Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 11-12/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video): “We Are Victorious Because Our Enemy Did Not Achieve Its Goals”: A Closer Look at The Distorted Rhetoric of Political Islam: Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Iranian Mullahs
No Lebanon village beyond Israel's reach, says army chief
In Beirut, Hochstein urges 'middle-ground solution' for south
U.S. special envoy hopes diplomacy will calm Lebanon-Israel border
Germany warns of escalation, pledges aid to boost Lebanese army
Israeli strike kills civilian in Kfarkila as tensions soar
Attacks on Red Sea shipping mount, but confronting Houthis carries risks
Israeli strike kills two members of Hezbollah-linked rescue force in Lebanon - statement
Two paramedics killed in strike on Hezbollah health center in Hanine
Hezbollah denounces Israel's targeting of Hanine health center, confirms two killed, several injured
Negotiating security: Amos Hochstein visits Lebanon, urges diplomatic resolution for border crisis with Israel
Lisa Johnson's new mission in Lebanon amid presidential vacuum, regional conflicts
Senior Biden adviser to visit Beirut as tensions on Israel-Lebanon border escalate
Sayegh: Who Gave Hezbollah the Authority to Overthrow Regimes in the Region or Defend Entities?
Bassil says understanding with Hezbollah did not include Palestine liberation
US must restrain Netanyahu before he extends war to Lebanon/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/January 11/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 11-12/2024
South Africa asks International Court of Justice to order Israel to stop Gaza war
Top UN court opens hearings on South Africa's allegation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Israel's Netanyahu says hypocrisy and lies on display at World Court
Gaza aftermath: Israeli Cabinet confronts dilemmas between prisoner exchange deal or prolonged war
Israel-Hamas War: Southern Gaza battles continue between IDF, Hamas
Exhausted Gaza medics struggle to help casualties from Israeli bombardment
Blinken meets Egypt's Sisi as Middle East diplomacy tour wraps up
UN Security Council condemns Houthi attacks on vessels in Red Sea
Iran says it seized oil tanker boarded by armed men in Gulf of Oman
Tanker in Gulf of Oman boarded by men in military uniforms in apparent seizure in Mideast waters
Houthi leader vows to intensify Red Sea attacks in defiance of UN
Iran says it arrested 35 people in relation to deadly Kerman attacks
Russians are calling for a 9-mile 'buffer zone' to stop Ukraine raiding their towns — but are unlikely to get it
Ukraine President Zelenskyy rules out a ceasefire with Russia, saying Moscow would use it to rearm
US military denies striking rocket launcher on Monday in western Iraq
It will take more than just drones to defeat Russia's Black Sea Fleet, says Ukrainian naval commander
Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria ink deal to clear floating Black Sea mines
Turkish police arrest 70 suspects with ties to the Islamic State group in raids across the country
Iran begins new year with dizzying rate of executions
Pope Francis' comments on surrogacy prompt stir outrage and sadness among advocates

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on January 11-12/2024
Is Qatar, That Built Hamas's Empire of Terrorism, An Honest Broker?/Bassam Tawil/ Gatestone Institute./January 11, 2024
The Shifting Political Ground Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict/Kevin Robillard, Akbar Shahid Ahmed/HuffPost/January 11, 2024
Iran terror blast highlights success – and growing risk – of ISIS-K regional strategy/Amira Jadoon, Clemson University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point/January 11, 2024
Why Europe must double down on its support for Ukraine/Andrew Hammond/Arab news/January 11, 2024
Middle East can be a beacon of sustainable development/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 11/2024
How to deal with Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping/Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg /Arab News/January 11/2024
Gaza’s and Israel’s Tunnels/Nabil AmrAsharq Al-Awsat/January 11/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 11-12/2024
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video): “We Are Victorious Because Our Enemy Did Not Achieve Its Goals”: A Closer Look at The Distorted Rhetoric of Political Islam: Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Iranian Mullahs
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/126065/126065/
Date/January 11, 2024
The ideology-driven slogan, “We are victorious because our enemy did not achieve its goals,” has become a disturbing and pervasive rhetoric among various political Islamic groups and countries such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Iranian Mullahs.
The catastrophic nature of these political Islam groups, rooted in Ottoman thought and the Muslim Brotherhood, is characterized by an ideology that is not only sick and harmful but also devoid of any connection to humanity, reason, or logic. It is a corrupt, delusional, and detached worldview that vehemently rejects others. Its primary and most significant goal is to subjugate and oppress anyone who opposes their beliefs. Those who resist and reject this ideology are branded as deserving death, and their countries are invaded under the banners of jihad and resistance.
One of the most dangerous slogans adopted by these criminal and terrorist groups is the absurd claim: “We have succeeded as long as the enemy has not achieved its goals.” This is proclaimed without regard for the destruction, loss of life, impoverishment, and displacement experienced by their own people and countries. The statement made by Ismail Haniyeh, as mentioned below, serves as a glaring example.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, echoed the same absurd and sick slogan after the 2006 war with Israel. Despite Israel destroying Lebanon, targeting its infrastructure, displacing southern residents, and causing the deaths of over 1600 Lebanese, primarily members of Hezbollah, Nasrallah emerged after the first hour of the ceasefire and declared victory, asserting that Israel had failed to achieve its goals.
Fast forward to over 97 days after the war initiated by Hamas with Israel, Gaza lies in ruins, its residents displaced, with over 30,000 lives lost and 150,000 wounded. Ismail Haniyeh, residing in Qatar’s finest hotels, claims that Hamas has succeeded because Israel did not achieve its goals.
Leaders who share the mindset of Haniyeh and Nasrallah, along with their counterparts, are despicable. Their mission appears to be the destruction of their own countries, the killing of their own people, and a regression to prehistoric times. With such a sick, corrupt, and delusional ideology, coupled with leaders of such despicable and hypocritical nature, achieving peace and stability seems elusive for our people until they are liberated from such leaders and such a toxic culture.

No Lebanon village beyond Israel's reach, says army chief
Agence France Presse/January 11, 2024
Israel's army chief has said that his troops could destroy any village inside Lebanon, ramping up rhetoric against the Hezbollah militant group based across the border. The Israeli military has been exchanging fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah -- a key ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- almost every day since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7. Israel's chief of staff Herzi Halevi told a gathering of soldiers in Gaza that their actions in the besieged Palestinian territory had convinced him that they could take the fight into Lebanese territory if needed. "We've fought in Gaza, so we know how to do it in Lebanon if we have to," he said, according to a statement from the Israeli army. "After what you did (in Gaza), there is not a village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy." Since the start of the border escalation, 188 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 141 Hezbollah members and more than 20 civilians, among them three journalists, according to a tally compiled by AFP. The Israeli army says 14 Israelis have been killed, including nine soldiers.

In Beirut, Hochstein urges 'middle-ground solution' for south
Naharnet/Associated Press/Agence France Presse/January 11, 2024
U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein on Thursday held talks in Beirut over the explosive situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border and the possibility of reaching a diplomatic solution. During a meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail, Hochstein stressed “the need to work on pacifying the situation in south Lebanon even if it is not possible to reach an agreement on a final solution at the moment,” state-run National News Agency reported. He also called for “working on a temporary middle-ground solution to avoid a descent into a worse situation,” NNA said. Mikati for his part emphasized that “the priority should be for ceasing fire in Gaza and halting the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and the repeated violations of Lebanese sovereignty.”“We want peace and stability through committing to U.N. resolution,” Mikati added. Speaking at a press conference following his talks with Berri, Hochstein said the Israeli government has asserted that it prefers a diplomatic solution and that he believes that both Israel and Lebanon want such a solution. "We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in south Lebanon... as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north," Amos Hochstein told reporters in Beirut. "We're living in a crisis moment where we would like to see a diplomatic solution and I believe that both sides prefer a diplomatic solution," Hochstein said, adding: "It's our job to get one." Hochstein also held talks Thursday with Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. Hochstein, a senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, mediated a landmark deal demarcating Lebanon and Israel’s maritime border inked in 2022. Before the outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, he said he hoped to broker a similar deal on the land border — a trickier and more politically fraught topic. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily clashes for the past three months. The fighting escalated in recent weeks, particularly since suspected Israeli strikes killed a top Hamas leader and a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon this month. Israeli officials have threatened a wider war in Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw its forces north of the Litani river as stipulated in a 2006 cease-fire agreement. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a recent speech signaled openness to Lebanon reaching an agreement on the land border but said it can only happen after the Israel-Hamas war ends. Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said that no deal on land border demarcation nor on Hezbollah’s presence in the border area would be signed before the war ends, but that discussions could start while the conflict is ongoing.

U.S. special envoy hopes diplomacy will calm Lebanon-Israel border
BEIRUT (Reuters)/January 11, 2024
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein said on Thursday he was hopeful diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel, where the Israeli military and armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months. Hochstein met Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, foreign minister, army commander and speaker of parliament in an hours-long visit to the Lebanese capital on Thursday. "I firmly believe that the people of Lebanon do not want to see an escalation of the current crisis to further conflict," he told reporters in Beirut. Israeli shelling has killed at least 25 Lebanese civilians and 140 fighters from Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. At least nine Israeli troops have been killed in northern Israel. Hochstein went to Israel last week for talks on the issue. "I'm hopeful that we can continue to work on this effort to arrive together, all of us on both sides of the border, with a solution that will allow for all people in Lebanon and Israel to live with guaranteed security and return to a better future," he said. Hochstein said the U.S. "would like to see a diplomatic solution," and "it is our job to get one." Washington fears Israel's war in Gaza could spread violence across the region, with armed groups backed by Israel's arch-rival Iran launching solidarity attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. 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 to initiate a wider war, but that it would not hold back if Israel waged a broader assault on Lebanon. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, has said his country is ready for talks on long-term stability on its southern border with Israel.

Germany warns of escalation, pledges aid to boost Lebanese army
Agence France Presse/January 11, 2024
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has pledged 15 million euros ($16 million) to bolster the Lebanese armed forces amid growing concern about tensions on the border with Israel as the Gaza war rages. Baerbock, on a visit to Beirut, said the military aid was aimed at helping the Lebanese army better secure the southern border with Israel. The army must be able to exercise "effective control" over the area in order to "contain armed militias and terrorist organisations", she said. Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7. The cross-border unrest has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict, prompting a succession of Western diplomats to converge on Beirut to urge restraint and discuss political solutions. Baerbock, who held talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, said an escalation of the conflict "would be a catastrophe for the two countries". She called on Hezbollah to withdraw from the border region with Israel, as required under United Nations Resolution 1701. Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, called for the removal of armed personnel south of Lebanon's Litani River, except for United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese state forces. "The war in Gaza against Hamas must not be used as an excuse to open another front and provoke a regional war," Baerbock said. Baerbock made the comments during a visit to the German frigate "Baden-Wuerttemberg" at the port of Beirut.
German soldiers are part of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force tasked with monitoring the area on the Israeli-Lebanese border. The 15 million euros pledged by Germany will go towards procuring fuel as well as medium-term measures such as border surveillance training for Lebanese troops, Baerbock said.

Israeli strike kills civilian in Kfarkila as tensions soar
Agence France Presse/January 11, 2024
An Israeli strike has killed a civilian in a border town in southern Lebanon, a local official told AFP, as regional tensions soar amid the Gaza war. Kfarkila mayor Hasan Sheyyet said a resident was killed Wednesday "during an Israeli artillery strike while he was in his garden", adding he was "a civilian with no party affiliation". The official National News Agency identified the slain man as Hasan Ali Tawil. It said he was killed when "an Israeli artillery shell fell near his house in Kfarkila". Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near daily exchange of fire between Israel's army and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Hezbollah says it has been targeting Israeli military sites in support of Gaza. The Israeli army has responded with air and artillery strikes, saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and fighters' movements around the border. Hezbollah mourned the death of one of its fighters on Wednesday morning after an Israeli strike targeted his house in the town of Kfarshouba at dawn. Since the start of the border escalation, 188 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 141 Hezbollah members and more than 20 civilians, among them three journalists, according to a tally compiled by AFP. The Israeli army says 14 Israelis have been killed, including nine soldiers. The killing of the deputy leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri, with six of his colleagues in an air strike in southern Beirut's Hezbollah stronghold on January 2, and the killing of top field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday, both of which Hezbollah has blamed on Israel, have raised fears of a wider conflict. Hezbollah announced on Wednesday that its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah would speak on Sunday in a commemoration of Tawil. The escalating tensions have prompted a succession of Western diplomats to converge on Beirut to urge restraint and discuss potential solutions -- including discussions over the disputed border. The latest diplomat to visit was German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who met on Wednesday with Lebanese officials. Baerbock said "all sides need to prevent further escalation along (the) Blue Line", which was drawn by the United Nations in 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, the German embassy in Beirut said on X, formerly Twitter. U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein will hold a series of meetings on Thursday in Beirut as part of an official visit. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a news conference in Beirut last week before meeting Hezbollah representatives that "it was "absolutely necessary to avoid Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict".

Attacks on Red Sea shipping mount, but confronting Houthis carries risks
Agence France Presse/January 11, 2024
A spate of attacks by Yemeni rebels on Red Sea shipping has disrupted the vital trade route, but experts say stopping them appears difficult at best -- and risky at worst. Dozens of drone and missile attacks have been launched on ships by the Huthis, part of the Iran-backed "axis of resistance" reinvigorated by Israel's war on Hamas. The rebels, who control large swathes of war-torn Yemen, are targeting supposedly Israel-linked ships passing through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the Red Sea's southern gateway. Their attacks, often with home-assembled drones and missiles, has forced some companies to divert around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, the key conduit for Asia-Europe shipping which usually carries about 12 percent of maritime trade. Washington says more than 20 nations have joined the U.S.-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to guard the commercially sensitive Red Sea. And last week, the United States and Britain were among 12 countries who jointly warned the Tehran-aligned rebel forces of unspecified consequences if the attacks continue. Undaunted, the Huthis this week fired their biggest salvo yet: 21 missiles and drones that were shot down by U.S. and British forces. "Enough is enough," UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps said afterwards. "We must be clear with the Huthis that this has to stop."The bellicose language is at odds with the reality that the Huthis have little to lose and much to gain from a military confrontation, experts say. "Offensive military operations in Yemen will be counter-productive," said Gerald Feierstein, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen and the director of the Arabian Peninsula Affairs programme at the Middle East Institute think-tank in Washington. Bombing the Huthis, who have weathered years of airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition, would have little impact and would only raise their standing and legitimacy in the Arab world, he said.
'New costly conflict'
"The best option would be to continue the defensive operations to protect international shipping until the conflict in Gaza winds down," Feierstein told AFP. The situation is also delicate for Arab governments, who risk being seen as traitors to the Palestinian cause if they openly oppose the Huthi attacks which the rebels say are in solidarity with Gaza. Yemen's powerful neighbour Saudi Arabia -- which is trying to extricate itself from a fruitless, nine-year war against the Huthis -- has stayed silent on the attacks raining down close to its territorial waters. "The Saudis don't want to jeopardise their talks with the Huthis or trigger a new round of Huthi attacks against Saudi targets," said Feierstein, referring to the Huthis' targeting of Saudi oil facilities between 2019 and 2022. The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government, the year after the rebels took control of the capital Sanaa.
The war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country into a deep humanitarian crisis, but fighting has largely been on hold for the past two years. Apart from Iran which holds the most influence over the Yemeni rebels, Oman plays a significant role, too. But the Omanis "are reluctant to pressure the Huthis at this time because they don't want to be perceived as supporting Israeli operations in Gaza", said Feierstein. Regional retaliation by the Yemeni rebels to a major military offensive remains a risk, said Thomas Juneau, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's School of Public and International Affairs. "Large-scale strikes would... risk entrapping the U.S. into a new costly conflict, especially if the Huthis retaliate regionally," he said. The Huthis have struck the United Arab Emirates in 2022 and launched missiles towards Israel during its war with Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian group's attacks in early October. Karim Bitar, a professor of international relations at Beirut's Saint Joseph University, said the military option was a "last resort" for the Western powers. "I think (U.S. officials) are using their channels of communications through the other regional powers, specifically Oman, to deter the Houthis from striking again." To Bitar, "the cold hard truth is that threats to freedom of navigation and to international trade in the Red Sea have mobilised the international community more than 20,000 civilian deaths in Gaza."

