U.S. strike in 2020. Other photos showed him beside Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the group's former top commander Imad Mughniyeh, killed in a 2008 car bombing in Syria blamed on Israel. Tawil also appeared alongside Hezbollah's former military commander in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, who died in 2016 and had been indicted by an international court for the killing of Lebanon's former premier Rafic Hariri. Tawil was the highest-ranking Hezbollah member to be killed since near-daily exchanges of fire with Israeli forces across the border began after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7. Hezbollah said Tawil was involved in the abduction of Israeli soldiers which triggered the group's last war with Israel in 2006 as well as "specific operations... in Syria".He also "directed numerous operations" against Israeli forces since the Gaza war began, Hezbollah said.

Mikati: We're working on a diplomatic solution for situation in south
Naharnet./January09/2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that Lebanon is “working in a diplomatic solution for the situation in the south.”
“Its implementation will perhaps be linked to halting the aggression against Gaza,” Mikati added, in an interview with al-Hurra television. “What’s needed is reviving the (1949) Armistice Agreement and implementing it; restoring the situation in the south to how it was before the year 1967; returning the Shebaa Farms that were under Lebanese sovereignty before they started to be gradually occupied; and retreating to the previous Line of Withdrawal as per the Armistice Agreement,” Mikati said. He added that U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut this week and that “we will discuss with him all these issues.” “We have received a proposal calling for (Hezbollah’s) withdrawal to the area north of Litani, but we insist on a comprehensive solution,” Mikati went on to say. “We have emphasized that we are extending our hands to the international community to establish stability in the region, and if we manage to restore Lebanon’s rights, Hezbollah will have no objective but the Lebanese interest,” the premier added.

Lebanon Hosts Terrorists, Points Massive Arsenal at Israel, Then Complains When Israel Defends Itself
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./January09/2024
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah revealed in a speech that his terror militia had conducted around 670 armed attacks against Israel since October 8.
Instead of blaming Hamas and Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into another war, the Lebanese government is rushing to accuse Israel of killing a Hamas fugitive and violating Lebanese airspace to attack Syria.
Instead of criticizing Israel for defending its citizens against the Hezbollah and Hamas attacks, the Lebanese government should enforce Security Council Resolution 1701, according to which Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw all its terrorists north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon has been in flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 since 2006, of course with no consequences. Similarly, the UN has never enforced its own Article 2(4) under which member states are not permitted to threaten each other. The UN, it would seem, is actually an instigator and conservator of war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should be addressing Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations about their accountability, concessions and compromises; not Israel.
It is high time for the UN and all its agencies, including the Security Council, to toss out anti-Israel complaints, including the latest one from Lebanon. Failing to do so will just once again expose the double standards -- really, no standards -- of the UN and once again throw the Middle East and the US into further violence and bloodshed.
Instead of blaming Hamas and Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into another war, the Lebanese government is rushing to accuse Israel of killing a Hamas fugitive and violating Lebanese airspace to attack Syria.
In the past few decades, Lebanon has allowed the Hezbollah terror militia and several Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, to use its territory to plan and launch attacks against Israel. Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – the three major officially-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations operating in Lebanon – are all armed and funded by Iran.
The Lebanese government and army have done nothing to stop these terrorist organizations from establishing military bases, placing an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles -- some precision-guided, in addition to "new weapons" -- along its 75-mile southern border, and turning Lebanon into a launching pad for attacking Israel, a country smaller than New Jersey (Israel: 22,145 sq.km, 8,630 sq.mi; New Jersey: 22,590 sq.km, 8,722 sq.mi). Many of the leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are currently based in areas controlled by Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and other parts of the country.
For the past few years, the leaders of these three terror groups – Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – have been holding regular meetings to coordinate and advance their campaign of terrorism against Israel. They have made no secret of the meetings and often issued statements and photos about their intention to escalate the "resistance" against Israel.
In early January, the Lebanese government filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over Israel's alleged assassination of Hamas arch-terrorist Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut. Al-Arouri, already before October 7, had been responsible for a series of terror attacks against Israelis, including the 2014 abduction and murder of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank.
Al-Arouri was such a threat that the US State Department offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on him. According to the State Department:
"Al-Aruri funds and directs Hamas' military operations in the West Bank and has been linked to several terrorist attacks, hijackings, and kidnappings. In 2014, al-Aruri announced Hamas' responsibility for the June 12, 2014 terrorist attack that kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, including dual U.S.–Israeli citizen Naftali Fraenkel. He publicly praised the murders as a 'heroic operation.'"
In its complaint to the Security Council, the Lebanese government failed to mention that al-Arouri, a wanted terrorist leader, had found shelter in Beirut and that the Lebanese authorities never did anything to arrest him or stop him from pursuing his terror campaign against Israel.
The Lebanese government cannot say that it was unaware of al-Arouri's presence in the country: he himself never hid that he was in Beirut, where he held meetings with other terrorist leaders and gave interviews to Arab media outlets.
The Lebanese government is now shedding tears over the death of a senior Hamas terrorist who had demonstrated total disregard for Lebanon's sovereignty and security by using the country as a base for planning and executing terrorism.
Addressing the Security Council, the Lebanese government described the killing of al-Arouri as the "most dangerous phase" of Israeli attacks on the country. Lebanon's formal complaint stated that Israel had used six missiles in the attack that killed al-Arouri and accused Israel of using Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria.
It is good to see that the Lebanese government has finally woken up to notice that Lebanon is on the verge of a new war with Israel.
The war, if and when it erupts, will be in response to terror attacks, including 12,000 rockets and missiles launched by Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel just since October 7. In just one day, January 6, 2024, Hezbollah fired 40 rockets from Lebanon into Israel. Think of New Jersey being attacked by 12,000 rockets and missiles, or 40 rockets in one day. These attacks include firing thousands of missiles into Israeli towns and attempts by terror cells to infiltrate over the border into Israel. Some 80,000 Israelis living near the Israel-Lebanon border have since been displaced as a result of the daily attacks on their communities.
On the same day that the complaint was filed against Israel, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah revealed in a speech that his terror militia had conducted around 670 armed attacks against Israel since October 8.
Instead of blaming Hamas and Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into another war, the Lebanese government is rushing to accuse Israel of killing a Hamas fugitive and violating Lebanese airspace to attack Syria.
Israel, importantly, did not attack Syria. Instead, Israel has been attacking Hezbollah and Iranian terrorists and military bases in Syria, in response to missiles fired into Israel from Syrian territory. Like the Lebanese government, the Syrian regime is also doing nothing to stop the attacks against Israel from its territory.
Instead of criticizing Israel for defending its citizens against the Hezbollah and Hamas attacks, the Lebanese government should enforce Security Council Resolution 1701, according to which Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw all its terrorists north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon. The resolution called for deploying Lebanese and UNIFIL forces to southern Lebanon, the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah, and the need for the Lebanese government to fully exert control over the area.
Not only has Lebanon failed to enforce the UN resolution, but it has also allowed Hezbollah to launch missile attacks against Israel.
"If you're concerned about a spillover of the conflict, demand the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. We will not tolerate the ongoing displacement of 80,000 Israelis and shelling of their homes," said Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy.
Any attack on Israel from within Lebanese territory is the responsibility of the Lebanese government. The Lebanese government, however, rejects any responsibility for allowing Iran's proxy terror groups to fire missiles into Israeli towns.
Lebanon has been in flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 since 2006, of course with no consequences. Similarly, the UN has never enforced its own Article 2(4) under which member states are not permitted to threaten each other. The UN, it would seem, is actually an instigator and conservator of war.
The Lebanese government is also ignoring warnings by its own citizens against permitting terrorists to drag Lebanon into a war with Israel.
Lebanese journalist Tony Abi Najem commented on Hezbollah's military provocations, no doubt backed by Iran, to drag Israel into a war:
"They [Hezbollah] have no authority to open a front with Israel. Who told Hezbollah they could do this? Unfortunately, destruction in south Lebanon [from Israeli bombardments] is great. What is happening in the south is reflected in Lebanon's economy, which is in bad shape to begin with. Hezbollah are good in dragging us from one disaster to another. They are good at destroying [Lebanon]."
Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi also lashed out at Hezbollah, warned against plunging Lebanon into war, and "for the good of Lebanon," urged all sides to honor Security Council Resolution 1701.
Referring to the missile attacks against Israel, al-Rahi said:
"It must be stopped and the Lebanese, their homes, and their livelihoods must be protected... We demand the removal of any missile platform planted between homes in southern towns..."
It is worth noting that, according to an analysis by the Israel Defense Forces of rockets launched at Israel on December 29, 2023 by Hezbollah, 80% of those rockets fell inside Lebanon. Not only does Hezbollah continue to violate UN Resolution 1701, the terrorist organization also actively puts Lebanese lives at risk.
Tony Boulos, another Lebanese journalist, expressed concern over the presence of Hamas terrorists in Lebanon:
"Armed Palestinian militias and organizations roam with their weapons and equipment in the city of Sidon in a clear and explicit humiliation of Lebanese sovereignty. Let these militias and those who sponsor them leave Lebanon. It is unacceptable for Lebanese lands to remain a hotbed for rogue militias around the world."
It is worth noting that the Lebanese government, which is furious with Israel for allegedly killing senior Hamas terrorist Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, has been unable to solve many of the political and economic crises facing Lebanon.
Lebanon's parliament has failed to elect a new president for the country since President Michel Aoun left office more than a year ago. The deeply divided parliament has met several times to elect a successor and every time has failed. Meanwhile the political paralysis has worsened, and measures to alleviate a crippling economic crisis that has pulled three-quarters of the population into poverty have stalled.
Lebanon was once known as "the Switzerland of the Middle East." Yet, since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Lebanon has become a hostage of Hezbollah, which functions in the country as a state-within-a-state. Recently, the International Monetary Fund warned that Lebanon, a year after it committed to reforms it has failed to implement, was "in a very dangerous situation." Lebanon's economy has been crippled by the collapse of the Lebanese currency, which, since 2019, has lost some 98% of its value against the US dollar, thereby triggering triple-digit inflation, and spreading both poverty and a wave of emigration.
The political, economic and security crises in Lebanon, however, appear inconsequential to the Lebanese government, whose representatives are now whining over the death of al-Arouri.
Had the Lebanese government and army stopped Hezbollah and Hamas from using Lebanon as a launching pad for Jihad (holy war) against Israel and Jews, there would be no need for another war. Had the Lebanese government prevented Hezbollah from establishing a state-within-a-state in its country, Lebanon would likely have avoided the crises it is currently experiencing. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should be addressing Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations about their accountability, concessions and compromises; not Israel.
It is high time for the UN and all its agencies, including the Security Council, to toss out anti-Israel complaints, including the latest one from Lebanon. Failing to do so will just once again expose the double standards -- really, no standards -- of the UN and once again throw the Middle East and the US into further violence and bloodshed.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20295/lebanon-hosts-terrorists

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 09-10/2024
Jordanian Jets Strike Iran-linked Drug Dealers inside Syria
Asharq Al Awsat/January 09/2024
Jordanian jets conducted four strikes inside Syria on Tuesday in the second such raid within a week against suspected farms and hideouts of Iran-linked drug smugglers, regional intelligence sources said.
Jordan's army has stepped up a campaign against drug dealers after clashes last month with dozens of people suspected of links to pro-Iranian militias, who were carrying large hauls over its border with Syria along with weapons and explosives, Reuters reported. Jordan and its Western allies have blamed Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militia who control much of southern Syria as being behind the surge in smuggling. Iran and Hezbollah have dismissed the allegations as a Western plot against Syria, which itself denies complicity with Iran-backed militia which opponents link to its security forces. The sources confirmed reports by Syrian newsportal Suwayda 24 that three strikes targeted leading drug dealers in the towns of Shaab and Arman in Sweida province near the Jordan-Syria border. The fourth strike hit a farm near the village of Malah. Last Thursday, Jordan hit similar locations in Sweida, where officials suspect much of the cross-border smuggling operations take place. "The Jordanians appear to be targeting farms suspected of storing drugs before they are smuggled across the border, as well as the main homes and hideouts of known drug dealers," said civic activist and researcher Ryan Marouf. "The latest strikes indicate an escalation by Jordan of its war against drug dealers," said Marouf, who is also editor of Suwayda 24. There were unconfirmed reports of three people dead, including a leading local drug dealer, Suwayda 24 said, citing local sources. Jordan has been promised US military aid to improve security, with the United States having already given around $1 billion to establish border posts since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Jordanian officials have said. UN experts and US and European officials said the illicit drug trade finances pro-Iranian militia and pro-government paramilitary forces in Syria that have emerged during more than a decade of conflict.

Israel says nine soldiers killed in latest Gaza fighting
Reuters/January 09/2024
The Israeli military said on Tuesday nine more soldiers had been killed in Gaza in one of its biggest 24-hour death tolls in the war against Hamas, bringing total Israeli losses there to 187.Most of the latest fatalities were from engineering units operating against Hamas tunnels in south and central Gaza, where Israel has shifted the focus of fighting after declaring the Palestinian Islamist group dismantled in the north on Saturday. In a televised press briefing on Tuesday, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said six soldiers were killed and 14 wounded in an accidental explosion on Monday as forces were operating to destroy militant infrastructure. "Yesterday, we exposed the largest Hamas rocket and weapons production site in Al-Bureij. During the operational activity to destroy the underground infrastructure of the weapons production site, an explosion was caused as a result of tank fire identifying an enemy target. It appears that a tank shell hit a nearby power pole, triggering the charge," said Hagari.

IDF says 40 Hamas fighters killed in Khan Younis; Blinken meets with Israeli leaders
Paul Godfrey/January 9, 2024
Fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas raged on in Gaza as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sat down for talks with Israel's war leaders Tuesday, with the military saying it had "eliminated" 40 Hamas fighters in Khan Younis. The militants were killed in a ground assault led by paratroopers of the Israeli army's 98th Division into the heart of the southern Gaza city over the past 24 hours in which "a wide variety of weapons and significant [tunnel] shafts were located," Israel Defense Forces said in an update on X. The weapons haul included 12 Kalashnikov rifles, four loaded RPG launchers, dozens of hand grenades, ammunition clips and vests. IDF infantry also went on the offensive in the Maghazi area of central Gaza, engaging with fighters attached to Hamas' Central Camps Brigade and calling in an airstrike to take out "saboteurs," IDF spokesman Avichay Adaree said in a separate post. Israeli naval forces off the coast also fired on military sites, warehouses and naval vehicles used by Hamas. Meanwhile, Blinken kicked off his visit with meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Israel Katz and President Isaac Herzog. Ahead of his meeting with Herzog, Blinken detailed Washington's "relentless efforts" to free hostages being held by Hamas and added he would be briefing Herzog and Netanyahu on his talks with Turkish and Arab leaders. Herzog reiterated assurances that Israel was doing everything it could to minimize civilian casualties. "We are alerting, we are calling, we are showing, we are sending leaflets, we are using all the means that international law enables us in order to move out people, so that we can unravel this huge city of terror underneath, in people's homes, living rooms and bedrooms, mosques and shops and schools," he said. Herzog's comments came as Gaza's health ministry said 57 people died at the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza in the 24 hours since international medical NGOs, including Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), pulled their teams out over safety concerns due to Israeli military action in the vicinity.
 Israel responded by announcing a temporary four-hour "suspension of military activities for humanitarian purposes in the southeast of Deir al-Balah from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. local time, for the purpose of supply," together with a seven-hour opening of a new one-way humanitarian corridor via Al-Rashid Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that will permit civilians to evacuate north-to-south only. Meanwhile, to the north, clashes between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters continued along the Lebanon border with an IDF drone strike killing three of the group's members traveling in a car near the village of Ghandouriyeh in response to attacks on an army post at al-Malkia and al-Baghdadi. The drone strike came a day after the killing of senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil on Monday and a Jan. 2 airstrike on the Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah last week, which killed Hamas' deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, boosting fears that the Israel-Gaza conflict could suck in Lebanon.