Israeli strike kills two members of Hezbollah-linked rescue force in Lebanon - statement
Reuters/January 11, 2024/January 11/2024
An Israeli strike on a civil defence centre in southern Lebanon on Thursday killed two rescuers and destroyed an ambulance, according to the rescue force, which is affiliated with armed group Hezbollah. The civil defence operations room at the Islamic Health Authority said that "direct Israeli bombardment on an emergency centre in the town of Hanin" killed two male unit members. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. It was the first time in more than three months of cross-border shelling that an Israeli strike hits an emergency centre. In other cases, rescuers and medics have been wounded in Israeli bombardment as they tried to reach the site of a previous strike or extract casualties. The deaths bring to 25 the number of civilians that have been killed in Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon, including children and journalists. At least 140 Hezbollah fighters have also been killed there, and nine troops on the Israeli side of the border. Hezbollah also launched rockets across the border at Israel on Thursday, as U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese officials in Beirut in an attempt to cool tensions on the disputed frontier between Lebanon and Israel.

Two paramedics killed in strike on Hezbollah health center in Hanine
Associated Press
Two paramedics were injured Thursday in an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-affiliated Health Organization in Hanine. Israeli warplanes had struck the Islamic Health Society in the Lebanese southern border town of Hanine, killing the two Hezbollah paramedics and injuring several others. The Israeli army also shelled the southern border towns of Aitaroun and Aita al-Shaab and carried out airstrikes on al-Khiam. Hezbollah for its part said it has attacked the Ramtha post in the occupied Shebaa farms, surveillance equipment at the Cobra hill, and groups of soldiers at the Metula, the Baghdadi, and the Tayhat Israeli posts. The group also targeted the Malkia post. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily clashes for the past three months. The fighting escalated in recent weeks, particularly since suspected Israeli strikes killed a top Hamas leader and a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon this month. Israeli officials have threatened a wider war in Lebanon if Hezbollah does not withdraw its forces north of the Litani river as stipulated in a 2006 cease-fire agreement. Meanwhile, the senior advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, arrived in Beirut amid an international scramble to contain the regional fallout of the ongoing war in Gaza and prevent an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese front. Hochstein was set to meet Thursday with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Hezbollah denounces Israel's targeting of Hanine health center, confirms two killed, several injured
LBCI/January 11/2024
Hezbollah's media relations condemned the Israeli army's targeting of the Islamic Health Authority center in the town of Hanine, confirming the death of two individuals and the injury of several others.

Negotiating security: Amos Hochstein visits Lebanon, urges diplomatic resolution for border crisis with Israel
LBCI/January 11/2024
Following a meeting at Ain el-Tineh on Thursday, US Senior Advisor Amos Hochstein revealed to the press that his visit to the country, at "a time of urgency," aims at finding "a diplomatic solution for the crisis on the border between Israel and Lebanon.""I was in Israel last week, and, as you saw, the President and Secretary Blinken and myself have said we prefer a diplomatic solution to the current crisis. We had those discussions today [Thursday], and I firmly believe that the people of Lebanon do not want to see an escalation of the current crisis to a further conflict," he affirmed. The US envoy revealed that: "We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in South Lebanon and to go back to their normal lives, as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north, to be able to live with security."
He stated that he maintained "good discussions here with the government," expressing that he remains hopeful about continuing to work on finding a solution that allows the "people in Lebanon and Israel to live with guaranteed security and focus on a better future."When asked about the Israeli side's willingness to negotiate after what Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said concerning not initiating negotiation before the Gaza war stops, he declared: "I think you've all heard what the Government of Israel has said, which is that there is a narrow window, but that they prefer a diplomatic solution."Amos Hochstein added: "I think that is the case. We are living in a crisis moment where we would like to see a diplomatic solution, and I believe that both sides prefer a diplomatic solution. It is our job to get one."

Lisa Johnson's new mission in Lebanon amid presidential vacuum, regional conflicts
LBCI/January 11/2024
The presidential vacuum, the Gaza war, and the border battles. All these files await the new American ambassador, who begins her work in Lebanon in a critical stage that requires careful diplomacy. Lisa Johnson returns to Beirut, but this time in the position of ambassador, after being appointed by the US president and approved by Congress.She will assume her diplomatic mission succeeding her predecessor Dorothy Shea, who left for the United States, leaving Johnson with the files after contributing during her tenure to the demarcation of the land border between Lebanon and Israel and activating her country's role in Lebanese domestic politics, enhancing Washington's support for the Lebanese army. Despite the strictness of the files awaiting her, Johnson's task will not be difficult this time, as she has previous experience in Lebanon for two years as an employee at the US embassy between 2002 and 2004.
However, upon her arrival in Beirut, Johnson will inherit from Shea a set of unresolved files, including:
- The Gaza war and its repercussions on Lebanon
- Demarcation of the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel
- US presence and confrontation with Iranian policy in Lebanon or reaching an agreement with it
- The presidential vacuum that Washington calls to end on every occasion
Johnson carries a wealth of experience, having progressed through many diplomatic positions before reaching the rank of counselor and ambassador.
Thus, will this diplomatic and political experience help her dismantle the complexities of the Lebanese file?

Senior Biden adviser to visit Beirut as tensions on Israel-Lebanon border escalate
Barak Ravid/Axios/January 11/2024
Senior Biden adviser Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Beirut on Thursday to continue efforts to calm tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border as skirmishes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah escalate, the White House said.
Driving the news: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials told Hochestein in Tel Aviv last week that there is only a short window of time to find a diplomatic solution that will prevent an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Catch up quick: Shortly after the war in Gaza began, Hezbollah started attacking Israeli military outposts along the border and launching rockets and drones into the northern parts of Israel. Israel has responded with air strikes and artillery fire. Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from Israeli villages and towns close to the border as a precaution, with fears Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces could conduct an attack like that of Hamas on Oct. 7. The Israeli government said publicly that the situation along the border must change — through a diplomatic solution or military action — before it will allow evacuated Israeli citizens to go back to their homes. Israel wants Hezbollah's forces to be pushed roughly six miles from the border as part of a diplomatic deal, as Axios previously reported. State of play: On Monday, the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border escalated further after an Israeli strike killed senior Hezbollah field commander Wissam al-Tawil, who led the group's elite Radwan force. Since then the exchange of fire between the parties continued with Hezbollah attacking the headquarters of the IDF northern command with drones and Israel killing several other field commanders of the militant group.
Behind the scenes: Hochstein is expected to meet with acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and other senior Lebanese government and military officials to advance discussions on how to reach understandings that will restore calm along the border, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Axios. Three Israeli officials said Hochstein stressed in his talks in Tel Aviv that once the IDF fully transitions to low-intensity operations in Gaza, it will help calm down the situation in Lebanon. He also proposed that Israel issue a public statement announcing the transition.
Hochstein told Netanyahu that once the skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah stop, he wants to start indirect negotiations on the land border, similar to the negotiations that led to the agreement on the maritime border last year, the Israeli officials said. The officials said Israel doesn't object to holding negotiations on the land border with Lebanon. The other side: Acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said earlier this week at a meeting with UN officials that he received messages from Israel through the U.S. and other countries warning of a war against Lebanon.
"They told us: 'Do you support the destruction of Lebanon? Do you want what happened in Gaza to happen in Lebanon,'" he said, according to a statement from his office. Mikati said in several interviews with the Lebanese press that Lebanon is ready to enter negotiations to reach long-term stability in southern Lebanon, including along its border with Israel. What they are saying: "The United States has made clear it does not support the ongoing conflict spreading into Lebanon and continues to exhaust all diplomatic options to see Israeli and Lebanese civilians return to their homes and live in security and stability," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said.

Sayegh: Who Gave Hezbollah the Authority to Overthrow Regimes in the Region or Defend Entities?
Kataeb.org/Thursday 11 January 2024
Kataeb Lawmaker Selim Sayegh addressed the evolving situation in Gaza and its implications on Lebanon in a manner reflecting an attempt, as articulated by both Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to organically link the arenas.
"This implies a connection between Gaza and the south, and the south being linked to Gaza. Consequently, the timing is unified, though there may be a difference in the nature of the conflict. Secondly, Hezbollah, having transformed from a resistance movement to a regular army that opens one front and closes another, has become a key player. With no longer a Lebanese state taking the initiative, Hezbollah bears significant responsibility for what is happening, engaging in negotiations that typically involve regular armies," Sayegh said in an interview with OTV.
Regarding the differences between the July 2006 war and the current situation, he stated: "Hezbollah sought legitimacy because it did not anticipate the war in 2006. It requested UNSC Resolution 1701 and considered it an achievement and a political victory for the government and legitimacy, especially in the words of the duo and House Speaker Nabih Berri. Today, the resolution has changed; the government does not want to take responsibility for what is happening."Sayegh added: "In 2006, Hezbollah admitted that it entangled itself, and through the words of Mr. Hassan, he said, 'If I had known,' acknowledging the entanglement of Lebanon with it. But today, there is a very rational approach, and the situation in Lebanon is understood. The Israeli side sends a message to Lebanon every day, without targeting the entire Lebanese land, and the Lebanese people do not want this war."
The Kataeb Lawmaker considered Hezbollah's narrative, stating that it expresses a desire to defend Gaza and martyrdom on the path to liberating Jerusalem, while linking Gaza to the borders.
This, in his view, isolates Hezbollah from the rest of the Lebanese environment, which he believes does not desire war.  He emphasized that this war is neither existential nor vital, and it is not considered a threat to the existence of Lebanon.
"The Lebanese entity is not linked to other entities in the region, and caution is needed to prevent Lebanon from being destroyed over the legitimacy of any cause," Sayegh indicated. "We cannot approach what happened in the past with today's perspective. There is no Lebanese consensus, support, or unity regarding this war," he noted.  He reminded that Hezbollah withdrew from the south, and the army deployed along the borders with UNIFIL, as stipulated by UNSC Resolution 1701. "Since 2006, there has been no significant breach of this resolution along the borders," he pointed out.
"Who authorized Hezbollah and made it responsible for overthrowing regimes in the region or defending entities or regimes? Who empowered it to overthrow a sovereign entity? Who gave it the right to commit to toppling the Israeli occupying entity?" he asked.
He pointed out the existence of a ceasefire agreement, asking, "Under which Lebanese creed, ministerial statement, or Lebanese-Lebanese agreement does one commit to overthrowing or preserving regimes?" He added, "Hence, we assert that we do not allow the state to cover an action with the goal of overthrowing regimes or destroying countries. Our project is Lebanese and stands on the Lebanese borders." He emphasized that his homeland is called Lebanon, not Palestine nor Syria.  Regarding the war in Gaza, he stated: "I do not see it as an Israeli victory because the Palestinian people are facing with remarkable courage in Gaza. I do not see a clear winner or loser. Therefore, we must take advantage of this balance to create a window of hope. Let us define our boundaries, and then we can stand on these boundaries and protect them with utmost vigilance. Most of the Naqoura lands, for example, have Christian endowments, as do the border villages. These lands are not exclusive to a sect or party."  He emphasized that the Palestinian cause should not be treated solely as a humanitarian cause but is inherently political and nationalist.
He urged finding a solution for the displaced Palestinian people who are living in inhumane conditions and facing various challenges.

Bassil says understanding with Hezbollah did not include Palestine liberation
Naharnet/January 11/2024
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said the understanding with Hezbollah did not include the liberation of Palestine, although he expressed his support for the Palestinian cause. In a televised interview, Bassil said the Palestinians are the ones who should decide how to confront and are the ones responsible for the liberation of their land. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily clashes for the past three months, in support of Gaza. The fighting escalated in recent weeks, particularly since suspected Israeli strikes killed a top Hamas leader and a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon this month.
"We did not help Hezbollah with weapons, money, or blood, but with a political stance," Bassil said, adding that "it is our duty to stand with the Lebanese against the Israelis." "This is a choice, not a bet."