Blinken calls genocide case against Israel ‘meritless’
Ellen Mitchell/The Hill/January 9, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday denounced Israel being referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for alleged genocide during its war in Gaza, calling the claim “meritless.” The Biden administration, he said, believes the submission against Israel “distracts the world” from efforts such as securing the remaining hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack of Israel, addressing the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and preventing the conflict from spreading. “And moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless,” he added. South Africa on Dec. 29 formally accused Israel of genocide in an 84-page filing at the ICJ, based in The Hague, Netherlands.South Africa contends Israel violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, created after World War II and the Holocaust. The court will hold its first hearing in the case Thursday, amid ongoing calls for a cease-fire in Israel’s brutal air and ground military assault that has killed around 23,000 Palestinians, about a third of them children. The Biden administration has taken a hard line against South Africa’s genocide accusations against Israel, with White House national security spokesperson John Kirby last week also calling them “meritless.” “We find this submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact, whatsoever,” Kirby said during a Jan. 3 White House press briefing. Blinken, who met with top Israeli officials Tuesday, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is attempting to reach an agreement for post-war planning to begin for the Gaza Strip, large swaths of which have been leveled by Israeli bombardment. Blinken also said Tuesday that Israel agreed to let the United Nations carry out an “assessment mission” to determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
“In today’s meetings, I was also crystal clear: Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow,” Blinken said. “They must not be pressed to leave Gaza. As I told the prime minister, the United States unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza, and the prime minister reaffirmed to me today that this is not the policy of Israel’s government.”Blinken also stressed that Israel’s government must move toward a two-state solution for Arab nations in the region to help with lasting security, pointedly telling Netanyahu to wrangle far-right actions allowed under his government. Partner countries “said that they are ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence,” Blinken said. “But they underscored that this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.”He added: “Israel must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively. Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions, all make it harder, not easier, for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security.” Blinken, on a massive trip throughout the Middle East to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading into a regional war, has also met with the leaders of Greece, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — with the latter three all having voiced support for South Africa’s case. This is Blinken’s fourth trip to the region since the war began three months ago.

Hamas chief urges Muslim states to support 'resistance with weapons'
Agence France Presse/January 09/2024
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh called on Muslim states on Tuesday to provide Palestinian militants with weapons, as the group's war with Israel rages in the Gaza Strip. "We see countries of the world pouring weapons into the occupation (Israel)... The time has come (for Muslim states) to support the resistance with weapons, because this is... not the battle of the Palestinian people alone," Haniyeh said in a speech in Doha, according to a transcript shared by the group with journalists.

Blinken returns to Israel as bloody Gaza war grinds on
Associated Press/January 09/2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in Israel on Tuesday as he seeks a plan for Gaza's post-war future, while Israel's military pushed ahead with its offensive in the beleaguered territory. Heavy bombardment and fighting shook refugee camps, sending Palestinians scrambling to find safety and hampering aid groups' efforts to get relief to the population. Blinken arrived in Israel after saying he had secured commitments from four Arab nations and Turkey to help in rebuilding Gaza after the war, something they'd been reluctant to promise before a stop in fighting. But the U.S. and Israel remain deeply divided over how Gaza will be run when — and if — its current Hamas rulers are defeated. American officials have called for the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to take over in Gaza and for negotiations to resume on the creation of a Palestinian state. Israeli leaders have staunchly refused both. Blinken is also trying to prevent the conflict from spreading after an escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and threats by Israel to step up military action to put an end to almost daily fire across the border from Lebanon by the militant group. The United States has pressed Israel to scale down its offensive in Gaza to more precise operations targeting Hamas. But the pace of death and destruction has remained largely the same, with several hundred Palestinians killed a day, according to health officials in Gaza. Israel has vowed to keep going until it has destroyed Hamas throughout the territory, in response to the Oct. 7 attack. Still, after three months of fighting, Hamas has continued to put up a fierce fight.
The Israeli military says it has dismantled Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza, where large swaths of the cityscape have been demolished. But fighting continues there against what Israel says are pockets of militants. The offensive's focus has shifted to the southern city of Khan Younis, where ground troops have been fighting militants for weeks, and a number of urban refugee camps in central Gaza. "The fighting will continue throughout 2024," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Throughout the night and into Tuesday morning, Israeli artillery shelling and gunfire echoed through the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where troops have been pushing in from the north, said one resident, Saeed Moustafa. They were facing heavy resistance from gunmen in the camp, he said. Like other refugee camps in Gaza, Nuseirat was built to house Palestinians who were driven out of homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, and over the decades it has been built up into a densely populated town housing refugees and their descendants. Families in Nuseirat's northern neighborhoods were fleeing to to other parts of the camp, Moustafa said by phone, with the sound of sporadic gunfire in the background. Some tried to head south on the Gaza's main north-south road but found it blocked by Israeli tanks and turned around, he said. In leaflets, the military had told people to use another road, along the coast, to evacuate. Further south in Khan Younis, warplanes struck multiple areas in and around the city. "It was an intense night. Bombings didn't stop," said Gaber Abu Hamed, who fled his home in Gaza City in the north two months ago. Since the war began, Israel's assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, and more than 58,000 have been wounded, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Nearly 85% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes by the fighting, and a quarter of its residents face starvation, with only a trickle of food, water, medicine and other supplies entering through an Israeli siege. The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, warned that the fighting in central Gaza was severely hampering operations to distribute aid. Several warehouses, distribution centers, health facilities and shelters have been affected by evacuation orders from the military, it said. Some bakeries in the central city of Deir al-Balah have been forced to shut down. A U.N. warehouse was hit last week, killing a staffer, and five other staffers were detained by the military, with two still held.
The situation is even more dire in northern Gaza, which Israeli forces cut off from the rest of the territory in late October. Tens of thousands of people who remain there face shortages of food and water. The WHO said Sunday it has been unable to deliver supplies to northern Gaza for 12 days because of bombardment and the inability to guarantee safe passage with the Israeli military. OCHA said the military rejected five attempted aid convoys to the north in the past two weeks, including planned deliveries of medical supplies and fuel for water and sanitation facilities. As a result, five hospitals in the north have no access to supplies, tens of thousands are without access to clean water, and the risk of disease is mounting as sewage systems fail, it said.
On what is now his fourth trip to the Mideast since the war began in October, Blinken met Monday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog ahead of talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the War Cabinet and other officials.
Blinken said Monday that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have agreed to begin planning for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza once Israel's war against Hamas ends. Those countries had previously resisted U.S. calls for post-war planning to begin, insisting that there must first be a cease-fire and a sharp reduction in the civilian suffering in Gaza. The countries' leaders "agreed to work together and to coordinate our efforts to help Gaza stabilize and recover, to chart a political path forward for the Palestinians and to work toward long-term peace, security and stability in the region as a whole," Blinken said, after meeting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the western Saudi city of Al Ula.
Blinken did not offer specifics on potential contributions. Financial and in-kind support from the UAE and Saudi Arabia could be essential to the success of any plan. Any post-war plan for Gaza will require both Israeli and Palestinian buy-in, but Netanyahu and his government have their own ideas for Gaza's future that the others will likely not accept. Netanyahu remains opposed to the concept of the two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something that Saudi Arabia in particular is demanding if it is to normalize relations with Israel.

Blinken to Israel: Keep Hope of Palestinian State Alive
Asharq Al-Awsat/January 09/2024
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday urged Israeli leaders to avoid harming civilians in the war in Gaza and to seek a path towards the creation of Palestinian state as a way to resolve the long-running wider conflict. Blinken was making his fourth visit to the Middle East since the war between Hamas and Israel erupted in October. International concern has been growing over the huge Palestinian death toll from the Israeli assault on the enclave as well as a humanitarian crisis enveloping hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. The United States and other countries are also anxious to prevent the war from spreading through the wider Middle East. Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Tel Aviv's Kirya military base on Tuesday and then with his war cabinet. He stressed "the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. Blinken also repeated the Biden administration's support for Israel's right to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel which killed 1,200 people and triggered the war in Gaza. The Israeli air and ground assault has now killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and obliterated large areas of the densely populated enclave. As well as trying to tamp down regional tensions, Blinken has been discussing plans for the future governance of Gaza once the war is over. In the meetings with Netanyahu, Blinken "reiterated the need to ensure lasting, sustainable peace for Israel and the region, including by the realization of a Palestinian state," Miller said. Before arriving in Israel, Blinken held talks in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have focused on seeking a longer-term approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict to help end the Gaza war. After his meetings with Arab leaders, he said they wanted closer relations with Israel but only if that included a "practical pathway" to a Palestinian state. "I think there are actually real opportunities," he told his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz on Tuesday. "But we have to ... ensure that October 7 can never happen again and work to build a much different and much better future."US-brokered talks on a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory collapsed almost a decade ago, and right-wing leaders in Israel's current ruling coalition are outspokenly opposed to Palestinian statehood. With US support, Israel established diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020.
Heavy fighting in south Gaza
After weeks of US pressure to ease its assault, Israel says it is moving from full-blown to more targeted warfare in northern Gaza, while maintaining intensive combat in southern areas. It said its troops had killed around 40 Palestinian fighters and raided a militant compound and tunnels since Monday in Khan Younis, the main city in the south. After a week of comparatively low Israeli losses, Israel said nine of its soldiers had been killed, mostly from engineering units tackling tunnels, in one of their deadliest days of the ground assault. The health ministry in Gaza said 126 Palestinians had been killed and 241 wounded in the previous 24 hours. Sean Casey, World Health Organization Emergency Medical Teams coordinator in Gaza, said the health system was fast collapsing, and Israel was denying access to more and more of Gaza for relief trucks. "Every day we line up our convoys, we wait for clearance, and we don't get it - and then we come back and we do it again the next day."Medical staff and patients were fleeing for their lives, including an estimated 600 patients from one facility, and 66 health workers were in detention.Only about a third of Gaza's hospitals, all in southern and central Gaza, are even partially functional. The UN humanitarian office OCHA said three hospitals in central Gaza and Khan Younis were at risk of closure. Casey said many staff at the main Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis had fled to shelters in the strip's southernmost tip, leaving just one doctor for more than 100 burn victims.
Hezbollah ‘does not want to expand war’
Israel's relentless bombardment and restrictions on aid supplies have prompted South Africa to file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocidal actions. Hearings begin on Thursday. Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Blinken there was "nothing more atrocious and preposterous" than that court case, noting that Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction. The conflict has rippled to Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas. Both groups are supported by Iran, Israel's sworn enemy. Three members of Hezbollah were killed on Tuesday in a strike in the south of Lebanon, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters, after a top Hezbollah commander was killed in the area on Monday. Hezbollah said it had launched explosive drones at an army base in northern Israel in response to the killing of senior Hezbollah figure Wissam Tawil, and that of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut last week. Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said in an address that his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, "but if Israel expands (it), the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel". Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the assassinations. The army said an unspecified northern base had experienced an aerial attack without damage or casualties.

Reformed Palestinian Authority Must Play Big Role After War, Says German FM from Egypt
AFP/January 09/2024
The international community has an obligation to organize security in Gaza after the war and a reformed Palestinian Authority must play a crucial role in future, Germany's foreign minister said on Tuesday during a visit to Egypt. "Egypt and Germany are agreed that Gaza and the West Bank belong to Palestinians," Germany's Annalena Baerbock told reporters. Pressure is mounting on Israel from the United States and Middle East powers to ease its assault on the Hamas-run enclave of Gaza. While Germany is traditionally one of Israel's strongest allies, a legacy of the Holocaust in which Nazi Germany was responsible for killing some 6 million Jews, Berlin has called for an easing of the suffering of Palestinian people in Gaza. Baerbock said Palestinians should not be driven away. "We need to have concrete measures today and now. We need to make sure aid is getting to people in Gaza," she said at a news conference with her Egyptian counterpart. Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the immediate priority was to get a ceasefire, deal with security issues while getting humanitarian aid and preventing displacement. "All the steps that are being taken (by Israel) are for the purpose of pushing towards displacement," said Shoukry, adding 2 million Palestinians could not remained trapped. "We are under the illusion that there are efforts being made to prevent displacement, but we have not seen real efforts to prevent displacement," he said. Baerbock, who was in Israel on Monday and travels on to Lebanon later, said Hamas needed to lay down its arms. Israeli officials have said they are entering a new phase of more targeted warfare in Gaza after mass bombardments that have devastated the Gaza Strip and killed more than 23,000 Palestinians according to health officials there. Israel's assault was in response to attacks on Oct. 7 by Palestinian Hamas militants that Israel says killed 1,200 people.

Blinken says daily toll in Gaza too high, Israel genocide charge meritless
TEL AVIV (Reuters)/January 9, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday the United States believes South Africa's genocide charge against Israel is "meritless," but the daily toll of war on civilians in Gaza is far too high. Blinken made the comment at a press conference after talks in Tel Aviv with Israeli leaders. Blinken said Palestinians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow and cited an agreement on a plan for the United Nations to carry out an assessment mission in Gaza. Blinken said the United States rejected any proposals advocating a resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza and stressed that the Palestinian authority has responsibility to reform itself. Blinken, who visited several other countries in the Middle East this week, also said that many countries in the Middle East are ready to invest in the future of Gaza, but only with a clear pathway to a Palestinian state.

Saudi Arabia hosted a secret meeting meant to strengthen Ukraine's hand in peace talks: report
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/January 9, 2024
The US, Ukraine, and G7 held a secret meeting with other countries in Riyadh last month, per Bloomberg. The meeting aimed to rally support for Ukrainian peace talks with Russia, sources told Bloomberg.
China, Brazil, the UAE, and other "major" countries skipped it, sources told the outlet. The US, Ukraine, and some Western allies held secret talks in Saudi Arabia last month to try to gather support for Ukraine in any peace talks with Russia, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the meeting. Bloomberg, which did not name its sources, reported the meeting of national security advisors from many countries was held on December 16 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. It was deliberately kept secret so that participants could feel at ease about joining talks and speak candidly, sources told Bloomberg. Among those present were "top officials" from India, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, per the outlet. However, China, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, and major Global South countries who had participated in previous rounds of talks did not take part, sources told the outlet. During the meeting, Ukraine and the G7 — which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US — doubled down on their stance that Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty must be respected, per the outlet. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly insisted on the full restoration of sovereignty and a return to the borders of 1991 as one of the fundamental conditions for the end of the war. Ukraine has lost about 18% of its territory since Russia's occupation of Crimea in February 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the Council on Foreign Relations' Global Conflict Tracker. Those present in Riyadh agreed with the G7 on the need to uphold Ukraine's right to territorial integrity as well as its right to self-defense, per Bloomberg. But Ukraine's and the G7's demands are at odds with the Kremlin's. In his year-end press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there will be peace "when we achieve our goals," per an official English transcript released by the Kremlin. However, a source close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg that there have been talks regarding a cease-fire, but they did not offer specifics. Despite failing to provide aid to Ukraine amid ongoing budgetary standoffs, both the US and the EU have declared that they are "confident" their respective support packages for Ukraine would be agreed upon, sources told Bloomberg. Previous meetings were held in Denmark, Malta, and the Saudi city of Jeddah, and another is planned for Switzerland before the World Economic Forum, scheduled in mid-January, sources told the outlet. Ukraine also hopes to host a meeting this year, to lay the framework of a peace plan based on a set of shared principles as the foundation for any future negotiations, per Bloomberg.