US must restrain Netanyahu before he extends war to Lebanon
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/January 11/2024
The Israeli government is threatening war with Lebanon. The Americans do not want a strike that could extend the Gaza conflict into a regional war. Hezbollah does not want a war and neither does Iran. But can American diplomacy tame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Especially since most Americans are worried that the US will be drawn into another Middle East conflict. It is very clear that Iran does not want to waste a valuable asset, Hezbollah, just to support Hamas and the Palestinians. It prefers to keep the group as a front-line defense in case it gets attacked by Israel. This is why Hezbollah is keeping the fight within the rules of engagement. The US is pressuring Lebanon for it to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1701. This resolution was put in place to end the 2006 war. It emphasizes that the Lebanese state has to extend its sovereignty to all Lebanese territories, as dictated by resolutions 1559 of 2004 and 1680 of 2006, and put in place the necessary security arrangements. These include the creation of a buffer zone between the Blue Line and the Litani River that is free of all armed elements, except for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army, as well as increasing the number of UNIFIL troops to 15,000. UNIFIL should support the Lebanese Armed Forces and coordinate its activities with the Lebanese and Israeli governments. According to the resolution, Hezbollah should retreat north of the Litani. In 2006, the group complied. However, it started slowly redeploying later on. Two factors helped it extend its presence in the south: the Syrian war and the emergence of Daesh. This meant the army had to relocate troops to Lebanon’s eastern and northern borders. The second factor was related to the country’s financial crisis of 2019. The army’s presence became further diluted, as the budget did not allow for any new recruitment in all state departments, including the military. The less the LAF was present, the more Hezbollah extended its presence.
We can deduct from Israel’s behavior that it is pushing the limits. However, a miscalculation could occur
UNIFIL is operating under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, which revolves around the pacific settlement of disputes. Hence, its use of force is limited. These developments led to the loose execution of UNSC Resolution 1701, which increased Israel’s sense of insecurity.
Now, the US has tapped Amos Hochstein, the envoy who was in charge of the successful Israel-Lebanon maritime demarcation talks, to solve the issue diplomatically and prevent a strike on Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech he gave following Israel’s assassination of Hamas politburo member Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut last week, indirectly opened the door for negotiations by saying this could be an occasion to solve the problem once and for all. Israel assassinated Al-Arouri in Dahiya, a Hezbollah stronghold. Nasrallah has stated before that any assassination in Lebanon was a red line. Israel crossed this red line and yet has so far not faced any massive retaliation.
Following the assassination of Al-Arouri, Israel this week targeted Wissam Tawil, a high-ranking officer in Hezbollah’s elite Al-Radwan forces. He was also Nasrallah’s brother-in-law.
We can deduct from Israel’s behavior that, faced with what it perceives to be a lack of deterrence from Hezbollah, it is pushing the limits. However, a miscalculation could occur. The group could respond all of a sudden. Israel is playing with fire.
Nevertheless, Tel Aviv wants to show that it is strong and can crush its enemies. This is beyond security. It wants to restore the trust that was lost on Oct. 7. Israelis no longer have confidence in their military. They do not think it is capable of protecting them.
Perhaps the main reason Netanyahu wants to prolong the war is that, once it stops, he will have to go to court
There is also another reason, perhaps the main reason, Netanyahu wants to prolong the war: Once the war stops, he will have to go to court, and probably to jail. A source told me that Netanyahu wants to continue the war until next year in the hope that Donald Trump will return to the White House. Netanyahu is banking on Trump to keep him in power. Is this true? No one really knows, but it could be a possibility — and a dangerous one. This would mean that Netanyahu wants to extend the war to Lebanon to ensure his political survival.
Can the US prevent such a disastrous scenario? Can it convince Israel to abide by certain security arrangements? Maybe, but not with the soft stand it is currently taking toward Israel. The US was not able to stop Israel from targeting schools, hospitals and places of worship. It was not able to prevent Israel from targeting journalists, doctors and UN personnel. Can it twist the arm of Netanyahu and forbid him from striking Lebanon?
Will the risk involved in conducting such a strike prevent Israel from targeting Lebanon? Lebanon is not Gaza, Hezbollah is not Hamas, and the precision-guided missiles the group has are different from Qassam rockets. Still, the risk and American pressure may not be enough to dissuade Netanyahu.
The dangerous part is Israeli public opinion. The Times of Israel this month published a survey that showed that a slight majority of Israelis, 50.9 percent, are in favor of opening up a front in the north. This could be the perfect excuse the overwhelmingly unpopular prime minister needs to go to war with Lebanon.
This is where American diplomacy should take a firm stand against Netanyahu. It should make sure he is stopped before he makes a miscalculated step that unleashes an all-out war that will destroy Lebanon, hugely damage Israel, have grave repercussions for the region and, most importantly for the White House, temper Joe Biden’s chances of getting reelected.
*Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 11-12/2024
South Africa asks International Court of Justice to order Israel to stop Gaza war
AP/January 11, 2024
THE HAGUE: South Africa asked the World Court on Thursday to order Israel to immediately suspend its military operation in Gaza, where it says Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians. The demand came at the closing of the first day of hearings of a case brought by South Africa against Israel at the UN's top court. Israel will respond to the allegations on Friday. Israel faced accusations at the World Court on Thursday of genocide in its war in Gaza, as the first residents returned to northern areas where Israeli forces have begun withdrawing, leaving behind scenes of total devastation.
Three months of Israeli bombardment has laid much of the narrow coastal enclave to waste, killing more than 23,000 people and driving nearly the entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. An Israeli blockade has sharply restricted supplies of food, fuel and medicine, creating what the United Nations describes as a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel says its only choice to defend itself is by eradicating Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, whose fighters sworn to Israel’s destruction stormed through Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 240 hostages. Israel blames Hamas for all harm to civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny. The case, brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, accuses Israel of violating the 1948 genocide convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust, which mandates all countries to ensure such crimes are never repeated. Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy compared the lawsuit to a centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theory falsely accusing Jews of killing babies for rituals: “The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel, as Pretoria gives political and legal cover to the Hamas rapist regime.”
South africa likens the gaza strip to a concentration camp in its world court case
A lawyer representing South Africa’s legal team has called the Gaza Strip “a concentration camp where genocide is taking place.”John Dugard made the remarks while he was laying out a case in front of the International Court of Justice Thursday that South Africa has jurisdiction to take Israel to court over the genocide charge. He was repeating remarks made in 2023 by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The genocide charge strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity and such comparisons of Israel’s war in Gaza to Nazi concentration camps on a world stage are likely to stir emotions in Israel, which sees itself as a bulwark of security for Jews after 6 million were killed in the Holocaust. International support for Israel’s creation in 1948 was deeply rooted in outrage over Nazi atrocities. South Africa wants the court to rule that Israel is committing genocide in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel denies the charges, saying it is fighting a war of self-defense following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack.
Lawyer for South Africa tells the world court that Palestinians have nowhere safe to go
A lawyer representing South Africa’s legal team says Palestinians under Israeli bombardment have nowhere safe to go. In her address Thursday to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Adila Hassim said Palestinians in Gaza “are killed in their homes in places where they seek shelter, in hospitals, in schools or in mosques, in churches.” She said Palestinians have been killed if they did not follow Israeli orders to evacuate, but also if they evacuated to Israeli-designated safe corridors. “The level of killing is so extensive that those whose bodies are found buried in mass graves often unidentified,” Hassim said. South Africa is trying to prove to the court that Israel is committing genocide in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies the allegation, saying it is battling militants in a war of self-defense after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack. Amer Salah, 23, sheltering in a UN school in the Southern Gaza Strip after fleeing his home, told Reuters Gazans hoped the case would at last bring to bear international pressure forcing Israel to halt the war. “Israel has always been a state above the law. They did what they did in Gaza because they knew they couldn’t be punished as long as America was on their side. It is time to change that,” he said. “We salute South Africa, and we want the war to be stopped and the court can do that.” The preliminary hearings this week will consider whether the court should order Israel to stop fighting while it investigates the full merits of the case. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was driven to bring the case by “the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza,” motivated by South Africa’s own history of apartheid. The United States said Israel must do more to reduce civilian casualties, but called the genocide allegations “unfounded.”
“In fact, it is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” said State Department spokesperson Matt Miller. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters: “We urge the court to reject all pressure and take a decision to criminalize the Israeli occupation and stop the aggression on Gaza.” “A failure to achieve justice, a failure in the role of the court, would mean that the occupation will continue its war of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
’Gaza will be rebuilt. We will rebury our dead’
Since the New Year, Israel has announced a new phase in the war, saying it will begin drawing down forces in the northern half of the Gaza Strip where its offensive began in October. Even so, fighting has only intensified in southern areas, where Israel extended its ground campaign last month and where nearly all Gazans have sought shelter. The Israeli military said its main campaign was now in the biggest southern city, Khan Younis. The relative quiet in the north has allowed a small number of residents to begin trickling back into obliterated cities, finding a moonscape often with no trace of where homes once stood.
Yousef Fares, a freelance journalist, filmed himself walking through a wasteland surrounded by scorched ruins that was once a part of Gaza City, home to nearly a million people. A few civilians were making their way through, some wobbling on bicycles over a track across the mud. “All the houses you see are destroyed, completely or partially,” he said. “We are now at the Tuffah old cemetery, which is over 100 years old. All those graves were exhumed, they were run over by the Israeli bulldozers and tanks. People are coming from various areas of Gaza City to search for the bodies of their sons.” Abu Ayesh, who returned to a nearby part of Gaza City, told Reuters by phone that the destruction was “earthquake-like.” “I tell (Israeli Prime Mininster Benjamin) Netanyahu that Gaza will be rebuilt, we will build our homes and we will rebury our dead.”
Netanyahu: no intention to re-occupy Gaza
While Washington has backed Israel’s military campaign as justified by its right to self-defense, it has also called on its ally to scale the war back, do more to protect civilians, and maintain the hope of a future independent Palestinian state. This week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region, meeting Israeli and Palestinian officials and leaders of neighboring Arab States, defending Israel’s campaign to eradicate Hamas but pushing for it to work with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which recognizes Israel. Israel has been vague about its ultimate intentions but says it wants security control of Gaza indefinitely and won’t hand it to the PA, which exercises limited self rule in the Israeli occupied West Bank but was pushed out of Gaza in 2007 by Hamas. Some far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition government have openly called for Palestinians to leave Gaza and Israelis to settle there permanently. In a post on X, Netanyahu insisted this was not Israel’s aim. “I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” he wrote. “Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”

Top UN court opens hearings on South Africa's allegation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)/January 11, 2024
Judges at the International Court of Justice on Thursday opened two days of legal arguments in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide in its Gaza war. Israel rejects the allegation. Lawyers for South Africa asked judges at Thursday’s hearings to impose binding preliminary orders on Israel, including an immediate halt to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue said that South Africa argues that Israeli actions after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas “are genocidal in character” and that Israel ”failed to prevent genocide and is committing genocide." She said South Africa also claims Israel violates "other fundamental obligations under the (U.N.) Genocide Convention.”Ahead of the proceedings, hundreds of pro-Israeli protesters marched close to the courthouse with banners saying “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages still held by Hamas. Among the crowds, people were holding Israeli and Dutch flags. Outside the court, others were protesting and waving the Palestinian flag in support of South Africa's move. The dispute strikes at the heart of Israel's national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust.
It also involves South Africa's identity: Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.
Although it normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased, Israel has sent a strong legal team to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. South Africa immediately sought to broaden the case beyond the narrow confines of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. “The violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023. The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years,” said South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.
Vusimuzi Madonsela, the co-leader of South Africa’s delegation said that “at the outset, South Africa acknowledges that the genocidal acts and omissions by the state of Israel inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the people of Palestinian people. since 1948,” when Israel declared its independence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video statement Wednesday night defending his country's actions and insisted they had nothing to do with genocide. “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” he said. “Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”He said the Israeli military is “doing its utmost to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas is doing its utmost to maximize them by using Palestinian civilians as human shields.”In the opening session in The Hague, South Africa called for the court to issue an interim order for an immediate halt to Israel's military actions. A decision will likely take weeks. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. About two-thirds of the dead are women and children, health officials say. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. “Mothers, fathers, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, cousins are often all killed together. This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life. It is inflicted deliberately. No one is spared. Not even newborn babies,” said South African lawyer Adila Hassim. “Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court. Without an indication of provisional measures, the atrocities will continue with the Israeli Defense Force indicating that it intends pursuing this course of action for at least a year," she said. Finding food, water, medicine and working bathrooms has become a daily struggle for Palestinians living in Gaza. Last week, the U.N. humanitarian chief called Gaza “uninhabitable” and said, “People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner.” Israel itself has always focused attention on the Oct. 7 attacks themselves, when Hamas fighters stormed through several communities in Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. They abducted around 250 others, nearly half of whom have been released. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed the case as “ meritless ” during a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday. “It is particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter Iran — continue to call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews,” he said.
The world court, which rules on disputes between nations, has never judged a country to be responsible for genocide. The closest it came was in 2007 when it ruled that Serbia “violated the obligation to prevent genocide" in the July 1995 massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. The International Criminal Court, based a few miles (kilometers) away in The Hague, prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The case revolves around the genocide convention that was drawn up in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II and the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Both Israel and South Africa are signatories.Israel is back on the International Court of Justice's docket next month, when hearings open into a U.N. request for a non-binding advisory opinion on the legality of Israeli policies in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
*Mike Corder, The Associated Press

Israel's Netanyahu says hypocrisy and lies on display at World Court
Reuters/January 11/2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that hypocrisy and lies had been presented to the UN's top court, adding that South Africa's accusation against Israel of genocide in Gaza could only happen in a world turned upside-down."We are fighting terrorists, we are fighting lies," Netanyahu said. "Today we saw an upside-down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide.""Israel is fighting murderous terrorists who carried out crimes against humanity: They slaughtered, they raped, they burned, they dismembered, they beheaded - children, women, elderly, young men and women," he said. "The hypocrisy of South Africa screams to the heavens," Netanyahu said. "Where was South Africa when millions of people were killed or torn from their homes in Syria and Yemen, by whom? By partners of Hamas."Netanyahu said Israel would maintain the right to defend itself until it had achieved "total victory."

Gaza aftermath: Israeli Cabinet confronts dilemmas between prisoner exchange deal or prolonged war
LBCI/January 11/2024
In a Wednesday evening session, the Israeli Cabinet found itself grappling with two key challenges in the aftermath of the Gaza war, one concerning a prisoner exchange deal and the other the absence of a clear military plan for battle in Gaza. During the meeting, Mossad chief David Barnea, who participated after returning from Egypt leading an Israeli delegation, presented an Egyptian proposal for a prisoner exchange deal. Another proposal from Qatar, facilitated by the United States, was also laid before the Cabinet. Both deals involve an extended ceasefire leading to the cessation of hostilities in exchange for the return of prisoners, with the condition of Hamas' withdrawal from the sector. However, Israel desires to continue the deal in the manner of previous agreements, ensuring the continuation of the war and revealing a significant gap between the parties.Addressing the two proposals, a spokesperson highlighted the complexities and contradictions embedded in the presented options.
The second dilemma revolves around the nature and continuation of the fighting in Gaza, revealing a deep divide among decision-makers. There is no agreed-upon plan regarding the timing and nature of the battle. Complicating the discussion further, reservist soldiers voiced their outcry against the ambiguity surrounding the continuation of the war. The army acknowledged the severity and difficulty of battles in Gaza, prompting the Chief of Staff to meet with soldiers and stress the need for their engagement not only in Gaza but also in Lebanon. Amid ongoing protests from the Israeli public and families of prisoners over the lack of a prisoner deal, decision-makers are faced with prioritizing between the deal and halting the fighting. The divide deepened with Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz declaring the immediate priority to be the release of all hostages, interacting with the families of prisoners, and holding decision-makers responsible for their fate in captivity. The families demanded an immediate ceasefire as a priority over the war in Gaza.As internal divisions intensify and the army struggles to achieve significant gains in the fourth month of the war, with failed attempts to rescue 24 hostages, there is a mixed sense of optimism tinged with concern. The concern revolves around the possibility of a prisoner deal against the stubbornness of the Prime Minister and his coalition ministers to prolong the war for political and personal objectives, a decision that Israelis fear will exact a high price.

Israel-Hamas War: Southern Gaza battles continue between IDF, Hamas
The Jerusalem Post/January 11/2024
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS – The International Court of Justice in the Hague (ICJ) opened Thursday morning its deliberations on the complaint submitted on Dec. 29 by South Africa, accusing Israel of genocide. South Africa said Israel is subjecting the Palestinian people to apartheid and genocidal acts, at the opening of hearings in a case it brought against Israel's military campaign in Gaza. "South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed Article Two of the (Genocide) convention, committing acts that fall within the definition of genocide. The actions show a systematic pattern of conduct from which genocide can be inferred," Adila Hassim, advocate of the high court of South Africa, said. Exceptionally, 100 journalists were allowed into the building, with dozens of TV crews covering the two opposing demonstrations gathered in front of the court well before the hearing started and despite the very cold weather in the Dutch capital. Pro-Palestinian demonstration meets pro-Israel. Security has been beefed up across the city since Wednesday, especially in front of the ICJ, where hundreds of police officers on foot, vehicles, and horses are keeping apart the two opposing demonstrations. Thousands of people marched in the Hague in support of Israel, with family members of hostages held in Gaza leading the rally. Director of the Digital Diplomacy Bureau at the Israeli Foreign Ministry David Saranga, who is also marching, told The Jerusalem Post that buses from across Holland brought earlier this morning to the Hague the demonstrators, who are carrying pictures of the kidnapped and also of Israelis murdered on Oct. 7. The march was organized by the Christian for Israel and Christians in Defense of Israel groups, alongside local and European Jewish organizations. An anti-Israel demonstration gathered across the street from the Israelis. Demonstrators carried signs such as ‘’banal evil,’’ or ‘’stop the killing in Gaza,’’ and waved the Palestinian flag.

Exhausted Gaza medics struggle to help casualties from Israeli bombardment
Mohammed al-Masri and Maggie Fick/January 11, 2024
GAZA/LONDON (Reuters)
Injured Palestinians pour into al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip as exhausted medics try to help casualties from Israel's ground assault and bombardment. Doctor Khaled Abu Awaimer said the hospital was running out of medical supplies and that many of the remaining medics had themselves been displaced already and feared coming under attack again and having to flee once more. "We have cases we can't do anything about. We have nothing to offer so we feel completely helpless. This is very sad and bad to be honest," he said in a video obtained by Reuters.
Israel's stated objective in Gaza is to eradicate Hamas, the militant group that stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 240 hostages. The assault on Gaza has killed more than 23,400 people according to health authorities in the tiny, crowded, Hamas-run enclave and driven most people from their homes. The fate of the strip's hospitals and plight of its medics operating under bombardment, with flickering electricity and water supply and inadequate medical stocks, has prompted U.N. fears of a collapse in the health system.
As Abu Awaimer spoke, dozens of people milled around a busy hospital area, some pulling stretchers as medics prepared bandages. He said the hospital surroundings had recently been hit and ambulances destroyed. On Wednesday the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israel's military had targeted one of its ambulances in Deir al-Balah, killing four medical workers and two injured people being transported inside. Israel's military did not comment on the incident. It has previously accused Hamas of operating out of hospitals and ambulances, something the militant group has denied. On one bed, a patient lay with an oxygen mask over the face, blood pooling on the floor below. In another place, an injured man sat on the floor as pink, bloody water washed out of a room next to him. Many of the medics working at al-Aqsa had already fled other hospitals further north in Gaza in the face of Israel's ground assault. Now they feared the same scenario again, he said, as bombardment in the centre of the enclave pushed people south.
MASS CASUALTIES
British doctor James Smith, who was working at al-Aqsa hospital from late December until being forced to evacuate last weekend, said patients at the hospital had the most serious conflict trauma injuries he or foreign medical colleagues had ever seen. "We would see mass casualty incident after mass casualty incident every single day," he said, describing al-Aqsa as the only functioning hospital in the area. Hundreds of people would arrive each day, most of them physically injured but many also in acute distress, some sobbing hysterically and hyperventilating, he said. Doctors and nurses were working 24-hour shifts, treating patients on the floor for a lack of beds, there was no room to organise a triage system and medics would be working to save one patient while another lay dying in the same room, he said. He described a girl of 11 or 12 years old brought in one day after an explosion with her entire face and most of the upper half of her body burned black, entirely distorting her features, contracting her arms so her hands pointed to the ceiling. The girl could not survive and was alone apart from the medics trying to relieve her pain, he said. Beside the risk of injuries from bombardment, the lack of food, clean water and electricity and mass displacement of Gazans to tent cities is also affecting health. Jamila Abo Amsha, a woman living with her children in a tent in Rafah after fleeing the bombardment around their home in northern Gaza, said she had been unable to wash her children's clothes or shower them for 10 days. "The entire Gaza Strip population is dying and the world is watching," she said.