Ukrainian forces track Russian flamethrower system and call in HIMARS strike -
New Voice of Ukraine/January 9, 2024
While conducting reconnaissance on the southern front, members of the 73rd Marine Center of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (SOF) discovered and destroyed a Russian multiple launch rocket system TOS-1A Solntsepyok hidden in a treeline, the SOF reported on Telegram on Jan. 9. The system is used to destroy light armored vehicles, manpower, and damage enemy fortifications and fires unguided 220 mm rockets weighing up to 200 kg. The SOF operators identified the coordinates of the weapon and directed precision fire from a HIMARS missile and artillery unit of the Armed Forces, successfully engaging the target. The Solntsepyok was damaged beyond repair as a result of the strike. We’re bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Defense Ministry terminates contracts with Hrynkevych after corruption scandal
New Voice of Ukraine/January 9, 2024
Following recent corruption allegations against Ukrainian businessman Ihor Hrynkevych, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has terminated its contracts with several companies linked to Hrynkevych, Deputy Defense Minister Vitaliy Polovenko said at a press briefing on Jan. 9. "The stance [on the Hrynkevych case] is that after the media publications, the Defense Ministry immediately decided to terminate those contracts that had been previously concluded," said Polovenko. In late 2023, Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) detained a Lviv-based supplier to the Defense Ministry, suspected to be Ihor Hrynkevych, for attempting to bribe an SBI official with $500,000. The court ordered his detention, with a bail of UAH 420 million ($11 million). The ongoing investigation involves fraudulent practices in procuring clothing and underwear for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Companies linked to Hrynkevych won 23 contracts worth over UAH 1.5 billion ($39 million). The companies were ultimately unable to meet the standards outlined in the contracts, leading to budget losses of an estimated UAH 1.2 billion ($32 million) and disruptions in the procurement process. We’re bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Israeli nurse spent Gaza captivity aiding elderly hostages underground
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/Tue, January 9, 2024
A nurse who was among scores of Israelis abducted to Gaza says she spent her captivity in an underground tunnel, treating elderly fellow hostages, some hard of sight or hearing, with meagre medical supplies for which she had to haggle with Hamas. Nili Margalit was repatriated in a November truce between Israel and Hamas. Interviewed by local TV, she said Palestinian civilians had seized her from her village and "sold" her to the Islamist gunmen who led the Oct 7 rampage that triggered a war. Unaware that her father, along with some 1,200 other people, had been killed, Margalit, 41, was bundled barefoot into a stifling Hamas tunnel where, she says, hostages had been rounded up, bearing a variety of injuries from their rough handling. "We were in a state of shock," she told Channel 12 TV. But using basic Arabic learned in the emergency room of a southern Israeli hospital which has Bedouin patients, Margalit informed the Hamas captors that she was a nurse. They agreed to her offer to take charge of hostages' medical needs. "The elderly ones worried me," she said. "I asked them to list their important medications - for heart conditions, blood pressure, kidneys." Margalit wrote these down in English for Hamas. Days later, a black bag of pharmacy supplies arrived - but proved inadequate, with some prescriptions mismatched. "There were sick people. They had chronic illnesses," she said. "There weren't enough pills. There wasn't enough food." The privation offered stopgaps, however. Near-starvation meant untreated diabetes-sufferers were spared hyperglycemia. Given only one strip of antibiotics, Margalit decided to save it and instead dressed a wound with honey to counter inflammation. Getting new supplies required regular negotiation with Hamas captors, including some she described as senior Palestinian officials who would inspect the hostages and converse in Hebrew. "I bugged them, doing it with what you might call a bit of good grace," she said, recalling how she warned the captors that some of the hostages could succumb to their illnesses. "That frightened them. They did not want these people to die." Several elderly female hostages were released along with Margalit, in a deal in which Israel freed scores of Palestinian prisoners. Elderly men remain among the 132 hostages still in Gaza - 25 of whom have died, according to Israeli officials. Hamas has said some of them were killed by shelling of Gaza and, early in the war, also threatened to execute hostages itself. Margalit said she believed medical supplies have run out, by now. "We know that we were in tunnels, and we know that the war is currently being fought above where we were held," she said. Among Margalit's fellow hostages was Yarden Bibas, who was seized separately from his wife Shiri and their two young boys, Ariel and Kfir. Such was his consternation about his family's fate that the Palestinian captors told him, falsely, that his wife and sons had been spotted back in Israel, Margalit said. Then Hamas changed tack, telling Bibas that Shiri, Ariel and Kfir had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza - and recording his traumatised response in a video that was aired. When the captors got annoyed, their punishment of hostages included limiting the number of hours of illumination in their underground cells or the use of ventilation fans, Margalit said. After 40 days' captivity, she was allowed to watch some TV news, and would relay the information by shouting into the ears of elderly hostages who could not follow the reports themselves as they had been taken captive without glasses or hearing aids. Hamas blamed the lack of food and medication on Israel's Gaza offensive, Margalit said: "We began to feel that Israel had forsaken us, again" after failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attack. The tranquilisers and sleeping pills that Hamas supplied, at her request, helped hostages' racked by long nights of worry. "I wanted to calm down. I wanted it for myself. I thought I would go crazy at any moment," she said.
(Writing by Dan Williams, Editing by William Maclean)

Israel has 'failed to achieve' any goals of Gaza invasion, Hamas leader says:
John Bacon, USA TODAY/Tue, January 9, 2024
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Tuesday urged Muslim states to support his war against Israel with weapons as well as humanitarian aid, saying Hamas' fight is not solely for the Palestinian people."We see that the countries of the world are pouring weapons to the occupation through air bridges and aircraft carriers, and the time has come to support the resistance with weapons," said Haniyeh, speaking at the World Federation of Muslim Scholars Conference in Doha, Qatar. Haniyeh said the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 was fueled by the "marginalization" of the Palestinian issue, an Israeli government that he said prioritized displacement of Palestinians, clashes with Israeli police at the Al -Aqsa Mosque and the "normalization and integration of occupation" by Israel in the region. "Our Palestinian people and our resistance decided that a reality in this way cannot be confronted with traditional means," Haniyeh said. Despite 100 days of massive destruction across the Gaza Strip, Israel has failed to liberate one live hostage, he said. The more than 100 Israeli hostages being held by the militants will not be freed until the thousands of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons are released, he stressed.
"The declared goals of the war on Gaza are to eliminate Hamas, recover the prisoners and implement the displacement plan," Haniyeh said. "And I tell you that the enemy, despite the destruction and massacres, has failed to achieve any goal of the war."Israel assassination plan: Terror leaders worldwide targeted. It's not the first time
Developments:
∎ A drone targeted a car during the funeral procession of high-ranking Hezbollah military commander Wissam Tawil, causing several injuries in the southern Lebanese town of Kherbit Selim, the Lebanese National News Agency reported. Tawil was killed Monday by an apparent Israeli drone strike on his SUV.
∎ Six Israeli troops died in a central Gaza blast and three more were killed in battles across southern Gaza, the Israeli military said. This despite military declarations that the fighting would become more targeted and there would be fewer ground troops and airstrikes. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was holding talks Tuesday with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at finding common ground on Gaza's postwar future. Blinken, who arrived in Israel after visits to leaders in Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, is also pressing diplomatic efforts to keep the war from expanding across the Middle East. Blinken said the nations he visited expressed interest in helping plan Gaza's future as well as normalizing relations with Israel. "I want to be able to share some of what I heard from those leaders with the president, as well as with the prime minister and the Cabinet," Blinken said at a press briefing in Tel Aviv before the meetings. Blinken also said he also would visit with the families of some of the hostages and "discuss our relentless efforts to bring everyone home and back with their families."

Report: US Air Strike Foils Rocket Attack on Iraqi Air Base
Reuters/January 2024
A US air strike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq, two Iraqi army sources said. Iraqi military sources said a rocket launcher fixed on the back of a small truck had been parked in a rural area about 7 km (4 miles) to the east of the base, with at least two rockets ready to be fired towards Ain al-Asad. The US air strike destroyed the launcher, an army official said. US-led coalition officials were not immediately available to comment on the strike. The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 more in neighboring Iraq and says their mission is to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which in 2014 seized large swathes of both countries but was later pushed back. Since the Israel-Hamas war began last October, the US military has come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria, usually with a mix of rockets and attack drones. Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel's campaign in Gaza and hold the US partly responsible.

Iraqi Govt Turns to Survey to Ask Citizens about Continuing Mission of Int’l Coalition
Baghdad: Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 09/2024
In an unusual step, the Iraqi government asked its citizens for their views about the continued deployment of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in the country. It sent people text messages on their mobile phones so they can reply as to whether they support or oppose the continued deployment.
The move took place days after a prominent militia leader was killed by a US strike. The strike in Baghdad targeted Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, who was a leader of Harakat al-Nujaba who was involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria, said the Pentagon last week.
The Popular Mobilization Force, or PMF, a coalition of militias that is nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, said its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, identified as Abu Taqwa, had been killed "as a result of brutal American aggression."Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October the US military has come under attack at least 100 times in Iraq and Syria, usually with a mix of rockets and one-way attack drones. The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria focused on preventing a resurgence of ISIS militants.
Abu Taqwa’s killing sparked outrage among Iran-aligned Shiite parties and armed factions that have demanded the pullout of American forces from Iraq. Asharq Al-Awsat contacted Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's aides for further details about the new survey and what the government aims to achieve out of it but received no reply. Soon after Abu Taqwa’s killing, the government announced that it was forming a committee to prepare the closing down of the international coalition's mission in the country. "Government is setting the date for the start of the bilateral committee to put arrangements to end the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq permanently," a statement from the prime minister's office said. The committee would include representatives of the military coalition, a government official said. Opinions have varied in Iraq about the text message survey. Some believe it aims to appease the pro-Iran factions, while others viewed it as pointless and won’t lead to any changes on the ground.
Others believe it is aimed at boosting the government by showing that it cares about what the people think and that it was not taking "fateful decisions unilaterally."Former diplomat and ambassador Dr. Ghazi Faisal said it seems that the government was avoiding turning to parliament to discuss the withdrawal of the international forces in line with the strategic partnership and cooperation agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the agreement clearly states that an amendment to the deployment of forces must take place through negotiations. The government ultimately wants to avoid heading to parliament to tackle this issue because it will "definitely" oppose ending the mission of the international coalition, he went on to say. He explained that Kurdish, Sunni and some Shiite parties are opposed to the withdrawal and the way "Iran is trying to alter American-Iraqi relations through violence or through its proxies in Iraq."The text messages are a means to pressure Washington, but they don’t reflect the government’s constitutional and legal responsibilities and its responsibilities in international and regional relations, said Faisal. The parliament had in 2020 approved a decision that would bind the government to ending the mission of international forces. The decision was taken soon after the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and PMF deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a US strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020. Professor at the University of Baghdad Ihssan Shmary questioned the purpose of the survey, saying it was "very strange". He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the survey holds no legal or constitutional basis. Moreover, the results could be falsified if a lot of money is poured into swaying the voters. The results of national elections are cast in doubt "so how can we trust the results of an electronic survey?" he wondered. The results will ultimately be used to create a political pressure card for or against the continued deployment of the forces, Shmary said. The survey will have no impact on policy, especially since it is tackling an issue of higher national interests. So, the survey is nothing more than government propaganda aimed at sending messages to the armed factions, he remarked.

Gabriel Attal Becomes France’s Youngest PM as Macron Seeks Reset
AFP/January 09/2024
French President Emmanuel Macron appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal as his new prime minister on Tuesday, seeking to breathe new life into his second mandate ahead of European parliament elections. The move will not necessarily lead to any major political shift, but signals a desire for Macron to try to move beyond last year's unpopular pension and immigration reforms and improve his centrist party's chances in the June EU ballot. Opinion polls show Macron's camp trailing far-right leader Marine Le Pen's party by around eight to ten percentage points. Attal, a close Macron ally who became a household name as government spokesman during the COVID pandemic, will replace outgoing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. One of the country's most popular politicians in recent opinion polls, Attal has made a name for himself as a savvy minister, at ease on radio shows and in parliament. "Dear @GabrielAttal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the project of revitalization and regeneration that I announced," said Macron, who at the end of last year said he would announce new political initiatives. Attal will be France's youngest prime minister. He and Macron have a combined age just below that of Joe Biden, who is running for a second mandate in this year's US presidential election. Macron has struggled to deal with a more turbulent parliament since losing his absolute majority shortly after being reelected in 2022. "By appointing Gabriel Attal ... Emmanuel Macron wants to cling to his popularity in opinion polls to alleviate the pain of an interminable end to his reign," said Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of Le Pen's National Rally party. "Instead, he risks taking the short-lived Education Minister with him in his fall."Other opposition leaders were quick to say they did not expect much from the change in prime minister, with Macron himself taking on much of the decision-making. "Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal or someone else, I don't care, it will just be the same policies," Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure told France Inter radio. But MP Patrick Vignal, who belongs to Macron's Renaissance party, said Attal is "a bit like the Macron of 2017", referring to the point at which the President first took office as the youngest leader in modern French history, at the time a popular figure among voters. Attal "is clear, he has authority", Vignal said.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 09-10/2024
Is Israel Winning the War in Gaza?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Daily Beast/January 09/2024
Iranian and Arab pundits, both radical and moderate (on state-run TV), seem to have reached a consensus that Israel is not winning in Gaza. Arab loyalists to Tehran go as far as to argue they see signs of mass Jewish emigration out of Israel. In their telling, all the land—from the river to the sea—will then become Palestine.
But while Israel cannot claim a conclusive victory yet, trends suggest the Jewish state is beating its enemies.
Every Israeli “has a second nationality and has his bag ready,” said Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon, on Wednesday—invoking the popular canard that there is no real Jewish people, only a collection of European settlers on Arab land. “Reverse [Jewish] migration has begun, hundreds of thousands” have already left, he said. “If you are an Israeli with an American passport, go to America, with a British passport, go to England, with a French passport go to France,” Nasrallah said. He added: “You Israelis have only this future, the land of Palestine from the sea to the river will be for Palestinians only.”
Not so fast. Israel has been killing top Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hamas, and Hezbollah officers at such a rate that funerals and eulogies have sucked the oxygen out of its enemies’ public life.
“...while Israel cannot claim a conclusive victory yet, trends suggest the Jewish state is beating its enemies.”
Nasrallah delivered his remarks in commemoration of the fourth anniversary of America taking out top IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani. Nasrallah’s speech came two weeks after Israel assassinated IRGC’s Syria viceroy, Razi Mousavi, and six days after an Israeli airstrike allegedly killed 11 top IRGC officers. In Gaza, Israel has eliminated at least a dozen senior Hamas leaders.
The day before Nasrallah’s speech, Israel had surgically taken out Hamas’ number two, Saleh Al-Arouri, and six other Hamas leaders who were meeting in Beirut’s southern suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold.
To top it all, since Hezbollah joined the war on Israel on Oct. 8, per Nasrallah, the Jewish state has killed at least 150 fighters of the Radwan Forces, Hezbollah’s “special forces.” In the ensuing battles, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health has reported fewer than 20 Lebanese non-combatants killed, attesting not only to Israel’s surgical strike capabilities, but also to its intelligence prowess.
Iran’s Islamist regime and its allied militias seem to understand that their conventional military power is no match for Israel’s. Nasrallah justified the relative weakness of his side by arguing that had it not been for America, its military aid, and the deployment of its fearful aircraft carriers, Israel would have been toast.
With few tools left to respond to Israel’s power, Iran and its allies started threatening an “all-out war.” Nasrallah threatened to wipe out—with his missiles—Gush Dan, the highly populated coastal strip centered on Tel Aviv.
Nasrallah’s threats, however, sounded hollow when he blamed Israel for escalation, signaling that he was not interested in doing so. Meanwhile, the leader of the Iran-led “resistance axis,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly counseled “strategic patience” to avoid direct war with America. America’s deterrence seems to be working.
Has Israel reaped the fruits of its military superiority in Gaza? Skeptics note that—three months into the war—top Hamas leaders in Gaza, namely its chief Yahya Sinwar and his brother Muhammad, in addition to Muhammad Deif, remain at large. Hamas has also continued to launch rockets into Israel, suggesting that the organization’s command-and-control is still working.
But if Hamas’ rocket frequency is any measure, one can deduce that Hamas has been weakened. Add the number of Hamas tunnels in Gaza that Israel has found and destroyed, and the territory that it has wrestled from the Palestinian militia, and it becomes clear that the Israeli military is succeeding, so far at the cost of 170 soldiers who have fallen since the beginning of the invasion on Oct. 30. Hamas does not disclose its losses, but the IDF estimates it has killed upwards of 8,000 fighters.
The Gaza war is not over yet, but trends are unmistakable: Israel continues to erode Hamas’ capabilities, so much so that the Jewish state has felt ready for another front—on the north with Hezbollah—if need be. If current trends continue, Hamas will be too weak to mount attacks, as its leaders lose hiding space, making them more vulnerable to being caught, or likely to seek refuge abroad, perhaps with their colleagues in Qatar.
Illustration of a speech bubble with red, green, and blue barbed wire
“The Israeli entity [suffers] the loss of confidence in its political leadership, its military leadership… all of this leads to weakness, slackness, discord, and internal discord,” Nasrallah said in July.‏ “All the Israeli arrogance and tyranny [and yet] you can see today where this entity is: Where is its army? Where is the future of this entity going?” the Hezbollah chief asked. “Fading into oblivion,” he concluded.
Nasrallah, and with him Iran’s Khamenei and Hamas, have mistaken Israel’s peacetime demobilization with weakness. Nasrallah and Khamenei have not learnt the lesson from one of the most famous Arab poetry verses: “If you see the lion’s canines, don’t assume that the lion is smiling.”
Israel looks to be on its way to beating its enemies in yet another round of fighting. But for its victory to be fruitful, the government will have to hand the reins from its generals to its diplomats, with an eye toward finding Arab and Palestinian partners ready to forge peace and build prosperity in Gaza, rather than turning it into a terrorist stronghold once again.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-israel-winning-the-war-in-gaza?fbclid=IwAR3-jnZMbU8UGb3YReZ9EhHUqpowtiGnSPmrkWdE16e6ipJt0jDBOcE1Kow