Blinken meets Egypt's Sisi as Middle East diplomacy tour wraps up
Simon Lewis/CAIRO (Reuters)/January 11, 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on Thursday, as he concluded a bout of frenetic diplomacy between Israel and its neighbors over the war in Gaza. The visit came a day after Sisi met King Abdullah of Jordan and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the Red Sea port of Aqaba as Washington pushes for a path forward from the bloodshed in Gaza, even as the conflict threatens to spread further to Lebanon, Iraq and Red Sea shipping lanes. Egypt and Jordan warned after the talks that Israel’s crackdown, which has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, must not displace the strip's 2.3 million people or end in an Israeli occupation. Israel and its U.S. backers have insisted that it is not Israel’s plan. The war began with an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants who killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages. Blinken, who has visited nine countries and the occupied West Bank in a week, brought a rough agreement to Israel that its Muslim-majority neighbors would help rehabilitate Gaza after the war and continue economic integration with Israel but only if Israel commits to eventually allowing the creation of an independent Palestinian state. That state would incorporate Gaza and the West Bank, where Blinken met Abbas in the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah on Wednesday. Washington wants the unpopular Palestinian Authority to undertake reforms and regain credibility in order to take charge of Gaza if and when Israel achieves its goal of eliminating Hamas, which has run the strip since 2007. In Egypt, Blinken was also likely to discuss ongoing talks with Hamas mediated by Egypt and Qatar. He told NBC in an interview on Tuesday that he was hopeful Hamas would engage on talks on the release of more hostages, after an earlier deal that saw fighting paused and more than 100 hostages released broke down.

UN Security Council condemns Houthi attacks on vessels in Red Sea
EPHREM KOSSAIFY/January 11, 2024
New York: The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution condemning “in the strongest terms” multiple Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea over the past two months, which have raised concerns over disruptions in global trade and regional security.
The council demanded that the group immediately cease such behavior and release the Galaxy Leader, a Japan-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli businessman, and its 25 crew members. Authored by the US and Japan, the resolution stated that there should be respect for international law that upholds the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by operators of merchant and commercial vessels. It also noted that member states have the right to defend their vessels from attacks. Since mid-November 2023, the Houthi rebels have repeatedly attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea, at last count 24 times, and threatened to continue to do so until Israel ends its war on Gaza. The capture of the Galaxy Leader was followed by an attempt to seize another commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden on Nov. 26. There have now been almost daily, and indiscriminate, attacks in the Red Sea. The resolution, which Arab News has seen, stated that member states must respect the targeted arms embargo, and condemned the provision of weapons and related material of all types to the Houthis, which are in violation of UN Resolution 2216. This resolution was adopted in 2015 and demanded that the Houthis withdraw from all occupied areas and relinquish all seized arms. It established an arms embargo on the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Eleven council members voted for Resolution 2722 related to the Houthi attacks, none against, while Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique abstained. The council voted down amendments proposed by Russia, one of which would have established a link between the Houthi attacks and the conflict in Gaza and called for a suspension of hostilities in the enclave.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, told council members prior to the vote that “the escalation in Gaza is the main root cause of the current situation in the Red Sea and without referencing it in the resolution, the causal link will be lost and the main context will be skewed.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US’ permanent representative to the UN, said: “Russia’s amendment (falsely) suggested the conflict in Gaza is the cause of the Houthis’ brazenly opportunistic attacks. “The Houthis are simply intoxicated with power. This amendment would further embolden the Houthis and established a dangerous precedent for the Council to legitimize these violations of international law. As the resolution acknowledges, regional dynamics, including Iran’s provision of advanced weapons, which enable the Houthis to target merchant and commercial vessels, have contributed to this situation.” The council voted down another Russian amendment requesting to delete the language about states’ right to defend their vessels, which Moscow sees as providing an apparent endorsement for Operation Prosperity Guardian, a US-led multinational military coalition formed in December 2023 to respond to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Nebenzia questioned the legitimacy of the coalition, saying that the rights of states to defend their vessels from attack does not exist in international law. “No, this is not a question of ensuring security of navigation (in) the Red Sea but an attempt to legitimize existing actions of this coalition. This innovation looks seriously dubious both from a legal and political point of view.” The US’ Thomas-Greenfield said that “it is long-established that states have a right to defend merchant and commercial vessels from attacks.” She also accused Iran of being “deeply involved in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea.  “The United States does not seek a confrontation with Iran. However, Iran also has a choice: to continue providing or withhold its support for the Houthis, without which the Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike vessels navigating shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. “Specifically, Iran has transferred advanced weapons systems to the Houthis, including Unmanned Arial Systems, Land Attack Cruise Missiles, and ballistic missiles used in attacks against maritime vessels. Let me be 100 percent clear here: the provision of arms and related material of all types to the Houthis is a violation of Resolution 2216.”

Iran says it seized oil tanker boarded by armed men in Gulf of Oman
Arab News/January 11, 2024
DUBAI: Iran confirmed on Thursday that its navy seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was reported to have been boarded by armed men. Five masked gunmen wearing black military style uniforms boarded the crude oil tanker, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
Iran's state-run television acknowledged the seizure late Thursday afternoon, hours after armed men boarded it. “The violating oil tanker Suez Rajan ... stole Iranian oil by leading it to the Americans and delivered it to the Americans,” state TV said. It said Iran's navy, rather than its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, conducted the seizure. Past tense incidents at sea have largely involved the Guard. Earlier, the Saudi-owned news station Al Arabiya posted on X.com claims made by Iranian state TV that it had detained an American oil tanker in the Arabian Sea, but did not name the vessel, or make reference directly to the St Nikolas. The St. Nikolas crude oil tanker’s owners have told Arab News they lost contact with the ship early Thursday morning. The incident was reported 50 nautical miles east of Oman’s Sohar. Security experts say the ships tracking system has been turned off and the vessel is believed to be headed towards Iran. A spokesperson at Empire Navigation, managers of M/T St. Nikolas, confirmed to Arab News reports that they lost contact with their vessel at approximately 06:30 a.m. Athens time (04:30 GMT) “as she was sailing off the coast of Oman, close to Sohar. The vessel is manned with total 19 crew members: 18 Filipino and one of Greek Nationality.”“The vessel had loaded the previous days in Basrah (Iraq) a cargo of about 145,000 metric tonnes of crude oil destined to Aliaga (Turkey), via the Suez Canal. The charterer of the vessel is Tupras.”
“Empire Navigation have activated their emergency plan, notified the pertinent authorities and are making every effort to restore communication with the St.Nikolas.”Reuters cited the US private intelligence firm Ambrey as saying the tanker’s automatic identification system had been turned off, adding that the tanker was headed in the direction of Bandar-E-Jask in Iran. The website of the UKMTO, which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, stated: “UKMTO has received a report of vessel being boarded by 4-5 armed unauthorised persons at approximately 0330UTC in an area 50NM East of Sohar, Oman.” “Unauthorised boarders are reported to be wearing military style black uniforms with black masks.”“CSO reports vessel has altered course towards Iranian teritorial waters and communications with the vessel have been lost. Authorities are investigating.” An earlier report on the site stated: “CSO reports hearing unknown voices over the phone along with the Masters voice. Unable to make further contact with vessels at this time. Authorities are investigating”. Earlier reports advised vessels in the area to “transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.” AP said that those boarding the ship had covered the surveillance cameras as they boarded. The ongoing incident comes just a day after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning “in the strongest terms” multiple Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea over the past two months. The incident currently has an amber status on the UKMTO website, indicating that a “Robbery, Boarding, Suspicious approach” has taken place. A red status would signify “Attack, Hijack, Incident, Kidnap”.Tensions have grown in the seas off the Arabian Gulf in recent days, with Yemen’s Houthi militia saying on Wednesday that it carried out a retaliation strike on the US Navy in the Red Sea with multiple missiles and drones. On this occasion American and British navy ships shot down 21 Houthi drones. British Defense Minister Grant Shapps said, Wednesday that the continuation of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea was “completely unacceptable”.
Shapps previously said on Jan.1 that Britain was “willing to take direct action” against Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen who have repeatedly attacked vessels in the Red Sea. The St Nikolas is a Crude Oil Tanker that was built in 2011 and is sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands, it is associated with the Greek shipping company Empire Navigation. Attention began focusing on the Suez Rajan in February 2022, when the group United Against Nuclear Iran said it suspected the tanker carried oil from Iran’s Khargh Island, its main oil distribution terminal in the Persian Gulf.
Satellite photos and shipping data analyzed at the time by the AP supported the allegation. For months, the ship sat in the South China Sea off the northeast coast of Singapore before suddenly sailing for the Texas coast without explanation. The vessel discharged its cargo to another tanker in August, which released its oil in Houston as part of a Justice Department order.In September, Empire Navigation pleaded guilty to smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine over a case involving the tanker when it operated under the name Suez Rajan, which carried some 1 million barrels of oil. (With agencies)

Tanker in Gulf of Oman boarded by men in military uniforms in apparent seizure in Mideast waters
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/January 11, 2024
An oil tanker once at the center of a crisis between Iran and the United States was boarded in the Gulf of Oman by “unauthorized” people in military uniforms early on Thursday morning, an advisory group run by the British military and a private security firm warned.
Details remained unclear in what was apparently the latest seizure of a vessel in the tense Middle East waterways. However, suspicion immediately fell on Iran as the ship was once known as the Suez Rajan and had been involved in a yearlong dispute that ultimately saw the U.S. Justice Department seize 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it. The apparent seizure also comes after weeks of attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, including their largest barrage ever of drones and missiles launched late Tuesday. That has raised the risk of possible retaliatory strikes by U.S.-led forces now patrolling the vital waterway, especially after a United Nations Security Council vote on Wednesday condemning the Houthis and as American and British officials warned of potential consequences over the attacks.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, said Thursday's apparent seizure began early in the morning, in the waters between Oman and Iran in an area transited by ships coming in and out of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. The U.K. military-run group described receiving a report from the ship's security manager of hearing “unknown voices over the phone” alongside with the ship's captain. It said that further efforts to contact the ship had failed and that the men who boarded the vessel wore "black military-style uniforms with black masks."The private security firm Ambrey said that “six military men” boarded the ship, which it identified as the oil tanker St. Nikolas. It said that the men had covered the surveillance cameras as they boarded.
The tanker had been off the city of Basra, Iraq, loading crude oil bound for Aliaga, Turkey, for the Turkish refinery firm Tupras. Satellite-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press last showed the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker had turned and headed toward the port of Bandar-e Jask in Iran.
The St. Nikolas was earlier named the Suez Rajan, associated with the the Greek shipping company Empire Navigation. In a statement to the AP, Athens-based Empire Navigation acknowledged losing contact with the vessel, which has a crew of 18 Filipinos and one Greek national. The company did not elaborate. Attention began focusing on the Suez Rajan in February 2022, when the group United Against Nuclear Iran said it suspected the tanker carried oil from Iran’s Khargh Island, its main oil distribution terminal in the Persian Gulf. Satellite photos and shipping data analyzed at the time by the AP supported the allegation. For months, the ship sat in the South China Sea off the northeast coast of Singapore before suddenly sailing for the Texas coast without explanation. The vessel discharged its cargo to another tanker in August, which released its oil in Houston as part of a Justice Department order.
In September, Empire Navigation pleaded guilty to smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine over a case involving the tanker.
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the incident. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, citing foreign reports, mentioned the boarding but did not say anything more. Iran's mission to the United Nations also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After the vessel, then-Suez Rajan, headed for America, Iran seized two tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, including one with cargo for major U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. In July, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s naval arm threatened further action against anyone offloading the Suez Rajan, with state media linking the recent seizures to the cargo’s fate. Since the collapse of Iran's nuclear deal, waters around the strait have seen a series of ship seizures by Iran, as well as assaults targeting shipping that the Navy has blamed on Tehran. Iran and the Navy also have had a series of tense encounters in the waterway, though recent attention has been focused on the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The U.S. and its allies also have been seizing Iranian oil cargoes since 2019. That has led to a series of attacks in the Mideast attributed to the Islamic Republic, as well as ship seizures by Iranian military and paramilitary forces that threaten global shipping. The Houthis say their attacks are aimed at halting the suffering of Palestinians in Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, the rebels have increasingly targeted ships with tenuous or no ties to Israel.
Meanwhile, satellite tracking data analyzed by the AP on Thursday showed that an Iranian cargo vessel suspected of being a spying platform in the Red Sea had left the waterway. The data showed the Behshad had transited through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into the Gulf of Aden.
The Behshad has been in the Red Sea since 2021 off Eritrea’s Dahlak archipelago. It arrived there after Iran removed the Saviz, another suspected spy base in the Red Sea that had suffered damage in an attack that analysts attributed to Israel amid a wider shadow war of ship attacks in the region.
*Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

Houthi leader vows to intensify Red Sea attacks in defiance of UN
SAEED AL-BATATI/Arab News/January 11, 2024
It denounced the group for attacking ships in the Red Sea
AL-MUKALLA: The leader of Yemen’s Houthi militia vowed on Thursday to intensify assaults on ships in the Red Sea, Bab El-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden, only hours after the UN Security Council passed a resolution requesting the Houthis to stop their attacks. Other prominent members of the Iran-backed militia also slammed the Security Council decision and pledged to continue attacks in the waters until Israel lifted its blockade on Gaza. In a televised speech, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, who did not mention the Security Council resolution, said thousands of Yemenis had joined their military camps to fight in Palestine and that his forces would continue attacking ships in the Red Sea. And he reiterated threats to attack US Navy vessels more forcefully if they targeted his forces. “The retaliation to any American strike will not only be at the level of the current operation, which included more than 24 drones and multiple missiles, but will be larger,” Al-Houthi added. UN Resolution 2722, which was drafted by the US and Japan, gave member states the right to defend their vessels against Houthi attacks and it denounced the group for attacking ships in the Red Sea. It also demanded that the Houthis stop their attacks and release the Galaxy Leader vehicle carrier and its 25 crew members. Since November, the Houthis have seized the Israel-linked Galaxy Leader and launched missiles and drones toward commercial and navy ships sailing through the Red Sea in a bid to prevent all Israel-linked or Israel-bound ships from accessing the important maritime route. The Houthis say their actions are intended to put an end to Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza and allow humanitarian supplies to enter the area under siege. Meanwhile, the Houthi chief negotiator based in the Omani capital Muscat, Mohammed Abdul Sallam, said their attacks on ships in the Red Sea would not jeopardize the security of the vital shipping lane, current UN-brokered peace efforts to end the war in Yemen, or their talks with Saudi Arabia. He accused the US of pushing for the adoption of the new Security Council resolution to punish them for supporting people in Gaza.
In a post on X, he said: “We confirm that there is no risk to ships or international traffic in the Red Sea and that Resolution 2722 is riddled with American deceit and well-known Western falsehoods.”Abdul Sallam told Reuters that the militia’s intensifying Red Sea operations would not threaten their peace negotiations with Saudi Arabia. “It has nothing to do with what is happening in the Gaza Strip unless the Americans want to move other countries in the region to defend Israel which is another matter,” he added. Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, head of the group’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, urged Security Council members, namely the US, to encourage Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza rather than pressing the Houthis to halt their Red Sea assaults.In a post on X, he said: “The resolution (2722) passed on the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game, and the US is the one breaking international law.”The US Central Command said on Tuesday that American and British navy vessels shot down 21 drones, ballistic and anti-ship missiles launched by the Houthis against ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis said they launched two dozen missiles and drones at a US naval ship in retaliation for the American military killing 10 of their members in the Red Sea last month. Houthi leader, Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, claimed on Thursday that the US recently promised them that it would stop supporting other opponents in Yemen and legitimize their government in exchange for them quitting or reducing their assaults on ships, saying they rejected the offer and would continue attacks despite the UN Security Council resolution. “It (Yemen) will not end its armed operations against Israel until Israel stops committing genocide in Gaza and permits food, medicine, and fuel into the territory,” Al-Bukhaiti said. Yemeni conflict specialist Nadwa Al-Dawsari told Arab News that the current UN resolution would not force the Houthis to cease their assaults on ships, citing a 2015 UN Security Council resolution that failed to stop Houthi military expansion. “Condemnations never stopped the Houthis before, and they won’t now. Already, the Houthi leaders are ridiculing the UNSC decision. UNSC Resolution 2216 did not stop the Houthis. This resolution won’t either,” she said.