Canada Must Impose Consequences on Iran for Downing Flight PS752
Tzvi Kahn and Toby Dershowitz/FDD/January 09/2024
Today marks the fourth anniversary of Iran’s downing of Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752, killing all 176 people on board, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents. The milestone underscores Tehran’s continuing failure to bring the perpetrators to justice — and Canada’s unwillingness to impose the toughest possible economic and political consequences on the Islamist regime.
On January 8, 2020, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired two surface-to-air missiles at flight PS752 three minutes after it departed Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, engulfing the civilian aircraft in flames. The victims — Canadians as well as Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans, Swiss, and Brits — included students on their way to college, newlyweds, a pregnant woman, and children.
At first, Tehran denied responsibility. But after video evidence emerged, the IRGC admitted fault, blaming the attack on “human error.” In April 2023, the Iranian judiciary said it had sentenced 10 alleged perpetrators of the shootdown to prison. However, Tehran refused to identify them, and the judicial process for the case remains shrouded in mystery. The regime even prevented the defendants from attending court hearings.
These developments suggest that Tehran aimed to conceal top leaders’ responsibility for the tragedy by blaming the ineptitude of low-level bureaucrats. Yet Iran’s behavior following the shootdown and its stated excuses suggest the IRGC’s top leaders knew precisely what they were doing.
In the hours after the downing of flight PS752, the regime bulldozed the crash site and secreted away the victims’ belongings. Security forces fired at protesters criticizing the Islamic Republic for its actions. Regime agents harassed and arrested family members of the victims to discourage them from overtly denouncing Tehran. The harassment continues until this day.
The regime’s explanation of what went wrong also lacked credibility. For example, Tehran claimed the IRGC mistakenly identified the plane as a cruise missile. Yet a passenger aircraft’s large size and high altitude — unusual for cruise missiles — should have precluded such a misperception.
In December 2020, the United Nations released an independent report asserting that Iran’s story “appears potentially to be contrived to mislead in one or more ways” and “led many to question whether the downing of the flight PS752 was not intentional.” Six months later, an Ontario judge ruled that the downing was an “act of terrorism” and “intentional.”
Today, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and Britain initiated dispute-settlement proceedings against Iran before the International Civil Aviation Organization. Earlier, the four allies asked the International Court of Justice to open proceedings against Iran. The Association of Families of Flight PS752 has filed a claim before the International Criminal Court. And Ottawa has sanctioned numerous Iranian officials and entities.
Still, in defiance of calls by Canada’s House of Commons and Senate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization pursuant to Canada’s Criminal Code.
In December 2023, a bipartisan group of 14 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent Trudeau a letter urging him to do just that. “By officially designating the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization,” the letter stated, “Canada can join the United States in once again contributing to the global fight against terrorism, demonstrating a strong commitment to ensuring peace and stability.” The United States designated the IRGC in 2019.
However, by failing to punish the IRGC, Canada effectively sends Iran the message that it will face no meaningful consequences for its actions. Washington should continue pressing Trudeau to change course.
***Tzvi Kahn is a research fellow and senior editor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
**Toby Dershowitz is managing director of FDD Action. They both contribute to FDD’s Iran Program. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Tzvi and Toby on X @TzviKahn and @TobyDersh. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

America Must Face Up to Israel’s Extremism
The New York Times/January 09/2024
Two far-right members of Israel’s cabinet — the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich — caused an international uproar this week with their calls to depopulate Gaza. “If in Gaza there will be 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs and not two million the entire conversation on ‘the day after’ will look different,” said Smotrich, who called for most Gazan civilians to be resettled in other countries. The war, said Ben-Gvir, presents an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza,” facilitating Israeli settlement in the region.
The Biden administration has joined countries all over the world in condemning these naked endorsements of ethnic cleansing. But in doing so, it acted as if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s provocations are fundamentally at odds with the worldview of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to whom America continues to give unconditional backing. In a statement denouncing the ministers’ words as “inflammatory and irresponsible,” the State Department said, “We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the government of Israel, including by the prime minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government.”Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat who has called for a cease-fire, thanked the State Department in a social media post, saying, “It must be clear that America will not write a blank check for mass displacement.”
But it’s not clear, because we’re writing a blank check to a government whose leader is only a bit more coy than Ben-Gvir and Smotrich about his intentions for Gaza. As Israeli news outlets have reported, Netanyahu said this week that the government is considering a “scenario of surrender and deportation” of residents of the Gaza Strip. (Some outlets reported that Netanyahu was referring only to Hamas leaders.) According to a Times of Israel article, “The ‘voluntary’ resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza is slowly becoming a key official policy of the government, with a senior official saying that Israel has held talks with several countries for their potential absorption.”
Some in Israel’s government have denied this, mostly on grounds of impracticality. “It’s a baseless illusion, in my opinion: No country will absorb two million people, or one million, or 100,000, or 5,000,” one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Israeli journalists. And on Thursday, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, released a plan for the day after the war that said that, contrary to the dreams of the ultranationalists, there would be no Israeli settlement in Gaza.
But with its widespread destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including roughly 70 percent of its housing, Israel is making most of Gaza uninhabitable for the foreseeable future. Disease is rampant in Gaza, hunger almost universal, and the United Nations reports that much of the enclave is at risk of famine. Amid all this horror, members of Netanyahu’s Likud party — such as Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, and Gila Gamliel, Israel’s intelligence minister — are pushing emigration as a humanitarian solution.
“Instead of funneling money to rebuild Gaza or to the failed U.N.R.W.A.,” the United Nations agency that works with Palestinian refugees, “the international community can assist in the costs of resettlement, helping the people of Gaza build new lives in their new host countries,” wrote Gamliel in The Jerusalem Post. Right now, this is a grotesque fantasy. But as Gaza’s suffering ratchets up, some sort of evacuation might come to appear to be a necessary last resort. At least, that’s what some prominent Israeli officials seem to be counting on.
After Hamas’s sadistic attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Israel was justified in retaliating; any country would have. But there is a difference between the war Israel’s liberal supporters want to pretend that the country is fighting in Gaza, and the war Israel is actually waging.
Pro-Israel Democrats want to back a war to remove Hamas from Gaza. But increasingly, it looks as if America is underwriting a war to remove Gazans from Gaza. Experts in international law can debate whether the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza can be classified as genocidal, as South Africa is claiming at the International Court of Justice, or as some lesser type of war crime. But whatever you want to call attempts to “thin out” Gaza’s population — as the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom described an alleged Netanyahu proposal — the United States is implicated in them.
By acting as if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich can be hived off from the government in which they serve, US policymakers are fostering denial about the character of Netanyahu’s rule. Joe Biden often speaks of his 1973 meeting with Golda Meir, then the prime minister, and like many American Zionists, his view of Israel sometimes seems stuck in that era.
If you grew up in a liberal Zionist household, as I did, you’ve probably heard this (possibly apocryphal) Meir quote: “When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.” There’s much to criticize in this sentiment — its self-regard, the way it positions Israel as the victim even when it’s doing the killing; still, it at least suggests a tortured ambivalence about meting out violence. But this attitude, which Israelis sometimes call “shooting and crying,” is now as obsolete as Meir’s Zionist socialism, at least among Israel’s leaders. Among both American and European politicians, said my friend Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator with the Palestinians who now heads the US/Middle East Project, there’s a “willful refusal to take seriously just how extreme this government is — whether before Oct. 7 or subsequently.” I’m tempted to say that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich said the quiet part out loud, but in truth they just said the loud part louder.