Iran says it arrested 35 people in relation to deadly Kerman attacks
DUBAI (Reuters)/January 11, 2024
Iranian authorities have arrested 35 people in relation to the Jan. 3 attacks in the southeastern city of Kerman, the Intelligence Ministry said on Thursday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The ministry said it had identified one of the two suicide bombers as a national of Tajikistan, who entered Iran illegally on Dec. 19. More information will be released at a later date about the second suicide bomber, the ministry said, adding that the arrests had been carried out in several Iranian provinces. The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Jan. 4 for the attack that killed nearly 100 people and wounded 284, at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani. Tehran has vowed revenge for the bloodiest such attack since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Russians are calling for a 9-mile 'buffer zone' to stop Ukraine raiding their towns — but are unlikely to get it
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/January 10, 2024
The Kremlin pledged to do everything it could to protect Belgorod from Ukrainian attacks on Tuesday. That promise led some Russians to call for a 9-mile buffer zone along its border with Ukraine. But think-tank analysts say the military operation required is almost impossible. Some Russians want a 9-mile "buffer zone" along the border with Ukraine to protect them from raids, but it's an almost impossible request, military experts say. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said in an update on Tuesday that Russians had called for that zone after the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov pledged to do everything to protect the region of Belgorod from further Ukrainian attacks. The region has suffered from a series of cross-border raids, including as recently as last week. Russian authorities have so far failed to announce plans to protect it. The ISW said Russian sources were reviving calls for a large-scale Russian offensive in Kharkiv to create this buffer zone despite "the military's likely inability to conduct an operation to seize significant territory in Kharkiv Oblast in the near term." One Telegram account quoted by the ISW said the border must be pushed back significantly, while another said a large exclusion zone of up to 15 kilometers, or about 9 miles, deep inside Kharkiv Oblast was needed to prevent Ukrainian long-range attacks. Russian ultranationalists urged something similar last summer, citing public dissatisfaction with cross-border raids by pro-Ukrainian forces, the ISW said. But the ISW said building such a zone along several hundred kilometers of the border was probably doomed to fail. It would require a "far larger" and "significantly better" equipped force than what Russia now had positioned along the front lines with Ukraine, it said. The UK Ministry of Defence said in November that Russian forces, as well as their Ukrainian counterparts, were already struggling to make any significant breakthroughs because of how scattered they were along the 745-mile front line. Russian forces are also yet to advance into Kharkiv, though a Russian grouping stationed there "appears more well-suited to conduct an intensified offensive effort than elsewhere in Ukraine or along the international border," the ISW said. The ISW assessed that right now, Russian troops would only be able to carry out "tactical-level actions," meaning they could engage in battles in Kharkiv Oblast from Belgorod but with no guarantee of success.

Ukraine President Zelenskyy rules out a ceasefire with Russia, saying Moscow would use it to rearm
Euronews/January 11, 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday ruled out a ceasefire with Russia, saying the Kremlin would use the pause to rearm and regroup in order to overwhelm Kyiv’s troops. “A pause on the Ukrainian battlefield will not mean a pause in the war,” Zelenskyy said during a visit to Estonia. “A pause would play into (Russia’s) hands. It might crush us afterward.”Limited ceasefires have occasionally been proposed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 but have never taken hold. Both sides are scrambling to replenish their weapons after 22 months of fighting and are facing the prospect of a protracted conflict. With the roughly 1,500-kilometre frontline mostly static during winter, they both require artillery shells, missiles and drones that enable long-range strikes. Zelenskyy said Moscow is receiving artillery shells and missiles from North Korea and drones from Iran. On 4 January, the White House cited US intelligence officials as saying that Russia acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking them from Iran. Zelenskyy was in the Estonian capital of Tallinn as part of a two-day swing through Baltic countries, which have been among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. He met with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who gave him a shirt with the Estonian word “Kaitsetahe” - “The will to defend” - printed on the front, which Zelenskyy wore as he addressed parliament. “Tyranny must be defeated. Tyranny must be a loser," Zelenskyy said. “Always. Always. Always.”
Zelenskyy said he and Kallas also discussed Ukrainians who fled to Estonia when the war began, telling a news conference that any of them who are of draft age "need to help Ukraine and be in Ukraine.”His comments came as lawmakers in Kyiv returned a draft law on mobilisation to the government for amendments, saying it might contain human rights violations, among other concerns, officials said. The draft law aims to impose restrictions on citizens who have evaded mobilisation duties, as Ukraine grapples with shortages of military personnel. Zelenskyy said last month that Ukraine's military wants to mobilise up to 500,000 more troops, but he said he had asked top brass to spell out the details on what is “a very sensitive matter” before deciding whether to grant their wish. He also is pressing allies to provide Ukraine with more support on top of the billions of dollars in military aid from the West. “Ukraine needs more, it needs better weapons," President Alar Karis said during a news conference with Zelenskyy at the Presidential Palace. “We must boost military production capabilities so that Ukraine may get what it needs,” he said. “And it’s not tomorrow, they should get it today.”Zelenskyy later went to Riga, the capital of Latvia, where President Edgars Rinkevics said his country would step up its military aid, according to Latvian public broadcaster LSM. Latvia will supply various types of armaments and ammunition, including the missiles, howitzers, 155 mm shells and drones that Zelenskyy is asking for, LSM reported. On Wednesday, Zelenskyy won a pledge of more support from Lithuania.

US military denies striking rocket launcher on Monday in western Iraq
(Reuters)/Thu, January 11, 2024
The U.S. military said it did not carry out an air strike on a rocket launcher on Monday near Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq which hosts U.S. and other international forces, a U.S. military official said on Thursday. "The vehicle mounted rocket launcher, which was reportedly found approximately 7km east of Al-Asad Airbase, Iraq, was not destroyed as a result of a U.S. air strike", the U.S. military official told Reuters. Two Iraqi army officials told Reuters on Tuesday that a U.S. air strike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad air base. The U.S. military official said "any damage to the launcher could have been the result of a malfunction or misfire". Since October 17, the U.S. and Coalition forces have been attacked at least 130 times in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military official said. As of Thursday, there had been 53 attacks in Iraq and 77 in Syria, usually with a mix of one-way attack drones, rockets, mortars, and close-range ballistic missiles, the official added. Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq and Syria oppose Israel's campaign in Gaza and hold the U.S. partly responsible.

It will take more than just drones to defeat Russia's Black Sea Fleet, says Ukrainian naval commander
Business Insider/January 11, 2024
Ukraine has managed to destroy parts of Russia's Black Sea Fleet using drones. But a top Ukrainian naval commander said the tactic won't cut it in 2024. "There is a certain limitation in the use of these means," Oleksii Neizhpapa told Ukrainska Pravda. A Ukrainian naval commander said it will take more than just drones to defeat Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Oleksii Neizhpapa, Commander of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, made the statement in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda. "Simply changing the fleet to drones and winning will not work," he said, according to a translation provided by the outlet.
Ukraine conducted a series of successful drone attacks on Russia's Black Sea Fleet in 2023, with its explosive sea drones sinking two Russian landing ships on November 10, "Sea Baby" drones damaging a Russian patrol ship near Sevastopol on October 11, and high-tech naval drones paralyzing the fleet on August 24. The attacks forced Russia to relocate parts of its navy from the Crimean port city of Sevastopol to the port city of Novorossiysk in western Russia in October, the Institute for the Study of War said at the time, citing satellite imagery. The attacks also caused Russia to lose a fifth of its fleet in just four months, the UK Defence Secretary said in late December. However, Neizhpapa said that the technology behind Russia's drones is getting better. "The enemy is also learning; they have a powerful industrial complex, and the Russians never scrimped money on weapons. Therefore, very difficult drone wars are ahead of us," he said. As a result, Neizhpapa said, the type of attacks Ukraine launched at sea in 2022 and 2023 won't be as effective in 2024. He also cited drones' size, armament, and weather resistance, which don't match those of ships. "Yes, drones are another way to defeat the Russians. I agree with this; it works. But there is a certain limitation in the use of these means," Neizhpapa told Ukrainska Pravda. "You can claim a territory as yours only when the boot of your soldier or a marine stands on it. Then this is your territory," he added. "The same is true at sea. When you have a ship standing in these territorial waters, and no one can do anything about it, only then it is your sea."

Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria ink deal to clear floating Black Sea mines
ISTANBUL (Reuters)/Ali Kucukgocmen and Huseyin Hayatsever/January 11, 2024
Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria signed an agreement on Thursday on a joint plan to clear mines floating in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine, following months of talks between the NATO allies. Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, his Romanian counterpart Angel Tilvar and Bulgaria's Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul to form a trilateral initiative to clear the explosives. "With the start of the war, a threat of floating mines in the Black Sea has arisen. To combat it...we agreed to form a Black Sea mine counter-measures task group," Guler said at the signing ceremony. Sea mines have posed a threat to Ukraine's export routes via the Black Sea since Russia's invasion in February 2022 and several commercial ships have been hit, including a bulk carrier heading to the River Danube port to load grain in December. Three minehunting ships from each country and one command control ship, will be assigned to the initiative, a Turkish defence ministry official said. Naval commanders of the three countries will form a committee to run the operation, Guler said, adding that it might include other Black Sea states after the war in Ukraine ends. Guler said Turkey viewed potential contributions to this initiative by non-Black Sea NATO allies as "valuable" but that it will only be open to ships of the "three littoral allied countries." Turkey said last week it would not allow two minehunter ships donated to Ukraine by Britain to transit its waters en route to the Black Sea since it would violate the 1936 Montreux Convention, an international pact concerning wartime passage of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. "As Turkey, we have implemented the Montreux Convention carefully, responsibly and impartially, which ensures the balance in the Black Sea," Guler said. Defence ministers from the three Black Sea countries held talks on the mine clearing plan at a NATO meeting in Brussels in October last year and in Ankara in November as they worked to finalise the initiative. Ankara, which maintains good ties with both Kyiv and Moscow, is also working with the United Nations, Ukraine, and Russia to revive the Black Sea grain initiative which Moscow quit last year, though there have been no public signs of progress on those talks.

Turkish police arrest 70 suspects with ties to the Islamic State group in raids across the country
ISTANBUL (AP)/Thu, January 11, 2024
Turkish police detained 70 suspects with ties to the militant Islamic State group in raids this week across the country, Turkey's interior minister said Thursday. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media that large amounts of money, digital material and receipts for hawala banking transactions were also discovered in the raids. Hawala is an informal money transfer system that is traditionally used in some parts of the Muslim world. A video accompanying Yerlikaya’s post showed vehicles sweeping out of police stations and armed officers in military gear raiding addresses, followed by searches and arrests. In late December, Turkish security forces detained 32 suspected IS militants that the state-run Anadolu news agency said were allegedly planning attacks on synagogues, churches and the Iraqi Embassy. A week earlier, police rounded up 304 suspected IS militants in simultaneous raids across Turkey in what appeared to be a security sweep leading up to the New Year festivities. The Islamic State group has carried out a string of deadly attacks in Turkey over the last decade, including a shooting at an Istanbul night club on Jan. 1, 2017, that killed 39 people during New Year celebrations and the bombing of a peace march in Ankara in October 2015 that killed some 105 people.

Iran begins new year with dizzying rate of executions
Struan Stevenson/United Press International/January 11, 2024
2024 began in Iran just as 2023 ended, with a dizzying rate of executions.
A Kurdish political prisoner was executed on Jan. 4 after enduring 14 years in prison. The number of executions recorded in 2023 reached at least 864, according to the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the highest figure in the last eight years and about 34% higher than in 2022, when 646 people were executed. However, as many executions in Iran are carried out in secret, the actual number is likely to be much higher. The frenzy of executions continued to escalate throughout 2023, with 313 taking place in the last three months of the year. Clearly, this alarming death toll is geared toward frightening the restive population into passivity. In a further sign of the regime's desperate plunge into misogynist immorality, last week Roya Heshmati, 33, was sentenced to the vicious punishment of 74 lashes, on the fictitious charge of improper veiling. The judiciary's news agency, Mizan, said Saturday, "The sentence was carried out in accordance with the law and the holy Sharia. The specific areas (for flogging punishment) have been clearly specified in the law and the verdict."
Heshmati continued to defy the strict dress code even as she was taken to be whipped, refusing to cover her hair. She was charged with "encouraging permissiveness" after appearing unveiled on several occasions in the capital, Tehran. She was also reportedly ordered to pay a fine of 12 million rials ($285). Whippings for breaching the dress code are relatively uncommon, although officials have increasingly cracked down on those defying the rules after the practice surged during anti-government protests that began in late 2022, triggered by the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.
The theocratic regime has also intensified its actions against political prisoners and their families. Last week, Iran's longest-detained female political prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, a mother of three, faced a retrial. She was sentenced to an additional three years in prison after already serving 14 years of a 15-year term. Her imprisonment was a result of her efforts to seek justice for the execution of three brothers and a sister in the 1980s, including the 1988 massacre in which 30,000 political prisoners, mostly activists and supporters of the main democratic opposition movement the MEK, were sent to the gallows.
Outside Iran, the regime is responsible for more killings. With the Middle East in turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war, following the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, the regime is on a crusade of warmongering in the region. Israeli retaliation in Gaza has led to over 22,000 deaths to date, including thousands of innocent men, women and children. Whole towns and cities in Gaza have been razed to the ground, inflaming tensions in the Middle East and worldwide.
But, at the center of this grim litany of assassinations, bomb blasts, drone attacks and outright war, sits the head of the snake: the Iranian regime. Since hijacking the popular revolution that overthrew the sah in 1979, the mullahs' Islamic Republic has exported death and destruction across the Middle East and worldwide. The theocratic regime has poured money, men and military materiel into Bashar al-Assad's bloody civil war in Syria, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the brutal Shi'ia militias in Iraq and the terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as Hamas in Gaza.
Consolidating their pariah status, the mullahs are openly backing and directing the ongoing drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, even launching their own kamikaze drone strike on Dec. 23 against an Indian cargo vessel, the MV Pluto, a chemical tanker flying the Liberian flag and operated by a Dutch entity. The Houthis are an extremist Shi'ite movement, heavily armed and trained by the Quds force. As well as Iran, the Houthis count amongst their allies the usual suspects of Russia, North Korea and Syria. As the internal situation deteriorates in Iran, resistance units of the MEK have also recently stepped up their activities nationwide. In addition to widespread support at home, the MEK has massive domestic and international backing. Recently, 455 former world leaders, judges, Nobel laureates, United Nations officials, human rights and legal experts and NGOs signed a letter denouncing Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's planned participation in the U.N. Refugee Forum in Geneva, forcing him to cancel his visit. The mullahs fear and loathe the MEK, whom they see as the only viable and organized entity with the wherewithal to topple the regime and restore peace, justice, freedom and democracy to the beleaguered Iranian people. In response, they have launched wave after wave of assaults on the MEK, even resorting to assassinations, firebomb attacks and attempted terrorist bombings in Europe. Now, in a last desperate bid, the mullahs have launched a bogus trial in absentia in Tehran of 104 exiled MEK members in the hope that their sham convictions will persuade Western democracies to place restrictions on the principal opposition movement to the ruling theocracy. Reports have also emerged about how the mullahs' regime is using its cyber army to manipulate reports on social media, removing references to human rights atrocities and other crimes. Apparently, many of the edits have targeted the English language Wikipedia page of the MEK, including deleting references to the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners, a crime against humanity being investigated by the U.N.
With the blood of innocents dripping from their hands, the mullahs should remember the apt words of U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who said: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable."Struan Stevenson represented Scotland in the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014. He served as president of the Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq (2009-14) and chairman of the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (2004-14). He is chairman of the In Search of Justice committee on the protection of political freedoms in Iran, coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, an international lecturer on the Middle East, president of the European Iraqi Freedom Association and author of "Dictatorship and Revolution. Iran - A Contemporary History." The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

Pope Francis' comments on surrogacy prompt stir outrage and sadness among advocates
Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY/January 11, 2024
Surrogacy advocates reacted with anger and disappointment after Pope Francis called for a global ban on the practice, saying it violates the dignity of the woman and child. “I feel a huge sense of sadness, because there are people all over the world who have lovingly built families through surrogacy and may feel the pope has discounted their family and the way they’ve chosen to build it,” said Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. During his “state of the world” address Monday, the 87-year-old Catholic Church leader described surrogate motherhood as “deplorable” and “based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.” "A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract," the pope said. "Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally."
This undated photo provided by Immigration Equality shows Roee, left, and Adiel Kiviti, right, with their children newborn, Kessem and older brother Lev. In 2019, the Maryland couple sued to challenge the State Department's refusal to recognize the U.S. citizenship of their infant daughter, who was born in Canada to a surrogate mother. This undated photo provided by Immigration Equality shows Roee, left, and Adiel Kiviti, right, with their children newborn, Kessem and older brother Lev. In 2019, the Maryland couple sued to challenge the State Department's refusal to recognize the U.S. citizenship of their infant daughter, who was born in Canada to a surrogate mother. Judith Hoechst, a Denver-area resident whose son was born through a surrogate mother, said the pontiff’s statement made her angry “as a Catholic and as a woman.” “It’s insensitive and not in touch with the world,” said Hoechst, an attorney whose practice focuses on surrogacy and assisted reproduction. “My son would not be on this Earth but for God, and God makes no mistakes.”Others, however, applauded the pope’s words, including the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network in Pleasant Hill, California, which has stood against surrogacy for more than two decades. “Surrogacy has never been the solution,” said Kallie Fell, the center’s executive director. Though the organization sympathizes with couple longing to become parents, she said, “children are not commodities to be bought and sold.”
Who chooses surrogacy?
The pope’s statement was part of a 45-minute wide-ranging speech delivered Monday to nearly 200 ambassadors from nations holding diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Critics of commercial surrogacy say it harms poor women in vulnerable communities, while proponents say it gives women a chance to offer children to those unable to conceive themselves under the protection of a commercial contract. A number of countries have declared compensated surrogacy illegal, as have three U.S. states: Michigan, Nebraska and Louisiana. Advocates noted couples may look to surrogate mothers for multiple reasons, including pregnancy health risks for the mother or conditions that prohibit potential parents from becoming pregnant or carrying children to term. Some couples have experienced repeated miscarriages or attempted in-vitro fertilization without success and turn to surrogacy as a last resort. “No one desires using surrogacy,” Collura said. “I don’t know of a single person or family that intended for this to happen.”Additionally, many same-sex couples look to surrogate mothers as a means of becoming parents. “This is not cavalier,” Collura said. “People don’t just wake up and say they want to do this. They spend months, years preparing. There are so many safeguards, from attorneys to medical providers. It’s a very tight process.”
'I didn't think I could go through another loss'
As a pediatric nurse, Judith Hoechst regularly helped care for children, and the thought that she might struggle to have a child herself never entered her mind. “We struggled through miscarriage after miscarriage,” Hoechst said. “I had trouble staying pregnant.”When Hoechst, a nonpracticing Catholic, was finally able to carry her daughter to term, she experienced so much blood loss during delivery that she nearly died. A few years later, when the couple wanted to have a second child, doctors told Hoechst her uterus was so damaged that doing so could risk her life. Instead, the couple turned to a surrogate mother to conceive their second child, a son who is now 19.“Surrogacy was our only option other than adoption,” said Hoechst, a board member for RESOLVE who has worked on reproductive-law-related legislation in Colorado. “There are many birth moms who change their mind at the last minute, and I didn’t think I could go through another loss.”
The pope’s words, she said, struck her as “out of touch.”
"What could be more beautiful than having a child when you've struggled all of these years?" she said. How might the pope's words reverberate? Banning surrogacy would eliminate an important option for LGBTQ+ couples seeking to form families, said Pamela Lannutti, director of the Center for Human Sexuality Studies at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. “Many gay men in the U.S. use surrogacy as a means to become parents,” Lannutti said. “The pope is suggesting that the opportunity to form a loving family be lessened not only for some LGBTQ+ couples but also for many different-sex couples who opt for surrogacy to form a family.”Others worried that the pontiff’s call to ban surrogacy will embolden those opposed to the practice, including lawmakers. “Politically, it adds fuel to those who are opposed to this type of technology for family-building,” said Eric Widra, executive senior medical officer for Shady Grove Fertility in Washington, D.C. “It tends to get conflated with debates over abortion, and for uninformed legislators these types of comments become part of the overall fight against reproductive rights.”
Collura, of RESOLVE, agreed.
“I don’t know how strongly the pope’s statement will be in influencing legislators, but it will fuel advocates who want to ban surrogacy,” Collura said. “They now have a big ally and will certainly use that.” Fell said the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network believes that commercial surrogacy should be illegal and that all surrogate pregnancies should be tracked through a national database. At the very least, she said, the U.S. should close its borders to international surrogacy arrangements and institute policies similar to those governing organ donation. “We hope voters, politicians and policymakers consider and respond rightly to the words of Pope Francis,” Fell said. Collura said anyone opposed to surrogacy or in-vitro fertilization should refrain from such practice – but called the idea of prohibiting others from doing so “misguided and harmful.”“There are Catholics who’ve built their families this way who will feel that their family is viewed less as a family,” Collura said. “My message to those people is, don’t listen to that. You went through a lot and should be incredibly grateful and proud that you did.”

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 11-12/2024
Is Qatar, That Built Hamas's Empire of Terrorism, An Honest Broker?
Bassam Tawil/ Gatestone Institute./January 11, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/126082/126082/
If the ruler of Qatar really wanted to end the hostage saga, all he has to do is issue an ultimatum to Hamas that if the hostages are not released within, say, 48 hours, he will expel all the Hamas leaders who are still in Qatar and stop funding and providing political support to the group. Arab dictators are not known to be merciful toward those who defy them.
Apparently, Qatar does not feel that it is under any pressure from the Biden administration to end the ordeal of the hostages.
If Hamas released the hostages and laid down its weapons, the war would end tomorrow. However, with Biden and Blinken handling both Iran and Hamas's patrons in Qatar with kid gloves, Doha and Tehran have no reason whatever to stop it. The Biden administration is evidently continuing to pretend that Qatar, the Gulf state that funds and sponsors Hamas, is an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Qatar, in addition to the billions of dollars it has been pouring on Hamas, is still hosting several leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist terror group, whose members, on October 7, 2023, beheaded, raped, tortured, burned alive more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more.
Not only is Qatar far from being a neutral mediator, it is massively biased in favor of Hamas and other Islamist terror groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
Qatar's Al-Jazeera Arabic-language television channel has long served as a central platform for actively promoting the messages of Hamas and other Iranian terror proxies in the Middle East.
In addition, Al-Jazeera has refused to broadcast interviews with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who are critical of Hamas. In one instance, an Al-Jazeera correspondent in the Gaza Strip interrupted a live interview with a wounded Palestinian who was complaining that Hamas terrorists were hiding among civilians "instead of in their tunnels."
On January 7, exactly three months after the Hamas atrocities, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Qatar where, he said, he "discussed ongoing efforts to better protect civilians in Gaza and to get more humanitarian assistance to them, and to get the remaining [Israeli] hostages out and home with their loved ones."
Qatar, Blinken added, "was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the simultaneous release of more than 100 hostages, including American citizens."
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, on the other hand, said during a joint press conference with Blinken: "Our main target purpose is the stop of this [Israel-Hamas] war and to avoid a bigger escalation in the region. We believe that the solution is to stop this war in Gaza."
Did he mean before more of his clients got killed?
Prior to his meeting with Blinken in Doha, the Qatari prime minister reportedly told the family members of six US and Israeli hostages that the killing of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut on January 2 has made efforts to secure a new deal more difficult.
Or was that just the most convenient pretext at hand?
Al-Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, was responsible for several terrorist attacks against Israelis over the past decade – so much so, that the US had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Since Hamas's October 7 assault on Israel, US President Joe Biden and other senior US officials have talked to Qatar's ruler, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and other top officials in the Gulf state about the need to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Biden administration's policy of pleading with Qatar has so far proven partially successful: In October, Hamas did release more than 100 hostages. However, at least 136 hostages, including children, women and the elderly, are still being held by Hamas, most of whose leaders are still based in Qatar despite reports that some had fled and gone into hiding after Israel's Mossad announced that they would be held accountable. Just this week Ismail Haniyeh appeared on TV from Doha.
The Qataris are now pretending that they do not have enough leverage with Hamas because of Israel's alleged assassination of al-Arouri.
The Biden administration is making a colossal mistake by relating to Qatar as an honest broker. Qatar is Hamas and Hamas is Qatar. Without Qatar's political and financial support, Hamas would not have been able to grow and remain in power for the past 17 years.
Biden administration officials appear not to want to know that talking to Qatar is tantamount to talking to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
If the ruler of Qatar really wanted to end the hostage saga, all he has to do is issue an ultimatum to Hamas that if the hostages are not released within, say, 48 hours, he will expel all the Hamas leaders who are still in Qatar and stop funding and providing political support to the group. Arab dictators are not known to be merciful toward those who defy them.
The Qataris, however, have no reason to threaten Hamas: Qatar's leaders themselves are not facing pressure from the Americans and other Western powers. As patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood organization, the Qataris will do their utmost to protect Islamist terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Their ultimate goal is to spread Islam to all non-Muslims. Qatar, for example, introduced Islam to FIFA World Cup visitors using multiple electronic billboards in public places, like the ones in Times Square. Booklets about Islam were distributed and multilingual male and female preachers explained Islam's religion and "tolerance" to tourists at the Katara Cultural Village Mosque in Doha. Moreover, the hadiths (the words, actions, or habits of prophet Mohammed) were written on the walls of streets to attract non-Muslim visitors.
When the Qatari prime minister states that the killing of Hamas arch-terrorist al-Arouri has made efforts to secure a deal over the hostages more difficult, he is simply seeking an excuse to avoid inconveniencing his client.
According to Hamas, more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war. Why hasn't the death of so many Palestinians made it more difficult to reach a deal over the release of the hostages? Could it be because Qatar's mouthpiece, Al Jazeera, is effectively as much of a terrorist calling for Israel's destruction as are Hamas, Hezbollah, or Qatar's close ally, Iran?
After more than 12,000 Palestinians, including top Hamas military commanders, were killed in the Gaza Strip (again, according to Hamas), more than a hundred Israeli hostages were released. Why did the death of those Palestinians not make it "more difficult" to secure the hostages' release? Is it because Hamas orchestrates having as many of its own civilians killed as possible so that the international community will then blame their deaths on Israel?
Apparently, Qatar does not feel that it is under any pressure from the Biden administration to end the ordeal of the hostages.
Why hasn't the US demanded the extradition of Hamas leaders who are still in Qatar for their responsibility for the murder and abduction of US citizens on October 7?
Instead of removing the US's Al-Udeid Airbase from Qatar, or threatening to do so, instead, the Biden administration in early January quietly reached an agreement that extends the US military presence there for another 10 years. Now that the rulers of Qatar have secured another decade of US military protection for their corrupt regime, they will be even less incentivized to exert pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.
As for the leaders of Hamas, why should they make any concessions as long as Qatar allows them to continue living in their villas and five-star hotels in Doha?
The Qataris (and Hamas) must be amused at the attempts of Republican Senator Joni Ernst (Iowa) and Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen (Nevada), who sent a letter to Biden asking him to put pressure on Qatar to strong-arm Hamas back to the negotiating table on a new hostage deal. Qatar's ruler has no need to worry: the Biden administration will doubtless ignore the senators' request.
Since 2007, after Hamas toppled the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip and seized full control there, Qatar, together with Turkey, were the only countries to back Hamas. Since then, Qatar has transferred more than $1.8 billion to Hamas. Qatar's former ruler, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, was the first state leader to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in 2012. Later, Iran also began funding and arming the terror group.
The relationship between Hamas and Qatar further strengthened in 2008 and 2009, when Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was invited to attend the Doha Summit, where he was seated next to Qatar's ruler at the time, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
According to the Israeli daily business newspaper Calcalist:
"The Qatari funding for Hamas is divided into two periods. The first, in the years 2007-2014, when the Qatari government financed Hamas as it saw fit, far from any international supervision and control, and the second from 2014 until today when Qatari financing is done in coordination with Israel, the United States and the United Nations. At the same time, independent financing channels operate all the time in Qatar, ignoring the authorities...
"The one who is still assisting in the effort is Iran, which also has good relations with its Qatari neighbor. Qatari money has become synonymous with the building of the terrorist empire of Hamas, which has struck with all its force in Israel."
The Biden administration can perhaps learn from the Arabs how to deal with countries that sponsor Islamist terrorist groups. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed bilateral relations with Qatar and subsequently banned Qatar-registered aircraft and Qatari ships from utilizing their sovereign territory by air, land, or sea.
The Arab countries cited as the main reason for their actions Qatar's support for terrorism and demanded, among other things, the closure of Al-Jazeera and its affiliate stations; expelling any members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; cutting off military and intelligence cooperation with Iran; severing ties with terrorist, ideological and sectarian organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah; surrendering all designated terrorists in Qatar, and stopping all means of funding for individuals, groups or organizations that have been designated as terrorists.
Instead of taking a cue from the Arabs, Biden and Blinken chose to coddle Qatar – the same way they catastrophically chose to coddle the Taliban in Afghanistan, Russia, China, Mexico and Iran -- even though it is the sole Arab country that protects the Hamas leaders responsible for the October 7 massacres.
The time to designate Qatar a State Sponsor of Terrorism is long overdue, and to move America's Al-Udeid Air Base to the United Arab Emirates or some other compatible location.
Qatar is not an ally of the US.
If Hamas released the hostages and laid down its weapons, the war would end tomorrow. However, with Biden and Blinken handling both Iran and Hamas's patrons in Qatar with kid gloves, Doha and Tehran have no reason whatever to stop it.
*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.