Gaza and Us… Between Words and Deeds
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 09/2024
Is it in our interest to know the truth about what is happening in our region... or are we too innocent to handle the bitterness?
My personal feeling - and I hope I am wrong - is that we are too innocent and helpless to deal with the challenges that 2024 will bring us, especially after the past few months have exposed the intentions and approaches of many.
The Near East region is changing before our eyes, geographically and demographically, while we are expected to be distracted by visits and regional tours and to believe the diplomatic statements that Washington and some Western capitals have been regurgitating incessantly. Meanwhile, some of the misled and misleaders in our Arab world and its surroundings are comforted by hollow threats and empty rhetorical escalation.
Many were concerned with listening to what Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Lebanese Hezbollah, would say after Israel's assassination of the prominent Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri and members of his entourage in the Dahieh southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. But Nasrallah did not say anything new.
Moreover, Hezbollah is, in the first place, an integral part of Iran's strategy. Iran, whose Republican Guards leaders have long and repeatedly threatened that "the annihilation of Israel" was a few minutes away... is still taking its time to achieve this "accomplishment" it promises, despite the horrific humanitarian conditions that the Israeli machine has left in the Gaza Strip over the past three months, which have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
As usual, Tehran has delegated the task of skirmishing and voicing positions to its Arabic-speaking proxies. It has fought and will continue to fight to enhance its regional influence - termed "resistance" - using the bodies of others and building on the ruins of their nations and societies.
Of course, Tehran expects a reward in return... It expects to be, as it has been for decades, included in the settlements and solutions that will be imposed on the remnants of the Near East after the West has handed Iran all of its entities... one after another on a silver platter.
In Iraq, Tehran is waging a local "proxy war" through its militias under the pretext of avenging Gaza. Meanwhile, Washington does not seem troubled, nor does Israel... the Iraqi state, Iraqi identity, and Iraqi sovereignty have all become things of the past.
In Syria, the "red lines" offered by Barack Obama not only saved the regime, but also buttressed Iranian hegemony over the capital of Syria and its "middle belt" from the Iraqi border in the east to what was once the Republic of Lebanon in the west. Now, Syrian territory has been divided into spheres of influence, drug factories, arms smuggling routes, and exporters of strife and unrest to neighboring countries.
In Lebanon, where "decisions of war and peace" are made by Iran that has financial and security hegemony through Hezbollah, the country's chemistry has changed, and its situation has changed. This could not have been achieved without the "resistance"... that is, Iran's plan for regional dominance. Under the guise of this "resistance," Hezbollah retains its arms, unlike all the other Lebanese parties and forces. With these arms, it skirmishes, maneuvers, and extorts.
Now, after having endorsed the demarcation of Lebanon's maritime borders with Israel, it awaits the arrival of "demarcation engineer" Amos Hochstein to negotiate the next step and strike a deal on the land borders. Nasrallah implicitly suggested that in his latest speech, in which he did not rule out a de-escalation "if Israel stops its operations in Gaza." In tandem with the rhetorical escalation, the exchange of rocket and artillery fire continues across the border, within the limits of the so-called "rules of engagement"... bearing in mind that most of the targeted Israeli sites have been evacuated for a while now.
Based on the above, Yemen's Houthis are playing a new role in Iran's "war of agitation" in the Red Sea and near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
This new element has increased the significance of international intervention to "protect maritime trade." It also increases the need for Iranian "services" that will help Tehran get a share once the region is split, especially after it has been affirmed that Tehran has no intention of "destroying Israel." On the contrary, Tehran's threats over the years have strengthened Israel's expansionist right-wing and US political and military support for Israel.
A few days ago, pro-Israel electronic activists attacked me on "X," accusing me of being an idiot for discussing the "intersection" of interests between Tel Aviv and Tehran. But I am convinced that actions always speak louder than words.
The Biden administration is fully aware that Iran has no intention of attacking Israel. It opposed expanding the war to displace the people of Gaza into a regional conflict because it firstly agrees with Israel on the need to liquidate the Palestinian question, and secondly, because it wants to maintain Iran's regional role in the Middle East.
Those who are still in doubt should consider the conditions of areas under Tehran's control in the Arab Levant, and remember Obama's words, "The Iranians are not suicidal!"

The Rise of the Militias: Will The Fast Food Approach Succeed?
Yousef Al-Dayni/Asharq Al-Awsat/January 09/2024
The strike on the “Hezbollah al-Nujaba” militia, the wing that is most unrelenting and audacious in its refusal to be tamed by the state, was a predictable reaction given the group’s leading role in attacks on US interests in Iraq. However, the ultimate question today is whether a critical reexamination of the ramifications of the American “fast food” strikes in the region. Although these strikes satisfy the short-term need to reestablish deterrence and offer a US show of force, they cannot solve the problem. On the contrary, they will increase the burdens on the Iraqi state’s shoulders, as is the case for all interventions that fall within this strategy of constantly reacting. It does not offer a radical and sustainable solution to this growing problem in the region, which is the rise of militias and their disregard for statehood.
To tell the truth, most of Iraq's bloody wounds since the US occupation and its aftermath are closely tied to the haste, negligence, and confusion of the approach that the West has taken since the fall of the Baathist regime. This approach must be critically reexamined and subjected to extensive inquiries.
Led by the United States, it presented the concept of a nominal state and addressed tensions by imposing a status quo and prolonging the crisis, seeking to end it with the least possible number of casualties, even if that leads to disasters that need decades to resolve. We can call this “Afghanistan Syndrome” - a perpetual return to pre-statehood.
Look into the support, endorsement, and backing of militias, as well as the denial and neglect, and you will realize that the region is unfortunately experiencing one of its worst-ever phases. Armed militias and extremist organizations, both Sunni and Shiite, are in control, giving rise to crises and using arms to directly influence decision-making and reactions. This applies to the international community's response to these developments from Iraq to Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, and North Africa - and these are the places where their activity is vigorous and constant. Indeed, these militias also operate in other regions across the globe, whenever the logic of statehood collapses and is replaced by the logic of revolution, followed by the emergence of a parallel economy and the fragmentation of society.
The problem is deeper in Iraq because of the fundamental differences in the various armed groups’ relationship with the state, which have become a real obstacle to any genuine reform. Unlike all the factions listed as terrorist groups in Iraq (like the Hezbollah Brigades, Asaaib Ahl al-Haq, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada), the Hezbollah al-Nujaba militia is not linked to the state, not even nominally. It is autonomous and completely independent from the state. It pays the state no particular consideration and has nothing to lose. That explains its fiery rhetoric. They accuse all other militias of being cowardly and acquiescing to the regime, as well as of being afraid of the United States, which continues to pursue limited and reactive deterrence with its targeting of Mushtaq Talib al-Saedi, who has been responsible for supplying the group with the latest and most advanced Iranian weapons, including drones, according to research reports.
This kind of attack, which I have often called “fast food” strikes, might temporarily weaken the militia. However, they also bolster its popularity and its capacity to mobilize support and dominate the militia box office because it looks like it is sacrificing more than others. It continues to pursue this competition with other militias until other groups follow suit as they seek to garner support among the supporters of armed organizations. That is the way to get ahead in the competitive market by symbolically fighting the American presence in Iraq and appeasing the center in Tehran.
In contrast to the overall conditions of this region teeming with militias, assassinations, and bloodshed, the moderate states led by Saudi Arabia, despite all the distortion, adhere to the logic of statehood, respecting sovereignty and seeking stability. They have warned, more than once, about the dangers of tolerating militias’ actions and their backers, which will contribute to destroying the region. Indeed, that becomes especially evident given the pattern of withdrawal and what happened in Kabul, which taught the countries of the region a crucial lesson about sovereignty, national security, strengthening domestic cohesion, and the concept of alliances.
Today, given that the region is riddled with highly charged rhetoric and is moving towards totalitarianism, not against revolutionizing peace but against militarization and mobilization. This state of affairs is being narrowly and pragmatically reconciled by two camps: a camp of voices resentful towards the previous US administration, which pressures the Biden administration to push for fragile negotiations. Another camp is seeking economic opportunities, even at the expense of the region's security, which are being pursued by certain European countries aiming for economic recovery, even if they undermine regional stability, and require reconciliation with this military doctrine and overlooking Iran's crimes against its people and the countries of the region.
Today, Iraq and the Gulf are paying heavily for the escalation of militarization in the region and the attempts to normalize this perverse state of affairs reality through accepting militias. Thus, redrawing the security architecture of the Gulf is crucial for preserving the gains of Vision 2030, whose impact extends beyond the Kingdom to reach the Middle East as a whole, presenting the outline for a prosperous future. The challenge today is to find a way to work with the wise in this world and support a project for stability founded on national security, the cornerstone of human well-being, especially for the people of the region, who are tired of this deteriorating situation that cannot be sustainable.