The Shifting Political Ground Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Kevin Robillard, Akbar Shahid Ahmed/HuffPost/January 11, 2024
For decades, the U.S. electoral politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been defined by a very simple fact: Voters almost never changed their ballots because of it. As Israel’s devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip enters its fourth month, an estimated 22,000 Palestinians have been killed and the rest of the 2.3 million people in Gaza are suffering from mass starvation and continued bombardment after a shock Oct. 7 attack by Gaza-based militants that killed 1,200 Israelis. The question for political operatives in the United States is whether the current crisis in the region will have an unprecedented effect on American voters,particularly Democrats, given the near-universal agreement on full-scale backing of Israel among Republican politicians.
The answer could determine how close a series of key Democratic Senate primaries will be, whether progressive Democrats can retain the ground they’ve gained since 2016 and potentially whether President Joe Biden can triumph in an important swing state.
“Traditionally, Israel itself has not been a very salient issue in campaigns directly,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who leads the Democratic Majority for Israel, a super PAC aiming to maintain a hard-line pro-Israel position in the party. Mellman noted, though, that it has long motivated people on both sides of the divide to get involved as volunteers and donors. “Is there going to be a big back and forth on this between us and other groups or between candidates? That remains to be seen.”
Political strategists on both sides of the issue within the Democratic Party are still puzzling over the new playing field, unsure if they can effectively use a candidates’ position on a cease-fire or their ties to hard-line pro-Israel groups, such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as a way to actually move voters.
“This is one of the first times Israel and Palestine have received wall-to-wall coverage in the months leading up to the primaries,” said Waleed Shahid, a progressive activist and the former communications director for the left-wing group Justice Democrats, which backed many of the highest-profile House members resisting the party’s history of largely unquestioned support for Israel. “This issue is going to be more salient. It’s going to be an area where candidates try to draw contrast.”
Polling over the course of the conflict has shown the public remains broadly supportive of Israel, even as sympathy for Palestinians has grown, especially among Democrats. At the same time, both Democrats and independent voters have grown skeptical of Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza and become more supportive of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the dominant armed group in Gaza and the top target of Israel’s military operation there.By maintaining near-total support for Israel’s campaign as it has become controversial, the Biden administration has become increasingly isolated; most countries globally and a notable chunk of Democratic politicians domestically now endorse a cease-fire.
Recent polling exclusivelyobtained by HuffPost confirms the trend: A December survey from ReThink Media, paid for by the Win Without War Education Fund and Oxfam America, found Americans who did not already have strong opinions on the conflict ― in other words, those who could be persuaded ― were more likely to vote for a candidate who supported a cease-fire than one who didn’t. Three-tenths of those surveyed said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported a cease-fire, while 14% said they would be less likely.
The poll also reported that 40% of persuadable voters said it would have no effect on their votes.
“What the polling showed is that the continued conventional D.C. wisdom that pushing for a cease-fire is bad politics isn’t just wrong, it’s 180 degrees off,”arguedStephen Miles, the president of Win Without War, a well-connected left-leaning advocacy group. “It really shouldn’t be surprising given all the public polling we’ve seen, but people are inclined to support politicians who support policies they want. In this case, what’s good policy is also good politics.”
The basic dispute is not about support for Israel. Nearly all cease-fire supporters are staunch allies of the state, as is the Democratic Party overall. Rather, it’s about to what extent the U.S. relationship with Israel should include pressure to abide by international and American norms over conduct in war ― and whether being “pro-Israel” entails unchecked backing of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
More than60 Democrats in Congress have called for a cease-fire so far. One of them, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), told HuffPost he hopes to persuade more colleagues to join the call in the coming days, describing three arguments he is making to them: appealing to their consciences, given the suffering of Gazans; saying the position may eventually become a no-brainer, given younger voters’ tendency to be more empathetic toward the Palestinians; and warning that Israel’s current military plan risks creating “an endless war.”
Taking the position remains “politically challenging,” Khanna acknowledged. Still, he pledged that some in the party would support Democrats if they are targeted by more aggressive pro-Israel groups, saying he plans to do so and the Congressional Progressive Caucus would as well.
The status quo made somesense. Voters with the most explicit ties to the conflict ― Jewish Americans and Muslim Americans ― combined make up only about 3% of the U.S. population, and large swaths of the country have few economic and emotional ties to a conflict 6,000 miles away. Though American public opinion has long been broadly pro-Israel, voter support for the country generally came second to issues such as the economy, civil rights, education and health care or broader concerns about terrorism and national security.
California's three major Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate -- Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee -- have all taken distinct approaches to the fighting in Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The question now is how much it matters to voters.
That meant that even as the establishment side of the divide has greatly stepped up its spending in recent years, pouring millions into groups like Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) and an AIPAC-linked super PAC called United Democracy Project, those groups have rarely directly aired ads about Israel policy, instead typically choosing to attack progressives on unrelated issues. They recentlybroke from this pattern to air ads against Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian-American in Congress, on issues directly related to Israel and antisemitism.
Democrats are already preparing for tough challenges to lawmakers who have long been targeted by pro-Israel forces, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Tlaib. They also know new targets may be at risk because of their cease-fire advocacy. Speaking on condition of anonymity to maintain professional relationships, a Democratic House member told HuffPost that Reps. Maxwell Frost (Fla.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.) and Greg Casar (Texas) are especially vulnerable.
“AIPAC is pragmatic in terms of who they could actually beat,” the lawmaker said. A key factor in whether these progressives can actually fend off AIPAC-backed challengers is if progressives can successfully argue AIPAC is a barrier to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and use challengers’ ties to the group against them. Challengers to Omar, Bowman and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) are expected to receive heavy backing from pro-Israel groups.
“The challenge for progressives is can they inform the average voter of who AIPAC really is, in the same way 20 or 30 years ago the average Democrat did not really know what the National Rifle Association was,” Shahid said.
One advantage pro-Israel groups have: Younger voters are far more skeptical of Israel than older voters, but older Americans are far more likely to turn out to vote in primaries. “Are young people, who are overwhelmingly concerned with the economy, going to turn out in droves for anti-Israel candidates because they’re anti-Israel?” Mellman asked. “I have every reason to doubt that. That’d be a radical change in behavior.”
The most striking example of how the issue is playing in Democratic politics may actually be in California’s Senate race, where the three Democratic candidates competing in the all-party March 5 primary started with distinctly different positions on the issue: Rep. Barbara Lee immediately called for a cease-fire, Rep. Adam Schiff stuck to the standard pro-Israel line and Rep. Katie Porter tried to find a middle ground, criticizing Israel’s right-wing government without calling for a cease-fire.
Shortly before Christmas, that shifted, with Porter endorsing a “lasting bilateral cease-fire” in the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The shift came as polls showed Lee, who had long trailed both Porter and Schiff, beginning to catch up with the second-place candidate. Porter’s team is now betting their position is more broadly acceptable to the electorate than either Lee’s or Schiff’s.
However, there’s been little indication that Schiff, who now has $35 million cash on hand ― has suffered for his firmer pro-Israel stance, and it’s possible he may be the only Democrat to advance in California’s all-party primary system, essentially guaranteeing him the seat in November. It’s also difficult to determine how much of a role Lee’s support for a cease-fire played in her rise in the polls.
“It highlights the through-line of her positions, dating back to the days after 9/11 and the [authorization for use of military force], as a national leader for peace,” said Anna Bahr, a spokesperson for Lee, referring to the congresswoman’s famous position as the lone no vote on the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The issue has also begun to crop up in two other major Democratic Senate primaries: Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), who is running against Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, endorsed a cease-fire earlier this week after spending most of his career as a close ally of AIPAC. In Michigan, actor Hill Harper has played up his support for a cease-fire in his long-shot bid against Rep. Elissa Slotkin.
How the issue of Israel plays out in these primaries will serve as a preview for how much it could affect President Joe Biden, who has seen his approval rating with young voters and Muslim and Arab voters slip significantly since the Hamas attack and Israel’s bombardment. Leading Democrats have hoped the issue would decline in importance before November, expecting it to start disappearing from the news cycle.
The same way that they’re being silent right now in the face of injustices, we’re going to be silent in November 2024.
Adam Abusalah, an organizer in Dearborn, Michigan
At the moment, the issue continues to dog the president. Cease-fire supporters interrupted his speech on Monday in South Carolina, and anonymous groups of both White House and campaign staffers have signed letters supporting a cease-fire. “I understand the passion, and I’ve been quietly working ... with the Israeli government to reduce ― significantly get out of Gaza,” Biden said as the protesters were led out on Monday.
The issue is central in swing state Michigan, which sports one of the largest Arab and Muslim populations in the country and where many community leaders have already sworn off voting for Biden.
“The same way that they’re being silent right now in the face of injustices, we’re going to be silent in November 2024,” Adam Abusalah, an organizer in the state’s heavily Arab American city of Dearborn, told CBS last month.
Biden was worried enough about his standing in the state to announce on Wednesday plans to travel there in the coming weeks.
For the voters who could make the issue a serious concern for Biden, two aspects of the president’s approach since Oct. 7 are key: the U.S. government’s overall policy of overwhelmingly supporting Israel while partially encouraging restraint and humanitarian aid for Gaza; and Biden’s personal reaction to the crisis.
Muslim American organizations have organized scores of protests urging Biden to seek an Israel-Hamas cease-fire. And their community has been especially disturbed by the impression that he is not as concerned with the suffering of Palestinian civilians as that of Israelis.
In October, Biden publicly suggested that authorities in Gaza were lying about the staggering death toll there. The comment sharply contrasted with his long-time reputation as a politician particularly focused on empathizing with those in pain ― and with the assessment by U.S. officials and outside experts that authorities are generally the most accurate source of information about conditions in the Palestinian enclave; HuffPost revealed that the State Department regularly cited Gazan figures internally with few caveats.
The president privately apologized for his doubting remark to a group of Muslim American leaders the following day, according to The Washington Post, but he has not publicly addressed it since.
Americans with family members trapped in Gaza have also been blasting the Biden administration’s failure to help their loved ones leave the territory. U.S. officials have privately conceded that Israel is preventing some of those individuals from being placed on the exist list and have claimed they’ve been told to tell citizens it is safer for them to stay where they are than to try to leave, HuffPost reported in December.
“If you move in Arab American or Muslim American circles, as I do, support for Biden’s reelection is rapidly crumbling,” Mustafa Bayoumi, a U.S. columnist for The Guardian, wrote in an essay published Tuesday

Iran terror blast highlights success – and growing risk – of ISIS-K regional strategy
Amira Jadoon, Clemson University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point/January 11, 2024
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the terror group Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, has sought to internationalize its operational and recruitment campaign. Utilizing a sweeping propaganda campaign to appeal to audiences across South and Central Asia, the group has tried to position itself as the dominant regional challenger to what it perceives to be repressive regimes.
On Jan. 3, 2024, ISIS-K demonstrated just how far it had progressed toward these goals. In a brutal demonstration of its capability to align actions with extreme rhetoric, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Kerman, Iran, which resulted in the deaths of over 100 people. The blast, which was reportedly carried out by two Tajik ISIS-K members, occurred during a memorial service for Qassem Soleimani, a Lieutenant General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020. ISIS-K claimed the attack as an act of revenge against Soleimani, who spearheaded Iran’s fight against the Islamic State group and its affiliates prior to his death. As experts in ISIS-K and Iran, we believe the attack highlights the success of ISIS-K’s recruitment strategies and its growing ability to strike declared enemies and undermine regional stability.
A growing threat
The attack in Iran was not completely unexpected to those monitoring ISIS-K. A paper one of us co-wrote in 2023 noted that that despite setbacks, including the loss of key personnel, ISIS-K was expanding and intensifying its regional influence. It was achieving this by leveraging its ethnically and nationally diverse membership base and ties to other militant groups. The Kerman blast follows two other recent attacks on the Shahcheragh shrine in Shiraz, Iran, in October 2022 and August 2023 – both purportedly involving Tajik perpetrators.
The involvement of Tajik nationals in the Kerman attack underscores Iran’s long-standing concerns over ISIS-K’s recruitment strategies, which have seen the group swell its members by reaching out to discontented Muslim populations across South and Central Asian countries and consolidating diverse grievances into a single narrative.
Strategic diversity
This strategy of “internationalizing” ISIS-K’s agenda – its aim is the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Central and South Asia – has been pursued with renewed vigor since 2021. This is in part due to a more permissive environment following the U.S. withdrawal and the subsequent collapse of the Afghan government. This process of internationalizing ISIS-K’s agenda involves the group targeting regional countries directly, or their presence within Afghanistan. To date, this has seen interests from Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China and Russia targeted by terrorist attacks.Meanwhile, strikes against Iran have long been foreshadowed in ISIS-K propaganda. In parallel, the group’s multilingual propaganda campaign interwove a tapestry of local, regional and global grievances to recruit and mobilize supporters from a vast demographic spectrum, and potentially inspire supporters from afar. In other instances, this has seen the terror group partnering with anti-government and sectarian militant networks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, collaborating with groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. But moreover, ISIS-K is attempting to capture the South and Central Asian militant market for itself. By utilizing fighters representative of regional religious and ethnic populations and publicizing their attacks, ISIS-K is signaling its commitment to a comprehensive jihadist agenda.
The Tajik connection
The involvement of Tajik recruits in the Kerman attack can be understood within this broader context of ISIS-K’s intentional strategic diversification.
Concerns around Tajik nationals’ recruitment into ISIS-K have existed for a while, with the Taliban’s draconian treatment of Afghanistan’s minorities, including Tajiks, likely creating an unwitting recruitment boon for the terror group.
Several Tajik nationals were arrested in relation to a plot against U.S. and NATO targets in Germany in April 2020. More Tajik ISIS-K members were arrested by German and Dutch authorities in July 2023 as part of an operation to disrupt a plot and ISIS-K fundraising. The attack in Iran represents a continuation of this process of internationalizing ISIS-K’s violent campaign. But the bombing is significant for another reason: It takes ISIS-K’s fight directly to a symbol of Shia leadership. A deadly attack against Iran, a formidable Shia state, lends ideological credence to ISIS-K’s words in the eyes of its followers. It also potentially facilitates the recruitment of individuals who are proponents of anti-Shia ideologies in the Muslim world. More than any other Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-K is uniquely positioned to exploit the vestiges of the deeply embedded, decades-old Sunni-Shia divide in the region.
Iran’s proxies and the Taliban
This isn’t to say that the attack on Iran was purely opportunistic. ISIS-K has deep-rooted antipathy toward Iran due to Tehran’s religious, social and political involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iran’s involvement has been multifold, from supporting political and militant groups such as al-Qaida and the Taliban to recruiting fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan for operations against Sunni militants.
Additionally, during the two decades of war in Afghanistan, several Taliban factions reportedly received weapons and funding through Iran’s Quds Force, which carries out missions outside Iran as an arm of the paramilitary security institution Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC. By 2018, leaders in Tehran viewed the Taliban as a buffer against ISIS-K.
Iran’s strategic interest in Afghanistan is also reflected in the career trajectories of the Quds Force’s top brass. Soleimani was the chief architect behind Iran’s network of proxies, some of which were leveraged against ISIS.
His successor, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, spent part of his career managing proxies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.
Iran’s recruitment and encouragement of Shia proxies has exacerbated tensions with ISIS-K. During the Syrian civil war, the Quds Force recruited, trained and deployed the Fatemiyoun and Zeinabiyoun brigades, composed of Afghan and Pakistani Shia fighters, respectively. There were concerns among international observers that the Fatemiyoun Brigade may be deployed to Afghanistan after the U.S.’s withdrawal. Thus far, Iran appears to leverage the two brigades to stabilize its partners in areas outside of Iran’s immediate vicinity. Nevertheless, the Fatemiyoun Brigade retains the potential to be mobilized as a mobile force within Afghanistan, contingent upon Iran’s evolving strategic calculus.
The perfect storm?
The attack in Iran raises two critical issues with grave security implications: the growing regional reputation and capability of ISIS-K, and the extent to which Iran’s use of militant proxies in Afghanistan may encourage a regional backlash among Sunni extremists. Improving relations between the Taliban and Tehran suggests that a collaborative stance against ISIS-K may be possible, driven by a mutual desire for stability. But intervention in Afghanistan, or Iranian deployment of proxy militant forces in the region, could have widespread security repercussions, the type of which we have seen play out in the Iranian attack. For Pakistan, too, it may fester a renewed cycle of sectarian violence, creating opportunities for militant groups active in the country like ISIS-K, Tehrik-e-Taliban and fighters involved in the Baloch insurgency. For the U.S., Iran’s increased involvement in Afghanistan and the violent attack by ISIS-K likewise poses a strategic concern. It risks destabilizing the region and undermining efforts to constrain transnational terrorism. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Amira Jadoon, Clemson University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point. What is ISIS-K? Two terrorism experts on the group behind the deadly Kabul airport attack and its rivalry with the Taliban A string of assassinations in Afghanistan point to ISIS-K resurgence – and US officials warn of possible attacks on American interests in next 6 months The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Why Europe must double down on its support for Ukraine
Andrew Hammond/Arab news/January 11, 2024
Late 2023 and early 2024 have seen growing European concern that Russia could yet prevail in the most serious conflict on the continent since the Second World War. Far from being the time to take its foot off the gas pedal, Europe must instead double down on its efforts to help Ukraine.
The stakes in play are massive and growing. Europe and the wider West still have a significant strategic interest in ensuring the best possible outcome for Kyiv.
A potential Russian victory would only embolden Moscow and its allies across the world. Only last month, for instance, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned of the possibility of further Russian aggression in Europe this decade, including against Georgia, Moldova and/or the Baltic states.
And it is not just security-related stakeholders making such comments. Also last month, International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath warned that the world is heading toward “cold war two” as a result of its geopolitical and geoeconomic fragmentation into two blocs: one in the West and a Russia and China-led grouping in the East.
One measure of the consequences of a Russian victory is that Moscow would move closer to controlling a quarter of global wheat exports.
Freshly committed Western aid to Ukraine in 2023 dropped nearly 90 percent from a year earlier. So, it is time for Europe to step up to the plate in what may be a very difficult year ahead. Much of the first two years of the war has seen Kyiv, unexpectedly, on the counteroffensive. Moreover, Ukraine recaptured about half of its previously occupied territory in the period up to autumn last year. With both sides digging in for the cold winter months, making breakthroughs may become increasingly difficult — and it is Moscow that has reportedly made some recent territorial gains. This will do little to ease the “fatigue” that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, in an unguarded moment late last year, is being experienced by some European leaders. She added: “We (are) near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out.”
Another factor that will do little to ease this fatigue is that sanctions may be doing as much damage to the West as they are to Russia. In 2023, the Russian economy is expected to have expanded by 2.8 percent, while some Western nations flatlined.
It is perhaps unsurprising, in that context, that freshly committed Western aid to Ukraine dropped nearly 90 percent from a year earlier, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. This is even before last month, when the US and EU were unable to approve significant new funds for Kyiv because of Republican opposition in the US Congress and Hungary’s disagreements with Brussels.
Yet another challenge is the possible splintering of the political consensus behind President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership. While his approval rating remains high by international standards, trust in him fell to 76 percent in October from 91 percent in May, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
This comes in a context in which Moscow continues to put huge resources into its war effort. This includes massive military manpower. A total of 617,000 Russian troops are currently fighting, with some 244,000 of them being soldiers called up to fight alongside professional military troops.
Much more thinking is needed about how the EU and its allies can best contribute to the resilience of Ukraine
All in all, this has given rise to Western speculation that Kyiv will not achieve all of its strategic war objectives. Take the example of Lord Ricketts, a former UK national security adviser. He believes there is a growing possibility of a Korea-style scenario, with Russia keeping control of about a fifth of prewar Ukraine and the remainder moving in a pro-Western direction in the years to come.
This is why it is now so important that Europe redoubles its commitment, especially amid election uncertainty in the US that may see Donald Trump win out in November. The ex-president’s apparent disdain for Ukraine may leave a critical gap that only Europe and its Western allies, including Japan and Canada, can try to fill — at least partially.
What the EU has already done is to start to move forward with about half the previously promised aid of €50 billion ($54 billion) over the next four years. This is to give Kyiv more predictability for its strained budget.
However, much more thinking is needed about how the 27-member bloc and non-EU allies like the UK can best contribute to the resilience of Ukraine in the medium to long term. This includes military assistance, security guarantees and wider economic support, such as access to the EU’s massive single market.
A starting point for this future commitment, beyond the unprecedented support that Europe has provided so far, is Brussels moving forward with accession talks to allow Ukraine to potentially join the EU. Beyond that, the West can also put Kyiv onto a pathway to possible NATO membership.
Moreover, important commitments can be made on reconstruction. The rebuilding of Ukraine may approximate that of Western Europe after the Second World War, Eastern Europe after the Cold War and the Western Balkans after the breakup of Yugoslavia. It will cost many hundreds of billions of euros and will be the most ambitious postwar reconstruction effort in the 21st century.
This year is therefore the moment for Europe to double down on its commitment to Ukraine. The EU and other European powers such as the UK have huge incentives to support Kyiv in a difficult 2024, which may see yet more troubling news for Zelensky’s leadership.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.

Middle East can be a beacon of sustainable development
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/January 11/2024
The Middle East and North Africa region is at a crucial turning point in its efforts to combat climate change. Encouragingly, nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been proactive and are taking steps to invest significantly in renewable energy with the aim of broadening their energy portfolio, decreasing their reliance on fossil fuels and tackling environmental issues.
The imperative for MENA countries to increase their investments in renewable energy is not merely an environmental commitment, but also a strategic response to the pressing challenges posed by climate change. As global temperatures rise and extreme weather events become more frequent — and due to the climate vulnerabilities of the region —MENA countries must accelerate their transition toward sustainable energy sources to mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure a resilient and prosperous future.
The region is familiar with the negative effects of climate change, as its temperatures are rising, water scarcity is increasing and desertification is intensifying. Extreme weather events are also becoming more frequent. Coastal areas face the threat of rising sea levels, while arid regions experience more prolonged droughts. But by increasing their investments in clean energy, nations in the region can fortify their resilience to these negative effects.
Firstly, to address this issue, it is critical to chart a path toward decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. As we know, a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the burning of fossil fuels, particularly in developed nations. Transitioning to renewable energy sources, particularly solar power, can be a powerful tool in reducing nations’ carbon footprints.
By increasing their investments in clean energy, nations in the region can fortify their resilience
By harnessing the abundant sunlight that bathes the Middle East and North Africa, countries can decrease their dependency on fossil fuels, thereby limiting their release of greenhouse gases and contributing to global efforts to curb climate change.The second reason it is important to expedite the transition toward renewable energy is that the region grapples with water scarcity — a challenge that is exacerbated by climate change. Clean energy solutions, particularly solar power and wind power, can address the water-energy nexus by offering sustainable alternatives to traditional energy sources, which often require significant water consumption.
Solar power, in particular, is a water-efficient energy source that not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions but also helps alleviate the strain on already-scarce water resources. This dual benefit approach is a crucial aspect of sustainable development in the face of climate change.
Additionally, solar-powered irrigation systems and climate-resilient infrastructure contribute to building adaptive capacity, ensuring that the region can withstand and recover from the impacts of a changing climate.
Thirdly, in the context of climate uncertainties, securing energy needs should be given paramount importance. As has become evident, climate change introduces uncertainties into the availability and accessibility of traditional energy sources. By investing in clean energy, the region can enhance its energy security in the face of climate-related disruptions.
For example, solar power offers a reliable and consistent source of energy that is immune to the geopolitical tensions and market fluctuations that often characterize fossil fuel-dependent economies. This transition to more secure and sustainable energy sources not only shields the MENA region from external vulnerabilities, but also fosters long-term stability.
Investing in clean energy is not only an environmental imperative, but also an opportunity for economic diversification
Fourthly, the economic implications of climate change cannot be overlooked. Extreme weather events, disrupted supply chains and shifting agricultural patterns can have profound effects on economies, particularly those dependent on traditional sectors.
In other words, investing in clean energy is not only an environmental imperative, but also an opportunity for economic diversification. The renewable energy sector, including solar, offers avenues for job creation, technological innovation and the development of new industries. By fostering a green economy, the MENA region can build resilience against the economic impacts of climate change and position itself as a leader in the global transition to sustainability.
But addressing climate change requires coordinated effort on a global scale. The Middle East can play a pivotal role in international climate diplomacy by shaping global narratives, fostering collaboration and contributing to the achievement of international climate goals. This not only aligns with international expectations, but also establishes the MENA region as a key player in the global fight against climate change.
In a nutshell, the imperative for the region to invest in green energy is not just a response to environmental concerns, but is also a strategic necessity.
Fortunately, nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already made substantial investments in renewable energy as they aim to broaden their energy portfolio, diminish their reliance on fossil fuels and confront environmental challenges. From mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a changing climate and from fostering economic diversification to assuming a leadership role in global sustainability efforts, the benefits of this ongoing transition are far-reaching.
With its unique environmental challenges and abundant solar resources, the MENA region has the potential to emerge as a beacon of sustainable development, illustrating that the pursuit of clean energy is not just a global responsibility, but a pathway to a resilient and prosperous future for the region and the planet.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. X: @Dr_Rafizadeh

How to deal with Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg /Arab News/January 11/2024
Houthi militiamen launched a complex attack toward international shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea on Tuesday, according to a statement by the US Central Command. They used Iranian-designed one-way attack drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile, according to the US statement. In addition to their complexity, the attacks were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at about 9:15 p.m., indicating nighttime fighting capabilities.
Eighteen of the suicide drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and the anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down by a combined effort of the US and UK military assets in the region, according to the American statement.
On Wednesday, led by the US, the UN Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms” the Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels since Nov. 19, demanding that the group immediately cease all such attacks. The resolution called for “respect for the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by merchant and commercial vessels in line with international law.” It gave tacit approval of US actions by “taking note” of the right of countries, in accordance with international law, to defend their vessels from attacks.
Although Houthi attacks on merchant shipping are in clear violation of international law, the speed with which the UNSC adopted this resolution indicated a clear double standard. Compare that to the council’s failure to pass a resolution condemning Israel and calling on it to stop its war against Gaza after more than 90 days of destruction and the death of more than 23,000 Palestinians, along with tens of thousands more injured and hundreds of thousands homeless. This double standard is highlighted and cynically exploited by groups such as the Houthis, with considerable resonance in the region, thus undermining the rule of international law and UN credibility.
The persistence of these incidents and the size of this week’s attack have demonstrated the group’s defiance
In October, the Houthis launched missile and drone attacks against Israel, citing its war on Gaza. Although the attacks were apparently futile, the armed group gained popularity in Yemen and elsewhere for what it portrayed as standing up for the people of Gaza as they suffered under Israel’s brutal onslaught. The Houthis began targeting what they believed to be Israel-bound vessels in the Red Sea, garnering more political support as the war in Gaza intensified, with very little international action to stop Israel’s atrocities.
Since then, the Houthis have widened their stated aim to include all international shipping companies, until Israel allows full humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza. Houthi actions and warnings have caused many companies to divert ships far to the south around the Cape of Good Hope, driving up costs and threatening to disrupt the global supply chain, much of which goes through the Red Sea.
Tuesday night’s attack was believed to be the 26th on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since Nov. 19, when the group started aiming at ships with no clear Israeli connections. The persistence of these incidents and the size of this week’s attack have demonstrated the group’s defiance. Tuesday’s incident came less than a week after 14 countries, led by the US, issued a joint statement warning: “The Houthis will bear the responsibility for the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, or the free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.”
The Houthis have not given any indication that they will stop, despite these warnings and US sanctions against individuals and entities associated with the group. They are benefiting from their increased political popularity and, as such, are not likely to heed the UNSC resolution issued on Wednesday night and let it restrain them. They have ignored past resolutions on the Yemen conflict, including Resolution 2216, which was issued under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
While efforts should intensify to stop Houthi attacks against passing ships and threats to the international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the international community should take a longer-term view and see beyond the current attacks. There are several essential but overdue steps that can be taken to secure this vital artery. The international community should take a longer-term view and see beyond the current attacks. First, the international community should provide greater support for the ongoing Yemen peace process to ensure the success of the UN, Saudi Arabia and Oman’s mediation between the Yemeni parties. The UN special envoy has now presented a proposed roadmap toward a permanent ceasefire and political solution, which could include measures to reduce the use of anti-shipping attacks for political purposes — a clear motive for the recent attack by the Houthis.
Second, the newly deployed military capabilities in the Red Sea could help enforce the arms embargo imposed by UNSC Resolution 2216 in order to prevent the importation of missiles or missile components that can be used to threaten shipping. There are many gaps in the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen that was established under the resolution. It only inspects vessels exceeding 100 tons, allowing smaller boats to pass through, even if they carry suspicious loads. In addition, there have been consistent reports that ships exceeding 100 tons do evade its inspections in Djibouti.
Third, UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism inspectors should be allowed to fulfill their mandate by inspecting shipments in the Hodeidah port, as was originally intended, and not just in Djibouti. Similarly, staff at the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement should be allowed to exercise its role without hindrance. This mission was set up following the UN-mediated agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthis that was signed in Stockholm in 2018 and endorsed by UNSC Resolution 2451. However, the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement’s movement and ability to carry out its mandate are currently severely restricted.
Fourth, the increased military presence could assist by gathering information about troop movement on the Yemeni mainland to provide early warning of impending attacks on shipping. Better reconnaissance would have the added value of monitoring violations of the UN-mediated truce on Yemen’s mainland. The truce has been holding more or less since April 2022 but needs better monitoring.
Fifth, the clearing of sea mines deployed by the Houthis, which pose a mortal danger for shipping, is extremely important and is quite feasible with the added presence of military assets in the Red Sea.
Sixth, as the UNSC resolution on Wednesday urged, there is an urgent need to “support capacity building efforts” of the Yemeni coast guard to “protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country” — a long overdue measure.
These and other similar measures are already included in previous UN resolutions on the Yemen conflict. It is the lax enforcement of those instruments that has allowed the Houthis to pose a threat to maritime security. Now is the time to put them into effect.
*Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the Gulf Cooperation Council assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent the GCC. X: @abuhamad1

Gaza’s and Israel’s Tunnels
Nabil AmrAsharq Al-Awsat/January 11/2024
If Israel were to calculate the losses it has suffered in its ongoing war, it could only come to this conclusion: Gaza, with its tunnels, has become a nightmare that strikes more fear than armies and all their lethal and devastating tools. Israel has dug itself into its own tunnel, and it is struggling to find a way out.
We have gotten used to comparing losses according to the number of lives lost and the extent of destruction on each side. That is part of the picture, but it can be the least bleak of other aspects.
The casualties figures are high. And if material losses leave less of an impact because they can be easily replaced, the lives that have been lost cannot be. As for the disabled, who have become a chronic burden on society, how can Israel get them back to work?
The state of morale could well be the most dangerous threat. The Israeli public is used to feeling superior, and Jews around the world have become accustomed to seeing Israel as their safe haven - a readily available backup if they ever wanted to leave their places of residence, where they hold citizenship and enjoy full citizenship rights. That is no longer the case, neither for the residents of Israel nor for the Jews living outside it. The pendulum has swung from immigration to Israel to emigration from it. In parallel, many citizens’ lives have been upended after being forced to move from their residences in the north and south more than once, to crowd into the center or places that seem safer. Indeed, Israel is suffering from internal displacement, which has had a negative impact on social and even psychological stability, not only for those who have been displaced but also for those who are inconvenienced by the hoards of displaced people who have overwhelmed their villages and cities.
Economy: None of the pillars of the stability and development of the Israeli economy are still sound. There are no local workers due to mobilizations of reservists, nor Palestinian workers, who are more productive and less costly, nor are there foreign workers to partially fill the gap. Rather, after everything that has happened, they might never come, and if they do, they create more problems than they do solutions.
This is a conundrum. Even if a temporary solution is found after the battles die down, a permanent solution will not be found as long as Israel maintains its arsenal and the Palestinians continue to resist with the arms available to them and refuse to surrender.
Narrative: The world, to a large extent, has accepted the Israeli narrative: it is the only oasis of democracy in the desert of the Middle East. This narrative was pushed due to the large number of dictatorships surrounding Israel and because of many of the “adornments” of modernity in Israel. Another narrative presented every time Israel wages war is that it is fighting to defend itself against terrorism and enemies of progress and civilization.
Even at the best and calmest of times, there was no international consensus around this narrative. However, it found some acceptance and even formed the basis of some states’ relationships with the Jewish states.
However, this war has flipped things on their head. Nothing is more dangerous to a narrative than people debunking and deviating from it. That is what happened, especially in what had been considered strongholds of Israeli support in Western capitals, including the US. While there was broad sympathy for Israel following the events of October 7th, a radical shift indeed occurred when the world began to see the brutality of Israel’s attack on Gaza and the West Bank. It went beyond reacting to what had happened, reaching an unprecedented level of destruction and killing; especially of civilians and children. This did merely change how Israel’s friends see it; people’s conscience and sentiments, more than anything else, flipped this image around.
Since the war has not ended, even after 3 months, it will inevitably continue indefinitely. Israel is hemorrhaging everywhere. Meanwhile, we see growing sympathy for the victims and a better appreciation of the Palestinians' right to self-defense.
The idea of integration in the Middle East has: no one can deny that Israel has made significant progress in establishing new relationships with many countries. These new relationships will continue, but they are now shrouded in wariness.
For example, Egypt sees the Palestinian displacement happening at its expense, warranting its attention, apprehension, and even preparedness, and so does Jordan.
The greatest challenge is that of the International Court of Justice, which is prosecuting Israel as it was accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing, charges substantiated by solid facts and evidence. In such a matter, lawyers, no matter how skilled, will be helpful, nor will the US, which has no “veto” in institutions like this. These are the tunnels that Israel has dug for itself, decision-makers know it but ignore this fact. Many in Israel have started to ask: Until when?